On Death's Doorstep

[bloodsrain]

"Well, worked on it is a bit of a strong critisism but we should really start going around now, I think the infected up in the Apartment might be getting through that window." he said moving out of the alley, the window up above them seemed sturdy but he was still worried about a bunch of infected falling right on top of him. "I will keep that in mind new friends, I can tell you all about it later, but remember, id stay away from that building, it's dangerous."

[arentheawesome]

Ichiru followed close behind Harrison, watching the new member like a hawk. As Harrison confronted the boy, Ichiru folded her arms across her chest, cocking an eyebrow at Mason.
When the boy wasn't looking, Ichiru stepped behind Harrison and murmured, "Do you remember the last doctor we met?" She glanced at Mason's labcoat, looking him up and down before glancing back up at Harrison, "His name started with a B, Br-something. I recognize that coat, and I think that guy from before was wearing it." She nodded in the direction of Mason, before bringing her attention back to Harrison. "I'm suddenly really worried about my sister... I don't even know if they are the same labcoats, I'm just paranoid..."

Migaki settled against Brian, as settled as she could get, and listened hazily to the woman's story. She sympathized with the woman very much. It made her think of her family, her parents, and she swallowed back a lump in her throat.
"We don't have any infected injuries, no," Migaki reassured the woman, her voice just a little bit choked. "I have... Two fractured ribs, Brian has a closing wound on his chest, nearly healed. I'm a doctor, so I've been keeping them in check," she hissed, sucking in a breath of air at a sudden uncomfortable sharpness in her ribs, shifting on Brian's back just a little.

[Rygand]

J.P kept his silence through the beginning of their exchange with the stranger, keeping a steady grip on his revolver. Despite slowly running out of bullets, it was the weapon he was most likely to hit something... or someone with. He didn't like the look of this Mason guy. He liked his attitude even less. Suspicious didn't even start to describe the man. J.P looked to Mason, a bead of cold sweat at his brow, trying to show him his unease without actually speaking up. He was definitely with Ichiru on this one.

As the stranger began walking away without giving any answers, the boy bared his teeth, visibly frustrated. "Just wait a goddamn minute! You expect us to waste our precious resources protecting your ass without you giving us even ONE straight answer?! Who the hell do you think you are?!" J.P hadn't felt this agitated in a while. He was glad they had found another survivor at first, but this had all taken an ugly turn in his head. Not only did he find Mason suspicious, he also seemed affiliated with Secronom, making it tempting to blame the man for everything, despite not knowing just how he had been involved. The boy took a deep breath, exhaling slowly in an attempt to calm himself down. He looked to Harrison, whom he still regarded as the leader of the group, his gaze telling the man everything he needed to know about J.P's opinion on the matter. "What do you think... Harrison? I'll..." The boy narrowed his gaze wearily, a dutiful, trusting look in them. "I'll trust your judgement on this one."

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-Harrison didn't seem intent on going very far, so he kept a slow walk with the stranger.
"Strong Criticism...sure, but you seem to know something about the place, and that so happens to be where we are going." He explained simply, frowning as he advised against it. "Maybe there's a way to fix...this somehow, I'm not sure...but." He paused, giving his companions a chance to talk. He turned to Ichiru at her whisper and seemed to nod. He wasn't sure what the outfit really meant, but whoever this guy was...he wasn't liking his attitude. He gave J.P a look at his concerns. He was right, the man hadn't answered them and was simply speeding them along.
Suddenly, he stepped out in front of Mason to stop his walk down the road.
"You're gonna give us some answers, or there will be no 'friends' for you here." He narrowed his eyes at the man, his hand at his waist...just in case. "I don't travel with people I don't trust, and you..." He paused. "Well you're a complete stranger, dressed in the outfit of Secronom no less. So, I suggest you answer, or leave us right now." He gave the man an ultimatum.

-Lewis and the gang were traveling down the road as fast as their newly acquired, yet junky, van could carry them. They had been traveling for only a few moments by now, but had covered a lot of ground. Jake was kicking it, and the roads seemed almost suspiciously clear. Only the occasional bloody 'speed bump' got in the way. With the gas needle hovering centimeters from the E side, they knew their ride would only last so long. On the bright side, it provided quite the view of Huntington, in all it's desolate glory. Destroyed car parks, mutilated corpse piles, and a wafting air that would make a Vulture vomit up breakfast. Yep, quite the city they had the fortune of being trapped in here.

[bloodsrain]

Mason was a bit startled by the sudden change of attitude around the group, but he knew it would be unfair to not give them any answers, a lot of things had been happening over the weeks and keeping them in the dark wasn't going to work. "Well, if you want answers, ill start at the beginning." he said as he sat down on the curb of the street. "It's not very long, I didn't know much about anything happening at the facility, we only knew what the company told us, that they were trying to cure a new type of cancer. When I began to work there, the company told all the new employees that the things that Secronom were doing was to help these people, that's what we were told, and that's what we believed. As I progressed through the ranks, I learned that things weren't exactly what we were told, it all looked like Secronom was trying to help the infected, but I always had my suspicions, when they did testing they dragged them into a backroom, and we never saw them come out, always told that they died in the process."

He stood back up tired of sitting, he was hoping that this was convincing them that he isn't someone who was just helping infect people. "The infected where coming from somewhere, but we didn't know from where, we were told the infected were people who signed up for the job, but I always had my suspicions, sometimes workers would go missing, and we were never given an explanation, things got worse when protesters started appearing, when it was at it's worst, I decided to stay home, now im here." he finished, looking at the group with slightly pleading eyes, he needed help, and he was hoping they would let him into their group.

[ThatOneGuysBro]

The unnamed man seemed to have a slouching poster even with his artillery slung over his back, but his movements were subtly swift and John could swear either his pace was quickening or his own was slowing over their meandering course. He simply followed as the man wove like a shadow from alleyway to alleyway, skillfully avoiding almost every sluggish infected, even those within arm's reach.

Before he knew it John was breathing irregularly, his hands propped on his knees as he bent. The man who'd taken point seemed to have noticed however, the same aloof, bored expression unchanged, no a hint of fatigue about him. While it was that the two decide to rest for a short breather the odd groan regurgitated in the otherwise silent town.

The man drew his small firearm and unshackled its safety.

[thosedeafmutes]

Lucy shivered as the woman's recollection of the first days brought back her own, slivers of memory of her own experiences in the garage. Food was...virtually nonexistent besides the mini-fridge, and the company as mindless as ever - no apocalypse was ever going to bring out the best in people, she reflected at the time. Shutters tight, ears taut and bodies riveted with fear in their hiding places.

As the mood of conversation shifted she remained silent, considering with dread if Migaki's admittance of her training would compromise them. Valuable skills, to be sure - perhaps better spent among others? Lucy glanced at Migaki with reproach, wishing a look alone would communicate her position. Seem small, insignificant, and maybe they'll let us by.

"Bruises," she spoke up, eventually. "Just a lot of bruises."

[ballerscuba]

Davey was not sure what to make of this new lab rat. "Well," he thought. "At the very least, we could use his knowledge of the building to get into the upper levels." Davey tried to delve the depths of his incredible intellect. He simply had to play the odds. "To my memory," he thought, "precisely 17 percent of newly-joined party members betray you in the plot-important dungeon. Fifty one percent become valuable party members that should be used through the rest of the game. The remaining 32 percent are just plain useless, but they're stuck in your party anyway. I'd say those odds are pretty good."

"Red is a strange color," he continued in his head. "It could be that he's an Ensign, but, if we're in the Next Generation, it's the color of command. Damnit, I wish I knew what generation we were." He then began to cycle through all the characters in red outfits he could imagine. Most of them were evil and not playable characters. He had to dig deeper. Finally, it hit him.

"Mr. Valentine," Davey said slowly to Mason. "It has occurred to me that you are an optional character in this quest of ours. So, Vincent, do you feel guilt for the evil things Shin-Ra...I mean, Secronom has done? They are a truly evil corporation that is destroying the world. Yet, you still wear your uni--" Davey stopped suddenly. He put his right hand up to just under his chin, resting his right elbow on his left hand and rubbing his mask.

He slammed both his hands down on an invisible desk, then shot his left hand out at Mason. "Objection!" he shouted. "During your witness testimony, you clearly stated that you did not go to work on the day of the outbreak. Yet, here you are wearing your lab coat as if you were on the job as we speak! So, Mason, are we to believe that you wear your lab coat on your days off or are you lying about not being at work that day?" Davey got a smirk on his face, though it was not visible through his mask. He was sure he had blown this case wide open.

[bloodsrain]

He looked at Davey after his strange accusation, it has been more than a month since the infection started, and his old clothes were starting to fall apart, it was only reasonable to wear whatever was available. This man was quite odd, the references he throws at him are lost at the most, and how he makes light of everything made him suspicious if he was hiding something. "Well, I wear my uniform because it's been a few weeks now and my clothes had began to deteriorate. My uniform seemed good enough as temporary clothing." he said looking at Davey, he didn't want to take his eyes off of him or anyone in the group, most of them seemed rather hot headed, he tried to keep at least a few feet apart from them.

"My feelings of guilt on this subject are minimal, I never did anything to those people purposely, I don't feel good about doing what I did, but I don't think apologizing to the ravenous Undead is going to make me feel better about the terrible things that have been done to them. If I could go back I would have shut that place down, but the past is the past and I don't have the option to do that right now." he said. He was getting rather hungry and searched his pockets for some of the seeds he carried and eat a few, it's a good thing they weren't the salted type or he might have to drink some of his precious water which he was quickly running out of.

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-Brian reacted to the woman's sharp wince, attempting to somehow, make his back a more comfortable place to lay against by some force of will. It didn't succeed very well.
"Good. Let's just hope you pass inspection then." She laughed, before realizing that they might not find that as funny. "Pretty sure you can figure out why." She said simply.
And thus they walked, and continued on into the darkened streets. The walk was, perhaps, longer then the woman had mentioned.

-Harrison scratched at his chin as the man explained. He already knew half of the story thanks to that book.
"I remember reading about it, actually. A book was published on the things Secronom did. It wasn't that thin, either." He gave a sort of laugh. Slowly, he came back around as Davey started his accusation.
"I suppose that makes sense too." He shrugged. "Normal clothes stain and rip after all. Those coats are pretty thick, right?" He asked, half curious himself.

However, the man's lack of sympathy earned him a grimace from Harrison.
"You...don't feel anything for those people? Whether you actually did anything or not, you played a part in all this!" He yelled suddenly with more strength then was normal for Harrison. "I...I don't care who you are, Mason, but I-"
The man was suddenly cut off, however, by a growing roar that was filling the air.
It was drawing closer...from down the street they came from.
It...sounded like...
A van.

-He waited there, almost entirely motionless by John. Yet this seemed almost normal by his standards, letting John's guard fall further.
Suddenly, when a shuffle caught John's attention, something else demanded it even further-an incredible blinding pain in the back of his leg. The gun shot was still making his ears ring, as he quickly fell into a bloodied mess on the ground. A few rough steps came up by his side as he saw his 'companion', said with every ounce of sarcasm he could muster, picked over his still struggling body as if he were already dead. John felt his hand gingerly yank the pistol from his hand and examine the device above him, only his own groans of words to keep him company. He quickly emptied John's gun and pocketed what he could, glancing down to him as the question of 'why' came to mind.
"Needed the ammo." He shrugged slightly, as if he were shopping at some twisted manner of store.
And with such a pathetic answer for him, John could only watch as the man slowly left him behind.

-Alex and Philip slowly made their way up to the back of the Store, finding a shattered window close to the ground and quickly slipped inside after inspecting it for dangers. It was oddly devoid of zombies inside, however, and eerily dark.

[thatfallout3guy]

"Hey, Lewis!" Jake called from the front of the van, squinting his eyes as he noticed several human figures standing around down the road, "those your friends?"

Lewis had the majority of his attention focused on the small groups of undead that chased after their van, taking shots at any that got too close. Hearing Jake's question, however, made the man turn around. He crawled over the seats, reaching the shotgun position, which had strangely not been occupied. He cupped his hands over his eyes, and immediately noticed the familiar Vader helmet of Davey, "Yeah! That's them!" He exclaimed.

"The hell does that guy have on his head?" Jake asked, cocking his eyebrow at the sight of Davey.

"A Darth Vader mask," Lewis replied.

"... a what?"

Lewis shrugged his shoulders as he rolled down the window, "Davey's a bit... insane, but he can hold his own." Poking his head out the window, Lewis began to wave to the group, "Guys! It's us!" He yelled, hoping they'd recognize him and hold their fire.

The moment Lewis called out to the group, the van's acceleration began to slow down, "Good timing. We're out of gas," Jake said, taking his foot off the accelerator, and letting the van drift to the group.

Upon arrival, Lewis immediately hopped out, scanning over the group with a grin, "Good to see you're all still... where's Catherine? And who's this?" He asked, looking to Mason.

[bloodsrain]

Mason sighed slightly in relief, at least this gave him some time to calm down and stop all the sudden attacks, he wasn't feeling like he was getting a very nice welcome party from this new group. When the van came, he was a bit happy that it wasn't full of hostile raiders, so he decided to take the initiative and say something before one of the others could start making accusations.
"I am Mason, don't worry about me much, iv'e been just telling these new friends of mine a bit about my old life." he said, the word 'Friend' wasn't exactly what he would say, by how far the group has been acting to him, this wasn't very friendly behavior. "And about me? Im a just a scientist, that's all I am, that's all I was."

[graybeardhalt]

“I’m telling you, we don’t need another dumb bell,” the man exclaimed in a whisper, barely enough to be heard above the rattle of the cans and buckets he was digging through. “We’ve got enough of them already.” The man paused in his digging, as if he was listening, but no other sounds could be heard. “Yes, yes, I know that you need to stay in shape, but I mean come on, we’re in a sports store. Pick anything you need, but you know we have enough weights. It’s bad enough that I have to keep that 20 pounder in my bag because you just couldn’t find the right spot for it. No, no, I’m not gonna throw it away, I’m just saying; seems kinda stupid to just lug around a 20 pound weight for no other reason than to hoard.” The man seemed to be responding to another person, but there was no other voice to be heard over the sound of the other man’s looting. As Alex slipped through the window after Philip, the sounds coming from the man’s direction suddenly stopped. All that could be heard was the last clatter of an empty plastic can as it hit the floor a few seconds later. The sound seemed to reverberate through the empty store, ringing out for what seemed like minutes before it finally stopped. All that was left was utter silence, not even a footstep could be heard.

[kain17335]

Alex froze in place. His hands clenching around the handles of his weapons. Staring blankly into the bleak darkness before him. A doorway into the sport shop. He dared not enter it now, the voice he heard telling him that there had to be two people in there. Their intent could not be seen however, and casually strolling into the sights of a crazed group of survivors wouldn't bode well for Alex's chances of survival. The fact that the whole shop had gone silent told Alex that whoever was in there probably knew he was there as well, waiting for the German to peek his head around the corner. Alex's knees bent as he slowly took a step forwards, coming right up behind Philip. He contemplated for a moment whether he should speak out or stay quiet. Though both seemed to be a death sentence if whoever was in here had a penchant for killing things other than infected. Though Philip was in front of him, so really it would be him going first. Which might not be the best idea, though either of them going in didn't seem good either.
Alex looked around for a split second, the room they were in was relatively large. This was a fire exit after all, but it didn't seem to be a good place to hold up. Even for a day or so.
He looked to Philip, the boy was right in front of the doorway to the shop so even if Alex wanted to go in there he couldn't. Slowly, he tried to slip himself around Philip and poked his head around the corner of the doorway, only to jerk his head back when he saw the silhouette of someone standing there, waiting. His heart thumped like a bass drum as he took a step back, his thumb constantly rubbing against the side of his glock just to make sure the safety was off. Though there was only barely enough light for Alex to see what was in front of his face, let alone across a room.

[arentheawesome]

Ichiru was becoming increasingly outraged by Mason's words, gritting her teeth. She opened her mouth, but Harrison stole the words from her. She couldn't have said it better.
She was about to continue Harrison's train of thought, when she picked up on the sound that the group was suddenly tuned in on. An... engine? She snapped her head in the direction of the sound, blinking and placing a hand on her gun, when she noticed the person behind the glass. No fucking way.
"Lewis," she muttered, pushing her gun into her holster, her brow twitching. He had the others with him, thank God. They were alive, they were still alive!
Ichiru was the first to move when Lewis stepped out of the car, dropping her heaviest gear beside Harrison and bolting right for him in an angry sort of determined manner, her expression quite cold, yet holding a sort of frustrated relief if that was possible. Her greeting was a crash of a hug around his neck, then a sudden pull away and a knock of her fist against the top of his head.
"What the hell do you think you're doing driving a loud-ass van around, you're going to trail the monsters," Ichiru hissed in a scolding tone, scowling up at him. To answer his question about Catherine, Ichiru glanced to the side and frowned, slightly unnerved.
"Disappeared," she muttered, glancing to Mason, "And that's some street rat we happened upon. He's not making his case very well," she added, taking a step back from Lewis before something dawned on her.
"Where's Cassidy," she blurted, pushing his chest to get past him and peek in the door. "Cassidy?! It's Ichi, where are you sweetie? Are you okay?"