Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 11d: Go Home, Young Man

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan had Followed Kristen. "Fox leads the Refuge yes."

"Doctor, if you're done, lets go back to the vehicles, that way we're all in one easy place for Morgan to retrieve us."

[Courier]

James added, "And no, I don't think you've met him. And... Adam? I'm hoping you'll come with us, your options if you stay here won't be very pretty."

[BlueNinja]

Adam looks in surprise at James. "Well, um, why? What's wrong with staying here in Hawaii"

[Courier]

James said flatly, "You're too white. White people have their own island. I gather it's grim, 'Lord of the flies' type grim. Hoku has about twenty supers backing him if that's a problem."

[BlueNinja]

Adam looks down at the faint tan on his hands and arms, opens his mouth, then shrugs. "Suppose I'll tag along with you for the moment then."

Julia pipes up as they go down the stairs. "How come everyone else has more super-people than we did?"

[Dawn OOC]

Adam shrugged at his neice after a moment of consideration. He doesn't really know; doesn't even really have a guess. It was a good question, though.

The group clustered together and started the pleasant walk back to their staging point. Suddenly, they heard that conch-shell blast of noise again and remembered that the last time they'd heard it, it had announced intruders.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristen turned around, beginning to troop back out of the hospital, pausing by Julia on a landing. "I'm not sure why Hawaii has so many supers, but Mr. Fox has been gathering people from all over at the Refuge. Before they rescued me from Para-" The bronzed teen's heavily defined muscles bulged powerfully, tensing at the thought of her personal Hell. "-Before they found me, I didn't even know there was more than me and maybe one other that had 'powers'."

Kristin giggled, spiced with bitterness and cut short. "I thought I was a 'Slayer'. Y'know, like Buffy?" The matured-bodied, eerily wholesome girl sighed, then began down the stairs once more. "Was I ever wrong."

[Courier]

James said, "I've been talking to Hoku and as near as I can tell Hawaii isn't as rough a neighborhood. He claims this returning to the old ways had a lot to do with it. But the upshot is they've only had one super-zom... and the plague seems to have died out quicker here."

[Dan Hawkins]

"Fox has done alot of "recruiting" I guess you could call it." He smiled and then heard the conch. He made a command decision and sighed. "Let's check it out. If it's Zombies, I wouldn't mind helping them for their hospitality. If not, then whoever it is may need a place to stay if they aren't the right color." The last part was said with a small amount of disgust.

[Courier]

James said, "If our hosts are right then it can't be zoms. So ya, let's check it out."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"Yes!" Kristin exclaimed, knuckles crackling as her hand tightened on the steel half of the axe slung across her broadly muscled shoulders. The prospect of chopping zombs to bits was actually very satisfying, simplifying her inner turmoil. She didn't have to think about the thing growing inside her when her axe was biting through the decrepit flesh of the not-quite-dead-but-not-really-living.

The thought that her axe might bite through the flesh of men instead of zombies didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. She wasn't sure if that disturbed her or not.

"Let's go!" The heavily muscled teen-girl stepped up to a jog, then took off at a run that would tax a galloping triple-crown winner.

Click to reveal..

Activating Enhanced Movement for the Scene

Q: -3 | W: -0 | HL: -0

[BlueNinja]

Adam looks up as the conch horn sounds, following behind everyone else. He doesn't remember hearing the horn, but if they sounded it while he was floundering ashore in exhaustion he would have missed it. While they move, he keeps his eyes peeled for a defensible position to put his niece in should a fight look imminent. And, of course, his eyes are peeled for zombies, the better to blow them up.

[Courier]

James ran after Kristin and mentally cursed that she was outrunning him.

{OOC: If James can see a far off spot that he could land safely on he'll leap there.}

[Dawn OOC]

The group ran toward the noise. Before they arrived, they could hear gunshots that indicated something really interesting and probably fatal was happening ahead of them. James arrived first after a mighty leap that put him on the top of a building on the edge of the beach.

A battle was raging on the sands and the ocean was on fire. Humans were firing into the fire or at the forms rushing out small gaps in the flames and up the sands. Both sides were armed with clubs, rifles and spears - but by far the most impressive was the supers fighting.

A wave of sand rose up and crashed down on the beach-stormers, but before the other humans could press their attack, a whip of fire as big as a horse's torso snapped out and caused them to cower back.

"False god!" a male voice roared. "Step out and face me!" The man shouting was just down the beach, casually knocking back those who dared to attack him. Bullets snapped off his flesh without causing so much as a flinch.

[Courier]

James sighed, Ah yes. The old ways included tribal war now didn't it? James clicked on his radio and said, "Kristin, Dan, everyone, there's a super-hero battle on the beach. I don't think this is a raid, it looks more like a war or palace coup. One group is denouncing Hoku as a false god."

[Dan Hawkins]

"Stay out of it. It is not our fight, unless one side attacks us, or Hoku and our hosts call to us for aid."

There was a small part that wished to rush into battle, but it wasn't their fight or concern. Besides, Killing other living humans was something he'd prefer the others not have to do.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Of course he's a false god - there are no gods, Kristin thought bitterly. There is no God either.

Kristin ran down the road, passing her big, white pick-up, then moved into the thick brush alongside the pavement before she reached the beach. She crouched low, peering between the leaves of an oversized fern, axe clutched tightly at her side. The battle on the beach looked like something from a comic book. Seeing it for real, it was exciting... and horrible.

Being told to hold back wasn't sitting well with her - Hoku and those other people were weird enough, but they hadn't been mean or anything. If the battle started moving towards the garden, she was getting involved, regardless what Dan said. Kristin clicked on the radio. "Shouldn't we help them? There were nice enough to us."

[Dan Hawkins]

"We will if they ask us. We are outsiders here. They do not want us here Kristen, but their customs extend at least temporary hospitality."

He sighed. "Thus if they ask it We will help them."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany trotted up after Dan and paused standing near him and Kristin. She'd been quiet, thinking her own thoughts since they'd come and picked her up from the hospital.

Now she looked at the war of gods on the beach with palpable anger.

"Another senseless waste of lives," the doctor gritted. "It's not as if humanity has them to spare these days."

[Courier]

James took out his binoculars and took a good look at the newcomers. Was this a white skin rebellion?

[Dawn OOC]

It wasn't totally a white-skin rebellion; James could seen caucasians and islanders alike fighting side-by-side. But it seemed possible that these invaders were from Lanai.

[Courier]

James replied over the radio, "Dan; Nice words and not killing us over our skin color doesn't mean we should help the South keep slavery. I've got a good view of this... and I think that's accurate."

James mentally translated that to, Three quarters of my children would be the wrong color and would end up with the remake of the Lord of the Flies.

[Dan Hawkins]

He looked to Myfwany and nodded. "Spoken more like a battlefield medic than a clinical doctor." He looked back. "I agree. Race should never have been an issue, even moreso now."

He replied to James over the radio. "I still say we hold back. Worse than anything would be one of us getting hurt in that battle. We have no stake in it, no intel on any of the combatants, that's plenty of reason for us to stay out unless called. If you really want to go take a risk like that i can't stop you, but think about everyone else in the group."

[Courier]

James replied, "Holding back. And you're right, we've no clue if the new guys are worse. I've no intention of going up against Huko. He seemed to have his act together."

[Dawn OOC]

Dan's radio crackled to life. "Dan, come back. Over."

"Go ahead, Fox," Dan replied.

"The group in DC ran into some trouble," Fox said, his voice terse. "Some group has Jules and we're planning the raid to get her back. Is Adam there and ready to get us to Vegas?"

[BlueNinja]

Adam looks up as the radio crackles to life. "Um, I suppose, but I don't think it's the best idea to go leaping back into a massive zombie attack."

Behind him, Julia has her tiny .22 pistol out, pointed at the ground, though she seems on the verge of a panic attack.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan shook his head. "I hate it Fox, but I think we call this a wash and head home. We didn't find what we wanted, and Adam hasn't had much chance to really rest up. We're all fine, but jumping into a horde of zombies may not be our best idea here."

He looked to Myfwany. "We might save some people, but we all get put at risk, possibly being stranded. What do you think Doctor?"

With them having Jules Dan realized Morgan's attention was dangerously divided. He clicked the radio to where it wouldn't send. "He'll need us to ge Jules." He looked to Adam.

"Do you honestly think there will be any survivors there to rescue should we go to Vegas?"

[Courier]

James thought to himself, And that's my ride(s?), talking about leaving. And unlike this mess, I have a better idea what's going on with Jules and/or in Las Vegas.

James tried to locate Dan and company and then leaped for where he thought they were. In route he suggested, "Depending on what Jules needs we could split groups. One to Vegas, one home, one for Jules."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Focusing on the battle on the beach, Kristin tumbled to her pert behind, startled by her radio crackling to life. She listened, smooth, young jaw tightening savagely as she heard what was happening. All thoughts of zombies faded under a wash of red, the thought of a woman bound against her will filling her with fury. That is was someone who had been in Paradise too almost made her howl.

"I going after Jules!" Kristin growled emphatically, her youthful soprano full of a hate that one so young shouldn't have possessed.

[Dawn OOC]

"Dan, I don't know if there will be survivors, but I'd feel like shit if I didn't try." Fox sounded determined.

"We'll see, Kristin," Fox said, his awe-inspiring voice tinny over the radio. "I'm going to do this smart. I'm sending most of you to Los Angeles-"

"Vegas," Adam butted in.

"Damnit. Vegas. Long day. Las Vegas," Fox corrected, sounding annoyed. "Most of you are going to Vegas. So am I, long enough to establish it as a jump point for me. Walker, Dylan and I will be rescuing Jules, and depending on what Dylan tells us, it may just be Walker. I don't like it... but it's what he's good at. The rest of you to Vegas, with Myf in healer mode. There may be survivors holding out, and we need to find them. And anyone who doesn't like it can go to the Refuge and cool their heels.

"That reminds me. Myf, I'll need you here for a moment. I think Dylan's been exposed to the Z and I want you to do what you can for him."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded, knowing that this was just how it was going to be. "Alright, everyone back to the Vehicles, make sure you're weapons ready, Adam, Julia, get in my Humvee. It's military grade and has the most durability. Everyone else split up into the various vehicles. "We'll drive them through and then figure things out once we're there." He looked to Adam. "You want to drive, or man the 50 cal?"

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin scowled at the voice coming from the radio, even over the static, sounding compelling, commanding. "I don't wanna go to Las Vegas! I want to help Jules-" Kristin began to protest, but Fox, worried for Jules' safety, was having none of it.

"Kristin, if you want to act like a child, you'll be sent back to the Refuge, so you can be protected like one," Fox said, voice hardening, not unkindly, but with concern. "Is that what you want?"

"Noo...," Kristin replied in a small, chastened tone, though she pounded the ground with a fist.

"Okay, then. We need you in Las Vegas, Kristin. You're one of the strongest and toughest among us, you're one of our best to face a horde of zombies. Can you do that, Kristin? Please?" Fox modulated his tone, urging the volatile teen to comply. He wasn't exaggerating her capabilities and forced himself not to mention anything about her condition. Who knew had she'd react if he brought that up.

"Okay, fine," she agreed petulantly, though Fox noted the fierce and pleased notes in her voice. Kristin rolled her to feet than ran back to her massive white pick-up. Revving up the powerful engine, she patted the axe shoved between the seats beside her. Since she wouldn't get a chance to kill men, she was going to kill twice as many zombs. The need to lash out was building and she needed to release before she ended up doing something stupid.

[BlueNinja]

Originally Posted By: Dan Hawkins

Dan nodded, knowing that this was just how it was going to be. "Alright, everyone back to the Vehicles, make sure you're weapons ready, Adam, Julia, get in my Humvee. It's military grade and has the most durability. Everyone else split up into the various vehicles. "We'll drive them through and then figure things out once we're there." He looked to Adam. "You want to drive, or man the 50 cal?"

"Drive, definitely drive." He moves over to the vehicle, Julia following in his shadow. "Looks like it'll handle like my old tow truck." Opening the door, he boosts his niece up to the front and puts her in the middle before swinging up into the driver seat easily.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded and climbed in, manning the big gun, just in case. "There's a 9mm in the console Adam, should you leave the Humvee, take it. It's always best to have something to fall back on."

[Courier]

James landed and then ran to the vehicles. I don't know whether to be relieved or not that saving Jules will be Walker-only. The implication is she's been taken hostage.

Fine. Assume Fox knows what he's doing, you worry about the hoard of super-zombies. And there's the white truck, that's what I came in on.

James reached Kristin's truck and climbed aboard. He said into the radio, "We should find a roof and offer ourselves as bait. Let them teleport up to attack us."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany leaned against the side of the truck and replied to Fox, "If someone has Z, there's not much I can do," she said to the Refuge's leader. "I can maybe delay the onset, or help someone feel more comfortable...but I can't cure it. It's not a normal disease."

She took a breath. "When was Dylan exposed, and what kind of exposure did he get?"

[Dawn OOC]

"That's why I have hope," Fox said. "He wasn't bitten; the bastards who took Jules aerated some zeds and he’s covered with a fine layer of blood. I hope that means that you’ll be able to do something for him.”

He paused and then Fox asked, “I really think your final deployment should be to Vegas, Doctor. But if you want to stay with Dylan and help him, I think Violet could perform the triage needed. Do you agree?”

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany scowled and chewed her lip.

"From the sound of things, Vegas is going to be hard hit. They're going to need me. If Dylan is infected, I can't help him. If he's not, he doesn't need my help. All I can do is determine which is which...and I can do that as easily when we're done at Vegas as when we're not. As long as he's thoroughly washed, and in new clothes, then he's done what he can to avoid infection."

"So I'll go to Vegas and check Dylan when I return."

[Dawn OOC]

Click to reveal..

5 xp for this subchapter