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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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.

The bumper hits the creature in the head, and then Cedric gets a stroke of luck. The part of the porch under the monster caves in under its feet, and its back half slides down into the hole. It's only about a three foot drop, but the creature can't seem to garner the arm strength to haul its heavy backend back up onto the porch.

It shrieks and howls at Cedric, clearly infuriated to be trapped so.

Wow. Cedric hesitates a second to be sure that he's safe, then drops the bumper and jogs off. He'll need something smaller to fight with. That remain of a mailbox post will do! He picks it up, twirling it in his hands, and begins his walk alone.

What's he going to do? He wasn't raised a Muggle. He can't drive a car, build a machine, fix a machine, or do much of anything useful. All he can do is try to find some water...Howard had said a running source, right? Was there any?

Against his better judgment, he peeks into the next house. Bodies everywhere, as before. He listens for monsters, creeping around every corner. It'll probably be a while before he finds anything, especially since he's still in a daze.

It's like he's sleepwalking through a nightmare. Who would want to wake up?

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?"

Diana yanked open the compartment and dug under the receipts and other pieces of paper until she felt something smooth, about the size of her hand.

Pulling it out she saw the object with black casing had a black looped cord attached and large silver switch. Flicking it upwards with her thumb, a relatively bright beam of light burst from the three, perfectly intact, bulbs on the front.

Hardly believing their luck, she snapped the torch off to save battery and turned it over to inspect the back.

What she saw almost caused her to give an audible reaction. Tucked neatly into its placeholder, was a small handle.

Feeling like a hope filled fool for even attempting it, Diana pulled the handle out and turned it, almost dropping the device when it made a distinct whirring sound.

Getting over her disbelief, she gave the handle one full turn before folding it back into place.

A wind up torch. A working wind up torch. This was too lucky, and she knew it.

She quickly tied the cord through one of the belt loops on her jeans and answered his question. "Water first."

She didn't care how cold that may of sounded, Diana hasn't been away from the FAYZ long enough to fool herself into thinking concern for others is something she must prioritize.

Besides, what if they did find everyone else first but didn't find water? Howard should know just as well as she did that next to no resources amongst a group of people was nothing if not dangerous.

Afterall, the information given to them about the planet had said--

Diana suddenly began digging through the glove compartment again, wondering how much their luck really would hold out.

Howard reaches over and pushes her hand with the flashlight down. There's a reason he's driving with the headlights off. Any light they cast can be tracked to them, and so they should wait until it's entirely dark before they give away their presence visually. Even the hum of the car motor's set him on edge.

"I was thinking having softer people around for the monsters to eat when they attack us," he says. "That little kid, or the girl with the red hair or something. Safety in numbers and all."

But it's tricky, safety in numbers. Because while it may be useful against immediate threats, he knows as well as Diana does that a group without resources is a group that turns on itself. She's right. They should secure water first, at the very least.

It's strange. As terrified as he was, suddenly he's struck with a sense of calm. While survival mode was something he was stuck in back on Stacy, here it makes sense. This sort of situation is what he's adapted for. He's not crazy and neurotic and damaged here, he's just smart.

"Hey." He thinks he's got a good idea what she's looking for in the glove compartment. "Take my hand. Let's find out if magic and technology's the only thing that don't work here."

If she does, all she'll feel is his pulse along his skinny wrist.

Diana gave Howard a look when he touched her, not really understanding what had possessed him to do so, she'd already turned the torch off. And he had made it clear the last thing he wanted was physical contact with her. Or with anyone.

But, apparentlly, that wasn't true. Obviously, she'd hit her head when she'd fallen through that roof. Because she was sure she'd just heard Howard say 'take my hand'.

Diana looked up from inspecting the papers in the compartment and just raised an eyebrow at him for a moment.

"All right. But I have to tell you, this doesn't guarantee a second date." That's better, mocking, she must be alright again.

Sighing, she wraps her slender fingers around Howard's hand, their palms connecting. She looks at their joined hands for as long as she needs, then lets go. "Nothing."

"But what were you expecting? You're a no bar anyway, remember?"

"I'm heartbroken." He sounds sarcastic but his heart's not really in it. Partially because he is, at least, a little devastated about other things, but certainly not the idea of missing out on a date with Diana.

"You didn't know I'm a no-bar, though. So you don't feel anything on normal people? I always just assumed you at least sensed a nothing if there wasn't any power there." He pulls his hand away and shrugs. "So that's no good."

And he's back to being fine never touching Diana again.

He coasts at a little under twenty miles an hour down the road, occasionally veering around cars that were just left in the street. They don't see any monsters. Maybe the monsters don't come out at night after all.

The car's got a half a tank, which is good information for him to tuck away for later. He pulls over onto the sidewalk once they hit a stretch of road with no bodies anywhere. Better to deal with any territorial survivors than the monster again.

"Might as well search this house. I'll keep the motor running in case we have to book it out of there." Honestly, it might be smarter to take the keys with him, since he expects if they get chased Diana will leave without him without a second glance, but, well. He'd do the same to her, and he'd rather not wrestle with the engine as a beast descends on him.

The house is completely intact but also almost entirely empty. It's a little one-story flat with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and an office. The beds are left unmade, but there's no sign of struggle anywhere. There's a skylight they can use to get to the roof and get a good view of the city.

Unfortunately, the pantry's also been emptied, but they might find other useful items in the house: a vacuum cleaner, a space heater, tabs of iodine, signal flares, binoculars, sleeping bags, kitchen knives, and other odds and ends. The door to the house is still locked, as if someone was intending to return home and just never got to. No water is running through any of the taps.

They'll have to break in to enter, but they probably won't have any compunctions about that.

“Maybe I do and maybe I don’t.” She shrugged as they headed towards the house. “But I can tell you I’ve not even sensed my own power since we got here.”

The way in had been far too easy. A smashed window was all it took. It felt painfully slow having to knock out all the sharp shards sticking up from the frame but they didn’t have anything to throw over it, so once the larger pieces were out of the way they carefully climbed their way into the house.

Diana grabbed the first rug she saw and tossed it through the window to make the escape less tedious, then began looking around.

It was frustrating not to find water. Not disappointing. No. Disappointing would imply they’d been expecting something to go their way. And people like Howard and herself didn’t ever expect that anymore. Besides, it’s not like everything they found was worthless.

Diana had been dumping anything that could be classed as ‘useful’ and ‘portable’ near the window they’d smashed in when she looked up at the sky light. She seemed to consider something before looking at Howard. “All right, who’s going up?”

"So I guess it's across the board, then." Howard pulls the curtains around the broken window. No need to announce their exitway to others. He pops back out to get the keys from the car, now that they've secured the perimeter, and returns.

Howard sweeps a glance over what Diana's categorized over by the window. He adds some of his own finds to the piles. A roll of duct tape, scissors, a pack of double-A batteries, a box of Kleenex, a few books of matches. He grabs the binoculars out of the pile.

"I'll go up. You can run across the street and set off the signal flares. Then we can watch from the roof to see if anyone investigates." He pauses and tugs the binoculars into his pocket. "After we move this stuff somewhere out of the open and find that water we're looking for."

He pulls out a map he found in a desk. "There should be a well around here somewhere, a few hundred feet out back. Think we can wait it out until morning?"

What with all the running and the knowledge that any well they find might be empty or contaminated, Howard's not keen on waiting. But he doesn't want to head out into the dark with monsters out either.

Clearly the best solution would be to coax Diana into doing it, but he knows she's not that dumb. No way would she leave him alone with all their scavenged items and a car.

“Oh, goodie.” She said, rolling her eyes. “I get the fun job.”

While collecting what she would need for her run across the street tomorrow, she addressed his question. “Tomorrow.” Like everything else, those creatures probably needed water too, and there was no way of telling what might be sharing your well in the dark until it was too late.

Once everything was organized she pulled up one of the kitchen chair and sat in it (not trusting what might be lurking within the cushions of a sofa). “Looks like we’re back to long, paranoid sleepless nights. The justified kind, anyway.”

She resisted the overwhelming urge to rub her shoulder, her arm was beginning to really smart. “Who’s having the first shift?” They may not trust each other but there wasn’t a cat’s in FAYZ chance they were going to let the night pass unwatched. True, they both had sleeping issues, but after a tiring day pumped on adrenaline it would be impossible for them both stay awake all night. It felt horribly wrong but for the sake of rest, they’d have to put their life in the others hands.

At least it was only watch duty.

"I got the binoculars," he says, totally smug. He pats them in his jacket. "And goodie, I missed the sleep deprivation so much. I can't wait for the dehydration to kick in next."

He rolls a sleeping bag out on the floor and sits on it. It's going to be a long night, probably boring and tense at the same time. It's not like they have anything to read and even if they did, they wouldn't want to get distracted. "I'll take first shift."

There's a downside to that - if Diana chooses to mess with him while he's sleeping, he won't have a similar opportunity to get back at her. But the upside is that since they have no way of telling time, shifts will have to be divided by 'until I'm about to doze off', and without the cat nap to recharge his batteries a little, Howard's shift will probably be shorter.

"You want me to take a look at that arm before you conk out?"

Diana gave him a look, not even bother to hide the distrust in her eyes.

She really didn't want Howard anywhere near when she was injured, much less actually touching her. And the boy probably felt the same way.

But despite this, they would really be no use to each other if they were injured. Even distractions needed to be able to run, if only so the creatures followed them instead and left you alone.

And turning down help from a medic would be a foolish waste and most likely would just haunt her later.

With this in mind, Diana lifted her sore arm out, presenting it to Howard.

"If you want."

[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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Feel free to find other things, just no food, water or current tech.

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Re: Feel free to find other things, just no food, water or current tech.

Re: Feel free to find other things, just no food, water or current tech.

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