trans_9 | Survivalist Plot: The Envy of Eden

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Survivalist Plot: The Envy of Eden

Day One

Stacy calls Cedric Diggory, Diana Ladris, Guru Clef, Howard Bassem, Karis Needleteeth, The Master and Maxine Hunkel to the deck.

Planet Designation: Eden Status: Terrestrial, H-class. Non-sentient life: Sparse levels of flora, no natural fauna Semi-Sentient Life: None Sentient Life: Small human colonies created to mine Eden's limited precious elements. As of last Eden 'year', population 300. Settlers do not typically make permanent stays. Water: 75.6% of the planet's surface. Climate: Dry and moderate during the day. At nights temperatures drop to below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Infrequent rains, risks of flash floods. Landscape: Desert and sedimentary rock mountains. Most water is retrieved by wells or from cargo ships. Sparse vegetation. Air: Type I (breathable) Sky: Grey Warnings: Electrical storms may interfere with omnicomm function. Mission: Investigate source of distress signal picked up on Stacy's sensors.

For the most part the trip down to the atmosphere goes uneventfully, even if it is a little cramped in the shuttle, but as soon as they get within a few thousand feet of the ground things start to go wrong. Communication with Stacy cuts off; Stacy herself is cut off mid-sentence while warning the crew to use iodine in any tap water they find. The omnicomms go similarly blank. The shuttle lurches through the sky and tilts sideways. One of the engines blows. The automatic seatbelts unlock. A section of the shuttle's roof rips off, letting in thin, hardly-breathable air.

More terrifying still, the superpowered members of this crew may have time to notice that they no longer have their abilities.

About thirty feet above the ground the shuttle tips into a barrel roll, the autopilot fritzing out as it tries to right things, and the crew goes tumbling out and scatters amongst the town moments before the shuttle crashes into a far cliffside.

[OOC: Tag into your designated subthreads! In a little, once we've established what's going on a bit more, while I'll put up a thread for them all to reconvene. I will be NPCing monsters in these threads, so please drop me a line if you want the monsters to do anything specific or if I'm being slow on a tag.]

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Diana was holding her arm as she stood up, curtain of dark, flowing hair hiding her face, which she was thankful for because she'd flinched as she rightened herself and she did not want Howard seeing that.

She'd adopted what she called the 'telekinetic throwing position' when they'd fallen. Which basically just amounted to using her arms to protect her head, causing the appendages to be coated in the majority of her scrapes.

She could feel the sting of her cuts and the dull throbs on spots of her skin that she knew meant the onset of bruises, but all this she ignored, far passed the point of caring about such small injuries.

Her arm she was concerned about though, something had struck her elbow at an odd angle as they'd smashed through the roof, jostling and twisting her shoulder painfully. Her worry was it would be a more substantial injury, she didn't need that hindering her throughout this hellish road trip.

Hoping it was nothing more than a bad sprain, she gave it a rub and tossed her dark bangs out of her eyes to look at Howard. "Mmmhmm, just peachy. I'm already loving my first little 'mission', I don't see why people keep whining so much about them."

Diana glanced curiously as Cedric, on the way here it'd been clear that Howard knew him, but Diana had never crossed paths with the boy before. She didn't voice any concern for his well being, because well, she didn't really have any, and Howard had already taken care of it anyway.

Edited 2012-02-01 22:45 (UTC)

Howard jumps forward to try and catch Cedric from falling in the hole, but Cedric's already got a handle on it, so Howard takes a step back and sits down again. "Just checking to make sure nothing's broke. My kit's gone."

He pulls out his omnicomm. "No signal." He considers pulling his communicator to Zouichi out, but that's not something he exactly wants to be flaunting around in front of Diana.

He casts a glance at her. He knows she's probably on the same page he is; head downstairs and raid whatever medicine cabinet this house has, whether people still live here or not.

"What's up with your arm?" Howard doesn't catch the flinch, but he does see the way she cradles her arm as she stands up. Probably was hoping for too much for them all to fall through a roof without hurting themselves, but Howard has to admit - he'd rather Diana a little weakened than at her full capabilities. Not because she's a threat - at the moment they're all a team - but because they have an uneasy sort of acquaintance, one that can easily turn to enmity if the circumstance is stressful enough. And missions tend to be stressful. Howard would rather have an upper hand on her if things get down to it.

As long as she doesn't become too vulnerable. People like her, when they get vulnerable, get dangerous.

"Oh, by the way. Cedric, Diana. Diana, Cedric." He moves his hands between them in a gesture of presenting them to each other. "So, I guess it goes without saying that our mission is no longer about finding a distress signal unless it helps us get back to the ship."

Cedric is slow to stand up. The rattling bones and blood and bruises are part of it, yes, but the root of his uncertainty is fear. He silently curses at himself. He didn't get enough training in before he lost his magic again, so he's just as useless as before.

Worse...there's no obvious reason for his loss of magic this time. SHODAN had explicitly said she was activating the dampers. Here, there's no clue. And that's a reason to worry, because there's no obvious way to recover either. If that's even possible.

When he realises that he's likely being watched, he pushes against a rotting wall and stands. He'll be even more useless if he lets fear take control so easily. Cedric makes himself face Diana, nodding. "I'm sorry the circumstances are so bad. So...we're looking for a way out? And things. I don't have anything."

No defences, no tools, just a dead computer-thing and an equally dead stick.

There's a slight quirk of her eyebrow at Howard's attempt at rescue but she puts it away for later, too busy being irritated by the loss of Howard's (and therefore, and more importantly, their) medical kit. "Great. Good thing no one broke a rib then."

In response to Howard's question, Diana fell back on her old sarcastic eye roll and tone. "I fell through a roof, that's what's up with it."

She gives Cedric a nod back before taking in their surroundings. "Weren't there supposed to be people actually living here?" She looked around at run-down room. "Because it seems like that may have been a lie. That or did we just land in the bad neighborhood?"

Edited 2012-02-02 20:01 (UTC)

There's a sudden thump downstairs, and the sound of something crashing - pots and pans in the kitchen, maybe. A few more clangs and scratching noises follow, as well as the sound of snuffling.

From the stairs, only a little past the closed bedroom door, there's the sound of something heavy and wet being dragged.

Fear visibly settles into Howard's face as he realizes what Cedric's saying. Ah. No magic. That's not good. That's really not good. And it might apply to the other crew members out there, if the fall didn't kill them. Karis could be dead.

Howard's mind flicks back to the robot attack, trying to talk Cedric down from doing stupid things. He doesn't know if he'll have time to try and massage Cedric's self-worth.

"Maybe if we find the shuttle, we can rig some kind of signal back to Stacy up. Or if we get back on that roof we can see if there's a radio tower or something."

He rolls his eyes at Diana. "Broken ribs are nothing. As in, there's nothing I can really do for you if you break your rib except jack you full of morphine, so-" Howard pauses as he hears the commotion downstairs.

He walks over to the bedroom door, flicks the lock closed, and gets down to look through the crack between the door and the carpet. He shoots a glance back at Diana, whispering, "you were saying?"

"I'm no good with either of those. I'll haul things, but that's about all I can do."

Cedric edges against the wall, aware without saying that it's time to be quiet. Something's here, and given their usual circumstances it's likely to attack them. He frantically tries to think of a plan, wondering if there's anything in the room they can use to defend themselves with.

"And if it breaks through the door?" Still looking.

Diana doesn't answer, instead she slowly backs away from the door, deeper into the room. There's no panic on her face, just calm preparation.

There's a quick glance up at the penetrated roof, but other than that she keeps a steady gaze on the door. With a quiet and cool voice she speaks to Howard. "You shouldn't be so close. It'll see you blocking the light."

Howard's about to shoot back at Diana that for all they know it's already smelled or heard them, but then he hears a scratching at the door. Not like a cat, but like a person. He jumps away from the door and scrambles backwards, placing himself between Diana and the back wall. Congratulations, you are now his meat shield.

And just in time, because the door explodes outwards, knocked off its hinges by a thing. The first thing Howard thinks is that it looks like a cross between an overgrown baby and Spider-Man's Venom. It's large, maybe eight feet tall on all fours, with glistening beige skin that looks like slabs of raw chicken skin. Its mouth is a wide maw with strips of gum hanging from it, and every tooth looks sharp and long. Its slender arms end in elongated hands with needle-like claws; its feet look like oversized human feet, except they're bent backwards and twisted so it's walking on the top of its feet.

Worst is the eyes, just dark grooves in its awful face with no discernible eyeball.

One of its hands gets the nails stuck in the tread of the carpet. It yanks it up, knocking over the bookshelf with the books, action figures, lamp and oversized magic 8 ball. It makes a shrieking sound and lunges for Cedric.

It's a horrifying feeling all around. Cedric swears he can feel his heart drop when it breaks through. It will kill them. They have no weapons. Just an omnicom, but it's not heavy enough to do real damage when thrown.

Cedric considers going for the hole, but there's no real path for him to get there. He meets the creature's eyes, vaguely notes the locations of Diana and Howard, and suddenly becomes aware of one thing.

He's dead.

The life-preserving instinct still kicks him, prompting him to desperately dodge to the side, but he still yells one word as his life appears to be rapidly reaching a close.

"Go!"

Diana didn't even need instruction.

She'd barely had time between scowling at Howard's actions and being fearful of what was about to come into the room when the door had burst.

It'd taken just a look at the mouth of the creature to decide she never wanted to be a room with it ever again.

So, before Cedric had even opened his mouth, Diana had already made a bolt for the hole in the floor.

Sorry, Cedric, Howard likes you but he's sure as heck not going to get eaten by that thing for you. He's taking Diana's lead and heading for the hole.

But as he goes he grabs the magic 8 ball off the floor and chucks it at the wall. It bounces off and hits the monster's shoulder.

And then he's down through the hole, landing with Diana feet-first on a dining room table.

The beast misses Cedric by mere millimeters, slowed only by its claw hands getting stuck in the carpet again. It's about to whip around and make another lunge for its prey - the biggest in the group of terrified fleshy meals - when it's struck in the shoulder by the ball. It turns to see where it came from, giving Cedric a split second of a chance to escape.

Down in the dining room, the table is possibly the only thing left standing. Splintered chairs litter the floor and a refrigerator has been toppled and gutted. Pieces of wiring are strewn everywhere. The tile floor is slick with patches of grease. The sliding glass door to the kitchen has been completely shattered in, leaving no question as to how the creature got in here.

That's all Cedric needs to buy his mission-mates some more time. He only hopes that the monster bites his head off first when the time comes. Prolonged agony wouldn't be very much fun.

He vaults back over the bookcase and hole in the floor, kicking up some dust and taking off in a blind run. He has to get as far away from the others as he can before he goes. He shoves his way through strewn objects, ramming one door to gain access to a promising-looking room. The faded walls were once bright green---and given his original death, quite an appropriate colour.

Even more appropriate for the scene are the mangled and rotting bodies underfoot. Cedric yelps, shoving past a grandfather clock, then---the motion disturbs a corpse that was leaning against the wall. Blood-brown messes that were once limbs wave in front of him, and he can't help but scream.

The next second, the bones and rotted flesh fall in front of him with an ominous thud. The monster's coming. Cedric holds his breath and charges at the window, hoping against hope that it opens.

The window does. Beyond is a yard with dried grass and a wooden fence, easy enough to vault over, and the rest of the small city. It's like a ghost town if everyone suddenly abandoned the surburban 80's. Cars, stop signs, even a small playground and an elementary school. All abandoned.

The monster follows Cedric back down the hole and into the room with the bodies. The bodies themselves appear to have once been a family of three. Their ribcages have been ripped open and insides eaten out. Slug-looking masses the size of a person's fist sit inside the chest cavities, growing and incubated. It sniffs the air again and tilts its head - with all the scent of decay here and poor eyesight, it's hard to locate Cedric, but once it's pinpointed him it lunges again.

A fraction of a second too late to get him before he escapes through the window, and it can't possibly hope to fit. It starts slamming through a door in hopes of following Cedric.

Cedric knows he needs to clear some distance before he can empty the contents of his stomach. He scrambles across rickety roof tiles throwing himself at a nearby tree. There's a nearby branch just in his reach, and with that start he can slide down until it's safe enough to jump and run.

He starts inching down, scraping his palms raw with bark. This is a horrible way to die. He's outside, alone, with no clue where his companions went. Apparently others have died before them---been murdered, it looks like. It's enough to make him sick.

Hopefully the monster won't get out right away. The field's largely barren, and there's not much to fight him with. More time, they need more time. He just doesn't know how fast it's ticking down.

Always the spare, huh? When he thinks of the people he's left, he feels guilty. Howard's just gotten through telling him to live, and what's the first thing he does? Sacrifice himself.

Well, maybe he can be a fighting sacrifice.

Out in the open, Cedric's scent is easier to follow. Once the monster has found its way back out the kitchen door, is starts to follow.

But more slowly this time. Its prey will be getting tired. There's no need for it to exert itself more and use up more of its precious energy. It shuffles across the dried up front yard and approaches the barren field. Pieces of grass stick to its greasy skin.

It will let Cedric run just long enough to think it's safe, then it'll get him. The beast drags itself towards Cedric; it's maybe a hundred meters away. As fast as it can move when lunging, it's slow when just walking, and seems almost pathetic. It has to drag itself on those spindly arms.

It stops and waits for Cedric to move again.

Damn. It's out here again. Cedric touches down nervously, taking off in the direction of Most Stuff. He can prolong this fight with something, can't he? A crowbar like the ones all the other powerless people were using against the robots? He breaks into a run, trying to keep the stench of death from distracting him too much. Surely there's something---anything. Maybe someone who knows how to fight them?

Along the way, he manages to bend down and scoop up a rusted bumper in his raw hands. "Yeah, that's right, kill the spare, come on," he curses under his breath. More noise could attract more of them.

Cedric will soon find himself in the middle of the little town's 'downtown' - a gas station, a restaurant, and some downed power lines. Better not step on those, Cedric; they're still sparking.

The monster follows him at a leisurely pace. Like a cat not bothering to kill its prey because there's no chance at escape. Occasionally it makes a hooting sound, like it's calling its brethren, but there's no response.

Finally, once it's gotten tired of watching Cedric drag the bumper around like an awkwardly-shaped sword, it rushes forward at him.

The whole town is unsettlingly quiet. Cedric moves past the bodies, not even thinking to raid for food and supplies like he should. It's too gruesome. There's got to be a solution waiting, a rescue...surely someone's realised everything is wrong.

No rescue in time. Death's rapidly approaching. Cedric yelps and leaps onto an old porch, preparing to jump. If he gets it....

He tries bringing the old bumper down hard on his opponent. If he lands on his feet, he'll run the other way. Another abandoned building? What if it was filled with more?

No time to worry.

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meat_mooks - 2012-02-04 02:22 (UTC) - Expand

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theboywhodied - 2012-02-04 04:55 (UTC) - Expand

Out the kitchen door is a paved street that leads through the town. It looks like suburbia, taken back twenty-five years and completely desolate. Little cookie-cutter houses lead down the street, some of them with doors similarly knocked-out or ajar. In the distance is a radio tower, and cliffs. The tilted steeple of the church is visible.

Many of the cars have windows rolled down or doors open too. There's a body in the street next to a pickup truck, some adult man with his chest ripped open and larval monsters deposited inside.

Diana is jogging at a brisk pace down the street, not running, she'd sprinted until the original house was out of sight and then slowed, she wanted enough energy to dash when the next danger jumped at them. Because it would. Because there was always something else trying to get them.

Her arms were laden with the off food that'd been spilling out of the fridge, carrying them while being careful not to drop any was a pain, and her injured arm is starting to ache, but this was probably the only self-sacrifice she was ever going to be willing to make.

Diana tried to focus on Howard's back, hating the feeling of dread that took over her when she saw empty streets and 'host' bodies.

"Any plans, smart guy?"

Howard didn't stop for the food. Maybe he's been away from the FAYZ too long. Maybe he prioritizes running more. Who cares. He just ran.

Ran and tried to forget that yelp he heard from Cedric's direction that kept repeating itself in his head like an awful glitch in a tape.

Now he slows down a little, letting Diana catch up to him. Better than they not get separated. At least now if they need to rest one can stay on guard. It's better than being alone.

"Actually..." He breathes deep and wipes a hand across his face. Running and forgetting and crying, out of terror more than anything but losing Cedric hurts too. Maybe he can just pass it off as fear. He does have a tendency to burst into tears when confronted with flesh-eating monsters. "A bit of one."

He runs over to one of the bodies on the street and starts checking its pockets for car keys. Even just rifling through its clothes, his hands are covered in gore. He finally finds what he wants and pulls it out. He checks the detailing of the key.

"Ford." He wipes his hands on the edge of his jacket and points out the car it must work for. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Diana stops and waits, breathing a little ragged from the running. Fleeing for your life was certainly easier when you were well fed and rested.

Her eyes impulsively keep darting around her.

She was a little stunned by Howards tears, true, he'd never been the best emotional stronghold when faced with trauma, nor was anyone else really, but still. She guessed it must have something to do with the other boy, though why Howard would do something so unlike him as to care about someone else's safety Diana has trouble understanding.

But the two had known each other before arriving. And something in the back of Diana's mind flagged something up but she files it away for later.

Diana manages to bite her tongue on making a comment about Howards vulnerable state.

But she can't lie to herself, she just doesn't feel guilty about what happened to Cedric. There is some guilt but that's only because she doesn't feel anything about his death and she knows she should.

Tossing the food over her shoulder into the back seat, she pulls herself into the car and slumps against the backrest.

Howard climbs into the driver's seat. It's getting dark. He's not looking forward to wandering around this place at night. "Check the glove compartments. Might have a flashlight."

Or granola bars. He glances back at the food she dumped behind her. It smells, it's rotten, he can tell from here but they should be able to sort through the things that won't make them sick, might make them sick and will definitely make them sick later.

He doesn't even need to thank Diana for getting the food. Emotions like gratitude are for times when they aren't fighting for their lives.

He revs the engine and starts driving. "Think it's a good idea to risk breaking in someplace and finding water? Or should we keep looking for everyone else?"

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[playing with the setting and getting creative to escape are welcome!]

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Cedric and the Monster

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Diana and Howard

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