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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on May 7, 2016 8:16:28 GMT -8
>> ORIGINS - MICAH JOHNSON 
The sun was almost setting, and Micah began feeling slightly nervous. He'd learned in other locations to do everything but look like a tourist. It was embarrassing at best, and dangerous at worst. He had seen around him all day his fellow travelers holding the colorfully printed maps the city put out, and they may as well have been 'pickpocket me!' signs on their backs. He knew better, and yet, here he was completely lost. He had taken three days leave while the MS Amsterdam was docked and wanted to enjoy them, to get into the soul of the city.
He had figured at worst he could find someone wearing a Hawaiian shirt and follow them back to the ship. The customers loved that shit. His phone of course wasn't working properly, damn thing had been conspiring against him from the beginning.
He'd asked Harry to come with him since he knew the city but he had bailed to go wind-surfing, the hippie show pony. He had probably found some American chick to squeal over his Aussie abs and alternative lifestyle ( on a freaking cruise ship, nice).
He figured he'd wander around the city for a few days and chance upon something indie, cool or interesting. An indie place, where being Australian could earn him some cool points and they might even think he's one of them (He could even get lucky).He saw fliers for them all around the city, but found the locations nearly impossible to find. He'd heard about a Parkour studio somewhere called 'Queenanne', wasn't that in Seattle? How big was this city? He couldn't find it anywhere. The Sakuracon was on, if he could handle the trawls of geeks lining up to have a moment with their favourite characters. Then again, his inner geek reminded him of the awesomeness that would be hidden at it's depths.
He'd spent the day bumming around the international district, and found it to be mostly geared towards appealing to tourists or anime geeks and lacking in any real culture (he patted the manga in his pocket that he had picked up and hoped he could get it on-board, without anyone finding out). He'd been too nervous to try out the city's underground bus tunnel, weren't subways full of bogans looking to rob you ? The map of the system looked like a complex maze just begging to ensnare tourists. He noticed some young teenage girls confidently walking down the stairs without any a care in the world, and felt a bit ashamed.
He walked behind them down the rather dramatically long staircase to the tunnel. It didn't really seem very tunnel-ish at all, the top was open and pigeons flew around and strutted on the strip. He noticed some interesting looking public art, but felt too nervous to examine it carefully, plus his phone camera wasn't working so what was the point? A large crowd waited for a bus, so he joined them. He'd ridden buses on the street level, so he knew the whole complicated deal with payment, and learned to just copy what the guy before you did.
A more simplistic graphic map of the tunnel system caught his eye, the last stop of the tunnel was called 'Convention Place', this could be telling him to just suck in his pride and go to Sakuracon. It was worth a try. To his surprise, rather than a bus, a very long train came to dock, its many doors opening up at the same time with a cheery 'ding' and releasing people on to the platform. Maybe it really was something like a subway after all?
Many of the people on his platform got on, and he followed suit. The train was clean and bright, but many of the people looked a bit sour and there were signs of incipient decay on the nearly brand new train car. A scratch on the window, a bit of subtle graffiti on the back of a seat... Seattle had a strange way of seeming like a shoddy older car with a brand new paint job. Perhaps he was just feeling a bit negative though and it reminded him of home.
The light rail ran through several stops, all of which were themed in rather exotic ways, and he found them very distracting. "Doors on my right" the train's robot woman voice intoned at each stop, and he found it disturbing. Why anthropomorphize something you're inside? How creepy. Slowly the people filtered off the train, until they reached the Westlake Tunnel stop "Last stop" the robot voice intoned.
Wait, what? Wasn't Convention the last stop? He felt panicked as he saw everyone leaving, and joined them at the last moment. A surly security guard noted him, and he found himself bustled up the escalator. The tunnel station suddenly started seeming like a mall, just like in a bad dream where locations melt into one another. Well, it was getting late anyway, maybe he'd just call a taxi back to his hotel. He couldn't shake the fearful feeling of being lost and confused. Around corners and up escalators, it was like he couldn't escape. How deep was he? By the time he reached the surface, he was practically hyper-ventilating and let out a thankful breath of fresh air.
Again he found himself pushed along by the crowd, across the street and towards a large building covered in glass. A lone Starbucks floated in the large open square, and people walked in every direction. Buskers played godawful covers, and petitioners begged for people to pay attention to their issues. This was at least, somewhat promising.
It was all a bit much to take in, Starbucks? Where there any cool indie coffeehouses? Wasn't Seattle supposed to be-- He was distracted by a thin blonde man stepping out of the coffee shop's doors. He adjusted his glasses, and seemed to notice Micah as well. Hm, kind of attractive in a needy nerdy way. 'Real' coffee sounded good, all the ship had was that percolated crap, mmm Soy latte was sounding good after all the stress.
A car suddenly roared by on the street in front of the square. Micah felt his adrenaline kick in, but hey maybe this was normal in Seattle. Not wanting to be hit but not wanting to look freaked out, he moved towards the building. Car after car careening around corners, someone screamed in the distance. It was like they were all fleeing from something, what the hell was going on? Somewhere, sirens blared. Fuck, of course he would choose the one day to be a tourist when bad shit was going down. The idea of being caught up in some natural disaster while his friends on the ship and at home laughed at him. Everyone around looked confused and shocked, and then the phone calls started. One after one, including the blonde man.
Micah almost felt like it was some sort of doom sign that his own phone didn't ring but then he wasn't surprised, that damn thing hadn't been working for ages , only intermittently to remind him it could. Then he noticed other people looking with confusion at their phones, which had suddenly grown deadly silent. What was going on? It was 7:15 PM and the sun licked at the edges of the horizon.
>> ORIGINS - DOCTOR VICTOR 
It was beginning to warm up in Seattle, 'spring had sprung' as Dr. Victor was loathe to hear repeatedly through his workday. This constant obsession with the 'nice' weather seemed absurd, as everyone around was working in the heavily climate controlled building all day long. The longest shift was finally cleaning itself out. I need to put myself back on the night shift. People are actually sick or dying on the night shift. Uneventful, and lack of those fresh, youthful doctors, it had made him consider his decision to instate a private doctors' practice within the emergency room. Getting the younger MDs right out of school would be preferable no children, no external lives or commitments. AND, something better to look at instead of the bulbous-faced, bristly, antediluvian blobs with PhDs written on stone tablets.
Even with this wondrous 'spring' everyone was talking about, it was still pretty damned chilly by the time he could escape to the outdoors. As he neared his car, he remembered a goal of the week: to look for some books on piloting.
The nearby University bookstore was on the Ave, a disgusting place littered with shambling runaway youths and cocky drug dealers. The parking was atrocious and he'd have to mingle with desperate students. No thanks. University Village was likewise somewhat of a hellscape this time of day, and he'd really rather go somewhere a bit more posh, even if it was a further drive.
Traffic this time of day wasn't that awful going south, and he could laugh at those poor suckers on the other side of the road, coming home from their downtown jobs. He breezed into the underground parking, with plenty of spaces right near the front, how convenient.
He glanced at the mall hours as he went inside, there was less than an hour left before closing, but it shouldn't take him long at all. Now, wasn't there a Barnes & Noble or a Borders or something around here? He wandered the mall, which was sparsely populated by tired looking office workers trying to find gifts to make it up to their spouse for never being home, or gaggles of suburban teenagers finding themselves rather metropolitan to be downtown. There was a faint sweet aroma, something like waffles cones that always seemed to permeate anything remotely mall-esque, and it reminded him of being a teenager. In the '90s, the mall was a hotspot for any teenager, even the alternative ones.
He shook off the feeling, and remembered his frustration in trying to find the damned bookstore. Was he thinking of the other mall? He found a large empty storefront, where he swore a bookstore used to be. He sighed, and checked the directory. "Fireworks" claimed to have books, among several other things. He didn't feel hopeful about finding anything there, but decided to at least rule it out, since he'd paid for parking anyway.
As soon as he entered, he was annoyed. A simple gift shop, with a small shelf of books in the back with sections like 'humor' or 'inspirational.' A real 'bookstore' alright. He turned on his heels to leave, irritated, and stepped back into the main hall. A fit black woman moved past him, he wondered for a moment if she was giving him a strange look.
Outside the large glass windows, he could see the road in front of the mall. One could only drive for a block at a time, stopping for pedestrians each intersection, real hell when it was earlier and more populated. A movement caught his eye, and he saw a dark sedan wheel around the corner at a shocking speed. How ballsy, drag racing in the middle of downtown? In the distance, sirens. He'd nearly turned to continue on his way, when again, another car roared down the road, half rolling on to the sidewalk. This time, someone was in the crosswalk.
The body flew in an absurd arc. From his angle, he saw the whole thing in profile, nothing like the way it was shown in movies with dramatic canted shots. Oh, so that's what they meant when they referred to the prodigal 'rag doll.' The body landed on the sidewalk, skidding several feet. The car didn't pause. Every pedestrian stopped and gasped, several running over to the victim. Everyone else on this floor of the mall likewise froze. All heads were turned. More cars roared down the road, careening, narrowly missing more pedestrians. Several people ran to escape inside the mall. Oh, dandy. Bomb threat, nuclear disaster, or terrorism? That gentlemen was decidedly dead and most definitely not worth the risk. Everything will sort itself out. Better tend to those closest to the mall at least... OH GOD MY CAR?!?!!
Then the cell phones began ringing. First just one, and soon one by one, it seemed everyone was distracted by a vibrating phone. Sorry, Charlie, I am not heading back into that hole until I bring in the fresh meat. Ooo... maybe I should schedule myself to go and 'recruit.' Then, they stopped, all at once this time. Victor glanced at his own phone -- "No Service." It was 7:15 PM.>> ORIGINS - PATTI GREENE 
It had been an exhausting workday, one of those ones where every last person seems hellbent on delaying your exit from the building. Not just every person, but even yourself. Patti forgot her keys in her hurry to escape, and had to go back to her office where they were sitting, prominently in the center of the desktop as if to cry out 'going anywhere, hmmm?' She rolled her eyes at herself, and picked them up. The noise of the jingling key seemed to attract every last idiot who came stalking towards her like wild dogs. Well, perhaps they just seemed that way in the moment.
Her office neighbor poked her head out of the door and said "You're not going to forget to pick up the party favors for the Spring Fling, right?"
How could you remember to not forget something? Anyway, Patti wasn't one to procrastinate and had bought the party favors a month ago.
Patti fought her way out with her verbal skills, and at last made it to her car. She worked her way through the downtown traffic, which thanks to her late departure, could have been a lot worse. It only took her twenty minutes to get to her apartment. She changed out of her suit and put on her sneakers for a quick trip to the mall. The Rack was having a shoe sale and she wasn't about to miss it. Besides, she could stop at Red Mango on the way.
The Mango was busy, but she was able to get out with her pomegranate-lemonade swirl in just a few minutes, strawberry mochi and all. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, which helped move things along. This might be a good evening after all.
She came in on the first floor and passed a rather sour faced looking man on her way. She was just walking past the gloriously colorful facade of a store called 'Daiso' when the sound of squealing brakes gave her pause.
She turned to look back towards the large windows of the mall. Pedestrians looked out of sorts, someone must have done some kind of dangerous maneuver with their car, how foolish. She'd nearly turned again to continue, when another car came barreling down the road, too fast for the person in the crosswalk to move. That sour looking man was in front of her, and blocked her view thankfully, but she could guess what had happened by the gasps of shock all around her. How awful! The sound of more cars roaring down the road, careening around corners.
Patti reached for her phone, when she was distracted by a phone ringing nearby her. Then another, then another... then her own. The display on her iPhone said 'Louis Greene'. Before she could answer her dad, the call disconnected. All the phones stopped ringing at once. "No service" - her phone read. It was 7:15 PM.>>ORIGINS -- NAT GRANT 
Nat wondered if Spring Fever was really a thing sometimes. Not in that cute, lovey-dovey sense, but something more like those anecdotes about full moons. Since the moment he woke up, everyone was acting oddly. One of his roommates, Zach, was sitting at the kitchen table when he was on the way out, staring blankly at an empty bowl. What, was he expecting someone to come fill it for him like he was a pet cat? But Zach could get like that after a late night working on a project, so Nat brushed it off and hurried out the door.
Nat trekked down the hill, which always made him feel like he was walking on a different planet because of the dramatically steep downhill grade. On the way back, he would be wanting to level the thing with the world's biggest steamroller, but on the way down it was an amusing curiosity.
At the bus stop, which was honestly just a metal pole in the ground on the side of the road, a slightly grimy teenaged girl rocked herself gently. Oh bus riders. At least this one was quiet. The slow as molasses trip to downtown was not unusual, though perhaps his fellow riders were a bit more chatty than usual. While he tried not to (it was rude to eavesdrop, after all) he kept catching snippets of conversation.
"You did what?!" A blonde girl, high-school-age or perhaps a bit older, exclaimed to her seatmate. The other girl, a brunette, looked embarrassed.
"I heard she got caught prognosticating in class," another brunette, this one seated behind the pair of them and one seat in front of Nat, smirked as she said this.
"Is that even a word?" The first girl sounded skeptical. "What does it mean?"
"It's what the teacher said! She was just playing with one of those fortune-tellers," the girl in front of Nat laughed. "Probably asking it if she'd hook up with Brian..."
Their conversation devolved into talk about boys and Nat lost interest. They were especially loud, and made the trip seem longer than it was.
Nat got off at his stop, right next to the mall. Even in the morning the area was crammed with tourists, and crossing the street with fifty other people made him feel quite appropriately urban. He'd be pretty sick of feeling urban by the time he arrived at work though. An endless flow of obnoxious tourists and street urchins trying to hustle something free. When he had first started this job, he had made the mistake of feeling sorry for one of the kids and gave him a pocket's worth of spare change, only to be pestered every break by more and more beggars. He wouldn't be making that mistake again anytime soon.
He worked in the second busiest Starbucks in the world, along with a whole lot of other people. It was nice that way, at least. He wasn't necessarily the most compelling employee, and certainly his female coworkers attracted a lot more of the creepy attention. (Not that he felt great about that, but it made things less rough for him.) He got his creepers of course, and today he got a doozy.
An older man asked a question about their teas, and Nat made a polite mention of his British accent. The man got a wild look about this, and apparently took it as some sign of interest. He continued making small talk for an uncomfortably long time, and avoided Nat's encouragement for him to order. "Yes, I have to say, you're a very beautiful young man. I'm sure this causes you all kinds of trouble, ha-ha..." the man smiled lasciviously. "Now, what would you consider to be the type of person that--"
Nat was all kinds of glad when a female coworker swooped in to distract the man into completing his order, and Nat made a bee-line for the break room. UGH!
The day dragged on and on and the sky dimmed to a denim blue-- a sign that he was nearly free. At last, he was released from his duties and took a moment to thank Sarah, the coworker who had saved him earlier. They spent a few minutes joking about sleezeball customers, before Sarah took her leave. Nat's bus came at 7:20 so he could take his time getting there. He stepped outside into the cool evening air. In the distance sirens blared, ah city life.
Someone turned to make eye contact with him, and he was distracted for a moment. A young man with dark hair looked a bit out of sorts. Was he lost or just doped-out? He was quite used to getting lost, so he could relate. Hm, that guy looked interesting somehow... Nat was about to approach him and ask if he was lost, when the screech of tires on asphalt tore his attention away.
A car roared by rather dramatically, and the dark haired man looked panicked for a moment, stumbling closer to the building a bit awkwardly. Nat took a step nearer the stranger, putting on his best 'helpful' face.
"H-Hey, are you all right? Crazy driver, h--" He was so busy watching him, he jumped and made an undignified yelping noise at the sound of another car doing the same thing. It was almost comical how quickly he whirled about to look. All around, cars roaring and careening around corners. What the hell? He'd seen cop cars do that, but not civilians, sheesh. A scream, somewhere nearby. Then, his phone. Phones all around, ringing, ringing. He felt like he'd fallen into a bizarre dream. By the time he focused his eyes on the screen of his phone, it had stopped ringing. "NO SIGNAL". "W-What the hell?"
Nat mumbled to himself, beginning to feel a bit panicked. What was going on?
The other phones had gone quiet as well. What? It was 7:15, only five minutes to get to his bus, but as he looked around at the faces of his fellow confused citizens, he began to doubt that his bus would ever arrive.
>> ORIGINS - BEN HANSON
He has friends at work, but none of them are close. And no pets. He does have a mom and dad in one of the suburban neighbourhoods. Barbara ("Barb") is a retired school teacher, and Jacob ("Jake") is one of those school janitors who earn more money than the teachers. After Ben moved out his mom got herself a pet. A pot-bellied pig named Finster.
Spring had sprung, as the tacky sales posters said, and for Ben Hanson that meant one thing-- convention time. Sakuracon was nearly upon him, this weekend in fact! He'd spent a bucket of money on custom made items for his cosplay, and it would surely wow everyone. He had a few coworkers who tried to bum a free room out of him, just because he lived closest to the convention center. No free lunches, bums! So, unfortunately, he didn't have anyone to go with. That didn't matter though, the convention was like a wondrous menagerie of exotic beauties, some probably for the taking! He considered renting a room even though he lived near by, just for, -ahem- convenience, just in case someone was interested. He made a lot of money, and he worked for Microsoft, that had to count for something! Plus, this costume was gonna OWN. Sometimes people got all uppity about making things yourself, but why should he? He wasn't a seamstress, and he had the bucks to get pros to do it for him. Damn it, he was supporting his local economy, what more did they want?!
A long day at work, and it was only Wednesday. He couldn't stop wondering if his packages were going to come in time. He'd check the office the second he got home, which wouldn't take him long once he was free. The 403 building was alright, nothing all that fancy but hell if it wasn't convenient. Just the shortest jaunt to work, and next to all the fine things in life. Well, not Uwajimaya or Pink Godzilla, but, eh, can't win 'em all.
He couldn't stand the waiting. Ooh, or he could call right now! He looked up the number for the office, and crossed his fingers that Breanne, the sweetie-pie manager was the one who picked up. “Hey.”
Fuck! It was that floopy haired little stoner son of Breanne's. Pretty obvious how he got that job, but he was obviously not qualified for it. “Hi, I'd like to see if I've got a package in?”
“Oh... really? Shit man, I was just uh... yeah I could look that up for you... S'alright if I call you back?”
“Yeah, but don't you need to know the apartment number?”
“I'm cool. *Click”
FUUUUUCK! That little brat! He was probably doing a bong hit right in the middle of Breanne's desk. Last time he came in to complain about some noise, little twerp reeked of booze and could hardly keep his eyelids up.
Whatever. He'd just check when he got off work.
But then, work happened.
By the time he noticed the time, the office had been closed for fifteen minutes. ARGH! No way that kid was still gonna be around. Ben cursed this cruel world, and decided to go drown his sorrows in delicious Japanese candy.
The traffic downtown this direction was obnoxious, so he decided to save himself a trip all the way to the international district and just make a quick trip to Daiso at Westlake. It was really a charming store, and the prices were beyond compare. (Not that he needed them to be, but he had to appreciate it nonetheless.) Plus, super cute cashiers! He spent nearly an hour pouring over interesting pens and adorable stationery and mysterious toys, all for under three dollars! If he didn't watch himself, he might have to get a bigger apartment for all of this. His cashier looked very tired as she rung up his crammed full basket. Her nails were intricately painted with cute little characters, and he'd nearly started to ask her if she was maybe by chance gonna happen to go to Sakuracon 'cause y'know-- when her phone rang. Oh cute! Was that the theme to--
A customer's phone rang, and another and another... Ben's own phone quickly joined the choir with a familiar anime tune. His mother? He shoved his hand into his pocket, but before he managed to answer, the phone fell silent. As did everyone else's. One of the other cashiers poked her head out of the store's entrance to see what was going on. Ben heard the distant sound of cars roaring. What, some kind of parade or something? He glanced at his phone, 7:15. Weird time to start something like that... Ugh and 'no signal', wasn't this company supposed to have the most comprehensive service?
>> ORIGINS - ALEX 
It had been one of those days. Usually, 6 AM weight training with the team and a steamy plate of French toast piled with strawberry jam (because fruit was healthier than syrup) woke Alex up for his morning classes. But by 10 AM, he was slipping in and out of consciousness as the professor discussed Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, pilgrimages, Old English, and students who'd fail the exam if they didn't wake up immediately and take notes ... OH SHIT.
Alex managed to stay awake until the class ended, but he felt awful. Exhausted. Like the living dead.
This was all Emiliano's fault. That guy had been tossing and turning in their shared dorm until three AM. Emiliano was usually the perfect roommate: quiet, thoughtful, and the kind of guy who shared his shampoo when Alex ran out. There had to be something wrong - a personal issue, maybe. Girl trouble? Could be. Alex decided to ask him later. But first, he needed to go shopping. Emiliano's birthday was just a few days away, and the poor guy could use a really thoughtful gift. Alex just wished he knew what a really thoughtful gift would be.
By late afternoon, wearing comfortable jeans and that green polo shirt that his grandma bought him, Alex was jogging to the mall. He'd been there a few times before. In between classes and baseball, he didn't have much time to explore the city, but Alex knew for a fact that this mall contained more shops than some small towns, so it had to have SOMETHING for his friend's twentieth birthday. The big 2-0.
Alex wondered what he'd do for his own twentieth birthday. It was just a few months away. Maybe his parents would finally get him a car. Something old, a fixer-upper. As he jogged, Alex imagined nursing a 70's Camaro back to health. He'd paint it red. Red like a cherry.
((GM NOTE-- I decided to cut Alex's origins in half, to make it work better in the time flow??? Feel free to change.)) |
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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on May 7, 2016 8:17:34 GMT -8
>> WESTLAKE MALL--
AT THE MOMENT--
Nat & Micah stand outside in the open courtyard next to the Starbucks. They could run inside there, though it seems less protected than the large fortress of the mall, just at the end of the courtyard, which many people are running towards. However, Nat may feel some compulsion to help any left over coworkers and prefer to go back. If you run inside the mall, you will be in the same location as the other characters.
Patti, Ben & Dr. Victor are on the first floor of the mall, Ben just inside a store that's next to the other two. You can see out the windows to the mayhem outside, or perhaps retreat inside a store or up the stairs to a higher level.
April 4th, 2012
It was a colder than average day, and at 7:15 PM in particular. It was a half an hour until sunset, and the sun already neared the horizon, disappearing behind buildings for most. Citizens near the Westlake Center had been shocked at a barrage of careening cars, and a sudden influx of cell phone calls all at once had brought down local phone service, leaving everyone with the dreaded 'no bars.'
Out on the street, cars still spun madly and dangerously, like they were fleeing from invisible cop cars. Quickly, there were pileups. Those who witnessed them thought they looked strangely slow or unrealistic. The pop of a glass window and the rain of hail-like chunks of safety glass. The crunch of a car's hood folding up like Venetian blinds, hubcaps whizzing through the air like Frisbees. The worst of course, was when you could see the person inside.
Nat and Micah were aghast to see a car roll once, and skid down the road next to them, leaving a dark smear behind it that they hoped was oil. There wasn't much time for the car to slow, before a blue sedan rammed into it, sending it flipping end over end and showering the road below with various vital liquids. Sirens blared in the distance, and they saw a cop across the street in his black jacket and characteristic blue shirt. He attempted to herd people away from the road, but it was little help when cars were rolling down sidewalks. People ran in every direction, panicked. Nat remembered his coworkers inside the coffee shop, which stuck out in the open like a target covered in glass windows. A car could easily smash through. The Westlake center beckoned from just beyond the open courtyard, which thankfully had yet to have a car plow through it just yet.
Inside, Dr. Victor and Patti saw the doors swing open over and over, as panicked people ran inside, cowering and shaking. Some people were running to the upper floors of the mall, some just frozen and gawking at the chaos.
In the Daiso, Ben's lovely cashier left him standing holding his half rung-up basket, jogging to look out the store's roll down that her coworker had vanished from. There were the sounds of panicked people and screaming echoing from outside.
>> MICAH
Micah is wearing jeans, doc martens, a white shirt with an artsy skull design on it, a scarf and one of those leather hoodies that indie kids seem not to notice anyone(everyone) else wearing.
Inventory: iPhone, wallet, manga (Gantz # 3), keys ( to hotel), employee pass ( Ms Amsterdam).
It felt like the world had frozen in place and everything was in stop motion. A wave of cars pilled up before him, the liquid on the road was growing suspiciously red and there were bits in it that just shouldn't be there. Micah heard someone screaming, not the horror movie scream but something much worse. This was not a good place to be. Micah looked towards the glass building, standing like a fortress to the chaos before him. He turned to the blonde guy standing next to him.“ I have no bloody idea what's going on but I think we should get the hell out of here, I'm running that way, coming?” Micah darted towards the entrance narrowly avoiding running people as much as he could, jumping over forgotten trolleys. The sign above read in blazing green and yellow “Lush”. He pushed through the throngs of people into a large open mall, people were running in all directions. Micah got caught in the flow of panic and was forced to move towards the back of the mall, he went along until he finally ducked into the nearest shop. It contained novelty gift items and a few books. He watched mystified as waves of people continued to flow mindlessly before him. A few people were in the store with him but he hadn't noticed them before. A skinny old guy whose hair stood at all ends was sitting in a corner with a blank look in his eyes as if he was home watching TV, car keys in his hand shaking. A woman with glasses at the counter was staring disbelieving into her phone as if willing it to begin working again. The shop assistant was hiding under the counter, the only sign of his existence, a small sobbing sound. Micah turned around to see if the blonde guy had followed him. >> PATTI
Patti didn't like the look of this, not one bit. Aunt Dottie was injured in a Black Friday stampede at a Walmart in Arlington a couple years ago and Patti wasn't about to let that happen to her.
She moved as quick as she could up against the window at the front of the "Made In Washington" tourist tchotchke store. Keeping her body as flat against the windows as she could, she began to work her way towards the opposite end of the mall, hoping there'd be less madness down there.
As she moved past the escalators, she saw the mass of crowded, pushing bodies collapse forward and tumble down towards the bottom. She made a mental note to be extra cautious when she reached the pass-through that opened up to the Metro level below. She wasn't even sure why anyone would want to crowd in underground in a situation like this anyway.
What the hell was going on here?>> DR. VICTOR
Dr. V put his fingers to his forehead. This is going to be a long, long, long shift. Moving against the current of fleeing bodies, he paused at the glass entrance for a moment. His eyes scanned the street which had the characteristics of the inside of a washing machine filled with children's toys put on spin. While not exactly disturbing to witness, he did let the twinge of disdain slip across his face. If there was going to be any help, it would be if he stayed alive to provide that help.
The good doctor removed his leather jacket, slipping it under his arm. He knew he had to get to his car fast not for the ability to drive, but to gather supplies. While not one to carry a portable clinic-in-a-case, Dr. Victor did have at least basic emergency supplies tucked in a duffel bag tourniquets, bandages, ointments, ice packs, sutures, neoprene gloves... Dear God! My gloves!
Dr. Victor decided it would be best to attempt the mad dash to his car, humming "The Flight of the Valkyries." After all, it was no different than everyone's other psychosis or mass hysteria SARS, Bird Flu, H1N1, Mad Cow Disease, Hanson... Just another "tragic incident in human history" in which they will make a pointless holiday in order to commemorate societies failings as the established citizenhood collapses under the weight of... Under the weight of... BAH! Just another day!>> BEN Ben pocketed his phone and looked around. None of the other customers seemed to know what was going on, but most of them started to move hesitantly toward the store entrances. While that was the only way to go, was it really such a good idea to move toward all the noise and people?
Unable to make his purchases, Ben quickly decided to leave the basket on the counter and follow the cashier out of the store.
Ben-
"Hey, what's going on?"
Sure, she wouldn't know either. But maybe she'd turn around and they could find out together? Wouldn't that be sweet... 
"Sonya," the clerk from Daiso-
"... What happens? A protest?"
The tiny, cute lady stopped moving forward, with people rushing past her like lunatics. Ben caught up.>> NAT Nat is wearing jeans, somewhat worn sneakers, a plain black t-shirt, and a black hoodie sweater. Oh, and his glasses, of course.
He's also carrying a brown messenger bag with a few notebooks, a scattering of print-outs and class syllabi, random pencils and pens, a text book for his cultural anthropology class, and his current 'for fun' reading material "Crown of Shadows." He also has his iPhone, wallet, bus-pass, glasses-case, and keys.
Nat found himself backing further and further away from the carnage, closer to the lost-looking man as well as the Starbucks. He couldn't understand what was going on, and it frightened him. The blonde flinched at each crash and scream, trying to make himself look away from gruesome pile-up, but he found his gaze keep being drawn back.
Nat nearly jumped out of his skin when the stranger (was that an accent?) finally spoke - he had half forgotten the man was there, that he had tried to address him mere moments earlier. He stared, uncomprehending for a moment, then nodded haltingly.
Nat-
"Y-Yeah, okay."
Nat started after the man and made it a few paces before looking back at the Starbucks - realizing, first, that there were still people inside, and second, how easily a car might smash through the building's glass facade. He wasn't sure that he'd call many of his co-workers friends - but there were a few, and Sarah had retreated back inside in response to the crashes.
Nat-
"W-wait!"
Nat turned back toward the stranger, only to find that the man had run off, presumably into the mall. Ah well, what else could he expect from a stranger?
Nat darted back into the Starbucks and was greeted by the frightened and glassy-eyed stares of the people who had taken refuge inside.
Sarah, his coworker looked alarmed, still standing behind the counter. She ran over to him.
He pushed his way quickly to his supervisor to relay his thoughts on the (lack of) safety. The man, Neil, seemed unimpressed by Nat's panicked plea however, and insisted that it was safer inside than it was out there.
Nat-
"But the walls are mostly glass!"
Nat fought a losing battle, and in the end he left the Starbucks with only Sarah and a handful of the coffee-shop's patrons. He and his small group rushed for the relative safety of the mall, joining the crush trying to push their way inside.
Sarah -
"Oh God, what's going on?! Did you see anything?
The light in the city waned, and so did the maniac cars. Not because they weren't there, or because the chaos was letting up. More, because the wreckage was piling up quick, and blocking off the roads. In time, all those that wanted inside the mall were there, milling around with the confused and terrified. Many people retreated up the stairs and away from the signs of chaos. Mall employees abandoned their posts and joined them in their confusion.
Dr. Victor considered running across the chaotic commons, but recalled seeing an indoor stairwell to the parking garage that would be a safer bet. The elevator was comically overcrowded, where did they think they were going to go? He dashed down the grimy cement stairs, along with a few other eager escapees to the underground parking. It was hot, from so many idling engines and the exhaust was choking. Cars lined up, trying to get out of the garage, but weren't going anywhere. He ran past them to his car, which was in line of sight to the exit. He saw the problem, the booth operator was absent, people waiting, ridiculously, for him to return. He dug through his car, and found the items he was seeking. The sounds of people arguing, honking, and the hum of engines echoed through the chamber. He glanced back to the exit as he closed his car door.
A beautiful, pale, dark haired woman lifted the flimsy gate arm and was nearly run down by eager cars. They spilled out into the road, bumping into each other's fenders in their haste.
She breezed inside as though nearly getting run over had not been much of a bother, and slipped past them on the opposite side to the Doctor, disappearing from his sight. She wore something pale, and he could catch glimpses of it through rushing car windows as he looked for her, he couldn't tell if her dress was covered in flowers, or blood.
Bringing a hand over his mouth, the good doctor choked back the attempt to shout over the din. His muscles tightened around his bag, sweat condensing on his forehead. The sad state of the garage left him with little choice but to escape from is carcinogenic embrace. Carbon monoxide poisoning, decreased brain function, lack of motor skills, fatigue, hallucinations, suffocation, respiratory arrest.
Dr. Victor continued his tragic thought process for a few moments more, staggering against the decision to pursue or egress. Legs leaden and welded to the concrete and asphalt, he knew continued immobility would not help himself nor the girl who fled. He had to reach clean air, a clean area, and someone who knew what ever the hell had the city in such a frenzy of stupid.
When they had those pointless disaster drills using the middle school students as victims and bodies of a bomb explosion, this scenario never came up. And they wondered why I laughed at them? Had they never thought of the mire of humanity and selfishness they would traverse in order to complete the 'triage?'
Dr. Victor attempted to head to higher ground, out of the parking garage if possible, but barring any other routes, to the top of the parking garage as the need for helicopter transport would still be viable up there... artfully dodging the psychotic and neurotic persons who wish they remembered how to drive.>>BEN
Ben-
"A protest? 'Occupy the Mall'? Nah... They'd have pickets or something. These people look more like something happened."
Making damn sure to not leave the cute little lady's side, Ben tried to catch the attention of one of the stressed out persons passing by.
Ben-
"Hey, what's happening?"
Random Passerby man -
"Some kind of BioTerror I heard! Oh GOD!"
>> NAT
Once they were inside of the mall, Nat let Sarah take over - the crowds of panicked people disoriented him, and he was more than happy to follow her lead. He did pause a moment, however, to cast a quick glance back toward the Starbucks. He was a bit startled to find that his doubts as to the safety of the building were correct - he hadn't picked it out amidst the general din, but in his flight to the mall a red pickup had crashed through the side of the Starbucks. He worried briefly for the people still inside, but was distracted from those thoughts when he spied movement near the pickup. At first he thought it was a person, but the way it moved quickly made him decide it wasn't - a black shape, almost like smoke, that slipped fluidly into the breach in the Starbucks' wall. It made him think of all of those stories about shadow-people, all of those urban legends about ghosts and monsters. But it was gone so quickly, had he really seen anything?
Sarah-
"Nat! Did you see something?! We need to get further in!" His attention was wrenched away as Sarah grabbed one of his arms and dragged him further into the mall - away from the stampeding herds trying to get in.
Nat-
"Th-There's a car, it-it must have crashed, just after we left."
He answered, once they were at a safer location, near the 'Fireworks' store. Nat didn't mention the eerie black figure - he had mostly convinced himself by now that it was just smoke from the crashed truck.>> MICAH
It felt like the world had frozen in place and everything was in stop motion. A wave of cars pilled up before him, the liquid on the road was growing suspiciously red and there were bits in it that just shouldn't be there. Micah heard someone screaming, not the horror movie scream but something much worse. This was not a good place to be. Micah looked towards the glass building, standing like a fortress to the chaos before him. He turned to the blonde guy standing next to him.
“ I have no bloody idea what's going on but I think we should get the hell out of here, I'm running that way, coming?”
Micah darted towards the entrance narrowly avoiding running people as much as he could, jumping over forgotten trolleys. The sign above read in blazing green and yellow “Lush”. He pushed through the throngs of people into a large open mall, people were running in all directions. Micah got caught in the flow of panic and was forced to move towards the back of the mall, he went along until he finally ducked into the nearest shop. It contained novelty gift items and a few books. He watched mystified as waves of people continued to flow mindlessly before him. A few people were in the store with him but he hadn't noticed them before. A skinny old guy whose hair stood at all ends was sitting in a corner with a blank look in his eyes as if he was home watching TV, car keys in his hand shaking. A woman with glasses at the counter was staring disbelieving into her phone as if willing it to begin working again. The shop assistant was hiding under the counter, the only sign of his existence, a small sobbing sound. Micah turned around to see if the blonde guy had followed him- He was distracted by a sudden sound coming from the back of the shop. The old guy had started mumbling incoherently to himself, then abruptly rose and with a strange look in his eye moved towards where Micah stood. The old guy stumbled over reaching out , there was drool pooling around the sides of his mouth... Micah glanced at the frightened customers in the store and moved back towards the entrance of shop and away from the crazy old guy. He spotted the blonde guy from earlier moving towards the shop with a few others. At least that guy seemed sane. He wandered over to the group and grinned sheepishly at the blonde man.
Micah-
" Ah Sorry I left you there before, I'm Micah"
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
The Doctor hurried up the stairwell, moving aside politely for fleeing citizens coming the other direction. He reached the third floor entrance, and noticed the stairs continued up. One more flight and he saw the door to the roof. He figured it was usually guarded, given the many black shoe marks scuffing the wall around it from bored guards putting their feet up. He tried the door-- unlocked?! How convenient.
He walked out on to the roof, amazed by the bitterly cold wind, and how it carried the sounds from below. Sirens in the distance never drew closer. He saw someone else on the roof, a black man in a black polo-shirt and ill-fitting khakis that glanced at him once, and then went back to watching the city below. The guard?
The roof was covered in huge box-like contraptions that hummed and whirred loudly, probably the building's ventilation system. He looked out at the city, unfortunately blocked by the taller surrounding buildings, but he could catch a fair distance between them. Cars clustered in twisted piles, people running in every direction, panicked. The lights of police cars uselessly spinning. How quickly everything went mad, there wasn't even a sign of the cause.
The sunset was dimming, blotted out by thick cloud cover, and the sky was a deep navy blue. It would be dark very soon.
Movement caught his eye. Dark smoke clouds, hardly visible, floated through the air. The more he looked, the more he saw, floating around in every direction, disappearing into buildings. Like reverse, black jellyfish.
The guard seemed to be watching them too, paying no mind to the Doctor.>>PATTI
Patti was making good time towards her goal of reaching the Fifth Avenue exit, but it was hard to make out the situation there through all the running maniacs. She was fairly certain she saw someone get knocked over the railing and down into the lower level.
As she hurried past the front of 'Daiso', she had to do a double take at who she thought might have been Kevin from IT. As it turns out, it wasn't but he was a dead ringer: same general height and weight, similar hairstyle, and the same frames on his glasses. Beside him was a tiny Korean girl with a name tag that read 'Sonya'.Kevin Doppelganger-
"Hey, what's happening?"
Patti was about to answer when some lunatic screamed something about bio-terror and ran off. KD and the 'Daiso' clerk looked so lost that Patti had a sudden image of the two of them being trampled to death under the feet of a thousand rioting morons.
She pulled up and motioned them just inside the doorway to avoid a sprinting 350-pound man.
"Look, I don't know exactly what's going on, but you don't want to follow that nutbar. There's a forty-something car pile-up on Pine Street and maybe some rioters, I'm not sure. I'm trying to get out at Fifth Ave so I can get home in one piece."
"I suggest, whatever you do, you stay close to the walls so you don't get trampled. Like I said, I'm heading that way, you're free to follow if you want."
Sonya-
Oh no! Oh..! Yes ma'am, are you police?
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor nibbled his bottom lip for a moment, pondering his brilliant thoughts. The idea of the roof being appropriate seemed to slip from a positive light quickly into a negative one. While the top of the area was wide opened and spacious enough, getting wounded people to the roof via the stairwell itself would prove problematic. Ground floor? Too harsh and dodgy. His mind sped downhill like a child in one of those over-sized, rubber construction wheels.
He continued to glance around, eyes scanning above and below, absorbing in as much as he could. He attempted to find some sign of organization the police lights spinning making his spirit sink further. Leave it to the SPD to be as caught up in the chaos as the people they were sworn to protect!
Elevating his growing suspicion was the solitary man. Surely of some intelligence, he appeared as if to absorb himself into the end of all things. Immobile like an obelisk, this person stood uncaring, unfeeling, unaware. Just like I wanted to be when I was that age... whatever that was.
Dr. Victor-
"Nice day to enjoy the view, hmm? Any chance you saw some sort of disaster station or such?"
Attempting to remain as cool as the other guy 'appeared' to be, Dr. Victor crept over towards the southern edge, searching for the same scenario he described. >> NAT (Recap! After all hell broke loose outside of the mall, Nat fled Starbucks accompanied by his co-worker, Sarah, and a few random patrons. Just inside of the mall, he turned to notice that a car had crashed into the side of his workplace, and that some sort of ghostly shadow-smoke-thing was flowing into the breach in the side of the building. He shrugged this off as a panic-induced hallucination/his eyes playing tricks on him, and continued further into the mall with Sarah to hopefully escape the panicking crowds. Currently, he and Sarah are standing in front of "Fireworks", rather close to the front wall of the store so as to avoid most of the crush.)
The scene inside the mall was beginning to mirror that outside, with people playing the role of the cars. Nat flinched back against the front wall of 'Fireworks' as an overweight man tore past them and cut across the mall, seemingly headed toward the exit onto Fifth Avenue. The charging man just narrowly missed bowling into a few people milling about outside of Daiso before disappearing amidst the crowds. Nat could see that others hadn't been so lucky, though, caught in the rush and trampled underfoot. There was one such poor soul within a few yards, a little boy, who lay unmoving on the floor. Nat thought he could see blood.
He looked away, shuddering, in time to see a... somewhat familiar face. The lost-man from before reappeared, rather hurriedly exiting 'Fireworks'. Just as recognition dawned on Nat, the same seemed to occur for the lost-man. He seemed to be heading over. "Oh, um. H-Hi. I'm Nathaniel, um, Nat if you want." Nat shifted from one foot to the other, his gaze nervously darting away from the man - Micah - now and then to focus on people darting past. "Do you know what's going on?" His gaze refocused on Micah, and he paused a moment to push his glasses up as they slipped a bit down the bridge of his nose. After he asked the question, he near immediately wished he hadn't - of course the guy didn't know, he'd said so earlier. "Should, um, should we be headed anywhere? They-they haven't made any-any emergency announcements over the intercom...?" He glanced from Micah to Sarah and back - the question not directed at either of them in specific, but rather to either of them in general (as well as anyone else, who might happen to be within earshot).>> MICAH
((NAT PICTURE HERE))
"Oh, um. H-Hi. I'm Nathaniel, um, Nat if you want."
His eyes darted about the place in a disconcerting fashion.
His eyes refocused on Micah's own blinking behind the glasses as if looking at Micah was a strain. He was certainly a nervous little fellow. "Do you know what's going on?" He asked but then seemed to think the better of it. Of course Micah didn't know, He doubted anybody did."Should, um, should we be headed anywhere? They-they haven't made any-any emergency announcements over the intercom...?" Nat looked worryingly about towards a young woman standing close by." I am guessing whoever manages this place has racked off, so unless you wanna go up there and make it yourself it's not going to happen. As you can gather I'm not local, so your guess is heaps better than mine as to where to go. I suggest either up or out though..."
He turned to the young woman, she was quite short and had crinkles beside her mouth from smiling all day although she didn't look happy at all now. She looked up and smiled tightly, obviously thinking hard."Hi sorry, Micah and you are? What do you think we should do?"
Sarah-
"I'm Sarah. Wow I can hardly imagine... Obviously some kind of disaster, but nowhere in sight, and nothing I've seen any evidence of. People in the shop were babbling about bio-terror or some kind of explosion but I'm sure we would've heard it. Maybe we could find a television around?"
>> BEN
Ben didn't pay attention to the dark-skinned, take-charge woman until it was almost too late. But luckily he made it back inside Daiso before he was run over by a human freight train. The cashier was paying close attention though, and seemed ready to do whatever the older woman suggested. But Ben was a child of the information age and a master of its technology! So he had his own ideas. Which involved some good, old-fashioned information technology. "That guy said something about bio-terror," Ben said, pointing in the direction of the helpful stranger. "And that sure would explain why everyone is panicking. I don't think I want to go outside at all. The phones all died, but the radio should be working, right? Don't they use that for emergency broadcasts? Or breaking news?"
"Do you have a radio in the store?" Ben asked the cute cashier.>> PATTI
Patti reconsidered the young man's suggestion and took pause. She wasn't feeling very hopeful about the situation at Fifth Ave at this point anyway. She took a step back into the storefront. "A radio, brilliant. You kids and your new-fangled technology. That's a great idea." The humor made her feel a tiny bit better, at least.
Sonya-
"Radio... I don't-- Oh! There's TV on third floor! On wall at food court, it show commercials but we can change channel to news."
>> NAT
Nat-
"Racked off...?" Nat furrowed his brows, the term unfamiliar to him.
He paused, listening as Sarah chipped in with her own opinion on what they should do."Bio-terror? Oh God, I hope not." He recoiled slightly at the suggestion."Maybe there's a television upstairs? I-I mean, there's bound to be one for security, right? And there's that big flatscreen in the-the food court, if we can change the channel..." >> MICAH
Micah-
"Ah ( he laughs) sorry Nat, it means 'fucked off' but slightly more polite. I think the one in the food court sounds like a safer bet, the one in security is probably locked up tight with a security guard blissfully and ignorantly asleep but I could be wrong. So do we adventure up to the food court? I'll follow you guys..."
Micah looked around addressing the group huddled behind the two also. An old guy wearing a pin-striped seersucker suit towards the back, gave Micah a coquettish wink and he shuddered, he got enough of those creepy ones on the ship. In fact wasn't he from the ship... 
Creepy man-
"Oh yes, goodness this is all just awful. Any young people that seek comfort, my arms are here for you. Oh yes, you there, that's nice. Hmm.." He put an arm around some random passerby who was too out of it to be bothered. >> BEN
Ben-
"Food court on Third Floor?" Ben said thoughtfully. "How can we get there with all these crowds all over the place? Are there any back doors with some stairs or elevators? Uh... Scratch that -- wouldn't want to get stuck in an elevator."
Ben really didn't want to brave the crowds, because even if he might make it up there in one piece, it might very well be with one less Daiso cashier. She seemed so timid. As if she could be swept away by a sudden wave of people. Or worse she could end up trampled on the floor like a pretty flower under the feet of multiple marching maniacs.
Perhaps the other woman could lead them though? She seemed competent. If he kept the cashier in between her and himself, they might be able to stick together? And there was that one thing that really helped when trying to not lose people in a crowd. Ben offered his hand first to the cashier, and then to the more confident woman."I'm Ben Hanson, by the way." The cashier nodded to him and shook his hand like a business pro.
Sonya-
"Hi, yes, I am Sonya. There are stairs, both sides besides middle part. Not very big but most people are not taking."
The man spoke without turning for a moment, the wind luckily carrying his voice over the din below. 
Tyrone-
"Nah, I din't see nothin'. Just... that." He tipped a head towards the mess. He had a pronounced southern accent, and a pleasant voice."I go t'have a smoke, and..." He turned to look at the Doctor."Chatter on the radio, 'fore everybody ran from the office-- they sayin' crazy shit's on the news. Every city. No clue what they meant, jes' rioting I guess." He shook his head."I don't have a gun, if that's what'ya come to ask about." The third floor was emptier than the previous two, the only people here were the ones who had no curiosity left. They either cowered behind partitions or sat with their heads down at the scattered tables of the food court. In the distance, the monorail sat idle, the rolldown only half way closed.
A small group stood crowded around the large wide-screen television, apparently already with the same idea as our brave citizens. A short, dark haired woman stood on the seat of a plastic chair to get a better view, a strong looking tattooed man next to her. The back of their heads neatly blocked out the visuals of the TV, besides swirling pixelated edges. A woman suddenly turned from the television, looking pale, and ran for the stairs holding her mouth.
A distorted voice spoke, blown out by the flatscreen speakers turned up to the max. It almost sounded like a kid.
"Yuh-you're all going to fuck-king die. Hh-hhuh heh heh. It's so fucking fun-ny. Just-just die now."
A loud pop of inscrutable electrical noises and fumbling, the television switched to a bluish tone and the crowd stepped back a bit from the TV. It was the evening news, only the top of the anchor's head visible but his voice recognizable to locals.
"I-- I apologize for the... graphic nature of that video. We are committed to stay on air as long as possible. Please stand by, we will issue any current news, and we will replay that video in hopes that it offers anyone a clue as to what is going on." The screen switched again to a black screen with a crawling bar that read: "Please stand by for directions from your local government agencies or officials... Please stand by for--"
The people turned, pale and with a look of horror in their eyes. The dark haired woman bared her teeth, shaking her head violently as if the eerie visions would fall out of her ears. 
Dark haired woman-
"What the fuck. What. The. Fuck. What do we even do about this?!"
The tattooed man nodded reassuringly and put a hand on her shoulder.
Tattooed man-
"We'll figure it out, maybe there will be another announcement." >> PATTI
Patti reconsidered the young man's suggestion and took pause. She wasn't feeling very hopeful about the situation at Fifth Ave at this point anyway. She took a step back into the storefront. "A radio, brilliant. You kids and your new-fangled technology. That's a great idea." The humor made her feel a tiny bit better, at least.
Sonya-
"Radio... I don't-- Oh! There's TV on third floor! On wall at food court, it show commercials but we can change channel to news."
Ben-
"Food court on Third Floor?" Ben said thoughtfully. "How can we get there with all these crowds all over the place? Are there any back doors with some stairs or elevators? Uh... Scratch that -- wouldn't want to get stuck in an elevator."
Ben really didn't want to brave the crowds, because even if he might make it up there in one piece, it might very well be with one less Daiso cashier. She seemed so timid. As if she could be swept away by a sudden wave of people. Or worse she could end up trampled on the floor like a pretty flower under the feet of multiple marching maniacs.
Perhaps the other woman could lead them though? She seemed competent. If he kept the cashier in between her and himself, they might be able to stick together? And there was that one thing that really helped when trying to not lose people in a crowd. Ben offered his hand to the cashier."I'm Ben Hanson, by the way." The cashier nodded to him and shook his hand like a business pro.
Sonya-
"Hi, yes, I am Sonya. There are stairs, both sides besides middle part. Not very big but most people are not taking."
Ben-
"Pleased to meet you, Sonya." Ben glanced in the direction of the stairs she had mentioned, and then turned to the other woman with an outstretched hand."Ben Hanson." >> DOCTOR VICTOR
The sky was nearly black, and there were a unsettling amount of dark windows in the high-rises around them. Could a brown-out already be happening, or was it something else?
Dr. Victor noticed one of the black swirling clouds seemed to be moving in their general direction somewhat slowly. He could see now that there was a generally lighter colored shape in the middle of the dark cloudy substance, like an inverted egg yolk. The edges of the shape were tattered seeming, and yet ephemeral and smoky. It moved in quick bursts and then lingered, hovering, before moving again, like it swam through the air quite literally. The light shape seemed roughly the size of a human head. The shape jerked closer-- yes, definitely human head sized.>> MICAH
Nat-
Oh, um. H-Hi. I'm Nathaniel, um, Nat if you want." His eyes darted about the place in a disconcerting fashion.
His eyes refocused on Micah's own blinking behind the glasses as if looking at Micah was a strain. He was certainly a nervous little fellow.. "Do you know what's going on?" He asked but then seemed to think the better of it. Of course Micah didn't know, He doubted anybody did.
"Should, um, should we be headed anywhere? They-they haven't made any-any emergency announcements over the intercom...?" Nat looked worryingly about towards a young woman standing close by.
" I am guessing whoever manages this place has racked off, so unless you wanna go up there and make it yourself it's not going to happen. As you can gather I'm not local, so your guess is heaps better than mine as to where to go. I suggest either up or out though..."
He turned to the young woman, she was quite short and had crinkles beside her mouth from smiling all day although she didn't look happy at all now. She looked up and smiled tightly, obviously thinking hard."Hi sorry, Micah and you are? What do you think we should do?"
Sarah-
"I'm Sarah. Wow I can hardly imagine... Obviously some kind of disaster, but nowhere in sight, and nothing I've seen any evidence of. People in the shop were babbling about bio-terror or some kind of explosion but I'm sure we would've heard it. Maybe we could find a television around?"
Nat-
"Racked off...?" Nat furrowed his brows, the term unfamiliar to him. "Oh, n-no. I don't want to..." He paused, listening as Sarah chipped in with her own opinion on what they should do."Bio-terror? Oh God, I hope not." He recoiled slightly at the suggestion. "Maybe there's a television upstairs? I-I mean, there's bound to be one for security, right? And there's that big flatscreen in the-the food court, if we can change the channel..."
Micah-
"Ah ( he laughs) sorry Nat, it means 'fucked off' but slightly more polite. I think the one in the food court sounds like a safer bet, the one in security is probably locked up tight with a security guard blissfully and ignorantly asleep but I could be wrong. So do we adventure up to the food court? I'll follow you guys..."
Micah looked around addressing the group huddled behind the two also. An old guy wearing a pin-striped seersucker suit towards the back, gave Micah a coquettish wink and he shuddered, he got enough of those creepy ones on the ship. In fact wasn't he from the ship...
Basil-
"Oh yes, goodness this is all just awful. Any young people that seek comfort, my arms are here for you. Oh yes, you there, that's nice. Hmm.."
He put an arm around some random passerby who was too out of it to be bothered.>> PATTI
Ben introduced himself and held out his hand. Patti accepted the odd formalism and returned the handshake."Patience Greene, everyone calls me 'Patti'. Getting more information isn't a bad idea, I'm game. We should definitely take the employee stairwells and nothing open to the general public. I already saw a dozen people fall down the escalator, I'd rather I didn't meet the same fate."
"Which way are we going, Sonya?"
Sonya-
"Umm let's see, this way. I think this stair are less used."
Sonya led Ben and Patti through the hall. Thankfully the crowd had stagnated, and it was less like swimming upstream and more like she was leading them to the stage at a busy concert. She walked along the wall, one hand on it to keep her bearings, and slipped past people. Her small head would sometimes disappear for a moment, but she would jump and raise a hand to draw their attention again. They broke out of the crowd near a large potted plant and she opened the door to a set of concrete stairs. Some random passerby noticed and slipped in and down the stairs to the parking garage for unknown reasons.
The stairwell was lit in a sickly greenish light, and the sound of humming ventilation covered any sound from the other floors, which was a bit disconcerting. The three walked up the stairs to the third floor, noticing the stairs continued up to another door as well.>> BEN
Ben-
"Oh man, that didn't sound like bio-terror," Ben commented, trying to gauge the reaction from Sonya and Patti. Well, Sonya, mostly. Because he would really want to be there for her if she suddenly needed his support or something. But he would also really like to know what's going on.
Sonya looked baffled, and stared at the television, waiting for the message to change. And what's the deal with a news channel playing a video in the hopes that someone would figure out what that video is showing? They've seen something 'graphic' that they don't understand? Ben wondered what could possibly be graphic while also being incomprehensible."Are we being invaded by aliens or something?" >> PATTI
Patti didn't like the sound of this at all. The last time she remembered hearing a newscast like that was 9/11, but this somehow sounded even more ominous than that. She suddenly had an urgent need to see what the hell was going on.
With the television showing a black screen instead of the promised footage, Patti realized she was going to have to get to higher ground. She turned to Ben and Sonya to address them directly.
"I need to see what the hell is going on outside. You guys stay safe, I'm going up to the roof to get a better look at the street." With that, she turned and headed back towards the stairwell they had come from.
Sonya-
"Be careful!"
The short woman noticed the onlookers, and walked over.
Dark haired woman-
"They'll show it again, but if any of you got a queasy gut, don't do it. I feel like barfin' myself and that takes a lot."
>> PATTI Patti hesitated for a moment.
Patti-
"If they're running it regularly, I won't miss it. The sun is already down, but there might be enough twilight for me to see something up there, but not for long. I'll be right back. Oh, and, thanks."
>> BEN
As Patti left, Ben felt torn. He wanted to see whatever could be seen too, but he also wanted to be around Sonya. In the end he just nodded to Patti as she left. If she saw something interesting, she could always come back down and tell them about it. But if he left this place, Sonya would probably have no trouble finding other people to hang around with.
And then the dark haired woman approached, and Ben was presented with another choice. Could he handle the truth? Was he a truth-handler? Of course he was! He just had to mentally prepare first. Maybe think of kittens with their guts all torn out, with flies and maggots? The real physics of dead baby jokes? Or was the video more weird than gory? Maybe he had better ask.
Ben-
"Eh... What do they actually show in that video then?"
>> PATTI
When Patti reached the roof level, the door was not locked. She hadn't considered the possibility that it would be, but now she was wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
She stepped out onto the roof anyway. It was way darker than she had anticipated. She was sandwiched in a tight space between the hotel and the office space tower, several yards from the edge of the building.
She walked slowly and deliberately towards the edge, straining to hear anything over the din of the AC unit just ahead of her. Nothing. She passed the AC unit and moved beyond the beveled edge of the office tower, opening up her line of sight.
Cursing herself for being such a pansy, she pushed back her shoulders and strode towards the edge of the building, looking down on Olive Way.
Dark haired woman-
"Dude, it's... Well, nothing you haven't seen in an Eli Roth torture porn--"
She turned back to the tattooed man.
Anna-
"Jackson, if these dead are coming, we need to get ready. Gotta get everyone together and stop fucking around, right? Get everyone in here and get some weapons or something."
Jackson-
"Yeah, but we can't just go out into the plaza and corral people in here, Anna."
Anna-
"I guess, let's go downstairs and get people up here so they stop opening the damn doors."
They turned to run down the main staircase, Jackson gently herding people up the stairs.
...Did she say "these dead?"
The television switched to a blue screen, the news anchor looking more haggard than he had before. He began to speak...
The roof was blocked with the extended glass ceiling from the third floor, and these huge, chunky blocks of ventilation equipment, practically room sized that whirred and clunked. The wind was stiff but not ferocious, and the air quite cold. Patti crept towards the edge and looked over. The street below was clogged in sections with the wreckage of cars, which were now still enough to seem like very abstract and inconvenient street art. There were only a few people still moving on the street, generally running in small groups. The street lights glowed peachy orange and cast long shadows. Blue and red streaks from unseen and un-moving police lights swirled around, adding to the visual confusion. If she craned her neck uncomfortably, she could see further down the road towards the waterfront, where there was more movement- a car occasionally driving too fast, people running.
The sky was nearly pitch black, and seemed hazy with clouds of smoke drifting around lazily. Some peculiar about that...
Around her the large boxes blocked her view of the rest of the roof, she could continue walking around to look at the other streets or go back downstairs.
In the Fireworks, Micah, Nat, and Sarah were getting their will up to brave the crowds and get up to the third floor. One of the boutique's stranger attendants approached them.
Weird old man, hair on end, holding car keys-
"I... forgot where I was parked... It's embarrassing."
Sarah-
"Sir, come with us... We'll find your car later, but you need to stay safe."
She smiled warmly.
He looked confused, then nodded in agreement.
Weird old man-
"Oh? OK, madame." The old creeper took the burgeoning sense of organization as an opportunity to touch more shoulders and sides, encouraging people to get together.
British Creeper -
"Come now people, yes, let's stay safe together, young dears. You're lovely. Yes."
Suddenly he pulled a hand back from a young woman in shock. He had blood on it. She was wearing a soaked, thin white dress, which was covered in blood like a busy motif of large dark red flowers. Her visible skin, though, looked relatively unmarked. She was pale and clammy looking, with a disturbing, maybe drugged expression. 
Injured woman? She said something too quietly for the others to hear, and lingered swaying lightly on her feet, like seaweed under water.
Woman with glasses -
By god dear, are you alright?!"
By now the assembled group had Micah, Nat, Sarah, Creeper, Weird old guy, injured woman, glasses woman, another two women, and another man.>> PATTI
Something about the way those smoke clouds were moving sent a shiver up Patti's spine. Were they moving in different directions? Against the wind?
Patti wiped that idea from her mind and headed back towards the stairwell. She walked between the stair enclosure and the hotel building, moving towards the Plaza end of the building. She moved between another massive ventilation structure, walking within a few steps of the glass roof.
A knot forming in her stomach, she decided not to look in, and she made a turn around the corner of the whirring behemoth on her right. Up ahead, she thought she could make out the silhouettes of two people standing close together, as if in conversation.
Thinking that one of them might be security, she decided it would be better if she didn't announce her presence, just in case this all blew over by the morning. She stepped backward, then turned around and ran back to the stairwell, panic momentarily swelling her chest. She descended the stairs two at a time.
Patti stopped at the door to calm herself before re-entering the third floor, not wanting to alarm anyone else. Once she was composed she opened the door. There were more people now than when she left, though she didn't see the black haired girl or the tattooed man. She had to scan the growing crowd, looking for Ben and Sonya.>> BEN
Ben had no idea who Eli Roth was, but torture porn sounded gory, so that answered that question. Didn't explain much else though. And what did this "Anna" mean when she said "these dead"? Surely it couldn't be zombies? Life imitating art is one thing, but nature doesn't imitate art.
When the news anchor appeared on the screen again, Ben stepped a little closer to get a better look. Could it be much worse than the shock images that hackers liked to put on websites? He doubted that, but tried to prepare just in case.
>> MICAH
The blood on her dress is not her own, the blood on the dress is not her own. These words like a mantra went rolling through Micah's head. He had been injured enough times to know. He attempted not to stare at her nakedness beneath the cloth, but really he was distracted by more pressing things humming through his head.
This is was all like a suffocating cloud, it was almost too much too bear. Micah had the sudden urge to join the fallen people on the ground floor and fly for a few seconds, but it had to get better or some kind of survival mental gear would hopefully click in.
God he was a wimp, if he couldn't handle the fricken subways system, how the hell was he going to handle whatever this was.
At least the Sarah chick seemed ready to take charge, although she was the overly helpful type.."Fuck the old man" Shit, did he say that out loud?
Micah-
"Err I mean uh we should go to the food court. We should go or just fucking die already. I mean that chick does not look good errr well.."
He could hear himself sounding panicky, his accent broadening in his distress. Why did he sound like a bogan when he stressed out?
Then as he moved forward he tripped over something lying on the floor, twisting and landing face down on it. It was a dead little boy, his face squished as if was a rotten tomato, against his own.
He bit his lip as not to whimper as he slowly removed himself and stood up. He was going to need another fucking holiday after this shit was over... OH god if it was ever going to be over...>> NAT
Nat fidgeted, trying and failing at forcing himself to calm. They just... they needed to get upstairs, to the television and the news. There would be a public announcement of what they should do, and then everything would be fine. Soon, all of this would be over, and they would evacuate to somewhere safe and clean and orderly.
As he waited for the group to decide on their course of action, he made a strict point not to look at the creeper from Starbucks. While he hadn't realized it at the get-go, now that he'd had a chance to stop and regain his wits he had recognized the man. Thus-far he had been left alone, thankfully - granted thus-far he had been mostly hiding behind Sarah. However, the man's sudden gasp, and shocked noises the others in the group were making tore his attention back up.
At first, he wondered if the man had injured himself - his hand was bloody, after all - and then he realized that this was not the case. No, it was the woman beside him, the pale woman in the dress marked with blooms of blood, who was injured. Nat withdrew a pace away from her, startled, and nearly tripped over his own feet. What had happened to her? She didn't look particularly injured, aside from the blood - what damage there was would have to be under her dress, but it didn't look like it could have been caused by the car accidents outside. Had someone stabbed her? Nat felt gooseflesh rising on his arms, and he shivered at the thought.Nat-
"Miss? Are you-can you make it to the f-food court?"
He flinched slightly at the sound of his own voice - squeaky, frightened. "I-I mean, maybe... maybe we can find you help up there?"
Micah seemed to agree with him, although the man sounded nearly as panicked as he was. Nat looked to Sarah for support - if anyone was the leader of their little group, it was her.
The blonde was looking at Sarah, when Micah suddenly went down with a dull thump. His attention flicked back to the foreigner, and he flinched again as he saw what the man had landed on. One of the victims of the earlier stampedes, a child whose head had been crushed underfoot. Nat could feel bile rising in his throat and he gagged, turning away from the scene and trying not to puke.
It took him a few moments to pull himself together, a few deep breaths, and then he turned back. Just don't look at it, you'll be fine. "H-Here, get up," he thrust a hand down to Micah, to help him up - not really looking at either the man or the corpse, but rather out across the mall, somewhat blankly. The crowds almost seemed to be thinning a little, and there were fewer people rushing about - things were beginning to die down.>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor cleared his throat a little, the desire to suddenly develop a nervous tick motion of the head towards the cloud growing at an alarming rate. It was just preposterous, and absurd, but the simple fact was paranoia and mass delusions were a real psychosis. If I let them get the better of me, I might as well join the police academy. Focus at the task at hand, Dr. You survived a high school locker room, you most certainly can survive this."... Right. Well, I suggest- no. I implore you to come with me quickly to find a more suitable position to set up some serviceable station to help me treat the wounded still stranded here in the mall. Heaven knows I could use someone of your... uniformed caliber to help direct people in some orderly fashion."
The good doctor allowed his shoulders to roll ever so slightly upwards, head tilting, eyes narrowing and lips parting like a piece of tissue caught by a spark.Dr. Victor-
"I'm a doctor."
Dr. Victor waited a few moments more before accepting the acquiesced man as a stairwell partner or not. But he certainly would not wait long enough to have that pesky pseudo-nocturnal-mating-insectoid swarm upon him.
The guard nodded, jostling a lanyard around his neck which a picture badge was attached to. "Tyrone Page" it said.
Tyrone-
"Yeah guess even if it's the revelation, God ain't got nothin' to say yet. Gotta help out. Where to, Hawkeye?"
Tyrone followed Dr. Victor, his back turned the entire time to the black blob that pulsed closer. Before Dr. V turned to jog for the stairs, he thought he saw the pale yolk in the center of the shape more clearly. If it really was some sort of creature, and not just a phantasmagorical imagining, that yolk must have been its head. He thought he could make out jelly-obscured features...The large widescreen television glowed in the dim food court lighting, its speakers emitting a vibrating hum even when there was no sound. The hum picked up as the screen grew brighter, as if the sound of the light could be heard, and changed pitch as the colors on the screen changed. One could imagine that 'red' had a distinctive sound as they would soon see a lot of it. The newscaster looked a bit pale, but kept up his serious newscaster voice as he spoke. 
"This is Dennis Bounds reporting for King 5 News. We at King 5 are committed to give you any necessary information as this global disaster unfolds. There has been little time to gather information, as all events have seemed to have happened simultaneously. The solid information we have is only for our country, but there has been speculative and unconfirmed reports in several other nations.
Panic and rioting are occurring in every major city in the United States. Reports of possible bio-terror are unconfirmed. Many casualties and destruction, though a single source cannot be named. Reports go as far as buildings collapsing and flooding though these cannot be confirmed. We do not currently have footage, but there has been some sort of disaster at the Columbia Tower. There are many reports of black smoke dispersing from the tower, though it is unknown what the source is. Government officials say only to find shelter, and stay indoors. We will stay on the air as long as possible, and deliver any further messages from officials.
That is the only news we can legally deliver, but this is obviously more dire than we have been trained for. We must also tell you something else, that cannot be confirmed and is absolutely unbelievable. Nonetheless, eyewitness accounts report that there seems to be a strange illness spreading from the sites of these disasters. It is unknown if it is contagious, but it infects the dead, and causes them to attack the living. It seems absurd to call them "zombies" but for those familiar with that word, that is what they appear to be. We know nothing else at this time, but please keep this in mind.
We have also been airing a disturbing video tape we were sent this morning. It was sent to all local television stations, it is unknown if there are more tapes like this, or if this is only one, local tape. We do not know more about the origin of this tape, or the meaning. We will show this tape again, but viewer, please be aware that it is very shocking and disturbing."
(Dr. V & Tyrone arrive downstairs at this time, and see the following on the television...)The newscaster waved for the techs to play the tape, and looked intently into the camera, until the screen went dark for a moment. Greenish chunks of compressed video marred the footage, which was quickly focused upon a figure. It looked to be a young teenager, maybe even a preteen, who seemed bluish in the strange light and the off palette of the cheap digital camera that filmed him. A small-ish Asian boy with limp, black hair. He was wrapped in bandages, like a comical parody of an accident victim, or a kid dressing as a mummy for Halloween. He smiled, but appeared to be in a great amount of pain. Behind him was a grid of blue tiles. He spoke, his voice blowing out the speaker at first and indecipherable, he lowered his volume and spoke more clearly. His voice was rather high and childish, but croaky and weak, like a little kid with a sore throat.
"H-hello, people..."
"We hate you all soooo much. Haha... That's why we're doing this--" He suddenly flubbed his speech as a stream of foamy dark blood ran out of his mouth, spattering the Ace bandages and gauze over his body.
He moved to wipe his face and lurched. "Oh n-no, it's wh-- opening." He sounded as if he was about to vomit, but didn't heave. The camera jerked down, leaving blurry streamers in its cheap pixelated blue-green wake. And then--
He pulled open a cavity on his abdomen, and intestines came spilling out with black blood and pale chunks of fatty tissue. He almost seemed to be giggling. The camera streaked back up to his face, creating duplicates and strange digital artifacts.
"No, I---" (An eerie whistling sound like death rattle of an old man) "Those weren't my guts. I just put them in to freak you ou-ut. Mummies take out our insides. It's really cooool. Wanna see?" He gestured and the camera operator revealed the aftermath of his trick...
They went back to his face.
"We killed ourselves. We made ourselves into this, so we can kill you. Th-the dead are coming for you... you see it already. We sent them to kill everyone. Y-you're all going to fuck-king die. Hh-huh-heh heh. It's so fucking funn-ny. Just, just die now."
The tape cut out in a fumbling rattle and a chunky mosaic of pixels. The screen came back on the newscaster who wore the same intent look. He nodded to someone behind the camera. "I apologize for the graphic nature of that video. Please stand by, we will report any news as it comes in, and we will replay that video in case it offers anyone a clue about what is really going on. Thank you." The screen went black again. |
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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on May 7, 2016 8:17:57 GMT -8
In the Fireworks, Nat helped Micah off of a gory looking boy, expressions aghast. The woman with the glasses picked up the body...[/i][/font]
Woman with glasses -
Bobby, don't scare people like that! This is a serious situation!"
The boy had just been flopped on the ground with a rumpled, shiny red shopping bag over half his face.
The bloodied woman was being coddled by the small crowd. She waved her head and seemed annoyed, but still in a daze. Nonetheless, she showed no sign of her condition deteriorating, so Sarah got things moving.
Sarah-
"OK, everybody, let's get up the stairs. Everyone stay close together and don't move too fast, OK?"
She nodded to BritCreep, in appreciation for his help herding the bunch. Everyone moved out of Fireworks and into the stairs. They narrowed the group to get through tight spots and allow fleeing people past them. The stairs were clammy and cramped.
Along the way, Brit Creeper managed to end up next to Nat and Micah again.
British Creeper -
(to Nat) "Mm, dreadful situation for one so fair as you. A dearth of constitution is the price the gentle must pay for their fragile beauty, don't you think?"
Micah felt like making comment but was distracted by the bloody woman, who slipped a bit on the stairs ahead of him. He reflexively shot out a hand that caught her bum, holding her up. It felt cold as a meat locker, the dress wet and loose like frog skin, pink watered-down blood coming off on his hand as she regained her footing and continued on.
She looked back over her shoulder at him.
Bloody woman-
She mouthed a word at Micah, too quiet to hear, but he thought he could read the lips... Did she just say "Sexy?" >> DOCTOR VICTOR
Bile rose in the good doctor's throat as he descended the stairs ahead of the security guard not for the disturbing scene of necrotizing yolk, or disembodied heads, or chrome carnage and destruction in the streets..."Dr. Victor. It's Dr. Victor, sir."
Dr. Victor shuffled out the landing door, aghast and winded. His eyes squinted shut in disbelief. Such a disastrous and vulgar display of appropriate and accurate human anatomy... in a time a crisis. He motioned at Tyrone to move forward."Right, this looks like a good place. Attention, please, if I could gather your attention? Is anyone hurt? Have the authorities came to gather the stragglers? Has anyone seen a resource post-station-thing Who's in charge here?!?"
His exasperated words flubbed like air bubbling through a clogged drain. He leaned over, bracing his knees, attempting to block out the exact realism of evisceration. Catching his breath from the stairs, he rose again to his pseudo-statuesque height. Dr. Victor glanced towards the security guard once more, lip pouting outward slightly.Why couldn't I just have gone to look at a new spa? Nothing like a full body dead sea salt skin wrap soak to soothe the conglomerate anarchy away.
Ben needed a moment to collect himself after that incredibly spooky video. Was it real? Impossible to know. But even if it was fake, it was clear that someone had orchestrated this whole thing, and that made zombies a teensy bit more believable. More believable than FEMA running some kind of zombie apocalypse fire drill? Hard to say. Maybe not, though?
Yeah, the more he thought about it, it seemed more likely that this was all some sort of government agency screw-up. Some kind of intentional bullshit that may or may not have gone out of control. 9/11 not enough? Financial crisis not enough? Just pour it on until something breaks and people are ready for the New World Order.
Then he suddenly heard a call for attention, and noticed the man asking who was in charge. Ben waited only a short moment to see if any of the others was actually in charge, and then he raised his hand and spoke up.Ben-
"Uh... Anna and Jackson went downstairs to get more people. And weapons. I guess that makes them in charge." >> PATTI
Patti stood very still, absorbing what she saw on the television. It couldn't be real. Just some kids playing with... what exactly? A man stood up and started asking questions. Her head was still oscillating between completely blank and abject terror. She didn't really process what he was saying.
Then a voice from beside her, Ben, snapped her back to the present. Patti's eyes fixed on the stern looking man with all the questions. Kind of arrogant looking, maybe a doctor or off-duty police officer."Tag, you're it." Did she just say that out loud? >> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr Victor, pursed his lips, almost at a sneer. He folded his arms across his chest, the duffelbag shifting awkwardly off his shoulder.
Dr. Victor-
"For whatever it is worth, I doubt I'm exactly the 'people-friendly' style person. No, but as it stands... I am taking volunteers. I need this... place, er, cleared of obstructions. I need some sort of communication... relay? No! I am definitely not cut out for this. Nurses always know what the hell their doing I'd fail to make a decent scrap book with this situation."
He turned to the security guard."Uhm, right. You don't have a weapon, but they're getting some. Rather barbaric but given the circumstances and rampant opioid abuse to produce such a frenzied response... Balderdash and other incoherent things! I need things done for me!" Tossing the duffelbag onto a nearly vacant tabletop. Rummaging though its contents, he pulled out a pair of violet neoprene gloves.
Dr. Victor-
"Until some sort of police or whatever comes for what I believe they deem an 'extraction' I think we should play a get to know each other game. This way we could keep what little sanity we have left safe. Also, be on the look out for the injured they will need to be brought here, to this... er... area."
"I'm Doctor Victor. I like long walks on the beach and drinks with little umbrellas in them. I am a Virgo."
His eyes scanned the room before pointing at the man in glasses who responded to being a leader.
Ben-
"I'm Ben Hanson. I... eh... program computers."
Ben glanced around hesitantly as the doctor's eyes focused on him.>>PATTI
Patti was glad to shirk the feeling of growing responsibility, even if this guy didn't seem to want the mantle. She touched the shoulder of a young man in a $10 JC Penney running suit... who appeared to be wearing $1000 Italian leather loafers and a Rolex. The man jumped and almost swung at her.Patti-
"Oh-sorry-um... I'm a bit jumpy." The man had an accent that Patti pegged as either eastern European or Russian."That's okay, we're all on edge. Can you help me move these chairs out of the way, so we can push some of these tables together? Thanks."
Tyrone-
"...Ehh, okay. "
Tyrone set to gently herding people near the stairwell. Anna spied him from the bottom and came running up.
Anna-
"Hey you! Security! You got a radio?"
Tyrone-
"Yeah but it don't do no good to radio an empty room. Er'body's gone."
Anna-
"You got a way to make an announcement?"
Tyrone-
"I guess so. Could go to the office. What could I poss'bly say? 'Don't act like fools, dummies?'"
Anna-
"Yeah actually. Maybe say anyone who wants to go, go, and anyone who wants to stay, go to the third floor and stay close to people."
Tyrone-
"Awright. Send somebody else to do what Dr. House there said to do. Anybody wanna come with?'"
>> MICAH
Ugh it was bad enough being fooled by that stupid kid, now his hand was covered in pink wet blood and he couldn't shake the icy feeling that went through to his bones from touching the weird woman's arse. Had she really said "sexy"? He shook his head who knows what was going on in that lady's head, had she seen him looking before?
Micah hope he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt.
As the kid passed him in the stairwell with his mother Micah quickly wiped his hand on the back of the kid's shirt.Micah-
"Sorry, I tripped" He lied as the woman gave him a dirty look. Serves the little shyster right. The boy looked back grinning at him nonplussed.
On the bright side, he hadn't fallen face forward onto a corpse. Which meant he wasn't covered in any goo or unknown pathogens, except on his hand and it was his favourite one...
When they finally reached the top, they came face to face with what seemed to be a video showing guts pouring out of a boys bandaged stomach. A groups of people were huddled around staring aghast at the screen, some looking ready to chunder.
It was hard to believe this was real, were they watching a movie?
Judging by the reactions Micah guessed not.
Oh Jesus Christ, this just got better and better. He wished he was back in Australia, if disaster movies had taught him anything, home was always safe. Nobody gave a fuck about what happened there.
Suddenly some guy started shooting questions at everyone and no one in particular until some nerdy looking chubster answered him, followed by a fit older black woman.
What did he think this was? A support group? He arrived at the mall and went straight to work. After what seemed like an eternity of scouring shops for something Emiliano would like, the mall was starting to clear out, and the sky was darkening. Alex started to feel pressure to just pick something already. Emiliano's birthday was coming, and it was so hard to choose something for him. Well, hard to choose presents for anyone, really. It was an off season and most of the stores seemed to be in flux from still trying to hawk the last dregs of the Christmas season that they could possibly get away with, but hadn't quite gotten their new spring displays up. Except for Easter stuff, if Emiliano wanted socks with carrots on them, he was in luck. He'd come all the way here, he might as well not return empty handed. He scoured through the gift shops again, wondering what could work, what would be masculine enough, not embarrassing or something that he'd already have... It was so much easier to shop for girls. Girls swooned over the knickknacks he picked up during visits to Grandma and Gramps on the Mescalero Reservation - little beaded bracelets, silver rings, cutesy leather medicine bags filled with polished stones. But Emiliano, well, he wasn't exactly charmed by Alex's dimestore exoticism. There used to be a candy shop with lots of weird things in it on the third floor, but he found it replaced by a rather expensive and effete chocolate shop. Dammit. The smell of baking cookies was a bit overwhelming and distracting. He really did earn a damn cookie at least. Maybe if he sat around for a bit, pondering, the perfect gift would occur to him in a vision. At least, he'd get to eat a cookie. Cookie in hand, he sat at a plastic table, feeling a bit strange. The food court was nearly empty except for a couple of students typing on laptops, using the free wi-fi until they got kicked out and sent to the next hotspot. How could someone work somewhere so noisy? He realized that it hadn't been noisy until just a moment ago. The sound of traffic seemed a bit excessive, and even the students lifted their heads at the sound of squealing brakes and a metal crunch. Yikes, well that's life in the big city. But it didn't stop, more cars, more brakes and the screams filtered all the way up to the third floor. He stood, stuffing the last of the cookie in his mouth, and looked out the big windows with the students. Outside it was suddenly utter mayhem. What the hell had he missed? His phone rang-Mom. Before he could answer, 'no signal.' The students next to him were also staring, dumbfounded, at their phones. Then the people began running upstairs, panicked and sweaty. What were they running from? The area of the food court was relatively safe and quiet, a large open area with many tables and chairs. He could look over the railing to the chaos below, so many people! The mall had nearly been empty, they must have all run inside for protection. One of the students desperately scrolled through something on her laptop.[/span] "Oh! No signal..." she murmured. "I only got the title to load..." The male student looked over her shoulder, and Alex too could see the headline on CNN."GLOBAL PANIC -- MULTIPLE DISASTERS STRIKE WORLD SIMULTANEOUSLY" Most of a picture had loaded, it looked like the New York skyline at night, hardly visible but by moonlight, the power was completely out. The computer's clock up in the corner read 7:15.
Alex had to figure out what the hell was going on. Terrorists? A prank? Were they filming a movie? Was he going to be an extra on the next Ironman, or something? If those car accidents were real, though - if the people in them weren’t stuntmen - he had to help. He touched the silver crucifix hanging around his neck. Then, in a voice that he hoped carried over the din, Alex shouted, "Is anybody hurt?"
Alex's Inventory: He is wearing a hunt green Lacoste polo shirt (the kind with the little crocodile logos stitched to the front) and jeans, with new black Nike running shoes. The crucifix around his neck is two inches long and silver - it's vintage, but he doesn't know where it comes from. He also carries his wallet, which has a student ID, a credit card, tiny pictures of his family and friends, and some cash. His cell phone, though shiny and thin, is nothing spectacular. Because he jogged to the mall, he traveled light, and the rest of his worldly possessions are in his dorm.
It occurred to Alex that people were herding inside for a reason - was the street filling with toxic gas? He shifted his weight from foot to foot anxiously, then decided to stay put on the third floor, where he had a good view of the chaos. He scanned the crowd, searching for somebody with a functioning phone. They can't all be dead, right? Alex suddenly wished he knew how cell phones worked. They used invisible waves, right? Like the radio?
>> BEN
Off the hook for a while, Ben turned to Sonya to see how she was doing.Ben-
"I don't think this is real. I think it's some kind of massive drill that's gone out of control. I mean, zombies? Dead people walking around? That just doesn't happen."
"Yeah, I don't understand this gross video. What do we do? Why don't the police come?"
>> NAT
Nat had nearly jumped out of his skin when the presumed-dead child pushed up to his feet looking far too amused with himself. His eyes must be playing tricks on him, if he had mistaken that shiny shopping bag for gore. He was panicking and he knew it, but there was nothing he could do to stop himself - things were too strange, he could hardly believe what was happening around him.
Nat followed the group up to the third floor as if in a daze, keeping as close to Sarah as he could manage. His coworker was a beacon of sanity and stability, and he decided to just follow her. She would lead them to safety, he had to believe that. As things stood, however, he followed as if in a daze - he hardly even noticed the creeper meandering up beside him, although he did jerk away abruptly, startled, when the man placed a hand on his shoulder.
Nat-
"I... what? What-what did you say? I, um..." He realize he was falling a bit behind his beacon of sanity, and fled after her.
Sarah, as well as a few others ahead of him, had stopped just past the stairs - they had paused to look at the big TV screen. Nat could vaguely hear it - it didn't sound like the news, rather it sounded like a little kid talking? Nat hurried up the stairs to catch up to Sarah just in time to see guts pouring out of the gaping wound in a kid's stomach. Nat didn't need to see any more, he staggered up against one of the walls and promptly began heaving up his lunch into a mess on the floor.
The students near Alex parted way for him to move, downstairs there were loud voices of panic, and it was impossible to tell if it was from injury or just terror. A few people ran upstairs, and moved to the far walls, as though they expected to be shielded from an invisible explosion. They were pale and sweaty, but didn't appear to be injured. He could move downstairs, though already more people were running up, and a crowd gathered near the elevator, inexplicably. He could spot a stairwell if he wanted a faster way downstairs. Or, he could stay here for the moment, the main thoroughfares were already getting clogged and blocked with people.
The tattooed man, Jackson, accompanied Tyrone and they made a break for the stairwell to get to the office. Anna ran around checking doors and herding people to the best of her ability.
Outside, an extra loud blood curdling scream carried all the way up to their floor and over the din of the many people milling about. A crowd pressed to the window to look, but it seems they couldn't find anything exciting to see.
The sun had at last completely disappeared-- it was 7:44 PM.![]()
Dr. Victor-
"Mr. Page, if you could be so kind as to get another person and make sure we aren't all going to burn down inside this building... check the food pavilions and shops to make sure fryers are off, ovens have stopped... blenders cease their blending."
Smiling at the older woman, the doctor gave her a singular curt nod of approval."Right, so we have plenty of serviceable facilities here in this area... bathrooms, food pantries, right? No worries about any hygiene issues today... and we should have some sort of order..."
Micah groaned, loudly. Nobody was going to follow the chubster, may as well be him.
Micah-
" Micah, Sous-chef on cruise ship. I enjoy parkour and not being around in the middle of some kind of disaster. It's been 10 minutes since my last act of cowardice, I believe with you support I can make it another... hour tops. Gemini."
Patti-
"Really, we're doing this? Um, I'm Patti, I work at Amazon, and I also am not overjoyed at the idea of real flesh-and-blood zombies roaming the streets. Oh, yeah, uh... Leo."
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The Doctor smiled slyly at the slightly more-seasoned woman.
Dr. Victor-
"Yes, Patti, we are doing this. It is best to keep up conversation. I like to know who I will be tending to should the need arise. I'd ask for blood type over astrological sign, but who knows their blood type?"
Ben perked up at the doctor's mention of blood type. In Japan they use blood type instead of astrological signs, so Ben had actually taken care to find out and remember that he was O+. Aside from finding out which Japanese girls he'd be compatible with, it also meant that he could donate blood to a bunch of other blood types, but could only accept a transfusion of O blood, positive or negative.
Perhaps he would mention this to the doctor if it looked like it would actually matter.
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Dr. Victor addressed Micah with a half-smirk, half-sneer.Dr. Victor-
"I just hope you wash your hands a lot. You'd be surprised what kind of horrid diseases and other maladies can climb into your finger nail bed from avian fecal matter."
His eyes narrowed as he added, "Cowardice, Micah, is simply a natural reaction. No worries I've seen more people killed by the 'Hey Y'all, Watch This' than 'Run-Away!'"
"Surely there are more than meets the eye to the rest of you? Don't let your own personal cowardice keep your tongue still. Unless you're aphonic or worse, suffer from some supposed selective mutism. I can go on for the lot of you all, if I need to..."
Micah-
"I'll take that on board."
Micah moved forward, extending his pre-bloodied germy hand to shake the doctor's.
Sarah-
"Did you say you were a doctor?! We have this woman... What's your name?"
BritCreep gently pushed Bloody Woman to the fore.
Bloody Woman-
She spoke quietly, but now everyone was stopped to listen and could hear her - though barely.
"You don't want to know my name, poppet."
Sarah continued.
Sarah-
"Well, anyway, she clearly needs help! And others too!" BritCreep spoke next, awkwardly disrupting the emergency situation.
Basil-
"My name is Basil and I'm a Scorpio. Young Nat, I will help with anything you desire..."
It was a bit before Nat's stomach stopped heaving, despite already expelling it's contents. And even then, he waited a moment to be safe, before staggering somewhat woozily away from the mess he had made on the floor, looking, well, rather distressed and more than a little embarrassed.
It was a moment before he realized what was going on - he had heard questions and orders being called out, but he hadn't made much sense of them. It wasn't until Micah and a fit-looking black woman gave their own answers before he realized what was being asked of them. He glanced briefly at Sarah, as if for her opinion, then took a step forward.
Nat-
"Um. I-I'm Nat-Nathaniel. I um, I work at S-Starbucks. Wh-What was that? That-that video... Oh, uh. I'm-I'm an Aries. I-um. Does... anyone have a mop?" He looked around for one of those janitorial cleaning stands - he knew he should clean up his own mess. Especially with this Doctor-man going on about diseases and hygiene.
The people from downstairs, with help from Anna and others, were brought up to speed on the news report - That gutless kid claimed to be part of a larger group, who somehow sent "the dead" to exterminate the human species. News reports suggest the dead are returning to life as zombies, though we have yet to see that, and that a terror attack at the Columbia Tower may have something to do with this. Everyone compulsively checking notes that their phones still have no signal.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
The good doctor moved, twisting away from the gore-filled greeting, pleased to deal with someone who obviously needed his help and was most certainly not afraid to help others. He did offer one parting sneer/smile at Micah. A shame he wasn't a doctor.
Dr. Victor-
"Come, dear, if you won't tell me your name, I shall call you Mary. Lots of good Mary's out there, aren't there?"
Dr. Victor gently took the woman's hand, leading to an open area away from the windows, as the rest of the ensemble. His annoyed tone became monotonous, droning. He inspected the woman's exposed skin, gently touching for a pulse on her wrist as he led her. He measured her gait, checked for diaphoresis, shock, or even an oozing or leaking wound or malady of sprains, strains, breaks...
"Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary Lou Retton... There was Mary Magdalene, Mary Jane. She got one last dance with Tom Petty, so to speak. But I called you, Mary, for another reason. Mary Mary, Quite Contrary. Are you sure, dear madam, I have no other names to call you?"
The doctor's eyes attempted to lock onto hers, checking her visual response to stimuli by slowly moving his head. He briskly inhaled her scent from a crouched position. Every detail, he retained within his mental catalogue.
The people from downstairs, with help from Anna and others, were brought up to speed on the news report - That gutless kid claimed to be part of a larger group, who somehow sent "the dead" to exterminate the human species. News reports suggest the dead are returning to life as zombies, though we have yet to see that, and that a terror attack at the Columbia Tower may have something to do with this. Everyone compulsively checking notes that their phones still have no signal.
Anna-
"Everyone who feels like they can, make a weapon. We're supposedly going to get attacked soon." She began stomping on a flimsy metal food court chair, hoping to pull it apart to make clubs. Most people seem too dazed to join in.
Sarah-
"Everyone calm down as best you can and stay close together. You in the corner! Come over here, thanks! We don't know what to expect but we're safer together." Basil sprayed some cologne onto Nat's sick, and covered it with a coat someone had left on a chair.
Basil-
"There you go young man... Good enough for now."
Random Guy-
"HEY LIMEY! That was my goddamn coat!"
The lady had no pulse at all! Must be the weakest pulse imaginable, but there had to be one... She was deathly cold, and must have been in shock. Her eyes didn't seem unfocused, though... More like they were darting around randomly with a purpose... Acting dazed? Counting people? She smelled like new car and sea water and artificial coconut and gunpowder and blood and band-aids. There were minor cuts on her body, but with no sign of aggravation or bleeding... Deep shock indeed.
Bloody Woman-
"Do you really want to know my name doctor?" Her eyes came to focus on him at last, savagely, as if they could see through him all the way to his first memory of fire. She began to chuckle deeply. >> MICAH
Micah hoped the Doctor caught some kind of venereal disease from the strange woman he was examining. The guy was obnoxious, whether he washed his hands or not was his own business. It would however be nice to be free of whatever was left on his hand and the puke on the floor smelt even worse with the added cologne.
He wandered over to a sushi place called "Sarku Japan Sushi" pushing the little gate open. Inside the small shop, it had as he hoped some disinfectant hand wash sitting next to the sink. He washed his hands quickly, rejoicing in the full use of his right hand hopefully free of disease. Fucking arrogant doctor.
He non-committedly had a look around, looking for something sharp and pointy preferably some kind of long sashimi knife. Not that he wanted to have use for it but he didn't wanted to face these things without some kind of protection, just in case.
Micah found a cutting board with a variety of large knives, albeit rather fishy smelling. As he moved to take one...
>> ORIGINS - ALEX PIKE
Alex checked with the students, and some others milling around. Sure enough, every phone in the area had lost connection right as they received a phone call. Some already speculated that some dramatic event must have occurred, causing people to suddenly call loved ones all at once, overloading the phone service.
A small black haired woman was messing with the television nearby, a strong looking tattooed man approached her.
Tattooed man-
"Oh hey, I know you right?"
Dark haired woman-
"Oh... hey yeah yeah! You work at Deep Roots?"
Tattooed man-
"No, but close. Savage Skin."
Dark haired woman-
"Cool yeah, I gone there. Hey so, help me reach uh...?"
Tattooed man-
"Jackson. Sure, news right?"
Dark haired woman-
"Anna. Thanks." The two got the large television showing a news broadcast. They seemed remarkably more cool-headed than the others around them. The man was strong but very calm, and the woman had a definite take-charge attitude.
On the television was...
>> MICAH
Micah was startled by someone entering the kitchen behind him, and spun the knife around the counter, sending it flying and one inch from landing point down in his foot.
A small Asian man wearing an all white chef style uniform regarded him in a way that made him want to immediately start apologizing for being in an employee's area, but the man waved a dismissive hand and started to move around the room, checking the ovens. 
Asian man -
(Something loud in Chinese)
Another Asian man came in, and Micah had to do a double take. He was pretty buff and big, and shirtless, carrying a large object covered with white cloth. The man nodded at him politely.
Ripped Asian man -
(A heated reply in Chinese.)
>> ALEX
Alex had been pacing aimlessly around the third floor since the first disturbing news transmission, prodding his cell phone. Useless thing. It didn’t matter where he went, there was no reception. He was vaguely aware of people talking: a woman whose voice was somehow comforting, a guy with “nerd” written all over him, a doctor (thank God they had a doctor here), somebody … oddly similar to Emiliano (if Emiliano was a little paler), a foreigner (Australian? English?), and another foreigner (definitely English), and they seemed calmer than most of the people waiting to die in Westlake. Because that’s what they were doing. Waiting to die. He knew what was happening. This was the goddamn End Times, resurrection of the dead and all that, and that gut-spewing little creature on TV was some kind of Antichrist or demon or something. But why did he have to suffer through this? What about all the sacrifices he made? Church twice a week (and a one-time altar boy, no less), volunteering at the food kitchen, freaking abstinence. He went above and beyond, but that obviously didn’t matter.
Alex suddenly noticed the bloody woman, and his dazed expression sharpened as he focused on her and the doctor. He took a few steps closer and, his phone still gripped in his right hand, stared at the pair like they were actors on a stage. Christ. What now?
>> PATTI
Supposed to get attacked? What the ever-loving fuck was going on here? With the tables situated to serve the doctor's needs, Patti started thinking about weapons. She didn't know how to use a hand-to-hand weapon. A shotgun or a handgun, yeah, but, what, a fucking club? A knife? If she was using a knife, then whatever she was fighting was already WAY too close.
Patti walked to the window and glanced down to assess the situation. She was looking for two things: abandoned police vehicles and zombies. She was getting a real weapon, even if she had to leave the building to get it. She didn't want to think about the alternative.
Patti looked outside, wondering what a zombie would look like. Would they have green skin and be holding their arms out, lurching around? That seemed silly, but in any case she didn't see it. She saw one police vehicle, but wondered if it had already been scavenged, seeing the debris littering the ground around it. Some people milled around the coffee shop, seemingly in a daze. She couldn't see them well from this distance, but they didn't seem to have any obvious blood on them and perhaps they were just in shock.
>> MICAH
Micah stared at the object trying to discern what was under that white cloth. He had a bad feeling and regretted moving away from the others. Given the mood of the day, it certainly wasn't a puppy. He looked at the younger buff Asian guy, who looked like he could break Micah into white cloth covered box filling pieces. The guy definitely worked out like a mother fucker and if Micah wasn't privately shitting himself he could appreciate it.
Micah-
"Uh hi there guys, do you uh need me to leave? That's not a puppy is it? Your not going to uh cook it yeah? "
Smooth... The two men stopped their work for a moment, and looked at each other, speaking just as heatedly, but quieter.
The older man nodded to the younger one, who carried the object under his arm and continued digging around through drawers, pulling out large knives and pointy objects and laying them on the counter.
The older man stepped forward and nodded politely to Micah, looking up as he talked as though he were thinking deeply about what he was saying. Micah saw he wore a name tag that read "JAMES".
James-
"Haha, oh no, you are fine. This is my brother Eric, he doesn't speak. He tells me... Umm... He's looking for weapons. He's good soldier, he's finding good things. He has a good weapon for fighting. Oh yeah, he said everybody should go inside, bad things outside."
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor leaned back, away from the woman cautiously. His lips bunched together under his nose as his eyes grew slanted. Pulse increasing slightly, though certainly not from a lack of compassion in her eyes, Dr. Victor shrugged his shoulders apathetically. The train of thoughts, calculating, categorized, and narcissistic, erupted out at once like a leaky dyke.
Dr. Victor-
"No. Quite honestly, I don't care what you are or were called or whatever you think. Your delusion, from whatever cause, does not impress me. Go ahead, if you must, rattle off some prolific or prophetic expression of whatever you believe yourself to be currently. Gabriel, Beelzebub, Death Incarnate, Hatred, Sorrow, the End of All Things, Batman... I don't care. I'm not so easily scared, if that's what you're thinking. I just cannot abide by your excessive malady which will cause harm to those people over there. So save your words for someone with a damned bleeding heart, Mary."
Dr. Victor rose slowly, extending a gloved hand towards the positioned tables at his request."Now, will you finish your cup of crazy and see if you can sit down on the table while I administer a candy bar to get your blood sugar back to normal levels?" >> MICAH
Micah-
"Oh no worries, well good to have someone like that around.. I'm going back out. Nice meeting you both."
Micah looked down to where the knife had dropped, bare inches from his foot. That could have ended badly, thankful for small mercies (his heart slowing down), he picked the knife up from the ground. He had been ready to shout fire or rape if they'd tried anything weird.
He bit down his curiosity about the object, it wasn't worth riling this Eric guy up. Taking one last appreciative look at the buff shirtless man he made his way towards the entrance."I'm taking this knife, I hope you don't mind"
James -
"Oh no, that's fine. This isn't our restaurant anyway, have good time."
>> ALEX
As he eavesdropped, Alex couldn’t stop himself from commenting on the doctor’s unique bedside manner. Maybe it was the horror of that day, the fears that his parents were dying somewhere, the realization that the whole world was going to hell, but he didn’t feel much like being polite. “Don’t talk to her that way, Sir!”
He stepped closer and looked at the bloody woman with evident concern.“Ma’am, let me help you to that table … please take my arm.” People begin to buzz about one of the new arrivals to the 3rd floor. A policeman has come in! A policeman! He has a handgun holstered, as well as a taser and baton and who knows what else! His radio is turned low but has constant chatter on it.
Cop-
"Oh thank god, people. Everyone should really stay up here right now! I know I am. There's no cloud of toxins or radiation that can come in, but there's... Just stay put, folks. Is someone taking charge?"
Sarah-
"Kinda. I am REALLY glad to see someone with a gun. That news report is creeping me out. Are we really going to be attacked?"
Cop-
"Yes... But not by anything intelligent as far as I can tell... Let's just stay out of sight until things settle down a bit, and we might not get noticed."
Anna-
"What of these zombies? Is that what's going on out there?"
Cop-
"G-g-god, um... Yes. Listen! If you see someone that you know can't possibly be alive, but they are moving... Run! They will try to kill you. S-Sometimes shooting them works and sometimes it doesn't."
An announcement comes over the PA. It's Jackson's voice. "Attention, attention. Everyone needs to do their best to stay calm. If you feel like you need to leave, please don't harm anyone by stampeding. If you stay, we are meeting on the 3rd floor food court. There is a TV there with emergency information. It's not much, but you are welcome. But please, stop running recklessly. Don't hurt anyone if you don't have to."
Cop-
"Who's that?"
All of the following takes place in as little time as it takes to say a few words, and no one initially notices it except for Alex and Dr. Victor.
The lady rebuffs Alex's offer with a brusque wave and a barking noise, and seems to be having a seizure. Weirdly, she can still be heard talking in that hideous voice, ignoring Alex and talking to the doctor.
"Mary"-
"Your callow solipsism does not interest me, modern poppet. Your world is so much less vital than the elder times, the times kept alive in the hearts of people like young Alex here... The times when people knew well the fire beneath their feet, and walked with the humility of the transient clots of humors that they truly are..." Her voice was decidedly unnatural by this time, her flesh was beginning to tremble even as her bones stood stock still. Those minor cuts all flared to life with aggravation as if on hidden signal and the larger ones released streams of clear ichor, racing down her limbs like teardrops. Her face puffed and twisted with muscles no human should possess.
Alex is paralyzed! He cannot move a muscle and the only life he still controls is that within his mind. As he looked at the bloody woman before, he felt like he was hearing vague whispers swirling behind him, but at the mention of his name he realized they were inside his head the whole time!
They coalesced in a single voice, ringing sharply through his skull like someone blowing an airhorn in his face. It said "Hell is hot, Alex! COME INTO THE FIRE!" He felt his legs lashed to the ground by invisible tendrils and the world rolled away from him.
From an outside view, Alex looks like he's standing still and tense, but doesn't really stick out in the crowd. Inside, he is subject to a very weird experience. 
"Mary"-
"...But you guessed my name correctly, doctor, and for that you deserve a prize. I will tear off your head last..." Her eyes shot through with pink veins that ruptured and (impossibly) turned them a milky white. Blood burst then flowed from behind the orbs, blood rushed out of her nose and mouth at the same time, making her look all the worse, and he couldn't help notice the stuff looked a bit clumpy and brown like it had been congealing inside her for a while."I am Ab-dhur, the Voice of Hatred, the truth behind all the pious lies of God's LOVE. PLEASED to fucking MEET YOU, Charles! ReeHEEEhEEEHEEHHEEE!!" |
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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on May 7, 2016 8:19:13 GMT -8
That's when the telekinesis started. Dr. V is in a different situation from Alex, but cannot move a muscle. Her hair is snaking all around her as if blown by an invisible wind, and Dr. V cannot control his body. He can still control his mind and speak though, and as loudly as he wants.>> BEN Ben was about to go talk to Patti when the policeman arrived. He seemed serious about dead people walking around. Not just crazy people then, high on drugs or something? Maybe it was time to look for a sturdy stick after all. Just in case. But where would he find one up here? The best Ben could hope for would probably be a broken off broom handle.>> ALEX
As a child, Alex believed in a cartoonish hell: red horned men prodding sinners with spears as they all roasted together in a pit of fire. But then, when Alex was thirteen, his cousin Ally wrapped her car around a pole at eighty miles an hour. Ally’s spine broke. She was paralyzed from the neck down. Couldn’t speak right, either.
When Alex visited his cousin after the accident and saw the young woman, once active and boisterous, imprisoned in her own body, he realized that this was hell. Hell was an eternity locked in place, isolated from friends and family. The ability to witness but never participate. No more running. No more enjoying a hearty steak. No more joking with his friends. Since then, Alex had feared Hell like mad in his nightmares, demons chained him up and left him to rot. They stole his voice. They removed his limbs. Once, he dreamed that Lucifer himself kicked him in a tub of cement that hardened like a cocoon.
To Alex, hell was more real than heaven.
>> NAT
Nat made a face as the creepy British man came over, although he didn't offer any other complaint. Instead, the blonde forced a rather shaky smile, and said:Nat-
"Th-Thanks... Basil? I, ah, I suppose that'll have to do f-for now." He spared a quick glance toward the doctor, but thankfully the man seemed distracted by the injured woman.
He noticed when the policeman burst in, although he shied away from the man - he would be busy, talking to people who had a better idea of what was going on, who were more in charge.
Nat-
"Sh-Should we be finding w-weapons?"
Nat glanced aside at his somewhat unwanted companion - but the man had helped (sort of) and Sarah seemed to be busy with more important things. Although, on the topic of weapons, Nat really wasn't sure what to look for. Clubs, knives? He couldn't imagine using any of them. He looked around, trying to see if he spotted any shops or stalls nearby that might have something useful.>> PATTI
Patti-
She ran up to the police officer. "Is that your patrol car out on Olive? Do you have shotgun or rifle in there still? I know you said we need to stay put, but I'm getting the distinct impression that we could use all the firepower we can get."
Just then she saw something over by the tables that no person should ever see. The blood was flowing like water and the woman's hair was moving on its own. Her mind leapt to the clouds of black smoke. They were definitely moving independently of wind currents and each other. Patti felt her body lock up and her eyes began searching for an exit. Her breath became shallow and fast, her heart racing. Do something, damn it! She tried to move her arms but they felt like she had just finished doing a thousand curls. The semi-paralysis made her panic escalate even faster.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor's outstretched hand wanted to tremble his knees wanted to give way and his eyes wanted to roll back into his head as he lapsed into unconsciousness. Of course, the poor doctor rarely ever got what he wanted. Horror is a terrible thing for a doctor to experience.
Dr. Victor-
"Humility has never been my strong point, Mary. Survival, however... "
The good doctor's following words were something akin to a very drunken William Shakespeare meeting Spongebob Squarepants:"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT STILL STANDS, SOMEONE PUT DOWN THIS SAUCY FETCH!" >> BEN
Ben heard the raised voice, but at first he had some trouble making sense of what the doctor was saying. And what was that thing in front of the doctor? Was that the pale woman? Was the doctor asking them to put that woman down? Kill her? What else could he possibly mean? If that thing had been in front of Ben, he sure would've wanted someone to kill it. He wanted someone to kill it right now. Someone with a weapon. Someone who wasn't frozen in place like Ben was.>> MICAH
That's was until he heard the Doctor yell out an insane phrase. He had hoped the guy would catch some venereal disease from the icy cold woman but they weren't fucking in public were they? Curious, he peeked out onto the scene from the door and almost died.
The woman's hair was writhing like a thousand tiny worms and she seemed to bleed from everywhere, creating a muddy pool of blood on the floor underneath. His heart was beating so fast it was practically humming in his chest. If this was how she reacted to the Doctor, what the hell was she going to do to the guy who had felt her up, albeit by accident?
Micah crept slowly towards the scene for a better look, he suddenly realised what he was doing and jerked back the way he had came. Unfortunately he had forgot about the knife in his hand which stuck solidly into the wall sending him backwards into the little room with Eric and his brother.
>> PATTI
The doctor's cry hit Patti like a roundhouse to the solar plexus. She gasped in a deep breath and staggered forward a few steps. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. The doctor seemed rooted in place, as did the (shockingly handsome) young man that was nearby. The air of menace was palpable, even across the room. The freaky bleeding bitch wasn't looking in Patti's direction. She could take her by surprise. What?!?!
Somebody needed to do something and Patti didn't see anyone else moving. She picked out an aluminum chair that sat about twenty feet in front of her and directly en route to the sludge blooded, tendril haired loony. She broke into a sprint.
The cop drew his gun, and edged past Patti.
Cop-
"Back down ma'am!"
Patti knew well enough to not be in front of a gun, and hoped the hot teenager and the doctor could get out of the way. What was wrong with them?
Anna ran up alongside Patti, and also encouraged her to stand back, with a wave and a frantic look.
Sarah and other citizens cowered away. Sarah ran to Nat and Basil, wordlessly gesturing for them to run and hide.
Basil-
"I say!" Patti and Anna watched the scene in shock from 15 feet back.
As it turns out, there was no conversation to be had in Alex's head. His fear of hell was triggered by paralysis, and that fear somehow flipped upside down. He felt all hope drain away from him, replaced by a sliding feeling. He could see hell clearly and it felt so inevitable he just wanted to go right in and get it over with. Despair pulled him in so fast it was like a hole in the side of an airplane.
Dr. V felt the strangest sensation, the floor dropping away. The hideous creature held a hand up, and he lifted from the ground like a puppet on a string, three feet in the air.
Ab-dhur-
"ReeHeeeHeeHee, Death HAS FOUND YOU, puny MORTA--" Gunshots rang out, and purple-black blood and gore shot out of her body in thick globby strings.
She whipped her head in the direction of the cop with a snapping sound like someone snapping a crunchy breadstick.
She casually waved an arm at Dr. V and Alex, without even looking. By an invisible force, both of them went flying into the air, ten feet back, the doc crashing into plastic tables tables and Alex skidding across the floor, sexfully ripping his polo shirt.
Alex felt his consciousness return, just in time for his vision to black out.
Anna and Patti watched the freaky lady take six bullets and remain afloat, smiling with corn kernel-like teeth. The cop stopped shooting, standing about six feet away from her. He stared at her, uncomprehending.
Ab-dhur-
"You're a good boy, Thomas."
She abruptly flew straight up. Before anyone could follow her rapid movement, the cop wheeled to look at Patti and Anna, pointing his gun at them, and there was nowhere for them to hide. His eyes were covered with the milky cataracts most often seen in the fish market. His lip split open with a ghoulish smile, running a thin stream of red down his chin. 
Cop-
"HahahahaHAHAHAHAH! This flesh dies!" He placed the gun under his chin, and fired, the top of his cap emitting a shower of brain matter and red splattering remarkably high.
IN THE KITCHEN--
James and Eric spun around, alarmed at the sound of gunfire. In one slick movement, the shirtless man dropped the covering off the object under his arm, his white uniform shirt fluttering to the ground. It was a small submachine gun. He held it like a pro, like a soldier from a movie. Micah bumbled out of the way, but the man waited patiently a moment for him to move. Absurdly, he nodded to Micah politely as he stormed out of the kitchen.
James held his hands at his chest nervously.
James-
"Don't worry!" he told Micah.
BACK OUTSIDE --
A shirtless, buff Chinese man appeared out of nowhere, holding a police-issue submachine gun. He had it pointed at the dead cop, and approached very slowly, never letting the gun drop.
Anna began to move forward again, very slowly.
Anna-
"Sir, I don't know who you are, but-" The cop was pulled up like a puppet on a string.
Cop -
"DIEEE--" His head burst with three shots from Eric, and he was down again... But still thrashing and spewing horrific fluids. The Chinese man seemed more interested in conserving ammo than stopping the horror show, but kept his gun pointed at the jiggling mess.
Anna-
"Where the fuck did Linda Blair go?!" >> NAT
Nat barely had time to register the terrible thing that the injured woman had become before Sarah rushed over to herd he and Basil away. Nat followed her direction blindly, a litany of oh shit oh shit oh shit playing over and over again in his mind. Something bad was happening, and it was happening nearby! He had get somewhere safe! Where was safe?
He ended up cowering behind a table that he helped Sarah over-turn. It was only after he had reached this relative safety that the blonde looked out to see just what the hell he was running from. For a moment he saw the woman, a terrible waxen creature dripping viscous clumps of blood with hair that writhed like tentacles. But then that moment passed and instead he found himself watching the doctor, as the man was flung like a rag doll to crash into a table only a few yards away.
Nat suddenly felt that this fortress of safety had been compromised - but where else was there to go? And then there was the doctor... Well hell, the table was better than nothing. Nat rushed out and tried to pull the fallen Dr. V behind his shelter - Sarah seemed to have the same idea, and both found themselves trying to drag the man behind their makeshift barricade.
The first gunshot nearly made Nat drop what he was doing and bolt, but he managed to keep from running like a coward. Each subsequent gunshot made him flinch, however he did not peek back around the barricade - he didn't want to see what was going on out there, or what was making those wet flopping sounds.
>> MICAH
Micah was grateful that his awkwardness had landed him back in the kitchen, the familiarity of it was comforting as he listened to the horrific sounds coming from outside. He felt guilty for wishing bad shit for the doctor, because he doubted the man was still alive. If James wasn't in the room with him, he would have considered going fetal. He really really hoped that the icy bitch had forgotten about him...
>> BEN
Ben was shocked by the gunshots from his paralysis. He looked about for Sonya, or at least a place to run, and saw her cringing behind a wall with a few other people. He ran toward them, gun shots still going off, he knew not exactly where, and got into place.
He felt a weird distraction. Oh man, am I sweating that much? Something was running down his face. He noticed it was red in his hand and looked up.
The bloody woman was on the ceiling, posed like a cockroach, head swiveled toward him and smiling. Gore dripped from her onto the collected citizens. They shrieked and collapsed, but couldn't think to run.
The ghoul scuttled away.
Ben-
"AHHHHHH!" >> ALEX
First, Alex felt pain. His shoulder stung, and the back of his head throbbed. After years of rough sports, aches like these were familiar. Comforting.
Then, he remembered the despair. His body had been a cage. Those demons had torn his soul from his bound and useless flesh, and he could not resist. He had not even TRIED to resist. He'd given in quickly and completely, unable deny their call: come into the fire. A visceral panic seized Alex, and, as he regained consciousness, he realized that he was … screaming? No, not screaming. It was a hoarse, deep, tormented sound that made his throat feel raw with its intensity. He couldn't give in to these beasts. He had to fight. He had to fight for his parents, for his grandparents, for his border collie, for his team, for these people trapped in the mall, and for Emiliano. Jesus Christ, Alex thought, protect Emiliano. The guy wouldn't slap a mosquito. How could an honest-to-God pacifist survive this horror?
Alex urged himself to stop howling like a madman and get up. Get up. GET UP. But his legs felt so weak ... and he was shivering. His nightmares were prophesies. Hell was coming for him. With a desperate motion, Alex grasped the crucifix around his neck and clutched it so tightly in his hand, it stung. The pain brought a moment of calm. How did the Prayer to Saint Michael go? Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Yes. Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. He could do this. At the very least, he had to try. Alex took a deep breath and prepared to stand.
>> PATTI
The cop was on the ground, flopping. The inexplicable Bolo Yeung stunt double was scanning for a second target while keeping his HK pointed at the body on the ground. Patti looked around frantically, unable to locate the flying puppet master.
How the hell did she do that anyway? Weren't zombies and shit supposed to reproduce through bites and scratches and shit? This thing just looked at him funny and made him blow his brains out. What chance did Patti have against this thing?
None. Patti heard some screams and burst into action without thinking. She was down at the convulsing man's side, trying to pry his pistol from his iron grip. This was useless and disgusting, but she couldn't foresee any scenario in which she survived the night without a firearm. She jumped to her feet and began stomping the man's forearm in hopes that involuntary force applied to the ligaments would release his grip.
She started to say a prayer, reflexively, though it devolved as soon as it started.
Patti-
"Jesus fucking Christ! LET! GO! OF! THE GODDAMNED GUN! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor-
"TOOK LONG EN-"
He was catapulted into the once neat arrangement of plastic patio furniture. The lack of oxygen in his lungs caused him the greatest distress. His body contorted like a flopping fish, attempting to find legs on which to stand within the white manufactured sea. With footing assured, though breath not forthcoming, he began flinging a chair around with one arm and gesturing inappropriately with the other at the sickening sack of bile and rats' nest hair."...Condoleezaa Rice! Mary has a temper." >> NAT
With the doctor flailing his way back up to his feet, Nat quickly recoiled and ducked back into the shelter of his plastic-furniture fort. Just in time, too, if he had waited a bit longer, he might have been struck with that plastic chair the man was swinging around.
Nat-
"What-What is it? That... thing?"
Nat wasn't even sure why he asked - the Doctor seemed too concerned with shouting inanities and flailing to answer. Nat did follow the man's rude gesture with his eyes, however, and inhaled sharply when he saw the ghoul, impossibly skittering upside-down across the ceiling. That couldn't be real, could it? How was she doing that? He didn't want to look at it, but he couldn't look away.
Nat-
"D-Do you think she's possessed?"
It was an insane idea - possession was something that only happened in movies anymore. It was a hoax or a mental illness, it was something his aunt would have harped about as a reason not to EVER use a Ouija Board. It wasn't something real, was it?>> MICAH
Micah-
" So ah James, what do you think is going on out there?"
Micah moved hesitantly to where the man stood next to the array of knives and other sharp implements. The guy kept his arms in front of his chest and looked decidedly worried. Micah wished Eric was in here instead, the man practically sweated confidence (hell, the man had a sub-machine gun), his brother not so much.
Micah attempted to place what he hoped was a comforting hand on the man's shoulder.
James nodded politely at the comforting gesture.
James-
"Yes, thank you... I don't really understand. Eric says... some kind of attack? He's a good soldier, he's been in maaaany things like this before in his country before he come here. Maybe we pick a good knife and go help, huh?" >> DOCTOR VICTOR
The good doctor leaned over, catching his breath when he spied the blonde gentlemen. His face broke into a smile quite unlike his natural demeanor.
Dr. Victor-
"Possession is a possibility, but... let's play 'guess the apparition' after we're in a better position, shall we?"
>> ALEX
Alex tried to gain his bearings as he shakily climbed to his knees. His eyes darted from person to person. Was that a . . . no way. A machine gun??? Where did it come from? How long had he been unconscious? He glimpsed the thankfully living doctor near the young man Alex had mentally named “White Emiliano”. Not too far away, a woman was struggling with a gore-spattered mess wearing a cop’s uniform. And … did he hear a man screaming? Had anyone else seen hell? Alex would ask later.
Alex suddenly realized that his hunt green polo was ripped down the front. So much for 100% cotton standing up to wear and tear. He whipped the useless shirt off and chucked it behind him. What now? The admirably muscular machine gun man (whoa, pretty cool guy) was taking care of business. Maybe Alex should join the group of people crouched behind a table barricade. They could use his help, if a demon snuck up behind them. Yeah. He’d go there. He’d crawl across the ground commando-style, like in the movies. Maybe, on the way, he’d warn the doctor that it was really dangerous for old men to swing around heavy objects without the proper technique (Alex still nurtures the high school mindset that anybody older than thirty is “old”) He crouched low to the ground and prepared to move.
Alex-
"I'm NOT possessed!"
Alex shouted to the group behind the overturned furniture. "Honest to God!" He didn't want them to mistake him for another demon and hit him with a chair as he approached.
Patti tried to grab the gun from the twitching body, but the arm flailed dangerously with the pistol rattling in its death grip. Anna gestured for Patti to take a step back, and did a flying stomp at the corpse's wrist, landing with a loud crack of her boot on weakened bones. With a drag of her foot, the bones crackled and popped disgustingly. Anna winced and looked away, until the hand came free of the arm with a dribble of oozing gore. The hand gripped on to her shoe tightly, dropping the pistol free for Patti to grab. Anna hopped around, trying to kick the severed hand off her boot.
Anna-
"FUCKIN. NASTY." She kicked hard, and the hand sailed through the air comically, bouncing off a glass window and landing, twitching like a very large spider. People shrieked at the disgusting display and backed away from it.
Eric searched, looking for the other creature, or whatever the enemy was. He kept the gun pointed at the ground and his finger off the trigger.
Suddenly, in the center of the room, a large object fell from the ceiling, with a loud crunch on the tiled floor. Everyone instinctively backed away from it. A body. On the ceiling, Mary laughed a shrieking laugh, hanging from the ceiling above. She smashed a large glass tile in a shower of sparkling shards, and crawled out like a scuttling insect before Eric could get a good aim.
Woman with glasses-
"BOBBY?!"
A woman screamed, looking at the small body in the center of the food court floor. Bobby-- the little boy with the squished tomato head, had his act been a terrible premonition of his future?!]
Woman with glasses-
"Oh, thank God!" He must have been okay, he twitched a bit, and sat up slowly. His mother ran over to help him.
Woman with glasses-
"Bobby? What's--"
The woman backed up, away from her son. He staggered forward with his arms hanging at his sides, his head limp on his shoulder at an unnatural angle. She screamed, and he lurched forward at her with his teeth bared like a snarling dog. She backed straight down the central staircase. She flew backwards, her head cracking and skidding all the way down, her scream cut off abruptly with the blow. Bobby turned to face the crowd, making a wheezing, guttural growl.>> MICAH
Micah-
"H-help? I guess.."
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Really? Micah took a deep breath, it was time to do something that would make his uncle Frank and disappointed Exes proud. It was time to, as his uncle always said ' harden the fuck up'. His whole body trembled and he fought the urge to cry, run or vomit.
Besides, if the Icy bitch came after him, he wanted plenty of space to run and an Asian guy with a machine gun present.
Micah-
"Let's fucking do this"
He picked two long sashimi knives and sprinted out the door before reason could catch up, jumping over the counter parkour style and into the fray.
>> BEN
After the ghoulish creature had crawled out of his sight, Ben lay very still for a while. She was still up there somewhere, and for whatever reason she had decided not to kill them all at that particular moment. Clearly she was only playing with them.
Ben-
"This is so much worse than zombies."
Then he heard her shrieking laugh from the ceiling. What was she doing? Ben got up to get a better look, even though he really didn't want to see. But he had to. He watched the dead woman crawl outside, and hoped that would be the last they'd see of her. Then he saw the kid get up. And the kid's mother go down. "Oh, crap." >> ALEX
Alex froze halfway to the table barricade as the demon child fell and . . . oh, Jesus! . . . attacked his own mother. He picked up a chair and held it by the legs like a shield. A few sturdy strikes, and the kid should go down easy. But what if it had telekinesis, like that bleeding woman? He tried to think of a prayer to ward off possessed children, but his mind went blank. No, no. Think of something! Alex-
“Go back to HELL. The power of Christ compels you!” >> DOCTOR VICTOR
Doctor Victor attempted to not flinch at the tumbling body of the boy as it fell. It was instinctive enough for him to detect the various bony structures, cartilage and fibrous tissues shattering and tearing. Tibia, fibula, pelvis, bilateral hip, coccyx, ribs, cervical spine. The lop-sided head is a dead give away. The doctor kept his glee painted on his face.
He knelt down next to the blonde man, extending his hand towards the crouching form.Dr. Victor-
"We need to be on the back end of this, you and I. I'm going to gather my things quickly, and I suggest we make a hasty positioning to the others." Glancing towards the shirtless man, he added, "Right, then... chum. No swinging at the Greco-Roman wrestler."
He stood, chair held as a shielding cudgel towards the ceiling. His lips pursed outward, eyes darting almost as manically as Mary's eyes had moments before succumbing to pasty, necrotic orbs of soured goat's milk.
Dr. Victor-
"Surprisingly, I really don't have any advanced commentary to promote a healthy sense of humor right now. But if you'd like to leave a message, I'd be sure to get back to you. Or if you'd prefer, I can always just point out your rather sad state of being... a sick thought bubble dropped by H.P. Lovecraft and picked up by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi Mary, you do have a look of a half-jelly filled doughnut and a chewed Barbie doll."
>> MICAH
The food court was a mess of blood and broken furniture. There was a gaping hole in the glass roof like a hungry mouth, waiting to gorge on the survivors of whatever had gone down.
Micah was surprised when he spotted that all his companions including the Doctor were alive and mostly well.
Then he saw it in the centre, the kid from before looking very dead but very angry. Micah grinned, surely if there was a zombie he could handle it was this little shit. Ah poetic justice, you can be sweet when you want to be.
He still felt bad for the kid but he would be lying if he didn't admit a twinge of satisfaction. The kid was making a guttural sound, impossible for a small child to make, let alone one with a broken neck. His head was now crushed for real and Micah was shocked at the stark difference. Teeth jutted out of the boys lips and the top of his head was now concave and blood, brains and bits of skull were seeping slowly to the floor.
He moved towards the undead kid with both knives at the ready and shaking like they were electric in his hands.
Micah-
"It isn't so fucking funny anymore is it?"
>> PATTI
Patti frowned momentarily at her inability to break the damned thing's arm on her own, but grabbed up the gun as quick as she could. Glock 22, .40 caliber. Fifteen round magazine if she remembered correctly from when she was shopping for hers. That meant she only had nine rounds left.
Gun in hand, Patti ran over to where the young man (Where the hell did his shirt disappear to? Hot damn, he was something else! Like some sort of sexy amalgam of Adam Beach and Daniel Craig.) was standing with a metal chair. She placed one hand on his arm to keep him from charging the boy-thing before she could get a shot in.
She was about to take a shot at the boy zombie, but that Australian kid seemed hellbent on getting at that thing with some Ginsu looking knives. People below on the main stairwell began shrieking and parting way, for the woman with glasses, who ran full bore up the stairs, making a hideous groaning. The back of her head was softened and red, but not showing bone."Give me room, let's see if this works like in the movies." She wasn't nearly as good with a handgun as with a long rifle or a shotgun, but she was probably as good as your average cop (which was a little scary, in her opinion). She took aim at the female creature's head, making sure there weren't any innocent bystanders on the far side, and took her best shot. One caught the zombie in the ear, and the other right through the temple. A shower of red gore sprayed out the other side and stopped the creature in its mad dash, sending it flipping end over end until it landed in an unnatural heap like a tossed doll.>> ALEX
Alex turned away from the demon child long enough to glance at the woman who'd joined him. She carried a gun! An honest to God gun. And by the way she held that gun, Alex suspected that she knew how to use it."Yes, Ma’am!"
For the first time since hell let loose, Alex smiled. It was his classic smile, the kind that put dimples in his cheeks (his high school sweethearts used to love those). Not a maniacal smile like that doctor sported.
And speaking of the doctor: who was he calling a Greco Roman wrestler? Alex was an Apache Pawnee baseball player, and proud of it. He wouldn't be caught dead wrestling, anyway. Not with those goofy regulation uniforms.
>> MICAHOh god Micah hoped he knew what he was doing. Remembering back to the play fights he had with his little brother, he launched at the little fucker using his knees to the push him onto the ground. As if he were cutting the neck off a chicken, he pushed the knife in his right hand down on what was left of the kid's neck. He attempted to keep the thing from ripping his head off by holding down his arms with one hand and using his right elbow for the other as he cut. The little fucker snapping at him the whole time. It was lucky it was only a child because it was unnaturally strong.
Micah-
"Just be a good little shit and die already... Please?"
>> DOCTOR VICTOR Dr. Victor tried to keep his voice above that of the screaming.
Dr. Victor-
"Right, then, let's all get together somewhere nice and close, right?"
His eyes drifted over towards the Australian man who identified himself as Micah. My word, more like a surgeon with Parkinson's' instead of a real doctor, isn't he?"Group up, melee in front, range in back and delicate flowers in the middle. That would be your cue, Nat keep your stomach contents in check, if you have any left."
Dr. Victor lingered over the police officer next to the Asian assault man, allowing himself a once-over of the corpse. Within a few moments, he had what he hoped was a quick visual autopsy with which he could use later, should survival occur. He attempted to locate and grab the Maglite just in case, especially considering the wonderful durability of plastic."Is anyone going to put that addled-brain hormone-driven over-lactating sack of a woman down-er, I mean, down again? Who rushes to an obviously dead corpse? Really, Mary, I wish you wouldn't stack the deck against us by twisting everything with a below-average intelligence quotient with a poor-man's upper GI bleed. Poor sport, Mary, poor sport indeed." >>ALEX
Melee? Flowers? Lactation? What? Alex didn't understand what the doctor was shouting. Maybe he was hysterical, or driven mad by visions of hell. That couldn't happen. They needed a healer. Should he slap him? Wasn't that supposed to help hysterics?
Alex-
"SIR! Sir, you’re speaking in tongues! Pull yourself together!"
If only everyone could be as collected as the woman at his side, or as . . . brutally effective as the thin guy tearing into the child demon with his knives.
>>NAT
Nat accepted Victor's hand up, albeit tentatively. The doctor looked more than half mad, after all, the way his eyes twitched manically from side to side. Not to mention, once on his feet the man began to ramble off to the ceiling about... what, Lovecraft? Nat just smiled nervously and nodded - oh yes, of course, I understand exactly what you're saying Mr. chair-swinging psychopath. Nat almost missed his pet British creeper, for a moment. Of course, said creeper was sure to follow him - and Sarah as well - in leaving the shelter.
... and then, of course, there was the rather handsome, shirtless man who was... barreling toward them screaming that he was not possessed. Nat wasn't sure what to make of that, but just to be safe, he ducked around behind Dr. Victor - let the crazy man with the 'weapon' decide what to do about that.
As he was distracted by the doctor, Nat did not see the boy fall from above, although he certainly heard him hit ground. He also heard the frantic cries of the boy's mother, the relief, and then the screaming. It was only after the screaming began that he looked to see the tiny mangled corpse - just in time to watch the woman who must have been his mother back herself off the edge of the staircase. His eyes could hardly leave the child - the most certainly dead child. It... Was it true what people had been saying? There were... zombies?
There were gunshots nearby and more screaming, but Nat couldn't look away from the tiny, snarling corpse. Not even when the man with his flashing, slashing knives stepped in front of the thing, tore into it. It was only after the blood began to flow - and fly in bright crimson spatters - that Nat wrenched his eyes away.
The blonde whimpered softly, hardly aware of the noise, and turned to hide behind... Victor? No, no, he was spouting off... who knows what. For all Nat knew, the man might be possessed by... whatever it was, the woman, the cop. No, no, Nat turned to cling to the nearest not crazy person. He would follow where directed, but he needed a moment - he needed something sane to get his bearing back.
... of course, that might prove rather difficult, given the current company.
Basil-
"Oh yes dear one, cling to me in this time of great difficulty!" Basil put his head tenderly on Nat's. He smelled like stale rum and Brylcreme.>> MICAH
Micah slashed at the child's neck, the blood that spurted out had little strength in its spray, but was still hot. It splattered across his chest and face and made him shudder. He sawed through cartilage, feeling the knives scrape against bone.
BLAP
The child's head slumped forward, hanging from a flap of flesh that was all that remained of its neck. Its body went slack, and he dropped it with a wet thump. Blood poured out like he'd tipped over a bucket of maroon paint. People screamed and cowered, and ran down the stairs past the mutilated corpses.
Downstairs, there was more screaming, but it sounded like it was for a different reason. These screams were less of outrage and shock, and more of mortal terror.
Jackson slammed open the stairwell door, not taking the time to comprehend the bizarre scene he'd missed.
Jackson-
"Anyone who can fight-- Downstairs, now!! Emergency!"
On the first floor, people ran to the corners, up the stairs, down to the garage, anywhere... Strange people had suddenly come in, an eerie laughing coming from behind them. Some of them wore Starbucks aprons, and they all looked remarkably normal and unblemished-- except the snapping snarling mouths and their lurching, unnatural gaits. A man with a nametag that read "Neil" had twisted a man's arm out of the socket, yanking him backwards to his slavering mouth.
The front doors were flapping open, the hinges were broken by the powerful and desperate flailing. Ten strangers in total, but it seemed there were more interested parties moving in the direction of the mall, called by an unnatural urge.
>> BEN
Jackson's words shook Ben's mind into some kind of working order. Clearly they were all fucked. Nowhere to hide, not for any length of time anyway. So he might as well try to fight. But he would really like to have a decent hitting-stick for that, and the only one he could think of was down in his car, in the underground parking garage. If he made a run right now, without wasting time, perhaps he might make it?
"I'm going down to the parking garage, Sonya. I'll be back... I hope."
Then he took off, running downstairs as quickly as he could.
Sonya-
"Oh no! Please be careful..!"
Jackson moved aside for Ben to enter the stairwell, and caught Anna's hand as she ran towards him. James yelled something to his brother in a foreign language, and he nodded, moving towards the stairs as well.
Sarah, Sonya, and the rest of the terrified third floor survivors moved to hide behind half walls and into store fronts, some people thinking to try to pull the roll downs closed for cover.
In the stairwell, Jackson, Anna, Eric, Ben and anyone else who came along had to dodge people fleeing from the first floor. Anna held Jackson's hand as he led her down the stairs, he held a broken-off table leg in his other hand.
Anna-
"What's going on?"
Jackson-
"The-the dead I guess...!" >> PATTI
One down, seven-and-a-half billion to go? Patti checked the magazines she had hastily shoved into her pocket. Excellent! Extended law enforcement magazines. That gave her nine rounds left in the current one and two more of seventeen.
She heard Ben say he was going down to the parking garage and then break for the stairwell. She ran after him, bursting into the stairwell almost half a minute after him.
Patti-
"Ben, wait!! Don't go down there alone!"
She moved down the stairs as quickly as she could, keeping one hand on the railing, not wanting to end up like the woman she just shot. >> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor had but one last thing to do before making his decision the penultimate eyeroll.
Dr. Victor-
"We're sending everyone up to the third floor to get away from some 'z-z-zombie' or whatever... well I certainly am not going to be stuck up here with the remaining screaming women and children. That's on you, Mary."
He moved at a sluggish pace, almost grumbling as he skidded through gore and blood. Picking up the medical duffelbag, he tossed his hands into the air, flashlight flinging wildly.
Dr. Victor-
"Patti! Patti! Why am I in charge again? I'll tell you why. I'm in charge because you have the gun. If we BOTH can agree on a decision, it must be a good one. If you dislike the decision... well at least you have the gun."
He refused to trot or even canter through the swarm of screaming scattered people."I'm not exactly too keen on leaving everyone on a third floor space. Haven't you ever played as a child? The roof is not tactically sound, and since the third floor now has an open airway to the roof... Seriously, though... Mary wanted everyone to run outside."
He coughed as someone pushed him against the side of the stairwell."I SAID MARY WANTED EVERYONE TO GO OUTSIDE! At least let us stay inside for the time being."
The good doctor only hoped his voice carried over the crowd. He also added a smaller hope for people to recall his pitch and timbre. He tagged on the desire for them not to become accustomed to his voice to tune him out like a mother would a child... like everyone else he had contact with.
Ben lead the way down the stairs, avoiding people running the other direction like he was playing Frogger. All headed to the garage paused to let Eric, Jackson and Anna off at the first floor. Through the door they saw Tyrone, and a couple slightly more unwilling combatants fighting what seemed to be normal looking, but violent people. Tyrone used a thick piece of metal siding to gouge a woman in the face. Two Asian people looked familiar to Ben, a man and a woman that used a hammer and a short handled shovel respectively. The garage-bound continued down the next flight, along with a few panicked citizens that escaped that floor along with them.
The garage was still quite warm, though now more empty. There were strange echoing sounds of alarm and chaos that reverberated through the concrete enclosure. Ben remembered parking quite near the entrance, so he hadn't far to go.
The panicked citizens ran in opposite directions, their footfalls quite loud and echoing behind them. Ben got to his car, and started digging.
It took a moment, but everyone began to notice footsteps of a more unsure nature, drawing closer. Patti walked around a car to try to hear them better, and saw a problem-- The garage's gate arm lay broken on the ground, run over several times. The garage was open to the outside. There was movement in the spotty lighting behind them, further inside the garage. From outside, poorly lit figures moved jerkily towards them.
>> ALEX
The tattooed man mentioned an emergency? Was it something worse than the demons in the food court? Alex could fight downstairs, yeah, but should he? He did not have time to ponder the question, because the gun woman (her name was Patti, wasn't it?) started moving downstairs.
"Ms. Patti! I got your back!"
He scanned the area for a weapon less unwieldy than a chair and settled on a table leg.
Alex's gaze darted to White Emiliano (was his actual name Nat? Alex thought he heard somebody call him Nat). It looked like he was comforting his old dad. That was sweet. Alex hoped nothing happened to them. As he passed the two, he said, "Nat, if you guys go downstairs, stay close to me and Ms. Patti, got it? Just don’t let your dad outta your sight. These demons have turned son against mother. We got to protect our families." He nodded once decisively, and then followed Patti downstairs.
Eric, Anna and Jackson split from the group going down the stairs to enter the ground floor again. It was a vicious melee, people not willing to fight still cowered at the sides. There were three main combatants that bashed their way through the seemingly normal looking, crazy people. Tyrone sliced at the demented people with a thick piece of metal siding, aiming for their eyes. A young Asian woman carefully aimed her short handled shovel to push back the attackers to her comrade in arms -- an Asian man with bleached rocker hair. He violently bashed at the people with a hammer, aiming for the skull. Nearly ten attackers continually lunged at them, a couple of dead bodies lay in the middle of the floor.
Jackson jumped immediately into the fray, and Eric sat his gun against the wall, kicking back attackers with perfect form. Anna ducked under the Daiso's roll-down, going for a better weapon than a flimsy chair leg.
>> BEN
Ben stood by the open trunk and hurriedly put on his tare, the flaps that protected his groin and upper thighs, and the do, a thick piece of armour covering his abdomen. Next up was the men helmet and shoulder pads, and finally the sturdy kote gloves, protecting his hands and wrists.
Then he had to choose: The hard bokken or the flexible bamboo shinai? Might as well go with the hardwood. Make it or break it.
>> MICAH
Micah looked disbelieving at the horror he had just created and let out a whimper that was a long time coming. Micah heaved the contents of his stomach over the poor kid's ravaged body, adding even more to the gore already there. He stood up shakily and glanced over to were the others were grouping up. Hell if he was going to be left alone! He scuttled towards the group which included the black woman, chubster ( he had forgotten his name), the Doctor and some Indian guy who was pretty hot (but looked way too wholesome).
Micah-
" Uh hey, I'm coming too..."
He looked to the blonde guy Nat who was cowering behind the British creep, Basil. Knowing that he was not exactly the most comforting sight at this time, he tried to smile apologetically."Do you really want to stay here with him? On the ship we called him the Pringle Popper, do you really want to find out where he got it?" >> PATTI
Patti-
"Ben, we've got company, and plenty of it. We need to get back to inside and quick!"
She spun around and was momentarily taken aback. Ben had transformed himself into some sort of samurai. Alright, maybe this kid had a chance.
She slapped his arm to make sure she had his attention and then ran back towards the stairwell. Now if only there was a way to block the stairs from entry behind them.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor watched from the stairwell, catching glimpses of the outcast and the woman. He impatiently tapped his foot, the flashlight resting heavily against his shoulder like a lumberjack's axe. The eye-rolling subsided for a moment once he saw the one called Ben's armor, and he gave the most significant sign of approval at his disposal.
Dr. Victor nodded.
Dr. Victor-
"Well, it took you long enough. Didn't I say Mary wanted everyone outside? Looks like she's planning on some sort of mass assault. We need to get in a better position. I need some place suitable and clean... we also need a way to block the plethora of egresses and entrances from more... things, right? Patti, do you concur?"
Patti-
"I agree alright, but do you have any brilliant ideas?"
>> ALEX
Well, Alex was never going to underestimate nerds again. Christ, Ben looked like some final-level boss in a Japanese arcade game. Alex tightened his grip on the table leg and joined Patti and the Doctor. He had a brilliant idea!Alex-
"Lord's prayer. We need the lord's prayer playing over that … emergency mall intercom. In ... in LATIN." >> MICAH
Micah had hung back in the stairwell waiting for the Chubster's secret weapon and was as impressed as everyone else was. If it meant the chubster was happy to go in the front, let him be their human shield.
Then he heard what the Indian kid said, and with all the stress of the day he couldn't hold it in. He burst out laughing until he had tears in his eyes. It was too much, no one was that naive?Micah-
" You're kidding right, Jesus fucking Christ on a stick, 'the lord's prayer' is going to save us?" >> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor barked out a solid laugh, eyebrows raised."Micah, you should have been a doctor... Right, can anyone hot wire a car to block this stairwell? I'm sure we can kill the power to the elevators from the room that Mr. Page announced, too. In fact, there may be more supplies in there. Small group, then, and the better equipped should help those louts on the first floor..."
"Micah, why don't you go with me and the Shirtless Boy Wonder? Patti and our Samurai Ben can help with the first floor situation. Agreed?" >> ALEX
When the knife-wielding man said "fucking Christ on a stick," Alex’s face flushed a dark, ruddy brown and he anxiously touched his crucifix. He had to cut the man some slack. It was hard to hold the faith during times of crisis, right? And maybe Australia wasn't a Christian country.
He smiled faintly. Even he almost turned from Christ. Before the End Times, Emiliano had been telling him a lot about Buddhism and possibilities beyond Catholicism, and Alex . . . actually liked what he heard. He'd questioned his faith. Maybe that's why he was in this horrible position, surrounded by demons, the living dead, and ATHEISTS.
Alex-
"Okay, Doctor, I’m with you," he said. "Ah, uh, my shirt . . . it ripped."
>> PATTI
Patti-
“ Great idea, doc, but, if you're thinking somebody can use a car to block the door, how exactly is that person or persons supposed to get back inside when the deed is done?”
>> MICAH
Micah-
"We could drive this samurai nerd's car in front of the door then get out into the stairwell from the car door? I am with you also Doctor by the way"
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor-
"Micah has the right idea. I'm just more concerned with what Ben would like to do once this is all done. I'm not sure insurance will cover this here situation, but... maybe we can drive the car through the concrete a little bit and, say, wedge it? Or... we could just ram another car in the way... either way, I'd rather not leave our rears exposed unless we had to, and there certainly isn't enough sun, sand, and surf to make me feel like I have to."
A red Jeep next to Ben's car began violently shaking, ala 'if this van's a' knockin', but supplemented with guttural chokes. In the driver's window a head abruptly appeared, covered in blood, it opened the car door, and stepped out, closing it behind itself.
They knew how to open doors.
The creature was a short woman in a business suit, the shirt sleeves rolled up and blood running out in sticky strings from two large gashes in her wrists. She almost seemed to be smiling, and clawed at the thankfully armored Ben.
Meanwhile, an unmarred black man in a red Adidas zip up, and a construction worker with half of his face missing strolled in the open gate. The black man almost seemed to glance in the booth, like the two were just strolling in to get to their car. He still held a cell phone in his hand.
From within the garage, a elderly homeless man in a oversized multi-colored windbreaker lurched rather quickly around some cars, his face was strangely slack. All of them really, looked like they were passively going for a walk by their facial expressions, but upon seeing the humans, began showing their teeth like angry dogs.
>> BEN
Ben kicked violently at the bleeding woman, and managed to create enough distance to get a good downward swing with his bokken. Whack! The wooden sword hit her feebly on the left shoulder. Ben was not prepared! He needed to prepare! He let off a shout to build his spirit.
Ben-
"Hyyyaahhh!"
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor-
"Ben, your bravery should be better served when the numbers aren't as endless... maybe we can use this to wedge the door handle for a while upstairs?"
Dr. Victor pulled the flashlight from his shoulder."It's mostly metal and it's really giving my wrist the most awful creak I think I'm coming down with carpal tunnel syndrome! Let us, uh, make the way up the stairs and out of line of snarl?" >> ALEX
More ... undead? Again, Alex made a sound that was most certainly not a scream. Oh, no. It was a battle cry, loud, deep, and frightening. Then, he charged at the woman clawing at Ben and swung his table leg, with all his strength, at the snarling creature’s head.
>> MICAH
Micah went for the old bum, kneeing him the crotch, then ramming a knife as deep as he could into the old man's skull. He wasn't worried about the gush of blood that followed it was too late for that now wasn't it, thanks Bobby.
The old guy stank like high hell and his feral eyes stared violently into Micah's own.>> PATTI
Patti-
"Great!! They're tool-using monkeys. Closing doors isn't going to be enough to stop them, we'll need a proper barricade."
With that, Patti strode out into the parking garage to close the distance with the construction worker and the thing bringing disgrace to the Adidas brand name. She didn't want to waste ammo in this dark space, but she also didn't want to get so close that she'd be mauled to death if she missed her shot.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
The good doctor saw the time for words was over. He set the duffelbag on the ground to put the door open. The flashlight became his sword against the undead...
Dr. Victor-
"Ho, now, let us see what we have here."
Dr. Victor turned the flashlight into the on position and aimed the beam at the poor excuse for a vagabond/busker. He attempted to aim the light at the now creature's eyes, and then swung it upon the Adidas victim.
>> NAT
Really, had he been in a more sane state of mind, Nat would have probably heeded Micah's advice (and refuted Alex's assumption that Basil was his father). Of course, he wasn't - he needed a bit of time to regain some sense of stability, of sanity, and to process just what was going on. He was also half-certain he needed to wake UP and thrash his way out of this nightmare. Sadly, that 'waking up' thing didn't seem to be working so well.
By the time Nat finally regained his senses, the party had already left him here, with Basil and the other 'weaker' survivors. It was the smell that brought him out of it - at first he had been able to ignore it, too many other things to worry about, but now as he regained some sense of calm, it came to his attention that he was clinging to a complete stranger, and a rather creepy one at that. Nat pushed himself away from the man and staggered a few steps back - trying to put some distance between them. He felt embarrassed and it likely showed in the way his gaze refused to lift from foot-level and in the faint flush that crept across his face.
He took a few deep breaths of non-stranger-scented air, forced a smile, and said: "Um. S-Sorry. I'm okay now." It wasn't really true, but that didn't really matter.
Nat took a moment to look around, realizing that their numbers seemed rather reduced - the only familiar faces still nearby were a few of the Starbucks refugees, Sarah, and Basil, of course. He found himself suddenly wishing that the man had left as well - but no such luck.
Nat-
"W-Where did everyone go? Is it safe for us to be up here?"
His gaze swept right past Basil and focused on Sarah - or really anyone else who seemed 'in-charge' at the moment. With so many of their numbers gone, it would be easier for them to be picked off - not to mention most of those who had left seemed to be the ones with weapons. A frown tugged at the blonde's lips, as he glanced up to note the open air above, and the smears of blood and ichor left behind by that woman's (Mary? Was that what the crazy doctor had called her?) assault. It was a good place to gather, but not very defensible. Maybe one of the store fronts would be a better choice?Nat-
"We-We should go inside, m-maybe barricade the doors. Just until the others come back."
Nat said, loud enough for at least those near to him to hear. He was still looking around for a store-front that looked decent - not too open, or too far from the stairs should retreat prove necessary. He didn't stop to think of situations that might require retreat, however - no, it wouldn't do just now to think about all of the terrible things that might happen. He hoped the others would come back soon, he didn't relish the idea of having to leave to try to find them.
The room still held a bit of a crowd. Basil pardoned himself from Nat to round up the remaining survivors, including Russian mafia guy, Sonya, James, two other men, and four other women.
Sarah dealt with Nat. She tried to focus his gaze and calm him down with soothing gestures, while responding to his ideas.
Sarah-
"Sure, we'll get together and hide. I don't see any doors that can be barred, but we'll figure something out. The main thing is to stay quiet and stay together until we can come up with something better." In the Southeast corner an inconsequential tchotchke shop (flanked by a few other booths) seemed like the best hidey hole. No room apparent on the floor could be secured, but this spot had only one way in and wasn't super obvious to anyone coming up the escalators.
They huddled behind the counter, Russian kid and another man holding cordon posts as potential bludgeons.Alex crushed the lady's head, and Ben had to step out of the way of the body as it fell.
Micah felt like the crotch-knee didn't hit the dead thing the way it would a living man, and a knee attack got him closer to grappling range than preferable. Lesson learned, but it did distract and imbalance it long enough for the knife attack. The creature's hateful gaze melted into blankness as it slid to the floor, leaving some mess on Micah's clothes. That's when he noticed... At least three more zombies staggering up the ramp from deeper in the garage.
Doc Vic went to help Patti with the two entry-way zombies, but the gun shots gave him pause. The creatures fell out of his flashlight's beam quickly, and he could see more ahead, behind them.
Patti looked out at the street in despair. There was a lot more where that came from, and she could easily imagine them climbing over anything they jammed in their way.
About the same time, Doc Vic and Patti noticed the garage's roll-down door. How does that thing operate?
One thing was clear. More zombies would get in before they could get it going.>> ALEX
As the woman's skull cracked, Alex felt a rush of exhilaration. These monsters were his to kill, every damned one. His heart raced, just like it did before he stole a base. The demons couldn't restrain him or paralyze him. Not if he kept moving, striking, putting dents in their wicked skulls.
With a thrilled whoop, he turned toward Ben.
Alex-
"That’s how you DO IT. Am I right, Samurai? DIES IRAE, BITCHES!"
Surely, he'd be forgiven for a little cursing. Alex spared a glance at Patti and the Doctor. He felt more comfortable when they were nearby. The doctor was like his English professor: wordy and just a little (okay, more than a little) arrogant and pompous. And Patti had a gun.Alex-
"What now?"
He eyed the approaching undead and backing up slowly.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor, now confidently, strode forward. His voice projected through the air as if he was a well-trained orator.
Dr. Victor-
"Patti, we have to get that gate down and fast! Can you lay some cover for us on those things outside the gates? Adonis, can you keep these guys in here busy with Mr. Ben Samurai? Micah, I want you to come with me and see if we can get that damned gate-thing down. Ben, do you remember some sort of guard booth? Stick together and do NOT get separated please!"
The good doctor strode proudly into the dark, wielding his bright baton as though he were lady liberty herself."If all else fails, Patti, try shooting that blasted gate down. You've got to keep that in mind because if I'm gone... YOU'RE IT!" >> MICAH
Micah wasn't totally surprised when the old man didn't react but it was worth a shot and he was thankful that it least allowed him to get the fucker, without having his face bitten off or arm torn out. He spotted more coming up the ramp, and he began to feel a lot less brave. An old man and a little kid were one thing, but a horde of 3 or 4 average zombies, fuck no!
As he scrambled backwards towards the door, he noticed even more coming towards them from outside.
Micah was grateful when the Doctor suggested that he accompany him in the less dangerous objective. Although with the way the Doctor was waving the torch, he could easily lose an eye. He was glad not be paired with the Christian dork, who said obscenities like he was a five year old kid being naughty. It was a shame, Adonis was certainly an apt nickname.
Micah-
"No worries Doctor, I think it's over there."
He pointed to where the Adidas man and construction worker zombies had come from.
>> ALEX
Adonis? Alex realized that the doctor was referring to him. Maybe he should tell everyone his real name, before these nicknames got out of hand. Granted, Adonis was a little better than Greco-Roman Wrestler or Shirtless Boy Wonder. Adonis was a really hot mythical guy, right? Wait. Was the doctor being sarcastic?
No use worrying about that now. Alex had to distract these undead while the others closed the garage gate. Fine. He climbed onto the hood of a car (not Ben's car, thankfully.)
Alex-
“Come at me!”
Alex planned to draw the undead away from Patti, Atheist Micah, and Doctor Blowhardicus (HA! How do you like that nickname? Huh?), and then . . . well, run around hitting things. He realized, perhaps too late, that he needed a better plan. Alex-
"Samurai, uh, Sensei Ben, you think you can start your car and mow down these monsters?" Indeed, the garage attendant's booth near the exit (and Patti and Doc Vic) might be a place for control of the roll-down, as well as the wall near the door itself. Not much in life is controlled from distant rooms like in the movies.
The "come at me" indeed drew zombie attention, though not as much as the gun shots had. Sadly, the doctor's notion of suppressive fire would not work as these things didn't have a self-preservation instinct about guns. Patti found herself likely to have to spend more ammo and quick. Three zombies from outside were within fifteen feet now.
>> MICAH
Micah wanted that gate down as soon as fucking possible, the idea of dealing with all those zombies was unsettling and Micah felt himself shaking again. He figured they had best cover their bases, the switch could be anywhere.
Micah-
" If you guys keep on those fucking zombie's arses, I will try the booth if the Doctor wants to try that wall over there?"
Being around the Christian dork ( whatever his name was) made him feel like swearing more than usual. He just couldn't stand people that thought religion was the answer for everything, from a car park to cancer. Although the events of today where making him really wonder if God did exist. If so, he was a sick fuck.
>> NAT
After looking at it a moment, Nat decided that the little shop was indeed their best bet - at least, on this floor. Perhaps one of the larger stores on the second floor may have served better, however he was loathe to leave the dubious safety of the third floor - and he doubted many (if any) of the other survivors would go with him. Not to mention, then the others wouldn't know where to look, when they came back! (When, not if, when. They were most definitely coming back, with all of their guns and knives, and implements of zombie-slaying.)
Nat joined the others huddling behind the counter, keeping close to Sarah. Every so often he would look around the counter, his eyes darting nervous-quick over the empty space they had left, searching for any sign of a threat - a hare seeking the dangerous presence of the hound.
Nat-
"C-Can you, um, you all help me keep an eye out? In case the others come back, or... or..."
Nat grimaced, hardly even wanting to consider the possibility of anything else coming up the stairs, or that possessed woman reappearing, or anything worse. "We-We need to keep a look-out, anyway." >> PATTI
Seven rounds left in this magazine. They needed to get that gate closed in a hurry.
Patti-
"Sorry, doc, suppressive fire only works if your targets are afraid of getting shot. I'll do my best to take these fuckers down, but I think I need a bodyguard while I'm doing it, in case one of them gets too close. Hey, sexy, shirtless kid, I think I have their attention, just come over here and back me up!"
Patti began approaching the gate area, taking her shots as they presented themselves.
>> BEN
Ben looked at the holy knight of head-crushing. Had he just referenced Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~, the untranslated Japanese visual novel? Nah... He probably meant the original source, whatever that was.
But starting the car and using it as a weapon seemed like a really good idea. Why hadn't Ben thought of that? Oh yeah. He hadn't come down here to mow down zombies. That was what they were supposed to do on the first floor.
Ben-
"Good idea, uh... paladin. I'll get right on that."
Then he took off the thick glove covering his left hand, and held it in his right hand while flipping up his thigh-flaps. He dug out the keys from his pants pocket, unlocked the door and got into the driver's seat. There he took off his other glove, and put both gloves and his bokken in the passenger seat.
And finally it was time to actually start the car and get some Carmageddon going. Hopefully the dead people would be too fearless to jump out of the way. Ben slowly backed out, lined up the sturdy RAV4 and accelerated towards the gate, trying to get enough speed to do damage, without going so fast that he wouldn't be able to stop at the roll-down door.
Micah easily got into the attendant's booth, it was covered with windows on all sides, and he noticed the distracting view of a small herd of zombies outside, which noticed him as well. He searched around the desk, until he found a rather prominent button that read "PRESS TO ACTIVATE ROLL DOWN-- HOLD UNTIL GATE IS CLOSED"
As he pressed the button, he was disappointed to see the snail's pace at which the mesh gate lowered, and zombies milled around at the entrance beneath it, and still coming inside. They'd have to get them out of the way or the roll down couldn't close.
Ben pulled back, thinking he might have to circle the floor to get enough speed to crush anything, and as he backed out, saw further movement from the lower levels of the garage. A lot of movement...
From outside, "REE HEE HEE HEE!" Mary's laughter-- or was it?
Inside the shop, the roll down was pulled most of the way, just enough room to see whether any feet were approaching. The store here had already been closed, and the lights were off, with only the dim fluorescent glow from outside.
From outside the shop, some people still hung behind in the larger area of the third floor, too afraid to move.
Someone screamed, "What is that?!" from behind the roll down.
Some running, the sounds of people moving downstairs."What are you-- Todd, don't! Come ON!" More screams.
Nat noticed a strange scent, had it always been in here? Kind of musty, earthy... Maybe a bit alcoholic. Was it the strange smell of a fellow survivor? It made him think of mushroom schnapps, if there was ever such a hideous beverage. The scent seemed to increase, or perhaps just his awareness of it. Sarah pulled her shirt over her nose, did she notice it too?
The room seemed suddenly brighter. A small glowing orb appeared in the middle of the roll down, and grew. The room was cast in a gray, dim light. Nat recognized what the shape was, suddenly. A face. A dull-y glowing human face, sticking out of the roll down. As it pushed forward, he realized it was an entire glowing figure, that was just passing through the gate. It was a dark eyed woman, her features vague from the illumination, but her expression was one of abject sorrow. She moved her lips silently as the shop's 'guards' fell over themselves to not touch her.>> ALEX
Ms. Patti needed help. Man oh man. They were going to be overwhelmed if they didn't close the gate fast. He saw Jurassic Park twice. Even a Tyrannosaurus Rex can be taken down by enough numbers. Alex exhaled. He just had to trust in the team and play his part: bodyguard to the woman with the gun (the woman with the gun who thought he was A-grade, and not sarcastically like the Doctor). Alex sprinted to Patti. He was too in-the-zone to notice the chilling laughter. If he is attacked on his way to Patti, he will stop to fight. Alex's fight style lacks technique. He mainly swings hard and aims for the head. If he is physically grabbed, he will thrash and punch. He is also exceptionally loud when he attacks the undead, though he mainly shouts incomprehensibly. He'll lose his voice at this rate.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor coughed and frowned. He approached the booth as quickly as he could his flashlight darting outside to catch a glimpse of the cackling banshee. He gave Micah a stern nod hoping the gate would descend faster. With the ever inching gate and ever inching undead, the whole event almost seemed comical... Like a slow motion bit from some sitcom.
Dr. Victor-
"Micah, if you want to run, I can hold the button."
His words held no malice, no anguish. "Mary is out there and I'd rather not give her another option should it come to it all. After all, no point in all of us getting cadavered as it were."
If the undead approach the booth Dr Victor will make sure Micah is out of the way and attempt to engage the undead out through the streets, hooting and hollering hideous nursery rhymes and quotes from "There's something about Mary. His main concern is the gate is closed and the zombies don't try and swarm the death box, I mean guard booth.
>> MICAH
Micah would of liked to take the Doctor up on his offer but his legs didn't currently work like they should, so he continued to press the button.
Micah-
"Do something for fucks sake, it doesn't matter if a few get in as long as this fucker goes down. Would you stop bloody cosing up to the Cougar and actually do something of worth besides ripping your shirt open Christian boy" he yelled over the noise.
He then had a thought, this was America, surely the booth attendant had a gun somewhere. He wasn't going to use it himself if he didn't have to, but he could let the Doctor take it or the black cougar.
(Micah is searching through the small booth while keeping his hand on the button. If attacked he will most likely let himself be pushed out and run like crazy then start stabbing anything that gets too close. I don't think he will leave the others unless it gets really bad then it's back upstairs.)
>> PATTI
Patti fired as quickly as she could, one zombie after another. She moved closer to the booth so that Ben would have a clear path to take out some zombies and so that she and whatever-this-guy's-name-was would be able to help cover Micah in the booth.
>> BEN
Ben wondered about the movement he saw from the lower levels. Why would zombies come from down there? Could they get in from somewhere, or had a lot of people been trapped, and zombified? He should probably tell the others. He'd do that as soon as he got close enough that he wouldn't have to shout. Because shouting probably made the zombies move faster.
And then he realized that he should fasten his seatbelt. Wouldn't do to smash into his own windscreen from inside when he's trying to use his car as a weapon. That would be such a rookie mistake.>> ALEX
Alex-
"It’s ALEX," Alex shouted to Micah. "ALEX. ALEXander. Don't you call me Christian Boy again!"
Wait, did he hear Mary's laughter? Yes, he did, and it felt like a kick to the gut. She scared him bad. Alex’s legs felt funny again, like they wanted to fold up and send him falling. He tried to concentrate on the task at hand and ignore the rising terror, but it was hard. He will stay close to Patti as she heads to the booth and try to keep undead off her back.
Actually, no one could be sure if that had been Mary. Whatever the laugher was, it stayed out of sight. Seemed likely to be the same kind of monster, at least.
Micah held to his spot in the booth, and Patti was in the best position to kill zombies before they become obstructions... She was out however many rounds from upstairs plus six more now, having to reload if necessary.
The doctor and Alex found themselves on cleanup detail - dragging fallen zombies out from under the rolldown as it descended. Patti couldn't risk ricochet when the gate got far enough down, and had to stop shooting. At that point, Doc Vic Alex & she had to beat on and shove zombie arms out from under the thing to let it reach the ground.
They heard squealing behind them, from Ben's ride driving around out of sight, making a ruckus. Ben managed to take out the three comers, but some more coming up were uncomfortably close to walls or alcoves where he couldn't vehicular zomslaughter them.
He backed up to the neighborhood of the others just as they got the gate closed.
>> PATTI
One round left in the chamber. Patti dropped the empty mag into her pocket and loaded up a new one. As soon as Ben pulled up, Patti swung open the front passenger door and climbed in.
Patti-
"Shotgun! I wish. Ben, I'm not going to be able to hit anything while we're moving, but if you can get me within a dozen yards and stop, that should be good. Let's get rid of these stragglers and head back upstairs so we can help them close the rolldowns on the main floor." She rolled the window down and leaned out. "Load up, boys!"
>> ALEX
Alex-
"Did any of you hear that?" Alex asked, as Ben drove up and Ms. Patti took shotgun. "Where did the laughter come from? Was that Mary? Do you know? Did you see anything? Was it ANOTHER demon? Doctor, I'm not feeling so good."
>> DOCTOR VICTOR Dr. Victor grunted, groaned and struggled not at the stench or vulgar display of necrosis... but at the physical labor aspect. If he wasn't flinching at the sound of the sporadic gunfire, it was the loose lethal limbs of the undead.
Dr. Victor-
"The calvary has arrived! Excuse me while... I catch my breath."
The doctor slumped a little bit, leaning on the side of the car. He pointed over at the duffel bag still propping the door open in the stairwell."Please... someone grab that... just in case. I think... I think I'm going to start to perspire at this rate. If I grunt as I slide into the back seat, it's just my age showing. I apologize ahead of time if -Dear GOD! What is this... Pocky wrappers? And... ugh, it's called an air freshener... Febreze... We should pick some up for you upstairs somewhere. I hear there's a discount sale going on. Everything must go!"
The good doctor buckled himself in behind Patti's seat and scrunched himself up, grunting, groaning and struggling almost as much as he was whilst hauling dead corpses.
His cool gaze swept over towards the dark-skinned boy."Look, son, it's nothing to worry yourself about. There is just some primordial pseudo-spirit from the great nexus beyond before recorded time called Ab-dur. If you're truly unable to carry on, it seems more like a matter of your own willpower rather than the will of some other being." He whispered quickly."I think we all are feeling fearful. Just hold onto whatever you've got. Like your looks or... sports or something." >> MICAH
Micah made his way out of the booth, giving up his search for a gun. He smiled in relief at the Doctor and others. So he wasn't doomed to die in that shitty small booth and the Icy bitch hadn't made an appearance.
The Christian Alex was bitching about feeling sick. Christ!"Quit the bitching Christian boy Alex, the Christian. Why don't you pray to Jesus or Mary to fix it?" This mess had put Micah in a bad mood, maybe he was being a touch harsh but fuck it. He wandered over to the duffel bag and picked it up heading to the car.
>> ALEX
Alex clenched his fists, and then he relaxed them."I'll be praying for YOU, Micah."
Grunting softly, he climbed next to the doctor and leaned heavily against the seat.
"Thank you, Sir," he muttered. "My looks ... yeah ... get them from Mom. Dad's ugly as sin. But strong. Miss them. Bet you miss your wife..." He closed his eyes and touched the wallet in his pocket. Good. Still there. It had all his pictures in it. His parents, his dog Billie, his grandparents, Carly (Carly, with her brown-as-chocolate eyes and gymnast's build, was Alex's high school steady girl, though long distance didn't work out for them), and Emiliano.>> MICAH
Micah-
"Wow I am really really touched, I feel special. Don't pray too hard on my account."
He sat next to the dork, closing the door behind him with the duffelbag on his knee."Sorry about the blood on your seat Ben." >> DOCTOR VICTOR
The doctor cleared his voice once more."Micah, I suggest we enjoy whatever pleasant music Ben has access to. I fear the sights and smells are already subpar. And in any event, I'd hate to have you continue gushing with praise and adoration over the other man. You may make Patti jealous." He leaned back, squishing himself deeper into his seat."Thank you for fetching the bag. I - er - appreciate it." >> ALEX
Alex actually laughed. He couldn't help it. It was too damn funny."Micah, is that it? You really like me, don't you? You want to be my homeboy? Just ask nicely next time." During his short life, Alex had met lots of guys like Micah: chip-on-the-shoulder sorts who were too cool for pleasantries and thought they had something to prove. For some reason, he really got on their nerves. It must be his effortless charm and easy way with the ladies."Oh, yeah, Sensei Ben, turn some music on. You're one of those Japanimation guys, right? Got any ..." He thought hard. What was the name of that Japanese song his one-time crush Shari loved? The one she made him dance to during that train wreck of a date in Comic-Con? "You got any, uh, Melancholy of Something Suzumiya song?" That music was as cheery as a squirrel in the peanut barrel, he'd give it that much credit. >> MICAH
The jerk laughed at him, the Christian wanker."No worries Doctor....Do you REALLY want to piss off the guy carrying knives Wanktard Alex? I don't give a flying fuck what you think homeboy. Your head is shoved so far up your arse, it's no wonder your so ignorant and naive. Lucky for you, I think we need to start driving and kill those fucking zombies rather than continue this banter." Five people in the car, Ben Driver & Patti shotgun, who is squished in the middle of the backseat? I think it's Doc Vic. Clowns to the left of you and gorillas to the right... Watch out!>> BEN
Ben was a bit surprised when everyone packed themselves into his car. Sure, it was safer than walking, but they weren't going that far, were they? And what about those zombies still stalking around down there? Were they just going to leave those? "Uh, guys? I saw a lot of movement on the lower levels. So I guess there's a zombie horde down there too. And when we're gone, who's going to stop them from opening that door you just closed? Don't you think that "Mary" woman might have some kind of control over them?" Ben then proceeded to accommodate Alex's request for very specific music, and put on God Knows... at a low enough level that they could still hear each other talk. For whatever good that would do.The stairwell door slammed open, and they heard a man's voice. 
Man from upstairs -
"HEY! Still down here? We need help!"
The backseat passengers craned their necks to see, and Ben looked in his rearview mirror. Hm, that guy looked familiar...A white man stepped forward from the door, chopping a zombie in the neck with a fire ax like it was no big deal.
Man from upstairs -
"HELLO! Hey, in the car! They're coming in both entrances!"
The team of Eric and Tyrone took out a large number of zombies in a short period of time. The Daiso employees scrambled with Jackson to bar the doors, grabbing heavy easy chairs at first to push them closed, and then throwing whatever random detritus they could, piling it in front of one door at a time. Anna came out with a heavy rubber mallet, and used it to smack back zombies into the path of Eric. Eric more than once kicked a zombie's skull in with his cheap work dress shoes. Tyrone was using a thickly built end table to herd them away from the door-blocking project. In time, they had the plaza entrance blocked with a huge pile of rubble and furniture. Several corpses of murdered citizens and bodies and severed limbs of the undead littered the floor which was sticky with blood already. The trouble was, the Olive street door was not blocked at all, and the creatures were making their entrance on the other side.>> ALEX The urge to take a swing at Micah died once Alex saw the new man. He unbuckled and turned bodily in his seat to get a better look. It was pretty cramped, so Alex ended up pressing his shoulder and hip against the poor, squished doctor. He apologized quickly and squirmed into a less awkward position.Whoa. Ax Man probably trained with Submachine Gun Guy in the University of Badass. Alex didn't know there were so many tough people in the world. Hm. His Coach was pretty tough. Maybe Ax Man knew Coach, or was a coach himself! They both had the same intensity.
Alex-
"Watch out! There are still monsters down here! We'll help you! UH. Is the demon Mary up there?"
>> MICAH Micah realised how odd it was, all of them in the car with nowhere to go. The atmosphere was stifling after losing his head at Alex. The boy was glaring smugly at him, as only those of Christian faith could and it made him sick.
Micah-
"Yeah, zombie hordes is actually sounding pretty sweet right now. I think Patti and Ben can take on the rest down here. Christian boy, Doctor and I should help out the first floor. Alex, your welcome to stay down here."
He made his way out of the car, moving towards the gentleman from the stairs."Hey I am Micah, let's get those fuckers on the first floor!" >> BEN Ben slowly backed the car up to where the axeman was standing. Hey, wasn't that Davin Faigenbaum? It was! Ben rolled down the driver's side window and turned his whole body so that it his face could be seen through the metal grid of the helmet.Ben-
"Hey, Davin! It's me, Ben! We closed the entrance down here, but there are stragglers who could open it, and more zombies on the lower levels. Unless someone sabotaged the door control I don't think that door will stay closed forever."
"But hey, you're the boss. So if you think that won't matter, we're ready to come upstairs." >> NAT Nat tried not to panic when the screaming began, and for the most part he managed. The blonde huddled nearer to Sarah, his eyes wide behind the lenses of his glasses, and he watched for feet below the roll-down - it should be easy to place a zombie, right? Wouldn't their steps be staggering, dragging? They always seemed to be in the movies, at least in the older ones - and Haitian zombies were little more than mindless slaves, drugged and shambling at the whims of their Vodou masters. Perhaps if he had a little salt, he could ward them off? But no - that wouldn't work, that was something his aunt would suggest. And besides, this store wasn't a foodstand - it wasn't like there would be salt just lying around.
The air took on a strange scent while Nat tried in vain to think of anything he could remember about Vodou and zombies. It wasn't something he had paid much attention to, truthfully - an excuse to watch The Serpent and The Rainbow for class credit. Nat wrinkled his nose as the scent grew stronger, drawn out of his thoughts and forced to focus on... whatever it was that was emanating that stench. Was there something rotting, somewhere inside of the shop? But that wasn't quite what it smelled like... It wasn't quite rancid, but it certainly was unpleasant.Nat was about to ask if anyone knew where the smell was coming from, when the room suddenly brightened. Had someone lifted the roll-down? No, he realized, as he saw the slowly growing orb. It was about the time that he realized it was a face that he stood awkwardly, startled, and gestured for everyone to move back.
Nat-
"G-Get back, don't-don't let it touch you!"
That certainly wasn't a zombie, the ethereal woman looked more like a ghost. For a second he thought it may have been their possessed 'friend' from earlier, however that seemed... wrong? This one didn't seem hostile yet, but Nat didn't trust it. He clutched at Sarah's arm and looked about, desperate for an escape.Davin nodded at everyone's concerns, squinting like the sun was in his face.
Davin -
"Let's just throw a chair down the stairs and block off the stairwell down to here, there's a bigger issue upstairs. Haven't seen that flying freak, but if we're distracted by those zombies we're at her mercy. The Olive exit in back is getting swamped, we need to get those doors closed and secured 'cause it's all glass and we're like a big shining beacon of tasty human flesh."
Davin squinted at Ben as they returned up the stairs, squinting seemed to be his main expression.
Davin -
"Ben... oh yeah yeah, I remember. I hope everything's okay back at the apartment... We gotta get back there."
The room's guards backed away from the woman, who stepped through the slots of the gate daintily like she was stepping over a puddle in very nice shoes. Some people moved to the back of the store, looking in vain for some kind of exit or window in the back, but it seemed they were trapped.
The woman wore an expression of ultimate sorrow, her eyes glistened wetly in the dim, flat light, like they were about to run over with tears but never did. She moved her lips again, inaudible. The edges of her form were blurry and hard to look at, and she moved like she was filmed by a low frame-rate digital camera. She wore a white hoodie, her hair pulled back in a messy bun, the tendrils of hair writing around like she was underwater. She walked dazed, looking through people like she was looking for a book at the library.
Russian Mafia guy panicked, pulling up the roll down to escape. Someone stood there, he noticed too late.
Impossibly, the same woman, white hoodie and messy bun. This one did not glow, and was in fact quite corporeal, with a slack expression and a smear of blood on her shoulder. For just a moment, both the ethereal, and earth-bound seemed to look at each other. Then, the corporeal version snatched the man's arm and pulled him towards her, her teeth glittering as she snarled.>> BEN
Ben-
"Uh... Okay?"
Ben had no idea why they would have to get back to their apartments, but he didn't see much point in asking about that until it looked like they might actually survive the night. It didn't seem totally impossible right now, but maybe that was just what their enemy wanted them to think? Give them all a little hope before she came back to crush it.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor picked up the medical supply bag from the front seat languidly. He let his eyes close for a moment, enjoying the noises outside the car, imagining the muffled screeching "Harajuku Girls" smothered by a giant, soft, fluffy pillow. Giving a dismissive shoulder raise at the squinted man, he spoke.Dr. Victor-
"I believe this will hopefully die down at dawn. I saw most of them dodging the light from the flashlight, but it may be more instinctive than repulsion. But, in any event, a wall of glass isn't exactly, uhm, lockable against these things unless there's more roll-down gates. And I'm not exactly enjoying blocking out all means of egress for ourselves. I recall the roof access was also open... and since Mary floats or flies or is to prissy to touch the ground due to some additional neurosis, we might want to send Mr. Page up to lock it?"
He grabbed onto the stairwell with a heavy hand, making a groaning sound not unlike those which had echoed amid the gunshots earlier. In an immortal mental grunt, his voice held a husky tone. I hate stai'yurs.>> ALEX
Alex-
Alex left the car after Micah and Dr. Victor. He nodded politely at Davin and said, in passing, "My name is Alex, Sir."
He cleared his raw throat and hurried to catch up with the doctor."I can take that, if you don't mind," Alex said. He reached for the bag. "It's about time for my nightly exercises, anyway." >> DOCTOR VICTOR
Alex-
"Thank you, Alex. You are most kind."
Oddly the words of the good doctor weren't cold, only hollow from exhaustion.
>> MICAH
The blood on his clothing had began to dry out, stiffening his clothes. It made going up the stairs slightly more awkward than it should have been. The crisp dryness of the clothes wasn't as bad as the Salty metallic smell that invaded his nostrils. The Doctor was rambling on as usual about something or other, mentioning closing up access to the roof.Micah-
"There is no point Doctor, the huge fucking hole in the third floor roof, makes locking the roof access pointless. It's just going to give us less places to run. I don't know about you, but I don't plan spending the rest of what looks to be a short life in the mall." >> DOCTOR VICTOR
The good doctor took leave to grab onto Micah's arm for stability, mumbling something into his ear before pushing onto the next step.
The Daiso workers hung back to pull down sun shades over the glass doors at the plaza entrance, feeling ridiculous, but perhaps what the zombies couldn't see wouldn't interest them. Their attackers did seem less interested at this point, as the rest of the group had moved to enter the back entrance.
Large glass windows surrounded the Westlake/Olive doors which led to a large open area outside, several different doors leading inside. Zombies milled around, confused, stepping over each other and bottle-necking at the entrances like selfish concert-goers making a break for the bathrooms. The doors here were sturdier, and actually proved difficult for the zombies to open as they shoved each other towards the light.
Anna had blocked off one corridor by dragging entire shelving units from a souvenir store, and along with Jackson's help, heaving them into the middle of the hall, creating a large messy obstacle course that proved too difficult for the undead's agility.
The main hallway in front of the Daiso, and near the useless elevators was still open to allow the warriors entrance. Everyone from the first floor had fled or perished, other than those helping or fighting. The tile floors were sticky with smeared blood tracks from shoes, and corpses were strewn about the plaza entrance, pooling red.
At the back entrance, Eric wordlessly instructed some others on how to gain the advantage-- allow the zombies to fight them only in the halls. Could the doors even be blocked at this point? Thirty plus zombies milled around the entrance, more coming in, there were at least four doors to block. Would it be better to just block off the halls and retreat further upstairs?
Anna-
"Why don't we just burn the fuckers! Don't they hate fire?"
Jackson-
"Uh, you're thinking of Frankenstein maybe? I don't think we want to test how flammable this building is."
Tyrone beat a zombie back with a steel bar, as it tried to climb the stack of detritus.
Tyrone-
"Nah... Frankenstein's the doctor. Yer thinkin' of the monster. These things don't got the sense God gave a goose, they probably like to get toasted."
Anna-
"Have we killed enough to make a meat wall yet?"
Tyrone-
"I don't wanna touch those things 'less we got a snow shovel."
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor lurched to the top step of the landing for the first floor and clenched his teeth, sucking his neck muscles back in a grimace. The scent of blood wasn't new it was the sheer volume that made him leery. I should have brought those damned shoe covers! Why didn't I grab my tennis shoes out of my trunk? I could have also grabbed a second set of clothes or-
The good doctor's train of thought was derailed his feet leaden themselves to the floor worse than the muck of the products of destruction. Muscles tensed like iron and his eyes grew three sizes larger.Dr. Victor-
"We must NEVER put- We can't risk the lives of the living with suddenly becoming a barbecue master of the innocent. Fire should never become the answer."
His voice cooled as his hackles lowered. The NERVE of some people! As if such an act ever benefited anyone! Did they ask Joan of Arc? How about the people of Rome while Nero played his fiddle? Do they want to become Catherine O'Leary?!? Oh, and not to mention no one would come to put it out, unless you count zombie smothering it to get at us.
Anger filled his belly and it was anger that he used to fuel his fevered baton mashing. Did I actually just growl? The good doctor took aim at the zombies closing in on the group, siding close to Tyrone as he can, aiding him as 'basher' to the security guard 'smasher.'
>> ALEX
At the sight of so much carnage, Alex unconsciously lifted the doctor's bag up and against his chest, like a shield. He thought about his high school world history class and the pictures of dead and injured WWII soldiers that Ms. Finney had passed around. The photos hadn't fazed him then, but now Alex couldn't stop remembering those shell-shocked faces and missing limbs. Was this war? The mall smelled like blood and death. He didn't want this. He wanted to be in his dorm room, writing an essay about the Canterbury Tales while Emiliano quietly practiced his guitar on the beanbag sofa they'd bought together.
Alex looked at the small, punkish woman (kind of cute, actually) and her companions.Dr. Victor-
"No, no fire, Miss. It's what the demons want. They spoke to me, when Mary did her magic. They said, 'Come into the fire.' They'll bring hell's fire to Earth." He tried to calm down. He must sound crazy. "The doctor is right. That's all I mean." >> MICAH
Micah was slightly creeped out by the Doctor grabbing onto his arm on the stairwell, and the words whispered in his ear. That being said, he didn't want to have the embarrassment of shaking the man off either. The man was at least like him and sane, rather than the others who seemed to want to save everyone in the mall. He wasn't bad looking by any account, but his pompous personality was a bit too much for Micah to take.
The stench of blood and gore on the first floor overwhelmed the smell from his clothes. His nostrils felt as if they were on fire and he felt suddenly lightheaded. The third floor had been a killing, this was a bloody massacre. Torn limbs and bones poked out of odd places at the entrance. Dead people littered the floor like a grotesque carpet.
Neither the Christian nor the Doctor responded well to the fire idea, it didn't sound too bad to him as long as it was controlled. He moved towards where the cute dark haired woman and older but kind of sexy gentleman stood, his knives at the ready but hung back from the real action. At least there were some proficient killers of Zombies here, all he could hope for was more child or grandpa zombies. Ones that he could take on without much of a fight.>> BEN
Ben-
"Good idea," Ben pointed his bokken at the shelving obstacle course. "Why don't we do that in all the corridors? Or should we try to advance and push them out of the doors? Do we have enough people for that now?"
Ben wasn't sure what to do, and he wasn't about to take charge. He did realize one thing though. That messy floor was going to make it very difficult for his fighting style, which relied on being able to rapidly advance and retreat. He'd never had to worry about slipping on pools of blood during Kendo practice.
>> PATTI
Patti felt like she was being dragged along with the crowd now. Her mind was still in the parking garage and she couldn't help but imagine a horde of zombies surging up from the depths.
Wait, fire? With the construction of the building, a localized fire without accelerants probably wouldn't take them all out, but she didn't want to have the smell of burning human flesh pervading the space. She didn't argue with the doctor's assessment.
Trying to regain control of herself in the moment, she jogged towards the Olive Street entrance and started shooting zombies.
>> NAT
Nat-
"No!"
--was all Nat managed to cry out before the Mafia-guy pulled up the roll-up and left them open to whatever hell was outside. The blonde had even taken a step away from Sarah, dropping the woman's arm in a futile attempt to stop the man. But he hadn't the time, and Mafia-guy had already rushed right into the arms (and teeth) of the ghostly-woman's mirror-image.
Where the ghost had almost seemed safe - or at least oblivious to their presence - her corporeal doppelganger most certainly did not. Had the ghost merely been some sort of ruse, meant to drive them into the waiting maw of the beast? Nat froze a moment, uncertain of what to do - part of him wanted to save Mafia-guy through a mix of compassion and, well, the fact that he looked like he could hold his own in a fight, but the rest of him stifled that urge. The man was doomed, that terrible woman would sink her teeth into him soon enough.
Nat-
"D-Downstairs! We need to get out of here!"
Nat decided suddenly, grabbing at Sarah's arm again and trying to drag her with him. The others would follow too, weren't they? Either way, Nat took his chances and bolted while the zombie-woman was distracted with Mafia-guy, making for the stairs.
Nat and Sarah ran out into the open hall, Nat shuddered at the ruined corpse of the boy and his mother. Sarah shuddered violently, he assumed that she was moved by the corpses as well, until he turned and followed her gaze. Drifting around the edges of the room, a black cloudy shape hung in the air. Something paler within seemed more solid, tendrils of black whipped around it, and Nat finally saw that it was a human face, that stared with black wet eyes.
Unlike the sad silent ghost he'd left behind, this one opened its mouth and black hairlike strings poured out and an unholy, piercing shriek shocked him and made his ears throb in pain. He tried to move Sarah, and realized that she was transfixed, staring at the ghost in abject horror. She shuddered violently in his arms, her skin felt cold to the touch already. The black ghost loomed forward in jerky, unnatural movements. Nat smelled it again, stronger this time. Mushroom schnapps, acrid and pungent.
A woman in a red parka suddenly ran in front of Sarah, noticing too late the dark shape that lurched forward at her. Sarah seemed to be knocked free of the ghost's stare, but was dazed and stumbled weakly in Nat's arms. The dark ghost suddenly manifested two skeletal hands that gripped the other woman's shoulders, and Nat saw its glossy eyes stare at her, until she went limp. The ghost released her, and her body fell, but something else remained behind. An ethereal shape that seemed to be wearing a red parka. The body that fell to the ground did not stay still for long. It began to scramble to right itself.
People from the store ran past them, here and there, some hiding on the monorail platform or down the stairs. James shoved the hoodie zombie that grappled with the Russian Mafia guy, allowing the attacked man a chance to regain his footing. The sad pale ghost almost seemed to be looking on at the carnage, hanging back in the darkness, swaying gently.
In the chaos on the first floor, big loud Alex made the biggest impression, Micah quietly lurking a few feet away closer to pyro Anna. Ben fell in with the Daiso employees - Kaito and Sandy - while the Doctor joined Tyrone and Eric near the battlefront, throwing his tirade Anna's way en route.
Anna-
"Demons? Hellfire?" *interrupted by gunshots*
Patti had come jogging up last and opened fire.
Anna-
She started to bellow "GUN PEOPLE! HOLD EM BACK WHILE WE WALL IT OFF! EVERYONE ELSE GET LUMPIN!"
Eric noticed the shift in priorities and retrieved his weapon. He stood beside Patti, both dropping zombies so fast that it opened others up to do that labor... Jackson, Anna, Tyrone, the Daiso employees, and probably everyone else, started grabbing more racks out of stores and throwing them in the path. With the chain of people they were able to wall up the entrance with a speed that surprised them.
Soon the Olive Way entrance was a glut of corpses, cheap metal wire, clothes made in Vietnam, boxes, telephones, and anything else not bolted down. Some of the corpses tangled in the hedgerow of artifice were still twitching, which Patti and Eric only put an end to if it seemed to threaten the structural integrity of the barricade.
All told, Patti was out twelve more bullets and Eric even more.
Tyrone-
"Everyone come in now. Thanks. We can stay down here tightening up the walls, but no way the mall is safe to stay. We gotta get a plan y'all."
Anna-
"My apartment building isn't far away, and I'm inclined to just go the fuck home. It's tiny, but everyone is welcome. If there's vacancies, kick the doors in. No point in being homeless now."
Jackson-
"I'm in."
Daiso manager (Kaito)-
"I don't understand. Is the building... Secure?"
Anna-
"Probably better than this. You have to think that terrorists, even gutless boys using zombies as weapons, are gonna focus on places like malls and stadiums. Plus it has easier entrances to secure."
Daiso employee (Sandy)-
"Maybe... There's other ways for us to get out to the streets, crazy as that sounds, and those things are mostly slower than us... God, where's Sonya?" She looked around in fear, but was too resigned to really investigate.
Davin-
"I know I'm going to my apartments when I get the chance. Even if we decide to head for the hills and whatnot, anyone that has useful stuff at home and can easily get there should."
>> BEN
Ben was sweating after the frantic scramble to block the entrance. And wearing the armor hadn't helped. But better safe than sorry.Ben-
"I left Sonya on the third floor," he told the Daiso employees. "I said I'd be back, so I guess I'll be heading up there now."
"We left a lot of people up there," Ben went on, looking around at Anna, Jackson and Davin. " Should I tell them all to come down here?" >> MICAH
Micah was relieved when the battle finished, glad not to put himself in danger again. Although the blocking of the entrances made him nervous. Were there any other ways out? The rest seemed to believe so.
The talk of homes left a deep pit in his stomach, and he though of his family and friends back in Australia . He wondered if he would ever know if his family were okay, the not knowing as good as them being already dead. For all he knew they were eating each other or being torn apart at this very second.Countless scenarios played out in his head, each worse than the last. It made him shudder, and he tried to block these useless and painful thoughts away.
Micah took in what the others were saying and he didn't like the idea of separating, especially from those who knew what they were doing. Where was he going to go? Back to the hotel full of useless shit, he had left anything important back on the ship. All he had to his name were now useless objects, taking up space in his pocket. He couldn't bring himself to throw them away though, that would be admitting all was lost.Micah-
"Uh don't mean to rock the boat here, but I think if we do go anywhere. We should all go together, to the one place. Belongings are fucking meaningless shit now and not all of us may have homes to go back to. Also...there are the others on the third floor...I guess. I am sure Christian boy would like another chance to play savior, and lead his people back here, to the promised land." He smirked at Alex trying to get out of this funk by focusing his attention on the dorky Christian again.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor removed another pair of gloves, tossing them at the 'mortar and evil' barricade. With a heavy exhale, he moved his way over to the smaller group of combatants. His steely eyes stabbed at each person as the conversation twisted around leaving the mall. His words came out a little winded.
Dr. Victor-
"I actually like the idea of, well, resupplying as it were, and heaven knows I could use a new change of clothes and most definitely some less expensive shoes to go traipsing around the gore-filled streets. But, before we go, we need some way of communicating. Does any store have a walkie-talkie or radio set?
"Also, if we all split up into individual groups, I doubt we would need to hear our deaths coming through a speaker box. If we had minimum groups of three, we could relocate or choose another alternative area to ride this thing out. I'd be more inclined to get the proverbial fuck out of dodge, pardon my language, but we can never really be through with this until that sagacious sack of antediluvian necrosis and estrogen is at least kicked down a few pegs.
"Micah, if you want, you can head over to my apartment. I do have nice taste in things, if you can mind the mess. I'm sure my housekeeper hadn't finished before the carnage began. Maybe we can get Mr. Ben Samurai to come as well? I certainly wouldn't want to break up our little group. As Lydia Deetz with a nose-ring over here offered, my place is open as well.
"To be serious, I'd rather have smaller groups of half a dozen or less. Any more and we'd be too large to mobilize efficiently. Any less than three and we'd be as good as swarmed by whatever it was out there. And, should we wait until dawn or daylight or just hope the power and lights don't drop like panties at a U2 concert?"
Dr. Victor gave a slow nod towards Micah and a half sneer/smile. Time to get everything I Ineed, and maybe if we have enough people we can make a really dangerous and quick detour to a pharmacy on the way. I'd hate to see anyone drop from something as primitively dangerous like pneumonia or tetanus.
>> PATTI
Patti coughed loudly and gave Micah a glare when he continued to berate Alex. Not that she had much use for faith these days, but the antagonism wasn't doing anyone any good. She'd have to speak with him later. "I think smaller groups would be a mixed blessing. Sure, you'd be able to move faster, but look at what we just did. Three people would have been overwhelmed in a heartbeat." Patti glanced around to assess people's reactions. "This seems to be a self perpetuating catastrophe. Wherever there are people, the situation will only continue to degenerate. We need to get out of town, maybe up into the mountains. Winter's a long way away and we'd have plenty of time to move on before it got too treacherous up there."
She paused for a breath, then continued. "I've got four shotguns, two pistols, and some ammo at my apartment, about five blocks from here. That said, I think it's a really bad idea for anyone to travel on the streets at night." >> ALEX
Now that the worst fighting had died down, Alex had time to think. They couldn't stay in the mall forever. It was too cavernous and glassy. But Ms. Patti was right they shouldn't travel at night. Maybe they could rest until morning, get something to eat and drink, and then leave at dawn.
Although light might bring the worst of it. Alex recalled Isaiah: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? "Look for Nat, too," he told Ben. "Him and his dad. And we got to find food. I could use some Gatorade and chicken right now. A new shirt, too. Any shirt. Also, a toothbrush." He'd just had his teeth whitened professionally. It was a gift from his auntie, the dentist. Alex rubbed his chin and was thankful that he never needed to shave. All those wise guys in the locker room who teased his hairless legs were probably eating their words. And speaking of wise guys ... "Oh, and Micah? Don't think I didn't hear that, Homeboy. You're one more Christian Boy away from really pissing me off. What the hell is your problem, anyway?" Not-at-all friendfully, Alex rounded on the Australian ninety-pounder and quickly closed the distance between them.
>> PATTI
Patti stepped in between Alex and Micah quickly, placing one hand on Alex's chest to, hopefully, keep him from advancing further. Her mind went somewhere dirty, but the urgency of the situation kept her on point. "Look, I don't expect you guys to hug it out or anything, but we need to crush this conflict before it gets out of hand. We ALL are going to rely on each other to survive here and we all need to respect each other's coping mechanisms. No more "Christian Boy", no more "homeboy", no more macho posturing. If ever there was a time to act like fucking adults, this is it."
"Now let's see how people are doing upstairs and get some food and water together. We need a guard detail to stay down here in case something breeches the wall." >> ALEX
Patti's intervention knocked some sense into Alex. Was he really going to fight this guy over name calling? His mother taught him better than that. Alex put up his hands, palms out. "I'm done. I’ll go with you upstairs."
Sandy-
"Wow, thanks Kendo guy. I was worried she was... in one of our walls... God this is fucked up."
Davin-
"Hold up a moment, Ben... I think it might be slightly safer up there and we should all head that way, but for the moment let's talk things out here."
Anna-
"Doc, I think you're right about small groups. It's necessary to have at least one person to watch your back, and without a gun I wouldn't fight a Mary unless it was at least three to one odds. But I'd like it if we could all know what each other are planning to do before splitting up."
Kaito-
"Nn, I don't think so..."He shook his head and said something quietly to Jackson.
Jackson-
"I'm with Kaito and the pistol lady, Anna... I don't even like three to one against that ghoul out there."
Tyrone-
"Yeah, um, let's try t' get to someone's apartment buildin' but firs', let's try t' get everyone in the mall back togetha. For now, people talk about your places. How far are they and what do they have to offer when we get there? I think madam with the guns makes a pretty good case."
He smiled warmly at the thought of being able to blast on the bastards.>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor lowered his head, chin touching his chest as the conversation picked up around him like bats flying out into the night. He began to chuckle softly to himself, giving Patti a sideways glance as he watched her fingers yearn to melt into the jock's flesh. Obviously, menopause hasn't slowed her down. After Mr. Page spit out his thoughts one missing consonant at a time, the good doctor's head rose."Well, I guess just having a cushy pad isn't going to cut it. However, I do have two portable defibrillator's, a gas-powered generator and an AC power supply box that could get one PC running for three hours." Dr. Victor sheepishly added"I like to play Minecraft and hate when the power runs out." Moving to stand next to Micah, he slowly shook his head."I'm not saying my place is a necessity but considering if we have to bring people back from the de- er... if we have to save lives from common problems, like broken limbs, infections, disease, pop music, I'd like to try and nip a few pill cupboards of wherever we end up as well. I'm sure as long as its not expired anything would be useful. Should we have a quick raid until morning of these shops for supplies? Not like we couldn't leave IOUs... if there was anything left to put the notes upon..." The gravity of the surrounding area slowly seeped through the doctor's narrow vision. Once the destruction and death made an impression on his thoughts, he shook his head."At least if we have to recreate society, we'll have lots of beautiful, intelligent, and fit children." The good doctor smiled, nodding to himself."But, with rather strange accents, I take it."
Davin-
"My place, Ben lives there too, it's on Westlake and it could have really good defense. It's out in South Lake Union so less population this time of night, safer than downtown. Anyway, I'm going to it whether anyone comes with me or not."
The stairwell door came open and a smallish Asian man emerged, abruptly yelling something in Chinese with a panicked voice. Eric turned the corner and smiled at his brother.
James -
"Very bad stuff upstairs! We gotta go... Maybe we go secret way."
He said something very fast and complicated sounding to Eric.
Eric -
(single word reply)
James -
"Eric says he think it's good idea, but we must be careful. I know how to get to bus tunnel underground from here, don't have to go outside. We can go to anywhere from tunnel."
Anna -
"Wait, yeah... we could go through the tunnel and go to convention place, that's right next to my apartments. No need to do the helldiver run through the crazy streets. Might get me killed but hell, I'm in."
James glanced at the eerie ghosts and did a double-take.
James -
"Uhhh! Hey gotta go, follow me people please!"
He ran for a stairwell door. Sonya, Basil and some others staggered after him, trying to not let the freaky ghosts out of their sight.>> BEN
Ben had nothing of any particular use in his apartment, so he had no supporting words to lend to Davin's quest to get back home. Instead he gave a moment of thought to his parents. Were they still alive? Had they perhaps managed to get out of the city, or would they have tried to hide? Judging by the call from his mother, the news had struck suddenly, so they might not have had the chance to do anything before circumstances decided their actions for them.
And then the Chinese guy appeared. "Bad things upstairs? What do you mean?" Ben asked, hoping it wasn't as bad as he feared. "There were people up there! Are they still alive?" >> MICAH
The Christian dork had come at him like so many others, ready to prove he was better by bashing Micah to a pulp. There was no where to run and Micah twitched slightly his flight instinct going haywire.
Thankfully, what was clearly going to be the mum of the group came between them. Although her feelings towards Alex clearly ran carnal. The guy backed off just like that!
Micah bit down the urge to put in a last sting. How could he avoid insulting someone so sensitive as Alex?All it took was some lame arse nickname, that wasn't even that good. Chicken.. and Gatorade?, Micah wanted to make a snide comment about that but again didn't. Not out of any resolve to get on with the moron, but he needed these people and he didn't want to antagonize them until they ditched him."Sorry mate, I shouldn't insult your belief system, no matter how...er" Micah was glad to hear people talking about not splitting up. Although, the Doctor's words creeped him out some more. Micah was comforted by someone actually giving a fuck, but fuck may be the problem word.
The little Asian man, James came running down, his kitchen buddy from before. He didn't look like a happy camper. Great more crazy shit to kill them.
Micah stuck close to the Doctor and the others. He didn't like the idea of going up stairs, but then splitting up to stay safe hadn't helped the Nat guy out. Talk of the tunnels freaked him out and he could feel himself getting panicky already. Not that he was claustrophobic, but those tunnels could be a death trap. A dark enclosed and underground death trap.
>> ALEX
Alex wished he knew the city layout better. He'd always relied on Google Maps to get around, but that wasn't an option anymore. He hoped that Mr. Davin didn't strike out on his own. It'd be suicide, even for a man with Davin's composure and strength. Maybe the guy had a family to return to. Kids and a wife ... Alex understood why a man would risk death to save his family. Alex hoped that his parents were safe. They lived near the sea, far from crowds, and they had a fine guard dog. Of course they were safe.To Anna, Alex said, "Does the tunnel pass the university? Seattle University? I live in Bellarmine hall. My roommate might still be there. We don't have much to use in a fight. Just clothes. Uh, I got one thousand in cash hidden under my mattress. Not that it's important anymore. Nevermind. Forget about the university. I'll go wherever you guys need me." Frankly, Alex doubted that he'd find Emiliano anywhere near their dorm. His roommate had a senior girlfriend who lived off-campus. Emil probably ran away to save her when the End Times happened.
Speaking of Emiliano, Alex wondered if the older Chinese man had seen White Emiliano recently. He asked (very slowly, perhaps insultingly so),“Mister, is a pretty blonde guy named Nat still up there?” Anna gave Alex a surprisingly sympathetic look, and nodded to him.
Anna -
"SU is pretty far still but you'll be heading in the right direction. Maybe you can get up there in the morning if things start to settle down"
James-
"Yeah upstairs we see like ummm... (trades some words with Eric) ghosts? Some people still alive, not sure."
Sonya, Basil and a few others followed James, and came out of the stairwell to stand around, looking for someone to lead them.
Sandy-
"OMIGOD Sonya!"
She hugged Sonya, Kaito smiled.>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor muttered upon seeing Basil, "Well, we WERE going to have attractive children... but lets hope he doesn't procreate. Just, uh, stand over this way, Micah, lest he get his limey meat-hooks on you as well. But, I have a feeling he'd rather make Ms. Patti upset instead."
Dr. Victor adjusted the pair of neoprene gloves against his wrists and fingers."Maybe we should, uhm, evacuate to the secret tunnel now. Everyone who wants to stay until morning can, but if we can get the rest of us to this underground area, however dingy and disgusting... it may have seen less casualties. This could mean it could be less infested? Is that the appropriate terminology for the necrotic hooligans outside? Anyways, less infested means actually a few hours of sleep, with guards and such. Not one to head upstairs to fight more imaginary- well... I take that back. I'd just rather not fight anything right now, real, imaginary, Disney or otherwise." He folded his arms across his chest, glancing over at the survivors. The ice in his voice could have been chipped from the frozen teat of a witch living on Antarctica."So. Are we going to be democratic about this or do we have a new leader here?" >> MICAH
Micah-
"Yeah, actually I hope he does form an attachment to our Christian friend. It will be worth more than a few laughs. After all, he IS Nat's daddy dearest." Micah said softly to the Doctor, hoping that Alex didn't hear him.
This time loudly he said."God knows I am no leader, but can I suggest we don't go running into the tunnel? Sure, it sounds safe now but think about it. All the scary shit here would love us to go down the fucking tunnel. We have no idea what's in there and we are just going in like that?? We know here is... Err was relatively safe. Are you sure we shouldn't hold up here, deal with whatever is upstairs and try our luck in clear space and daylight?" >> BEN
Ben was relieved. Not only was Sonya alive and well, but this meant that he wouldn't have to go upstairs to find her. And now they could all leave together. She with her co-workers, and he with... Well, he could just hang around and see what happened, and where people were going. He wasn't really in a hurry anywhere.
Except possibly to stock up on some deodorant. Sure, it was the apocalypse, so he had a perfectly good excuse to smell. But it would probably be better if he didn't. And maybe zombies could smell really well?
>> NAT
While he had initially frozen like a deer in the headlights upon seeing the... what the hell was that? A ghost? Nat was quick enough to shake it off. Sadly, Sarah was not - she didn't move when he tried to pull her with him. "we-We can't s-stay here!" But just as Nat began to panic, another woman rushed in front of Sarah and broke whatever spell had been laid on her. Nat clutched at Sarah as she all but fell into his arms, just holding onto her for a moment as the red-parka woman fell. When the parka-wearing corpse began to move, however, Nat hurriedly released Sarah, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and lead her to the stairway as fast as he could manage.
He didn't look at the ghosts, as he fled for the stairs - focusing entirely on his goal so as not to panic anymore than he was already. Still, hurrying and all, Nat didn't reach the stairs until the Asian man (James) had disappeared down them.
>> NAT
Nat and Sarah stumbled out of the stairwell, a bit behind the larger group. Both looked somewhat bedraggled - although Sarah looked a good deal more 'in shock' than Nat did. The blonde was jumpy, and kept casting nervous glances back up the stairwell. It wasn't even like those things would need to use the stairs, they could probably just float through the walls. There wasn't anywhere safe.
>> ALEX
White Emiliano was alive! He must have stayed behind to protect the woman who was clinging to his arm.
"Emi ... Nat!" Alex boomed. "Over here! We're talking about leaving."
Alex suddenly saw Nat's dad loitering around nearby. Why weren't they together? Was his father possessed (or soon-to-be possessed)? Would he become the snarling undead and turn on his own son? Alex anxiously glanced between the two men.
>> MICAH
Micah was actually relieved to see Nat again, when he turned up behind them from the stairs. Micah had been monitoring Basil, hoping he would fall next to Alex.
Sure they barely knew each other, but they had begun this night of horror together and it had to account for something. He smiled encouragingly at the man clinging to...Sally? Susan? Something with "S"."Good to see you made it Nat! What the hell is up there or is it hell... You know..literally?" >> NAT
Nat jumped when Alex shouted at him, his gaze jerking to focus on the man. He... couldn't remember if he knew the man's name or not, but he recognized Micah nearby. He made his way over, pulling Sarah along with him - he didn't plan to let go of her until she seemed okay. She would be okay, even if that thing had made her freeze up. It hadn't torn her ghost out, or her soul out, or anything, so she was fine."I-I-I'm so glad, y-you all are here!" Really, if he wasn't already supporting Sarah, he might have glomped on to Micah. "Th-Th-There are THINGS up there! Th-they... We need to g-get out! They go through walls!" Ben managed to find himself not too badly out of place with the Daiso employees. Despite his having nothing to do with rescuing Sonya per se, they seemed appreciative to him. The girls were both dressed down, with very messy hair, but looked like angels in this crowd. Sonya was the cuter one, very short and pretty-faced, with more of a hot accent. Sandy was American and thin, and had a surprisingly large bosom mostly concealed behind an intentionally frumpy work apron. They were just glad to be alive and together, and somehow Ben had lucked into being part of that moment.
Alex could probably figure out by now Basil wasn't Nat's father, as the man seemed annoyed at the youth's indifference, and lavished attention on the other random people who had come from upstairs. Just helpful, maybe?
Basil-
"Oh yes, dears, let's stay together. This lot down here are quite the scufflers. We've no worries in their company, I'm certain."
A lady seemed oblivious to his creepiness and appreciative of his calm tone.Sarah and Nat went to engage Micah, when suddenly Sarah shrieked.
Sarah-
"Ohmyfuckinggod, Nat, it's Neil!"
The man's still body was crushed beyond recognition, but his name tag was in the pool of blood, and his hairdo, though misshapen with the skull, had a familiar color and texture. People jumped at her outburst, but calmed themselves enough to keep talking.
Alex, Patti, the Doctor, and Kaito stood with the whole pow-wow that was under way in the middle of the hall, and the following things were said:
James-
"Yeah, we know how to get in bus tunnel. The best way is through a PF Chang. We use service hall between a Daiso and Silverwork."
Eric-
"Sure."
Jackson-
"Was that English?"
James-
"Mandarin for "Yes," he talks funny sometime."
Tyrone-
"Yeah, maybe we should get goin' and talk about where we're goin' along the way. It's kinda ate up in hera."
Anna-
"I'm into it. Let's find more flashlights, just in case."
Weird guy-
"But what of my car? I don't think I parked it in the.. bus tunnel...  "
As everyone discussed their next move, a body fell from the gap in the ceiling, over the railing from the staircase presumably. Sarah recoiled and turned her head, not wanting to see the impact, Sonya let out a little yelp. The strange part was, the corpse didn't impact the ground at all.
A young white man with a slightly chubby face stared at them, upside down. He hovered an inch off the ground, his clothing somehow not hanging naturally in his upside-down position, but rather floating around chaotically. His short sleeved shirt and business casual khakis rippling like he was underwater. He swayed gently, the edges of his body fading into black tatters, and black blood ran from the top of his head, upward, over his face and against gravity. His eyes glistening, he searched the group for someone to make eye contact with. The air was heady with the acrid scent of alcohol, and something pungent and earthy like autumn leaves or mushrooms.
Nat shuddered, this was a different ghost than he'd just seen. There were more than one...>> ALEX
Despite his best efforts to remain calm, Alex uttered a short, surprised cry and flung his cell phone - it was dead and useless, anyway - at the entity's gruesome face. >> PATTI
Patti-
"Mummies, Zombies, and now fucking Ghosts. Jumping Jesus on a Pogo Stick!" Five rounds, plus one full magazine.
Just to see what would happen, she pumped a shot into the face of the floating ghosty. Four rounds... the ammo was going way too fast. Patti needed to get back to her apartment.
>> MICAH
How the fuck did you kill a ghost? He was mesmerized by the oceanic bobbing, it reminded him of a campfire in a weird way. Then Christian Alex threw a phone at the thing's head with a shriek to no avail, but would it phone a friend? Of all the clothes to die in, khaki was definitely unfortunate, but he doubted the ghost was much concerned."I-is this what you were talking about Nat? Is it sentient or a zombie ghost? Does it have any friends?" he babbled. He almost considered joining Nat behind the woman who had yelled out before.
Alex tossed his cell phone at the being's face, and it passed through, like he'd tossed it into a pool of water, or very thin gelatin. The phone landed on the other side and skittered on the floor. The creature caught Alex's gaze, and he felt frozen in place. Unlike the previous time, there was nothing inside his head, no hellfire, no words. Just those black glittering eyes and all consuming terror. He felt cold, like the heat was bleeding from his body. Even as Patti fired at the ghost, which again seemed like rippling a shallow tide pool, Alex could not look away. The ghost's head was nearly black with blood now, that poured upside-down from the top of its head like a reverse candle.
That smell, that pungent terrible smell, it was sickening. The ghost began drifting forward like it was being pulled by a string attached to its toes, closer to Alex.
James -
"Come on! Let's go to tunnel!"
James ran down the corridor next to Daiso, with Eric and some others following.
Alex trembled, growing pale and could not look away from the eerie phantom, which began emitting a hoarse moan from its black, hollow mouth.
>> MICAH
No one had listened to his earlier advice to avoid the tunnels but with these apparitions around the joint, it didn't seem to make any difference where they went. He was about to join the others, when he noticed Alex rooted to the spot. The young man was blank and creepily unmoving in the face of the coming spectre. Right, Micah knew what to do. He walked up to Alex stepping in front of the apparition, and slapped the kid in the face with as much force as he could muster."Wake the fuck up, Christian Boy!"
Unfortunately the force of the slap pushed him forward onto the young man, who felt like a solid rock and Micah fell flat onto his face.
>> BEN
Ben had turned around to face the new threat, brought his bokken up in some kind of defensive position, but he had no idea of what else to do. Flying phones and bullets didn't seem to hurt the ghost. He doubted that his bokken would do anything either, but perhaps it was all a matter of will and determination? Ben advanced, one step at a time, each step accompanied with a short and focused shout, as if attempting to drive off the invading spirit.
ALEX WAS FREE! Micah's distraction pulled his gaze away long enough to regain control of his body.
For Micah and Alex the scent of this strange compost-flavored alcohol burned their nostrils as the groaning horror loomed ever closer... mere feet away!
Sarah-
"STOP LOOKING AT THEM and RUN!!! They paralyze with their eyes and KILL BY TOUCH!!!" Her voice cracked from strain with every other word.
She grabbed Ben by the shoulder while running past and tried to spin him around. Anna heard that and seeing Micah and Alex dangerously close to it she ran up within fifteen feet and shouted at it. The thing seemed impervious to distraction.
Anna-
"COME ON!! GO!!!" >> MICAH
Micah scrambled up as quickly as he could, did what he did best and ran for his life. He hoped Alex would make it, that his action had not been wasted. Kill by touch? How did you beat a deathly spectre that could kill that easily. Remembering the knives in his left hand, he realised he must of almost gutted himself before. Only one knife remained, the fate of the other a mystery. Micah checked his stomach as he bolted behind the others leading the way.
>> BEN
Ben wasn't hard to convince. He wasn't that committed to the attack anyway, as it was just a dangerous little experiment to see what would work and what wouldn't. And with the blonde woman's dire warning, he had found out that nothing would work and they were all going to die. Just not right then and there, if they could get away.
He joined the others, bringing up the rear.
>> ALEX
The slap sent tears to Alex's eyes, and his sprouting wisdom tooth ached from the blow. Panicked, he sprinted after Micah. Nothing but escape mattered anymore.
>> NAT
Nat nearly jumped out of his skin when Sarah shrieked about Neil. He hadn't seen the corpse immediately, although that was soon remedied. He flinched, backing away from the mess, and was promptly startled further as another corpse fell from the floor above. The blonde yelped,stumbling into Micah in his haste to get away from the thing."Y-Y-Yes, it-it was like th-that, but-but-but..." This wasn't the same ghost that had assaulted Sarah. It looked... different, bloodier. He flinched when it looked his way, turning to look for an exit, a means of escape. "We need to- we need to leave b-before it-it-it... m-makes anyone else a ghost." Nat flinched as people began bolting, wanting badly to rush after them. He didn't care where they were going, so long as it was away from the ghost-thing. But Micah and that other guy (Christian Boy? What?) were still close to the ghost. So Nat held his ground, trying to convince himself that if they didn't get up quickly enough, he'd drag them out.
He hadn't quite convinced himself by the time they got to their feet. That was good enough for Nat, he turned and ran after the others, putting as much distance as he could between himself and the terrible thing.
>> PATTI
Great! Now shit they can't stop. This was starting to feel truly hopeless. Her only thought was escape, far, far, far away from civilization. Maybe there, they could get some peace.
She held her ground until she saw Micah and Alex get to their feet, wondering if she had it in her to interpose herself if it meant saving the two of them. Once they were up and running, she took off towards the stairwell as well.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor glanced around, narrowing his eyes and leveling his gaze at the group. Panic. Right, let's run in a panic because that will make everything better. Struggling to get himself to move, the good doctor trotted after the group, his anger rising again. I know! Why don't we just start shooting at transparent things and almost shoot at everyone else! That's an excellent idea. Or, maybe we can reason with the zombies! Or invite Mary over for some coffee and a chat.
Dr. Victor allowed his rage to mount again, arrogance almost blinding as the darkness of what he feared the underground tunnel would provide. If I was at the hospital all ready, I'd probably be dead. And maybe it'd be less distracting to be dead? I'd at least not have to be apart of such a motley crew or have such a headache. Well, I'm just hypothesizing... who knows what the actual corpses are feeling, if they feel... I suppose I'll have to ask one.
That sick chuckling began to reverberate through the good doctor's throat.
Downstairs, James and Eric's group waited for some others to catch up before proceeding, glad the space seemed free of monsters for the moment.
Russian Kid-
"The way out... Where is it?"
Eric pointed at a large wall behind him, seemingly just the back wall of the restaurant. It read "Coming Soon! Nordstrom Rack" and had lovingly Photoshopped super-hi-res shirts blowing through a void of kicky white and pink geometry.
Basil -
That's not much of an answer old boy!
James -
"Wait a mome- "
THE LIGHTS WENT OUT. It was utterly black in the room, sounds of shocked gasps and rustling in the darkness, Sonya yipping from the stairwell hall.
Dr. Victor's flashlight turned on, pointed at Eric, who did a fancy kung-fu kick to the wall. The whole fifteen foot length of it collapsed with a Fwump-WAK, revealing a large space, under construction, extremely dark, but with a hint of filtered moonlight from a far corner of it.
Eric-
"(one syllable)"
James-
"He says don't go toward the light. Bus tunnel is a other way. Follow me!"
The first floor crowd moved in chaotic bursts, the lack of coordination and sudden overpowering menace working against them. The first group down the hall was led by James and Eric, and included the injured but mobile Russian kid, another man, two women, weird guy, and Basil.
The second group had Tyrone, Doc Vic, Kaito, and Jackson, followed shortly by a group with Ben, Sonya, Sandy, Sarah, and Nat, then Micah, Alex, Patti, and Anna. Anna exchanged a horrified look with Patti.
Anna-
"Look at its feet if you need to see it."
She glanced back very briefly and picked up her run.
Doc Vic's group ran into PF Chang's, Jackson pausing just long enough to let the group behind know which way they went. Tyrone went to the stairs down quickly, leaving Kaito and Doc Vic alone in the middle of the room just a moment, the streetlamp light glittering on milling zombies outside, the warm interior lights glowing on the floor and tabletops, a smell of blood, plastic, and extremely sweet pan-Asian cuisine vague in the air, plates of random giblets on various tabletops. The Doctor felt suspended in the moment, like he'd gotten into a concert venue where a bunch more people still waited outside. Then Jackson came up from behind and they continued.
Sarah and Nat came running in behind, not pausing to see what was ahead, rushing after Jackson. Ben came into the door huffing a bit, sweat now heavy in his hair, Sonya and Sandy slowing themselves a bit to stay with the armored guy.
DOC VIC, NAT, and BEN, go to METRO LEVEL
Micah and Alex came hustling through the room. Suddenly, Alex heard a chair-scoot noise, and stopped to look back. Anna and Patti stopped in the doorway coming in. Their eyes were all fixed on a policeman coming slowly up from behind a table.
Anna-
"Oh, good. We could use another gu-"
It suddenly became apparent the man was dead, but still had the instincts to use his weapon. 
Police zombie-
"Ungggha"
He already had his gun out and pointed it at Anna, clearly a split second away from pulling the trigger.
THE LIGHTS WENT OUT, but the scene was still quite visible in the streetlights.>> PATTI
(Patti had enough light to reliably shoot the zombie officer, and she did so, while dropping to the floor to reduce her profile. It all happened too fast, the cop's shot and hers in rapid succession, clanging through the room.)>> MICAH
A zombie with a gun? Why couldn't the zombies stick to the tropes of TV and stay stupid?
This is why Micah was glad that Australia had gun laws, despite the tirade of lectures he received from American co-workers. Micah looked at the poor girl in the line of fire, with a mixture of sympathy and horror. Then he hightailed it down the stairs, looking for the others below."Guys? We have a bloody situation up here!" He yelled out into the darkness. ( Micah will go for self-preservation this time, he will just hope that someone else does something upstairs, or he can find the others who will.) >> ALEX
Alex realized two things: first, that Anna was in serious trouble, and second, that he was too far away to shove her from the bullet's probable path. Reacting on instinct, he picked up the nearest object (anything decent-sized, like a chair or plate) and hurled it at the zombie cop. He sincerely hoped that Patti could seal the deal with her gun.
>> BEN
As soon as the lights went out, Ben heard two gunshots, and someone yelling from upstairs. Was that the Australian guy? What was going on up there? If it was something dangerous, should they go up and help out, or should they try to escape while there might still be time? Ben was torn, and when he heard footsteps in the stairs he decided to wait and see. "Something is happening up there," he told the others. "Should we go up and help them?" You heard two gunshots upstairs. There is ONLY ONE FLASHLIGHT BETWEEN THE LOT OF YOU. Unless Doc Vic runs back with it leaving every one low in the dark, it would seem a very bad idea to try to get back upstairs.
Doc Vic - People are starting to use lighters as supplemental light sources. First Russian guy, then Tyrone, then two ladies.The cop pulled the trigger. Patti and Anna were diving low like an action movie and Patti took a shot. The zombie cop flew back, knocking over a table.
By the time the cop was down, Alex had just begun to throw the plate, and kind of let it drop instead of following through. Micah was already halfway to the stairs, and opening the door found it to be intolerably black down there - like a wall of blackness. If he has a lighter or keychain LED thing or some light source, he might feel OK to try it.
Anna and Patti scrambled to their feet quickly, and Anna shuddered violently at the thought she was almost shot. Then she remembered the ghost behind them and looked at the hall back in dread.
Anna-
"We'll need light down there... I'll make a torch but somebody watch for ghosts."
She ran behind the counter and started thrashing through kitchen supplies.
Meanwhile, Patti pried the gun from the zombie cop's hand, wiping it off in disgust, and fished around for extra ammo - all while looking to the door in fear that ghost would catch up. Had they lost it? How long would that last?>> MICAH
Micah heard the shots reverberate from the staircase and a crash. The darkness ahead was uninviting and he had no light."Hey, COME BACK GUYS, WE NEED SOME FUCKING DIRECTION OR LIGHT...please?" Micah screamed, feeling frantic. Where were the others? Where the fuck were they supposed to go?
He headed cautiously up the stairs, and was relieved to find the rest alive."Looks like they've ditched us and racked the fuck off." He said kicking a nearby chair in frustration. He noticed the small brunette clunking through the kitchen supplies."Need a hand? I was a Sous-chef after all. They might have a blowtorch, you know for charring and such." >> DOCTOR VICTOR
The good doctor for once was truly pleased in his dual weapon and beacon."Look, Ben, I just believe they will be fine. If we try and go back now, we could get shot and I will not have fear dictate our first injury by friendly fire. Well, first injury to people that aren't completely subsumed by their stupidity." He gently clasped a hand on Ben's padded shoulder, using the flashlight as a child would when telling a spooky story, his facial features grotesquely masked by both light and shadow."Trust in their abilities to get through it..." Turning the flashlight down the corridor, the doctor paused. The ember glow dotting the passage ahead was entrancing... exactly like the time Mary held him... when the sparks set his home ablaze. The beam of light trembled and finally clattered to the floor as the good doctor sank to his knees.
He rocked, gripping himself about the legs, clutching ever tightly - wrapped in a ball, chin on his knees. Eyes locked at the flames as they flickered, he babbled incessantly, increasing his volume as the flames grew closer.Dr. Victor-
"...low... smoke... eyes... fault... low... smoke... eyes... fault... low... smoke... eyes... fault... low... smoke... eyes... fault..."
Anna-
"Great! We could use it as a light! Especially if we can find something to wrap in gauze... A first aid kit, ha... And light that up..."
She was still look at the door they came from every other second, but getting it done.
The ghost didn't come, but zombies outside started to beat on the windows. Finally, with Micah's help, she came up with three torches made out of metal kitchen tools with the heads wrapped in gauze, handing them off to Alex and Micah. She kept one and Micah held onto the kitchen torch as well. She felt like Patti should keep her hands on the gun.
Tyrone-
He leaned forward with his lighter held near his head.
"Y' OK, doc?"
>> ALEX
Alex-
"God..."
Alex said quietly, as he took the torch. It was all too much. Anna had been a trigger away from dying. He exhaled shakily and nodded. Then, as his panic died down and he appreciated the smell of Chinese food, Alex realized that he was VERY hungry. He will hastily stuff his mouth with any food he can find on the tables and drink some abandoned glasses of water, if possible. However, he will not take longer than a few seconds, because the zombies are scary. Scary.>> MICAH
Micah-
"Ugh that's truly fucking disgusting Alex. Do you know what kinds of germs are in that? ugh! If you knew what I do, you wouldn't eat that bloody crap!"
Micah ignored his own growling stomach and headed with the others downstairs, torch in hand. >> ALEX
Alex-
“I'm hungry, Micah."
His voice actually sounded ... affectionate? Alex followed the others downstairs.>> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor-
"LOW SMOKE EYES FAULT LOW SMOKE EYES FAULT LOW SMOKE EYES FAULT!"
The doctor scooted away from Mr. Page, wincing as though he were slapped. The tears began rolling down his cheeks, eyes overflowing with fear and pupils fully dilated. He continued to back away, almost scrambling on the ground, tethered to the cement by an invisible rope emanating from the wobbling flame of Tyrone's lighter. His voice broke suddenly in a whisper."Am I going to die again? Smoke... Eyes... Fault... My FAULT! ...low... smoke... eyes... fault... low... smoke... eyes..."
Alex found the giblets to be actually not so bad, some kind of goopy red sweet and sour sauce and little brown dumpling kinda things... Pretty salty though.
Micah thought that Alex looked like he was chowin' on legit gory bits after what he'd seen today. Barf-o-rama.
Tyrone hung back, and put a calming hand up towards the doctor, moving the lighter back.
Tyrone-
"Whoa whoa whoa, Doc... take it easy, man. Jes' take a second and breathe, man, it's okay."
Tyrone waved off anyone who came near them, trying to give the doctor a chance to calm down, and to see if he could figure out what was wrong with the poor guy.The room was dark and the only source of light besides the tiny lighters was a flashlight the doctor had dropped in some kind of panic. Sandy sneaked behind the doctor and grabbed it, holding it up to illuminate the dim environment.
The room behind the large walled-in space was open and filled with bizarre obstructions that cast long black shadows that stretched in every direction. Wooden saw horses, large planks, a construction out of metal bars that looked like jungle-gym material. Anyone who hadn't yet gathered a weapon took the chance to find something-- a sledgehammer, a sturdy metal bar, a large hammer...
The room beyond was dim and murky as a fish tank, the air was filled with dusty particles, and the flashlight couldn't reach the back wall. People began to creep forward, looking back to the strange scene with the doctor and nervous to blaze the trail with so many potential terrifying creatures.
It was very quiet. Everyone's ears were still ringing with gunfire and screams, the silence was oppressive. They wondered what sounds they weren't hearing.>> MICAH
Micah felt his hunger turn sour by the shear grossness he had witnessed by Alex gorging. The sheer velvety darkness unnerved him as they descended and he worried about the strength of the glass upstairs.
When they came upon the others, Micah was mystified as what the fuck was going on. The Doctor had lost the plot, babbling and shaking in a heap on the ground. The others just pinpricks of lighters scattered around. Micah was grateful for his torch. He moved closer to the doctor, ignoring Tyrone's wave, to see what was the matter."Hey mate, are you okay? Do you need anything?" Micah spoke like he was talking to a customer, slow and slightly condescending.
>> ALEX
As Alex descended the stairs and entered the quiet room, he finished licking red sauce from his fingers and looked for a decent weapon: something sturdy, heavy, and well-balanced that he could swing at the undead (Alex will choose a solid metal bar, if it's available, or anything of that nature). The doctor was rambling again, but this time he sounded really messed up. Christ, had something happened while Alex, Micah, Anna, and Patti were searching for torch material in the restaurant? Maybe the group down here witnessed another ghost, and it tipped the poor doctor into the deep end. Perhaps Mary made an appearance and the doctor saw visions of hell.
Personally, he felt better with a full stomach. A deep, skittish breed of fear still nagged Alex, but his thoughts were more focused. Maybe these weren't the End Times after all. God killed tons of people during the big flood. This might be another cataclysmic event. If Alex and his friends could survive it, they'd live long and peaceful lives. He could teach his children how to play baseball, too. The game didn't have to die out. Almost unwittingly, Alex surveyed the women present. Then, he felt deeply ashamed for thinking about something so disgusting and trivial. Everybody was fighting to survive. They might not last the night. But good God, he didn't want to die a virgin.
Speaking of death, why had Micah saved his life? Alex hadn't given the man enough credit. Now, Micah was trying to comfort the doctor. The foul-mouthed Australian was a pretty nice guy. A diamond in the rough? Yeah, that. With his new weapon in hand, Alex stared ahead, searching the shadows for threats.
>> NAT
When the lights suddenly went out, Nat released another yelp - sounding more like a kicked-dog than anything else. Once the initial terror at his sudden blindness subsided, he flailed out, reaching for anyone to hold on to. It felt like forever before a light bloomed in the dark, but it couldn't have been more than a few moments."Oh! S-Sorry..." Nat stammered, letting go of his death-grip on the back of the black security-guard's shirt. However unfortuitous the darkness was, Nat was at least lucky that no one could see his flustered expression very well.
The gunshots, so soon after the loss of light, nearly sent him straight back to clinging to Tyrone's shirt. Instead, he dropped like a stone, arms cradled protectively over his head - as if that would do any real good if someone opened fire on him. He huddled on the floor for a long few moments after the echoes of the gunshots died out - not thinking anything beyond that he needed to stay low, stay still. Almost distantly he heard Dr. Victor's babbling, but it merely seemed an altered refrain of his own internal mantra.
He felt someone tugging at one of his arms - it took him a moment, be he eventually recognized it as Sarah, trying to pull him back to his feet. He let her, pushing back to his feet and keeping close to her. His shoulders slouched, and his cheeks flushed beet red in embarrassment at his cowardice.
He finally noticed the doctor, who seemed to have shared his momentary lapse into panic - the man was also huddled on the floor, babbling about smoke in his eyes. He wondered if the man was possessed, like that woman had been earlier, but after a moment he pushed away the concern - he wasn't possessed, he couldn't be possessed, nothing could have touched him in the dark it would have gone after all of them, not just him.
Nat took a hesitant step toward the doctor, then another. After a few more he came up beside Micah and lowered himself to a crouch, reaching carefully for Dr. V's shoulder."M-Mister Victor? Th-There isn't any smoke. There isn't anything down here. We're gonna be okay, okay? N-No one's going to die, but you need-need to get up." He tried to speak as calmly as he could manage, given the situation.
>> BEN
The doctor had always seemed a but unhinged, but this was something new. Ben wondered how crazy the man really was, and if they were all crazy. He had at times wondered how he would act if everyone turned into zombies. Would he really believe in it?
He'd read news stories about people on drugs doing crazy and violent things, believing that other humans were demons or whatnot. And now he was seeing ghosts. Now they were all seeing ghosts. He didn't know if he wanted that to be true or not. Because if it wasn't true, were they all a bunch of crazies seeing 'ghosts' and 'monsters', but in reality killing innocent people?
Maybe the bio-terror was some kind of powerful hallucinogen, turning people into crazy mass-murderers? Though it seemed strange that they would all see the same things. Assuming that they really had seen the same things. Maybe they were all just highly suggestible due to some kind of airborne chemicals?
>> PATTI
When Patti arrived at the bottom of the stairs, all hell had broken loose. The blond kid from Starbuck's was cowering on the ground and the doctor seemed to be in a full on panic attack.
Patti flicked the safety on and tucked the pistol into her shorts. The gun was way too heavy, but she wasn't planning on leaving it there for long. She headed over to where the doctor was crawling across the floor. Smoke? Micah leaned closer and began talking to the doctor. Patti stood next to the security guy, looking on to see what she could do to help. Smoke? What had he said earlier? 'Fire should never become the answer'?
Oh... crap. Patti started to open her mouth to say something to Micah, taking a step closer to the doctor.
>> DOCTOR VICTOR
The good doctor cried out, pulling at his shirt, making horrid gagging sounds at Micah's approach. The sweat rolled down his face, tears blurring his vision. He continually coughed and gasped for breath, keeping as much distance from the horrid beacon as he could. His mind raced through every single encounter with living flame, not allowing him a single solid thought. He began to flail wildly at Micah with the hand that was free, but only mustered a feeble claw-like motion. His legs kicked out from his seated position in an exaggerated scooting motion. The whites of his eyes became reddened and paltry bits of mucus and phlegm sputtered out."I CAN'T... NO! NOOOO!" His mantra slipped and the good doctor began to whimper. Didn't they hear me? Wasn't I clear in what I was saying? Why aren't they saying anything? They're all going to burn! They're all going to die and burn and it's going to be my fault!
>> BEN
Ben walked over to where the flashlight had been dropped, and picked it up from the floor. Then he aimed the beam of light at Dr. Victor, and walked over to the man. "What's the problem?" he asked, looking around at the others and at the doctor. "Are we going to have to carry him in a wheelbarrow?" >> ALEX
The doctor was in bad shape. Alex kept his distance, but he did offer,
"I can help carry him, if it comes to that, but maybe one of you should, uh, hit Doctor Victor first? I mean slap him gently. That snapped me out of my trance."
Whatever they decided, they had to work fast, before something dropped from the ceiling or uncoiled from a dark corner.>> PATTI
Patti-
"Micah, give the doctor some room, take that torch somewhere else." She knelt down by the doctor, waiting for people to make more room, so he hopefully felt less immediately threatened.
"Hey, doc. Come on. You're okay. Nobody's hurt. We're going to be okay. If we can get away from these ghosts. The tunnel seems to be our best option now, but with the power out, we need the torches to get around down there. We'll be sitting ducks without them. We've only got the one flashlight and that's just not gonna cut it."
She paused to see if her words were helping at all. Maybe she misread the situation. She placed one hand on his shoulder."Doc?" >> DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor-
"Mother..."
Dr. Victor started to convulse a little, his shoulders trembling as if he was hit by an arctic wave. The good doctor sniffled. He wiped his face from the sweat and allowed his breathing to steady, greatly calmed by Patti's words and gentle touch. After a few more precious moments of deep, controlled breathing and adjustment, the doctor looked up at Patti and nodded, acknowledging her presence."... it happened again... and for that I'm sorry, but... I'd rather sit in the dark than go near that..." Just as his eyes drifted towards the torch carried by Micah, he winced and glanced at the comforting cold, floor."I... I guess I can bring up the front then? Yes. I can lead the way with the flashlight... Where's the flashlight? Ben. Benjamin, good boy, can I have it back, please? And don't shine that thing directly into my eyes you want me to go blind and useless? Come on, then... right. I'll lead the way with Mr. James' Brother... er Eric was it? And then the rest of you maniacs can take to the rear. I will not be suffocated by those devilish dancers sucking away all the oxygen should this whole tunnel collapse. Suffocation is hardly a decent way to go. After all, it takes almost five minutes to die that way, you know." By the end of the doctors soliloquy, his arrogant tone and callous attitude blossomed anew... albeit until he caught sight of those abhorrent glowing infernos of death."Right, I'll just keep a watchful eye on the terrain beneath us and trust Eric to shoot anything up ahead. Come on, Patti, no time to dally. Micah... er... right, then." Dr. Victor moved at a decent pace, certainly not fleeing, but desperate to get moving again. And it wasn't as if he was trying to avoid explaining anything to anyone. After all, there was impending undeath all around there simply was no time for talking.
>> ALEX
Alex assumed that the doctor meant "torches" when he said "devilish dancers." So, he had firephobia? At least the man pulled himself together before anybody had to grab a wheelbarrow or resort to slapping. Thank God Patti had been there.
Alex scanned the crowd once more. His eyes settled on the oldest member of their group, a rather scruffy-looking man armed with dull scissors. The poor guy looked so ... out of place. He moved closer to the man."Grandfather, if you need anything while we're traveling, just ask me. My name's Alex." He decided to keep an eye out for the man during their journey through the tunnel.
Old man -
"Oh yes, I don't know how we got in this basement. I was going to do something but I forgot what..."
>> MICAH
Micah backed off, his people helping skills as usual, completely fucking lacking.The others seemed to sense this, not even giving him a chance to help. Fuck it, he told himself.
So the pompous doctor had some kind of fire mania?
Micah moved to where the dark-haired chick from before was standing. As the mother lady took charge, bringing the doctor back to sanity."Hi, Micah. What do they call you? That was pretty close before huh? Uh sorry I couldn't uh help."
Anna -
"Hm, yeah. Anna." She seemed pretty preoccupied.>> BEN
After relinquishing the flashlight to its rightful owner, Ben found his place next to the Daiso girls again. "Well, he seems all right now, at least for the moment," he commented. "I guess he really doesn't like fire."
Sonya-
"Yeah, poor man... I hope he isn't too scared."
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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on May 7, 2016 8:20:41 GMT -8
The group navigated through the alien territory, the lights and fires creating strange hard edged phantoms that waxed and waned, spilling on to the ceiling and crawling into the distance. It took a bit of wandering around blank white pillars and dangerously haphazard cords on the floor, but they found the wall, and crept along it. Every creak of the floor and unidentified noise felt like death coming out of the shadows, but nothing seemed to spring out. It would almost be a relief if it did, the tension was so high. Those with guns had to be extra cautious not to fire at someone tripping over a wire or an especially eerie shadow.
Ben himself nearly tripped, noticing some small steps that led down. The group descended the steps to nowhere, and nearly missed the door, which was covered with brown butcher paper to disguise it from the outside. A dim light shone from beneath it.
Eric took the lead, and pushed the door open, his gun at the ready.
Nothing.
Cautiously, everyone moved on to the hard tile floors and into the brightly lit mezzanine.
(As you will, please move to the new thread -- METRO BUS TUNNEL!)
Map here: metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/tunnel/pdf/WestlakeMap.pdf (We begin at "3" on the map of the mezzanine -- the entrance to 'westlake center')
Welcome to Seattle's underground bus tunnel! Here you find yourself at the Westlake station, which is the jumping off point for Seattle's finest shopping, and the decor is distinctly retail themed. In fact, you can enter the mall straight from the tunnel!
www.kunstdame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/SEA-TransitWestlakeStation.jpg
From the tunnel mezzanine, you can go to Westlake Center, out to the street, or if you go downstairs to the platform...
You can enter the tunnel (don't get hit...) and go towards downtown and the "University" station, or turn the corner east and go to the "Convention Place" station.
Strangely, the lights were still on here, the air was leaden and cold in that underground way. There was no special sound here, other than the hum of electric light and ventilation. The group tapped their way on to the slick tile floor, feeling like they'd stepped into the past. The mezzanine was large and open, and they could see quite a distance in either direction. Any survivors who used public transit would be well familiar with this place, but the more posh types might be surprised that Seattle even had an underground tunnel. It was completely vacant as far as the eye could see, lit with large flood lights.
Anna-
"Man alive, how fuckin' bizarre..."
People stepped away from the entrance into the well lit tunnel, wondering whether they should put out their torches.
An LED sign read in glowing orange--
"DOWNTOWN TRANSIT TUNNEL
8:34 PM"
Micah remembered being here just earlier, being shuffled along in the crowd. How strange to think that was less than two hours ago?
Anna -
"OK, so my place is just like a block from the Convention Place station. I say we go downstairs, run our asses out of this tunnel and anyone who wants to go with me, can."
Davin -
"I'm only making a pitstop if it's too crazy out there. I gotta get home ASAP."
Tyrone-
"Wait wait wait, what if we get hit by the damn train?!"
Anna -
"Dude, you really think Metro's gonna be running right now? They lose their shit if three snowflakes fall."
Anna started walking towards a set of stairs leading down.
Anna -
"Well, make your decisions guys, that's where I'm going. I wouldn't go back towards downtown if I was you."
>>MICAH Anna had ignored his attempt to engage in small talk, more absorbed in getting to the bus tunnel to answer. It was strange to be back in this place, two hours ago the amount of people had been suffocating, and now it was eerily empty in comparison. It still felt as alien as before. The yellow lights of the tunnels unnerving. The humming made it seem as if the place was somehow alive, not requiring the power of the rest of the city to survive. Micah hit his torch into a nearby bin, the flames catching the rubbish alight in a fury of consumption. Micah- "Shit!" He hadn't thought it through and hoped the ceramic tiles would stop any further flames. Micah waited for the others to decide the course of action, he moved next to Nat and his Blonde friend.
Jackson-
"Anna, I'm with you, as far as your apartment building. If it's as close as you say, that's the least possible running around on the streets, and an apartment is as safe a place as any to hide right now."
Eric and James squabbled loudly, and James turned to Anna.
James-
"We love to go to your building too, thank you ma'am!"
Tyrone-
"How far was it?"
Anna-
"Kitty-corner to the bus tunnel, right across the friggin' street."
Tyrone-
"That's pretty close."
Davin-
"Yeah... Mine's a bit farther out, but I can make it. Hey Ben, you want to go home too, right? We'd be on the same team again, like in second quarter 2011, or whenever that was."
Weird man-
"What are this?" He jangled his car keys in confusion.
Sarah-
"If we're going to be stuck in the city, we should get indoors. Mister..?"
Davin-
"Davin."
Sarah-
"You should at least stop in at Anna's building to prepare for the trip farther away, just in case it's worse on the streets than you expect."
Davin-
"I figured."
>>PATTI Patti- "My place is a full block away from the Convention station; we probably shouldn't risk that trip unless things look clear, otherwise we should wait until morning... if things don't get worse by then."
Tyrone-to Patti.
"Damn I hope it's clera. We could use that heat."
Russian Kid-to DocVic.
"Don't look at that trash can, man."
Sarah-to Nat and Micah.
"I don't wanna jinx us, but I feel like we're headed the right way."
>>PATTI Patti- To Sarah, only half serious - "Girl, I will slap you." >>MICAH Micah- Micah smirked at the black woman's response to Sarah's comment. "Well... anywhere is bloody better than dead, jinxes are for the ankle-biters. Let's just be fucking prepared for whatever is out there..."
Tyrone-to Patti.
"Hang on, ma'am, when did you get two guns? You mind if I...?"
>>DOCTOR VICTOR Dr. Victor remained stoic and silent. For a long while, whenever he was forced to use transit, it was such a madness of virus-ridden filth, mixed with ammonia and alcohol... but that was years ago in a distant land called New York. I wonder how long it took New York to crumble? Probably not long at all, all things considered... one foot in the proverbial grave I suppose.The whooshing sound of fire broke his train of thought. The good doctor's pace quickened away from the sound as he closed on Patti's location. The last minute addition to his sudden anxiety from the accented man caused the fury of Dr. Victor to be unleashed. Dr. Victor- "I KNOW, you sad dolt. There is nothing left but morons down here so we should be fine at that. It was obviously an accident, sir, so I suggest leaving my immediate presence before I finish my thought process and become even less rational, hmm?" >>ALEX Alex quietly reassured the scruffy old man that they were in a bus tunnel, though he couldn't quite believe it himself. He moved closer to Nat, Nat's pretty friend, and Micah. "It looks like most've them are going to Anna's apartment first. You guys are coming, too, right?" He looked suddenly at Micah. "Do you live in Australia? That’s REALLY far away." After the words left his mouth, Alex realized how stupid they sounded. "Uh, do any of you guys have families?" Oh, wonderful. That was also stupid. They weren't born from sea froth or something. "I just ask, because if you don’t have any living in Seattle - if you’re alone like me - it'd be smart to stay with the group." >>DOCTOR VICTOR Dr. Victor turned to Patti and added quickly in a cooler vocal tone: Dr. Victor- "I'm going to go with a new ideal right now called "Gun Control." I'm sure you've heard of it. Those that have the gun have control. So, this would be the 'no-tag-back' moment I've been waiting to dump on you like an MI at shift change." >>MICAH Micah ignored the doctor, after all what was he going to do? Micah still held his torch, and if that failed the blowtorch in his pocket would do the trick. Still it wasn't smart to antagonise a doctor and he moved around the outside of Nat, Sarah and Alex, and out of the doctors line of vision. Sad dolt? Really? That was the doctor's best slander, the guy had come up with worse insults in a better mood. He was distracted by Alex's questions, which hit a nerve. Micah- "Yes, Australia is very far. What do they teach you in America?... Actually, I sprouted from a Eucalyptus tree, we all do in Australia. Sorry Alex, touchy subject but yes I think we should." >>ALEX Alex grinned at Micah's response. It was his classic dimply smile, which always seemed to put people in a better mood. "What's a Eucalyptus tree? Hey, hey, I'm kidding. It's that stuff kangaroos eat. We all learned that in kindergarten." Alex is fortunately only joking, but it's impossible to tell by his tone. "Hey, look, I haven't thanked you properly yet. I'm sorry if I was a jerk. I owe you, Micah. Even if you did just slap me for the fun of it."
(Alex will try to put a hand on Micah's shoulder in a brotherly way, but he'll back off if Micah recoils or seems unhappy.)>>NAT Nat had withdrawn back to Sarah's side when he realized his own words hadn't had any effect on the panicked doctor. At least the black woman, Patti, seemed to calm him down. Nat was glad for that - they needed the doctor, even if he was crazy and kind of a jerk. They couldn't lose anyone else. The blonde youth was glad when they came out into a lighted area. He didn't stop to consider why the lights worked here and not in the mall, he was merely grateful that they did, otherwise it would be black as pitch down here. He stuck to Sarah's side like glue anyway, of course, lights or no lights. Nat listened as the others squabbled over where to go from here. He... did want to go back home, to check on his roommates, make sure they were allright. But he didn't want to go alone, and he doubted any of these others would want to prioritize his place first. It wasn't like there was anything useful there, just people... people and books and things that... didn't really matter anymore, if the world stayed crazy. His shoulders slouched as he thought about it, about how he might never see his friends again. Or worse, if he saw them again as these monsters. Nat looked up when Micah came over, and offered the Australian a shakey smile that hardly touched his eyes. Nat- "I-I'll go wherever you all are going, I guess..." >>MICAH Micah- " No problem, anytime you need to be slapped around, just let me know." Micah grinned at him. It was a shame the guy was so straight laced, he was beginning to grow on him. >>ALEX Alex winked at Micah and snapped his fingers in one fluid move, and then he glanced again at Nat and his friend. The poor blonde guy had a stutter, it seemed. The more he got to know Nat, the more Alex realized that he just LOOKED like Emiliano. Emil was confident and fearless, despite his pacifism ( Alex isn't thinking deeply enough to realize that pacifism often requires bravery). Maybe Nat just needed a little encouraging. He seemed like a gentle and cool guy. He worked at a coffee place, right? Starbucks? Alex loved Starbucks's salty caramel hot chocolate, with lots of whipped cream. At least that recipe wouldn't be lost with civilization. Nat- "Nat, what weapon did you grab?" Alex showed Nat his metal pipe, as an example. He could see that Nat's friend carried a screwdriver. Curious, Alex glanced between the two blondes. Were they just friends? Coworkers? An item? >>BEN Ben- "Home?" Ben said to Davin. "I don't know. I guess I could? But I still don't have anything there, so I'd rather find some canned food and survival gear. And maybe a book on how to survive in the wild. Because if we survive this night, that's where we're going to have to go, I think." Ben was quite open-minded about his destination, but clearly Davin had his mind set on getting home. And Ben didn't really like the blatant attempt at manipulating his feelings with 'old camaraderie'. But the man probably had family, so it was understandable that he'd do or say anything to see if they were all right. And if it didn't look too dangerous, Ben figured he shouldn't leave the guy hanging. Ben- "Just the two of us, without guns, though? That might be too dangerous. We'll see, OK?" >>NAT Nat blinked at Alex, uncomprehending. Weapon? He realized rather suddenly, upon looking around, that most if not all of his companions had taken up makeshift weapons of one sort or another. Nat looked at Alex's pipe and then down at his own empty hands. Nat- "I, um, I forgot... to grab one...?" Had they just been handing out weapons? If he had a weapon, he'd have to fight. "I-I have my satchel? It's kind of, um, kind of heavy..." Maybe it would work as a bludgeon? More likely he'd just annoy whatever he swung it at. >>MICAH Micah glanced at the pretty blonde, who was apparently weaponless. Micah- "Here take this, just in case Nat." He handed him the torch, careful not to catch the poor guy alight. >>PATTI Patti- To Tyrone - "Oh, did we forget to mention? We were shot at by a zombie. I took its gun, but there was only some mixed magazines left. Let's see what we've got." Fortunately, both guns were SPD issue, so they used the same magazines and ammunition. With a bit of fumbling about, she was able to give Tyrone the second pistol and one 16-round magazine. That left her with a full 17-rounder and one in the pipe. As they were reloading - "I recommend getting fairly close before you take your shot, but not so close that they overtake you if you have a misfire or a jam." Realizing she hadn't introduced herself, she exchanged names with Tyrone and then turned to the group. "I definitely don't agree with the doctor's 'gun control' idea, but we do need to make a decision and quick, before anything is attracted down here by the trash fire and the squabbling." She paused and coughed once to make sure she had everyone's attention. "So, my suggestion is that we start moving towards the Convention station and try to shack up at Anna's tonight. In the morning, God willing and the shit doesn't get worse, we can move to my place to pick up the firearms, then we can move to Davin's place to get whatever he needs there. Davin, I think it's a really bad idea for any group of any size to try and make that trip tonight. Whoever you've got there is either gone or will have to wait until morning." Patti randomly wondered if the land lines were working... she glanced around for a pay phone. She couldn't remember the last time she actually saw one. Atlanta? Kansas City? "I guess that means taking a vote. First, we can vote on the plan I just presented. All in favor of hiding out at Anna's for the night, raise your hand." >>BEN Ben raised his hand. He was quite content to see someone take charge of the situation, and the plan seemed solid. Or at least as solid as they could hope for. Maybe they were wrong though, and the zombies would be more active during the day, much like the humans they used to be? And who knew how the ghosts would react to daylight? Still something to hope for though. >>ALEX Alex first thought Nat was joking. His weapon was a school bag? Did it have a brick inside? Funny guy! Then, as Micah passed the torch, it dawned on Alex that Nat had been serious. Before he could comment, Ms. Patti made her announcement. Immediately, Alex raised his hand. "Yes! I vote yes! If Anna has a boyfriend, may I borrow one of his shirts when we get there?" He could feel goosebumps rising along his arms, and they weren't the scared kind of goosebumps. >>DOCTOR VICTOR Dr. Victor glanced around the room, eyes resting on Micah, should he be able to keep his gaze sufficiently averted. He kept his hands securely tucked into his pockets. No reason to seem eager. Turning like a metronome, the doctor avoided any significant flame while keeping his eyes on the crowd to find any stragglers and possibly give them some encouragement. It was then when he found the older man. I swear my work is never done.Dr. Victor- "Hi, sir. Do you know where we are right now? Do you know what year it is?" Taking time into account, the doctor kept his diagnosis time relatively short; especially if alzheimer's is the culprit, classic 'sundowning' would be in full swing. He seemed calm enough, but it'd be best to really take a better emotional inventoryDr. Victor- "Do you know what's wrong with you?" The doctor allowed his tone to increase to a mild yell; he checked the patient's response to increased verbal stimulus.
Tyrone-
"Zombies know how to shoot? Hell, guess it ain't rocket surgery. Thank you Patti. Mm, I'm Tyrone. Was mall security, now I'm just a guy that know how to cler a gun jam." He smiled gently.
In response to Patti's vote, several people raised their hands, but most just followed as people began walking to the stairs down, because the longer they stayed in one spot the more it felt like monsters they left behind mught catch up. It was hard to know what the safest thing to do was in this crazy moment.
Anna-
Anna chuckled at Alex. "No boyfriend, but if we stay at my place for a while, I bet we can loot some apartments. Some people won't make it home tonight..."
Russian Mafia guy looked annoyed with the doctor, but was quick to dismiss it, nursing his wounds. They were wrapped in his track suit jacket tightly. Eric put a supportive hand on the man's shoulder.
Weird-
Scruffy old guy appreciated Alex's gestures, but was shortly disturbed by Doc Vic.
"I... there's something wrong with me? Ugh. I don't know." The guy's response to Doc's proddings seemed healthy enough, save for his poor memory.
Sarah-
"Ugh, I'm just glad to be out of the mall now." She rubbed Nat's back reassuringly as they began walking toward the stairs to the platform.
Davin-
"I'm kiddin' Ben. If you can't hack it, don't go. But I'm betting Allentown is a lot less fucked up than downtown proper at the moment, and our building doesn't have a lot of ways in and out. That's where I'm headed after this. For now..." He kept following Anna. Everyone began descending the stairs.
Ben noticed Kaito, the manager from Daiso, was kinda up in Sonya's personal space. Were they an item? They weren't really doing PDA, per se...
Sandy-
"Ben, thanks for your help before. If we stick together, wherever we go, I'm sure we'll be safer." Her footsteps behind him were light plastic slaps on the smooth concrete steps. She was the last person onto the steps.
The group descended a staircase, Anna and Tyrone taking up the lead. Anna walked fearlessly down the stairs, as if she either couldn't imagine a horror waiting for them or didn't care if there was one. Some people began to feel like they were on an office outing or a very bad field trip.
The platform of the station was similarly lit, a bit dim but with large comforting flood lights and little to no shadows for something spooky to lurk in. It was cold and quiet, save for some strange whining and electrical noises that echoed from unknown places within the tunnel. Large cheery murals of stylized shoppers and Asiana lined the tunnel with it tile floors and walls. They walked down one platform, apparently going 'north' and they could see across a concrete road there was an identical platform on the other side.
Anna-
"So we just run north here, it'll curve and then we'll get out at the convention station."
She gestured to where the tunnel disappeared around a bend up ahead.
Tyrone- "Man that looks mad danger'us." Anna- "Again, it's not like there's going to be--."
*BING* The train will be arriving shortly. For your own safety, please stand behind the painted yellow strip on the platform.*
The robot woman's voice intoned over the loud speakers.
Anna was silenced by total confusion. Before she could gather her wits, they heard a rushing sound from the other end of the tunnel. Lights, and a large, very long train rolled down the platform.
It stopped, and its many doors opened smoothly at the same time. Inside there was a gentle chime and they heard the same robo voice say:
Westlake Station -- this is the last stop in downtown Seattle. Please disembark, door's on my right.
Micah had powerful deja vu.
Inside the train, the light flickered a bit, and through one of the doors, a black man in a bright flourescent green reflective vest and a black beanie stepped out. He waved.
Train driver -
"Get the fuck on if you're getting on! I'm going to Convention."
Those standing close to him noticed that he had some runners of blood on the plastic of his vest, and he looked a bit sweaty and panicked.
>>NAT "Th-thanks, um, Micah." Nat accepted the torch carefully, watching the fire like one might watch a snake - a dangerous and unpredictable animal. But at least he didn't suffer Dr. V's fire-related panic attacks. Among the others, Nat was startled when the train appeared. He half expected to see bloody hands and mutilated faces pressing up to the windows as it passed - he was, of course, glad that he did not, but still the train was... ominous. "I, uh, y-you're going?" He looked at Sarah, then at Micah and Alex. He really wasn't sure he wanted to get on the train, but if they were going, he'd follow them. >>ALEX Alex nervously touched his crucifix and glanced at the train driver. He didn't like public transportation on a good day. And now it was worse. What if the train filled with ghosts? They'd be trapped. At least Alex stood a chance in the sprawling tunnels, where he could run away. "Not safe," he said to no one in particular. But it was fast. And could he really argue that anywhere, right now, was safe? Alex realized that he'd have to make a quick decision. The trains didn't linger at any stop. He supposed that he'd go wherever Ms. Patti went. She had a good head on her shoulders, and he liked her. Then again, Alex did owe Micah his life. He could not, on good conscience, let the young man face the undead without backup. Why weren't things easier? Why couldn't God just send him a sign? |
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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on May 7, 2016 8:21:02 GMT -8
>>DOCTOR VICTOR Dr. Victor took the old man by the wrist, shaking his head. He glanced at Alex and pursed his lips a little.
Dr. Victor-
"Okay, sir, I'm going to help you get on the train. Why don't you put your keys in your pocket and we can have a nice little train ride to get you back, okay? I'm going to stay with you until our stop."
The good doctor took the elderly crazy-haired man, moving towards the far end of the train as possible, attempting to change cars if possible. He plans on staying close to the man until the apparent departure.>>MICAH Micah wasn't sure, in fact he wasn't even sure this was real anymore. Maybe if he got on this crazy train, he'd wake up at the depot and it would all be a crazy nightmare. It was a pretty fucking lucid dream though. The train was at least brightly lit, and he didn't want to go down those tunnels and risk another train coming upon them a la Gantz. He looked back at the three next to him.
Micah-
"Are you coming? I think it's the safest bet and it's quick."
He hopped onto the train, following the doctor into his carriage. Micah sat down, pinched himself as hard as possible and sighed.>>PATTI Patti only hesitated a moment. She entered the train, approaching the Metro guy.
Patti-
"Where'd all the people get to?"
>>ALEX So it was settled. Both Patti and Micah chose the train. Alex stiffly followed Micah aboard and took a seat near the back. He leaned closer to the doctor, who'd apparently taken an interest in the confused elder.
Alex-
"He’s looking for his car, Doctor." Alex clasped and unclasped his hands. Then, he awkwardly blurted, "Are you afraid of the sun, too?"
Inside the train was brightly lit, but the lights flickered on occasion with a sound of buzzy electric crackling. The train was brand new seeming for the most part, save for some dirty boot tracks. The group was large, but small enough that they were able to fit in the same car if they wanted.
Dr. Vic moved towards the back of the train, and noticed he had a small herd following him. So much for alone time!
Sarah-
"Don't worry Nat, we'll just use this as a shortcut to get to the next station, it's not very far!"
She nodded comfortingly to Nat, and boarded the train.
Patti approached the Metro worker who upon seeing people entering, dashed back inside the train, and almost took off before she spoke to him.
Train driver-
"We were supposed to wait at international. I was in the front, they say there's a disaster. We let everyone off and I'm standing around for like an hour, waiting for someone to tell us what to do... and I see them. Those things... I just go... I'm getting out of here, my car's at the next stop."
He spoke coherently, but he was obviously shaken and the blood on him was not his own. Of course, who didn't have blood on them these days?
>>MICAH
Micah still hoped it was a dream, the deja vu had creeped him out. He remembered coming out of the train a little further and wandered down to an empty carriage. It was hard to tell but he kept going a little further... just in case.
>>BEN Ben could think of at least one bad thing that could happen if they got onto the train: It could crash. But he could also think of plenty of bad things that could happen to people in a train tunnel. So he did like the others, and got onto the train.
Ben-
"Looks like we've lucked out Sandy, strange that the train is so empty though. Maybe other survivors thought it would be crowded and dangerous?"
Sandy-
"I guess so... I have no idea what to think anymore."
Sonya-
"It's OK, Sandy. We just be careful."
Kaito just looked at Ben weird. Or normal. It was hard to tell.
>>DOCTOR VICTOR The good doctor gave his best glare he could muster at each straggler as he let the elderly man sit down. At least Micah could take a hint. He's probably too soft for this anyways. The doctor opened up his dufflebag and began to aimlessly shuffle through the contents, flashlight resting at his side.
Dr. Victor-
"Do you remember your name, sir? You know we need to stay on this train for a while."
Dr. Victor let his eyes shoot over to Patti; they were slightly reddened still and had the look of overactive tear ducts. His hands ceased their shuffling and his shoulders went limp.
Dr. Victor-
"Patti. Do you have any idea why I brought this man back here with me to sit? Do you feel he will have a better chance alone on this train once we depart than trying to keep up with the rest of us? I know I'm not exactly sounding particularly in control of my mental faculties; however, I have an obligation to let you know what I plan on doing. And I know you're going to negate what action plan on choosing... and maybe its the right thing you're thinking at the time to try and keep this poor man as safe as possible..."
The doctor let out a sigh that could power the Santa Maria back to Spain.
Dr. Victor-
"I think this man would be better served for us and the rest of the remaining mall people, either left on this train or left in Ana's apartment. He can only become part of the problem- if you know what I'm aiming at. And, I do not want to have a crisis of someone with capable skills succumbing into the not-so-here-after because they feel an unhealthy obligation to him."
The doctor let his eyes drift back towards his pack, ignorant of his own choosing of the reactions of those who overheard him. He continued.
Dr. Victor-
"If not left on this train, we should make sure he has what he can to support himself. We'll leave a cell phone and maybe a nice movie on for him to watch. Some extra food stuff and... well, apartments usually only have one means of entrance and egress so, we'll leave a message outside the door."
He raised his head high.
Dr. Victor-
"It would be best for everyone. You don't know if him coming with us or staying here will make any difference in whether he survives. All I know is that he is most certainly not capable to assist us in any way. Every hindrance is detrimental. Each person is a problem. I'd rather be taken out if I was in his position, but this way he has a better chance-and more importantly, we have a chance.
"And that's my decision... well, it is not my line in the sand, and as former de facto leader, I wanted you to hear it."
The doctor leaned back in the seat, finally looking forward to sitting with a clearer conscious. I'd hate to think how I'd feel if I didn't tell anyone and let the man sit on the train.
Micah wandered a moment, was this the car he'd been in before? He got in just as the doors closed with a soft 'BING'. Everyone else was safely inside various cars, most in the first car where the driver was.
Said driver stepped behind some glass to the small cab to operate the train.
The train was designed to go in either direction, with a cab on either side, and seats facing both ways. It was slow to motivate but began rolling forward, and in certain seats it almost felt as though the train was slowly sliding backwards. They entered the darkened tunnel.
Micah was alone in his car, and took a seat near the door. There was a strange scent in the air, but he had enough blood on him to figure that he was just smelling himself. He looked around at the annoying advertisements that seemed completely foreign to him-- advertising businesses in locations he'd never heard of. He glanced down to his feet and saw dark streams between the grooves of the textured floor. Were those there before? As the train climbed a very slight incline and began to turn a corner, he noticed the streams grow thicker, and that they were running from further up the car. Movement caught his eye, and he nearly jumped out of his seat. A stack of bodies were mashed near the back end of the car, perhaps by just the motion of the train, and they'd begun to slide his direction. A severed arm in particular was making good headway, it had a silver ring and chipped pink nail polish.
>>ALEX Alex's mouth hung slightly open. He couldn't believe what he just heard the doctor say. He rose and stood directly in front of the doctor's seat, one arm on the bar overhead for balance.
Alex-
"What did you just ... what about the Hippocratic oath? What ... how could you even ...NO. We aren't leaving anybody behind. We AREN’T leaving ANYBODY behind. We aren't going to become MONSTERS just because we’re scared!”
Alex realized that he'd been shouting and inhaled to calm down. He volunteered in a nursing home during high school, and the way some of the residents had been abandoned by their families disgusted him. They were people, for Christ's sake. All life was sacred. >>PATTI
Patti-
To Doc Vic - "I'd rather kill him myself than leave him to his own devices. And I don't plan on killing him myself. If someone is willing to die to try to help him, then they should get the opportunity. If his actions ever threaten the whole group, he'll be left behind. But not until then. But I'm not the boss and I don't make decisions for anyone else."
>>DOCTOR VICTOR
Dr. Victor-
"Alex, dear, sit down. You have to give me some credit, at least, child, because I do feel bad. Thoughts often sound even colder than I could possibly make them once I hear them out loud."
The doctor kept the heat from his voice to a minimum. He gave a solemn nod towards Patti.
Dr. Victor-
"Patti, if you go down, we all might as well kick the bucket with you. Just remember that 'gun control' policy. I've seen your shooting. You're the best thing we've got that we can communicate with. Don't forget that you are the whole of the group now. Whether you want it or not, you don't have to make decisions for anyone else, but you are as responsible to the group as I am... or as Alex feels he is."
The doctor zipped the dufflebag closed and put the flashlight back on his lap. Crossing his leg, with his foot on his knee, he turned to look at Alex.
Dr. Victor-
"We'd be better served with less hyper-emotional states... my outburst not excluded. You want a reason to rage, Alex, take it out on the dead. No need to let a theoretical discussion get your dander up... and as I said once before, the Hippocratic Oath is null and void if there is a conditional clause on life and death - I shouldn't feel pressured to save someone's life if the penalty is their death and subsequent rising to kill me. And I've made worse decisions than locking a man up for protection. Pagan's have a better thought process on life than people do on medicine. 'First, harm none.' Have you seen the side effects of most 'life-saving' treatments? Electroshock therapy is still used, kid. The Hippocratic Oath, especially now, has gone the way of the typewriter, diskman, and decent platform games."
>>MICAH Micah let out a shrieking scream.
Micah-
"FUCK! Fucking shitting fuck on a fuckstick!"
A river of blood flowed past his shoes, and he felt his feet become wet and soggy. The pink chip-polished hand had made it's way towards his feet. The rigour mortis had left the hand curled and it grabbed a hold of Micah's shoe, as if for support.
Micah jumped up shrieking, trying to ignore the coming onslaught of bodies. One corpse with it's eyeball bulging out of it's socket, looked as it was looking straight at him, getting ready to envelope him in it's deathly stare. There were corpses of all descriptions, a large overweight woman in a muumuu was wedged in the middle of the pile, one side of the body had been ripped open like a balloon or pinata. One body, Micah sincerely hoped was a doll, twisted below her.
He ran for the next carriage, thumping on the window as hard as he could and screaming, in the hopes that someone would open the door.
>>PATTI
Patti sighed. She put one hand on the doctor's shoulder and leaned in close. She spoke quietly then started back towards the front of the car when she was spun about by a blood-curdling scream from the back of the train.
She ran towards the back of the car and tried to open the door. Patti saw that behind the locked door was a cab like the one the driver had gone into, one on either side of the car. It didn't seem to be connected on the inside to the other cars.The flickering lights on the train suddenly went out as they entered the darkened tunnel. A man's voice spoke over the intercom-
"Sorry, it's been threatening to do that. We're going to pull into the service station and you can climb the stairs to the surface. Just hold tight."
(Pretend that has a bunch of gooshy bodies rolling around in it!)
As Micah's car entered the tunnel, everything went dark, the lights suddenly dropping out, but he could still hear the movement. He ran to the end of the car, where there seemed to be a door. He realized as he banged on the black glass and pressed his face against it, that inside was a cab with no one in it. The train was made of several joined cars that did not connect on the inside, and he was alone in his. Well, alone in the sense of being the only living thing. Something bumped the back of his heel and he felt wetness wicking up his sock. Dim light streamed by as they rounded the corner, and in the darkness of the tunnel he could only make out the glittering black wetness of the floor and lumpy terrible shapes. Now he noticed the smell, like a butcher shop, like the dirtiest butcher shop in the world.
Anyone who normally took the bus noticed the train went the opposite way at the fork than buses normally did, and they went downhill into an even darker tunnel, the lights spaced further apart.
The train slowed smoothly in the darkness, everyone's faces lit only by garishly orange incandescent safety lights. The interior of the tunnel was complex wire and industrial texture. It came to a stop, and the LED signs blinked out some gibberish and became dark.
The doors opened abruptly, with no friendly robo-woman to announce it. Next to them was a thin concrete walkway.
Micah was relieved when the train started going downhill, pushing the bodies back the other direction with a sickening wet smack when they hit the back wall again. The train slowed to a stop, and after a small eternity, the doors opened, flooding his path of egress with orange light that glittered on the dark fluids and mangled bodies.
>>ALEX Alex had not been expecting a calm response from the doctor; it completely took the wind from his sails. He glared at Dr. Victor with a rather petulant expression. Child? He wasn’t a child. Hyper-emotional? Really? He just had a conscience.
Alex never realized how frightening people could be. What if William Golding's Lord of the Flies was right? Would his new team degenerate into a bunch of animals? He bowed his head and rubbed his face with a free hand. Patti whispered something to Dr. Victor, but Alex couldn't hear.
Alex-
"I don’t want a reason to rage, I just want to freaking go home. I want my mom and my pagan Emiliano. And I don't know what the hell a diskman is."
When the lights flicked out, Alex tensed. Then, the train slowed and stopped. He'd somehow survived public transit.>>MICAH Micah scrambled out of the carriage, slipping and stumbling over the bloody floor in his desperation to get out. Micah started making weird gasping noises and tripped over himself in his distress. He didn't bother picking himself off the floor, staying crouched over on the floor of the tunnel. Blood dripped from his clothes and hair, creating a small puddle on the floor around him.
Micah-
"Fucking..American..cunting...transport,...I...just...want..to get...fucking....home."
He swore between gasps and then with a heave, he began retching fluid, his stomach empty from his last upheaval. His whole body shook, and he doubted he could ever gather the courage to board another train again. >>DOCTOR VICTOR The good doctor had the sense to turn on the flashlight after a few moments. He reached over and patted Patti's hand, giving a small nod. His attention turned back towards the outside and bounced between the elder and the young man.
Dr. Victor-
"Well, let's get up and out shall we, friend? Alex, could you be a pal and carry this dufflebag for me? I'd trust you're more capable of feats of fitness than I could be. Come along, friend. We have a little bit of a walk before we can get some sleep tonight."
The good doctor extended his hand to the elderly man and offered a dampened smile. He helped him get off the rail onto the thin ramp and had a thought.
Dr. Victor-
"Do you have change for a five, friend?" The doctor dug into his wallet and pulled out a slightly wrinkled five dollar bill.
If I can get a look at his wallet, I can at least call him something besides 'friend.' I don't think it'd be best to name anyone else for the time being... especially considering the ever-aptly named Mary.
Dr. Victor-
"Well, come on, all. It's not as if we could wait here for the next train run..."
At the door to the last car, Patti and Alex got their bearings and joined the crowd, while Doc Vic had his conversation. The old man did bring out his wallet briefly, and the doctor had to trick him into dropping it to get a good look. It went off without incident. The man's name was Luke Cornell. His last ID was not horribly out of date and was from the state of Colorado.
Luke-
"Be more careful, youngster. It's too damn dark in here."
The largest group of survivors disembarked from the middle car, having been privy to none of the things going on ahead of or behind them, but for muffled screams and yells. Even the most competent of them seemed disoriented, this being a place transit riders normally never see.
Anna-
"Holy shit it's dark." She waved her torch slowly and began walking toward the stairs.
Basil- (to Nat)
"What the devil was going on in your car? I heard the young shirtless fellow bellowing."
James-
"You know where we going Miss Anna?"
Anna-
"I'll know when we get out of the tunnel."
Everybody followed Anna with minimal chit chat, except as noted.
At Micah's end, Jackson helped him up from the spew, glancing at the carnage in the car.
Jackson-
"Damn, dude. It's like uncle stories about fucking Vietnam now. That happened quick. I'm sorry."
The train conductor got out from his cab and hopped outside. The doors remained opened, and he didn't seem like we was going to come back to close them.
Train driver -
"Just follow me, it's straight up the stairs to the street though... Dunno what's gonna be out there, and I don't particularly want to go first either."
He walked down the thin concrete strip, deeper into the tunnel and towards a stairwell door. He carried a large, broad bladed snow shovel emblazoned with the Metro logo, and caked with congealing blood.>>MICAH Micah had gone into shock, the tunnel around him seemed to bend and contort. He grabbed onto the older man without so much as a word, and held as tightly as he could. His body still trembled, and he struggled to take a step, without Jackson there to hold him up.
Micah-
"Hmm you smell nice..." he mumbled.
He let Jackson lead him out, oblivious to anything around him.
Jackson supported Micah, they were about the same height but Jackson was built a lot more sturdy, thankfully.
Jackson-
"Oh man, are you okay? Hey, just take it easy, I'll help you out."
Jackson had a very calming voice, and did smell nice-- a bit sweaty but with a pleasant pine/cinnamon sort of aftershave. Micah got to examine his forearm tattoos in detail (along with nice forearm muscles...) as he helped him along the narrow strip, Micah's feet still slogging and slurping, soaked with blood.>>NAT Aside from the screams, shouting, and the lights flickering out, the train ride was fairly uneventful. Nat, of course, started at all three of these occurences, sitting uncomfortably at the edge of his seat.
Nat had not actually been paying attention to the argument between Dr. V and Patti, not until Alex's outburst, at least. He had only just begun to puzzle through the argument when the screaming began - coming from a different car, further along the train - and then, soon after that, the lights flicked out, leaving him in near total darkness.
Nat expected the worst then, he expected the ghostly apparitions to reappear, clutch at him with their boney fingers, and rip his soul free from his body. He expected the possessed woman, Mary, to suddenly lunge up out of the dark, like one of those stupid knee-jerk scare websites. Neither of those things happened, however, and he was left to fret in the dark, clutching at Sarah's hand as she sat beside him.
When the doors opened Nat joined the others in a hurry to get off the train. He stumbled and nearly tripped on the concrete, just barely catching himself before he fell forward face-first. He had just regained his footing when Basil approached him.
Nat-
"I-I don't... They were... They were arguing about leaving someone behind."
It worried him, once he said it - what if they wanted to leave him behind? He wasn't, exactly, the most useful member of their little entourage. He wondered, briefly, if they would have even come back for him, when he, and Sarah, and the others, had been waiting in the mall... But he couldn't think about that now, he shook it off.
Nat-
"I-I don't think they will, 'though. L-Leave anyone behind, I mean."
Again, Nat would follow the others, his unlit torch held awkwardly at his side (he had put it out before getting on the train, and it wasn't like he had a lighter or anything to rekindle it.)
>>PATTI
As soon as the train doors opened, Patti and Jackson leapt out and moved as quickly as they could in the darkness, to where they found Micah bent over and retching. Wondering what caused the reaction, even though she knew better, she looked into the car.
Bile rose in the back of her mouth and she almost lost it. Can't lose it. As stupid as this all is, people are looking to me as a leader. God! Why can't people take care of their own damned selves? She placed her hand on the side of the car momentarily to get her balance, then followed Micah and Jackson towards the rest of the group and the stairwell.>>ALEX
Alex juggled the doctor's bag, his torch, and his weapon until he found balance. Then, he squinted through the darkness at Dr. Victor, half-expecting the guy to push Grandfather Scruffy into an open manhole somewhere.
What would they encounter above ground? Alex tried to think positively, but his now-exhausted mind hinted that Mary would be waiting for them. He fell into step behind Anna. Alex hoped the water at her place still worked, and maybe she had a fridge full of leftovers. Yeah. Good food: hamburgers, fries, fruit salad, and carrots. He loved raw carrots. Given the chance, he'd eat carrots until they turned him orange. Thinking about food took Alex's mind off of more disturbing matters, so he threw himself into a lush banquet fantasy. But what would Alex do if Anna was a vegetarian? He paled at the thought. They'd have to raid other apartments for meat.
Suddenly, Sensei Ben caught Alex's attention. Boy, he sure was a lady-killer. Those Asian girls had been practically hanging off his arms all night. Had Emiliano been right when he claimed that nerds were the new Lotharios?>>BEN
Ben didn't feel like a lady-killer at all, and just thought himself lucky to be able to remain close to the two Daiso girls. He didn't feel like looking that gift horse in the mouth, but his tiny, inner psychopath whispered that they might, more or less subconsciously, accept him because he could provide some protection from danger. Which he of course intended to do, if it ever came to that.
But he wondered how he could possibly get to know them better. Talking about things other than the ongoing apocalypse seemed too frivolous, and they didn't seem to have much to say on that subject. He would have to ask them about their plans later. Maybe they had families that they'd want to get in touch with? Right now their destination was already decided, and who knew if they'd even be able to get there? Even the simple train ride hadn't gone according to plan.
Sarah-
"Basil, I wouldn't worry about it. We aren't exactly The Partridge Family, but we haven't started shanking each other yet.... Nat, if you can hold up just a little longer... Maybe when we get some place safe and you can calm down, you can deal with this better... Come on."
Jackson-
(supporting Micah, talking to Patti) "I think he'll be fine. As fine as any of us can be."
Everyone moved with purpose, but still slow in the dim space.
The group walked down the thin edge of the tunnel, narrower than a sidewalk. Some people held to the backs of their friends' shirts, afraid of tripping, not that there was anywhere far to go with the train next to them. The tunnel was full of eerie whistling noises echoing and bouncing around the strangely textured walls. The industrial lights buzzed loudly and it smelled strongly of oil and the tang of metal.
The train driver went up the stairwell first, carrying the gory shovel like he was straight out of that American Gothic painting. Anna was close to the front as well, Tyrone feeling embarrassed about hesitating given that he had a gun, tried to push ahead as well.
Jackson made up the rear carrying the distraught Micah. Those entering the stairwell were surprised to see it went directly up, no twisting around corners and multiple flights. They really began to see how for down they were as they walked the endless stairs. They could see a dim orange glow coming from a door at the very top, there seemed to still be power in this area. They trudged up the stairs slower for having so many people.
At the top, the train conductor paused.
Train driver-
"I'll go out there first, but you're never gonna see me again. Sorry. I'm going to my car, and getting the fuck out of here. Good luck."
With that, he opened the stairwell door, and stepped out into cold night air and glow of orange street lights.(After you climb the stairs and leave, please move to the new thread THE STREET - 911 PINE STREET) |
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