Aberrant: Dead Rising - Meiosis

[z016]

It was later. Not quite night yet, but the sunlight was making the transition from bright yellow-white to balming gold and would soon be dripping red and purple from the sky. It was later.

Gabrielle sighed and surveyed the open in space in front of her that was quickly filling with people. She and Caleb and Emma had been speaking with the Magdalen congregation for most of the afternoon, getting opinions, listening to complaints and wants, and in general making sure that everyone was on board for moving back to Hayes and then deciding what to do from there. Not everyone was happy with the idea, and Gabrielle thought that there were several people, maybe even an entire family, that would end up staying at Fox's Refuge. It made her a little sad, but she wouldn't dream of forcing them to do other than what they felt called to do. The Lord's plans were inscrutible and she would trust in Him.

Right now, she focused on those that would be leaving. There was a great deal to coordinate and should anyone from Fox's Refuge or the survivors of the prison wish to go with her, there would be a need to reevaluate their stores and transporatation capabilities and integrate the new members. Very little was simple these days, and as she watched a few of the younger kids playing on the DS Gameboy's that Dylan had leant them she smiled. At least kindness was still around, little brief flashes in a dark world.

She stretched, popping her shoulders and shaking out the feathers of her wings. It was time for work and people were waiting on her.

[Fox]

"Nice evening for it." The clipped English drawl from nearby brought Gabrielle's attention to the tall, lean figure of Bond moving from the shadows of a nearby building in her direction. He had a bottle in one hand, its glass and the gold of his guns catching the sun's rays in small glints. China-blue eyes regarded the angelic teen as though they could see right through her, yet she met that gaze easily. After all, she had nothing to hide, even from the mercenary. Walking alongside him, her arm around his waist even as his was draped over her shoulders, was Jasmine, who gave Gabby a warm smile as the pair came to stand next to her.

"We thought we'd come along once word reached our ears of your leaving." Bond went on, casting his gaze over the gathered people before flashing her a crookedly charming grin. "Looks like we weren't the only ones who wanted to hear what you had to say."

[Mr Fox]

Morgan made no effort to conceal who he was as he walked through the crowd and toward Gabrielle and Bond, he wasn't very surprised that many in the crowd looked either uncomfortable or perhaps a little afraid as he moved through their midst.

When he reached the little group in the center, he spoke into the brief silence. "Gabrielle, I'm sorry to see you and your folk going. I had hoped our people could have combined for form a single community, but before you go I want you to know that I consider us allies. If you ever need us feel free to call and if we can we'll give you aide."

He paused for a second an nodded greeting to Bond and the others, "Same goes for all of you. Bond you've brought in much needed supplies and helped out more than once without asking price. I don't forget that."

To Gabrielle, "Whenever you are ready let me know and I'll open a gateway for you so you don't have to trek through all that zombie infested country between here and Hayes. If you want to that is."

He offered his hand to her and the others. "Anyway, that's all I really came to say, keep in touch, and stay safe. I've got another meeting to attend so just send a runner to find me when you are ready." He paused a moment to see if the leader of the other group would say any parting words.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine watched Fox quietly without saying anything, dark brown eyes regarding him calmly as he spoke. She shook his hand when it was offered to her, and nodded slightly at him with a polite smile.

"Thanks for letting me accompany you and your group, to Dallas and to the prison, Captain. It may not have..." She paused for a moment with a slight swallow, then shrugged. "At least I know, and have an idea where to keep looking.. that probably would have been a lot more difficult of a journey without all of you along."

[Dawn OOC]

There were a number of others wandering up. A small group from the prison; more representative than anything wandered up, led by Inanna.

Once Fox was done talking to Gabrielle, she nodded to Fox and said, "We thought we'd hear the other offer, too, before we decide. Don't worry - we won't influence what's going on before we know where we're staying. But we'd like to hear where Gabrielle wants to take her group - her vision, if you will."

Her smile said she knew Fox would understand her position. She gave him a nod and moved away from him, joining the others in standing in front of Gabrielle. There were others too - mostly dissents who had found Fox to be overbearing. There was no one from Ger's security force, or from his inner circle of the compound.

[z016]

Gabrielle listened quietly, her smile heartening a bit at his kind off. "Thank you, that would certanily make travel much safer and quicker. May I keep the radio you left us with before? That's probably the most reliable long distance communication we have right now."

At his nod she smiled again; she showed no animosity or really any sort of negativity towards the Captain. She offered him her hand, "Thank you for the help you've been, Captain, and for the hospitality here. I wish you and yours luck in your endeavors."

As the others trickled in, Caleb began rounding everyone up into the open space; crates and chairs were gathered towards the front so that those that needed to sit could and after a few minutes the conversational buzz quieted. Gabrielle took her place in front of the crowd, flanked by Caleb, Emma, and the other leaders that their growing little community had to offer.

She held up her hands and the last bit of noise subsided, "Okay, I think we're ready to begin. We're going to talk about a few things and make some decisions on where we go from here. First, I'm going to outline the situation in Hayes, then we'll discuss some of the ideas and issues that we've learned about here at Fox's Refuge, and finally we'll outline the plan of what to do from here." I sound like a school teacher. I guess those English outlining lessons really do come in handy. I just wish Ms. Ellington was still around to be able to gloat.

"Hayes. We've got the college there. That gives us plenty of ready housing, dorm and apartment style, we just have to clear it out like we did with the first building. There's second stories at least on them, so we can set up defensive catches along with the fencing we've been putting around the buildings and open spaces. I like the wall that they're building here, and it might not be a bad idea to raid for the supplies to build walls around the entire campus after we've fenced most of it off. The college also has underground tunnels that are being cleared out and offer another method of travel in the winter or should there be a need to flee one area of the college. We've also got the library there, which is major source of technical knowledge for what we don't know among us. We also have food and medical supplies from the campus clinic and the cafeterias. I'm going to come back to the food in a minute. Finally, we've got a working steam power plant that's been modified from coal to wood. It's not enough power for what used to be modern living, but it keeps lights on at night and gives us clean, hot water. Enough for everyone there and probably five or six times that easily." She looked around at the faces in front of her, old and new. "That's what we have at Hayes."

She took a breath, steeling herself for her next subject. "I've learned something disturbing here, and while we talk about it I ask that everyone try to remain calm and let me finish." She paused for a beat. "Crop plants aren't growing, apparently." She held up her hands as conversation picked up to a loud buzz. "Just a moment! Planted crops aren't growing, but wild seeds still are. Look around! Weeds are everywhere. I don't know why some things are growing and others aren't, but we're just going to have to learn to adapt. The library at Hayes can help us look up what's good to eat and what's not, and other than that, we'll just have to deal. The Lord provides. Food may not be as easy to come by as we're used to and may not be what we loved from before, but we'll eat. We're just going to have push up our sleaves and start over a bit." She took a breath and decided to press on, despite the pockets of scared or angry conversation still going on. "This means that we'll have to be careful with the non-perishables that we have until we know what we'll be able to produce or find on our own. We've got a good store of foods so far, enough to get us through the winter even if we have a population increase. I do think we should start raiding the city itself and other small communities around for more canned food, though. We'll start working that into the work roster once we're settled in again."

"Before we move into the planning and action phase, are there questions? Comments? A really good joke someone told you?" She smiled at the last, her attempt at levity, and really did hope someone had a joke to tell.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine glanced at Bond with a slight frown as Gabrielle broke the news about the crops, then turned her attention back to the angelic-looking young super, paying attention to what she had to say. After a moment or two of dismal silence following the speech, Jasmine raised her hand to catch Gabrielle's attention.

"Gabrielle - I know we're not part of your enclave or anything, but this is just a suggestion.. you mentioned clearing out tunnels and erecting fences and building walls, but at the same time you're dealing with a possible food shortage issue in a couple years. I've noticed here at Fox's they've put a lot of work into a place that they're now, it seems, planning on ditching. Maybe you should focus your efforts for now on.. I dunno, short term survival stuff? For as long as possible.. you know, gathering as much food as you can, stockpile building materials and resources, see how much stuff actually grows wild near Hayes. It's the Midwest, you know? All people have done here for a hundred years is farm. Will stuff even grow wild here any time soon? And why put all that energy and all those limited materials to use on something you might have to abandon if Hayes turns out to be an impractical place to stay?"

[z016]

She thought for a moment over Jasmine's words. "We've got enough food to get through the next winter, and there's all sorts of building materials just laying about the town, from the Lowe's to the abandoned buildings themselves. We've got clothes and power running that'll see us through the next winter as well. We've got short term survival there pretty much taken care of; it's the longterm that we need to look to now. I was planning on having people spend the summer learning what's safe to eat and what's not and how viable Hayes is. That way we can keep the canned foods for emergencies and the winter and possibly moving."

She shrugged and gave the other teen a self deprecating smile, "And people need something to do all day. We don't have TV to suck away all our attention anymore and even I don't want to pray all day long. So, something to do and how much better when that something makes life easier? Even if we have to leave, that doesn't mean what we've done doesn't matter or wasn't worth it. We've all got a lot to learn and relearn, and everything we do is practice, at worst."