You hit the wall next to the door.
That smarts.
You have slid the doormat to the side accidently, and a glint of light catches your eye; you see a door key sitting on the ground reflecting the sunlight, partially under the mat still.
§
Come on, we both know you really would have looked under the mat before you tried to kick the door in! =P
The door unlocks easily, and you walk inside.
"Stay where you are," a feminine voice growls menacingly from the darkness in the room; there are very thick curtains, blocking out the light. You see a small bead of red light on your pelvis; it seems to be generated by some sort of sight from across the room.
A slender woman walks up to you cautiously; you'd judge her to be approximately your age or perhaps a year or two off, with skin a light toffee color. Her shoulder-length hair looks a wreck; as a matter of fact, she looks a wreck all the way around.
She stops about four feet away from you, and asks, "Are you one of them?"
Magnus
Member
I sit in the seat facing her and say
"I'm sorry for breaking into your house. Your neighbor, Stojan, said that he hasn't seen anyone alive. So I assumed that the people around here would be dead or turned.
I wanted to organize the people to fight those things.
The first step of my plan was to get a vehicle to find and gather the people together."
She tells you, "My name is Ashley. My father worked at a genetic research lab, and there was an accident there; they were working on a cure for death using a microscopic self-replicating genetically created lifeform, and it got loose; since then, it's been replicating and has spread into an epidemic.
"He's dead now.
"I've got a car. I haven't used it since... the incident. It should have a full tank of gas."
Magnus
Member
" OK, Ashley. I have a few questions to ask.
What was the company that your father worked for? I hope it's not called Umbrella
What was the organism that your father worked on called?
What do you know about the organism?
Did your father keep any information out side the company?
Where was the research department located?
Will you help me to try to fix this?"
She answers you, "No, it was called Hardcorp. What is Umbrella?
"I don't know what they called it... I just know what he was working on.
"None, that I know of...
"It was in this city, but that place is probably crawling with them!
"I don't know if it can be fixed. I didn't even know there was anyone else still alive.
"Do you want something to eat? I've got some canned food... my dad, he was always really paranoid something like this would happen... always saying, 'Lee, the safety of the world hangs in a precarious balance, it could be nuclear war or terrorists or a giant meteor or an epidemic or aliens attacking or dinosaurs returning'... and a lot of other things too... anyway, he always kept this place stocked."
Uhhh... I see no italics. I guess it's possible my opera based browser does not support them. If you could a. "quote" the things you're saying and not the things you're thinking or b. use bold instead of italics, that will help in the future to avoid that error.
§
"If you want to invite... what's his name? Stoin? If you want to invite him over to eat, that would be fine."
§
Stojan is actually pronounced more similarly to what she said than how it looks to be spelled. I'll bet Nikolaj knows =P maybe.
What kind of car do you want her to have?
§
Stojan and Ashley introduce themselves to one another; they've got a bit of a language barrier, but it is apparent they hadn't met before this moment. The three of you sit down to a hearty meal of cold canned beans eaten with plastic sporks.
Her father's armored van is here in the garage.
It says "HARDCORP" on the side, and has several guns in the back that do not look to be civilian issue, as well as several of what look to be grenades or bombs of some type.
There are also several grenade launchers, and grenades there seem to be ammunition for these.
A computerized system inside the van seems to have been specifically designed to view outside of the van and hear what people are saying outside of it without them hearing the inside.
"My dad was a little crazy," Ashley explains.
Magnus
Member
I ask Ashley "What kind of grenades are these?
How long can the computer operate on battery power?"
How big is the van?
"Your dad may have been a little crazy, but he was crazy in an awesome and useful way.
Do you spend the night in the van? I think it is the safest place around.
I just need to find a way to put a ram on the front to make it perfect..."
She shrugs in response to the question. "I dunno, some kind of chemical; he told me before.
"Um, I dunno; I've never heard of it dying before."
It is a large van, not a minivan.
"I usually spend the days in bed and the nights in the house; you're right, the van would probably be safer."
She still never answered your question about whether or not she's any good with that gun.
Stojan does not turn his head.
"Well, looks like somebody's filled out in all the right places."
She ignores him.
§
It's not a difficult system to operate. You find in personal files information about a symbiotic creature that was intended to prolong life indefinitely and cure disease; unfortunately, the symbiotic creature had too much control. They were working on reducing the amount of control on that.
There are a lot of technical documents on the drive that are very difficult to read.
Stojan says, "Well, I thought everyone was dead."
Ashley asks him, "What?"
He says more loudly and slowly, "I thought everyone was dead."
She says, "Yeah, me too. So, if the three of us are all still alive, there have to be more... right?"
Stojan gets behind the wheel and the three of you drive to a welding shop.
Got welding skill?
Magnus
Member
"Calm down, people.
Can't we be civil in the middle of the Apocalypse?
Let's go to the police department.
It will have fewer ghouls."
When we get to the police department.
"Ok. here's the plan.
You two stay out here to guard the van from ghouls and thieves.
While, I go in to look for what we need.
Now, if there is no objections, I will start searching."
I will have my katana and a fully loaded double barreled shotgun with me
I would have my katana drawn and ready
What accent's do Stojan and Ashley have? And, why is it hard for them to understand each other?
Stojan's accent is eastern european; possibly Polish or Macedonian.
Ashley's idiolect makes hard to tell what part of the world she's from, as her pronunciation is very clear.
Stojan's accent isn't too thick for you to understand him, but you can tell how someone who had led a very sheltered life and never met a person with a foreign accent might have difficulty understanding him.
§
You find this place has been wiped mostly clean; you do find a megaphone and a kevlar vest, but the riot gear and weapons have been taken. The place is a shambles.
Magnus
Member
I put on the kevlar vest and take the megaphone to the van.
I point the megaphone away from the van and test it "testing testing 1 2"
after that I will get into the van and say
"Ok. now we drive around and try to find a place that we can fortify against the ghouls."
I'm looking for a large area that has high brick or stone walls and gates that are easy to reinforce.I will also listen to what the others think.
Ashley asks, "What's wrong with my Dad's place?"
Stojan is driving, and shakes his head. "Too many entrances, too many wild cards. What we really need is a place like... a nuclear fallout shelter. As a matter of fact, there's one not far from here; we can probably get there before nightfall if we leave now, the drive is only a couple hours, maybe three on the back roads."
You've noticed that busier streets are usuall packed with cars
and are almost impossible to navigate.
"Before nightfall would be good," Ashley chimes in with a smile.
Stojan shakes his head. "I said probably, and we won't have time to fortify it or make sure it's uninhabited, at any rate. It would be better to wait until morning."
You head back to Ashley's.
§
You arrive, and share some food with one another; Stojan brings a couple cans of sterno, so you're able to enjoy a moderately lukewarm can of spam with some rehydrated eggs and crackers. Mmm. Ashley suggests it would be a good idea to bring food when you go tomorrow.
She changes in front of the two of you again without an ounce of moral fiber. Stojan sighs, watching her, and says to you, "Blow my f---in brains out, man."
You draw straws for the first watch; it's yours tonight. You spend it going through the computer system with a fine-toothed comb o be certain you haven't missed anything, keeping the nightvision cameras of the outside on and the audio on as well.
No crickets.
It isn't too much of a suprise in an urban area for there to be few, even in the dead of summer, but it strikes you; you haven't seen a single creature: bird, insect, fish, mammal, other than the other two with you.
As you're feeling the chill from what that may mean (disease carrying mosquitos are no joke), Ashley hugs you from behind, startling you.
"You're really muscular," she says, sounding a little shocked.
Magnus
Member
"But if that is the case , we shoud se infected dogs, cat or whatever walking around...
I have a theory on how they communicate. I just need to test it."
My theory is that they use a psionic party line to organize themselves.
To test if psionics work in this universe. I'm going to attempt to open a connection to Ashley's mind.
I'm using my 1@3 Operate Telepathic Device P1@3 skill as an example.
I'm reasoning that contacting a human mind should be similar to contacting a psionic computer.
My Psi bias is 1@8.
My Psi BRA is 2@4
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