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Post by Caliber on Apr 26, 2011 0:04:09 GMT -5
Amelia nodded her head along as Arc spoke. "Well, at least we know we can trust eachother now, right?" she said, glancing over at Allison and Louis as well, who didn't seem to be taking much interest.
Allison interrupted the conversation with the pressing matter at hand. "Well, this is touching and all, but there's no way we're going to be able to fly that chopper in this weather. So, unless you want to try to kick us out, looks like we're staying here."
"Not like we own the place," Amelia responded, irritated. Looking at Hal, she asked "When the storm clears tomorrow, would youguys mind giving us a ride farther into the city? There's a small concealed safehouse for STARS in the middle of the downtown distri-"
Allison cut her off, "We just came from there. Whatever-- or whoever you're looking for isn't there anymore. There's a few piles of dead bodies, some burnt rubble, and a few dense crowds of several hundreds of zombies, crammed in the building and surrounding alleyways shoulder-to-shoulder," she told Amelia. "Tricell burnt most of the place to hell. The only thing left was a few computer terminals in a back room, but they were completely unresponsive."
"What?!" Amelia exclaimed. "Damn," she mumbled, turning around and putting her hand on her forehead in frustration. "The information we needed would've be on those terminals. They're locked with a password that only a few residents of that safehouse would have known. F*ck me." "Well," Allison began. "There's no getting to the terminals now anyway. I doubt the six of us have enough bullets to kill enough zombies to carve a path to the terminal room. It'd the suicide, regardless. I'd say the vast majority of the zombie population of the downtown district is crowded around that one building now."
"What the hell was Tricell doing there, anyway?" Amelia asked herself aloud. "Do you know where they went? They must have been trying to cover something up. Something they didn't want anybody to know about, obviously."
Allison shrugged.
"Do you know where they went?" Amelia asked, now also speaking to Louis. "We need to find out where they're holed up. We've heard of a Tricell Headquarters base, of sorts, somewhere in the Downtown district."
"Well, we overheard a few of them talking about how they were returning later tomorrow night to pick up their buddy that they dropped off," Allison told the group, glancing over at Louis.
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Post by Winters on Apr 26, 2011 0:53:22 GMT -5
Listening to the story between this new woman Amelia and the other woman Allison, Louis pretty much gathered that the survivors had been all about getting that information, finding Tricell. For whatever reason, its best a stranger not know. However, Louis knew where they could find Tricell, or at least get them closer. Wondering if it would be even worth the trouble of directing them there, or to just mention it, and than see what Allison had plans for, he figured it wouldnt hurt either way.
"Theres a Tricell lab in the Arklay Mountains, has a bit of a front to it. Similar to that mansion weve heard so much again, the lab is underground. Tricell is there, ive seen them coming and going before. Now, we wouldve gunned you down if you didnt let us stay here the night, but since you all welcomed us, ill consider helping you guys find the place. In the morning, so long as I can get in eight hours of shuteye."
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Post by Caliber on Apr 26, 2011 16:50:44 GMT -5
Allison agreed, "Well, it's not like I've got anything better to do, so I'm up for it."
Amelia thought for a moment, then glanced at Arc, then back at Louis. "Well, we appreciate it." she told Louis. "We'll leave at 7:00 sharp tomorrow morning. Youguys are free to sleep wherever, there's a bunk bed in that room over there," she told the group, pointing to the saferoom, where Katy was. "I don't really care which two people decide to take it, and I don't plan on sleeping much. So, I'll leave that to youguys to fight over."
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Post by Winters on Apr 26, 2011 18:55:27 GMT -5
Nodding his head as the woman talked, Louis knew this was going to be a solid plan. Whatever reason they needed to track down Tricell was a mystery to him, but it mustve been important enough for everybody to agree on it. Louis didnt care much what they did, but if they were going to try and stop Tricell, or learn something about them, he was in on it too. Personally, he had a bone to pick with a certain somebody anyways, so who knew, maybe he would find them along the way. "...Hey Princess," Louis spoke out to Allison, "Lets go find somewhere more private, im not a very big people person..."
~~
Hearing the plan, Arc thought to himself for a bit. This was going to work out better than he thought. The existance of a lab in the Arklay Mountains made sense, too, so there was no doubt it was good information. It wasnt as if Umbrella was kicking around anymore, but certainly there were followers. Tricell or not, somethere was at that lab, waiting for him, and he knew it. After the two newcomers had left the area, Arc sat down against the wall out in the hallway, and held his stomach. But still, he didnt draw attention to himself either, this would pass. Hal walked over to Amelia, who had moved back into the room with Katy. He was curious as to whether or not they knew about Arc changes. Surely they mustve seen it for themselves at least once, it was pretty hard to miss.
But still, Hal thought about what he was going to ask, and how he was going to ask it. The woman, Amelia, had been a doctor, and this was a good sign that she caught onto it first. Speaking out in a very, very professional, yet still geeky tone, Hal just plain said it out loud for the both of them to respond to. "Seems like youve been with Arc for longer than an hour, couldve been a week for all I know. Youve been living with his changes? Hes infected, im sure youve found out by now. I hope he didnt hurt any of you, did he? He just needs to be around people, it keeps him calm, collective, thinking clearly..."
"He nees to be around people, instead of on his own. Arc said himself that he shouldnt be around anybody, because than they get hurt. Ive seen it happen before. But really, in actualuty, it was the people around him that kept him alive. Take that as you will, I know this from experience."
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Post by Caliber on Apr 26, 2011 22:34:13 GMT -5
Allison chuckled and they departed from the group, heading toward the staircase at the back of the room.
Amelia sat on the bed alongside Katy and put her feet up, waiting for Hal to approach her. She was surprised that he knew about Arc's changing, and even more-so about how he got right to the point.
"Yeah," Amelia told him. "We've noticed," she said, pointing to Jessica's body. Hal turned to look, and his facial expression was out of view, but Amelia knew it couldn't have been good. "Poor girl," Amelia said, standing up. "Katy," she said, getting her attention, then motioning to Jessica's body with her head. Katy stood up immediately and Amelia pulled one of the sheets off of the lower bunk bed. They walked over to Jessica's body and Amelia lay the sheet on top of her. Katy, from Jessica's feet, tucked the sheet under. They flipped the body over, fully wrapping it in the sheet. Blood already began soaking through. "Arc!" Amelia called out the door. "If we're gonna bury her, we should do it now."
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Post by Winters on Apr 26, 2011 23:29:22 GMT -5
As Hal looked over at the heavily mutilated corpse of their friend, and Amelia told him that it was a result of Arc transforming, he felt like it was entirely his own fault. Hal had been developing a medication for him, but gave up when he disappered. The guy tended to do it more than often, and even for weeks on end. So when he clearly was adjusting his his changing, his abilities, he was actually getting even more sick over time. Hal wanted to apologize, but knew it probably wouldnt make matters any better.
When Arc showed to, obviously to help move the body out of the room, Hal wasnt sure if they should go outside to bury her. "Out in the rain? I thought we should wait until morning, or..." While Hal was talking, Arc had walked in with a look on his face that told the pilot to just be quiet. He had been a nice guy and all, but really had his head in the gutter when it came to peoples feelings. "Get the door, lead the way."
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Post by Caliber on May 6, 2011 18:01:35 GMT -5
Amelia held the door open while Katy and Arc carried Jessica's body out the door and into the main room.
"Where should we bury her?" Amelia asked. "She'll need a tombstone of some sort."
Katy and Arc carried Jessica out the clocktower's entrance while Amelia held the doors. They trotted down the steps and walked out into the courtyard. The rain continued pounding against every uncovered object and it was a matter of seconds before the entire group was soaked. They lay Jessica's body down on dry ground underneath the large overhanding roof of the first level of the clocktower out in the courtyard.
"They must have a toolshed around her somewhere for groundscaping since this place looks like it used to be so well-kept." Amelia said to the group.
~~~
Allison and Louis made their way up the staircase in the main room and walked along the indoor overhanging balcony.
"This place is gigantic," Allison commented.
They walked to the end of the balcony and entered the door leading to another staircase, which led to the next level of the tower. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Allison opened the door and walked out onto the covered, perfectly dry terrace.
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Post by Winters on May 6, 2011 19:17:47 GMT -5
Though he couldve carried the body on his own, it was in a more respectable fashion that Katy help carry the legs. This was really all his fault, he knew it, and he was going to be the one to pay for it. Laying the corpse down on the ground, Amelia had said something about a toolshed. As the two women wandered off to find it, Arc stayed with the body, and knelt down not too far from it. At first glace, you might think he was praying, but when the dirt started to fly it was obvious exactly what he was doing. Using his bare hands, Arc began digging a hole in the ground. It would be deep enough and long enough to lay the body inside, but with the rain beating down, they didnt have much choice of a hole at this point. Chances are, he would be done by the time Kate and Amelia returned at this rate, but he never onces stopped even to catch his breath or wipe the dirt from his hands, nor the blood from the cuts that the sharp rocks dug into him.
~~~
Upon getting onto the terrace, Louis looked off at the cityscape. During the rain, it was always so dark, as people often had made fires to light up the alleyways. However, everything was pitch black, aside from the room or two lit up on the higher levels of the apartment complex nearby. It was interesting to see other people alive, yet be so far away from them, not that he cared really if they lived or died. As a flash of lightning engulfed the terrace in a brightness for a slip second, Louis had noticed the BSAA Pilot standing off to the side. Neither he not Allison were aware that he was even there to begin with, but when he spoke out, into the quietness, things seemed a little more serene with the rainfall. "You see it too? The apartment building? Theres people alive in there..."
Louis spoke up at this point. Not cutting the man off from speaking, but a quick reaction that he didnt think about when he said it. "Youd be able to get to them, but getting out would be another story. Theyre dead either way, ive seen the infected piling around there. Theres no point in even trying." Expecting a response to the cold answer, Louis leaned up against the glass, pulling out his handgun to make sure it was still in good condition. Hal spoke out again, but not in response to Louis, he spoke to Allison this time, changing the topic. "Do you two have anywhere youd rather be? I mean, once the rain stop before dawn, I dont mind dropping you off somewhere safe. Unless your sticking with is, but, I cant see that happening."
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Post by Caliber on May 6, 2011 20:27:48 GMT -5
Allison leaned against the railing with her arms out. She watched as the rain dripped down and slowly pooled in her hands. "Hmm..." Allison said, thinking for a moment. She turned her head toward Hal, "I might be persuaded to accompany the group, provided there's something in it for me. Ammunition? Weapons, maybe? The chance to kill a few of those Tricell bastards?" she asked, rhetorically before turning her head back to watch the city.
~
Amelia searched around the courtyard behind hedging for a toolshed of sorts while Katy followed. Leaning against the pole of a canopy by a hedge, four lone shovels lay next to several other gardening tools. Amelia and Katy collected three of the four and returned to Jessica's body to find Arc digging furiously into the ground. The hole he'd created was a few feet deep, but it would be necessary to widen and dig farther down. The rain was already creating a sloppy, muddy mess and the mud kept trickling back into the hole as Arc dug.
"Arc, relax," Amelia told him. Katy tossed one of the shovels down to Arc.
Backs turned, Jessica slowly and silently arose to her feet, now infected. Almost immediately upon standing, Jessica charged straight for Amelia, tackling her. Amelia was thrown into the muddy hole, Jessica toppling over her. Amelia grunted as she hit the ground, barely retaining consciousness. Amelia, now lying on her back, struggled to hold Jessica at bay with her forearms to prevent getting bitten. Amelia shouted out for help as Jessica thrashed around on top of her, attempting to bite.
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Post by Winters on May 6, 2011 21:27:11 GMT -5
When Amelia called out, Arc turned to look out of the hole, and caught the shovel with one hand. Climbing back out, he looked at the size of hole, not snapped back into reality. It was really scary that he could do this with his bare hands in so little time, and he would much rather continue to do so. However, without thinking too hard about it, he looked back down in the hole, and thats when their was movement. In a matter of sections, Amelia had been tackled inside the pit, with the infected Jessica on top of her. It all happened so fast, and had Arc been paying more attention, had he even given the thought that she might turn, he mightve reacted sooner.
Leaping down into the pit himself, Arc grabbed onto the neck of the infected woman, his eyes glowing red, and pulled her just about a foot away from Amelia. Unsheathing his blade, he drove it down into the back of its head, the tip of the knife just barely an inch away from Amelias face. Bringing it back out, he rolled the corpse over, sheathed his blade once again, and then grabbed onto the woman collar to bring her back onto her feet with a single arm. Kate could be heard crying, balling her eyes out somewhere away from the pit. The dangers outside in this kind of weather conditions grew worse, as any wandering undead could sense them and get the jump through the fog. "We cant stay out here for any longer than we need to, lets hurry up and dig."
~~~
"Violence is never the answer, and im not sure what would be in it for you. Youll have time to think about it before morning, I really dont think anybody is going to be getting any shuteye tonight, unfortunately..." Shaking his head, Louis still comfortably rest himself against the glass, but then voiced his on opinion shorty after. God forbid he didnt keep his mouth shut when anybody said something he didnt agree with. "Sometimes violence is the only option, Professor. Its been doing a hell of a job keeping myself alive, and from the looks of things, yourself include. Out of all the zombies youve killed to be where you are today, how can you even say that? Jeez, violence isnt the answer, gimme a break..."
Listening to the man speak, Hal had became very down on the inside. Thinking back into the history of his life, the 1998 outbreak, and everyday following it. The choice he couldve made, the people he couldnt saved, all wouldve been solved with violence. If not violence, than self defense, but violence was still violence. That was his only flaw, he was never a fighter, and truthfully, always stood behind others, or in the air where it was safe. "...Y-y-your r-right. Sometimes, you j-just gotta go what y-y-you gotta do, r-right? Honestly, though? Ive never k-killed a single z-zo-zo-zom-zombie." The emotion in the changed from his usual neutrally depressed vibe to one that was quite undescribeable. Hes always been a coward, never had what to took to kill something. Hes only ever fired a gun twice, and that was peer pressure on the range.
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Post by Caliber on May 6, 2011 21:45:02 GMT -5
Immediately after Louis, Allison pitched in.
"Exactly," she began. "You're completely delusional if you think they're going to just let us walk around freely, groping around for some cure that may or may not exist. Hell, they'll probably try and kill us just for knowing where the damn place is."
Hal agreed, and Allison laughed at the idea of surviving out here without ever killing a single zombie, much less never firing a weapon. She looked over at him in disbelief with a mocking expression on her face. She didn't say a word, just glanced over then glanced back and shook her head, silently assuring him of how ridiculous she thought he was.
~~
Katy, with her machete drawn, lifted Amelia out of the hole and echoed something that she had said previously,
"Poor girl..."
"Thanks," Amelia told her, brushing the mud off of her clothing and regaining her balance.
They both redirected their eyes down into the hole at Jessica's twitching body. Katy slid the machete back into the sheath strapped to her lower back and drew her pistol from its holster. She aimed down into the hole and fired a single round into the forehead of the infected Jessica, then immediately reholstered it. Jessica's body immediately stopped twitching and she was now dead yet again, this time for good.
"Never get used to that," Katy said with little emotion.
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Post by Winters on May 7, 2011 1:05:48 GMT -5
It wasnt like he had much for a choice, its just the way things are. These survivors, Louis and Allison, were obvious pretty hardcore killers, Hal could see it in their eyes, and the way they spoke. Then, opening his mouth, he broke the silence when Louis didnt respond. "Chances are, if my helicopter hadnt shown up when it did, the both of you would have every single bullet expired, and be running around on that rooftop, walking on a carpet of corpses, before they decided you were done for. An admirable trait, one that I dont often see in people, only in the survivors I find on the street, the ones that are as strong as two."
Feeling the need to explain himself to the both of the survivors, Hal did so in the most informative fashion he could. "I grew up in Vegas, before the outbreak. As you more than likely know, Vegas is America leading safezone, well, one that actually resides on the continent. Hawaii is another one, some people there dont even believe whats actually happen, I was there. But anyways, I grew up in Vegas, and when the 1998 outbreak happened, I remained inside its walls for the first eight years. It was than I joined the BSAA, not as a soldier, but as a pilot, or a technical support. I rigged up communications around the USA, even branching into the UK, as far as Eastern England. I was never on the front lines, always in the air, or with a large group of survivors. I dont even carry a gun, really. Fourteen years, I never needed it..."
~~~
When the gunshot rang off, Arcs eyes lit up once again, and he was filled with rage. Hearing a gunshot indicated there was a threat, and when others found a thread, he honed his sense. But there were no infected around, just a respectful woman who had to put her friend to rest properly. The gunshot echoed around the area, leading into the park, and unfortunately part ways onto the street. Trying not to lose control and hurt Katy for her mistake, he stormed back to the clocktower in a fast walking pattern, constantly looking around for signs of infected. They were going to be closing in on them now, they had to get back inside and make sure the doors were secure enough. He knew they were, but worry was the gunshot, and how many infected heard it. "Back inside... Now!" Arc spoke, gritting his teeth.
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Post by Caliber on May 7, 2011 10:59:24 GMT -5
Katy interrupted Arc as he began storming back to the tower, "I thought that one through," she told him, avoiding the words 'calm down' as they usually just anger a person further. "The thunderstorm will hide a gunshot or two. Only several consecutive shots could be interpreted by the infected over the constant thunder coming from all directions. I've seen it before, it disorients them."
Just as she finished speaking, lightning ripped through the sky and thunder followed. Katy glanced at the sky, then shrugged.
"Well," Amelia began, "The hole is deep enough. We can't dig in this mud any deeper, anyway, and the hole is already filling itself back up. Let's just cover her and create some sort of makeshift tombstone."
~~~
"As long as you'd kill a zombie or two if one of our lives depended on it, that's all I'm concerned with," Allison told Hal. "Anyway," she added, "I'm gonna get some shuteye," she said as she walked for the door.
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Post by Winters on May 7, 2011 15:54:58 GMT -5
Pausing in place as he heard the thunder boom, Arc listened, and found that she was right. The decibel level of the thunder as appose to the gunshot would be enough to filter it out, hence why nobody inside the clock tower even heard it. "Right, just tell me before you going to be shooting off your gun. I tend to get a little jump, its not really anything I can control, lucky I did that time. You two finish up, im gonna head back inside, see if I can get the generator working so we can at least have some power." Leaving the two women to deal with their friend, Arc continued toward the clocktower, and than quietly opened the door to move back inside.
As he moved past the entrance area, Arc noticed the other female survivor, Allison, coming down the stairs. Everything seemed fine, so there was no need to ask if she ran into any trouble up there, it was just the fact she wasnt with Hal or the other man, Louis. But it wasnt important, it was only something that crossed his mind, nothing that would bother him. Seeing her move toward the quiet room, he assumed she was probably going to be getting some shuteye. The interesting part was that they only exchanged a glance, other than that, neither of them spoke to eachother to made any eye contact. He knew his pupils had been glowing a bit, and that was most likely the cause. Shaking it off, he moved down the hallway, and into another room that lead to the back of the clocktower.
Getting into the back, Arc scouted the area, as the heavy door hadnt yet been opened or cleared of any infected. Chances are if there was going to be any on the otherside, they were going to be banging away, trying to get through. However, there wasnt even a handle on the door, it could only be opened on the opposite end. It was then that Arc noticed a fuse box beside the door, and it seemed all of the fuses had been taken out except for the one leading into that room, maybe a few others after it. Somebody had to have dont this on purpose, but for what purpose was beyond his assumptions. Slipping the fuses back into the box, one by one, Arc made sure each that he put in were connected fully.
About halfway through the process, however, there was a banging coming from the door. dropping the last three fuses onto the ground, he backed away, and pulled out his knife. Whatever was on the other side couldnt break through, but if the door was time delayed, it could open at any moment. Than, a voice called out through from the other side, only carrying past an vent that connected between rooms. "Hellllloooo? Why iz zee power flickering? Whos out zere? Christina, did you invite anybody in? Because it seems thats what zeyre trying to do!" Arc wanted to speak out, but instead, quickly reinserted the remaining fuses, but even that failed to do anything when he flicked the switches on and off. "Hey! Stop zat! Ze main power switch is on ze upper levels, im trying to work here!"
~~~
"Heh, ill cya round..." Louis spoke out as Allison left the room. Clearly, she didnt really understand Hal at all, but of all the people to really not care, Louis wasnt one of them this time. He knew exactly what it was like for people to be living in a safe zone, it really messes them up. "When your living even just a few months out in the real world, surviving the outbreak, you pick up on how safe and secure everything needs to be. When you do find a safe place to stay, its hard to make the adjustment at first. All the worries you had before are gone, or at least they could be. One thing that gets you though is when you get used to the safety. Because them if your driven back into reality, you have to start all over again..."
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Post by Caliber on May 8, 2011 17:48:06 GMT -5
Allison walked back down to the lobby, making eye-contact with Arc as she walked into the saferoom. There was something odd about Hal, something familiar. He reminded Allison a bit of her father, whom she was never very close to. Her father was a very passive man and Allison had no doubt that he didn't put up much of a fight for the infected when they came for him. She couldn't help feeling a bit rude for leaving in such a hurry, but she was tired and the whole situation was awkward for her. She walked into the bedroom and leaned her back against the wall, sliding down it slowly, sitting on the floor with her knees bent.
She looked down at the floor beneath her and put her hand on her forehead, running it through her hair. She took a deep sigh before pulling one of the blankets off of the bottom bunk of the bed next to her and laying it out on the floor, folding it over like a sleeping back against the wall. Allison lay down onto the blanket, then folded half of it over her, now completely covering her body. She reached her arm behind her and pulled her revolver from her holster, laying it down on the ground infront of her. She gazed around the room and her eyes fixed onto a dark figure underneath the bunk bed. She reached her arm under the bed to retrieve it out of curiosity. She recognized it immediately.
It was an assault rifle. An AKS-74u equipped with a tan leather shoulder sling. It had clearly been customized, and was in pristine condition. The folding skeletal shoulder stock had been completely removed and the synthetic grips had been replaced with real, polished oak with a glossy finish. Four 30-round, indisposable, black stainless steel 5.45x39mm box magazines lay directly next to it, fully loaded, strapped together in twos via tan elastic bands labeled 'Made in USA', for quick, easy second and fourth magazine reloading. This was not the weapon of an officer of any kind, this was the weapon of a gun nut who had put a large amount of time into customization and maintainance. It was a collector's item and was rather aesthetically pleasing. Allison lay the gun next to her revolver, then collected both sets of magazines and set them side-by-side next to her other two weapons. She grinned slightly before laying her head down onto the floor and closing her eyes.
~~
Amelia and Katy shoveled what dirt was left in the pile back into the hole over Jessica. When they were finished, they searched around for a large rock, then lay it infront of the grave. It was the best they could do to mark her burrial during a storm like this. Once finished, they entered the clocktower via it's main entrance and walked into the lobby.
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