Aberrant: Dead Rising - Building Homes [Complete]

[Courier]

James replied, "I found them like this, but I think it was a zombie attack. Which means they're probably infected, and contagious." James paused to let that sink in.

James added, "Pat is a super, and Myf is the only one I know of who can see if her powers are active. We need her in here to make sure they're not on right now. Fox will want to know that Pat is here too."

And we also need to get Myf in here to take a swing at a cure.

James tried not to think about how long the odds were. He'd seen the promise of a cure before only to have it not work.

[Dawn OOC]

Singh stared at James, his eyes wide. "This is what we have quarantine for!" he hissed, pitching his voice low enough that he wouldn't be heard. "I have sick people here! They are highly suspectiable to viruses!" He broke down into a sting of cursing in another language. "Take them to the quarantine building - Myf can treat them there. I will contact security and have Myf follow you."

He didn't wait for a reply before turning away and stalking for Myf's office. There was frustration in his eyes as he turned away from the women, and the act of peeling off his gloves and throwing them in the trash was delivered with the viciousness of an attack.

[Courier]

Trying not to aggravated their injuries, James picked the women up and headed back to Quarantine. He's got a point. Leaping into the base with people you think are infected was a move made from worry and habit, not thinking. You'd be furious if someone broke Q and got Jo infected.

That was a sobering thought. James felt it's truth for a moment then tried to forgive himself, ...live and learn. You might have cut down on the time it'd take to bring Myf here. ...Not that it will help. Tomorrow or so someone is going to have to kill Nashwa.

That was another sobering thought. Could you do that?... :Sigh: Yeah. But let's shirk that duty if at all possible. There's lot of guards around.

[SalmonMax]

Myf looked up as Singh entered. She'd been on long days, but it hadn't really hit her too hard yet. She put down the clipboard of patient notes she'd been going over and gave the other doctor a nod.

"I hope that frowny face isn't for me," she said with a contrite smile, hoping to defuse the tension a bit.

[Dawn OOC]

"James just brought two bleeding women suspected of infection," Singh said flatly, his expression outraged. "I made him take them to the quarantine building. Someone needs to explain to him about disease vectors and what 'infectous' means. He wants you to see to one - something about her powers not being on. Her name is Pat. Didn't you mention that name with that town with the witch?"

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany stiffened slightly. Oh yes, she knew that name.

"Pat...yes, we, I think she's a superhuman of some kind. Her power seems completely unique though, and potentially dangerous. He brought her -here-?"

She got to her feet. "I'll go sort this out. Thanks, Dr. Singh."

Then she was hurrying out towards the featureless concrete blocks of the quarantine building, a clipboard of notes still in her hand.

[Dawn OOC]

James had taken the two unconscious women to the quarantine building and put them in the exam room in the back of the building. There was only one table, so he had to lay them on it carefully to make them fit. He'd just finished making Nashwa as comfortable as he could when Myf arrived, entering the room quickly.

[SalmonMax]

"Are they conscious?" Myfwany asked, hurrying over and leaning down to get a better look. She dispensed with ordinary tools this time, going straight to her own powers as she let ordinary vision dissolve into a green webwork and peered into Nashwa to see if her illness was from z-plague.

[Dawn OOC]

Nashwa wasn't ill; she was dying. Her wounds had freed much blood from her system, and there was shrapnal buried deep in her body. Even a fully-staffed emergency room might not be enough to save her.

[SalmonMax]

"What the..." Myfwany stared at the little chunks of metal deep in Nashwa's body with surprise; they were visible as displacements in the webwork of her still-living, but rapidly weakening tissues.

"James, get one of the first aid kits from the clinic, now!"

Disinfectant, bandages...they wouldn't save her, but they still might be necessary if what Myf did next worked.

Without looking to see if James did as he was told, she placed her hands over the shrapnel entry wounds, now thick with blood. She honestly wasn't sure how this would work when there were foreign contaminants, but Nashwa was out of time.

Myfwany closed her eyes and concentrated. The tent billowed out a little as air bearing the scents of grass and pine and flowers circulated fitfully within. The smells of spring, and renewal.

(OOC - 2 dots of healin' Hopefully enough to stabilize if probably not to completely heal her back.)

[Courier]

James was on the move the moment Myf gave her order. He barged out and leapt to the clinic. I'll just scream if it turns out the clinic was the right place to take her after all.

[Dawn OOC]

Dr. Singh gave him the supplies he needed quickly, looking less irritated now that the contaiminated women were away from his patients. James bounded back to the quanantine shelter and opened the door, releasing the scent of spring and renewal.

Under Myfwanny's skilled hands, Nashwa looked better - save for the pieces of metal being pushed from her flesh. As James watched, Myf stopped, frowning at the half-closed wounds. "I need disenfectant, tweezers and a scapel," she ordered, holding out her hands for the bag. "Hurry, she doesn't have much time."

[Courier]

James handed the bag over and hovered, trying to play nurse and have whatever tools Myf would need at hand. James asked with something that wasn't quite hope, "Could she make it?"

[SalmonMax]

"Shh," was Myfwany's immediate reply. She took the gauze and cupped it around one of the livid punctures in Nashwa's body, then unwrapped a sterile set of tweezers and carefully reached inside with them. She didn't have to reach far, fortunately. The healing flesh had shoved the fragments much closer to the skin than they'd been. One by one, they came out, and Myfwany sprayed disinfectant and taped bandages over the holes.

Finally the ordeal was over, and Myfwany looked up at James. She nodded. "She should live. She'll need to stay warm and rest. And I don't see signs of infection, zee or otherwise. Time will tell though."

She got to her feet and peeled bloody rubber gloves off her hands. Pat was there too, on the other side, and Myf went around to her to check the ebb and flow of the 'witches' life, and see what could be done to save her as well.

[Courier]

"Whoa... Myf, Thank you." James said in relief & surprise. Sometimes the long shots work. And I'd thought Myf couldn't raise my opinion of her any higher. Shrapnel though, not a bite. Grenade or something similar. I'm surprised a normal human being could live through that... maybe Pat did something... or maybe...

James looked at Nashwa closely, then looked at Pat, then back again. I wonder... but I don't care, and I certainly don't care right now. Blankets first, then I'll take her... no. She's still in quarantine, so Nashwa stays here and Jo stays there. Blankets while Myf does her thing with Pat, then I'll clean up and let Jo know what's happened. If Jo's asleep I'll write a note. Looks like I'm playing nurse here for a bit.

James got a bed ready, then picked Nashwa up and moved her there, then checked on Myf and Pat.

[Dawn OOC]

Pat was in stranger condition. She wasn't sick with the z-virus, but Myf could see that her 'life-aura' was pale and sickly. Like Nashwa, she also suffered from many small shrapnel wounds. Whatever had happened to them, had happened to both of them.

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany frowned as she looked into Pat, but waved James over. "Okay, one more time...same as before, for now at least..."

Blood flowed from shrapnel wounds as the chunks of metal were shoved closer to the skin by knitting tissues underneath. Myfwany wasted no time in prying those chunks out and applying her tools of trade; disinfectant and bandages. The process wasn't terribly time consuming. Someone who didn't know what energies Myfwany was consuming to fuel her powers might have thought the procedure trivially easy. But that same energy might have been used to create matter out of nothing, or rain destruction upon enemies living or dead. Now it had made wounds that only surgery might have fixed into flesh wounds.

Myf did look a bit tired as she stood back up and helped straighten a blanket over Pat.

"I need to talk to them before we let them run around the compound. Do you know if Fox has some kind of..." she twirled a finger and looked around the inside of the quarantine building. "camera or anything set up in here?"

[Courier]

James replied, "To my knowledge, 'No', he doesn't. And it's too late to set up something like that tonight. I'm going to write Jo a note then come back here and sleep with Nashwa."

James paused then said, "That didn't come out right. I'm going to come back here and watch Nashwa sleep, and maybe get some myself. I'll bring back some bottled water and see if she's up to drinking it when she wakes up."

Young attractive unconscious woman with no one around in a base with a massive sex ratio imbalance. No potential for trouble there. And that's before worrying about 'what happens if her condition takes a turn for the worse' and the whole Pat issue.

James added charitably, "Pat too. If you're done with Pat I'll move her into the same room as Nashwa."

James looked at Pat for a moment then said, "Myf... check me on this. Pat does not look like a super to my eye. I wasn't around her long enough to tell if she eats more, but you have extra senses, right? Can you tell the difference?"

[SalmonMax]

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no," Myfwany replies as she frowns down at Pat. "I can see the 'energy' that seems to fuel our powers, but I know that when Violet becomes Jennifer, she looks normal to me. It's possible that any super who consciously stopped using all powers would also look normal."

She shook her head slowly. "I think I really need to establish some actual measurements on these senses of mine."

Then the doctor looked over at James. "If you want to stay with them that's your option. I didn't see any outward sign of bites, but Pat's 'life' is...weak for some reason. I can't be more specific than that. If I couldn't see it, I wouldn't have known anything was wrong at all. Physically she looks fine."

Myfwany's quiet for a second, then nods and goes to the door. "Give me a call if either one of them wakes up. Anything they can tell me about how they got hurt will help me decide how to treat them. And how long they need to stay in here."

(OOC - I think Pat and Nashwa are already in the same room, though they could be separated now that they can be safely moved.)

[Courier]

James said gratefully again, "Myf, Thank you. You're a life saver."

Sounds like she only sees our powers when we're using them. Do I show up all the time? I'm tough all the time. How about Morgan when he's not making warps? And something about Pat's situation seems off.

James put the injured duo to bed, sorted out what he wanted to leave with them, wrote Jo a message, then went back to Violet's and left it on the refrigerator before going back to Quarantine.

Jo,

Got back late. Found N (& Pat). Both hurt bad. It was very close but Myf says they'll be ok and (we think?) don't have the Z. I'll stay in Quarantine til N is conscious, I have food with me. Love you.

-JB

Back in Quarantine James settled in to wait. He ate and thought while he watched the pair. Myf said Pat is... weak. Same as the others in Norman before. Not exactly dying, more like low on juice. If she gets low enough she'll get the plague. Something used her like a battery?

I wonder if something like that happened world wide. Something happened and everyone who was really low on life turned. God awful powerful super or something else. But that doesn't explain what happening here.

I'm immune to my own fire, but that might be just me. I've never seen Morgan put his hand inside a warp and then try to close it. Maybe Pat isn't immune to her powers? Maybe she uses her life force rather than juice? Or heck, she might not be a super at all, we might have supers, zombies, super-zoms, and whatever Pat is.

Pat's killing herself with magic. If magic is real, then it should be possible to hurt yourself with it. All the old rules about god/magic only doing good things was just wishful thinking. Or maybe it's more complicated, she makes this 'death-field' and that's what is killing her. Early nuclear scientists all died young if I remember.

Or... maybe I'm making this way too hard on myself and sometimes a cigar is only a cigar. Assume where ever something odd is going on, you have a super. Pat doesn't look like a super because she isn't one. One of her coven did all those things. He or she made that death field... maybe they even need other people's life energies to do stuff.

James watched, brooded, and eventually drifted off into a light sleep.

[Dawn OOC]

He was woken in time by Nashwa's voice. "James?" she asked weakly, rolling onto an elbow. "How did we get here? Did you rescue us?"

James nodded and told them where he'd found them. "Myf patched you up," he added. "We don't think you have the z, but to be sure you'll have to stay in quarantine."

Nashwa nodded and slumped back, looking spent. "Better than dead," she said, her voice soft and almost inaudible.

[Courier]

James said, "Much better than dead. Welcome to Fox's refuge. And for breakfast we have bottled water, tuna on cracker, and an multivitamin plus iron. You lost a lot of blood, drink up. There's a lot more where that came from."

James helped Nashwa drink as much as she would then got out the can and started fixing the crackers. James commented, "It's just not the same without butter, but that's beyond even my powers."

James waited until Nashwa had eaten some tuna, and drunk more water, then he asked, "Do you feel up to talking? What happened out there?"

[Dawn OOC]

"We tried to get into a shed," Nashwa said softly, her voice weak. "We thought that there might be supplies in there, but it exploded on us before we could get inside. I think it was trapped."

She smiled at him as he offered her some more food. "Thank you for coming to my rescue, again. You're turning into my hero. How are your wives going to handle that?"

[Courier]

James replied seriously, "She'll be ecstatic. JoAnna was very worried after we couldn't find you at Slaughterville. She'd be here if this weren't Quarantine, I got in late but left her a note."

Nashwa asked, "She?"

James replied, "The day after you and I met, Violet left me for Dan. She took Jennifer and Jill with her. Jill says she's gay now. It was all very sad and sorted, the more so because I didn't see it coming. I kind of crawled under the porch and licked my wounds for a bit."

"Then I thought I'd introduce you to Jo. I took her to Norman, then to Slaughterville, but no Nashwa. They said you were on the way here. That's when we got concerned. When Jo and I didn't run into you on the way back we got seriously worried. She stayed here and I started tracking."

James winked at Nashwa and said, "I was on your tail all day."

[Dawn OOC]

"Well, usually I feel better after a man does that," Nashwa replied with a grin. It faded quickly, and James could see she was fading too.

Suddenly, she pulled herself back upright. "Wait, Pat... where's Pat? Is she ok?" Fear and worry filled her eyes, giving her temporary strength. She peered anxiously at James, waiting for bad news.

"Myf's looking at her," James told her. "She said she'll probably recover."

"Oh, thank the goddess," Nashwa murmured, sagging back into the bed. "I was worried about her." She was quiet a moment, then gave him a little smile. "So... when can I meet Jo?"

[Courier]

James gave Nashwa another cracker and replied, "Soon. You're in quarantine the rest of today. In a few hours I'll go bug Myf about getting you two another treatment. If we're lucky maybe she'll let you out early. Pat's in the same shape as you, after I'm done feeding you I've got some for her." And maybe some questions for her too.

James said, "Sleep now. I'll be around."

If Nashwa drifts off to sleep James will check on Pat.

[Dawn OOC]

Nashwa did drift off slowly, falling into a restless sleep. James watched her a moment before standing and moving to Pat's bed. Unlike Nashwa, she was not asleep, her eyes staring off into the distance. She didn't seem to be aware of him, but when he stopped moving, she said, "What do you want?"

Her voice was tired and strained, so different than the assured, charismic leader he had met in Norman.

[Courier]

James replied calmly, "I'm James, I brought you in. You're at Fox's refuge. Your daughter Nashwa is alive and will be fine. You too by the way. I just fed and watered Nashwa, now it's your turn."

James pulled up a chair and got out another bottle of water saying, "Do you need me to hold the bottle? You lost a lot of blood, you need it."

[Dawn OOC]

"I remember you, James," Pat said, her voice flat. "You were in Norman. You were interested in my terrible spell." Her graying hair slid over her pillow as she looked at him. "I'm not hungry or thirsty. Please, just leave me alone."

She sounded heartbroken and exhausted.

[Courier]

James thought, Depressed... I remember how scared I was that I'd be taking her back here, and how relieved I was that I wouldn't. Imagine for a moment being her... and not only that, being her without understanding what she's done. Maybe I can help with that last part.

James paused and picked his words carefully then said, "Pat... You really don't understand do you? You don't see it? What you did, what it all means? You're like Ben Franklin discovering electricity, or Madam Curie discovering radiation, or whoever the discoverer of fire was. History will list your name with theirs."

"It's been obvious since z-day that the rules had changed. Magic was now strong enough to do things. You're the first person who to use the new magic without becoming a magical creature. Of course there were going to be hiccups. Curie eventually died of radiation poisoning. Franklin was almost killed doing his thing. Some Russian who beat Ben to the punch was killed."

"But the world remembers them fondly because they made us better and stronger. Your work is probably more important since we have a lot of uncontrolled magical monsters running around. We need to understand them."

[Dawn OOC]

"Neither Franklin nor Curie killed other people, only themselves," Pat said softly. He finally had her attention, as she twisted on the cot to face him, her eyes intense. "James, I understand what you mean. But I will only say this: we don't understand what is going on, and reaching that understanding has too high a price to pay. People have died, and that is not acceptable."

She shook her head. "We don't know what magic is. All the things I have been taught are wrong. I was taught to shape the world with my will, and I released with good intentions and energy. It should have been fine. Instead, it made people sick, and it made them die. I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm not willing to kill others to learn."

She flopped back on her cot, her skin pale. Her silvered hair floated out in a cloud around her head. "It's all wrong. All wrong."

[Courier]

James said, "Curie's work led to the atomic bomb. That's a fair amount of blood right there. Pat, a year ago I'd have agreed with you. But your 'atomic bomb' is already running around eating people. The damage is done, the wrong parts weren't your doing, and you don't see how big this is."

James looked back in time at thousands of ghosts and said, "You ever wonder where all the zombies came from? I mean sure, you get bit, you're screwed. But where did they come from originally? I know. I was on duty when it all came apart. I saw the first wave before they converted. It was early in the morning, most people slept through it."

"Everyone who was very old, or very sick... they all came down with it. People modern medicine kept alive after they shouldn't be. The radios talked about not going to hospitals, but that's because no one survived from going into a nursing home."

"They weren't infected, they weren't bitten, they just got it. One percent of the world, all at the same time. It worked the same way as your spell. Your spell lowered what Myf sees as life energy, the people who run out convert."

James refocused on the current reality and said seriously, "Pat... we need you. You're the only person who has linked magic to the Z. We need to find out what the new rules are, because not knowing is already killing people. And it's not just the zombies, there are other screwy things happening that shouldn't. Your break through might mean the survival of humanity."

[Dawn OOC]

"We're not dealing with science," Pat said. "Science has rules that we can understand. It has laws, set limits. I don't believe that magic does, or maybe it just does now. We're playing with something worse than fire.

"My spell was right. By all the laws of magic that I have known, what happened in Norman was impossible. I called the spell in good will, specifying that so long as it harmed none. And yet, it harmed. James, it killed them. Their deaths are staining my karma now, and the sad thing is that I don't know if I'll be held accountable for them anymore. If I can't set up a spell to harm none, then does the three-fold law apply anymore? I don't know, and I'm not willing to kill anyone else to find out."

She sighed, wiping at the tears in her eyes. "You think magic will save us, and I think it's our doom."

[Courier]

James snorted gently and said, "Pat, those deaths aren't on you. You didn't know, you didn't want it, much less try for it. But you might want to rethink that part about unknowable rules. Take a look at this..."

James summoned his blade and displayed it to Pat, but let it burn just out of reach. James said, "Fire that burns under water without consuming anything. Impossible color. Irrational heat properties. It's liquid iron to everything but my skin. Makes a descent shaving tool by the way. Science says laws are being broken, but it's seriously consistent. The other magic stuff I've seen since z-day is consistent too."

James let the knife vanish and continued, "My strength ignores leverage. My skin bounces bullets but feels like skin. So what do you want to call me? Super-hero? Magical creature? Some god's avatar? Someone who intuitively learns magic and can cast the same bloody spell over and over? Magic saves my ass on a regular basis."

James sighed and added, "And I agree completely with you, magic is seriously bad news most of the time. Much worse than fire, and it's already killing us. Science says the zombies can't exist. There are even zombies with super powers."

"Worse yet, crops are failing. The farmers say they didn't do anything wrong, Myf says it's a magical problem. She can 'see' magic directly... although she'd call it something else. But describing what is going on isn't knowing what to do. And she's a super, like me she casts one set of spells over and over. Lots of power, little flexibility."

James, you're talking too much, wasting time, and she's still not drinking. How about you concede the argument and use a personal approach?

Changing tracks, James said, "Just think about it. But even if you decide to start researching magic with Myf some place far away from here, that's not going to happen this week. We need you stronger, even if all you do is tell us what not to do. Drink up."

"Nashwa is worried about you and I don't want to tell her you're refusing to eat. Also, I asked her out. If you drink a bottle of water and eat some, I'll let you try to talk me out of dating her, or into dating her, whichever."

[Dawn OOC]

Pat smiled a little, but James rejoiced inwardly. It was a start. "Nashwa's the only reason I'm still going," she told James, "and I'm glad she's found someone she likes. She'd overdue a bit of happiness." She was quiet for another moment before she sat up and held out her hand for the food and water.

James handed them to her and she started to eat. Her eyes settled on him and slowly a thoughtful look crossed her face. After a moment, she said, "You seem to know a lot about magic, or at least the basics of it. Are you a practioner?"

[Courier]

Quote:

Her eyes settled on him and slowly a thoughtful look crossed her face. After a moment, she said, "You seem to know a lot about magic, or at least the basics of it. Are you a practitioner?"

James gave a half smile and replied, "Not like you mean. Since z-day I've thought about it a lot. I'm clearly magical, so are the zoms, wondering about it comes with the territory. I have a friend who's a stage magician and Wiccan practitioner. She's taught me the basics."

James said seriously, "I like and admire Wicca. I respect the people I've found practicing it. The whole one loving god idea has proven more marketing hype than reality. But... I'm a big, super-strong guy with a flaming sword who runs around getting into fights and killing things. I try very hard to channel all that positively, but..."

James paused then shrugged, "But I am what I am, and I do what I do. I approve of the Threefold Law and the Eight words, but it's not for me. I channel Ares, and Ares isn't the kind of guy you want in a coven or casting spells."

That's it. Keep eating.

[Dawn OOC]

"There is a place for war in Wicca, or at least I believe it to be so," Pat said softly. "I'm not trying to convert you, but a coven requires guardians, especially in times such as these. Defending others is noble, even when that defense requires you to hurt people. So long as you act as a good man, your karma is lighter." She gave a ghost of a smile. "It is still a burden to bear, but it better for it."

[Courier]

James considered what Pat said, then commented, "You are... very wise."

Somehow the conversation has moved from me reassuring her to her reassuring me. Well... this is Nashwa's mother, it's very good she doesn't have a problem with my profession. Approval of your mother-in-law is worth gold. It's also good she's wise and has her act together.

James continued with surprise, "I never thought Wicca could have room for war. Coven guardian... is a good phrase. Defending my family and my people is what I do now. That burden I willingly take. On a side note..."

I was going to say just having a guardian means you seldom need one... but with the zombies around that's not true any more.

James visibly decided to change conversation topics and said, "On a side note... "

Do you really think she's up to talking about all the sticky details of what happened in Norman? Myf just pulled her back from the dead, you just talked her into eating and drinking... time to quit while we're ahead.

James said, "On a side note, welcome to Fox's."