Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 11b: Home Tidings

[Dawn OOC]

The stenciling on the door said 'Security', but someone had taken a Sharpie and written 'Zomcurity' under it. It looked like the Zomcurity had been washed off and rewritten several times, given the faded marks around the word. The door was opened by a sour-looking woman who stared at them with a frown - until she saw Gabby. Her eyes widened and she slammed the door.

"Edna! Damnit, open up!" Cherry wiggled the handle, then looked at Gabby. "Uhhh, I'm sorry. I can't curse in front of you, can I?"

"Obviously you can," Gabby said, looking only mildly reproachful. She looked more confused than anything.

"Sorry," Cherry mumbled, her eyes darting up to see George's reaction. Blushing harder, she turned back to the door. "Edna! Open up! We need to know-"

The door popped open to reveal a smiling Edna. She was beaming at Gabrielle, a light of fervor in her eyes - and make up on her face. Apparently, Edna had whipped it on in record time for her talk with an angel. "I knew you'd come! You've been sent by God to save us!"

[z016]

Gabrielle smiled back, mostly reflexively, as ask with honest curiosity, "You knew we'd come? Did you have a vision?"

Edna shook her head, "No, no! I've been praying." She held her hands up to the ceiling and closed her eyes, "God has answered my prayers!"

Gabrielle took the older woman's hands, focusing her back on the room instead of the Heavens above. "God always answers our prayers," she corrected gently. "As for saving you...Christ Our Lord has already done that. I'm simply here to help."

The smile was back, beatific and almost glowing. She looked back to Cherry, waiting for the petite woman to take the lead once again.

[RushingMountain]

George turned a laugh into a coughing fit, and hid it behind his hand. Unfortunately, it was obvious to all three women that he wasn't really coughing. Fortunately, two of the three women had too much dignity to acknowledge the cough for what it was.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Neiermeier and Jacobs talked shop for another minute, until the four men got to the garage, at which point Jacobs and Caleb split off to their people, while Neiermeier and Szabo returned to the Aylmer caravan's survivors.

Neiermeier climbed up onto the back of one of the remaining pickups, and called everyone over. The folks on the other side of the garage looked over, but stayed with their own as the Aylmer caravan's folks gathered around. Neiermeier did a quick headcount to make sure everyone was present before he began.

"First thing's first. Hilda, Jeremy is fine. He's just recuperating in the local's infirmary. Second: what happened to him could happen to any of us. Until we get this problem taken care of, everyone sticks with at least two buddies at all times! If anyone starts acting funny, report it; with the angel that's here, we can lick it if we know about it. If not, it could cause problems. Number three: George is looking into the local situation, seeing if we can trade and maybe take a break here. That's all I've got for now. Form up into your buddy groups, I'll check on everyone in a few minutes."

With that, he stepped off the edge of the truck, and started talking to the other officers--they still thought of themselves that way--to make sure there hadn't been any other problems that had come up. The rest of the townsfolk, meanwhile, were chatting, gossiping, speculating, congratulating Hilda and her children on their good news, and getting back to taking care of things while they weren't on the road. Many of the women were darning clothing, while men were checking on the maintenance of their vehicles.

"We're all refugees, now," Neiermeier muttered to himself.

"Pardon, sir?" Roberts, one of the trainees asked. For all intents and purposes, Roberts was an officer now, even if he wasn't an Aylmer native. about a quarter of what was left in the caravan wasn't from Aylmer, so it's not like he stood out all that much.

"Nothing, son. Officers are going to do everything in groups of four for a while. Get 'em all together, we'll have a staff meeting in ten minutes."

"Yes sir," Roberts responded, and started walking through the group to talk to each of the other officers.

[Dawn OOC]

"We need to see Jackie and Ralph, Edna," Cherry said, looking irritated. "These people are going to get rid of the body-snatcher and they need to talk to the leaders about what they need to have done."

"Oh, they're in W-3," Edna replied. "We had some pipes leaking and Ralph's working on them. Jackie is trying to help I think and other people are talking at them too. But I'm sure your message takes priority."

"Thanks, c'mon guys." Cherry grabbed George's arm again. "I can take you up there." Ellis library was a maze of levels; because the building had been constructed in phases, many of the floors were oddly partitioned or not even on the same level. But Cherry knew the way; she led them up stairs and through shelves of books. Voices drifted through the stacks toward them, one annoyed and straining, one forcibly helpful and the others wheedling and anxious.

The last stack had books stacked on the floor; old texts that looked to contain history from the 1950's. A few of them were wet and an older woman was carefully trying to dry them out with a specialized tool of some kind. Around the corner of the ceiling-tall book shelf, a man knelt next to a partially disassembled pipe, trying to get the next piece loose.

"-more water, with the jugs that got taken last week, we're going to need to find more." One of the wheedling voices was a man with a fringe of gray hair around his head. He wasn't very tall, and his skin hung on him like he'd lost a lot of weight quickly. "I- Ms. Pitt? Who's this?"

The man working on the pipes turned; Ralph, presumably, was a burly middle-aged man with reddish hair. His hair and beard was a distinctly Grizzly Adams cut. The woman trying to help him was tall and very thin; her graying hair was cut into a buzz. Everyone was looking at them.

"This is George and Gabby," Cherry said, indicating each one in turn. "They're super-powered, like the puppet-guy, but they're here to help!"

Click to reveal..

Pitt does appear to be Cherry's last name, from the way the balding fellow addressed her.

[RushingMountain]

With a bashful smile, George nodded his head slightly, as he said "Hi, I'm George." He kept focus on the man who'd asked Cherry the question. He bit his lip a bit, as he considered that he hadn't really added anything useful to the conversation, then shrugged, as the older man with the history professor manner continued to look at him in a way George had trouble reading.

"I'm actually from Aylmer--the one in Ontario, not Quebec--and this is Gabrielle," he pointed to the only other person here these people had probably never seen before in their lives. "We just met ourselves. Your dark friend took over one of my friends, but she, uh fixed him up, eh? We're both here with a bunch of other people. I'm looking to find a home for my folks. I think she's here more to trade, eh?" The last of that was directed as much to the angel as to the others in the room.

George clamped down on his mouth and ran a hand through his hair, and decided right now silence on his part would probably be pretty close to divine.

[z016]

Gabrielle smiled at the pair and inclined her head politely. "We're here to trade some, but mostly we were looking for a man, Bob Harker. He's tall, over six feet, has dark blond hair and brown eyes; he was a member of our enclave a while ago and left under...disturbed circumstances. We hoping to make contact with him..." She trailed off quietly for a moment, then glanced up to meet the eyes of the others. "He might be a danger to others. He was quite delusional when he left," she finished quietly.

She took a breath and moved on for the moment, back to something George had mentioned. "And yes, I was able to heal one of the people possessed by this demon creature. I can also heal other ailments and injuries, anything except the z-virus so far."

Her eyes drifted over to the pipes, "I might be able to help you with that and water, too. We managed to retrofit a small power plant in Hayes to provide hot, clean water and some electricity. I saw the plant on campus on the way in - it's a lot more complicated, but I could take a look and make some suggestions." She blushed slightly as the two blinked at her in surprise. "If you'd like, that is."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Over at the couple of RV's and trucks that made up Gabrielle's small expeditionary force, Caleb and Jacobs were giving the other near-dozen men and women the same rundown Neiermeier had. People split off into groups of three - one group of two women that eyed the older man with barely veiled suspicion, another made up of three All-American twenty-something boys that only need a flag waving in the background to make it more Apple Pie, the third group didn't need the flag, they had faded army fatigues on and handled their weapons with the ease of career warriors. The one woman gave her two fellows a grin and muttered something interesting enough about 'sticking real close' to make the farmboys turn strawberry red.

Which left Caleb, Jacobs, and the pirate. He hadn't been obvious at first, lingering the shadows behind the rest of the group, but as the numbers and alliances fell out, he stepped forward with a bravado flourish. "No need to beg! I know my duty!" His voice carried easily over to the other caravan as he paraded through the small crowd from Gabrielle's enclave, "Come now, the young swain and the grizzled veteran, we shall have you at peace - or at least not at swords I hope - in no time. 'Tis the duty of the bard, and I take up my burden willingly."

The man, dressed like an extra from Pirates of the Carribean....no, not an extra - dressed exactly like Captain Jack Sparrow and doing a fairly good impression of the character (minus being a clone of Johnny Depp), put hand to forehead, "No! No! I will not be deterred!"

He clapped the two men on the shoulders, Caleb's startled jump a stark contrast to Jacobs' raised eyebrow. The madman continued, "I shall be your third. Your mate and, on occasion, the man who keeps you two from killing each other. Blows above the belts, gentlemen, unless you're losing and then I can be bought for gold, liquor, or loose women. Ah, what a world we live in!"

[Dawn OOC]

The man working on the pipes waved. “Well, if you’re here to help, good,” he said, without stopping his work. “I’m Ralph, one of the leaders.” He waved to the woman trying to help him. “Jackie, and Colin is the third.”

“Colin sent us,” Cherry said, her arm brushing George’s faintly. A slight rosiness rose into her cheeks as she touched the taller man, but she didn’t move away. “I think he wants consensus.”

“Bah, he’d want consensus on whether we should all breathe, if that was a question at all,” Ralph grumbled. “You’re here to help, we need the help, how hard is it to say yes?”

“I imagine he wanted us to use the War Room to show them what we have,” Jackie pointed out.

“I’ve got this – why don’t you show them?” Ralph said, loosening another length of the pipe. “I’ll be along as soon as I deal with this.”

“Follow me,” Jackie said. Most of the people watching trailed after them, their eyes mostly on Gabrielle. The War Room turned out to be a rather large classroom tucked up somewhere in the Library; Gabrielle and George were quickly turned around in the building. They both could have retraced their steps but had no way of knowing the most direct route out. One wall of the room was a rather large map of Columbia, and someone had put colored pins.

“This is our incidences map,” Jackie said. “The blues are missing supplies, which may or may not be the puppet-guy. The reds are attacks on people; the yellows damage to buildings. Those tags on each give some details.” She sighed, rubbing her neck. “We’ve been trying to find some pattern; no luck so far.”

Click to reveal..

In your next posts, each of you give me an Perception + Investigation rolls

[z016]

Gabrielle followed along, having learned weeks ago how to tune out the staring. She wondered about the piping in the campus and what could be done with it, some part of her mind that hadn't quite been there before she was reborn merrily going through the possibilities of the layout and what might be done with it.

She frowned when the map was revealed, that merry part of her mind was joined by a more sinister train of thought as she sought some meaning from the pins and their notes.

Click to reveal..

Roll(4d10)+0:

7,9,2,8,+0

Total:26

2 suxx

[RushingMountain]

For a moment, George tried to take Ralph's measure, gazing at him intently for a moment before Cherry's tug on his arm reminded him to follow the three ladies out of the dishevelled library stacks.

Jackie's brisk stride and brusk manner gave him a bad feeling about her. On the walk to the classroom, he thought about it, before deciding that he was missing something, and he should hold off on making a judgement on her just yet.

“This is our incidences map,” Jackie said. “The blues are missing supplies, which may or may not be the puppet-guy. The reds are attacks on people; the yellows damage to buildings. Those tags on each give some details.” She sighed, rubbing her neck. “We’ve been trying to find some pattern; no luck so far.”

George spent a few moments examining the map, orienting the image to the portions of the campus he'd so far been exposed to. "I'm not even sure where your devil could have attacked my friend, but if he can cover a large area quickly, he's going to be harder to pin down."

Click to reveal..

Roll: [2, 6, 8, 3, 4]. Total Successes: 1.

[Dawn OOC]

The activity was pretty evenly spaced around the enclave, with only a few pins placed outside the MU campus and downtown area. Gabrielle noticed only one thing about the pattern; there was a gap in the activity around a point just north of the downtown. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing.

“That’s the old armory,” Jackie replied, crossing her arms. “And yes, we already looked there for him. It was a pretty obvious spot, given that there are no windows, few entrances and thick walls. It’s about the best spot. But we didn’t find him. At all.” The woman sounded a little defensive as she spoke.

“Then why this gap here?” Gabrielle asked.

“We don’t know,” Cherry said helpfully.

“As I said, we checked it and we’re not sure why it’s there,” Jackie grumbled.

“Are we checking it out, then?” Cherry’s question was asked with a kind of hopeful naivety.

[z016]

The angel nodded, "It's a place to start, and perhaps new eyes will catch something out of place." She tapped her finger to her lips, thinking. "We have tunnels under many of the buildings on campus in Hayes. Do you have the same here? Perhaps this demon is using those spaces to store goods and move about?"

She gave George a speculative look. "Why don't I do a fly-over and see what there is to be seen that way, and then you - and any others that wish to come, I suppose - could take a look inside? I'll worse than useless if tunnels are involved unless they're large enough to accommodate my wings."

She bowed her head slightly to the others in the room, a show of deference to their hosts, "If that is acceptable to all of you?"

[RushingMountain]

"Well, yeah! I mean, the Bothan's probably right, but it's still worth doing," George quipped with a glint in his eyes.

Cherry stopped and pulled back, trying to decide if she liked the glint in his eyes, but before she could do much more than that Jackie played it straight. "What's a Bothan?"

"It's a trap!" Cherry and George shouted at the same time. Jackie tried to keep a stern face as she cocked an eyebrow at the two of them, and after only a few seconds they stopped giggling,, and Cherry stopped leaning into him again.

"Seriously, it probably is a trap. I'm curious to know what you used to look for it, though? Dogs? Low light amplification cameras? micro-frequency radar?" He considered the look in Jackie's eyes, and decided to stop before he started asking about truly outrageous options.

"Well--Mr. Fritsch, was it?--we haven't exactly done well," she replied, in an angry, if tightly controlled tone. "I'm right proud of this university, but the only canines we have on campus were, if I remember correctly, here for epilepsy or cancer studies. Most of them didn't make it through the zombie apocalypse. Furthermore, we were not exactly a strong electrical engineering school. I'm afraid we just do not have any of the equipment that would aid searches in the ways you've just mentioned. We did have a number of volunteers go looking, and some of them have been hurt or died as a result. That is why we've stopped doing these searches," Jackie concluded, looking up at George in way that made him squirm.

George looked back and forth between Gabrielle and Cherry, then offered. "Okay. I getcha. What if Gabrielle and I go look, and you find a relatively safe place for our people to stay the night? Unless you--" George looked at Gabrielle and back to Jackie again "--think it's better if we settle our people in for the night, and then start again in the morning? I understand that this guy tends to need to recovery after getting somebody? He went after one of my friends a little while ago, so now might be the right time." George shrugged. Thinking of what had happened to Jeremy brought the anger he was feeling to the surface. "I just want my people safe, ma'am, and I'm tired of people trying to kill them, or anyone else that's easy pickings. Point me at this demon, and I'll show him some righteous vengeance and furious anger." He smacked his right fist into his left hand, and the clap of it was like a shot.

"Sorry," he muttered, bashfully for the loud noise.

[z016]

Gabrielle started at the sound, then nodded and smiled at Cherry. "I'm certainly fine with Cherry finding a good place for our people for the night. You've been such a wonderful help so far." The line might have sounded odd from anyone else, but Gabrielle was utterly sincere. "Time to rest would also be nice, in case I am needed for any healing tomorrow. If there's anything else I can do to help before morning, I am at your disposal."

[RushingMountain]

"Okay," George said, looking to all three women, but concentrating on Jackie, "so our game plan here is we tuck our people in for the night. Our security takes care of whatever building they're in." After an affirmative nod from each of three ladies, he continued. "In the morning, Gabrielle does a fly over--correct me if I'm wrong," he glanced back and forth between Jackie and Cherry, "but Mr. Dark-and-gooey hasn't done any sort of long range attack in the past? Then Gabrielle and I go in on foot, with maybe a small team, just to see if we can flush the fu--coughcough--uhm... fiend out. Eh?"

--------

The narrow fold down cot would never have been found in even a two-star hotel, pre-Z-day, but as Neiermeier's light snoring attested, those who'd spent any length of time in ground forces quickly learned to catch sleep when the opportunity presented itself, regardless of minor impediments like comfort.

Ehmeff, one of the younger officers under Neiermeier rapped on the frame of the bus door he was standing at, using his wedding ring to give it some weight. He was one of the original Aylmer natives, but also happened to have gone into the military--Canadian Forces--before joining the Ontario Provincial Police. Somehow, his army nickname--a play on his first initial and lastname--had come with. After Marko Holynasty had gotten used to the unfortunate coincidence between his Ukranian surname and Anglo humour had hit him from the start of his seven years in Regular Forces.

When Sergeant Major Neiermeier was awake (Ehmeff understood Neiermeier had left the USMC a Master Gunnery Sergeant, but he still thought in terms of the OPP's ranking system, since that was the structure he'd met Neiermeier in), Ehmeff cleared his throat. "Everybody's packed up, sir. Where are we going?"

While putting on his boots, Sergeant Neiermeier replied. "I'm not sure, son, but I know Mr. Mountain won't be leaving his people sleeping in a parking garage all night, so we're just going to be ready when his people get here. How are our neighbours doing?" Neiermeier patted his chest pocket, which was clearly empty, as he got up. He nodded towards the front exit of the bus.

Ehmeff shrugged. "They seem about as organized as our civilians want to be. Are we going to have downtime and access to a mechanices bay? The vehicles could probably all use a tune up."

He pulled out a pack of DuMauriers, popped one between his lips, and tossed the rest of the pack to his superior. "Finder's fee", he muttered around the cigarette just before lighting it and stepping off the bus.

"I don't have an answer for that yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I can. Everyone eating properly? Off the hooch?"

"I haven't caught anyone yet, sir." Ehmeff replied. Neiermeier grunted ambiguously in response. "I'd bet two or three of the farmers have taken a swig or too, but they do a little more than that in hunting season. They're all still walking straight."

Neiermeier waved his hand to his subordinate in a "drop it" motion. "If we get hit here, we're screwed, but I don't think it's likely. If anyone starts slurring, let me know. I'll deal with 'im. Get too it, I'll take Haltrich and Fedoriv and go look for Mr. Fritsch. If he comes by or if trouble does, signal me on the radio. I'll signal do the same. And keep up the infection checks."

"Roger that," Ehmeff responded. As antsy as he was about being in a parking garage, things seemed a little more stable here than most of what they'd experienced on the road. He could handle this for a bit longer, even if there was some sort of crazy thing that could possess people.

[Dawn OOC]

Click to reveal..

5 xp - good thread, guys!