Survivalist Plot: All That Scarcity Promotes is Desperate Men and Tyrants

[meat_mooks]

Day 3 and 4

The remaining hours of the night are tense and ugly, marred by the smell of blood and the complete distrust sewn by Bridge's death. When the sun finally rises, it feels as if the night's been far too long and yet their chance to rest was cruelly short.

The sun peeks over the horizon and onto the parched desert. In the bright sky, if one squints, it's possible to make out that lights are still flashing on the radio tower. The rest of the town is dead, as usual.

Comments

MONSTERBAIT

[meat_mooks]

[Karis and Howard]

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Around the crack of dawn, Howard finds Karis. She doesn't sleep, so she would make an excellent watchperson of the few people who remain here, but instinct says not to let a single person keep guard unless necessary, so Howard stayed up cleaning up after the murder downstairs. He's wrapped the corpse up in a blanket and cut up garbage back and dragged it over to the kitchen, out of sight of the others.

He whispers over to Karis as he enters the room she's in and knocks on the doorway quietly. "Hey, you game for something?"

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[teethofneedles]

Karis was staring out of the widow, almost motionless, when Howard slipped in. And almost instantly her head whips around, fixing him with that dead, yellow stare.

"...yeah, sure. Whatcha have in mind?"

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"If we don't get food and liquid today, we're going to die. I have a plan." He stares at Karis right back with an even, 'I'm dead serious about everything right now' gaze. "And it involves dragging that girl's body around."

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[teethofneedles]

"At least she'll be good for something," Karis replies without missing a beat. Doesn't even blink.

"What are we gonna do with it?"

The body isn't a person, after all.

SCAVENGER MISSIONS

[meat_mooks]

[If you would like your characters to explore the city to find food, tag here in groups!]

HOWARD AND DIANA

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Now that they're fed, they've bought themselves enough time to do things besides raid abandoned houses for food, which means they can move on to their less immediate but no less pressing goal - getting rescue. Howard has no ideas yet beyond recovering the shuttle that crashed, but at least it's something.

Besides, they have a car.

With Karis in charge of their meat, he approaches Diana about it. "You ready to find a way out of this hellhole?"

[keep_surviving]

Other than refusing to enter the room Bridge’s body was being stored in, Diana had taken the whole thing with relative ease, (as was to be expected from those who knew her). While everyone had been debating she’d seen Karis raising her weapon and quickly left the room before the deed had been done.

When she returned to the group, she seemed no different than she had when she’d left and certainly didn’t seem to be avoiding or treating Karis any differently than she had before the act.

Diana now sat, twirling one of her dark locks around her finger, brow furrowed slightly in thought. She caught Howard approaching out of the corner of her eye and looked at him, greeting the boy with her usual smirk and waiting until he’d finished speaking.

“Of course. You driving again or are you desperate for shotgun?”

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Pfft, like you can drive." Howard plays with the keys for a minute, swinging them around his finger, before putting them in his pockets. "I'm thinking the shuttle we took here must have some kind of distress beacon, you know? If there's still a distress call going out, it's the one we were supposed to take care of, and they might think we're just taking out time with it."

Really, the rescue part of this mission is no longer a concern to Howard. Screw that crap, he's saving himself first before the random strangers here, if any are still alive.

He fills a gallon-plastic bag with some cooked monster meat from the fridge and a water bottle with the juice from the flesh. Using a pot to do the cooking was a good idea, they got to keep all the fluid. Then he gets into the car. "You get any sleep last night?"

No, he's not holding the door open for you, Diana.

[keep_surviving]

“How rude, Howie. I have many skills I’ve not let you in on yet.” She stood up, tossing her hair at him, smirk still resting comfortably on her face. “And with that attitude, you’ll never know.”

Waiting for Howard to gather some meat, Diana checked the safety on the flare gun for about the hundredth time that day alone, but knowing their luck she dare not even hold it for more than 10 seconds without checking again. Or making sure it wasn’t near the pocket she was keeping those matches she’d found in.

A shrug. “I caught a few winks.” Only for a little while, much less than the night before, but Howard didn’t need to know that.

In retaliation for his door stunt, Diana pulled her own, using the time it took for him to walk around to the drivers side to climb into her passengers seat and lean over, locking his door from the inside.

She gave him a deliberately sickly sweet smile through his own window and waved. Diana would always be Diana.

CLEF AND MAXINE

[meat_mooks]

[Clef and Maxine]

[bequiet_hescreamed]

[ Intentionally keeping it vague for now as to whether or not Cedric is with them. ]

Clef had already decided where to go by the time it was determined who was going and they had completely left the others. The house he had chosen wasn't far at all, but it was far enough for now and had a couple of things going for it that made it a decent enough place to rest until morning. Of note was the fact that it was completely empty of cadavers - as well as litter, furniture, and everything else that might normally be in an abandoned house. There were no surprises, and little except the house itself to creak in the middle of the night.

The second point in its favor became apparent a few minutes later. Clef immediately headed to the bathroom and returned with a small white puppy wriggling in his arms. It seemed surreal even to him after what they had just been through, but without offering an explanation he simply sat down and set the dog loose to run around the room.

At some point they did somehow decide whether they were actually going to sleep and who should keep watch, but those first few minutes set the tone for the remaining hours until dawn. They were like the puppy after the murder - a strange, easy calmness that seemed too good to last.

[theboywhodied]

Cedric was definitely startled by the little dog. It wagged and wagged its tail, sniffing every new scent from these strange humans. It was cute, but...

...not a cat, he thought wistfully. He'd become so used to cats in his friendship with Howard, a bond that was probably now broken. He tried to ignore that as he helped the others settle in, but it was so difficult to do.

They'd condoned murdering that girl, he reminded himself, pushing the good reasons for that out of his mind. And they would murder him too if he was weakened any further. This was safe, this would be his base while they found their way out.

"I'll watch," Cedric offered. "I've become nocturnal anyway."

[windwitch]

The puppy, honestly, helped.

Maxine knelt on the floor, actually managing a small smile as she stayed there, hand outstretched to the small dog and wanting to just relish in something innocent and alive for a little while.

But she couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened.

She was content to just sit there for a moment, doing her best to try not thinking about it, trying to get absorbed in the animal instead.

And then Cedric spoke, and Maxine looked up at him sadly. "I-- I don't want to sleep," she admitted. "You should try to get some rest, you could really use it, right?"

BACK AT THE FIRST HOUSE

[meat_mooks]

Re: BACK AT THE FIRST HOUSE

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Once Karis and Howard have dragged the monster's body back, using Clef and Cedric's discoveries that the monsters can't climb worth shit, they start moving everything to the second story and destroying the stairs. By the time Cedric comes by, the only way to get to or from the second floor is by a ladder outside the window or rope made of bedsheets that looks comically like something one would find in a children's cartoon.

There's also the smell of meat cooking, and trails of smoke from another window.

Howard sees Cedric approach and waves from the window with the ladder.

[theboywhodied]

Cedric's worried enough on the trip back. He's on his own now, with the other two going ahead with a chance at their rescue. What if he doesn't find them---or worse, what if the situation's deteriorated even more?

He's almost reassured by the sight of Howard and the ladder. Climbing up will be difficult with all the strength they've lost, but there's no choice.

Just to check, he looks up, then down, then up again. There's a tentative first step on the ladder, and then he adds his hands. One step at a time...unless it's pushed by someone in the house and he's offered as monster food. That would be awful.

"We might get help soon," he offers by way of news. "Clef and Maxine found something."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard leans out the edge of the window to give Cedric a hand up, once he gets up that high. "Oh, thank god. And we have food."

He's glad to see Cedric, very glad. After nearly losing him once he doesn't want to do so again, but he still has to balance everything against the other fears that drive him. And yes, he was worried that the band of bleeding hearts would get eaten out there.

SMOKE

[meat_mooks]

[Cedric, Howard, Karis and Diana.]

In this arid climate, fire spreads fast. The monsters, being excellent mimics if not especially bright, learned from the crew cooking one of their beastly brethren and, after a few burnt and combusted casualties in the name of discovery, found out how to use matches with their spindly fingers. Three of them wait outside now, waiting for the smoke to flush their prey out of hiding.

The smoke rises first, up to the top floor where everyone's sitting around or sleeping. The broken-down stairs may stop the monsters from climbing, but it doesn't stop their reach.

Then the fire spreads to the top floor rather quickly, straight across the house like a flaming knife cutting through the center. Soon enough, the two halves of the top floor are separated, leaving Howard and Cedric in a room with the ladder and Diana and Karis in the room with the rope of bedsheets.

DIANA AND KARIS

[meat_mooks]

Re: DIANA AND KARIS

[keep_surviving]

Diana is rudely awoken from her nap by the sound of fire crackling, igniting her own heart to start beating in a panic driven rhythm, she knows that sound well.

She jolts upright and looks around. Karis is still in the room, same as when she’d fallen asleep. She can taste the smoke snaking its way through the room and feel the heat of the flames licking at the door.

A fire? Where had a fire come from? Surely none of the crewmates would have been stupid enough to start an accidental fire? But that only left those things outside to be the culprits, and since when did monsters start fires? Aren’t they supposed to be scared of the stuff?

“Really?” She complains loudly as she stands. “No one said the hulking messes of flesh could use fire. Isn’t this against the rules or something?”

Screw Howard and his inability to understand the concept of a lookout. And while she’s on the subject... “So much for keeping watch.” She says offhandedly to Karis.

Her gaze travels to the window and she sees the rope of bed sheets is still tied there. Relishing in the relief that she fell asleep in this room and not one of the others, Diana rushes over to check it’s not caught fire. Even if it’s not, there’s probably the monsters down there, waiting to pick them off. But caught between burning alive or running for her life, Diana feels the latter is the better option.

She casts a glance over her shoulder to the other person in the room. “You coming? Or do you prefer to be barbequed?”

Diana keeps catching the silhouette of Drake in the shadows of the flames encompassing the door. And Karis’ zombie look is not helping. She wants out of here now.

Re: DIANA AND KARIS

[teethofneedles]

"I'm coming, girlie," Karis hisses. She's not any happier and she shoulders her way over to the window. Fire is one of the few things that'll really hurt her without even trying to. She glances out the window and then draws her axe, slipping her wrist through the loop on the end of the haft, "You sure you wanna go first? Don't know what's down there."

She shoots Diana a grin, "Hell of a day, huh?"

HOWARD AND CEDRIC

[meat_mooks]

[theboywhodied]

Cedric instinctively drops to his knees and covers his mouth, before he can make an even bigger splat against the ground. He's just told Howard that he's staying, but there's not really going to be a place left to stay soon.

"The ladder!" he gasps, propping himself and staggering over to the wall. It's not likely this old structure will last more than a few minutes, he thinks, remembering all the falling they've done here. They need to get...

"Out. Food. Blood," he says, a running commentary of his thoughts. He pushes back for a handful of at least one.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard pulls up his shirt to cover his nose and mouth and nods. In a way, he's proud of Cedric finally getting his priorities in line. Howard keeps coughing and barely manages to eke out "get the bottles, we can last longer without food".

He throws open a closet and looks for something, anything, a backpack or a duffel bag or anything. There, a briefcase, they can fit the bottles in there. When Cedric returns Howard stuffs them in and grabs Ced's wrists again.

"Metal ladder. Hot." He pulls Cedric's sleeves over his hands, then heads over to the window and tosses the briefcase out. He pulls his flare gun from his jacket pocket and starts to head down. He's coughing too hard to tell Ced to hurry up, but the increasing heat and decreasing oxygen in the room should be motivation enough.