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

[Courier]

James had an after thought and said over the radio, "Everyone move away from the gymnasium, the super zom is there. Hey Bond, if you're listening and if Horn is still able to talk, ask him what this thing can do and if it has any weaknesses."

Without letting go over his captive, James put one foot under his weight bar and tossed it up into his hand.

[Jasmine Gentian]

James' announcement over the radio shook Jas out of her stunned state, and she clicked on the radio in response.

"Looks like a massive merging of a bunch of zombies, like a huge blob - it seems to be moving by pulling itself along with arms and pushing with legs, and lots of zombie heads make up the kind of blobby head-thing. They seem pretty integrated. And it is now out of the building - just to confirm, it is out of the building, though moving slow."

She was quiet for a brief moment, and it seemed as if her announcement was over, before she clicked the radio back on one last time.

"Just as a note, the other zombies seem to be afraid of it or something - they're moving away from it."

[Courier]

The Blob? This would be why...

Over the radio James sent back, "Sounds out of Horn's league to take or keep as is. Try to find out how long it can keep this up. I'm going to try to lure it away."

James said to his captive, "You surrendered, you're paroled. Fight again and that's to the death" and let go. James leaped for the top of a building where he could get a better view.

[Dawn OOC]

James

James got his better view, alright. The thing was much as Jasmine had describe - a mesh of dozens of zombies which pulled itself over the ground with decent speed. It was headed for the building with Bond, Jasmine and Jules in it; zombies lurched rapidly out of its path.

Dan

"I don't know why you're knocking," a male voice said on the other side of the door. "I certainly can't stop you from entering. Either my comrades have become more polite, or you're new here. Regardless, I can't open the door, so you'll have to do that if you want Ashley."

Bond

Hornbeck listened to Jasmine describe what she saw, grinning widely. "I just am amused by the idea that Julie here slipped away so daringly in the night to find other super-powered friends, when all she had to do was hang around here for a few more weeks, and she could have two buddies." He looked at her, pursing his lips a little. "How's the boy, by the way? Carson still talks about him."

[Courier]

James sent over the radio, "Bond it's headed for your building. That's an odd choice unless it's smart enough to hate Hornbeck. It might be trying to eat him. I'm still going to try luring it away."

James leaped so he would land between the creature and the fence, so if he convinced it to chase him it'd be headed away from the prison. I hope that's fair enough away that it can't just run me down, but close enough to attract it. Hey, speaking of attracting it... As soon as he landed James briefly clicked off his radio and pulled out his obnoxious air horn.

James yelled, "Over here!", and let loose with a blast. "Honk!!!"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan slung his rifle and drew a pistol, and unlocked the door, prepared for most anything.

In the room was a young woman, hiding behind a blonde-haired man, his hands at his sidesm in one of the corner.

"I've come to get Ashley." He lowered the gun and nodded.

[Fox]

"I see it." Bond's voice was calm over the radio net, for all the world as though he were bird-watching. His lips twitched in a slight grin as his eyes sparkled. "Big, isn't he? It's times like this I really appreciate high-explosives."

Turning to the others in the room, he holstered his pistol and readied his shotgun. "Jules, you've got garbage duty. Carry that trash until we've got no use for him, would you? Kristin, grab something to wear and tag along. Stay close to Jules here, okay?" His blue eyes glanced to each of the three women in turn, finishing with a wink and nod to Jasmine. "We're heading out of here and seeing if that thing is really coming after Hornsbeck. Hell, I'm tempted to feed him to it, but that might be too easy on him and too inhumane on the blob out there." Bond's air of cool, calm authority was only slightly ruined by the mad twinkle of excitement in his gaze as he glanced out of the window again.

"Let's go."

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine nodded, Bond's solid directions and touch of playfulness proved enough to quell her initial surge of panic. She gripped her shotgun tighter, and followed him towards the terrifying monstrosity, jaw clenched.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Slowly, Bond's smooth voice penetrated Kristin's panic. The young, oddly physically mature, girl dropped her hands from her ears and wrapped them around her knees, looking up at the fictional super agent with large jade eyes. Bond could see the longing to trust someone in those bright eyes. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay." Kristin wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, smoothly got back to her feet, then paused, looking around the room in distress. "I - I got no clothes."

"Then take some of his!" Jules said fiercely, her forearm digging deeper into Hornsbeck's throat.

"Oh, okay." Kristin said in a small voice, hunching her shoulders at the other woman's tone, then moved across the room to the dresser, and paused again. She was to never open Master's stuff. She scowled and defiantly pulled it open, selecting a shirt at random. She awkwardly put it on, yanking the neck over her steel collar, the shirt hanging to her knees. It felt weird - other than an occassional g-string or indecently short cut-offs, she hadn't worn any clothes in a long time.

Turning around, Kristin looked out the window for the first time and saw the zom-blob. A ferocious light kindled in the girl's eyes, her hands bunching into fists, muscular physique unconsciously flexing.

"Eeew, what is that thing? We should kill it." Kristin said with disgust, moving to stand behind Jules as Bond had asked. She made sure Jules was standing between her and Master. "But we should find Ashley first, to make sure she is okay."

"And I want an axe. Can I have an axe? Where is my fireman axe?" She hissed the last question at Master, peeping around Jules's shoulder, before hiding behind her again at the look on Master's face, with an "Eeep!"

[Dawn OOC]

The creature stared at James on the fence; then it shrieked again and dragged itself torward the building where Bond and the others still watched it. Perhaps James wasn't interesting to the monstrous being.

"Of course you have," the man said. "You're a raider, no doubt come to rescue everyone. It's about time." Turning, he took Ashley by the arms and guided her out from behind his back. She was only fifteen or so, pretty enough to catch men's eyes. "Go on with the man, Ashley. He'll take you to Kristin, and out of here."

"No!" she cried, throwing her arms around his waist. "I won't leave you, Simon!" She looked over her shoulder at Dan. "Don't you hurt him!" she snapped, a slip of a girl trying to be brave.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded. "I won't hurt him. He's right though. I'm going to get you out of here and either to the rendevous point or with the others like me. There's some sort of super zombie Hornsbeck's been keeping as a damn pet rampaging topside, so I'm more than a little inclined to take you to somewhere safe."

He looks to the man. "You and everyone else in these cells included."

He radioed Fox and called for a warpgate to Evac everyone there. It took some doing to get them to trust him and the gate. "If I wasn't serious I wouldn't be here. Marines protect the people, now come on. He can't keep these gates open forever." He enlisted the mand that was there to help move the women who couldn't walk through the gate. He called out as he exited the gate "Medic!" where he could see Myfwany and Violet. he had two women who had to be carried, the other sixteen were at least capable of that, and of course Ashley. They all looked like they'd suffered through hell.

He pulled his radio as the gate closed and called. "Bond, I have Ashley and ninteen other women who were in solitary, Ashley's okay, but the other women are in bad shape. I can put Ashley on for a sec before I head back."

He hands Ashley the radio. Go Ahead,if your friend is with mine she'll hear you."

[Courier]

James put his horn back and clicked on his radio. "Bad news, it REALLY wants your building. Raw meat and honking didn't sway it. I'm engaging. If this doesn't work you'll have to hold Horn out in front of it."

I'm going to feel really stupid if this is a super and not a super-zombie... but that does appear to be the way to bet, and waiting till it starts killing women doesn't seem like a good idea.

James grunted and with an effort of will, threw his weight bar at the creature like a javelin. It hit solidly.

Click to reveal..

5 dice, 9,5,9,2,8 (4 successes) including willpower

http://umbralechoes.com/WoDRoller.php

2009-12-01 22:21:12

Damage: Standard Strength (Bashing): 5d +acc (3) + [15] => 7,8,8,8,4, 6,10,1 (4 successes) => 19 total (soak will change it)

2009-12-01 22:26:14

[Atomicweasel]

Still watching out the windshield, Hana leaned forward between the seats of the Humvee for a better look at the prison compound. The beast roared again and Hana’s trembling hands gripped the seat backs tighter. It sounded huge and terrible. Hana didn’t want to stick around to find out what it was...

And then she saw the refugees and their rescuers come spilling out of Fox’s portals, like the sky had just spat them out. They looked about as clean as spit too...bedraggled, battered, worn and filthy. Hana wondered how many of them would be sick. She hadn’t come this far, hadn’t survived the slaughter at Marmac so she could die of something stupid, some dumb disease. Just because they didn’t have the Z plague didn’t mean they were okay. It didn’t mean they were safe to be around. How many of them would Myfwany and Violet try to stuff into the Humvee with her? Probably a lot.

“Who’s got the keys?” Hana asked, frowning anxiously at Violet and Myfwany in turn.

[SalmonMax]

"They're in the ignition," Myfwany answered. She got up and moved towards the portals on automatic instinct, drawn by the unfortunates materializing, but her attention was still on the prison camp. She grabbed the sleeve of the first super she recognized to come through.

"What is that roaring? Did they have a lion or a tiger or something?"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan shook his head. "That would be simple. They have a super-zombie there. I'm going back to help with it. They also turned a bunch of regular ones loose."

He nodded "Stay on your guard here. These were the women from Solitary, they've been through hell."

He looked over at the man he'd found with Ashley. "I don't know if he's a guard or not. If he twitches in a fashion you don't like, take him down."

[Atomicweasel]

Hana glanced at the keys. There they were, dangling from the ignition just like Myfwany had said. She had an image of herself, sliding into the driver’s seat lizard quick, turning the key and slamming her foot on the gas and going. Going far. Dan was fast, real fast, but Hana didn’t think he could outrun the Humvee...could he? No way. It would be easy too. Violet was too busy whimpering with fear to stop her...and once she got going fast enough, would she even try? What if she did though...plus you don’t know how to drive Hana reminded herself. And then what? Even if I do get away... Where would it end? What would she have to show for it?

Right now she had a note from Dan folded up in her pocket, promising her food, a shower, clothes. Violet had offered her pancakes and even a place to stay. Hana eyed the keys again. How did that saying go again? The one about the birds and the bush...?

[Jasmine Gentian]

They started towards the hallway, and hesitated briefly at the sight of the ruined staircase. But Jasmine went first, considering only briefly before she chose the stairs going back down. The four picked their way carefully but quickly through the destruction the grenade had wrought, and made it out the door they had entered through.

Without pausing, Jasmine pulled the shotgun off of her shoulder and took aim at the monstrosity, firing off three shots of the large-caliber shells directly towards it, one immediately after the other.

[Dawn OOC]

The zomb-blob shrieked as the weight bar bounced off his flesh, then again as Jasmine's rounds pierced its flesh. The attacks didn't seem to do much, but With a disgusting burst of speed - disgusting because the creature's flesh roiled and rippled rottenly with its efforts - it ran toward Jasmine and the small group around her.

[Courier]

.

[Fox]

Bond moved out to the left as the Blob charged. The English mercenary was sure-footed and swift as he moved to bracket the monster, his shotgun adding it's voice to the reports of Jasmine's weapon as he let off a precise three-round bursts. Small clouds of razor-sharp flechettes hissed through the air, biting deep.

Even as he fired, however, Bond's mind was hard at work assessing the beast. Somewhere in the collection of ganglia and nervous systems that made up the mass of it's body, he was sure that there would be a weak spot: somewhere that would drop the thing faster and more efficiently.

Bond loved efficiency.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"Hit it in the head!" Kristin yelled from behind Jules, eyes blazing, "zombs don't like that!"

Muscles coiled beneath smooth, bronzed skin, tense with fury. Oddly enough, the young girl, dressed only in an oversized shirt, showed no fear at the sight of the unnatural monstrosity charging them, indeed, she seemed poised to pounce on the thing. All her anxiety was reserved for the devil in human flesh that had enslaved her, tortured her, for the last several months.

Though she yearned to attack the zomb-blob, felt it as a burning desire, she was unarmed save for her fists, and was still used to obeying others. Bond's polite request carried the weight of demand to the traumatized girl, and she stayed behind Jules, as he asked. Still, her eyes cast about for something to use, something that was decapitation-capable.

"Need a weapon, an axe, a sledgehammer, a sword, an axe..." Kristin grumbled. Her eyes alighting on the sheathed machete on Jasmine's back, she tentatively reached out a hand for it, before snatching it back. Master was right there, and she wasn't to pick up a weapon, ever!

[Courier]

James blinked. Staff bounced and it's ignoring me. I'd thought it'd at least notice that. Time to up the level of violence, and you're going to turn your back...

James leaped, summoned his blade, and attacked the creature from it's rear.

Click to reveal..

This is James' third q-leap this scene. Pool: 21/24 Willpower: 7/8

Attack: 10d10.hits(7) → [8,5,6,9,2,4,6,9,8,5] = (4)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2340883/

Damage: 7d[15] + 3acc = 10d10.hits(7) → [4,6,6,2,9,6,8,9,2,2] = (3)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2340884/

18 lethal (fire) this time.

[Jasmine Gentian]

The first round of shots hadn't seemed to phase the creature much, and in her mind Jasmine entertained the idea of switching ammunition, but knew it would take time that she preferred not to waste. If this round of shots made as little of a dent, she'd go from there. But for now, with a giant zombie blob barreling towards here, Jasmine's initial response was to just keep shooting.

[SalmonMax]

It took real effort for Myfwany to force her attention away from the prison and onto her immediate task at hand. Talk of superzombies and distant gunfire and those bizarre howls were potent distractions. But on seeing them more clearly she couldn't look away.

Twenty women and one man. The women all had obvious injuries, many of which looked old and poorly treated. Ugly purple and brown and yellow bruises, livid scabbed over cuts and slashes, signs of malnutrition and dehydration. It was like being one of the Allied soldiers that first broke open a pen at Auschwitz.

Only the woman with the man was unscathed, at least seemingly. The man too seemed unharmed, though both were still frightened by their experience.

"Violet," she barked, falling immediately into doctor mode. "Get the kits out. We've got a lot of work to do."

She examined each girl for signs of infection or serious injury. She washed and dressed wounds with antiseptics and bandages. She was warm with the women, but firm, giving them the treatment that they needed even if they were afraid to be looked at or touched. When she was done with one, a blanket would be wrapped around her, and a place to sit or lie down would be made. Then it was on to the next.

And in the background, the war in the prison raged on.

[Dawn OOC]

James hit it solidly as he dropped out of the sky, opening a long gash on its back. The flesh gaped wide and black, looking like a rotten mouth turned on its side. The creature's head pulled into its body, and there was a roiling bump that passed down its back. The 'head' burst out the back, ripping the hole open more and scattering a welter of body parts and black fluid. The blacked teeth from a dozen mouths bit at him, some missing, some scoring.

James had another immediate problem, beyond the wounds he was taking. He landed behind the creature with unusual softness. In fact, he noticed that his feet weren't staying on the ground, as if something were tugging him upward. And because he wasn't on the ground, when the creature's face slammed into him, he was knocked backwards. Gravity reclaimed him about ten feet from the creature, and he was dropped to the ground. That didn't hurt, but the bites hurt like hell.

The good news is that he was close enough to see that Jas' rounds bit deeply into the creature's flesh, enough to hurt, probably. But there was no blood - it was a dead piece of meat.

Click to reveal..

James takes 5 lethal. He also gains 3 temporary taint.

Bond is next.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan watched Myfwany go to work and made ready to fly back to help with the Superzom the others were fighting. It was then he noticed, that aside from Myf and Violet, he was the only "refuge Personnel" around. Not trusting Simon, and knowing he had to keep Ashley safe, not to mention the presence of Hana, he sighed. He couldn't fight every battle. Besides, James and Jas, Bond, Jules, and Fox were all there, if they couldn't handle it they'd call.

"Morgan, I'm staying where I am, there's nobody else to keep an eye out for stragglers but Myf and Violet and they're busy. If you need me though, just call."

He looked over to the Doctor and her nurse and smiled. He nodded to Simon and Ashley. "Stay safe, here at the center. The others shouldn't be too long, then you'll get to see your friend again."

He went to his humvee. Seeing Hana there he nodded. "Stay put, this should all be over soon. Be mindful of the C4 in the back."

[Atomicweasel]

Hana watched Myfwany and Violet go tend to the injured refugees from the prison. She was standing between the seats, considering her options, when she saw Dan striding back towards the Humvee.

Before he'd reached her door side, Hana had settled back into her seat and there Dan found her, looking up at him with her almond shaped blue eyes, hands folded on her lap.

"What's see four?" she asked, turning to look around the backseat. Her eyes lit upon a pair of military issue binoculars, bulky and black matte. She reached for them eagerly, spinning quickly back to hold them up for Dan to see and meekly ask, "Can I borrow these?"

[Dan Hawkins]

He smiles. "C4 is an explosive." He nods when she holds up the binoculars "Yeah, in fact, I can but you on top of the Humvee so you can see, that will actually help me out some."

[Atomicweasel]

"Okay," Hana agreed after a small pause. She hung the binoculars around her neck with care and then stepped out of the Humvee to stand in front of Dan.

She looked straight up at him, then finally raised her arms so he could lift her. It felt weird, letting him scoop her up. The last time anyone had carried her the world had been a different place and she had been a different person. It almost made Hana feel like a little girl again, only she wasn't. Because there were no more little girls left. Just survivors.

...but she did want to stand up on the Humvee and try to get a look at what was causing all that noise.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan smiled and gently lifted her up, and then he rose into the air, calmly, as if it were second nature and set her downnext to the 50 cal machine gun atop the Humvee. "Wasn't so bad was it?" He hovered there, his feet not touching anything. "I'm going up higher in the air to get a look around. If you see something, let me know and I will handle it."

[Atomicweasel]

Hana's mouth opened in a shocked 'O', but before she had time to protest, Dan had already set her down on top of the Humvee's roof.

No sooner had her sneakers settled onto the roof, than Hana immediately sat down, as if she were afraid of drifting right into the air alongside Dan. Then she stared at him. Just hovering there. Hanging in mid air like some kind of stringless puppet. All she could bring herself to do was nod at him numbly and press her hands flat against the Humvee's top.

[Dan Hawkins]

"I can set you on the ground if you like." He nods. "If there's nothing else you need, then I'll be on my way."

With that, he rose into the air, bringing up his battlerifle and surveyng the landscape around, watching for threats.

[Fox]

"The legs!" Bond called out to the others over the roaring of the amalgamated beast. The bulk of the thing was supported by perhaps twenty twisted blasphemies of limbs, wobbling beneath it's weight. Bond considered that as he dropped to one knee about 20 yards from the creature and brought the shotgun to his shoulder. "Aim for the legs!" he shouted to James and Jasmine before he opened up.

The shotgun barked 4 times, clouds of silvery flechettes tearing into a different leg with each shot.

[Atomicweasel]

Hana sat a while longer as Dan rose up into the air. Her blood was pounding in her ears so hard she was almost sure he could hear it. After a few deep breaths she scrambled back onto her feet and raised the thick binoculars to her eyes.

She focused them on Dan at first, following his looping circles through the sky, and then slowly turned in place and adjusted them to better make out the prison. Whatever the source of the roaring was, even atop the Humvee Hana wasn't tall enough to make it out.

She let the binoculars hang back down with disappointment and paced along the roof of the Humvee a moment. She felt a little scared of jumping down, but the shame of having to cry out for Dan to come rescue her, like a kitten from a tree, was a thousand times worse. So, she stood there and brought the binoculars back to her eyes. From her vantage point she could follow Myfwany and Violet as they tended to the women from the prison. And by fiddling with the focus of the binoculars, Hana was able to see their faces as clearly as if the women had been standing right next to her atop the Humvee.

What she saw was ruin. Faces emptied of their humanity. They looked like cows. Like dumb broken animals waiting to be made into meat. Sad and hollow-eyed. Defenseless and lost.

I never want to look like that. Hana thought. Her stomach tightened, a brief pang of guilt or disgust, and she sat back down on the Humvee's roof, sitting Indian style and watching the prison from her borrowed binoculars.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Krisin's mouth dropped open as the big man jumped in from nowhere and cut a huge gash down the zomb-blob's back with a blade of black fire. How many other Slayers are there? And some are guys?! Then she watched in disgusted fascination as the thing's head slooshed from one end to the other. And then, it munched the big man good!

She wanted to rush in and help too, but she didn't have a weapon, and Bond told her to stay behind Jules. So she did the next best thing, she looked around and found a chunk of concrete that weighted more than she did.

Picking it up from impromptu rebar handholds, the metal squeaking in protest, Kristin spun in a quick circle, launching her ad-hoc missile. It sailed in a perfect, low arc, connecting with a sickening thud with the back of the zomb-blob's misshapen head.

"Woohoo! I hit it in the head!" Kristin exclaimed with fierce joy, totally ignoring Bond's last command.

[Dawn OOC]

The man who had come with the woman stood back, the girl - she couldn't be more than fifteen - hovering near him. "Doctor," he said softly, "I know that you have no reason to trust me, but if I can help, let me know. I'm just glad to be out of there." The remark seemed out of place, but he was completely sincere.

"Yeah, me, too," the girl said quickly. She stepped forward and brushed shoulders with the man, smiling at him.

[Courier]

James hit the ground smoking. The only good thing was he managed to not drop his blade. James coughed heavily and yelled, "Don't let it touch you! It's worse than the acid zoms!" James poured some juice into his healing factor. I'm dead if that happens again like I am.

Unbidden, tiny ribbons of black fire spread from James' blade over his skin and cut what was left of his shirt to pieces. After a moment the lines stopped burning like they'd retreated under his skin. What on Earth?

Click to reveal..

Healing for 2q (still 3 lethal levels down). Activate FF, q-pool: 17/24. Willpower: 7/8

FF roll (first 2 are megas)

8d10.hits(7) [7,10,9,5,2,5,5,5] = 6 sux

Soak +14/+14

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2343023/

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine's eyes widened as she saw what the thing did to James, but her motions never stopped as she fluidly reloaded the shotgun and fired again, this time aiming as Bond had instructed towards the legs. But as she fired the thing moved, twisting it's leg away where the shot managed to graze.

"Damnit!"

[Mr Fox]

Fox had been kept busy by making his gateways so much so that he was only now getting into position above the combat with the chuthulu-zombie. He quickly angled for a good shot and leveled his .50 cal sniper rifle at the things head and squeezed the trigger sending himself scooting backwards a few feet in the air, but putting a nasty hole in the things freakish headblob. He wasn't sure just how effective it would be and waited to see if it had an effect. He really wanted to use his big blasting power but it was more important to save energy in case they had to flee or evac the refugees.

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany glanced up at the man, then at the girl, then back at him. Her first instinct was to snap at him, but there was a brutal pragmatism in any triage situation. If someone was willing and able to help, you let them help. You worried about their crimes later.

"If either of you have any training in first aid, then head over to the kit and get to work. If not, then just keep out of our way."