Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 10a: Hell [Mature]

[Atomicweasel]

Hana’s drowsy eyes jumped open at the first distant crack of gunfire. She sat up straight in the seat, biting her lip and leaning forward cautiously to look over the headrests, as if the fire-fight were going on right outside the Humvee and not beyond the prison walls.

With a start, Hana saw Violet cringe and cower beside the vehicle. She heard the murmured prayer. And she understood the heaviness in Myfwany’s voice. People are dying. Hana thought. She knew that was what she was hearing. Death. So why didn’t she feel bad, or angry or outraged? Why did she just feel tired—not even sad. Maybe the fist forming in her guts was fear. But if it was, Hana recognized, it was fear for herself. Not for Dan and his friends. Not for the women being hurt inside the big stone prison.

She wanted to care about them, but she didn’t. She couldn’t. She had to be careful and she had to stay on guard, because even now she could feel the darkness nibbling its way up from inside her, tickling at the back of her throat and wanting to get out…and Hana wouldn’t let it. Not now. Not ever.

Her hand had slipped back under her hoodie where she could feel the heavy reassuring weight of her father’s gun tucked inside her waistband.

[Jasmine Gentian]

"Oh, shit - GRENADE!"

The last part was a shout, and she dived for it as fast as her supernatural abilities would let her, snatching it off the floor as it rolled and bounced it's way intimidatingly across the floor. Her body processed the lack of windows faster than her conscious thought could have managed it, and she swung her arm in the direction of the stairwell, where she could hear people's boots slamming up the treads of the stairs. The deadly projectile sailed through the air, landing in front of the stairwell and bouncing down the stairs towards the unsuspecting bastards on their way up...

Click to reveal..

Activating Enhanced Initiative: -1QP = 14 QP (Init: 22)

Str + Might for Throwing the Grenade, 1st dice Mega: (01:01:26) ChatBot: (Jasmyne) rolls 6d10 and gets 9,3,10,7,5,9 = modify to drop 1st die as Mega b/c of auto-suxx rule (Initial roll was done for Dex not Str) = 3 suxx + 5 auto = 8 suxx

[Fox]

"Miss, you're safe. Keep calm and we'll get Ashley safe as well. We're here to help." Bond said to Kristin, his tone both confident and confidence-inspiring as he stepped over to a desk, spotting something. What it was was revealed a second later as he leaned over the broadcast microphone for the prison's PA system. He pressed the switch, gratified to see the lights on and hear the faint hum of the speakers. Well, here went nothing.

"Your attention please, this is Bond, James Bond. Hornsbeck is our prisoner and his 'Paradise' is officially under new management. Surrender and you have a chance to live. Keep fighting and die. Your choice."

Click to reveal..

Charisma 4 +[1] & Intimidate 0 & Fame 2 + Spending a WP (1 auto)

1d10=10, 1d10=3, 1d10=10, 1d10=9, 1d10=6, 1d10=3, 1d10=9

6 succs

Total of 7 successes

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules held the subject of her hatred, feeling her patience strain, yet hold. She ignored the girl's temper tantrum - whatever had happened to this Ashley girl would just be added onto Hornsbeck's list of crimes.

"I get to kill you," she murmured to him, her eyes boring into his. "And I've had a long time to think about what to do to you."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin trembled, her hands knotted into fists, her breathing rapid and shallow. She couldn't believe it could be over that quick - it had to be a trick - Master was testing her - James Bond isn't even real! If she didn't do what he wanted, he was going to crucify her. Again. Like he did after she had bitten that one guy's thing off. And this time, Ashley would be crucified too.

Kristin glided up behind the beautiful Native American woman, the woman whose 'gifts' Master had practiced on her, over and over and over again. Jules felt one hand grab her shoulder, the other grasping the wrist she held across Hornsbeck's throat, the strength of the grip out of proportion to the petite, if muscular, girl.

Jules looked down into a pair of tear-filled, jade eyes that saw nothing but remembered horrors, eyes that should never have belonged to a girl so young. Though slight trembles wracked her body, the girl's grip held steady, wound tighter than a spring.

"Please, please, you've got to let Master go. He promised if I did everything - everything! - he wanted, Ashley would be safe. I can't let you hurt him, not without knowing Ashley is safe. I'll do anything not to fail her too - I won't fail another one." Kristin's voice quavered with fury and fear, despair, the slightest trace of hope, and sheer disbelief at that hope.

[Dawn OOC]

James:

The man right in front of him threw down his weapon, surrendering. He seemed to consider running briefly, but in the face of James' force and the lack of shelter, he gave up.

Jasmine:

The guards facing Jasmine were wisely leaving. Between her and the grenade, they'd had enough fun. Bond's announcement over the intercom only seemed to fuel their fear and their flight. Like rats, they sensed the ship was rapidly sinking.

Jasmine's throw got the grenade into the stairwell; it lodged in the drywall, unforunately. A second later, it exploded.

Jasmine cringed, but after the fire and fury was done, she was unscathed.

Click to reveal..

Jas is more than 3 meters away; she takes 4d10, reduced to 1d10 by her soak: 0 sux

4

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, but one breath of smoke was enough to make her recall that she didn't actually need to do any breathing.. so she stopped. Instead, she headed away from the destruction after a quick glance around to make sure no one else was sticking around for the party, at a quick jog in the direction of the room that Bond and Jules had disappeared into. Their ears were still ringing from the sound of the explosion, but from the doorway Jules heard a very quiet voice, chill with anger.

"Ask him what happened to Denali. I wanna know who shot my brother. And why. And what the hell they've done with the rest of my family."

[Dan Hawkins]

The men with him could handle the four he'd already either nearly killed, or injured, Dan continued pursuing the final guard, frowning as the bastard took a hostage with him. That wouldn't make his job any easier.

He followed behind and into one of the Solitairy cells. The Guard had the gun to the woman's temple. "I don't know who you are, but she dies if you don't get me out of here right now."

"I can't do that and you know it. how bout this? I set my gun down and you do too. Then we fight it out and the winner gets to walk out of this room."

"I saw what you did to the others, I'm not stupid." Keeping the guard talking gave Dan the opportunity to assess the woman's injuries, and his options. The Blonde was attractive, and there was something familiar about her. Looking into her green eyes realization dawned on him. "Alicia."

She looked up at him, her eyes going wide. "Danny?" The Guard was completely unprepared for what happened next, as the Marine seemed to jus appear at his side, turn the gun into the guards own chest andd squeeze his hand so he pressed the trigger.

Alicia shuddered and dashed across the room, hiding in the corner aftter the gunshot, leaving the two men standing. "H-H-How..."

"Anyone else in the world and I might have let you live." The electricty wreathing Dan as a defensive measure seemed to bleed from his eyes, and then coalesce around his hands. He squeezed hard and the man's hand seemed to explodw thin his grip as the muscle and bones were destroyed. His other hand came up and impacted and imbedded in the guard's chest, knocking him into the wall. Dan then proceeded to beat him mercilessly, until the guards ches was a cauterized mess. When he finally withdrew from him, his hands weren't even bloody, and he knelt down by Alicia.

"Ally, it's Danny. Come on we need to get you out of here." She was covered in bruises and she'd been abused, and broken. She'd never shied from gunfire before. Even Dan's steely resolve and control was threatened by the desire to kill every Guard here.

She looked at him, and he pulled out his Dogtags. "See it's me."

She looked at the tags then at him and essentially leapt into his arms sobbing. He managed to pick up his rifle while carrying her and made his way back to the Evac zone where the rest of the Women and the refuge personnel. "Fox, we're clear down here, 1 fatality, three critically injured, and minor. Our losses are nil. We're ready for the medical team here, We've got alot of women with signs of severe abuse."

He set Alicia down and looked to the other Men from the refuge. "You all did well today."

He found the second guard he shot. "What are you man?"

He pointed to all the women. "Their Justice."

[Fox]

Bond motioned for Jas to cover the office door in case someone out there got brave or creative, and stepped over to the frozen tableau of Kristin, Jules and Hornsbeck. "Easy there... Kristin, isn't it?" He moved so she could see him, see his face and hands as he let the shotgun hang on its sling. "We're here to rescue those that need it. Please, describe Ashley to me." He tapped the earpiece of his radio. "I'll have the men and women out there look for her and get her safe, but I need you to trust me and let go of my friend here." Bond's pale eyes were sincere, his voice level as he set one hand over hers, the one on Jules' shoulder.

"This so-called man won't be doing any more harm to anyone. Trust me, Kristin. Come over here and describe Ashley to me. Is she your friend?" Bond gestured for he and Kristin to move away from Hornsbeck and Jules.

Click to reveal..

Manipulation & Rapport roll to talk Kristin down from the metaphorical high ledge. Activating Persuader.

1d10=2, 1d10=6, 1d10=10, 1d10=7, 1d10=10, 1d10=10, 1d10=2, 1d10=4

Poppin' 10's (Smooth quality)

1d10=10, 1d10=7, 1d10=9

and again...

1d10=2

7 succs + 2 for Persuader (subject to ST approval)

9 succs. It's not mind-control by any means, but he makes a great case.

[Courier]

James said to the guard neutrally, "Keep your hands up, they'll take you" and pointed him to the others who'd come with him through Fox's warp. Looks like they're surrendering. Of course in some ways this was the easy part.

James looked and listened around for any pockets of resistance.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine nodded briefly, and turned in the doorway so that she could view anything unusual happening from her vantage point. But she glanced briefly at Hornsbeck, her eyes narrowed in cold fury as she studied him before she turned away, letting Jim deal with the traumatized young woman in the room with them.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin looked at Master, then twisted her neck around and looked up, as James Bond - It can't be! This is a dream or I've gone crazy - tried to sooth her, her green eyes wide. She tried to conceal her flinch as he placed his hand over hers, and failed.

"Ashely is my only friend, the only person I have left," the brawny, naked girl said, so broken and so beautiful. She swallowed convulsively, jaw tight, trying to hold back the tears... she had to be strong, just for a little longer. But this was James-Fucking-Bond, and he was here, asking to help. Maybe this really was a dream, and she could just let go. She would be free... until she woke up again.

With a wail, Kristin let Jules go, burying her face in Bond's chest, her arms going around him in a tight embrace, almost too tight. The tears began to flow, her sobs more felt than heard, as Bond guide Kristin away from Jules and Hornsbeck.

"Ashley, she's almost half a foot taller than me, with long brown hair and blue eyes." Kristin's voice was muffled, her face pressed to Bond's chest. "She's sixteen - no, seventeen. I don't know, I'm not sure how long we've... we've been here. She has a scar on her back..." Kristin's arms tightened even further, in shame,"... that's - that's my fault."

She added a few more murmured details, with one final comment added almost as an after-thought, "She's lots prettier than me." She said it so innocently, without rancor or envy, that Bond was sure Kristin had no clue just how unusually attractive she was herself.

[Fox]

Bond put one arm around the girl, trying not to wince as his bones creaked a little under her embrace, and raised a hand to his headset, broadcasting to the other rescuers from the Refuge.

"All personnel, this is Bond. Please be alert for a girl, around sixteen years of age, pretty, about five-eight tall with long dark hair and blue eyes. Answers to the name of Ashley." He smiled down at Kristin as he continued. "Get her secured and safe for me, please, and let me know when it's done. We have a young woman here with 'abilities' who is intent that her friend not suffer further. Situation is stable here: Hornsbeck still in hand. Bond out."

He released the switch and patted Kristin on the back. "There. We have some good people out there. Gifted, like you. They'll find Ashley.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Bond felt the girl's embrace go slack, her sobs ceasing, comforted by his competence and help. Then he mentioned 'Gifted' and Kristin reared back, looking at him in open-mouthed shock.

"Huh, what? Gifted? You - you mean, there are more Slayers than just me and the bitch that got away?" Kristin tossed a glance over her shoulder, pointing at Jules with her chin. 'The bitch that got away' sounded more like rote than any deliberate insult.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Bond

"All personnel, this is Bond. Please be alert for a girl, around sixteen years of age, pretty, about five-eight tall with long dark hair and blue eyes. Answers to the name of Ashley. Get her secured and safe for me, please, and let me know when it's done. We have a young woman here with 'abilities' who is intent that her friend not suffer further. Situation is stable here: Hornsbeck still in hand. Bond out."

James paused and wondered, Did Bond just announce who should be taken hostage? This facility is full of women who should be 'secured', do we really put one at the head of the line just because a super is involved?

James snorted, Dumb question, of course we do. If Jo were in here I'd expect the others to look for her, it's reasonable for the others to expect me to do the same.

James walked back to the guard he'd sent to surrender to the others, gripped his shoulder, and said, "You heard the man. Where's this Ashley chick?"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan Heard Bond's announcment and went back to the only guard he'd left conscious. Hornsbeck's favorite had a friend, Brunette named Ashley. Do you know where she is?"

[Dawn OOC]

James:

As the man started to speak, a woman lept out of an open room. As the man shouted, "No, Kathy!" she brought the bat that she had clinched in her hands down on James' back. "Get back from my husband!" she screamed, her eyes wide and flashing with anger.

Dan:

The guard shook and set his teeth. "No," he gasped and Dan thought he meant he didn't know where she was. Then he ruined his own cover by saying, "I won't tell you."

Warden's Office:

Hornsbeck just shook his head, grinning around his attempts to breathe. He seemed to find something amusing, as he grinned widely.

Click to reveal..

James is the only one left in combat rounds.

[Courier]

Astounded and disconcerted by this turn of events, James let the bar drop and used his grip on the man to keep him from getting involved. This is exactly why you don't run around killing everyone. You never know.

James let the woman hit him a couple of times without reacting, then he commented matter of factly, "Bad idea. Seriously. I've avoided killing anyone, and I'm not going to start with you, but some of my fellows are more personally involved. Experiencing this place in it's full hellish glory does things to you."

"How about you drop the bat and we'll all forget this happened? New management remember?"

James turned to the man and said, "Ashley?"

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Still looking over her shoulder, waiting for the man that looked like James Bond answer her, Kristin eyes went as she saw the smile on Master's face, her heart-rate increasing drastically. Abject terror encasing her, Kristin shoved Bond away, and backed up to wall opposite Master, her breathing an audible, rapid rasp.

Oh no! Oh no! Somethings wrong. Master only smiles like that when he knows he's already won.

"Something's wrong," Kristin said, her voice a strained whisper.

[Dan Hawkins]

"Gotcha."

He led the two men restraining the guard into a cell away from the women and nodded. "Hold him tight. This won't be pleasant." While he was restrained by the others, Dan grabbed the former guard's right hand and started with his pinky. "Where." He crused the three major bones with a sick snap and scream. "Is." The ring finger when next, with another scream. "Ashely?" He broke the middle finger in the same way as the gurad fought hard against the men holding him back. "Answer, now. That hand's still usable."

Through it all Dan wasn't particularly intimidating, until you saw his fingers twitch and heard bones snapping.

[Dawn OOC]

James:

"Kathy, baby, let me handle this. Go take care of the others. Look, mister, forget Ashley, she's safer than us," the man said, his voice panicked. "The idea was that if we were overrun, we'd open the gates to the pit. Someone has already done that by now, I'm sure! We need to get out of here!"

Dan:

"God fuck it! Fuck! Solitary! She's in solitary with her keeper!" the man screamed. When Dan released his hand, he cradled it. "Fuck..."

[Courier]

James sighed Speaking of bad ideas, and said, "Where is this gate?" James waited a moment for the man's answer then yelled, "Incoming Zombie Hoard!" (Radio was on for that)

James leaped towards the parking lot, putting himself just high enough to an overview of the situation. Killing one zom at a time is pointless. I'll see where the bottle neck is and use an SUV to cork it.

(Reposted Map)

Click to reveal..

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nods. "That wasn't so hard." He releases the guard's hand after getting directions to where the block was. "If I find that you've lied to me or omitted anything, I'll be back, and We will continue in a much more painful fashion."

He hears James' alert and frowns. "Fox there's alot of women here. Get them out, I'll see if I can get down to Solitary to find Ashley."

[Venus]

As fast and sudden the combat noise came it went silent again. Maybe it was already over?

Violet was standing up again and tried to relax some more shaking off the tension and anxiety. If they were lucky only a few got hurt… still Violet was scared of the emotional traumata she surely would ‚pick up’.

„Myf… do I have permission to use my powers if any of the women are severely traumatized… I mean emotionally. I could help them calm down and give them a sense of security and safety. I just mean to make things easier for us... and them.“, Violet was hoping she worded her request right. It seemed that most of what she said got easily misinterpreted or taken completely wrong – as if all her intentions were selfish or evil in nature.

Waiting impatiently for Myf’s reply Violet glanced briefly into the Humvee checking on Hana if she was alright. The poor girl needed some rest badly – even without her ability to sense emotions Violet could tell how exhausted she was.

„Common guys… hurry…“

[Atomicweasel]

Beneath her hoodie, Hana was busy rubbing her thumb lightly over the bullets chambered in the heavy revolver, counting them over and over again as if one might have vanished mysteriously since the last time she’d counted. None had. One. Two. Three. They were all there. As Violet glanced in on her, Hana abruptly pulled her hand out from under the hoodie and looked back guiltily. Like a kid caught stealing from the cookie jar. She crossed her hands over her lap and laid back demurely in her seat. She might have passed for any well-behaved girl, taking a trip with her family in times that now seemed infinitely far away, were it not for the strange whorls of darkness in her deep blue eyes...the way they seemed suddenly and eerily blacker...as if ink had been spilled behind her irises and were slowly swallowing up the blue.

And then Hana blinked and breathed a tired, tense sigh and the illusion was gone. Her eyes were simply blue again. Strange for an Asian child, perhaps, but nothing more. With the excitement of the shooting passed, Hana felt, and looked, exhausted once more. She stared out the window with a blank expression, her eyes drifting half-closed, her body slack and slumped into the seat cushions. Was that haunted and hunted girl in the reflection of the glass, dimly glimpsed in the scant light of the stars, really her? Hana tilted her face closer to the window, blew upon the glass. In the fogged up circle made by her warm breath she traced a drawing with her finger. A neat circle with a straight line for a mouth and two Xs for eyes. Zombie smiley.

[SalmonMax]

"I can't give you permission, Violet," Myfwany answered, tilting her head back into the headrest of her seat to look at the ceiling. "I'm not your commanding officer. You have to decide when and how to use your abilities, and accept the consequences. Just like the rest of us."

The slowing and stopping of the gunfire gets her attention.

"That didn't take long. I hope it's good news. Violet...what do you think we should do about Hana? I don't think we should bring her with us, but we can't leave her alone out here either. Do you want to stay with her?"

She craned her neck to look around towards Hana.

"Would that be okay with you?"

[Atomicweasel]

Don’t talk about me like I’m not here, Hana thought of saying. I’m not some lost puppy. But she bit her tongue. At least Myfwany had asked her, and anyway she didn’t want to be left alone.

She looked from Myfwany to Violet and back again. “Yeah. That’s okay,” Hana answered in a small voice, then, in a smaller voice still she added, “Are you going in there?” and pointed over the seat at the prison. The way Hana’s lips tightened into a hard little line, the way a small frown creased its way across her brow, below the gray and salmon striped knit cap, made clear her thoughts about that idea.

[Venus]

Violet's eyes lingered a while on Myfwany's face before she slowly nodded.

"Sure... I can do that.", there was a slight hint of disappointment in her voice as she turned around and walked to the other side of the Humvee to enter the large vehicle.

That's a way of dealing with me, I guess..., she tried to shrug it off and put on a perfect smile for Hana.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind some company, Hana?", the tall and impossibly built sexbomb asked the young girl. Sitting so close next to her Violet's proportions seemed even more unreal and was her skin actually glowing? There was a faint very pleasent quality to the light she emitted.

[Dawn OOC]

"The gate-" Somewhere deep in the prison, a roar rang out. It sounded absolutely inhuman and way too loud. It sounded more like an effect from a Hollywood movie. To them, it sounded like it came from the abandoned building to the south.

James' man began to panic. "Oh god! That's it!" he shouted, struggling against his bonds. "Let me go, man! It'll kill us all!"

In the warden's office, Hornsbeck began to laugh.

Dan was on the stairs, ready to head down into solitary when he heard it.

[Atomicweasel]

Hana scootched over to make room for Violet, finding herself sandwiched between the unnaturally beautiful woman and Myfwany. Bitch seat, she could almost hear Jamie saying. But Jamie was gone and Hana would never see her again. Or hear her voice. All she had left of her best friend was the bracelet. She found herself worrying it across her wrist, seeking some empty reassurance from it as she stared up at Violet, nodded dumbly and blurted, “Yeah, I mean no. That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

It was impossible not to stare at Violet, at the enormity of her breasts, at her incredibly long legs, at her glossy shining face. Violet’s skin was aglow, shimmering with a soft light that seemed to fill the entire Humvee. How did she do that? Hana wondered. And then she remembered the feel of Violet’s hand, the warmth of it, and how that warmth had spread all through Hana when Violet had touched her. Like a charge. Like a current. Hana thought about touching her. Just reaching out and putting her hand on Violet’s skin. To keep herself from doing it, Hana crossed her arms tightly over her chest, squeezing her hands in beneath her slender biceps.

Then Hana heard the distant roar. “What was that!?” she exclaimed, briefly forgetting Violet’s mind-numbing beauty and glowy skin. “Did you hear that?” she asked the two women beside her.

[SalmonMax]

"I heard it," Myfwany answered grimly. She opened the humvee door and got out to get a better look down at the prison. She shaded her eyes and tried to see what was going on down there, wishing she had binoculars or something all the while.

(Assuming the prison is out of her lifesense range, she can still use her mega-perception, I hopes I hopes. )

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin bent over, heaving up bile on the ground, that terrible, terrible sound, ringing in her ears, the sound of Master laughing. It brought back all those things he had done to her, flashing through her mind's eye: the crucifixions and skinning, the rapes and sodomy, the singing chains tearing her flesh and the burning irons searing her skin, the humiliation and degradation grinding her soul.

Down on her knees, Kristin held her hands to ears and her eyes squeezed closed, trying to shut the sounds and sights only she could hear and see. A thin, high-pitched wail of anguish escaped her gritted teeth, only one word distinguishable, "Ashley!"

[Fox]

"Okay, laughing boy." Bond said calmly as he changed the clip in his shotgun. He murmured "Flechette." to Jasmine and indicated the clips in her own ammo pouches, then looked at Hornsbeck with a faint smile around his lips. "Care to share the reason for your good humor with the rest of the class? Or do we skip that and Ms WhiteElk shuts you up like the useless sack of shit you are?"

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC

"The gate-" Somewhere deep in the prison, a roar rang out. It sounded absolutely inhuman and way too loud. It sounded more like an effect from a Hollywood movie. To them, it sounded like it came from the abandoned building to the south.

James' man began to panic. "Oh god! That's it!" he shouted, struggling against his bonds. "Let me go, man! It'll kill us all!"

James aborted his plan to leap to the parking lot and said with incredulity, "One Zombie? You have a super-zom here and you left it alive?" The pit doesn't mean the zoms outside the fence. This could be a real problem, so much for breezing through this.

The man could see James get focused and serious. James said, "What exactly can this thing do and how smart is it?"

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine moved immediately, loading her gun with the appropriate clips as she made her way to the window. She tried to glance through the slots to see what was going on, but after a moment she gave up and shifted the gun to one hand so that she could pull the boards that were obscuring their view with the other hand. The wood groaned and then cracked, and she tossed the wood into the corner, looking outside in the direction of the sound.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan sighed. "A superzombie.. just what we fuckin needed." He trusted in James to be able to handle it for now, focusing on finding this "Ashley" to free up the others. If he could manage that, then they could all tackle it at once.

He began sprinting through the corridors, nearing Solitary quickly. As he drew close he stopped, checking his gun and preparing for more of this place's "hospitality."

[Dawn OOC]

James

The man laughed hysterically. "I have NO fucking clue what that thing is!" he shouted. "But it and a bunch of other zombies have just been released from the former gymnasium, and it’s going to fucking kill us all!”

Jasmine

She was looking for a pit, and she didn’t see it. But she did see several zombies inside the fence that hadn’t been there before. And the doors to a building to the south were now wide open. As she watched, something the color of a zombie began to squeeze through the entry. She couldn’t tell what it was, but it filled the doors as it began to worm its way out. She could see multiple arms and legs; then a head made of many faces lifted itself to the sky and screamed another challenge.

Dan

The door to solitary was a solid piece of steel; Dan paused before it but couldn’t hear through it. It was also locked, forcing him to force open the door. Once that was done, he faced a double row of doors, with no indication which one held Ashley.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan began moving through the corridor quietly checking each cell, his stomach churning at the putrid smells, and he could feel the blood in his veins grow colder with each room of brutality laid bare on the bodies of the woman within.

It took immense self control to not rip the doors from their hinges. He knew Ashely wouldn't be alone, and suprise was one of the only elements he really had left.

He finally made it to the final door, the last of the ten on the left. He slid the latch back and knocked. The Warden needs Ashley now, his "pet" is misbehaving."

Click to reveal..

manipulation + subterfuge

(20:22:02) ChatBot: (Dan_Hawkins) rolls 5d10 and gets 3,5,9,7,7. 3 successes

Dan's forcefield is active, paying qp to keep it as it is.

[Courier]

James frowned. How did this guy live while so many of my friends die? Careful. In 30 years his kids might be married to your kids. Be polite.

James rephrased the question and tried again, "Calm down. You just watched me walk through your men and I'm holding a lot back. What makes you think this is going to be harder, much less too hard? I've fought super zoms before, they're nasty but not immortal."

Right. And who won the last time?

They did. But only because we quit. We could have won, but it wasn't worth the risk.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine's face turned a slightly ashen shade as she stared horrified out the window. She could feel a chill run through her at the site of the thing, but it took her a moment to be able to articulate anything about it.

"Oh my god, what is that? Did they.. merge?! Guys, it seriously looks like a whole mob of zombies all.. clustered together in on.. huge.. blog-thing."

After a moment, she wrenched her gaze away from the horrific sight, and turned to Hornsbeck, disgust and fury mingled on her face. As she spoke, she fumbled through her ammo, looking for something that might be effective against something so massive.

"How the hell did you guys make a zombie-blob?!"

She held up the buckshot to Jim questioningly, and her eyes were wide with horror.