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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 24, 2010 11:48:11 GMT -5
A smell of water filled the Ivory dragonfly's nose, sucking it in; it seemed to energize her body. A lazy hand pulled the hood from her eyes while they opened out of synchronization. Finally focusing on the sight in front of her was the first piece of evidence that she was in a dream.
The Grand Canyon brimmed with crystal clear water, life radiating from it as all kinds of creatures sailed about beneath the surface. Aya was sitting up now, interested. Her hand had gone to grip the seat of her Luna only to hit cold metal; pipe maybe; she looked down to find she held the rail of a gurney. Something made her stand up, perhaps the involuntary movement of a dream; everything felt so lucid though.
Something stung Aya's cheek. She slapped at it, a dot of ash in her palm. Embers began to glide across her field of view and over the water. Following from where they came met the display of land behind her, glowing red... you couldn't say it was on fire, there were no flames, but the embers and coal were clear; a weak inferno which refused to die. Strangely enough to ground beneath her feat remained untouched, a perfect strip of sand and rock reached in opposite directions making the borderline between the embers and the water.
Down one length was an endless horizon, an odd display of Northern lights lapping at the ethereal sky. In the other direction stood a body of light. For some reason concentrating on it made it more visible, enlarging it far past what Aya's eyes were capable of. Debate was open, but there was no mistaking it as anything other than Las Vegas. Somehow she could see every casino, every landmark; they could be identified with a variety of angles. It made no sense, but it seemed right.
Then a feeling of anguish encompassed the girl, the burden of millions of souls resting on her shoulders; her eyes lit up as the nuclear explosion reached out from the city of sin turning the horizon to gold. The delayed sound finally met her ears as blurred images of buildings on fire washed over her vision. Ground crumbled as the shockwave fanned outwards, storming in her direction.
But she couldn't move, weld to the ground with agony donated from the souls on her shoulders. When the wave hit, all of her senses blacked out; only the sensation of her body spiraling in a whirlpool remained.
Her feet touched ground again, peacefully in a rather unacceptable juxtaposition to what had just occurred. Blue was all that surrounded her, hair floating freely; she held her breath under the pressure of water, standing at the bottom of the ocean. At least that was what it appeared to be; and it felt natural too, just like everything else. The only imperfection was the humpback whale, its skin charred; not even the water could stop the burning.
The two species looked at each other, hostile but choosing to coexist. The whale was infected; Aya knew this somehow; and for some reason she thought she could help. With that thought the whale suddenly flared up, embers burning, 'Unacceptable!' the word boomed and echoed through the water as it opened its mouth and proceeded to swallow the Ivory dragonfly.
-----
Aya jolted from her spot, arms braced in front of her and legs curled slightly into the fetal position. She made a frightened noise. Her heart raced. Her breathing inconsistent.
Coming to terms with the fact that she was in one piece let her eyes open, shut tight originally. Matthew and Tyson were in conversation. The Grand Canyon didn't have water in it. Las Vegas wasn't visible from where she rested.
Aya sprawled out on the Luna in relief. Being awake suddenly seemed like such a godsend. She pulled her hood back over her eyes and dug her hands into her pockets. Refusing to go to sleep, but refusing to do anything else.
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Post by .Merios on Jul 24, 2010 12:35:32 GMT -5
Matthew lifted his head to look at Tyson, then back to Aya, then to the ground.
"Low and slightly to the left," He said casually, leaning back and grasping his waterskin with his right hand.
He unscrewed the cap and lifted it up to eye level, tilting it slightly so the sun would break the surface and allow him to see how much was left in it- not even two pints. He sighed, capping it and tossing it behind him, letting it slosh and flop to the floor board. He glanced over at Tyson once more.
"Ever heard of a PMC back in the day? Late Eighties, early Nineties. Medusa?"
He had heard them mention they were previously in a unit together under a PMC, but he didn't know much about the name or the idea of it. He didn't want to say anything honestly, but he felt he could trust these two to a point. The idea of this man possibly knowing something about this PMC made him feel sick, which begged the question of why he would even ask in the first place. He had to know- Aya was infected, and on a massive level. Tyson, on the other hand, seemed to refer to her as a once-superior officer- their relationship was questionable.
While waiting for an answer, he leaned down and reached into his pack, pulling out a chrome-colored MRE. Fruit mix. Matthew set it on his lap and tore it open from the top down the side, dumping the contents on his lap. There was a mix fruit cup, a small bag of orange slices, a sliced apple in heavy juice in a see-through packet, a box of raisins and a set of plastic cutlery. He lifted the bag of orange slices and launched them to Tyson- he didn't like Oranges for some odd reason. He opened the pack of apple slices and grasped one, whipping the excess juice onto the ground before sticking it into his mouth.
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Post by Mikey on Jul 24, 2010 14:38:17 GMT -5
Tyson smirked and chuckled a bit at Matthew’s response. Sounded like something he’d say. He was starting to like this guy.
“Ya, I’ve heard that name before…” Tyson muttered, still working on his carving. It was almost done. “They tried recruiting me a while back, ninety something. Just out of the Army. Wanted to pull me from Iraq and into Europe somewhere, but I liked the desert better.” He said. That was about all he remembered about them. The way Matt spoke, it sounded like he knew quite a bit about them. At least enough to hate them. Tyson could hear contempt in his voice.
“Why do you ask?” He said, looking up from the carving in time to see the oranges fly through the air. The bounced off his side and landed next to the shotgun on the hood. Tyson picked them up and tore open the package, draining the juice into his mouth before he popped one in his mouth. He waited for Matthew to respond when he jerked his head at a noise. Aya jolted on her bike with a noise that sounded like fear, curled up in the fetal position and had her eyes closed tight. Tyson worried if something might be wrong, sitting up and prepared to jump off the truck when she opened her eyes and looked around. Very shortly after she pulled her hood tighter.
“You uh…” Tyson started to say, stopping for a moment. She looked ok, but that definitely wasn’t something a person normally did. Nightmare? Something to do with that hand wound, maybe? Could have been a lot of things.
“You ok?” He finally asked. Sure, it sounded dumb, but she was a friend. She sure as hell didn’t seem ok.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 25, 2010 5:20:20 GMT -5
"I'm fine," Aya sulked, rolling over; the concern was kind but it wasn't something she wanted to talk about, "Just a lousy dream," the image of the whale still fresh in her mind, much more clear than after a typical dream.
Looking out at the Canyon, 'Great, gotta make heads and tails of this now,' the mushroom cloud began to change her opinion, 'Maybe we should steer clear of Las Vegas,' filled with doubt as her mind leap frogged around the topic, 'It's been so long since I've had a dream, too,' there was some stupidly profound meaning behind it no doubt, she wouldn't allow uncertainty to cloud her judgement.
Las Vegas was the next spot in their journey. Whatever happens, happens, 'Deal with it and move the f*ck on if it doesn't kill you,' the concept was sound in her mind, maybe even going as far to say 'flawless'; it wasn't as if she had nothing to lose though. Maybe that was what frightened her. She held herself closer working on pushing the pattern from her head, 'Stupid dream,'
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Post by .Merios on Jul 25, 2010 13:01:29 GMT -5
Matthew shrugged, finishing off the apple slices and tearing open the box of raisins. There weren't many inside the box, so he just downed them all and tossed the box aside, as well as the packet for the apple slices. If he got a ticket for littering, it would be miraculous. He stood up, making sure to grab the fruit cup and spoon tightly as he stood, letting everything tumble to the ground. He walked over to Aya and dropped the cup on her stomach, as well as the spoon. He yawned for a moment, walking past her a few feet and looking out in the distance. Oh he wished to be near the edge, but they weren't- it wasn't safe. He could see the valley down below, further away- the tip of the canyon was about 100 yards from him.
"The reason I asked.."
He said, turning and facing Tyson.
"They gave me these scars... Back in 2010.. Do you believe they were only wanting to find the Hive? After all these years.."
He sighed, stepping past Aya and moving towards his car, striding with purpose. He moved his hands behind his head and locked his fingers.
"They.. Had taken a sample of Sonnent Reppe back in '91. They were doing trials on missing persons from '91 to '94. "
He walked a few more steps and sat back down in his own spot, unlocking his hands and placing them on his lap. He pulled his pack over his legs and opened it, searching inside for something while talking.
"Colonel Sergei Vladimir... He had the perfect genetic structure for the T-100 series.. "
Matthew pulled out a steel foot long cylinder file. He reached behind him with a free hand and grasped his machete by it's strap, pulling the sheath onto his lap as he set the pack on the ground. He unsheathed the machete and set the sheath side, bringing the blade a little bit down on his knee, he dragged the file across it, sharpening it. If they didn't know Umbrella's life story by now, it wouldn't hurt speaking about it.
"Medusa wanted in on this, and bought the sample of Sonnent Reppe that went missing and spent a total of seven million searching for subjects to "try" their version of the Progenitor.. You know when I said people went missing from '91-'94?"He hesitated. " They were the first trials."
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Post by Mikey on Jul 25, 2010 18:00:23 GMT -5
Tyson listened to everything Matthew said, not sure what its was he was getting at. Medusa… He hadn't joined up because he didn’t want to leave the Desert. Now… Seemed like they were as bad as Umbrella, as bad as they were. He couldnt imagine where he'd be if he had been recruited by them.
“Makes sense I guess… In a real f**ked way.” Tyson said. “Umbrella left a lot of s*** behind. Imagine all the information hidden down there? Even if it’s just more monsters.” He said. Hell, weapons, information, virus research. Places like that were a gold mine.
He finally finished the globe in his hand, setting his knife down and tossing it into the air. He caught it with ease and smirked. He was getting good at this. He set it on the hood and pulled out another piece of wood, this time carving at the center. Maybe he’d try an animal this time. Something simple. A snake? Too simple.
He continued to shave wood off the small block as he looked over at Matt. Matt saying something about the people who had disappeared in the early 90’s, and he thought back.
“Ya, seemed like that happened a lot back then. Plenty of places taking people from wherever to experiment on. Remember them Tyrant models? Ones that walked around in green coats? I heard there was an island over by England or someplace, took a bunch of teenagers to turn them into them things.” He said. Old rumor back then, no real proof. Little did he know it was a story that had circulated from someone who had actually known it. Got twisted a bit, but it remained in tact for the most part. “s*** like that… All too common, way back when. Even today, still happens a lot…” He said. Sincell was the culprits today, abducting people by the settlement for experiments.
“While were on that subject…” He said, trailing off a bit. He looked over at Aya, seeing if she was awake enough to hear him. He didn’t think so. She may get suspicious as to why he was asking about this right now, something that was supposed to have been taken care of some time ago.
“You ever hear of a group, calls themselves Sincell?” He asked, his voice a bit low.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 25, 2010 22:08:25 GMT -5
Tingles burned down Aya's side as Matt approached, she huddle up harder worried he was the type to persuade the problems out. Rather, he continued his conversation and dropped something on her. Aya held her hand out in time feeling it slip from her jumper and drop off the side of the bike. At the same time it fell to where she could see it from under her hood, 'Ah, food,' that would most probably help.
Peeling the top off; Aya held it close to her mouth smelling the variety of fruit on order. She tucked the cellophane lid under herself to dispose of properly later. That sort of thing couldn't be allowed to get lost in an ecosystem, the potential damage it might cause would impair research. That done; dig in. Its level of process meant no specific fruit stood out, sans pineapple now and again; it was simply 'fruit'. Like, the Alpha and Omega of fruittyness.
Aya stopped thinking about it. If she procrastinated any longer it would turn her into a vegetable. She made a silly salute with the spoon to Matt, little effort involved, as a method of thanks. Seemed there was a benefit for hauling edibles cross country after all.
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Post by .Merios on Jul 26, 2010 0:47:15 GMT -5
"Nah. Should I have?"
He said, dragging the file across the machete again. The machete looked less like a traditional machete and more like a hunk of steel that's been sharpened and folded in near the edge with a handle that seemed to be held on by a piece of welded iron and leather wrapping around it forming a grip. The steel was stained with dirt and dried gore, but the sharpened edge was steadily becoming cleaner as the file ground off the excess material and refined the cutting end.
"In any event.. Aya, back in 'Nawlens, where did you go when you got your bike? I didn't see you on the street.." He spoke in a somewhat curious voice with a condescending undertone. No, he hadn't seen her on the street when she said she was going to be- no, he saw her in the parking lot obliterating two thugs.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 26, 2010 1:17:48 GMT -5
"Eh?" Aya bounced back, pushing her hood up a fraction with the handle of the spoon, "I said it was a block away, not in the street," slick vehicles were prone to being keyed out in the open, "You know where I put it anyway. Rolled it up into that back alley before we set off," another scoop of fruit met home, speaking with her mouth full, "Didn't think I'd be needing it so soon after that,"
Her ears were open a little more on Ty's behalf, albeit the slight differentiation of a vowel; Sincill may have felt obligated to change things up. Why he'd be talking about an old, sour contract and defunct organisation was over her head.
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Post by Mikey on Jul 26, 2010 3:21:15 GMT -5
(I think it’s supposed to be Sincell. It’s written as both in the post about them, but whenever I talk to Reaper about it, she doesn’t correct me when I say Sincell.)
Tyson looked to Matt, about to wave off the comment as nothing. Made sense, not many people knew about the Sincell incident. Not like news traveled fast in a global zombie outbreak. Aya, she’d know what he was talking about. He’d get her alone later, tell her his story. He didn’t know how she’d take it, he could only hope she reacted any way but in anger. He didn’t want to lost another friend. He looked at Matt, trying to wave off the comment, but didn’t get a chance to. Matt asked Aya about where she had gone, a tone in his voice… Something was off with it.
Aya explained what it was she had been doing, simple enough. An honest answer, seemed to him, for a simple reason. So why was Matt suddenly acting… Tyson couldn’t say weird, he didn’t know the guy well enough to know if this was any kind of normal behavior for him, but it was definitely odd by his standards.
“Something I should know here?” He asked slowly, his eyes darting back and forth. If Matthew was just acting weird, seemed like a good time to be on the guard. If Aya had done something odd… Maybe that would be reason to take a measure of some kind. Either way, he set his knife and block of wood down and picked up the pack of oranges with his left hand. He casually set his right hand on the hood, just an inch from the shotgun. He tipped an orange into his mouth without his eyes ever leaving Matt, because when it came down to it, he was on Aya’s side. Without a doubt.
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Post by .Merios on Jul 26, 2010 23:06:30 GMT -5
Matthew shook his head, sliding his machete back into it's sheath,"Nope, everything's fine."
He stood up, moving to the front of the car and dipping down underneath the hood. He moved to the battery and leaned down, starting to attach it back to the vehicle. It wasn't very hard at all, seeing as an old car like that had a lot of room to move around. He spoke while his head was buried within the hood.
"I think we ought to be on the move soon. I say bypass Las Vegas," his voice was stern when it came to the word "bypass". "I don't feel like having to explain and talk to other survivors. We can drive through, maybe pick up a burger but I don't suggest we stay any longer than we need to." Matthew leaned up, straightening his back and reaching in and pulling the metal piece that held the hood up. He placed it down and pulled the hood down, letting it drop the last few inches with a resounding bang.
"Besides, House always wins."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 26, 2010 23:43:26 GMT -5
'I have a very bad feeling about this,' Aya sat up, reversed; she gestured Tyson to stand down on the issue. Up until this point she was still undecided on entering Vegas, 'I need to make an excuse,' watching while Matt reconnected the battery, "I say bypass as well," begin with agreement, "But I'm running low on ammunition for my Springfield," follow up with issue, a complete lie on Aya's behalf, "If you don't mind. I just need to duck in long enough. That's all," conclude excuse.
Matt didn't have to come in with her. Aya simply had this mind melting hunch that if she skipped the city, she was going to miss something very important. It was a mecca for PMC activity, a lot of AO's overlapped each other; perhaps they would have information on happenings overseas.
Perhaps even PMC-D would be there.
"I'll slip in and grab what I need. Shouldn't take too long," spinning on the seat. Aya unzipped her jumper, soaking up a little to much sun, needed to cool off. She looked over to Tyson, raising her brow as if to say 'You coming?'
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Post by Mikey on Jul 27, 2010 2:11:22 GMT -5
Tyson saw Aya’s subtle gesture, leaving his hand near the shotgun to avoid suspicion. He slipped the last of the oranges into his mouth and looked into the package. Using the hand that he just been near the shotgun, he reached into the empty package and pretended he was getting a last stubborn piece of fruit from the package. When he was done, he licked the juice from his finger and crumpled the package, tossing it into the bed of the truck. The knife went back into the sheath on his belt, and he picked up his shotgun and tossed it into the cab. Matt started to talk about something while he hauled himself into the bed of the truck.
Tyson opened the case he had in back, ready to protest the thought of not stopping in Vegas. It was a no-brainer. He didn’t know about them, but he didn’t have the supplies or firepower to keep going to another place like Vegas. About the only thing he had plenty of was gas, twenty something gallons of diesel in gas cans. That and money… Funny. Money still made the world go round, in places like Vegas. Huge uninfected hubs, massive amount of people in one place. Next to the weapons and the suit of near bulletproof armor were wads and wads of case, hundred thousand US dollars or so. He liked to call it severance pay. At the island, they were paid in room and board with a bit of pocket change for rare supply runs to the mainland, all equipment was supplied. Just like the Army.
He picked out a bundle, ten thousand dollars in hundreds. The movies sure were wrong. A hundred pieces of paper, secured with the bank band, was only about an inch thick. But damn if it didn’t go quite a way. He continued to listen, heard Aya defend going into town for ammo. That’s what he liked to hear. At least she was recognizing the necessity. He didn’t like the place much either, never had, and probably more so now, but they didn’t have much of a choice.
“Same here. Ten minutes, tops.” He said. That was allowing for walking in, getting what he needed, maybe lookie-looing for something that might catch his eye. Sure, he had plenty of guns, but he was always in the market for more. If he didn’t miss his guess, a place with a lot of guns like that would also have a bunch of military surplus type stuff. MRE’s and the like. He’d left 90 percent of his s*** back in New Orleans, only had room to pack along a couple weeks worth of food and water. Wouldn’t last long, depending on where they were going. Especially if they kept at Aya’s pace. “I’m good.” He said, closing up his case, hopping out of the bed, and getting behind the wheel.
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Post by .Merios on Jul 27, 2010 2:52:44 GMT -5
Matthew shrugged sequentially flitted around the car, shutting each door in rhythm before stopping at the driver's side. He fished the keys out of his pocket and sat down, sliding the key into the ignition and turning. The car roared to life as he leaned out the window, looking over at Tyson and Aya. His hand moved to the shifter and he pressed on the brake, pulling the gear out of park and into Drive. He waited, they were heading out to Vegas and he didn't have a dollar in his pocket, which meant he had to either steal or find a way to pay for supplies. He could really stand to load this steel death trap up with some more firepower.
"If we're going, let's go now before the sun drops."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 27, 2010 10:54:40 GMT -5
Stretch. A few cracks here and there. Aya flipped around sitting correctly. She was about to fire the bike up before noticing the other two prepping, "Ugh," she rested on the tank, waiting, 'A certain beauty in traveling light,' watching the process, 'Guess some of us aren't as great at procuring on sight... but still,' eventually Matt and Ty cleaned up, "You ladies ready yet?" Aya taunted, "Last one on the Vegas Boulevard is a rotten sh*t," certain emphasis on the curse as the Luna provided a rev; it may have sound cynical but the grin on her face said otherwise.
A little competition never hurt anyone. Dust plumed from the Luna's rear wheel, enough to force the two to wind up their windows, Aya's jumper flapping behind.
It was time to turn the Luna's theoretical speed into fact.
)(Off to Le Veh, Gun Stop.)(
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