trans_9 | Survivalist Plot: We Wear Out All Our Prayers

By the time Diana gets to the radio tower, the sun is high and beating down on the roof of the car. It's easily over a hundred degrees farenheit, and still dry as a bone. The radio tower door is still unlocked - Cedric didn't bother to secure it when he brought Howard in. If Diana turns into a room to the side, there's an employee lounge. Couch, vending machine, the like. A water fountain.

And while Howard and Cedric have left, the signs of them are still here - some used bandages in a wastebasket, a smear of blood on the couch. And what might interest Diana the most: a crumpled paper plate on the floor. A plate that is still wet. And there, in the basin of the water fountain, droplets still. Fresh running water.

She's very careful as she enters, being as quiet as possible, making sure nothing's about to attack her or follow her into this small sanctuary.

The blood puts her on edge, but satisfied she's as safe as she can be right now, Diana heads to the fountain.

Diana drinks until she's full, then drinks some more. After making use of the restroom, having one of her dwindling snack bars and filling her water bottles to the brim she looks around the room. Her eyes catch some blood near the steps.

It's red, so human. And fresh. Unless there's actually some surviors in this town, Diana's betting it's one of her shipmates. Injured or not, maybe this means someone's at least started the job of getting them out of here. Good, it saves her the effort.

Whoever is up there might be dead or dying but it's still her only lead off this planet. Mentally ready for whatever is going to be up there she starts the ascent up the steps. Careful. Calm. Finger on the trigger of the flare gun, just incase she's following the trail of a monster-dragged body.

Up on the fourth floor, Howard and Cedric are trying to figure out the radio system. They haven't seen any sign of Clef, Maxine or Karis yet.

The room is large, with a console and mixing boards everywhere. A large window looks out over the town, although right now it seems peaceful and quiet as always. More serene than usual. One of the lightbulbs above them is out, but for the most part the room is well lit, and three swiveling chairs sit in front of the dashboards.

They've managed to disable the recording that reminds them in fifteen second chunks of a mandatory evacuation, but as for actually getting the distress signal going they're completely at a loss. Cedric's hopeless with computers and Howard's not much better - the most he ever did before the FAYZ was play online games and pirate music.

Cedric and Howard both look like they've seen much better days. Howard's got a bandage on his head and bloodier one on his torso and Cedric's ripped-off sleeves reveal some significant bruising. Furthermore, it looks like neither of them slept.

"Oh. You're alive." Howard gives Diana a little wave, trying to sound more put together than he is. His face is drawn into the expression of one only just holding back from succumbing to pain.

[Diana, then Ced.]

Edited 2012-04-09 03:18 (UTC)

Diana spots Howard and oddly she feels a slight bit of relief, she guesses that’s down to the familiarity and that Howard might actually come up with a plan of escape.

“You’re both alive.” She sounds a little surprised, understandably. The small amount relief she felt though sinks like a stone in water though when she sees the state of Howard. She can guess what happened so doesn’t bother asking, instead she chooses to ignore it.

Walking over, Diana takes in the dashboards, seems like they’re working, but if they’ll be able to use them is another question. “You boys got a plan yet?”

Normally, she would be more snarky, but fights it for the moment, being snarky would mean she’d have to address and acknowledge how terrible Howard looks, and she wants to focus on leaving people thinking of that.

"No," Cedric admits, head hung. That's the crux of it. "Well...the idea is to send a distress signal to the ship, but I don't have a clue about Muggle technology. I could do a little more if I had my magic, but I'm not sure how our powers are being suppressed either."

He leans over the couch, wondering. Hoping. "Maxine and Clef should be here soon. But until then, we can search."

He looks down at Howard, hinting 'and taking turns looking after him. That's an awkward thing to propose, but there's no way he's leaving his friend alone. Wait. He's supposed to pretend that they're not friends. How's he going to pull this off?

No clue.

"If Maxine and Clef aren't dead," Howard says, the voice of pessimism. Another chill passes over him and his body spasms a little. "I haven't seen them, but they must be here. I found red hair on the chair."

And unless this place has recently had a redhead with Maxine's length haircut, that should mean something.

"We're trying to figure out how to get this stupid distress signal running. It's still going off, but I got no idea how to change it to say 'seriously, we're not joking right now'."

Well, unless there's anyway to make it go faster Diana's pretty stumped too.

She casts her gaze over the collection of buttons and lights. "So, Maxine's still our best bet?"

Their bet best rested with someone who quite possibly could be dead and they might have just missed.

"Fabulous."

Karis has been trying to find everyone else since she got seperated. Mainly by cutting a line through the town, looking for anything that indicates they might be alive and dodging monsters. But her axe is bloodied and she's a bit more battered than she was awhile ago. But she's found the radio tower. Her boots clang on the steps and then she's through the open door and for a moment, she takes the room in.

She's lucky she doesn't have to deal with heat fatigue.

"Anyone still alive in here?"

Not that she cares or anything.

Cedric debates on whether to say anything to Karis's voice. She's going to come up anyway, but...she killed a little girl. And part of him fears she'll kill Howard too, once his condition is obvious. Someone else can call her up.

There's no more time to waste. He sprints over to the control panel, takes a leap of faith, and...pushes a button.

On a screen near the button, a video pops up. A dark-skinned woman with curly brown hair and a harried look on her face is on the screen, somewhat out of focus, working on something on the control panel.

"My name is Sasha Mdengo, and I'm saving my town. If you're seeing this, I failed, and you're either picking up corpses or need to get out while you still can. I was going to write this all down, but tape is faster.

The camera moves and showcases part of the dashboard.

"This is the distress signal. It's set to send a signal to any ship in range. The message is a basic S.O.S. from this colony, but you can set it to a new identity by going into this panel," Sasha opens a panel and reveals a series of numbers and a keyboard, "and punching in an ID."

She pulls the camera away. "I've set a field that nullifies super natural abilities from a node at the top of the tower. It can be deactivated by force. Hopefully, that will protect us from the monsters. If not..."

She cocks a gun and looks into the camera again. "I'm going back for my kid. Good luck to you, whoever's watching this. Stay safe."

The video clicks off.

"Just us gutter rats." Howard waves his non-broken arm at Karis, clearly not even a fraction as worried about her Cedric is. He and Karis are bros. They share booze and bitch about their moms. "Hey, Fangs."

He startles a bit when the video snaps on. He watches it with interest, and with...in a strange way, regret. The woman looks a little like his mother, and if she's going back for her kid...

Howard's spent such a long time thinking parents are worthless traitors who'll ditch at the first sign of trouble that he hardly understands what he's looking at.

"Diana!" he pulls the device they got from the wreckage of the shuttle out of his pocket and tosses it to her. "Does that thing have any ID numbers on it?"

It is at that point that Karis and Cedric will suddenly feel their powers return. Diana too, though hers is less subtle.

And there is, in fact, an ID code, although Diana will have to practically break the device open to get it visible.

Shit. Howie does not look good. She stalks over, all spattered in gore and filth and squeezes him on the shoulder (the unbroken one) and glances back toward the door.

"The fuck happened to-?"

Oh, right. Getting out of here. They should probably do that.

Oh, good. Karis was still alive. As alive as Karis got anyway, at least that meant Diana wouldn't be blamed for abandoning her to her death.

There's a few loud cracks as Diana bends back and snaps the casing, eyes sweeping over the hidden corners for a series of numbers or letters.

Finally, she spots it. "STACY-22568-78229."

Edited 2012-04-10 19:58 (UTC)

"Great, let's get that done." Cedric's still worried---even more worried now that he's felt the warmth run up his arm. He confirms it by summoning a spring of clear water, catching it in a cup and placing it on a table for anyone who needs some.

"But I'm worried. She said she deactivated our powers because of the monsters. Does that mean they're even worse?"

Howard punches in the numbers. "Yeah, that's all we need, monsters with fricking laser beams or x-ray vision or whatever."

Under Karis' hand he's shivering, and occasionally jerking with small, convulsive movements. More worryingly, he doesn't even touch the water Cedric's set on the table.

"Hey."

Karis gives Howard a little shake and then hands him the cup, "Hydrate, asshole. I might be dead, but even I remember you're suppose to drink water when it's hot as shit."

Outside the radio tower, visible from the big window, the monsters have found them. About fifty of the beasts have followed the scent and are lounging outside the sun, waiting.

[OOC: Sorry I'm moving fast, want this whole plot wrapped before I leave for Africa. Any tagging order.]

Howard pushes Karis' arm away. "I'm fine." Really, he's just too nauseated to drink. He gets up out of the chair to see close through the big window. "Let's hope that shuttle comes through for us. We aren't out of the woods yet."

He turns to take a seat in the chair again and one knee gives out from under him - not out of pain, but simply because that part of his body has decided to stop working entirely. He collapses facefirst to the floor with a weak groan. His breaths come in a desperate hiss, unnaturally fast and keening.

Edited 2012-04-12 01:38 (UTC)

Cedric's seen the monsters out the window. He knows he'll have to fight his way out, and there's not much chance of survival, but it's the only shot they have. He's reciting spells in his head, trying to work out what to do when it's time to move.

That's when he hears the thump.

"Howard!" Cedric drops to his knees, gently turning him over. It looks bad, awful, and there's no hiding the horror on Cedric's face---there isn't much time. Every second, he curses himself for opting out of preliminary mediwizard training. "Can we call them any faster?"

"Howie!" There's actually alarm in Karis' voice as she practically shoves Cedric out of the way and leans over Howard, looking for all the world like some carrion bird. She watches him for a moment, feeling a dim sense of hopelessness. So she wraps an arm around him and tries to prop him up.

"Talk to me, Howie-" Her voice has an undertone of seriousness that's usually not that there unless she's threatening to hurt someone. She knows first aid, but this isn't quite like anything she's seen. "What hurts?"

The way he's breathing isn't good. She glances at Cedric, then Diana, glaring, "What the Hell happened to him?"

She glared back. "Don't ask me. I was with you after the fire, remember? And I've been on my own since we got separated, I only found these two about ten minutes ago." She gestures to Cedric. "Talk to him."

Diana doesn't rush to Howard's side, but she does slowly walk over and crouch beside him. "I don't think I need to tell you that you look like crap, you probably feel it too."

She's suddenly reminded of the time she crouched over Drake's writhing body so many months ago. She'd made a bad call then. She wouldn't again.

"So drop the front and explain, what's happened to you?" Still, hard to resist a jibe, plus if he jibbed back that might mean he wasn't totally done for. "Don't tell me you fell down a flight of stairs."

Howard tries to respond to Karis, he really does, but the words die buried under those futile attempts to inhale. His body spasms in her arms. His vision's blurring out, and it takes him a few seconds to realize it's because he's crying. Tears drip from the corners of his eyes and in a sick parallel, saliva and foam trace down from the edges of his mouth.

And that's when he knows. It's time to pay back on that borrowed time. There's nothing he can do. It's not a danger he can outwit or an enemy he can plead with. For all the good any of his protests do, this is so certain that it might as well have already happened.

He didn't know it would hurt this much. He expected physical pain, but it's the fear that hurts the most, that and the sense of some unbelievable injustice having been committed in the universe. God, he's not even sixteen yet. He's not old enough to drink or vote or choose where to live and he's going to die without ever having seen New York City or been kissed or finished school. Here on the floor. So many miles away from home.

He's never going to know what happened to his mom and dad. Who's going to tell them? Who's going to tell them that they're very sorry, but Mr. and Mrs. Bassem, your son died of sepsis on some alien planet, scared and sick and in pain? Who's going to take care of Orc, who's going to feed the cats, who's going to remember where all the keys to the doors at his house are hidden?

His arm reaches out for Cedric, or for Karis, or even for Diana or for anyone, anything to hold on to. Someone to ground him here in this world. His head rests against Karis' arm and it feels warm, but that's only because he feels so cold. He shivers and convulses, lips turning blue, eyes wide and glassy and staring up at Karis. The edge of the world starts to creep in, the sounds getting dull and muddy, Diana's mocking and Cedric's concern fading into a blurry thumb of syllables in his ears.

He hopes it's warm and dark on the other side. He hopes it's quiet. He hopes that it's safe, that fear is like riding a coaster and that this is the peak and the rest is just the darker side of the biggest ride he's ever been on. But mostly he just hopes not to really die here.

It's the tears that do it for her. The way he convulses and scrabbles and tries to fight that make her realize what's going on. It's too uncomfortably familiar. Howie is going to die here on this stupid planet and there's nothing she can really do to stop it. It's not some monster she can kill, it's not something she can shred. It's just stupid, terrible luck. And she can't fight that. She's seen a lot of death over the years and this is just another aspect of it.

"He's going," she announces quietly, voice a hiss.

Her arms tighten around him, even if she can't offer all the much comfort to the dying boy in her arms (he's just a kid). They've only known each other for a short time and now he's getting ripped away, just like everything else in her life and she finds that she hates that (she still feels hate). It's a burning, gnawing hatred, but she can't bring herself to get righteously angry. Because what good is it going to do anyone?

So Karis holds onto him, claws digging in as if she can anchor him in this life through sheer force of will.

“Howie, Howie-”

What the fuck is she supposed to say? That it's going to be alright? That there's something on the other side, waiting for him? Neither of those lies are true and she doesn't want the last thing he hears to be false truths coming from (paradoxically) one of the few people he trusts. And she doesn't want to tell him it, in any case. She never liked sugar-coating things.

“Don't be afraid. Don't. You're not alone, Howie, you're not-”

Shadow, she doesn't like to think about her death, but it's the closest parallel she has. Dying alone and cold and scared was horrible.

“...Shit. Shit. I can't-”

Fuck this. Fuck everything. Her voice is small and she hates that she has to use these words and hates that she means them and hates that it has to happen to Howie, who isn't a bad kid, he's like her. He doesn't deserve this. He never wanted to be here. He just wanted to have his stupid stash of shit and lots of food and somewhere safe to live and now he's going to end up dead. And she gets to keep shambling along, watching the world change around her while she stays locked in her corpse of a body.

“...I'm sorry.”

All that's left is that empty, hollow feeling of helpessness and despair that she can't remember feeling in a long time.

Diana sees him fading. Going. Soon he’ll be just like the others. Those bodies. A corpse with no one even remembering his name.

It’s only just hitting her. He’s going and there’s nothing to stop it. No snide comments to make because there won’t be a chance for him to look back on them and get angry at her.

They weren’t even friends. That was the hardest thing. How could she be getting upset over someone she wasn’t even friends with? Back in that cruel bubble they barely acknowledged each other’s existence, but on the ship they’d become… Something. They’d taunted and teased each other, made inside jokes, understood each other.

Some sick part of her brain told her that for all intents and purposes that did make them friends.

She puts her palm across his forehead, shielding his eyes. He’s freezing. Her hold is strong and solid.

She doesn’t know what to say. She’d always detached herself so much from the deaths in FAYZ, ignoring them, mocking them, not getting locked in the destructive thoughts about familiar faces suddenly becoming lost names. About those who hadn’t stood a chance having their future ripped away from them.

But Howard had had a chance. They’d both beaten the FAYZ and gotten a new chance, and Howard had lived. Made friends. Gotten hobbies. A job. A home. He’d gotten pets for God’s sake.

And now some infection on some middle-of-nowhere planet was going to do in 24 hours what the FAYZ couldn’t do for a year.

It made her… Mad. What was the point? What was the point in doing all that if--

Diana leans in, her eyelashes are clumped from holding back tears and she’s suddenly very glad her long hair can hide her face from everyone else.

Her mouth feels dry and she’s worried some of the salty water from her eyes might drip onto him and he’ll figure out she’s nearly crying, but she manages to hold herself together and whisper into his ear. Her voice soft but clear, she wants him to hear.

“You beat it, Howard. The FAYZ didn’t get you.” She wants him to hear its name. The name of that terrible place. The place he conquered and named. “The Fallout Alley Youth Zone couldn’t even touch you. You beat it, and Sam, and Caine, and Drake and that stupid Darkness and there’s not a thing it can do about it.”

She pulls back and her face is void of emotion. Once again, Diana is calm and collected, her only movement the periodic stroking of her thumb against the dying boys temple.

“If there’s a God, do me a favor, okay? Ask him not to put me in the same part of Hell as Drake?”

Survivalist Plot: We Wear Out All Our Prayers

Re: DIANA

Re: DIANA

switched the tag order

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)