Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]
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		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Extreme =&gt; Extreme Small Groups =&gt; Topic started by: Caitlin on 20-06-2012, 17:29:32</h2>
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				Title: <strong>Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>20-06-2012, 17:29:32</strong>
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				<div align="center"><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="bbc_size">Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles</span></div><div align="center">OOC Topic (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=141555.0)</div><div align="center">Character templates (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=141555.msg6357391#msg6357391)</div><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 3:42 p.m. - Research Facility Gamma, New Angeles.</strong> <br>Armed men in hazmat suits run coordinated through the secret research facility, as the toxicology alarms were blaring loudly, the red sirens giving the hallways an eerie appearance. Minutes earlier a colorless and odorless gas had escaped from one of the several the quarantined laboratories, it's high dosage overwhelming several of the nearby research staff, knocking them nearly instantly unconscious. One of the other researchers who saw what was going on had the sense to hit the bio-hazard alarm, alerting the entire base that something had gone seriously wrong. <br><br>“Alpha team, seal off those laboratories! Beta team, set up defensive perimeters near all exits! Nothing gets in or out, gentlemen. Now move it!” A seasoned Major yelled, his men diligently following his orders, just as they had been trained to do.<br><br>“Bloody hell, it's hot in these suits...” A frustrated Captain cursed, more to himself than to his squad members.<br><br>Safety precautions dictated that all air circulation and conditioning units had to be shut down, least any of the lethal gas escaped. As a result, however, the research facility was quickly heating up.<br><br>“We got a twitcher!” One of his Lieutenants yelled, causing the Captain to focus on the task at hand.<br><br>“Remember, headshots only, it's the only way to put them down,” the Captain growled in his microphone. <br><br>A double shot from the M16 followed his order, blowing small pieces of skull and brain off the researcher's head. <br><br>“Another one here,” a second Lieutenant yelled, “Crap, it's getting up!”<br><br>“Well then shoot the bloody thing! It's not going to ask you out for dinner, damn it!”<br><br>A short burst followed, ending the former researcher's life permanently, shortly after his corpse had reanimated itself.<br><br>“I think we got them all, Capt-...” <br><br>“Jesus Rob, watch out, there is one right beh-...”<br><br>“Ahhh!! Get it off me-... -Gurgle-...”<br><br>Several marines and their Captain fired at the undead researcher, as he was biting the throat of Lieutenant Rob Jenkins. Unfortunately for the marine, however, their support came too late and his wounds were too bad to save him. <br><br>“Sorry Rob, but I'm doing you a favor,” the Captain stated, as he aimed his Desert Eagle at the head of his Lieutenant and fired a single bullet right between his squad member's eyes, putting the choking Lieutenant out of his misery.<br><br>“Is that all of them?” The Captain asked with a gruff voice.<br><br>“Yes, sir! Perimeter cleared. No other twitchers were found,” one of his Lieutenants reported.<br><br>“Good, that was a close call. Let's get to decontamination and out of these damned suits. Drinks are on me tonight.”<br><br><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 4:18 p.m. - Filtration room, Research Facility Gamma, New Angeles.</strong><br>For the researchers it had been several exciting minutes, as this was the first time they had seen their chemical weapon in action. The weapon wasn't ready for field testing for another several months and the teams were still working hard on perfecting both a vaccine and a cure for their own troops. <br><br>With the situation under control and a minimal loss of four men, the research facility returned back to its normal operation procedures. <br><br>By the time the air filtration was turned on again most of the lethal virus had evaporated into harmless substances, however, a small amount still lingered in the air. With the air conditioning on again, the air quickly cooled, stopping the evaporation of the virus. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, since the toxicology filters would detect all harmful air and then heat it to 392 degrees Fahrenheit, killing all lethal substances. However, unknown to the technical staff of the facility, the toxicology filter in the filtration room that was supposed to detect this specific strain of virus, had been damaged after its installation. It was no longer capable of detecting anything, however, since it still gave the right electrical output its defect went by unnoticed. <br><br>If the air conditioning had been turned on four minutes later, then none of the virus would have remained, but now the last remains of the virus slipped through the filtration room unnoticed; starting its long journey upwards towards the surface of New Angeles.<br><br><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 4:23 p.m. - Air shaft #4, Research Facility Gamma, downtown, New Angeles.</strong><br>Downtown was busy as usual, as early commuters were hurrying to catch the bus, tram or metro from work to travel to their homes. Nobody paid any attention to the many air rosters in the ground,&nbsp; from which one in particular a colorless and odorless gas escaped. It only took the inhale of a single breath to infect a small group of commuters who were standing on top or near the roster, before the last of the virus evaporated, without leaving a single trace behind. <br><br><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 8:17 p.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br>James Reynolds had an annoying cough and a slightly raised temperature. His wife blamed it on him working too hard and putting in too many hours at the office. Unknown to her James had been visiting his mistress and didn't leave her house until slightly after 6 p.m. He had been feeling well today, until he got on the bus several hours ago. He had felt slightly nauseous, but he had assumed it was due to being packed in a bus full of people, like a sardine in a can. <br><br>Even being with his mistress didn't improve his mood like it usually did and he became angry when he was suffering from an erectile dysfunction, something which had never happened before, cutting the visit with his mistress short. The damn cough that became increasingly worse didn't help his mood anything either. <br><br><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 9:53 p.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br>James was getting very tired, normally he didn't go to bed until 11 p.m., but he agreed with his wife that it was probably for the best if he hit the sack early that night. Despite taking some cough syrup, his cough had turned from a regular cough to a badly hacking cough. Not only that, he also noticed an annoying itch at his throat, which was slowly spreading over his body. However, no matter how much he scratched, the annoying itch just didn't seem to go away. His temperature had also gone up by several degrees and the damned aspirins didn't seem to help any either. <br><br>To get some rest that night, James had swallowed two tablets of Halcion, hoping the drugs would allow him to fall asleep. <br><br><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 10:23 p.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br>The heavy sleeping pills hadn't missed their effect, though James was still coughing in his sleep. Mary, his wife, noticed that he was also sweating profusely. Finding it unusual she wondered if she should call a doctor, however, with James dead to the world it wouldn't do him much good right now. She decided that she would talk James into calling in sick the next day and then visit the doctor with him the first thing in the morning. <br><br>Swallowing a single tablet of Halcion herself, she quickly fell asleep. She had started to feel nauseous and there was an annoying itch in her throat that she just couldn't seem to scratch...<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 5:07 a.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br>Mary woke up to the sound of James vomiting next to her. She was expecting to find a messed up bed when she opened her eyes and it annoyed her that she had to get up early to change the sheets. During the night her coughing had become increasingly worse and her body felt terribly hot. Slowly opening her eyes, she was greeted by their sheets covered in blood, the sight instantly waking her up.<br><br>With a frightened voice, she pleaded, “James, James!? What's wrong with you!?”<br><br>James tried to say something, but words wouldn't come out of his mouth, instead he threw up more blood, mixed with something she couldn't identify.<br><br>Terrified for her husband’s well-being, Mary got out of bed and dialed 911, calling for an ambulance.<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 6:38 a.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br>James was wheeled into the Emergency Room, after having lost consciousness forty-seven minutes earlier. Mary was lying in the bed next to him, after she too started to throw up blood. The doctors were running all sorts of tests on them, but so far they had no idea what was wrong with either of their patients. Their symptoms didn't match any of the known diseases and what little information they had managed to get out of Mary didn't indicate anything unusual. <br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 8:22 a.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br>Eight other patients had joined James and Mary at the Emergency Ward with identical symptoms. Several other hospitals in the city had also reported patients who were in a similar condition. <br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 2:57 p.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br>A task force of leading doctors and scientists was put together under the guidance of FEMA, with the&nbsp; intent to find out what was causing the epidemic. Since the first patient was brought to Mercy Hospital the task force set up their command center there. Meanwhile, Mary Reynolds had lost consciousness several hours earlier. The situation of her husband, now better known as Patient Zero, rapidly decreased, despite the doctors pumping his body full with all sorts of drugs. One of the first things the task force did was compile a list of symptoms and the different stages the disease went through. They tried to find out if they could cure their patients at earlier stages, giving up on the patients that vomited blood. If their tests had revealed anything, it was that those patients were too far gone to be helped by any of the regular medicine. <br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 5:16 p.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br>More patients were coming to the hospital, the task force decided that it was best to evacuate all uninfected patients to other hospitals, least they get infected as well. Additionally, every patient that was not in dire need of medical attention at the hospital was sent home, to make more beds available for the sick people. At the same time all new patients that matched the symptoms of this disease were gathered at Mercy Hospital. That way the majority of the patients would be quarantined at a single location and treatment could be administered faster if a cure was found.<br><br>Patient Zero had slipped into a deep coma, while his body seemed to get eaten away from the inside out. So far the doctors had been helpless to stop the virus from wrecking his body. The task force wasn't a single step closer to finding out what caused the disease or how they could fight it. The only thing they knew for sure was that it seemed to be viral and spread rapidly by bacillus when an infected person coughed. They also found that swapping saliva, or coming into contact with blood from infected people infected new victims and at a much faster rate than when one was infected through bacillus. <br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 6:00 p.m. - Mayor's Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br>After having been informed by the lead scientist of the task force, Doctor Hu, the Mayor decided to interrupt the regular six o'clock news with an emergency broadcast. <br><br>The American flag stood proudly next to the Mayor, who sat behind his large oak desk. He wiped away the small drops of perspiration that had formed on his brow under the hot lamps. He cleared his throat one more time and then the red light of the camera went on, indicating that he was now live.<br><br>“Dear citizens of New Angeles... Today a virus was detected in our beloved city, which is currently spreading at an alarmingly rapid rate. Effective immediately I am declaring a state of martial law. Nobody is allowed to enter or leave the city any longer.<br><br>“All flights at New Angeles Airport will be canceled effective immediately and all exits and entrances to the city will be guarded by the National Guard. I am also setting a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., anybody out after these times will be arrested. <br><br>“Currently we are unaware of what caused this virus, but we do know that it is airborne. The first symptoms of the virus are coughing and a slightly raised temperature, while in the next phase your skin becomes itchy and the coughing turns into a hacking cough. You will also start sweating profusely. If you noticed any of these symptoms, then I strongly urge you to stay inside, least you infect more citizens.<br><br>“I also strongly recommend that everybody covers their mouth with a mouth mask, or whatever else is available. If you do not have to go outside, then stay inside your home. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid contact with other humans as much as possible. A special telephone number will be activated shortly, which you can call to indicate that you were infected. I urge you all not to go to the hospital or to visit a doctor, since they are already flooded with patients and are unable to take on any new patients.<br><br>“It is understandable that this is very inconvenient and if it were an option to take less drastic measures then we would most certainly do so, but we all have the duty to prevent this disease from spreading any further.” <br><br>The Mayor didn't look pleased at all with the announcements he had to make so far and he could see the cameraman gulp as the message hit home.<br><br>Looking straight into the camera, he finished his message with, “More information will follow with the regular eight o'clock news. People of New Angeles, know that the thoughts and prayers of America are with you. Stay safe, have faith and know that together we will survive.”<br><br>A few seconds later the red light turned off and the Mayor let a breath of relieve escape his lips. His body, which had stood firm and proudly moments ago, now sacked like a bag of potatoes.<br><br>Putting his hands in his graying hair, he muttered, “Dear God... May You have mercy on our souls.”<br><br><br><strong>May 25, 2012 – 3:19 a.m. - Emergency Room #2, Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong> <br>The heart monitor of Patient Zero started to beep irregularly, setting off an alarm at the nurse station. Several doctors immediately rushed to the bedside of Patient Zero, to examine what was going on and to see if they could somehow counter the new situation. <br><br>In the past several hours abscesses had formed all over the body of Patient Zero, which now began to leak a dark yellow fluid, which permeated a sickly smell that triggered the gag reflex from one of the nurses. The badly dehydrated body of Patient Zero looked like it was at least twenty years older than his actual age of thirty-four.<br><br>As the heart monitor continued to beep more and more irregular everything the doctors were trying only seemed to make matters worse. <br><br>“Beep... Beep... Beeeeep....”<br><br>“Crap, he's dying. Prepare the defibrillator!” Doctor Hu ordered. <br><br>“Defibrillator charged.”<br><br>“Clear!” The sound of an electric discharge and smell of burned flesh filled the air, but to no avail.<br><br>“Try again!”<br><br>“Defibrillator charged.”<br><br>“Clear!”<br><br>However, the second attempt had no success either... After a long, gruesome struggle, Patient Zero had died.<br><br>“Damn it! We're still no closer to what's causing this,” Doctor Hu cursed in frustration, as he swept the sweat from his brow. <br><br>After letting out a deep sigh, Doctor Hu ordered, “Alright, tag him and bag him. We'll cut him open in the mortuary and see if we can learn anything new.”<br><br><br><strong>May 25 2012 – 3:26 a.m. - Mortuary, Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br>Patient Zero was wheeled into the mortuary, soon surrounded by several doctors, who were getting ready to perform an autopsy on him.<br><br>“Is the recording equipment turned on?” Doctor Hu asked, who was selecting a scalpel.<br><br>“Yes doctor, video and audio are running.” One of the nurses confirmed, after checking the equipment one more time.<br><br>“Very well, then let’s begin…”<br><br>Doctor Hu turned around and was about to start an incision to open Patient Zero’s chest, however, to is utter shock and dismay, Patient Zero opened his eyes, his body lightly twitching.<br><br>“My god, it is a miracle…” Doctor Hu stated, a collective gasp of surprise filling the air.<br><br>“Mister… Reynolds, how are you feeling?”<br><br>James Reynolds slowly sat up, ignoring the doctor completely. His eyes were out of focus and his jaw was making a movement as if he were chewing on something.<br><br>“Mister Reynolds, are you okay?” Doctor Hu tried again, finally getting James' attention. <br><br>James looked at the doctor with bloodshot eyes, the abscesses on his face and his dehydrated body giving him a sickly appearance. It was almost as if his eyes were glowing red. James was studying the doctor intently for several long moments, his jaw making an increasingly more twitching movement. <br><br>“Mister Reynolds, we thought we had lost you for sure. If you could lie down we’ll put you on medicine again and wheel you back to your room.”<br><br>However, James didn’t seem to comprehend any of what was said. When Doctor Hu put his hand on James’ arm to force him to lie down again, he made a snorting noise, which made his nostrils flare in defiance. This in turn seemed to awaken other instincts in James. Who now slowly inhaled the air, sniffing the smells around him.<br><br>Doctor Hu turned around and spoke into the camera, “Though I have no logical explanation for this, it seems that Patient Zero, Mister Reynolds, is reanimated after having been dead for more than ten minutes. The patient doesn’t seem to respond to verbal commands, but does react to touch. As of right now we’re-…”<br><br>“Doctor… Doctor!” One of the nurses yelled, drawing Doctor Hu’s attention.<br><br>Doctor Hu turned around and saw how James was trying to get off the bed, not comprehending that the blankets were blocking his legs and wildly pawed at the cloth to rip it off him. <br><br>“Well, at least his motoric functions seem to be okay…” Doctor Hu stated. <br><br>James finally freed himself and got off the bed, much against the wishes of Doctor Hu, “Mister Reynolds, please lie down on the bed again. We will make sure that you get the best medical attention possible, but we need your cooperation.”<br><br>His verbal request, however, didn’t seem to be understood in any way. Doctor Hu grabbed James’ arm, more forcefully this time, which resulted in a low growl from James, who was now staring intently at the hand of Doctor Hu. <br><br>For a deadly sick man James seemed remarkably strong and when Doctor Hu pushed him back against the bed, something seemed to snap in James. <br><br>With a sudden and vicious strike he bit Doctor Hu in his biceps, ripping right through the cloth of the unfortunate man’s lab coat, leaving a large and terrible bite behind. James jaws snapped shut and he ripped the muscle tissue from Doctor Hu’s arm.<br><br>“Argh! Get him off me, get him off me!!”<br><br>Two other doctors and a strong orderly grabbed James, but he seemed to possess an inhuman strength and threw one of the doctors off, snapping at another doctor and biting him in the face. The big orderly, seeing that things were quickly getting out of control, threw a heavy punch in the face of James, breaking the man’s nose and throwing him back against the bed, where he laid dazed for a moment.<br><br>Instead of hearing him scream or moan in pain, however, he merely seemed to taste the blood and flesh he had just bitten off the doctor, sampling it slowly in his mouth, just as one would do with a delicate piece of meat or a rare, fine wine. <br><br>“He bit me in the face!” the injured doctor stated in complete disbelief and shock. <br><br>Doctor Hu grimaced, as he examined the bite wound he had received on his arm, while the other doctor was struggling up to his feet.<br><br>James seemed to reach a conclusion and swallowed the meat he had just bitten off the doctor’s face, his eyes suddenly focusing with renewed energy on the group of humans in front of him. His dented face was an eerily sight, especially since he remained completely calm, seemingly uncaring about his broken nose and not even feeling any pain. As he slowly stood up, he let out a guttural groan, which silenced all around him.<br><br>“What the hell…?” The big orderly asked, as James seemed to focus on him next.<br><br>However, before he could do anything else, James jumped on top of him, this time going for the kill and biting the orderly’s throat as if he were a lion that was trying to kill a buffalo on the African savannah. The strong man pounded James on the ribs, undoubtedly breaking several of them, in an attempt to get him off, but it was to no avail. James was unstoppable and no matter how much pain he had to be enduring, or how many bones were breaking in his body, he kept biting and biting, until the orderly bled out. <br><br>The other doctors in the room were too shocked at this display of grave violence to do anything more than stand and stare at the scene that was unfolding in front of them. None of them could believe that what they were seeing was actually happening, the scene so unreal that their pain didn’t even register for several moments. <br><br>However, when James looked up and turned his eyes on them, fear finally overtook them and they fled the room.<br><br><br><strong>May 25, 2012 – 3:41 a.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br>Doctor Hu and the other two doctors quickly fled from the mortuary, completely forgetting about the video recorder that was still taping the entire scene.<br><br>Chaos ensued in the hospital, where most patients were in a fitful, restless sleep. Panic spread quickly when the doctor who was bitten in the face hit the fire alarm, alerting everybody that there was a danger going on. Unfortunately, with the hospital filled to the brim and even patients sleeping in the hallways, the chaos was soon complete, especially as James, who was running after the doctors, entered the hallway and now had a full scale of victims to choose from. <br><br>Forgetting about the doctors he randomly attacked the people closest to him, his strength regenerating as he consumed more flesh and blood, until he was finally satiated and staggered around the hospital aimlessly, leaving a wake of gore and destruction behind. By the time he was satiated everybody knew to avoid him like the plague, however, there were still several brave doctors, nurses and fellow patients around that did their best to save the bitten victims that were still alive.<br><br>Doctor Hu locked himself up in his office, and tried to clean his wound with antibiotics and alcohol, the stinging pain was nearly unbearable and the skin around his wound was already turning black, signifying that the living tissue was dying due to necrosis. <br><br>As he did his best to clean the wound his movements were becoming increasingly irregular, his arm making sudden and uncontrolled twitching movements, until he could no longer concentrate on his task. His thoughts changed from focusing on his wounds, to his family, as he saw his life flash by him. There was also something else growing inside him, an all-consuming hunger…<br><br>The feeling was growing stronger and stronger by the minute and eventually pushed aside all his other thoughts, until he could only feel this hunger. However, instead of the juicy steak that made his mouth water, his thoughts turned more and more to the scene that he had seen only minutes earlier. His desires were turning increasingly more to flesh… Human flesh…<br><br>And with those final thoughts in mind, Doctor Hu’s heart stopped, his body unable to overcome the virus he had just been infected with.<br><br>A minute later Doctor Hu reanimated and slowly stood up again, a crazed look now possessing his eyes. Screams of terrified patients reached his ears, drawing his attention. Only his carnal desires now ruled his mind, leaving room for nothing but basic instincts.<br><br><br><strong>May 25, 2012 – 6:01 a.m. – Mayor’s Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br>News of what had happened in Mercy Hospital reached the Mayor’s ear, who took immediate action and called in the SWAT teams to surround the hospital and kill everybody who wasn’t acting human. The teams were quickly dispatched, but it soon became clear that none of the patients or hospital personnel were acting quite human. Most were terrified and in a total state of panic, while others, who were covered in blood were surprisingly calm and wandered around aimlessly, seemingly in shock. Yet again others were actively running after panicked people, with a crazed look in their eyes and biting the humans they grabbed.<br><br>These were the ones the SWAT teams focused on, quickly finding out that only headshots would stop their attacks.<br><br>Unknown to the Mayor, however, Mercy Hospital wasn’t the only hospital that was in a state of chaos. He focused the majority of his law enforcement officers on getting the situation at Mercy Hospital under control and though the majority of the patients with symptoms from the disease had been diverted to Mercy Hospital, it wasn’t the only hospital that housed infected patients. Within hours reports were reaching his ears that similar situations were occurring at the other hospitals, forcing him to split up his law enforcement officers and spreading them across the different hotspots. <br><br><br><strong>May 25, 2012 – 11:29 a.m. – Mayor’s Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br>More and more reports of incidents were coming in and now it wasn’t only the hospitals that were reporting issues, but also other areas in the city, specifically downtown and the outskirts. It soon became clear that those who were bitten would turn into crazed people themselves. <br><br>The Mayor had already called in the support of the military several hours ago and they were now ordered to defend the uninfected civilians, although it seemed hard to determine just who was infected and who wasn’t. Luckily most people had followed up on the advice to stay home and not to go to work. With all the shops closed it saved out on a lot of people going on the streets, which undoubtedly helped to slow down the infection rate.<br><br><br><strong>May 27, 2012 – 2:14 a.m. – Downtown, New Angeles.</strong><br>After people had been ordered to stay in their houses for several days, with nothing to do but follow the depressing news, more and more people became disgruntled and fed up with the situation. Riots and civil unrest where starting to take place. As people’s resources were running out, looting was&nbsp; becoming more common, even the risk of getting shot when caught didn’t prevent people from going out on the streets, violating the curfew. <br><br>As more and more people went to the streets, plunder became a common sight and soon the law enforcement was unable to respond to all the incidents, instead focusing on keeping critical areas, like the power plant, water purification plant and City Hall, from being overrun. Another unfortunate side effect of the riots and looting was that the epidemic could now spread like a wildfire. Citizens who were intent to score some easy items would end up getting bitten and without medical treatment available, they soon turned into a crazed people themselves, adding to the growing hordes. Those who were killed by one of the crazy people would reanimate a minute after death, while those who were lucky enough to escape with their body mostly intact, ended up attacking their friends and family within several hours, after their infection killed them and they reanimated. Until then the plague had been mostly limited to the hospitals, but now the plague also spread over the outskirts and downtown area.<br><br>Due to the crazed people running around wild, traffic accidents in the city center were such a common occurrence that they happened nearly every minute, completely jamming the streets with cars. People panicked when a crazed person would jump on top of their roof and would just abandon their car, preferring to run away on foot, rather than waiting for a crazed person to smash in their windows and eat them alive.<br><br><br><strong>May 29, 2012 – 1:21 p.m. – Mayor’s Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br>Some good news finally reached the Mayor’s ear. Apparently there was a limited supply of vaccines available. Where it came from, or who produced it was knowledge that was kept away from him, but being at the top of the command structure in New Angeles, the Mayor was given a shot, luring him into a false sense of security.<br><br>As it was his command structure was barely still functioning. He had lost his chief of police several hours ago due to a group of crazed people, or zombies as they were now more commonly referred to, that had overrun the police’s headquarters. At the same time he had lost many members of his staff due to the virus that they had attracted outside the City Hall. He kept away from them, though they tried to do their jobs for as long as they still could. The military received priority on the vaccine, but it soon turned out that the vaccine wasn’t as effective as they had hoped to be…<br><br>Apparently the virus had already mutated, rendering the vaccines and cures mostly useless.<br><br>With the situation quickly spinning further out of control, the Mayor gave his final orders to the loyal troops that still carried out their duty and gave them permission to abandon their posts, which was something that many had done already anyway. The amount of zombies was becoming too large to effectively fight off and he recommended survivors to hole up and wait it out. Help would come, but when and from where were details he couldn’t give.<br><br>In the days that followed it became clear that help wasn’t coming and that the military would shoot anybody who tried to get out of the city. Survivors had no other option than to hide in the city, as they lost more and more friends and family members every day. Supplies were getting increasingly harder to find, even though they were plentiful. However, with all the people hoarding as much as they could get their hands on and hiding valuable supplies in their houses, it was soon hard to get access to those supplies.<br><br><br><strong>June 1, 2012 – 3:06 p.m. – Downtown, New Angeles.</strong><br>Three days after the Mayor had given his final orders, large parts of the downtown area had transformed into a battlefield. Zombies were walking around aimlessly in broad daylight, occasionally chasing after an unlucky survivor who couldn’t keep quiet enough to stay undetected. <br><br>As long as people didn’t make any sudden movements, uttered any sounds and kept their distance from the zombies, they could actually get around without a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, however, most people didn’t have the willpower that would prevent them from screaming when a zombie so much as looked into their direction, immediately drawing the interest from several other nearby zombies.<br><br>There was a strong suspicion among the survivors that the virus had been fabricated, although where and by whom it had originated was unknown. In the midst of all the chaos and destruction an irrational witch hunt was started, that caused many biological scientists in the city their life, even though they had nothing to do with the virus. In fact, throughout these improvised trials no evidence of any involvement was found and those who could actually help with finding a cure, or developing a vaccine, where now hunted for the association with profession. <br><br>Several large gangs had formed, but due to the distrust, rivalry and strife for leadership these groups were generally short-lived. They fall apart quickly in small groups of survivors, a process that rarely happened peacefully and resulted in many additional deaths among the remaining survivors. Rape, torture, kidnapping and slavery were becoming more common with the day and generally resulted in the more decent people from shying away from the large groups. <br><br>The gang leaders, wanting to control key locations downtown, challenged each other for control, resulting in a short, but very violent gang wars. Ironically, it was the zombie hordes that were drawn to all the noise who eventually restored the peace. Attracted by all the action going on they massively attacked the fortifications of the gangs, either overrunning them or making the defending gang waste so much ammunition that they ran out of bullets, which effectively ended the gang wars only days after they had started. <br><br>Other parts of the downtown area had set up neighborhood watch programs, where a local community would help each other survive. These communities were a lot more successful to survive the attacking zombies. <br><br><br><strong>June 1, 2012 – 7:56 p.m. – New Angeles.</strong><br>Of the population of six million citizens less than twenty-thousand had remained uninfected, while the rest of the population was either dead or undead. These survivors were now trapped and scattered across a city that was intended for a much larger population. With most of them having gone into hiding, only occasionally daring to go outside in search for supplies, it was becoming extremely rare to see another living being outside. <br><br>Those who did see others outside were generally wary of contacting them, even though no new viral infections had been detected for weeks. The original infection through bacillus had ceased to be a form of infection weeks ago, when the last of the quarantined patients had died. In that regard the Mayor’s advice of wearing mouth masks and avoiding contact with anybody else as much as possible, had effectively prevented a greater harm and the only way to get infected now was by being bitten and coming in contact with the saliva of zombies.<br><br>Several people were slowly making an appearance again on the streets, in search of supplies and fellow survivors, hoping to find a safer location than their current safe house and a way out of the city. Like reptiles, the zombies seemed much more active during day time, making the nights an ideal time for raids. Despite the lesser visibility and greater risk of running into zombies that one overlooked, it was also possible to get a lot closer to zombies undetected. That is, as long as you didn’t aim your flashlight directly in their faces, which would instantly anger them. Other than directly provoking them they were generally much more docile at night. 
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>20-06-2012, 17:29:46</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 8:12 p.m. - Mall, Downtown.</strong><br>Caitlin Walker and Carl Johnson were running as silently as they could, doing their best not to draw unwanted attention. Thirty minutes ago they had lost the other two members of their scavenge group and Carl had lost everything he cared about.<br><br>Neither of them gave it any thought right now though, being distracted led to making mistakes and making another mistake was the last either one of them could afford at this point. <br><br>“In here,” Caitlin whispered, pointing to a big hole in the glass window, which was left behind by other raiders.<br><br>Being careful not to cut themselves on the sharp edges of the glass, or to step on the broken glass on the ground and create unwanted noise, Caitlin stepped inside, followed by Carl. His overweight body had considerably more trouble to do so than Caitlin's athletic form and despite his best efforts he still received a minor cut on his shoulder, making him utter a soft curse, despite being a priest. All of the food and water supplies were already stripped of the shelves, leaving only non edible and useless products behind. <br><br>It wasn't the shelves Caitlin was interested in though, she knew there had to be supplies in stock in the back of the store, where customers weren't allowed to go. <br><br>Some of the lights were still working and flickered irregularly, adding to the eeriness of the scene. Apart from the flickering of the lights it was deathly quiet. Even the usual sounds of birds were absent. Caitlin still wasn't used to the quiet outside, in a busy metropolis as New Angeles life went on 24/7, there was <em>always</em> noise of cars and people outside, but not tonight. Or the night before...<br><br>Focusing on the task at hand, Caitlin hoped to find at least a vending machine with candy bars. Though snacks weren't healthy, they did at least give them the much needed energy. Having only had a meager breakfast this morning, her stomach was rumbling in protest. <br><br>Though Caitlin could almost walk without making a sound, Carl was quite a bit noisier and clumsier. He tripped over some broken can on the floor, kicking the item away and breaking the silence with a nearly deafening noise as he fell on the ground. Caitlin winced at the loud sounds and hoped that they didn't attract any unwanted attention, but luckily nobody seemed to have noticed them. Carl struggled to his feet, with a heavy sigh and softly muttering some foul language, he rejoined Caitlin, who was breaking away a lock on a door with her crowbar.<br><br>Success... <br><br>When they opened the door they found a room with a whole supply of stocks that would be enough to last a dozen survivors for several weeks. They packed as many food cans, Spa Blue bottles and candy bars as possible in their backpacks, Carl taking the majority of the load. Caitlin also hid away as many of the cans as she could in desk drawers of the offices further down the hall. She doubted that the supplies in this supermarket would last very long, now that these doors were opened. Other survivors would come to the same conclusions as she had and search for supplies. The more that was hidden away now, the more that she hoped would be saved for later use.<br><br>They locked the doors as well as possible, trying to make it seem undisturbed and left to explore the rest of the mall, hoping to find some other useful items.<br><br>When they came to a store with hunting supplies, Carl indicated that he had to take a rest. His stamina wasn't as good as Caitlin's and his heavy breathing indicated that he was worn out. <br><br>Unfortunately most useful weapons in this shop were already stolen, especially all of the big knives. After some searching Caitlin did, however, find a a Swiss pocketknife with a lot of useful tools. Putting it away in her trousers pocket, she sat next to Carl and unwrapped a Snickers bar, offering Carl a Mars bar as well. They chewed their treat in silence, giving Caitlin a moment to consider all that had happened in the past week...<br><br><br><strong>May 24 (Day 2), 4:15 p.m. - Mercy Hospital.</strong><br>There had been a steady stream of patients all day long coming into Mercy Hospital, some more sickly than others, but all sharing the same symptoms. Some sort of task force that was investigating this new epidemic had decided that all new patients that shared these symptoms were to be diverted to Mercy Hospital, while all non critical patients were to be released and go home. Those who needed critical attention would be transported by ambulance to the other hospitals as much as possible. <br><br>Caitlin had volunteered to escort a patient to Angel Hospital. The patient had been in a car accident and needed surgery. Officially a doctor had to go with him, but Mercy Hospital simply couldn't spare any and since Caitlin had proven in the past that she could keep a patient stable long enough for the doctors to operate on him, her request was approved. Truth be told, Caitlin was afraid of getting infected by this new epidemic she had heard her colleagues talk about and had avoided contact with anybody that as so much coughed, or sneezed in the wrong way. She had jumped at the opportunity to get out of Mercy Hospital and do her duty as a nurse elsewhere. <br><br>Thankfully the rest of her workday at Angel Hospital ended without incident, after which she had gone home to her fiancé, Rick Patterson. She had met him at college and they had been a couple for several years, until he popped the big question a month ago. Rick was the son of a rich banker and with his athletic frame, short, blond hair, blue eyes and wide smile, he was pretty much the dream of every girl. Or perhaps not every girl, but at least all her girlfriends envied her to no end. On top of that, his father had, despite the financial crisis, still a considerable amount of wealth and it looked like her life couldn't get better. She was sure she would lead a happy life with her husband-to-be, while doing a job she loved doing. Perhaps in several years from now they'd start a family and would move out of the big city to somewhere more easy-going. <br><br>As she told about her day at work, she had relaxed in his comforting embrace on the couch, only paying half attention to the series playing on television. After cooking them a wonderful meal they had gone to bed early that night and made passionate love, before falling asleep exhausted.<br><br><br><strong>May 25 (Day 3), 8:03 a.m. - Angel Hospital.</strong><br>Caitlin had missed the news the previous night in which the Mayor had told about the curfew and state of martial law, but it was impossible to miss that news on the radio in the morning. She had still felt obliged to do her duty as a nurse, but when she arrived at the hospital that morning there were several police cars and a SWAT van outside. Having police cars over was a regular occurrence, however, a SWAT van definitely was not. <br><br>Apparently there had been some incident at intensive care. Caitlin had remembered how Angel Hospital also housed several of the infected and she had realized that this could be the start of something much worse. Curious as to how bad it could be, she had gone up to the nurse station of the intensive care level and watched the security monitors; in one of the room she saw blood all over the floor and a violated corpse with human bite marks. It had made her face turn white as a sheet. Combined with the news she had heard in the morning, she decided to turn around and skip work for the rest of the day. <br><br>In the chaos with her temporary transfer to Angel Hospital she had doubted that she'd be missed anyway and she had headed for the grocery store instead. She had wanted to hoard as many useful supplies as she could, before other people would realize the same thing she did and the supplies would be gone. If this epidemic turned out to be nothing bad after all, then they would have surplus supplies for several weeks, but if her premonitions turned out to be true, then at least they'd have enough water and food to get by for a while. She had to admit to herself that she was coward, but with the city under lock down and no way to get out, she was forced to make do with what she had.<br><br><br><strong>May 26 (Day 4), 8:09 a.m. - Angel Hospital.</strong><br>Rick had convinced her to go to work, despite the incident at Angel Hospital in the morning, nothing else had happened there and her patients and colleagues needed her help. Reluctantly she had agreed with him. The evening before she had been frightened that the end of the world was upon them at any moment and it had taken Rick a lot of time to soothe her. He hadn't looked to pleased at all the supplies she had bought either, but she was glad that he had let that go.<br><br>When she arrived at the hospital she wasn't allowed to go in, being halted outside by the police. Yesterday it had only been a small group of law enforcement that was present, but today their numbers had grown significantly. There was an emergency hospital set up in a close-by park and the police requested that she'd help out there. There were a lot of wounded people that needed help, mostly due to traffic accidents. <br><br>Caitlin remembered how she had thought that something more was going at the hospital that the police wasn't telling her, but it was impossible to get any closer. Instead she set those thoughts aside and did her best to apply first aid to all the wounded people. She was pleased to see that there weren't any people who were unconscious or vomiting blood, but despite the mouth mask she was given by one of her colleagues, she had still stayed far away from anybody that was coughing, or sneezing, finding all sorts of excuses not to get near them.<br><br>The rest of her work day had gone by without further incident, apart from the fact that it had been a totally bizarre situation to work in an outdoors hospital, in what was usually a lovely park. She had worked much longer than she normally did as well and pulled a double shift. She had felt guilty about having skipped work the previous day and hoped to make up for it now.<br><br>There had been several reports in the city of crazed people, who apparently had turned cannibalistic, but she hadn't seen any of them herself. The idea seemed too unreal anyway, despite what she had seen with her own eyes the previous day.<br><br><br><strong>May 27 (Day 5), 2:44 a.m. - Caitlin &amp; Rick's Apartment, Downtown.</strong><br>The riots had started night and despite being in a relative quiet part of the city, all the noise of protesting people outside had still terrified Caitlin. Rick hadn't seemed too sure of himself either and though he did his best to reassure Caitlin, she had felt that he was just a scared and had only put up a brave face to soothe her. Especially the terrified screams of people under attack had frightened them both to no end.<br><br>She had begged him that they would find a way to get out of the city the next morning, or at least away from downtown and move to the quieter outskirts. Rick had agreed with her and that night they packed all the essential supplies they thought that they needed for a prolonged stay elsewhere, being ready to move out at the dawn of light. If they couldn't make it past the road blocks, then they would at least find a safer place to stay at. <br><br><br><strong>May 27 (Day 5), 7:53 a.m. - Caitlin &amp; Rick's Apartment, Downtown.</strong><br>They had only had a fitful sleep of maybe two hours, if that, before Caitlin and Rick took the supplies to their SUV, which was parked in the garage located at the basement level of their apartment building. <br><br>Rick drove the car outside the parking garage onto the streets. Though it was quiet now, it was easy to see that there had been quite the battle the night before. They were shocked to see mutilated corpses laying in the streets and Rick had thrown up at the sight of them, nearly crashing their car into a parked one at the side of the street. With a concerned voice Caitlin had asked him if he was okay and helped him get out of his soiled shirt, throwing it out the window, after she got it off him.<br><br>They had driven through the lanes of the city, as fast as Rick dared to go and he avoided hitting the many abandoned cars, but eventually they had to stop at a blocked intersection. There had been a big crash there involving multiple cars and if their car had been smaller then they might have been able to drive over the sidewalk, but as it was their car was simply too big and there was no way around the obstruction, unless they continued on foot.<br><br>After a short, but intense discussion, that was exactly what they decided to do. Their car was full with supplies, but it had simply been to much to take with them on foot. Caitlin had had the sense to bring a backpack and gym bag too, which they now stuffed full with supplies. Additionally, Rick had a baseball bat made of steel with him, while Caitlin carried a crowbar. They weren't the best of weapons, but they had to make do with what was available to them and they could dish out some decent damage like this if anybody attacked them. <br><br>After locking the car, they went on their way. They hadn't even walked for three hundred meters, when they came across a middle aged man in a tattered business suite. He was standing eerily quiet, as if he was observing them. He had a nasty bite mark on his thigh and had obviously been in a fight with somebody. Half the buttons of his shirt were torn away and his pants was ripped. <br><br>Rick had taken a step forward and had asked if they could help him, but instead of answering, the man threw his arms wildly in the air, running to them at full speed. Rick had been too surprised to react and hit the fucker with his baseball bat... <br><br>If only he had done so he might have still been with her...<br><br>Instead, by the time Rick was ready to react it had already been too late. The crazed person had thrown himself at Rick and attacked his throat, biting through the arteries, which resulted in a fountain of blood that spurted from his throat. Caitlin had been less indecisive and hit the crazy person full in the head with her crowbar, making the guy's head twist at an unnatural angle, instantly killing him. After she had pulled him off her fiancé, she had done her best to apply first aid to her lover, but it had already been too late. With a guttering voice Rick had tried to tell her something, but with his vocal cords cut and him drowning in his own blood, she couldn't make out what he was trying to say. She liked to think that he was expressing his love for her, while he was choking to death. <br><br>Caitlin hadn't known what to do next, she didn't want to leave Rick behind like this, but she wasn't strong enough to carry his body either. She stood around, unable to make up her mind, when Rick's body unexpectedly twitched and he suddenly opened his eyes. However, instead of the scared look she expected in his eyes, there had been something else...<br><br>His facial expression was twisted in a strange, not quite human way and he had the same crazed look in his eyes as the businessman had. Rick sat up, trying to grab her and realizing that her lover was gone, she swung the crowbar at the temple of his head, right next to his ear. A sick crack followed and she had to lever the crowbar out of his head, but now Rick was truly gone. <br><br>Though dazed by what had just happened, survival instinct had taken over and Caitlin figured she should search for a safe place to stay at. Several times she had to run away from other crazed people, her good stamina allowing her to escape unscathed. <br><br>Seventeen minutes later Caitlin stumbled upon a church. Though the front doors were heavily fortified, she hoped to find a way in through a side entrance. As luck would have it, the local priest, Carl Johnson, saw her trying to get in. Later he had told her that he wouldn't have allowed her access if she had shown any kind of wound, but since she hadn't and since was obviously much fitter than the infected that were coughing and stumbling around, he had allowed her in.<br><br>Caitlin didn't remember much about the rest of the day, she had spent most of it crying and grieving for her loss. She realized that her once perfect life would never be the same again...<br><br><br><strong>May 28 (Day 6), 10:28 a.m. - Catholic church, Downtown.</strong><br>The next day Caitlin had helped out in the church, by taking care of the few wounded people present. Carl had taken great care to ensure that there weren't any bite wounds on the people he allowed in. It was mostly scratches and bruises that people had gained in their haste to escape, that Caitlin had to patch up.<br><br>Since Caitlin was also a good cook she helped out with preparing the meals. Basically she did anything she could to occupy her mind from what happened the day before. At the same time Carl held continuous services for his flock to spread the word of the Lord and offer comfort to those around him. Outside the civil unrest continued and the group of eighteen survivors experienced several frightening moments. They could hear the zombies, as they were now calling the crazed people, lurking around the building, until they were distracted by something else and ran away.<br><br><br><strong>May 29 (Day 7), 9:32 p.m. - Catholic church, Downtown.</strong><br>Supplies had run out on May 29 and people were growing hungry. Up until then they had been rationing the supplies that people had brought with them and drank the wine from the church that was normally used for the services, but now they were completely out. The people at the church realized they had to scavenge for food on a daily basis from now on, or they'd starve to death. Carl had come with the excuse of having to care for the remaining, frightened people and how he was a priest and not a fighter, so he was excluded.<br><br>Caitlin, however, did volunteer to go and two groups of four people each were quickly formed. She was armed with her crowbar, while one of the survivors in her group had a gun and the other two were armed with makeshift weapons. Each group would visit a different mall to increase the chance of finding useful supplies. <br><br>Initially Caitlin's raid had gone well, but on the way back the zombies had spotted them. The two men with makeshift weapons hadn't made it, while Caitlin and the gunman survived to live the tale. Thankfully they had brought stuffed backpacks with them, since the other group didn't return at all.<br><br><strong>May 30 (Day 8), 11:57 a.m. - Catholic church, Downtown.</strong><br>The eight day had been the worst one yet. Things had taken a turn for the ugly and gangs were shooting at everything that moved and didn't wear their sign. The fourteen remaining survivors had made sure that the church was well barricaded and be made to look as uninteresting as possible. They had spent the majority of the day in the basement below ground, locked away behind a heavy oak door, as the church took several hits and they heard the stained windows breaking, much to the dismay of Carl.<br><br><br><strong>May 31 (Day 9), 8:11 p.m. - Catholic church, Downtown.</strong><br>Supplies had run out again and though there were still fights going on outside, the gunfire was becoming increasingly rarer, until it had ceased in the evening. Not a shot had been fired for the past hour and the survivors in the church had agreed to organize another scavenge hunt, once more with two groups. Despite the arguments Carl had uttered two days earlier, he did admit to being a pretty good with a gun and reluctantly agreed to go with Caitlin's group. It had been obvious to her that he preferred the relative safety that his church offered, but she had lied to him that she knew of a good place that was safe to raid. He had bought her lie and gone with her group.<br><br>Caitlin's group would raid the same mall as before, while the gunman of her previous group would lead another group and visit a local supermarket. Carl was armed with an old revolver, while the other two members of her group had armed themselves with large, heavy candleholders. The things were about a meter big and could do quite some damage if they hit you in the head.<br><br>During the raid there were a couple of close calls, but both raid groups returned unscathed, although they didn't nearly get the amount of supplies that they needed. <br><br><br><strong>Today, June 1 (Day 10), 7:34 p.m. - Catholic church, Downtown.</strong><br>Caitlin had noticed that the zombies were easier to avoid in the evening than during the day. She hypothesized that zombies had poor eyesight and probably couldn't see as well in the night as they could. It was only a theory and one that could very well be wrong, but the others agreed that it had some sense to it. <br><br>As such the raid groups had decided to go out in the evening again. The previous evening the other raid group had found some explosives and prepared a bomb that they could use in an emergency situation. Though the thing looked very amateurish to Caitlin, she didn't doubt it's explosive potential. <br><br>Her group had just left the church and was only fifty meters away when disaster struck. Something had gone wrong with the bomb of the second group and the thing exploded in, or near, the door opening. Caitlin had her back turned to the church when it went off, so what exactly happened was a mystery to her, but when she turned around she saw that several heavily wounded people lay on the ground. The doorway seemed damaged beyond repair. Realizing that shit would hit the fan quickly, she turned around and searched for cover. The first thing she saw was a truck that was toppled over and had its back doors unlocked. <br><br>Two of her fellow raiders ran back to the church to see what assistance they could offer to the screaming wounded and Carl was about to go after them, but Caitlin pulled strongly on his sleeve, nearly making him topple over.<br><br>She remembered how she hissed with an insistent tone, “We have to hide! Now!”<br><br>That was probably what saved both their lives, since it didn't take long for the zombies to get drawn the location of the explosion and burning fire. Thankfully it wasn't the zombie horde of thousands that she had expected, but there were still well over a hundred zombies running towards the church, attacking the remaining survivors. <br><br>Caitlin had to slap Carl hard across the face to make him forget about his stupid church and get his attention. She felt appalled that he cared more about the building than the wounded people, who were now eaten alive. <br><br>Together they thought up a new plan of survival. First they would get supplies as they had wanted to get originally and next they would search for a new safe house to hide in. After that, they'd just have to come up with a new plan of attack.<br><br>That all happened thirty minutes ago and as Caitlin finished her second candy bar, she hoped that they would find some other survivors to team up with. There was safety in numbers and your chances for survival increased if you found others with useful skills.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AribethAmkiir</strong> on <strong>20-06-2012, 20:16:49</strong>
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				<strong>May 23, 2012 – 3:40 p.m. – Peterson High School, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>Rebecca was talking with Meagan near their lockers.&nbsp; It was the last Wednesday of their senior year.&nbsp; Finals were nearly over.&nbsp; Prom had come and gone, and she didn’t even want to think of her soccer season, which had ended abruptly and disappointingly.&nbsp; Another week and they would be done with this place.&nbsp; Rebecca had already been accepted into the University of Wisconsin, and Meagan was planning to attend a school in Iowa which would only be a six hour drive.&nbsp; In three weeks, they would leave for the senior trip to Jamaica, which promised almost no adult supervision.&nbsp; To say she was a ball of nerves would be an understatement.&nbsp; The only thing really preventing her from the rest of her life was a Trig final and an English paper.<br><br>She excused herself from Meagan’s company, and gave her BFF a brief hug when she saw Tony approaching.&nbsp; She covered the distance between herself and her boyfriend quickly, threw her arms around his neck, and then kissed him fully on the mouth.&nbsp; It wasn’t like the teachers were going to do anything this close to the end of the school year.&nbsp; She swatted him and laughed when his strong hand squeezed her ass.<br><br>Minutes later they were hand-in-hand, walking across the student’s parking lot to his Jeep Wrangler, and fifteen minutes after that they were parked in front of her house kissing again.<br><br><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 5:27 p.m. – Lawson’s Residence, 32 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>Rebecca was texting both Tony and Meagan as her mother ran around, as she normally did, before she left for work.&nbsp; Becka was only distantly aware that her mom was wearing the pink and tan scrubs she’d bought for her last Christmas.&nbsp; They looked cute on her mom, though she wouldn’t ever tell her that out loud, not unless it was a special occasion.&nbsp; The eighteen year old, was also distantly aware that her brother was in the entertainment room playing Left 4 Dead II on his 360.&nbsp; The sixteen year old’s curses through the mic to his "supposed" friends was simple white noise.<br><br>“Becka.&nbsp; Can I get your attention for five minutes?”&nbsp; Her mom asked in an exasperated tone.&nbsp; <br><br>Rebecca rolled her eyes and glanced at her mother for five seconds before glancing back at her mobile phone.&nbsp; Meagan was going to hook up with Jason at the Friday night party.<br><br>“Rebecca!” her mother snapped.&nbsp; “Dinner is in the oven. Your father will be home around his normal time.&nbsp; Don’t let the food burn.&nbsp; Your brother needs to get off the Nintendo in an hour.”&nbsp; <br><br>This actually caught Rebecca’s attention and she even replied.&nbsp; “Mom, he doesn’t listen to me.”<br><br>The edges of Rebecca’s lips curled up into a small, triumphant smile when her mother yelled at Max to listen to his sister.&nbsp; Even if it did little good, it was always nice to know that she could get him into trouble.<br><br>“Okay, I’m going to be late.”&nbsp; Her mother stated to herself more than Rebecca.&nbsp; “Do you need any money or anything for tomorrow?”<br><br>Rebecca shook her head indifferently.<br><br>“I love you.”<br><br>An indifferent nod.<br><br>Then her mother disappeared though the door that led to the garage and a moment later her green Toyota Camry pulled out of the driveway and she headed to her shift at Mercy Hospital.<br><br><br><strong>May 23, 2012 – 6:26 p.m. - Lawson’s Residence, 32 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>It had been a fight to get Max off of the Xbox, during which she’d let the lasagna her mother had left in the oven blacken around the edges.&nbsp; Still it had tasted good enough; when she and Max had sat down to eat.&nbsp; He spent all of fifteen minutes on his homework afterwards.&nbsp; Meanwhile her head had begun to slowly throb as she hovered over her Trigonometry book.&nbsp; By the time Max was killing zombies, Rebecca had already texted Tony to come over and help her study.<br><br>Forty minutes later they had gone to her room.&nbsp; Ten minutes later they were doing everything but studying.<br><br><br><strong>May 23,2012 – 9:29 p.m. -&nbsp; Lawson’s Residence, 32 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>David Lawson pulled into his driveway, exited his vehicle, and entered his home.&nbsp; He was greeted by a string of profanity from his sixteen year old son, along with simulated gunfire flowing from the Bose speakers of his entertainment system.&nbsp; <br><br>He dropped his briefcase to the floor and sighed irritably before yelling into the room Max occupied. “ Max turn it off.&nbsp; I want to see your homework and then you’re to be in bed in thirty minutes.”<br><br>He hated being the “bad guy”, but it wasn’t fair to Rebecca to have to deal with a sixteen year old boy, and his wife, Nancy, had decided to go back to the night shift years ago so that the kids wouldn’t come home to any empty house.&nbsp; <br><br>David loosened his tie and walked into the entertainment room, stared at his son until the teenager turned off the gaming system, and then switched the television to the local news.<br><br>“Where’s your sister?”&nbsp; David asked.<br><br>“She’s in her room with Tony,” Max said with a smirk.&nbsp; It was time to pay his sister back.<br><br>David had seen Tony’s Jeep parked in front of their home, but it was such a common occurrence that David hadn’t noticed.&nbsp; He took the stairs two at a time and paused only briefly to listen before he knocked on his daughter’s door and entered without waiting for a reply.<br><br>Rebecca lay on her stomach at the foot of her bed, Tony sat beside her and they both had their attention on the screen of her laptop.&nbsp; The sheets and covers of her bed were sloppily tossed back, but that seemed to be the normal state of his daughter’s bed these days.&nbsp; Rebecca’s hair was back in a tail, normal enough, even if her soccer season had ended three weeks ago.&nbsp; The only thing David saw that was suspect was that Tony’s hand was under the back of his daughter’s shirt and resting on the small of her back.<br><br>“Tony, hands above the clothing, please.”<br><br>David smiled at the quickness with which the boy removed his hand completely from his daughter’s back and the crimson blush which flushed his daughter’s face.&nbsp; It was all the reassurance a father needed that his little girl was still a little angel.<br><br>“Rebecca, keep the door open.&nbsp; Tony, how’s your family?&nbsp; Tell your dad we’re still on for this weekend.”<br><br>Tony nodded, said everyone was fine, and that his dad was looking forward to it.<br><br>David glanced around the room once more, not exactly sure what he was looking for.&nbsp; The smell of cinnamon made him struggle with his suspicions, but Rebecca and Tony were both athletes.&nbsp; She was a girl and girls liked nice smelling things.&nbsp; The waste bin was empty, and he had no reason to believe that they were doing anything but studying, except that the door had been closed.&nbsp; With as loud as Max had had his game, maybe they were just trying to focus on their studies.&nbsp; It was finals week after all.<br><br>David made sure the door to Rebecca’s room was open wide before he made his way to his room and changed out of his shirt, slacks, and tie.&nbsp; Moments later he was in the kitchen, eating the burnt lasagna.<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 5:00 a.m. – Lawson’s Residence, 32 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>It was a normal morning for the family.&nbsp; Rebecca was taking her time, getting ready for the day, in the bathroom.&nbsp; Max was still asleep, and David was in his own bathroom shaving before he planned to hop into the shower.<br><br>The only thing that seemed odd was when an ambulance passed the house with lights and sirens.&nbsp; David may’ve even missed it had he not been pulling out of his driveway at the time.<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 6:40 a.m. – Lawson’s Residence, 32 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>Tony pulled his jeep into the driveway of Rebecca’s house and honked twice.&nbsp; His thoughts were still on the night before.&nbsp; She was so hot, and he was so lucky that she was with him.&nbsp; It seemed like Homecoming had been years ago, the night they had fist done it in the hotel room he had rented for the occasion.&nbsp; The coming summer and Jamaica was going to be awesome.&nbsp; Then he’d be off at college and having the time of his life.&nbsp; Sure, it would suck that Becka wasn’t going to be with him, but they’d still see each other on holidays.&nbsp; He knew the long distance relationship wasn’t going to work, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care for her.&nbsp; Hell, he even liked her punk brother.<br><br>His mind drifted to lunch, and he wondered where Rebecca would want to go.&nbsp; He also wondered if she’d be willing to skip fifth period and hang out at his house for awhile.&nbsp; His parents were always gone during the day.<br><br>Rebecca and Max exited the front door and made their way to Tony’s Jeep just as their mother was pulling into the drive.&nbsp; The passenger side window rolled down and she spoke to both of her children momentarily before waving politely at Tony.&nbsp; A wave he quickly returned.&nbsp; Then the Camry finished pulling into the garage.<br><br>Tony watched as Mrs. Lawson exited her vehicle, and had to admit that she was sort of a MILF.&nbsp; If he and Rebecca stayed together, he knew she’d still be hot when she was old.&nbsp; He leaned over and kissed Rebecca good morning, even as Max made a guttural protest, then made sure they were both buckled before pulling out of the driveway and heading to school.<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 6:00 p.m. – Lawson’s Residence, 32 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>Max was racking up the kills.<br><br>“Dude, you fucking suck,” he shouted at zombierex229 over his headset.&nbsp; Then followed his double head shot kill with a melee kill to a noob.<br><br>“What the fuck?”&nbsp; He yelled at his sister when she turned the channel to the news.<br><br>Max quickly glanced around the room to see if their dad was home.&nbsp; He was the only one who watched that boring shit.&nbsp; “Becka, I’m serious switch it back,” he said with a mildly threatening tone.<br><br>When his eyes returned to the television, he noticed that the American flag was waving in the background and some guy who the text at the bottom of the screen labeled Mayor of New Angeles was getting ready to talk.&nbsp; He grimaced as he heard the sound of his avatar’s death and the taunting of some poser through his headphones.<br><br><hr><span style="font-family: courier;" class="bbc_font">“Dear citizens of New Angeles... Today a virus was detected in our beloved city, which is currently spreading at an alarmingly rapid rate. Effective immediately I am declaring a state of martial law. Nobody is allowed to enter or leave the city any longer.<br><br>“All flights at New Angeles Airport will be canceled effective immediately and all exits and entrances to the city will be guarded by the National Guard. I am also setting a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., anybody out after these times will be arrested. <br><br>“Currently we are unaware of what caused this virus, but we do know that it is airborne. The first symptoms of the virus are coughing and a slightly raised temperature, while in the next phase your skin becomes itchy and the coughing turns into a hacking cough. You will also start sweating profusely. If you noticed any of these symptoms, then I strongly urge you to stay inside, least you infect more citizens.<br><br>“I also strongly recommend that everybody covers their mouth with a mouth mask, or whatever else is available. If you do not have to go outside, then stay inside your home. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid contact with other humans as much as possible. A special telephone number will be activated shortly, which you can call to indicate that you were infected. I urge you all not to go to the hospital or to visit a doctor, since they are already flooded with patients and are unable to take on any new patients.<br><br>“It is understandable that this is very inconvenient and if it were an option to take less drastic measures then we would most certainly do so, but we all have the duty to prevent this disease from spreading any further.” <br><br>The Mayor didn't look pleased at all with the announcements he had to make so far.<br><br>Looking straight into the camera, he finished his message with, “More information will follow with the regular eight o'clock news. People of New Angeles, know that the thoughts and prayers of America are with you. Stay safe, have faith and know that together we will survive.”<br></span><br><hr>“No, fucking way,” Max laughed.&nbsp; “Dude, you fucking hear this?&nbsp; New Angeles has a virus outbreak.&nbsp; We’re ground zero, man.&nbsp; It’s like Raccoon City.&nbsp; We’re going to have fucking zombies and all kinds of shit.”<br><br>Max had momentarily forgotten his game and was simply speaking to the other players through his headphones.&nbsp; &nbsp;When he glanced back at his sister to see if she thought this was as funny as he did, he noticed that the color had drained out of her face.<br><br>“What’s wrong?”&nbsp; The first sincere thing he’d likely said to her in months.<br><br>“Mom… she left for the hospital thirty minutes ago.”<br><br>Max was self absorbed, arrogant, and a pretty big jerk at times, but he wasn’t stupid.<br><br>“What the fuck?&nbsp; Call her.&nbsp; Call the hospital.&nbsp; Do something.”&nbsp; <br><br>He himself pulled out his phone and quickly dialed his mom’s cell.&nbsp; It went straight to voice mail.&nbsp; He dialed the hospital and got the annoying recording about all operators being busy and the bullshit about his phone call being important.&nbsp; The fucking wait time was thirty minutes.<br><br>“Fuck!”&nbsp; Was all he could say as he tossed his phone across the room where it hit the wall and shattered into several large pieces, and caused Rebecca to scurry off like a scared rabbit.<br><br>He couldn’t really blame her.&nbsp; His temper was fierce and he made her life miserable when he was angry.&nbsp; That realization just made him angrier and he flipped the television back to the auxiliary and returned to his game.&nbsp; <br><br>His mind wasn’t really in it, and his scores were reflecting that.&nbsp; What the fuck was he supposed to do though?&nbsp; Not thinking about it was for the best.<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 6:50 p.m. – McGavin, Baker, and Louis Office Buildings, downtown, New Angeles</strong><br>David had seen the Mayor’s speech.&nbsp; He knew the kids were likely frantic by now.&nbsp; He’d tried to call Nancy’s phone and the hospital, but couldn’t get through.&nbsp; He waited until his latest coughing fit subsided, wiped his brow of the excess sweat, and then dialed his daughter’s phone number.<br><br>She answered it after the first ring, “Dad?&nbsp; Dad, I can’t get a hold of mom.”<br><br>The panic in her voice made his chest ache.&nbsp; He covered the mouthpiece of his phone as a series of coughs rattled his lungs again.<br><br>“Honey, I need you to calm down.&nbsp; Your mom is going to be okay.&nbsp; I just talked to her.&nbsp; They’re extremely busy but she’s all right.&nbsp; Listen, honey, I’m not going to be coming home tonight.”&nbsp; <br><br>Between the constant coughing and the pain he felt when he heard her concern he felt his voice weaken.&nbsp; <br><br>After a drink of water from the glass on his desk, he continued, “Honey, I can’t come home because I’ve got a cough.&nbsp; It’s nothing really.&nbsp; Look I need you to be strong and brave.&nbsp; Look after Max, okay.&nbsp; I’m going to call Mr. Burkhart and ask him to look in on you before you go to sleep tonight.&nbsp; Honey…&nbsp; Rebecca, listen.&nbsp; I’m going to be fine.&nbsp; Your mom said they were working on a cure.&nbsp; She said they were already giving it to the patients.&nbsp; You have nothing to worry about, okay?&nbsp; Just stay inside and do as the Mayor said.&nbsp; Make sure your brother does too.&nbsp; I’ll see you in a few days.&nbsp; We’ll look back at this and laugh.&nbsp; Rebecca, I love you.&nbsp; I’m proud of you.&nbsp; Do as I said.&nbsp; Bye.”<br><br>David collapsed his phone and set it on his desk just as another coughing fit overwhelmed him.&nbsp; He hated lying to Rebecca, but it was better that she held on to hope.&nbsp; He would call Todd.&nbsp; If there was anyone in the entire world that he could trust the safety of his children with, it was Todd Burkhart.<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 7:00 p.m. – Burkhart Residence, 1420 Stafford Court, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>Todd Burkhart was overseeing the preparations his wife, Mary, and son, Tony, were working on when his hunting buddy David Lawson called.&nbsp; Todd answered the phone on the second ring and immediately left the room where his son and wife were taking stock of their supplies.&nbsp; He moved to the other side of the house and closed the door behind him.&nbsp; The sound of David’s voice wasn’t good.&nbsp; It reminded him of the last words of a dying man, and he was momentarily taken back to his tour in Iraq.<br><br>“Hey buddy.&nbsp; Yeah, no, don’t worry about that.&nbsp; I’ll take care of them.&nbsp; Hey, you can’t stand me up for this Saturday.&nbsp; I guess I’ll just have to take the kids fishing without you, huh?&nbsp; Yeah, she’s a good girl.&nbsp; Tony likes her a lot.&nbsp; No, I haven’t heard anything about the hospitals.&nbsp; Hey, I know they said not to, but go to the hospital.&nbsp; Look, C.D.C...&nbsp; F.E.M.A. they’re at the hospitals.&nbsp; They’ll have antidotes or vaccines for this.&nbsp; Those people have stockpiles of the stuff for just this occasion.&nbsp; David, look, drink lots of fluids, keep yourself hydrated.&nbsp; If you can’t get to the hospital, than get to a clinic or something else.&nbsp; Okay, then.&nbsp; Save your strength tonight and make your way in the morning.&nbsp; Leave early to avoid everyone else.&nbsp; You can pull through this.&nbsp; Yeah.&nbsp; Hey David, one more thing, where do you keep your hunting rifle?”<br><br><br><strong>May 24, 2012 – 7:15 p.m. – Lawson’s Residence, 32 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>Rebecca answered the door after she had peered out the window and saw Tony and himself on David’s doorstep.&nbsp; Todd allowed her to hug his son before he pushed both teenagers into the house and locked the door behind them.<br><br>“Rebecca, I need you and your brother to pack some clothes.&nbsp; You’re going to stay at my house tonight.”<br><br>Todd moved through his hunting buddy’s house efficiently.&nbsp; Nancy had always kept a clean house, and the kitchen was no different.&nbsp; Todd moved to the pantry and began emptying the shelves into a backpack he had brought.&nbsp; After clearing the second shelf, he glanced up to see Rebecca staring at him dumbfounded.<br><br>“Rebecca, write your mom a letter telling her that you’re with Todd and Mary.&nbsp; She’ll know who you mean.&nbsp; Tell her Max is with you and that she’s to join us there.&nbsp; Your dad already knows what’s going on.&nbsp; We’re going to hold up at my house until this all blows over and we need supplies.&nbsp; Tony, help me gather canned food and nonperishables. “ Todd had to smile when Rebecca nodded, disappeared, and returned a moment later paper and pen in hand.&nbsp; Tony traded places with him at the pantry, and Todd patted his son on the shoulder.<br><br>“Mom just went shopping.&nbsp; We have a fridge full of food,” Rebecca added helpfully as she finished the letter.<br><br>Todd smiled and nodded, “okay, we’ll get that after you get packed.&nbsp; Bring some clothes for any type of weather.&nbsp; Like you’re going hiking, Rebecca.&nbsp; I know your dad has taken you hiking before.”<br><br>Getting Max to cooperate was a different story.&nbsp; Hell, getting him to leave his blasted game was a struggle.&nbsp; Todd didn’t like putting hands to David’s boy, but he didn’t have time to rationalize and explain to a sixteen year old spoiled brat.<br><br>Todd stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment until he was certain that Max had gone to his room.&nbsp; Then Todd opened the door to the Lawson’s garage and opened both mechanical garage doors with a push of two buttons.&nbsp; He moved through David’s garage with the same efficiency he had shown in the house.&nbsp; Hammers, nails, fishing gear, camping gear, a half filled gasoline tank, and David’s propane gas stove and lantern all went into the back of Todd’s SUV.&nbsp; He then went into the kitchen, instructed Tony to put the rest of the supplies into brown paper sacks, and carried the backpacks to the vehicle.<br><br>After adding more provisions and equipment to the trunk of the SUV, Todd paused aand glanced both ways down the street.&nbsp; The street was calm and silent.&nbsp; No one was out, and no one seemed to be reacting the same way he was.&nbsp; He wondered for the first time if he was actually overreacting.&nbsp; He had felt silly, and Mary had been giving him plenty of flak before David had called.&nbsp; There had been something in David’s voice though.&nbsp; <br><br>If this was a terrorist act against the United States, then it was pretty big.&nbsp; Even if this was an accident, it was large enough for the Mayor to give a public address.&nbsp; They had closed off the entire city after all.&nbsp; That meant no F.E.M.A. relief effort.&nbsp; If things lasted for a few days, it’d get pretty bad.&nbsp; Looters and rioters would be just the beginning.&nbsp; People were under feet of water in New Orleans, and they had still turned into crazed animals.&nbsp; He’d make sure nothing bad happened to his family, or David’s.&nbsp; He’d made a promise.<br><br><br><strong>May 25, 2012 – 6:00 a.m. – Burkhart Residence, 1420 Stafford Court, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>The police scanner announced that S.W.A.T. teams were being deployed to Mercy Hospital with orders to use extreme prejudice against openly hostile individuals.&nbsp; <br><br>Todd turned down the volume as to not wake Mary, before he slipped out of bed and checked on the children.&nbsp; They had given Rebecca the guest room, and he’d had to chase Tony out of the room three times that night.&nbsp; The world was ending, and the damn teenagers were only worried about getting laid.&nbsp; He had to snort at the ridiculousness.&nbsp; Max was asleep in Tony’s bed, and Tony had bunked on the couch.&nbsp; It hadn’t been difficult to convince Tony to give up his bed.&nbsp; Likely because he thought he’d share Rebecca’s.&nbsp; Todd shook his head once more and cursed David.&nbsp; Why his buddy had gone off and gotten himself sick, God only knew.&nbsp; God sure knew that Todd had no desire to play chaperone to two horny teenagers and an obstinate brat.<br><br>Todd continued to the ground floor of his house and peered out the window.&nbsp; It was promising to be a sunny day, much like the day before.&nbsp; He wasn’t quite sure if he had expected fire and brimstone or an active war zone.&nbsp; Either way, it seemed surreal that birds were singing and the paperboy had delivered right on time.<br><br>Todd double bolted the front door and put the chain on after he had retrieved the newspaper.&nbsp; The mayor’s address was on the front page.&nbsp; There was nothing concerning any breakthroughs for a cure, though it was promised they were close.&nbsp; No address from the President.&nbsp; Three different articles on how the National Guard was covering every major entryway into New Angeles finished off the front page.&nbsp; Todd idly wondered if they were covering the dirt roads and the hiking trails.&nbsp; He also noted that the obituary page was oddly absent.&nbsp; That likely wasn’t a good sign.&nbsp; He performed a perimeter sweep of the interior before returning to bed, his mind too busy to return to sleep.<br><br><br><strong>May 26, 2012 – 7:00 p.m. – Burkhart Residence, 1420 Stafford Court, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br>Rebecca had finally talked Mr. Burkhart into allowing her to return to her house for her phone charger.&nbsp; She had hoped she'd be able to get away for a short time and maybe be alone with Tony.&nbsp; She needed him to just hold her, and it felt extremely awkward to even embrace with Mr. and Mrs. Burkhart watching them 24/7.&nbsp; Unfortunately, Mr. Burkhart had insisted on accompanying her.&nbsp; Nevertheless, her phone was charged when Meagan sent her a text.<br><br>9 p.m.&nbsp; Protest.&nbsp; Downtown.&nbsp; <br><br>Rebecca didn’t hesitate to call her friend.&nbsp; What was Meagan thinking?&nbsp; Mr. Burkhart had agreed with the Mayor that they should stay inside and avoid people.&nbsp; Aside from a few short walks around the house and talking to neighbors through the fence, that’s exactly what they had done.&nbsp; It had been two days of movies, which in all truth, had become extremely boring.&nbsp; &nbsp;Still, she knew something had happened at Mercy Hospital, but neither Mr. nor Mrs. Burkhart were willing to tell her, and none of her friends knew anything either.&nbsp; <br><br>All she had learned was that the S.W.A.T. team had been called and a lot of people had been shot.&nbsp; Survivors had been taken to another hospital, supposedly.&nbsp; When she asked, Mr. Burkhart assured her that both of her parents were okay, but that she couldn’t go see them because of the outbreak.&nbsp; She didn’t fully believe him.&nbsp; She knew they would have wanted to talk to her.&nbsp; Above everything, these last few days, she wanted to believe that they were okay.&nbsp; Her desire to believe that they were alright was the only thing that was helping her keep it together.<br><br>Now, on top of everything else, Meagan wanted to go to a protest in downtown.&nbsp; Rebecca’s friend finally picked up after the fifth ring.<br><br>“Meagan, are you nuts?&nbsp; You need to stay home.&nbsp; I don’t care.&nbsp; Stay home.&nbsp; What?&nbsp; No, I have to watch Max.&nbsp; Besides I’m with Tony.&nbsp; No, his parents are here too.&nbsp; Just promise me you’re not going to go.&nbsp; Promise.&nbsp; Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”<br><br><br><strong>May 27, 2012 – 3:00 a.m. – Burkhart Residence, 1420 Stafford Court, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br>Rebecca was woken by the insistent ring of her phone.&nbsp; Half asleep, she answered it.&nbsp; Static and confusion poured through the phone and into her ear.&nbsp; Rebecca eyes opened wider as she heard screams, and gunshots.<br><br>“Hello?&nbsp; Meagan?”<br><br>Meagan’s sobbing voice finally came through the earpiece, “Rebecca they’re everywhere.&nbsp; They’re attacking people and biting them.&nbsp; They got Jason.&nbsp; There was so much blood.&nbsp; They took him right out of my hands.&nbsp; They’re cannibals.&nbsp; They’re eating everyone.&nbsp; I… I saw him die.”<br><br>Rebecca had to mentally replay what Meagan had just told her.&nbsp; If this was some practical joke, she wasn’t in the mood.<br><br>“Meagan, what are you talking about?&nbsp; Whose killing people?&nbsp; You’re downtown, aren’t you?&nbsp; I told you not to go,” before Rebecca could really start in on the lecture Meagan screamed and a loud growl was heard over the phone.&nbsp; What she heard over the phone next made Rebecca scream which woke the entire house.<br><br>It took Max, Tony and his mom all night and late into the morning before Rebecca calmed down, and finally cried herself to sleep&nbsp; The radio had confirmed what Rebecca had heard, and was urging people to avoid the downtown area.&nbsp; After that, it didn’t take Rebecca long to put everything together.&nbsp; Then, she had become hysterical.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>Later in the day, Max quite offhandedly admitted that he believed their parents were gone a day or two ago, and his casual confession had caused Rebecca to hate and despise him.<br><br><br><strong>May 29, 2012 – 12:00 p.m. – Burkhart Residence, 1420 Stafford Court, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>Rebecca hadn’t talked to him since yesterday morning.&nbsp; He hadn’t meant how uncaring what he had said sounded like, but it had been pretty obvious that something had happened to their parents.&nbsp; He knew his biological warfare and plague scenarios all too well.&nbsp; He had even accepted that if a biological terrorist attack or catastrophe ever truly happened, his mom, and most other medical professionals, would be among the first casualties.&nbsp; He had figured it all out the first time he had ever played Resident Evil Two.&nbsp; <br><br>He wasn’t uncaring, or heartless.&nbsp; It was just the bitter truth.&nbsp; It didn’t do anyone any good to ignore the truth.<br><br>Max himself hadn’t talked to anyone since the previous day.&nbsp; Not really, anyway.&nbsp; Todd had tried, but Max had simply told him he was fine.&nbsp; It was odd, really.&nbsp; For the first time he could recall, he wasn’t angry.&nbsp; He just felt numb.&nbsp; <br><br>He had always thought that it was a cool effect when games showed a peaceful, tranquil place only blocks away from a war zone.&nbsp; It seemed like the developers had finally gotten something right. <br><br>More gunfire echoed in the distance and Max tried to place the type of gun that was being used.&nbsp; He didn’t think of himself as a gun expert.&nbsp; Hell, his dad had only allowed him to shoot his father's hunting rifle a few times at the range.&nbsp; Dad had said that he wasn't responsible enough for a gun of his own, yet.&nbsp; Dad had said that Max had thought everything was a game.<br><br>Max picked up the gravel from the Burkhart’s house’s shingles and tossed it off the edge of the roof.&nbsp; Todd Burkhart had commanded them to board and seal up all the windows and doors on the ground floor.&nbsp; Since then, they’d begun to use the access from the second story to the roof as a type of lookout.&nbsp; Max knew that Tony had used this same route to sneak out and visit Rebecca during this entire last school year.&nbsp; Neither of his parents believed him when he told them.&nbsp; They'd died believing Rebecca was their innocent angel daughter.&nbsp; Even those thoughts didn't cause an emotional response in him.&nbsp; <br><br>Max didn’t know what he was supposed to be looking out for.&nbsp; When they were boarding up the doors and windows, Max had been quite certain that Todd was out of his mind paranoid.&nbsp; Now, with the constant gunfire in the distance, Max had to grudgingly admit that it hadn’t been a bad idea.<br><br>He was tossing another handful of pebbles from the roof when he saw him.&nbsp; Max thought it was a him.&nbsp; It was a solitary figure two blocks down the street, and even at this distance Max could tell the person had been maimed and disfigured.&nbsp; The man, Max was sure it was a man now, was wearing torn and shredded clothing.&nbsp; The sixteen year old gamer had to stand for a better view.&nbsp; The figure, or man, looked as if he was in a daze, and Max swore to himself that the person was a zombie.&nbsp; <br><br>It wasn’t until Max’s Social Sciences teacher, Mr. Mau, exited his house and approached the figure that Max began to holler.&nbsp; He was yelling well before the zombie turned in Mr. Mau’s direction and bolted toward him, latched onto the teacher’s throat and began to feed.<br><br>Max wasn’t even sure what expletives he was saying as he hurried back into the house to get Todd.&nbsp; Todd didn’t believe him at first, but Max was persistent and finally grabbed Todd’s hand and pulled him to the window.&nbsp; <br><br>Even with the surreal scene happening down the street, Max had to admit that the military grade binoculars Todd was using were pretty dope.&nbsp; He momentarily wondered what type of zoom they had.&nbsp; If he was bothered at all by what he'd just witnessed he wasn't showing any outward signs of it.<br><br>“See I told you.&nbsp; We've got to go kill them now,” Max said with an unhealthy bit of excitement in his voice.&nbsp; A single look of disgust from Todd reeled Max back in, but just barely.<br><br><br><strong>June 1, 2012 – 6:00 p.m. – Highway 40, outskirts, New Angeles</strong><br>More and more zombies had appeared over the last few days.&nbsp; Todd had blamed himself.&nbsp; He hadn’t been quick enough to kill the first one, or Mr. Mau.&nbsp; They’d both bitten two more people by the time he had gathered his gun and exited his house.&nbsp; Two had turned into six which had turned into fifteen and soon the zombies were all over the neighborhood.&nbsp; He should have been better prepared.&nbsp; He should have had more supplies loaded in the car.&nbsp; As it was, he had been lucky enough to escape Mr. Mau, Mrs. Mau and their fourteen year old daughter.&nbsp; All of whom had gone bloodthirsty mad.&nbsp; He been even more fortunate to drive his family, and David's kids out of there.<br><br>Fortune had quickly run out on him after he had decided to take the highway to the old hiking trail he and David knew about.&nbsp; Thousands of cars were stopped end to end on all four lanes of the highway.&nbsp; Over half of the vehicles had been abandoned, and more than enough clogged the greenbelts between the east and west bound roads.&nbsp; It was eerie to see not a single car for miles on the other side of the highway, the road that traveled into the city.&nbsp; The National Guard had done their job well.&nbsp; The five of them had slept in the SUV that night.<br><br>Now, Todd and the boys were pushing vehicles out of the way so that Nancy and Rebecca could drive the SUV through the greenbelt between the east and west bound highways.&nbsp; A bit of muscle, and a good piece of driving by Mary, and the SUV was now on the opposite highway.&nbsp; Todd took the wheel again and pointed the vehicle away from New Angeles.<br><br>Thirty minutes later they were at the roadblock and meeting extreme hostility.&nbsp; A hundred vehicles or more had drivers who had had the same idea as Todd.&nbsp; A Sergeant with a bullhorn continued to announce that people would need to turn around and vacate the premises or be prepared to be fired upon.&nbsp; None of the drivers of the vehicles in front of them seemed to be listening, and Todd wasn’t about to either.&nbsp; The United States Army wasn’t about to open fire on American citizens.&nbsp; Even with that assurance firmly in his mind, Todd had a nagging feeling.&nbsp; <br><br>He noticed that vehicles on the other side of the highway had been torched.&nbsp; It also appeared as if a number of cars on the opposite road had a few holes in their windshields and opened doors.&nbsp; Not wanting to risk the lives of his family on an exit that didn’t seem to be panning out, Todd put the SUV in reverse and turned it around.<br><br>He hated watching the roadblock disappear in his rear-view mirror, but Mary’s reassuring hand on his arm helped him feel he had made the right decision.&nbsp; There was another way to the hiking trail that led to a remote spot that was known to him and David as a good hunting, fishing, and camping area.&nbsp; He’d just have to drive around the city to get to it.&nbsp; His largest fear, though, was that they would need to travel close to the downtown area to get there.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>wiccaangel311</strong> on <strong>20-06-2012, 21:46:18</strong>
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				<strong>June 1 (Day 10) 8:15 pm Mall Downtown</strong><br><br>Katherine Walked as fast as she could with the injured Samantha using her for support. Sam had an incredibly large cut on her leg and Katherine had done her best to keep it clean and bandaged up but it needed stitches, and Kate was no doctor. She was a police officer and only knew emergency first aid. She did her best to keep Sam's wound from getting infected but she was running out of supplies. She decided to head to the mall to look for anything that could help. They found a whole in the glass and since her leg was injured Sam couldn't help but step on the glass. Luckily it wasn't loud enough to catch the attention of anything. <br><br>"Come on Sam we need to get to the Security office, There could be some supplies in there.” She said making her way through the strangely deserted mall towards the security office. <br><br>“Kate I'm just slowing you down.” Sam said “I wouldn't blame you if you left me here.”&nbsp; She added. <br><br>"Are you kidding Sam, you're my partner remember.” Katherine said. "I'm not leaving you."” She said she found the security office door and luckily it was unlocked. Unfortunately there was nothing left in the supply area. <br><br>“Shit!” Kate yelled.<br><br>It's alright Kate.” Sam said sitting in the surveillance Chair. “just get out of here.” <br><br>“I’m not…” Katherine Started to stay, but something caught her eye on the surveillance screen behind Sami’s head. It was a camera in one of the shops by the looks it was a hunting shop. But what caught her eye was a woman sitting and eating a candy bar she recognized the face from one of the hospitals. “I know her.” Katherine told Sam “I think she’s a Nurse.” She said. The truth was she knew she was a nurse&nbsp; for she definitely Recognized that face from the many times she spent at the hospital due to her job <br><br>“Do you think she could fix my leg” Sam asked. <br><br>“Maybe there’s only one way to find out.” She said. “Come on” she added as Sam swung her arm around Katherine’s neck. Seeing the Nurse again made her recall everything that had happened during the week and she clutched the necklace hidden behind her uniform shirt.<br><br><strong>May 26 (Day 4) New Angeles Police Station.</strong><br><br>Katherine spent most of her days at the Station. She hadn’t been home in a long while with only calls from her husband to comfort her. Since the riots had started the Station had been trying to keep things in order mainly. She had to admit this was crazy all the Mayer had just issued a curfew and something about a disease.<br><br>“Kate.” one of the other cops said “go home get some rest you’ve worked yourself to the bone this week.”&nbsp; He said. “Ryan’s worried sick about you he’s called the chief six times.” He added with a laugh as Katherine Smiled. That sounded like her husband. <br><br>“I can’t go home and leave you all here.” She said.<br><br>“Trust me Kate we have it covered.” The other cop said. “Just Go.”<br>&nbsp;<br>She sighed but was grateful for the Break. Her husband Ryan had been coughing and Katherine worried he was infected with the virus. She headed out the back way and made it to her Squad car.<br><br><strong>May 26 (Day 4) Katherine and Ryan’s House</strong><br><br>When Katherine drove the car outside her house she could see Ryan Packing the truck. She got out he turned and ran to her. “Come on baby we’re getting out of the city.” He said grabbing her hand. <br><br>“Ryan I can’t just leave the whole department and everything.”&nbsp; Katherine said. <br><br>“Oh yes you can I’ve already got it set up with the chief and everything.” He said “We’re leaving tomorrow early morning.” He said.<br><br>“Ryan this is nuts.” She Argued.<br><br>“I saw one Kate!” He said and she could now see the worried look on his face. “it walked through the Neighborhood the neighbor’s kid finally killed it with his father’s shot gun.”<br><br>She didn’t know what to say “Alright Ryan….we’ll leave.” she said.<br>&nbsp;<br><strong>May 27 (Day 5) Gas Station Downtown</strong><br><br>Kate and Ryan had been driving for hours and decided to top off on gas before getting out of the city if they could manage.<br><br>&nbsp;“Ryan, fill it up.” She said getting out of the car and handing him a gun. They had had way to many close calls with both Zombies an rioters today and Katherine didn’t want to take any more chances. She grabbed her hand gun and ran inside. <br><br>When she got there the place was deserted and eerily quiet. She walked in her gun ahead of her. She looked there was no one around. “Hello?” she called out. She heard a squeak from the bathroom and rushed over there.&nbsp; In the hallway was a dead man covered in blood face first on the floor.&nbsp; She opened the Bathro om door and found a teenage girl with a bloody mop in her hands.<br><br>“H…H…He tried to kill me” the girl said tears streaming down her face. <br><br>“It’s Alright come on.” She said holding out her hand. The girl took it and the two ran out of the gas station.<br><br>&nbsp;“RYAN START THE CAR!” Katherine yelled and as they rounded the van they were met with Growling “SHIT!” Kate yelled as she pushed the girl away and fired a bullet into The Zombie Gas station manager’s head.&nbsp; It wasn’t until later that she noticed her Husband half eaten body on the ground.<br><br><strong>June 1 (Day 10) Mall Downtown</strong><br><br>The two made it to the hunting Store. Katherine was just Praying that no one would mistake her for a mindless Zombie right now. Though she had to admit she had been wishing to be shot for quite a few days. She couldn’t bear to leave Sam behind though. Granted they weren’t related but ever since that gas station they have had a sisterly relationship. Plus Sam Had proved to have her fair share of uses from time to time.<br><br>“Kate, My leg hurts really bad I think the medicine is wearing off.” Samantha said wincing.<br>&nbsp;<br>“Come on we’re almost there Sam.” Katherine said helping her walk the rest of the way.<br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>20-06-2012, 21:52:26</strong>
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				Caitlin heard a sound in the distance, the shuffling of feet. She gripped her crowbar a little tighter and hissed to Carl, “Someone is out there, hide!”<br><br>Carl didn't let her tell him twice and he ducked behind some shelves. He cocked his old revolver as quietly as possible, ready to shoot at any threat.<br><br>Caitlin, wanting to take no risks either, dropped her backpack near Carl and scouted the area. She wasn't a fighter, but she was no coward either and if there was a zombie out there then she would make sure to get the first hit and kill it before it could bite her. <br><br>Just as with the good old game of hide and seek that she regularly played during childhood, she stalked closer to the entrance of the hunting shop, being careful to stay in the cover of shadow. Peeking over the top of the counter, Caitlin saw two figures staggering in a straight line for the shop.<br><br>“That's odd...” Caitlin thought, “It's almost as if they know we're here...”<br><br>Caitlin also noticed that one of the figures was obviously supporting the other. Looking closer she could make out a woman and a teenage girl. It was the teenage that seemed to be limping on one leg, while the other woman was supporting her. She was also holding a gun in her free hand...<br><br>However, they didn't appear threatening and they were in obvious need for support.<br><br>As they got closer the woman seemed familiar, Caitlin thought she had seen her before, but couldn't remember where. She noticed the police uniform the woman was wearing, however, and she figured she must have seen her at the hospital.<br><br>Taking a chance, Caitlin crawled as silently as possible to the door opening and half whispered, half spoke, “Over here,” waving the couple over.<br><br>Caitlin was observant of her surroundings, making sure the two hadn't brought any unwanted company with them, but the coast seemed clear. <br><br>“Carl, my backpack,” Caitlin insistently whispered.<br><br>The lights in the shop were all turned off, Caitlin and Carl didn't want to draw any unwanted attention and the zombies seemed drawn to light like moths to a lamp. <br><br>Carl seemed upset at the arrival of the women, but Caitlin ignored him and got her first aid kit out of her backpack. It was the one thing she never left without. <br><br>“Hi, I'm Caitlin and this Carl,” she whispered, pointing at Carl behind her.<br><br>The older man gave a short nod, but the concern was clear to see on his face. Caitlin supposed she couldn't blame his distrust of people after what happened with his church earlier. <br><br>“I'm Katherine and this is Samantha,” the police officer offered in response.<br><br>Samantha could only wince in pain as she laid down and stretched her wounded leg slowly.<br><br>“Crap... This is going to take me a while to stitch up,” Caitlin cursed, more to herself than anybody else, after seeing the big wound in Samantha's leg.<br><br>“Katherine, could you and Carl set up a defensive perimeter? We wouldn't want any unwanted visitors to disturb us and we won't be able to move Samantha for a while,” Caitlin explained.<br><br>“Please call me Kate,” Katherine whispered back with a smile, “I'll go take care of the defense yes.”<br><br>Caitlin offered Samantha a small wooden stick, saying, “Here, bite on this. It might sting a little.”<br><br>Samantha graciously accepted the stick and completely froze in pain when Caitlin poured the disinfectant in Samantha's wound. She was trying to be as gentle as possible, but she also had to be thorough. The poor teen had her eyes tightly shut and tears were billowing down her cheeks, while she did her best to suppress her screams, only uttering small sounds of discomfort.<br><br>Having only her flashlight to see by, Caitlin had to take some extra time to make sure the entire wound was clean. Grabbing a sterilized needle and thread, she started knitting the wound to close it. She did it in such an effective way that in a few weeks from now you likely wouldn't even see a scar.<br><br>“There, you're all done,” Caitlin breathed with a sigh of relief, happy that this was over.<br><br>“Thank you,” Samantha replied with a grunt, speaking her first words since entering the shop.<br><br>“Sorry about the pain, but I had to be thorough, least it starts to infect and fester. Your leg should be completely healed within a couple of weeks and you likely won't even see a scar. It's best not to put too much pressure on your leg for the coming three days though,” Caitlin explained, offering the teen a warm smile.<br><br>Meanwhile, Kate had done her best to make the shop as defensible as possible. Caitlin gave the two women a candy bar and a single bottle of Spa Blue. Water especially was on ration, since she didn't trust tap water and she wasn't sure when they'd run into another shop that had bottled water, but at the same time it was clear to see that both Kate and Sam were very thirsty.<br><br>“I wonder what will happen next,” Caitlin thought, “With Samantha injured and exhausted it's probably best to rest for a while longer, while we come up with a plan of attack.”
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>21-06-2012, 05:29:37</strong>
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				<strong>May 24 (Day 2), 2012 - 8:47 a.m. - Luna Amano's Apartment, New Angeles</strong><br><br>Who knew that a flu could save someone's life? <br><br><strong>"Ugh . . Marcus, I told you, I'm still sick . . "</strong><br><br>For the better part of a week now, Luna Amano had been missing from work, due to being stuck in bed with a rather rough flu. She just knew when that caucasian banger started coughing all over the place last week, that he'd end up getting her sick! Some thank you for tuning his crappy Honda's engine. <br><br>Even since then she'd been getting harassed by her boss Marcus every few hours. Marcus was a rough sort of guy, and ran the busiest chop shop on his side of New Angeles. It was he who gave her a chance even though she was a kid, and taught her the ins and outs of machines. The only things he demanded were punctuality and perfection . . so her being out with the flu for so long was really aggrevating the poor guy!<br><br>After a short bout of coughing, the exhausted asian laid her head back on her pillow and sighed into the phone. <strong>"Listen man, if you'll just let me SLEEP for more than a few hours in a row, I'll get better faster right? Goodnight."</strong> With a toss of the phone onto the tv-tray that acted as her nightstand, she settled back down for more sleep, ignoring the angry sounds coming from her phone.<br><br><br><strong>May 27 (Day 5), 2012 - 1:00 a.m. - Luna Amano's Apartment, New Angeles.</strong><br><br>Luna was really starting to feel better! All this bedrest, and drinking down the orange juice and water she'd bought when she started getting sick, was certainly helping things along. Best of all, her boss had finally listened to her and stopped bothering her on the phone! Of course, this also led to a bit of boredom while she was awake, but she had plenty of books to keep her from dying of boredom. She'd have to go scavenge herself a TV one of these days . . .<br><br>When she was next interrupted, it was from a knock on her door and the sound of loud chattering. Shrugging a clean robe onto her body, she shuffled her way over to the door and opened it. She, of course, left the security chain on . . . she didn't live in that great of a neighborhood after all! Looking back at her through the crack in the door was one of her neighbors, a John . . something or other. She really couldn't remember his name.<br><br><strong>"Yo! Luna, get your clothes on and come with us downtown. Shit is getting CRAZY down there."</strong> John looked particularly excited, though Luna was not impressed.<br><br><strong>"What the hell are you talking about?"</strong><br><br>The man looked at Luna like she'd grown a second head! <strong>"Jesus, haven't you heard? They called in the army because people are getting sick from a weird disease! Last I heard, people were marching on City Hall, and then lots of people started looting and rioting. Me and the others are gonna head over to northside and grab everything we can, while the police and army are busy with the other riots. You in?"</strong><br><br>Luna groaned, palming her face. <strong>"You want me to go rob stores and shit, while the army and police are all up in arms, and a weird disease is getting people sick? I'm only just barely getting over my flu I got last week . . listen, just go do what you want. I gotta go meet Marcus later anyways, so I'm gonna nap a bit more."</strong><br><br>John just shrugged, turning to move out with the rest of the small mob from her apartment complex. <strong>"Fine, suit yourself girl. Just don't complain when you see me walkin' back here with some new rolexes and a tv! Ha ha ha!" </strong><br><br>Shutting the door and locking it, Luna went to make herself a VERY early breakfast, rolling her eyes at the sounds of the other residents cheering and hollaring. So damned immature!<br><br><br><strong>May 27 (Day 5), 2012 - 2:14 p.m. - M's Auto and Scrap, New Angeles.</strong><br><br>Man, the city looked like hell! As Luna had left her apartment, she could see smoke rising from several parts of the city, some a little too close for comfort. There were smashed car and shop windows, spilt trashcans . . clearly things had not gone well after the riots. She'd tried to call Marcus this morning, but couldn't get ahold of him, so she decided to risk the riots and police and walk over to his shop. Besides, in a neighborhood like this, their shop would be some place that WASN'T closed down due to the less-than-reputable elements.<br><br>The japanese-american mechanic, toolbelt on her waist and messenger bag over her shoulder, cautiously entered the front door of the shop once she found that it was open wide. The inside was a wreck, with spare parts and tools scattered all over the place. She found it hard to believe that some rioters could have taken down Marcus and his boys, especially considering the firearms that they had. When she crossed into the actual scrap yard however, she soon learned what had happened.<br><br>There were bodies here. Rather brutally injured bodies, at that. Some had obvious gunshot wounds, some had their skulls cracked open, and others were torn to pieces. The stench alone caused Luna to clamp a hand over her mouth and recoil. She would've fled right then in there, if she hadn't heard the scream and gunshots from deeper in the yard. Picking up a piece of scrap pipe, she rushed deeper into the yard, to find find a whole crowd of what looked like ravening lunatics surrounding her soon-to-be former employer. The gun had been torn away from him, along with his hand, and he had been shoved to the ground. Before the worst happened, his eyes widened in shock at the site of Luna.<br><br><strong>"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, KID!"</strong><br><br>The scream was the last thing he ever spoke, as the monstrous people began to tear him limb from limb. When two turned their heads to look in her direction, the girl turned right around and ran as far away from the yard as possible, tears stinging her eyes. This was NOT RIGHT!<br><br><br><strong>June 1 (Day 10), Mall, Downtown New Angeles.</strong><br><br>It was official. New Angeles was now hell on Earth. Ever since she'd fled Marcus' old shop, things had progressively gotten worse and worse. She had initially fled back to her apartment complex to hide out and pack up some things for quick travel, if it was necessary. A little ingenuity (and some things she 'borrowed' over the last year or two from various places) let her properly pad her messenger bag, so when she put her small supply of tools, nails, and the like inside it wouldn't make as much noise and give her away. <br><br>Before she could gather up her food, she noticed outside her window that more of those . . things were starting to show up in her neighborhood. She might have been caught by the zombies, if a family from another apartment complex hadn't started running and screaming, giving her a chance to slip away into the alleyways. Life for her had become nothing but hiding and waiting for calm moments to sneak to another place, searching for a safe area.<br><br>When the gangs had started to take violent control of areas, she'd contemplated joining one and risking her body. That ended fast when she noticed how swarms of the undead tended to swoop in wherever bangers started firing off their weapons and driving through. She spent a day moving to the edge of the city, only to see the army keeping everyone trapped in side . . with lethal force. Now she was forced to move back into the city to search for a safe place to hide . . .<br><br>By the start of June she had been forced to flee into the Downtown area just due to the way the packs of zombies had ended up moving and chasing other survivors down. Luna was definately not happy about being in the belly of the beast, but figured it also meant she had a better chance of finding supplies. Stumbling upon the mall, she'd found a way to quietly slip through the parking garage and begin creeping about to try and find things she could scavenge for weapons or food. <br><br>She was down to her trusty wrench as her only really effective weapon, and she ran out of food a good twelve hours ago. Her earlier clothing had gotten more than a little damaged and soiled from blood and other less-than-pleasant things in all her slinking about, so she'd changed into something more for mobility. The softest sneakers she could find with decent grip, a pair of hip-hugging shorts, a slightly-too-big tank top, and a yellow and white striped hoodie. It didn't afford much in the way of protection, but it didn't weigh her down and let her take advantage of her natural flexibility and speed a good deal more.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AribethAmkiir</strong> on <strong>21-06-2012, 05:34:27</strong>
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				<strong>June 1, 2012 – 7:25 p.m. – Highway 40, entering downtown New Angeles</strong><br>The SUV ran idle as Todd sat in the driver’s seat and stared at the destruction which had befallen the highway in front of them.&nbsp; Accidents had piled traffic up in every lane.&nbsp; Dead, mutilated bodies, too destroyed to reanimate, littered the pavement of the road.&nbsp; They had only been sitting in the vehicle for a few minutes, thus far.&nbsp; Light still filled the sky, though the sun promised to set within hours.&nbsp; Mary was busy looking at the map and trying to find another way around.&nbsp; Rebecca was being comforted again by Tony.&nbsp; The pair sat in the back seat with the teenage girl between his son and her brother.&nbsp; Max, was being Max, and Todd was doing his best to ignore the ridiculous and inane comments the sixteen year old was making.&nbsp; It took most of Todd’s inner strength not to reach back and cuff the boy.&nbsp; <br><br>Instead, Todd simply stared at the boy through the rear-view mirror and then said that was enough.&nbsp; Todd wasn’t sure if it was his own chastisement or the way Rebecca further recoiled from her brother that caused the boy to fall into silence.&nbsp; Either way, he was grateful.<br><br>“Mary, the off ramps are all congested.&nbsp; There’s no way to get there except through that,” Todd said as he pointed ahead. <br><br>It was the barest of movement that caught his attention and he reacted without thinking.&nbsp; He jarred the clutch into reverse and forced the gas pedal to the floor.&nbsp; The wheels slipped momentarily before the SUV lurched backwards just as the shambling dead began to converge on the vehicle.&nbsp; Uncoordinated and weak slaps at side windows startled the kids and his wife.&nbsp; The vehicle traveled fifty yards in reverse before Todd slammed upon the brake and turned the wheel hard.&nbsp; <br><br>He traveled five miles upon the highway in the opposite direction they had just come, mostly because he had no idea what to do next.&nbsp; Finally, as his adrenaline began to subside, he parked the SUV in the center of a road on top of an overpass. <br><br>“Everyone keep your eyes opened for those things,” he wouldn’t call them zombies.<br><br>The kids did as he said and he glanced at Mary from the corner of his eye.&nbsp; The color was only now beginning to return to her face, and he placed a tender, affectionate hand on her arm to try and help steady her.<br><br>Todd knew that the gas gauge had read a quarter of a tank for the last ten minutes.&nbsp; He also knew that his vehicle’s gauge tended to drop quickly once it passed half.&nbsp; <br><br>He was out of ideas, and after a moment, knowing all in the car could hear him, he gave Mary an apologetic shrug before speaking, “I’m open for suggestions.”<br><br><br><strong>June 1, 2012 – 8:15 p.m. – Downtown Mall</strong><br>Rebecca couldn’t contain her anguish any longer.&nbsp; The past few days had passed in a blur of numbness, but the last hour had been a slow torturous grind through Hell.&nbsp; She was only distantly aware of Tony’s arms around her shoulders, and Mr. Burkahat’s guiding hands upon both of them as they moved through the darkened mall.<br><br>The mall had seemed to be the most defensible place at the time.&nbsp; Mr. Burkhart had thought they could find some supplies with luck.&nbsp; They had lost half of what they had.&nbsp; They had lost more than that.&nbsp; Rebecca felt like she had lost it all.&nbsp; She didn’t want to think about what she would do if she lost Tony as well.<br><br>The hiking pack on her back was beginning to pull her to the ground, and she no longer wished to move her legs.&nbsp; Only Mr. Burkhart pushing her along kept her moving.&nbsp; He promised that they would stop soon, and she clung to Tony even tighter.<br><br>Her mom and her dad, Mrs. Burkhart, then Max; she wondered how much more she could endure.&nbsp; She wondered how much more God planned to take from her.&nbsp; Even in her state, her eyes scanned the darkness certain that the shadows concealed a number of monsters and behind every corner waited the end for one, if not all, of them.<br><br>She was pulled to a halt by Mr. Burkhart and then crouched down low at his insistence.&nbsp; She had to look ahead to see what had caught his attention.&nbsp; The fright the sudden stop had caused momentary clarity without the tinge of despair.&nbsp; <br><br>Ahead, in the store Mr. Burkhart was apparently leading them to, there was certainly movement.&nbsp; Rebecca thought she saw two forms at least.&nbsp; One hovering over the other.&nbsp; She was also hearing something as well.&nbsp; The pained whimpers of somebody being eaten alive?&nbsp; <br><br>If Tony hadn’t been holding her so tightly, she would’ve bolted right there and then.&nbsp; Instead, she felt Mr. Burkhart rummaging and tugging at the backpack she wore.&nbsp; A moment later he had what she could make out as a flashlight in his hand.&nbsp; Her head shook emphatically as she pleaded silently with him to not draw attention upon them.&nbsp; Rebecca heard him whisper to them to get ready to run, and then in utter horror she watched as Mr. Burkhart covered the lens with his hand and turned the light on. <br><br>Mr. Burkhart controlled the amount of light that escaped with the palm of his hand.&nbsp; Three quick movements followed by three slower and longer delays, which allowed more light to escape, then followed by three short and quick movements, which let only a little bit of light escape.&nbsp; An S.O.S.<br><br>A moment later, a voice was telling them to come to them.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>24-06-2012, 03:39:53</strong>
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				<strong>Day 1 (23 May): Outskirts of the City, undisclosed farm location</strong><br><br>Willie's breath came in ragged gasps. He hunkered down against the fallen log, gripping his AR-15 assault rifle tightly in both hands. He glanced over at his brother, Daryl, who also hunkered down behind the same log that Willie had, gripping his shotgun with similar intensity.<br><br>“Ready?” Willie whispered. “We only got one shot at these fuckers. If we don't get them now, we're dead!”<br><br>Daryl nodded emphatically. “Ready when you are, bro!” he whispered back.<br><br>“On three, then,” Willie said.<br><br>“One....”<br><br>“Two....”<br><br>“Three!!”<br><br>Both men rose and leveled their weapons towards the two figures in the distance, then they each started to pull triggers at the same time, letting out shouts of, “Die fuckers!” and “Eat lead, bitches!” as they unloaded completely.<br><br>The shotgun blasted, the assault rifle popped. Daryl worked the pump-action of the shotgun furiously as Willie just pulled the trigger of his rifle over and over. Bullets and shot hurled again and again toward their targets just fifty feet away, pounding them brutally, shredding them as if they were made of straw. Bits and chunks exploded from them from the impact, and neither man stopped until their weapons were all out of ammo.<br><br>“Hell YEAH, bro!! Nice shooting!” Daryl called out.<br><br>Willie sighed with a smile, leaping over the log and advancing on their targets.<br><br>The two target-dummies were made of a mix of wood and beer cans. Now, they were made of a mix of badly splintered wood and pretty torn up beer cans. Nailed to the top of the post holding both dummies were two words. Above the first dummy was the word, “THE”, and above the second dummy was the word, “MAN”.<br><br>“When are you going to get me those plans to remove the firing pin from this thing so I can take it full-auto?” Willie asked. He glanced around, taking in the sights of their farm at the outskirts of the city.<br><br>Daryl just laughed and shook his head. “In time, Rambo. Don't be so damned impatient. And you know that removing the firing pin will make your weapon illegal in every state of this great union PLUS Puerto Rico, right?” he asked.<br><br>Both men got real quiet for a few seconds – then burst out laughing together.<br><br>“Make yourself useful and go get me a beer,” Willie said. Daryl snorted and walked off. <br><br>Willie moved over to a nearby hay-bale and began to reload his weapon. He and his brother had to be ready. They never knew when the feds might come knocking at their farm, and the two men would have to fend them off with blood, spit, and lead. Willie had read about all the government's gestapo-like tactics in an effort to keep American entrepreneurs under the heel of tyranny. Just because their farm 'crop' happened to be 'illegal' didn't make a difference to him or his brother.<br><br>He glanced out over the field to his left. He could see the marijuana plants green and ripe from where he stood. He smiled as he finished loading his AR-15, smirking at the thought of the DEA trying to mess with him and his brother.<br><br>FUCK “The Man”.<br><br><br><strong>Day 2 (24 May): Outskirts of the City, undisclosed farm location</strong><br><br>“Hey Willie! Shit! Shit! Shit! It's on, it's on!!! Shiiiit!” Daryl exclaimed as he barged into his brother's trailer, his shotgun in hand and dressed in his full BDU military wear that he had picked up at the army surplus store just earlier that week.<br><br>“Dude! Seriously! Don't you knock?” Willie growled, holding the latest issue of 'Penthouse' in his hands. He was JUST getting good and ready to 'take care of business' when his brother barged in. Thank God and the Holy Dollar that his brother hadn't waited a few more minutes to make his untimely entrance. <br><br>Daryl was agitated, far worse than usual, and Willie could tell that something was seriously wrong.<br><br>“They're HERE, bro! THE MAN is here!!! On County road 100, five miles out!&nbsp; Sweet hickory bacon, Willie, they brought the ARMY! They KNEW we'd beat those fuckers back and they went and brought the whole friggin' army! Maybe, Marines, too!” he said, his blood racing, breaths coming in labored gasps.<br><br>Willie didn't think this was another one of his brother's pranks. Daryl's eyebrows weren't twitching like they usually did when he was lying. Willie leaped up and began getting dressed in his own military-grade outfit.<br><br>“Calm down, bro, and tell me EXACTLY what you saw,” he said, in as calm a voice as he could muster while he continued to get dressed.<br><br>“Well, I saw at least&nbsp; twenty hum-vee's, a couple platoons of fully geared soldiers, and I swear, there were half-dozen M1 tanks, bro! We are so fucked! What if they brought Green Berets? What if they brought Delta??”<br><br>Willie nodded as he tightened his belt, giving Daryl a determined look. “We're gonna have to make 'em pay for every inch, Daryl. They sent their best because they knew that's what it would take. They've probably been scoping us out for awhile now, probably spying on us – I told you NOT to bring that Hendricks girl here, didn't I? Was probably her who ratted us out, gave up our entire operation!”<br><br>Daryl shook his head. “No way would Suzie do that, bro. No way. She LOVES me! Besides we stay in the trailer most of the time, and-....” but Willie waved a hand, cutting him off.<br><br>“I ain't needing to know all your girl-business, Daryl, damn!” he said. Truth was, Willie had watched his brother and Suzie together a few times from hiding, and needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot that Daryl could tell him that Willie didn't already know anyway.<br><br>“What are we going to do, bro? It's the ARMY!” he said. <br><br>Willie nodded. “Alright then, we might go down, but we are going down swinging. Let it not be said that the Tooms brothers gave up like a couple of pussies! No sir! We'll head out to the west fence, to the sniper positions we built, and start-....”<br><br>But the rest of his sentence was cut off by the sudden drone of massive, powerful helicopter engines swooping overhead.<br><br>“Shit, bro!! They brought gunships? God-damn! I am NOT dying over some weed, bro!!!! I ain't!” Daryl said, panicking. <br><br>“Daryl! DARYL! Get ahold of yourself! Alright! Gunships, tanks... it's obvious they mean business, so I think a tactical retreat is in order!” Willie said. “If they're at County road, then we have maybe... ten minutes. So, go get your shit, bring plenty of ammo, and meet me at the barn. We'll go cross-land on ATVs, cause they'll have the roads shut down for sure!”<br><br>Daryl nodded, finally starting to calm down. “Can we stop by Suzie's place on the way out?”<br><br>Willie sighed, “No Daryl, you ain't got time for a quickie! We've got to get on the run, brother! We're wanted men, now. Fugitives. By the end of the night, we'll be on the top of America's Most Wanted. If they sent the army out after us, then this is it. We're done,” he said. “Now, hurry your ass up, you got nine minutes now. Meet at the barn. We'll hit the back trails. If they're still coming from County road, then we'll have to head towards the city. Dump the ATVs and catch a bus or hitchhike into town and get lost in the crowds. Then make our way to Mexico and start over. So, let's go!”<br><br>Daryl nodded, “Alright, alright. Let's do this!” he said, sounding a bit more confident with their chances.<br><br>They clasped hands in a warrior's handshake for a moment, then Daryl headed out while Willie continued to dress and quickly pack a duffle-bag with the essentials: a few spare changes of BDUs, a box of pop-tarts, three bottles of water, his penthouse magazine, and a bottle of mouthwash.<br><br>A few minutes later, the sound of helicopter blades could be heard in the distance, slowly growing closer... as well as the sound of an ATV engine...<br><br>Willie dashed out of the house and to the barn as they had agreed, but by the time he got there, Daryl was already gone.<br><br>“Damnit! Daryl!!!!” Willie shouted out, as he saw his brother ride off into the distance. He was going for Suzie's house, he just knew. The bad thing was, Willie didn't know where Suzie lived.<br><br>“Damnit Daryl! Picking pussy over blood? That's just WRONG,” he said to himself as he tore into the barn, and jumped on his ATV, making sure his weapons were stowed on-board. He checked the bike but saw that it hadn't been fueled yet. “DARYL! God-DAMNIT,” Willie cursed, leaped off the four-wheeler and began to fuel it. He'd never catch his brother now, and he'd be lucky if he got out of the farm before the army arrived to arrest him, or send him straight to hell.<br><br><br><strong>Day 3 (25 May): Outskirts of the City</strong><br><br>He had tore away the night before, driving towards the city. He found a place to hole up, and didn't sleep very much that night. His entire life had come crashing down around him. His brother was missing – or more than likely hip-deep between Suzie Hendricks's thighs someplace while Willie was stuck out in the boonies with water, some pop-tarts, and his right hand. <br><br>He hated his brother at that exact moment, for having a girl, for abandoning him back at the farm. His brother had been his best friend his whole life, and at times, his only friend. But now, he had traded Willie in for a girl! How stupid was THAT?<br><br>He sighed, and stayed-put in his hideout all day. He had his walkie-talkie, and he tried to call up his brother on it every thirty minutes like they had always agreed, in an effort to conserve battery power.<br><br>All he ever got was static.<br><br><br><strong>Day 4 (26 May): Outskirts of the City</strong><br><br>Willie stayed away from the main roads as much as possible, riding his ATV, circling the ten square miles or so of land between his old house, and downtown. He wasn't sure where Suzie lived, but damned if he was going to give up on searching for his brother. His brother might have quit on him, but he was still blood.<br><br>He saw a few homes with lights on, with people, but he avoided them. If The Man was looking for him and his brother, if they really were on America's Most Wanted right now, he didn't want to show his face. Being public enemy number one would be a tough life, but Willie was willing to accept it as his way of life, for the freedom it offered, for the ability to give the finger to The Man.<br><br>He traveled around all day, and siphoned some gas from Mr. Pinkin's pick-up truck a few miles west, towards town. He kinda felt bad, Mr. Pinkin was a good fella for the most part, minding his own business and such. But, desperate times called for desperate measures.<br><br>He holed up again in some woods where he and his brother often hunted. There was no sign of his brother anywhere. After tossing-off to the foldout of “Miss May” in his copy of Penthouse, he tried the walkie again and after getting the same thing in response, he turned it off and slept.<br><br><strong><br>Day 6 (28 May): Outskirts of the City</strong><br><br>Willie was really starting to get worried. No word from his brother. Even if Daryl had gone on a sex-drug binge with Suzie, surely by NOW he would have been over it, and tried to contact his only kin? Suzie couldn't have been THAT damned good! Yeah, she was cute and all, but FIVE DAYS?<br><br>Willie also had begun to notice a few other oddities. A lot of the houses he passed were dark, their driveways deserted. A LOT of them. <br><br>Day or night, it was oddly silent. Some of the houses he passed were even boarded up, as if they were expecting a storm or something. “What the hell, do they think this is Florida or something?” he wondered to himself.<br><br>He eventually came to a residence with owners that he didn't recognize. “The Bloomfields” was painted in ornate script on the mailbox, and Willie shrugged, not having a clue who the Bloomfields were. He pulled up into the driveway, powered down the four-wheeler, and jumped off.<br><br>Silence.<br><br>It was just too damn silent.<br><br>For a moment, he wondered if The Man, using his DEA underlings, had sent a warning to the nearby area that the raid on his and Daryl's farm was going down, so that people could leave the inevitable 'war zone'. But even that idea sounded silly to Willie, because what if some of these people around here were friends, and warned the brothers? No, something else was going on.<br><br>Willie approached the house and rang the buzzer. And then again. And then a third time. <br><br>Nothing.<br><br>Going around back, he looked around and saw nothing and no one. Not even the wind stirred in the trees. He approached the back door, and just to test things out, he pounded loudly, shouting at the top of his lungs.<br><br>“This is the Sheriff! Open up, or we're coming in!” he said. Still, silence.<br><br>Using his BDU-covered elbow, he broke the glass of a window near the back door, reached in and unlocked it, and just like that he was inside.<br><br>The place was beautiful, one of those fancy digs like you only see on TV or in fancy commercials or reality shows. He looked about the place, his hands gripping his rifle lovingly, expecting to be jumped by an angry home-owner at any minute. But it never happened.<br><br>He searched thoroughly, and noted that it appeared that the people living here had left in a hurry. It looked like a husband and wife pair, no kids, based on the pictures he saw on the walls, and the existence of only one bedroom.<br><br>He also found a big flat-screen Cable-TV, and smiled as he pumped up the air conditioning. Damn, the place was pretty awesome!! He flipped through several channels, completely ignoring news reports about some sort of sickness in the county (he wasn't sick, afterall), and finally found something that caught his interest – re-runs of “TJ Hooker” were playing on TBS. <br><br>“William fuckin' Shatner! That's a MAN'S man right there,” he said, as he made his way to the kitchen to help himself to food and drink.<br><br>He kinda felt like goldilocks, noting to himself that he even had blond hair, but goldilocks didn't tote around an AR-15 with 20 rounds of hollow-points, either. <br><br>He got quite comfy in the “Bloomfield” house, and as he went to the can to take a leak, he peered in the den and saw a computer. To him, a computer equaled the internet, and the internet equaled one thing.<br><br>Porn.<br><br>He powered it up and within minutes had a browser going. Within minutes of that, he had found seven different free-porn sites and unknowingly downloaded about a dozen viruses and malware programs. Now, if Willie had any idea what those things were, he might be worried, but he wasn't.<br><br>Then, an idea hit him.<br><br>He pulled up another browser and started searching. <br><br>Susan Hendricks.<br><br>After about thirty minutes of narrowing down his search and being slightly distracted by illicit pop-up ads, he finally found his culprit.<br><br>“Suzie fuckin' Hendricks. I got you now, you brother-stealer!” he said to himself as he noted the address, and knew exactly where it was.<br><br>In the morning, he was going to get his brother back!<br><br><br><strong>Day 7 (29 May): Outskirts of the City</strong><br><br>When morning came, he prepared himself with the solid determination of a man on a mission. He collected a bunch of food and sundries from the house, stuffing them in a dufflebag that he found in one of the various closets in the home. He headed out front, looking around and was still surprised to find no one, no traffic, no sounds other than the faint blowing wind and the occasional bird call in the distance.<br><br>He hopped onto the ATV and fired it up. Turning the vehicle about, he set out cross-country again, determined to stay off the main-roads lest The Man finally track him down.<br><br>As he rode, he started thinking. His brother hadn't contacted him at all, and he just knew in his heart that his brother wasn't going to short him for a piece of ass. So the only other answer was simple: The Man had caught up to him. <br><br>Daryl and Willie had both been anti-government for most of their lives. It was quite possible, he surmised, that The Man could have been spying on them – otherwise, how in the world could they have found out about their farm? And if The Man knew about his farm, then chances were The Man knew about Daryl's girl. <br><br>THAT explained it. Daryl was either already in custody, probably being tortured for the whereabouts of his accomplices Willie KNEW that The Man preferred 'water-boarding' as a form of torture. He learned this from Fox News, which he knew was NEVER wrong. Or Daryl was holed-up somewhere lying low, not wanting to break radio-silence for fear of being tracked down.<br><br>Willie held to hope as he made his way slowly cross-country, praying to sweet baby Jesus that his brother was not in the clutches of the Evil Empire.<br><br>Several hours later, it was near noon when he rode down the street that he had gotten from the internet. He didn't understand why EVERY house was silent, empty, and dark. He had expected to see some kids at least, or something, but once more, it was as if the whole world had taken a vacation at the same time.<br><br>He headed for the address, pulled up, and turned off his ATV. Immediately, he knew he was onto something – around back, he could see his brother's ATV – so he HAD to have been here at one time, at least! His heart pounded, but he tried to keep his hopes realistic. The Man could have been here already and taken him away.<br><br>He decided on a stealthy approach, deciding to start off going around back. If Daryl were still here, he'd be lying low, and he'd have warned Suzie to ignore people coming to the door, as it could have been the fuzz.<br><br>Willie reached the back, whispering loudly for his brother. When he had tried the walkie again that morning, he didn't get any response, but again, he figured Daryl was just observing radio silence.<br><br>When he came to the back door – and found it hanging open, pieces of it broken off and shattered, his heart sank. There were even splotches of blood on the ground and around the door's frame. He didn't see any bullet-holes, but Willie was smart enough to know that this had been the sight of a fight of some kind.<br><br>Entering the back door with his rifle at the ready, he noted that there was even more blood on the linoleum floor of the kitchen, smeared as if a body had laid in it, and then been dragged away.<br><br>“The fucking MAN!” he hissed to himself. He knew how the government worked with their cover-ups, and this had all the makings of one.<br><br>Willie heard a noise down the hall... a faint scrape, and slowly, he turned his weapon that way, walking in a slight crouch as quietly as he could down the hallway.<br><br>There were doorways along each side, but they were all closed – except at the end of the hall, one door remained open through which light poured. The hallway was rather dark otherwise, but even Willie could make out the bloody drag-marks on the floor. What if Daryl was wounded, but survived, and even at this moment was bleeding out? His radio could have been lost or damaged.<br><br>“Daryl?” he dared to call out, walking quicker down the hall with thoughts of his wounded brother in mind. When he got to the doorway, he froze, not truly believing his eyes.<br><br>A naked woman sat on the floor in the corner of the bedroom, hunched over, her long blond hair looking dirty and disheveled. She was smeared in blood, and parts of her body looked... scabbed over, dirty, infected, perhaps even rotted. She slowly turned her head towards him, and her glossy reddish eyes told him that she hadn't slept in months – or that she was sick somehow. Sitting next to her was a naked man, who looked much the same, and as he, too, turned his head to regard the intruder, Willie recognized him right away.<br><br>“Daryl!” he called out. “Thank God, man! I've been looking all-....” he began to say, but suddenly stopped.<br><br>The -third- person was someone he didn't know, a middle-aged man from the salt-and-pepper hair on his head. He lie flat on the ground before Daryl and Suzie, covered mostly in blood, and both of his arms were missing.<br><br>Those arms, coincidentally, were each in the hands of Daryl and Suzie.<br><br>“What the FUCK!!!” Willie cried out, horror crossing his face. In all the survival guides he and his brother had read, NONE of them including instructions on eating other humans to survive.<br><br>“Bro, what the FUCK!!” he said again. Both Suzie and Daryl slowly rose to their feet, without saying a word, their rheumy red eyes settling on him as they both lurched toward him, step by step.<br><br>Willie raised his rifle. Something was wrong. As they walked more into the light, their dead flesh became more visible, and it finally slowly began to dawn on him<br><br>Zombies. Just like in the movies.<br><br>Great.<br><br>With the gentle raise of his weapon and the feather-touch against the trigger, a single round fired off into Suzie's forehead. “That's for stealing my brother in the first place, bitch!”<br><br>Then, Willie raised his weapon towards his brother.<br><br>“Daryl, wake up man, wake up!” he whined desperately. Daryl hadn't even flinched when Suzie's head had exploded from the hollow-point, like a ripe melon, or when her body collapsed to the ground at his feet. Indeed, Daryl simply stumbled over her, arm outstretched towards his brother. <br><br>“Daryl....” Willie said, shaking his head slowly. If the movies were right (and he generally trusted Hollywood a heck of a lot more than the US government) then there was no cure.<br><br>Willie backed away, hoping, wishing there was some way his brother would recognize him. But from the way he came forward, it was obvious to him that Willie was just a big, juicy steak to him.<br><br>“Fuck me,” Willie said, his eyes brimming with tears. “You'd do the same for me...” he muttered, and just before he squeezed the trigger one more time, he whispered, “I love you, bro.”<br><br>The back of his brother's skull and a good chunk of his cranial matter plastered the wall behind him like some abstract painter's masterwork, and Daryl's body crumpled to the ground. <br><br>Willie leaned over, fighting the urge to vomit. He pressed his hands against his knees, taking deep breaths in loud gasps. He did his best to avoid looking toward where his brother's remains lay. <br><br>Quickly, Willie dashed out of the room, down the hall, and back to the door he had came in. He ran around to his ATV, and fired it up, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. The ride back to the Bloomfield's was quicker as he rode a bit more recklessly, a bit more urgently. Things were starting to make sense, even to the mind of this average-intelligence farmboy. The reports he barely watched on the news. The silence. The missing people and how everything here seemed so... deserted.<br><br>People had fled. They had packed-up some of their shit and simply fled.<br><br>The military... they weren't after Daryl and himself at all. They were -containment- for whatever was happening. How big was it? How bad? The city? The state? <br><br>He arrived back at the Bloomfield's, a completely different person now. He examined EVERYTHING to see if anyone had been around while he was gone. No tracks, no signs of other forced entry, everything around the house looked as it had when he left that morning. <br><br>Willie barred the doors and went to the TV, turning it one, and this time, he went to the first news channel he came across. With wide-eyes and horrified ears, he watched, he listened, and he learned.<br><br>Then... he cried.<br><br><br><strong>Day 9 (31 May): Outskirts of the City, The Bloomfield residence</strong><br><br>Wille had remained frozen in the Bloomfields for two days, taking stock of the situation, mulling over his options, and gathering whatever info he could.<br><br>He took stock of his situation. He had rushed from his house and had very little ammo on him, only 18 rounds remaining for his rifle. He had his trusty .45 too, but only a single clip of 8 rounds, and a hunting knife, like the one “Rambo” used in the movies. That's why his brother called him 'Rambo' sometimes, and just thinking about it caused the young man to choke-up for a moment.<br><br>What would mama think of him, blowing his brother's brains all over the wall of his girl-friend's house? Had there been another way? Could he have captured his brother somehow, and held out for a possible cure or something? Or did Willie simply pull the trigger because he had been scared shitless?<br><br>No. He did what -had- to be done. His brother would have done the same for him, he was sure of it. <br><br>Willie decided he had to go into town. There would be cops there, other people, and of course – doctors. Out here in the 'burbs, there was none of that. In fact, he bet that's where a lot of people went – including the Bloomfields and other folks just like them. Safety in numbers and all that. <br><br>No matter what, he just didn't want to be alone. The silence, now that he knew the reason, was weighing on him. It was starting to creep him out and he found it difficult even to close his eyes for a bit of rest.<br><br>He decided to leave at noon<br><br><br><strong>Day 10 (June 1): Downtown New Angeles</strong><br><br>The drive through the streets was surreal to him, as if right from a horror movie. It was quiet – far too quiet. At least when he was in the 'burbs, he could kinda expect it, people living not so packed-in and tight as they did in town. But here he was, slowly moving up another street, hour after hour, with nothing and no one in sight.<br><br>The damage, though, was obvious. Every street he traveled on looked like a war zone. Abandoned vehicles, many burned-out, trash and debris spread about as if dumpsters and garbage cans had been emptied into the streets. Shops looted and damaged, tons of broken glass everywhere. Corpses, by sweet baby Jesus, the corpses were countless, half-eaten and mutilated, as well as the blood... lots of blood, dried and dark on the pavement in so many places. It was eerie. It was surreal.<br><br>It was scary as fuck.<br><br>Willie traveled down various streets, the huge scrapers of downtown visible in the distance. It just wasn't right. It felt like the end of days. The Apocalypse. He expected four scary dudes riding horses to gallop by him any minute.<br><br>People. There HAD to be other people somewhere! They couldn't have ALL died, not THAT many! Where would he look? Where would he go? Where would he-....<br><br>The Mall! A center point of congregation for large numbers of people. Surely, if anyone survived, that would be one of the places they'd go. Supplies, tools, electronics, clothing, even a drug-store for medicine.<br><br>He had a plan, and he gunned the engine of his four-wheeler, even though the needle on the gas gauge was dipping towards “E” with every passing mile.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>25-06-2012, 17:28:23</strong>
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				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 8:34 p.m. - Jackals and Shots (hunting supply store), Mall, Downtown.</strong><br>Carl wasn't pleased. It had been a very rough week on him that thoroughly tested his faith and today things had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Not only had he lost almost all of his flock, no, even worse was that he also lost the house of the Lord himself. <br><br>It was only an hour ago that his church had been blown up in a tragic accident and was overrun with zombies. Since then he hadn't quite been himself and he swore vengeance on the demons that trashed his church at this very moment. Surely the others would understand the priority that liberating his church had?<br><br>Even worse, however, was that he even led a <em>woman</em> take charge of the situation. The man was the head of the family and <em>he</em> should be the one leading this group of survivors. After all, the Bible said so!<br><br>Then again, he was clueless what they should do next and these women did have some good ideas of how to stay alive. He wasn't sure yet what to think of the two women that had joined them only minutes ago. It seemed that they had doubled their numbers in a matter of minutes. <br><br>Perhaps it was a sign of God though. Perhaps the good Lord was sending him new people to convert and join his growing flock. Yes, that had to be it.<br><br>The demons that were sent from hell itself by the Devil were hard to reason with and they listened much better to the sound of bullet penetrating their skull, than the voice of reason. Carl was glad that new people were joining them. Like last week, it offered him an opportunity to lead the group and let everybody do the work for him, while he would give orders and make sure that everything would run smooth. <br><br>He'd make sure that they took care of his needs, after all, he was a man of God and he deserved their respect. They should be happy that he was here to lead them, even if he didn't have his church anymore where they could pray to God.<br><br>Still, not all was lost. As long as Carl stayed alive he could preach to these people and convince them to confess their sins to him, so they could repent themselves and turn back to the holy ways. He would lead them out of this hellhole and prove God that he was worthy to praise Him in heaven. <br><br>The last several days his preaching was needed more than ever before. His only regret was that Carl wasn't more prepared, as he should have been. New Angeles was slowly turning into a new Sodom and Gomorrah. The signs had been everywhere, people were sinning on every corner of the street. Men kissing men, husbands visiting prostitutes, children smoking pot and having uninhibited sex, casinos and strip clubs were becoming more and more present and the worst of all; that no-good son of a bitch Governor had actually legislated gay marriage, which had to be one of the worst sins of them all!<br><br>It was as if people did not fear God anymore and did not care if they went to hell. And to hell they all would surely go if they kept up this behavior. If it wasn't for Carl-... His trail of thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he spotted a man and two teenagers at the end of the hall. at the pharmacy across of them.<br><br>With an insistent, “Psst” he drew the attention of the people, “Over here,” Carl indicated, waving a man and two teenagers over.<br><br>When the three people joined them and Carl got a good look at them, he concluded that they must have been through a hell as well.<br><br>“Were any of you bitten?” Carl asked, giving the newcomers a stern look, like only an old, authoritative priest could.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>25-06-2012, 19:34:43</strong>
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				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 8:40 p.m. - Parking Garage, Mall, Downtown New Angeles.</strong><br><br>Luna was a lucky girl. In all of her creeping around to get into the mall proper, the pint-sized mechanic had nearly walked right into one of the walking dead! Like an idiot, just when she'd let her guard down she startled the damn thing with her small flashlight, leading to her scrambling backwards and into a car as it lunged for her. In a pure panic the girl dropped her flashlight, grabbed onto her wrench with both hands, and put everything she had into a wild swing to keep the zombie at bay! It was pure luck that the zombie had fearlessly dipped low in it's lunge, allowing her to smash it in the head, apparently dealing enough damage to it's brain to have it flop onto her lap twitching.<br><br>Still, she felt like she made too much noise. Between the clang of her wrench cracking open the zombie's head, and her own head bumping back against the car door, she decided that it would be best to leave the area immediately. Stopping only to shrug the zombie off of her and pick up her flashlight, the girl abandoned all pretense of stealth and made a mad dash for the closest entrance to the mall. If there was one thing she was good at, it was running away, and she figured fleeing from zombie was probably easier than fleeing from pissed off gangers with pistols! With a short hop she slid across the top of an abandoned sports car she really would've liked to have found before all this happened, and shouldered her way through a partially open set of double doors. Carefully, she stopped and closed the door, abandoning one of her smaller wrenches to slide into the handles to help block it off, just in case her noisy actions had lured any wandering zombies to chase her from the garage-side.<br><br>At the very least she was inside the mall now, and could scavange for some food or a better weapon. She'd never been to the mall in Downtown sadly, and the only map she could find was broken and smeared with blood, so Luna was forced to duck down and carefully sneak her way through blind. Bloody wrench in hand, she crept forward once more down the hallway to try and find . . well . . anything!
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>wiccaangel311</strong> on <strong>26-06-2012, 05:03:29</strong>
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				Kate was sitting behind an empty shelf she had moved and used to border the side enterance of the store. She was loading her gun with some ammo she had picked up from the stocks. She suddenly noticed something moving. "Shh everyone quiet there is something moving." she said as she finished loading her gun. Sam Silenced her whimpers for a few moments as Kate kept an Eye on the movement. The new teenage girl looked scared Sam smiled and whispered to her. "Don't worry Kate is the best I know. If it's a Zombie It doesn't stand a chance." Sam said. "She was a cop once you know." <br><br>Kate peered down the hall way and could see the girl carrying a wrench. she lowered her gun. "It's allright, I am pretty sure she is another survivor." Kate responded. When the new girl got close enough Kate tried to get her attention. "Hey over here." she whispered as she motioned for the girl to come over.&nbsp; 
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>26-06-2012, 09:45:17</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 8:55 p.m. - Mall, Downtown New Angeles</strong><br><br>Willie had spent a good part of the day causing a stir.<br><br>His ATV wasn't exactly silent, and he learned quickly when he met his first wandering dead, that they seemed to take a liking to the sound of it. So much so, that as he passed any of them, they'd turn, and start following him. At first, it was kinda fun - he gunned the thumb-throttle and zipped around them easily enough, but like a swarm of human-sized moths, they'd turn and start following him, moving slowly at first, but then they'd break into a jog, and then a run. But as he put more distance between himself and them, they would simply lose interest and move off, or find some other distraction in their everlasting search for food.<br><br>As he drove on, Willie even made a fun game of it. He lured one small group of zombies near an overpass. Then, he drove down the other side and headed back to the original side. The zombies on the overpass itself would turn, and try to make their way towards the freshmeat on the ATV... and they would promptly fall over the edge to crash onto the pavement below, bodies impacting the pavement below with meaty thuds.<br><br>"Apparently, their sense of judgement is a bit inhibited," Willie said to himself. "Kinda like being high. Hmm."<br><br>He noted with increasing awareness, though, that these zombies were -tough-. The same zombies that leaped from the overpass, landed with a sickening crunch, and then -continued- to try to move, broken limbs still slowly churning, heads still tilted to look at him. Willie almost felt sorry for them - until he remembered that they fed on human flesh. But his sense of... pity?... was strong enough that he approached the badly damaged zombies, and with the butt of his rifle and some vigorous effort, he put them out of their misery.<br><br>With that thought in mind, he swiftly dug through his pack and found the bundle of weed sealed up in the large ziploc. He had thought he might use it as 'currency' if it came down to it. He was SURE that, despite all that happened, EVERYONE would still want weed, right? But as he learned later that day, even people who were still living weren't all that friendly.<br><br>He had heard gunshots, and made his way down a side street of an outlying neighborhood when he saw a group of young latinos finishing off a small group of walking dead. It was like something out of a war movie. Amongst the group, a woman was screaming at the top of her lungs, being dragged away from the fray by two other men. Was she in trouble? Were they planning ill deeds against the woman? Or could she have been a relative of one of the dead that the other men had just ripped apart with their pistols? He didn't have much time to think about it, as the men eventually heard him approaching, turned, and began shooting at -him-. <br><br>With no other option, Willie gunned his four-wheeler and sped past - leading the sizable group of walking-dead right into the band of latinos. Screams and more gunfire erupted behind him, but he just kept on going. He felt bad for a moment about it - but mostly for that lady. He hoped she was alright. But, he didn't really hold much hope for anything anymore.<br><br>Remembering directions from a trip here a few years previous was tough, but eventually he caught some street-signs that indicated the direction to the Mall. He breathed a sigh of relief, as the needle on his ATV tank was dangerously close to E again, and the last three gas stations he passed were CRAWLING with Walkers. The sun was also low in the sky, casting long, ominous shadows as he rode.<br><br>Soon, the mall came into view, and he pulled to a stop on the very outskirts of the mall itself, withdrawing his binoculars from his pack. There were Walkers -everywhere-. He could see groups of them clustered at the main entrances in sight, trying to get in. Obviously, they couldn't, so chances were good that there were still people inside, people who had barricaded the doors and such. Or... the 'outbreak' had taken place at night and the mall had simply been closed, and there wasn't a soul left alive in the place.<br><br>Looking behind him, a trio of zombies that had followed him the past mile or so were getting steadily closer. The sun was going down. He was almost out of gas, and was low on options. He wiped his forearm across his brow, sweat thick and not with just a little bit of fear mixed in. He glanced westward, the sun already set, darkness enveloping the land like a black velvet blanket. A few of the mall's external lights had come on, as well as a good number of street-lights, probably on timers and whatnot, and at the very least, emergency lighting so that he could still see the massive building before him.<br><br>"All or nothing, Willie," he muttered to himself as he straddled the seat of his ATV again. "All or nothing."<br><br>He gunned the throttle and set a pace down the street and into the parking garage, which was mostly empty of vehicles. Swerving around the Walkers was easy enough, and soon he was up by the mall structure itself. The engine sputtered, and the vehicle shuddered, and all around him, more and more of the dead were making their way in his direction as the ATV was obviously nearing an empty tank.<br><br>"Shit!" he said, and suddenly swerved to his right, into a loading-dock area. There was a door there as well as a wide loading dock entrance that was closed, but was the corrugated kind that rolled upward. He brought the ATV to a skidding halt and leaped off, his pack across his back with his rifle, and dashed up the steps to the loading ramp. The door was locked. He pounded brutally for a moment, and began to shout.<br><br>"Live one! I'm alive! Open the door if you can hear me!" he shouted, but was only met with silence and the soft moans of the dead behind him, jogging and running closer. He moved to the garage door, solid metal, and began trying to pull upward on it, with no use. The sounds of zombies got closer, the moans, the hungry dead and the grisly end of his life getting nearer. He pounded on the metal door, shouting for help, but still, no one came.<br><br>He turned and noticed without much effort that he was penned-in now, as at least a couple dozen dead filled in the entrance to the dock area behind him, blocking his exit. Then, just to his right, he saw his salvation - a utility ladder bolted to the side of the building lead up to the roof - but the bottom of the ladder was about twelve feet off the ground, to keep kids or other wanderers from using it. <br><br>"I bet the designer didn't have walking-fucking-DEAD in mind when he made that," Willie muttered to himself, sweating, heart racing, but he didn't see any other way. As fate would have it, his ATV had come to a stop fairly close to the wall. Immediately, he made his decision, and leaped from the dock and dashed the few feet to his ATV, the nearest zombies now a few paces away. <br><br>Up onto the ATV he jumped, then reached for the bottom of the ladder.... just a foot or so out of his reach. He jumped once, and though his fingers brushed the metal of the bottom rung, he couldn't hang on. Then he jumped twice even as a hand came to rest on his calf. <br><br>"FUUUCK!" he screamed, turning and applying the heel of his other boot to the face of the offender, sending the Walker sprawling with a crushed nose. Then he turned and jumped again with a defiant cry, and his fingers just caught the rung, and quickly solidified his grip. He pulled himself up, then, just as a small swarm of Walkers surrounded his ATV, some of them crawling over it, falling and tripping as other dead pushed and tried to ascend the small vehicle as well. <br><br>Slippery fingers and palms gripped the rung with all his might, and slowly, he pulled himself up. A moment later, he reached the next rung... then the next... and he was suddenly thankful for all those pushups he had done through the years in preparation for battling The Man. Another rung, then his feet were on the bottom one, and once his balance was restored, he quickly ascended to the roof. Gathering his breath, he took stock of the situation, seeing that the rooftops as far as he could see were clear. His eyes settled on the door that led into the building, and he made his way to it.<br><br>He tried the handle, but it was locked. He cursed, and then pulled forth his trusty Rambo knife, popped the end of the handle off, and poured out the contents into his hand. Two of the items were long, slender metallic tongs, made of stainless steel and durable.<br><br>He knelt before the lock and began to work at it.<br><br>"More useful training in preparation for The Man," he muttered to himself as he worked. It took him awhile, but eventually the victorious 'click' could be heard and the door swung open. <br><br><br><br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>26-06-2012, 19:14:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:00 p.m. - Mall, Downtown New Angeles.</strong><br><br>Luna was basically a super-cute ninja now, moving from kiosk to kiosk, a little background music playing in her head to emphasize how cool she was. Sure, it was a life-threatening situation, but there wasn't any reason she couldn't have a little fun with it while there were no zombies in sight. Hell, if she stopped long enough to really focus on how utterly fucked everything was, Luna felt like she might go nuts. Assuming she wasn't nuts already, of course.<br><br>Luckily or unluckily, Luna was startled out of her zipping about by a figure near what looked like a hunting shop calling out to her quietly. Luna slid straight to cover, before slowly peeking out from behind one of those oversized potted plants to see who the apparently living human was. On the one hand, it was nice to see a woman. On the other hand, as her eyes drifted down her figure, she saw what she was sure was a handgun. After her stomach rumbled again she decided that she'd have to risk it and go 'make friends'. <br><br>Glancing around the area to ensure that there weren't any of the living dead waiting to ambush her, Luna made her way over to Kate, one hand still gripping her wrench tightly. Still, she put on a bright smile and waved hello with her other hand. <strong>"Hola~ Fancy meeting someone with a pulse around here. Got any food?"</strong> Straight to the point, with her overly cheerful whispers. Judging from the quiet rumbles Luna's stomach was making, and the fact that she was a little pale, she clearly hadn't been eating too well over the last few days.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>01-07-2012, 21:45:46</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:03 p.m. - Mall, Downtown New Angeles</strong><br><br>Willie made his way down the stairs and slowly opened the access door into a utility hallway. He silently stalked his way down it, the distance short enough that it only took a few minutes, and came to a door that led into the mall-proper. It was dark. Creepy. Perfect environment for ninja-zombies to thrive in. <br><br>Holy shit! He hadn't even THOUGHT about ninja-zombies...<br><br>~Get a grip, Willie,~ he told himself as he leaned against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment to catch his breath and wiping sweat from his brow. Then, silently, he slipped out the door and into the mall open area.<br><br>His ears, nose, eyes were all on high-alert, looking for signs of movement, listening, sniffing the air. So far, silence. No shuffling of undead. No sounds of survivors, either. His spirit nearly sunk. What did he expect? To show up and find hundreds of people living comfortably in the spacious surroundings of a shopping mall, protected from the outside world?<br><br>He pulled forth the tiny pen-light that he had - up ahead, a shadow loomed out of the darkness, and as he closed, he realized it was one of those mall directories. He began to look over it, wondering where people would gather. Most likely, food-places, right? "McDonalds, Cinna-bon, Chic-Fil-A... hell YES I'd kill for a Chic-Fil-A sandwich right about now," he mumbled as he read. So there was a food-court, and likely, that would be where-...<br><br>"A hunting store!" he gasped, surprised by his luck at seeing the place listed on the directory. A hunting store would mean guns, and ammunition - glorious ammunition! So, the hunting store first, load up, and THEN head to the food court for a Chic-Fil-A sandwich. Hell YES, his luck was finally looking UP for once since all this shit started!<br><br>He looked at the map to make sure the direction he needed to go, which turns he would need to take, and then set out as quietly as he could in that direction. He took his time, even though he was itching to get more ammo - and then more food. His "Pop-Tart Diet" wasn't doing much for him now, and he was down to his last two boxes plus a few bottles of water. The thought of a juicy, hot chicken-sandwich was almost too much for him to bear.<br><br>He closed in on the location of the hunting shop a few minutes later - and thought he -heard- something. He silently cursed Bart Stilwell, the owner of the Army Surplus store that he frequented. If Bart had extended Willie's credit a bit last month, Willie would have those awesome night-vision goggles he had wanted so badly. Swiftly, he moved to the nearest wall, slowly passing a wooden bench flanked by small metal garbage bins. He was near the entrance to the hunting shop, he knew, according to the map anyway, and he was just about to-....<br><br>There it was again - a noise, louder, which almost sounded like it was right next to him in the silence of the place. He reflexively jerked to put his back to the wall - and solidly kicked the metal garbage bin over with his foot.<br><br>"FUCK!" he hissed, gripping his weapon tightly, his heart pounding in his chest.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>01-07-2012, 23:18:28</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caitlin offered the new girl a candy bar, whispering with a smile on her face, “Hi there, I'm Caitlin. You can have this one in exchange for your name.”<br><br>It was nice to see somebody so happy with something as simple as a candy bar, however, after the last week of hell that everybody went through it was to be expected. <br><br>She had just given the teenager her candy bar, when she heard a loud noise in the hallway. <br><br>“What the heck was that?” Caitlin exclaimed with a whispering voice, having trouble to keep her volume under control.<br><br>She quickly grabbed her flashlight and turned it on. She walked the short distance to the door and aimed it at the hallway floor, moving the light around until she saw something move. The last several days she had learned the hard way that it was a bad idea to startle any zombies by shining a flashlight directly in their eyes, but they seemed unaffected if you aimed it at any other part of their body. Within seconds she saw a pair of legs and aiming the flashlight higher she noticed a rifle and a military garment. <br><br>Considering that zombies didn't hold any rifles it had to be a fellow survivor. She just hoped it'd be a friendly one. If the rumors were true then the military was possibly even worse than the zombies and shot any survivors on sight. From the zombies she didn't expect any compassion, but from the military you would think they'd offer at least protection to those who survived this hell, however, from what she had heard the only 'compassion' they seemed to hand out was a bullet in your head. <br><br>If this man was indeed a highly trained soldier then it would mean trouble for the little group of survivors. On the other hand, she hadn't seen any military in the city for days and if he was indeed a soldier then he was most likely split off from his group and potentially a deserter, which could mean that he'd be friendly to them.<br><br>With a soft voice, slightly louder than a whisper, she bluffed, “We have you surrounded, if you have no bad intentions then you're welcome to join us, otherwise you best turn around now.”<br><br>“I have no bad intentions, just trying to get to the hunting shop, hoping for some ammo, likely just like you.” He called back, using about the same volume she had used to call out to him. <br><br>“I come in peace,” he added, “I ain't looking for any trouble.”<br><br>“Very well, but keep your rifle aimed to the ground please. We don't want any accidents.”<br><br>The man joined them a minute later. Though he put up a brave face, Caitlin could tell that he even though he was dressed like a soldier, he definitely wasn't military. The military usually had an air of control surrounding them and this man just looked like he was very relieved, as if he hadn't seen a living soul in days.<br><br>“Maybe a short introduction is in order,” Caitlin suggested with a soft voice, still wary of zombies overhearing them, “That way we all know who everybody is. Can everybody tell their name, their profession and what they were planning to do after visiting the mall? After introductions are over I want to suggest that we scavenge for supplies and figure out what to do next.”<br><br>Caitlin looked around the group of survivors and saw eight faces that either nodded, or grunted their approval of her idea.<br><br>“Well, I suppose I'm first then...” Caitlin started, feeling a bit uncomfortable now that she seemed to be the center of attention.<br><br>“I'm Caitlin Walker, twenty-three years old and I worked as nurse at Mercy Hospital, before it was overrun by the zombies. I met Carl several days ago after I lost my fiancé to the first zombie we encountered and we've been together since. After scavenging supplies here I was thinking of finding a safe house for the night and see if I can find a way out of the city.”<br><br>Caitlin looked at Carl and indicated that he should say something next.<br><br>Carl let out a deep sigh, before he said, “I'm Carl Johnson and I am... Was... The priest of Saint Mary Church, which is two blocks away from here. Earlier tonight there was an accident and those demons overran the church, killing the survivors that were still inside.”<br><br>Carl's tone had turned quite venomous as he spat out these last words, indicating his disgust with the zombies. <br><br>After he took a moment to regain his composure, Carl continued, “I'm planning to take back the Lord's house and offer refuge and comfort to the survivors that are still out there and need my help.”<br><br>Sternly he looked around with hope in his eyes to find supporters for his holy cause, his eyes especially resting a long moment on the two men that had joined them, but when he received no direct response, Carl bit his tongue and let somebody else tell his or her tale instead.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>02-07-2012, 01:15:52</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				June 1 (Day 10), 9:05 p.m. - Mall, Downtown New Angeles<br><br>Willie lowered his weapon, the point aimed toward the ground now that he didn't feel the need to hold his hands up like he was surrendering to the cops of something.<br><br>"Well, I'm Willie. Willie Tooms. And I'm just... just a farmer. And a hunter and such, I'm twenty-four years old and a sagittarius," he said, smiling, relaxing visibly now that he was amongst other living people. He was about six feet tall, messy blond hair, blue eyes, athletically built, and dressed in military-grade camo uniform. He didn't have a helmet or hat, though, but he did have a pair of plain goggles looped around his neck. <br><br>"With all due respect, ma'am," he said, turning to Caitlin for a moment, "I am sorry to hear about your significant other, but... we can't 'leave' town. The entire Army is out there with a massive perimeter. From what I could tell, they are shooting first and asking questions later. Tanks, close air support, the whole nine yards. My farm was on the outskirts of town - that's why I headed toward town myself. There wasn't any other direction to go," he said.<br><br>He glanced toward the hunting shop, then back to those gathered. "I had hoped to gather some food and ammunition here, maybe find others - and at least I got part of that right," he said, giving a warm smile to the group. Blushing a little, he stepped back, leaning against a nearby wall and let his eyes look over the others.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>03-07-2012, 08:24:44</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Luna was practically salivating at the sight of that candy bar. As soon as it was offered the wrapper was torn off and 1/3 of the bar was stuffed in her mouth, a look of absolute orgasmic fulfillment on her face. Food was amazing, and she swore to herself that she'd never be without it again. By the time the bar was down to a bite or so left (Not that it took much time at all) Luna sighed, before nodding to Caitlin. <br><br><strong>"My name is Luna. My mom and dad were hippies, clearly."</strong><br><br>She had opened her mouth to speak some more, but the sudden crash made her practically leap away from where she'd come in to lower herself to a crouch, hefting her wrench like a baseball bat. Even with a (mostly) empty stomach, the girl was pretty acrobatic. She wasn't sure she trusted the man with a big honkin' rifle, but this group was decently sized . . so they'd probably be okay. After listening to everyone's stories so far (and avoiding Carl's overzealous eyes when it came to religion), Luna raised her hand.<br><br><strong>"Uh, I'm Luna Amano, and I'm a mechanic. I've been fixing up things for years now, and I can probably fix damn near anything if I had the right materials."</strong> It was . . . an odd statement. She wasn't very old it seemed, so how could she have been a mechanic for a few years? She was cute though, dressed in rather casual clothes with her hair pulled to the side in one long ponytail. Judging by her legs she had a lithe musculature, and was pretty quick on her feet.<br><br><strong>"Oh, also, I guess I'm an ex-gymnast. Among other things . . yeah, that's me in a nutshell."</strong> She looked downright worried at Willie's statement about the military, and ended up drifting off into silence as she thought things over.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AribethAmkiir</strong> on <strong>03-07-2012, 23:56:17</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 8:34 p.m. – Jackals and Shots Hunting Supply Store, Mall, Downtown</strong><br><br>“No, none of us are bit,” Todd replied roughly as he subtly placed himself between the strangers and the teenagers.&nbsp; “My wife and her brother weren’t that lucky,” he managed, his voice cracking only slightly.<br><br>His flashlight passed over the other four people, three women, one a cop, and an old priest.&nbsp; “You all been here long?&nbsp; Name’s Todd, my son Tony and his girlfriend Rebecca.”&nbsp; He studied their arms and legs for bites, not willing to take the stranger’s word on not being bitten before he killed the light to save the batteries.<br><br><br><strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:04 p.m. – Jackals and Shots Hunting Supply Store, Mall, Downtown</strong><br><br>Rebecca had calmed down, Tony had moved through the store to make sure it was clear of zombies and in an attempt to savage anything worthwhile.&nbsp; He had returned with a gas burning lantern just as Willie had arrived.&nbsp; Now the lantern was burning brightly in the center of the store, and Tony and Todd had erected a bit of a blind with clothes and tent canvas to shield the light from bleeding out of the store.&nbsp; Todd kept his hunting rifle close and it appeared to be the only weapon amongst the three of them.&nbsp; They’d broken out their food supplies and offered to share the canned food with the rest of the newly formed group.<br><br>“You were a nurse at Mercy Hospital?” Rebecca asked with renewed hope.&nbsp; “Do you know my mom?&nbsp; Nany Lawson?&nbsp; She worked on the ICU floor.&nbsp; I haven’t heard from her since Thursday (May 24).&nbsp; They all say she’s dead.”&nbsp; Rebecca shot an accusing look in Todd’s direction that he simply chose to ignore.<br><br>Todd nodded to Willie’s words, “we saw them too, bottled up the Highway, not letting anyone through.&nbsp; We were going to try and sneak around and take a hunting trail out of the city.&nbsp; There ought to be holes in their perimeter a small group would be able to slip through.&nbsp; At least that’s my hope.”<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>04-07-2012, 21:44:57</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:05 p.m. - Mall, Downtown New Angeles</strong><br><br>Willie watched and listened as others in the small group introduced themselves a bit. He was just grateful that these people were -talking-. He hadn't realized just how quiet and lonely it had been the past week, and he was just happy to be around living people again.<br><br>He watched and listened as Luna introduced herself. Damn, she was gorgeous, a cute oriental girl - far cuter than they looked like on TV. And she was a mechanic and an ex-gymnast? How hot was THAT? He did his best not to let his eyes linger on her body as he looked away - last thing he needed to do was freak anyone out. That was his brother's job, and his brother was dead.<br><br>Willie regarded the priest, Carl, for a moment, wondering how the man's faith could be so strong in the face of what was going on. Willie wasn't sure if this zombie stuff was all part of 'God's plan' and whatnot, and part of him was really keen on the idea of sitting down with God and asking him about it in person - just not for another 60 to 70 years. Then he wondered idly if God enjoyed video games - and if this event was just some sort of sick game to the big guy in the sky.<br><br>Willie then looked at the man who responded to him about the military presence. "I don't mean to sound contrary, but my farm was nowhere near a main-road, and the cordon they set-up was pretty thorough - tanks and copters, several platoons, and they weren't no National Guard - they were the real deal. Whatever's going on, they're set-up to not let anyone through. From what I've seen - I don't think they can afford to."<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>06-07-2012, 00:20:37</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 8:35 p.m. – Jackals and Shots Hunting Supply Store, Mall, Downtown</strong><br>The man asked if they had been there for a while already and Carl simply grunted, “No, only for about an hour. We were gathering some supplies and then planning to find a safer location for the night.”<br><br>With a heavy sigh, he added, “Caitlin over there,” he gestured at the woman behind him, “thinks that the mall will attract a lot of unwanted attention, be it either hostile survivors or zombies. It's probably better to hole up somewhere else.”<br><br>He let those thoughts sink in, as he showed the three new people inside. <br><br>Falling back in role as a patriarchal care giver, Carl added with a friendlier tone, “You must all be hungry, there are some snacks in my backpack over there. Help yourself, but please don't take too much. There is no telling when we'll come across new supplies.”<br><br>Better make a good impression, Carl thought, I will need their support later and the Lord works through mysterious ways, but surely He sent these three on my path for a reason.<br><br><br><strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:05 p.m. – Jackals and Shots Hunting Supply Store, Mall, Downtown</strong><br>Rebecca asked if Caitlin if she knew her mother.<br><br>Silence ensued for several long seconds, before Caitlin said, “Yes, I remember your mother Rebecca... I wasn't very close to her since we worked at different floors, but she was always very friendly and helpful. I remember her as a cheerful and strong-willed woman. I'm afraid she was still there, when-...” Caitlin choked for a moment, unable to continue.<br><br>“I'm sorry for your loss,” She finally said, leaving the her mother's fate unspoken.<br><br>Caitlin felt sorry the girl, she thought Rebecca was very brave. She had lost all her family, while Caitlin was an only child and her parents were still alive. They were probably worried sick about her, but at least they were spared from this horrible fate.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>wiccaangel311</strong> on <strong>06-07-2012, 03:55:06</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:05 p.m. - Jackals and Shots (hunting supply store), Mall, Downtown.</strong><br>Kate was sitting beside Sam who had apparantly recovered well enough to move her leg. "My name is Katherine James." she said "Just call me Kate though." she added with a smile. "I'm a police officer for the downtown precinct." she said. "Sam here Just got out of highschool." Sam waved as her name was Spoken. <br><br>"I graduated early." she added with a shy smile.<br><br>"we ran into each other at a gas station a few days ago when me and my husband were trying to get out of town. We were going to take Sam with us but Ryan got attacked by those things." Kate said. "Our plan is to survive and try to get out of the city. Surviving has been hard since one of those damn gang members cut open poor Sami's leg over here." Katherine said looking over at Sam "Thank you for fixing that by the way." She looked around the room <br><br>"If you're looking for a safe house me and Kate may have found one on the way over here." Sam said quietly "the library just a few miles away." She added "there weren't that many Zombies around that area, I guess they have no need for books anymore." Sam said with a laugh trying to lighten the mood. She knew it was a pointless effort but she was always optimistic and tried to find the bright side in everything. She also eyed the room. Her eyes fell on Carl he seemed like a sweet old man,but there was just something in his eyes that made the hair stand on the back of her neck. her eyes didn't linger for long.<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>06-07-2012, 08:18:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:15 p.m. - Jackals and Shots (hunting supply store), Mall, Downtown.</strong><br><br><strong>"Hrm . . . "</strong> Luna thought to herself, as she listened to what everyone says. <strong>"I don't mean to sound weird or rude . . but does anyone have any serious medical conditions? Heart pills, or even asthma? If so, I think I should point out that the hospitals are probably all deathtraps by now." </strong><br><br>She winced, and mouth'd a 'Sorry' to the nurse's daughter, before continuing. <strong>"If we need medicine, we'd be better off looking for a Walgreens, or a mom and pop pharmacy, rather than scavenging in dangerous areas with hospitals nearby. Same with food, avoiding bigger stores would be useful. Admittedly, blocking off the upper floor of the mall and hiding up there sounded like a decent idea to me since there'd be decent nearby supplies, but a big library . . sounds good to me."</strong> So Luna had seen that one Romero movie, and liked the idea of reinforcing a mall. Sue her.<br><br>Luna'd been terribly tempted to grab more food . . but she decided to hold back. Just to try and not look greedy. After all, she didn't want to be kicked out of the first group of nice survivors she'd met . . ah hell, there she went. Luna found herself reaching out and opening a second granola bar from the bag, wincing. She just couldn't help how hungry she was. <br><br><strong>"Err . . . thanks, by the way."</strong>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>06-07-2012, 23:44:28</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caitlin had to smirk at the hungry girl and offered her a third candy bar. It was obvious to her that the poor soul hadn't had a good meal in days and though the girl wasn't the best when it came to manners, she did take a liking to the teenager. It felt good to smile under these circumstances and she owed Luna that much. There was still more than enough food available at the supermarket anyway and with the growing group of people it wouldn't surprise her if they went back there tonight to gather additional supplies.<br><br>“I agree with Luna, we should gather more supplies, especially medicine. From what I've learned from the hospital, television and the dealings with my patients, I think the viral virus infection has run its course, but it's obvious that a bite from the zombies will still infect you. I don't know if there is a cure available for that, but from what I saw I believe that medicine and sterilizing the wounds help to slow down the infection. At the very least I'll need more sterilized bandages and some tranquilizers. Strong pain killers like morphine would also be helpful,” Caitlin stated.<br><br>“Maybe it's a good idea that we split up in teams of two or three and set different priorities for each team? That way we can all gather certain things more efficiently and afterwards we can meet up here, or at another safe location.<br><br>“I would like to make finding medical supplies my main priority. We don't get infected just by getting zombie blood on us, but I can only guess at what happens when it comes into contact with an open wound. However, if I can patch people up before that happens then I might very well save any one of you from turning into one of <em>them</em>. After all, accidents happen,” Caitlin added, this time she looked around the entire group for support to her proposal.<br><br>During her raid three days ago and her second raid yesterday, Caitlin had studied the floor plan of the mall pretty extensively. Before all of this happened she had never even visited this mall, since there was an even larger mall closer to her apartment, in the opposite direction of this one. It already had everything she could possibly want and thus there had simply been no reason to go to this smaller mall. Although small was a relative term, the place was still huge, with three different levels and a large parking garage below. <br><br>The supermarket, hunting supply store and a key maker were located on the first level, as well as an electronics store, several jewelry shops and a bookstore. A sports store, clothing stores for men and women and shoe stores, among other shops, were located on the second level. The restaurants and entertainment companies, like the cinema, arcade and even a casino, where all located at the third level. <br><br>Large elevators and wide escalators connected the different levels with one another. The entire mall was very open and would be hell to defend with a small group, there were simply too many entrances and different ways move between the various levels. She preferred that they hurried and got out of here before their luck turned for the worse. Currently they were on the first level. The drug stores were on this level, while the pharmacies were located on the second level. She wanted to check them both out, to make sure she had all the supplies she would likely need in the nearby future. <br><br>As Caitlin looked around the group, while waiting for a response to her proposal, she also noticed that many had torn and dirty clothes. It would probably be a good idea to get some clean clothes from the second level as well. They could probably find better backpacks there too, which would allow them to carry their items easier. The floor plan hadn't indicated the existence of any gun shops in the mall and if there had been any then she was pretty sure they'd have been looted empty by now. The hunting store was the only store that used to have weapons for recreational hunting and it had already suffered that fate; all its guns, bows and ammunition were stolen a week ago when the initial riots and looting had occurred. <br><br>For weapons and ammo they'd likely need to raid a police station, maybe Kate had some ideas for that. By the way Todd held his rifle Caitlin suspected that he might have military experience and that meant he might also know if there were any military warehouses in the city that stocked reserves. The closest known military base was well outside the quarantined zone, so that wasn't an option. All the other supplies, however, should be obtainable from this mall. <br><br>Caitlin hoped the others saw the sense in her idea, even if it meant that they ran an increased risk of running into a zombie or hostile survivor while they were split up.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AribethAmkiir</strong> on <strong>10-07-2012, 08:31:48</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10) – Jackals and Shots, Hunting Supply Store, Mall, Downtown</strong><br><br>Todd frowned at Luna.&nbsp; The girl meant nothing by it, but she was rather insensitive.&nbsp; On the other hand, it wasn’t like they had time to tip toe around other people’s feelings.&nbsp; He still wasn’t thinking about Mary.&nbsp; His eyes moved to Rebecca and he sighed slightly when the girl didn’t start balling again.&nbsp; Hopefully she’d cried herself out.<br><br>His jaw stuck out irritably when he reconsidered what Willie had said.&nbsp; If the city was as buttoned up as the guy claimed then there were more than a couple platoons forming that perimeter.&nbsp; If what he had seen at the roadblock hadn’t been a trick of the light, he wondered how long it’d be before they started shelling the city.&nbsp; He hadn’t seen anything fly over the city in the last day, now that he thought about it.&nbsp; He still liked their odds of slipping through a net, though they’d have to be weary of infrared and satellite.&nbsp; He doubted he’d be able to bring a party this big through, he and the kids would be tricky enough.<br><br>“I haven’t really had a chance to watch and learn how these things move, but a couple miles on foot in the dark is a long distance.&nbsp; Most of these shop fronts have steel bars we could lower and bunker down in her until we have a more solid plan.&nbsp; I can’t say I’ve been in this mall more than a couple times the entire time I’ve lived in New Angelas.”<br><br>He turned to look at Rebecca.&nbsp; Their best bet of knowing where things were was a teenage girl, and Luna didn’t seem all that girly.<br><br>“You know this mall, Becca?&nbsp; Anything you can tell us about it?”&nbsp; Todd asked as he kneeled beside the traumatized teenager.<br><br>Tony spoke up before Rebecca had a chance, “I know the food court and cinema are on the top floor.&nbsp; We always used to complain because it was like they made everyone go through the entire mall to get to them.&nbsp; There’s a <em>Sport’s Authority</em> on the second floor, but they didn’t carry any guns cuz of this hunting store.”&nbsp; Tony glanced at Caitlin, “there’s first aid kits over there.&nbsp; I saw them when we were grabbing down the tents to make the blind.”&nbsp; He then glanced at Luna, “we’ve got something that’s a bit more filling in those cans.&nbsp; There’s a Swiss Army knife in that bag with a can opener.&nbsp; Get some stew or something, you’ll need your strength.”<br><br>Todd patted his son on the arm proudly before turning his attention back to Rebecca, “either of you know if there’s a pharmacy in the mall?”<br><br>Rebecca nodded and finally spoke, albeit softly.&nbsp; “Should be just a couple store’s down.&nbsp; There’s also a <em>GNC</em> on the second floor, I think there’s some herbal store up there too.”<br><br>Todd nodded before standing again, and then glanced at the other adults.<br><br>“Willie you mind going with the nurse?&nbsp; Kate, Carl, and I will take the children to the Sporting Goods store.&nbsp; We might be able to find some makeshift weapons there as well as some changes of clothes.&nbsp; Don’t know if these things react on sight, smell, or hearing, so changing clothes every other day might be wise.&nbsp; Tony and I grabbed what we thought the group could use from the store, but why don’t the rest of you take five minutes to see if there’s anything we didn’t think of?&nbsp; Caitlin, be sure to grab a pack for those medicines.&nbsp; Anyone have another suggestion?”&nbsp; Todd asked.<br><br>He didn’t really want to be in charge, but he had enough experience that he knew if people were left to their own devices it’d breed indecision and indecision wasted time, time Todd didn’t feel they had.<br><br>He turned back to Luna and Kate, “either of you see anything that we could use as a safe house closer than that library?”<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>10-07-2012, 10:54:01</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Willie listened to the other introductions, finally feeling a bit safer for the first time in over a week...<br><br>...Until Kate introduced herself as a cop. <br><br>Fuck.<br><br>He wasn't worried that she would recognize him or anything, he wasn't on <em>America's Most Wanted</em> YET, but... lugging around a few pounds of weed PROBABLY wasn't legal even during a zombie apocalypse, though he kinda was hoping the current situation would preclude her from 'busting him' should she find out. He was suddenly thankful for the dark material of his backpack, and simply smiled and nodded at her whenever she looked in his direction, giving her his most innocent look. <br><br>Shit! Would that just make her suspicious of him? Or maybe she'd assume he was just flirting? Crap! DON'T smile! No, wait, that's no good either...<br><br>He listened semi-aware, but heard enough to know that she had lost her spouse, as well, and he felt a momentary pang of sadness, remembering the loss of his own brother so recently. Of course, Kate was a cutie as well - and he began to wonder to himself if -every- female was going to be cute from now on? Maybe so, since there were only a handful left. He shrugged and listened to Sam's intro, as well.<br><br>The mention of a library sounded like a reasonable place to hole up, if it was defensible. He didn't figure that zombies would have much use for books, but a mall might attract them for any number of reasons with the variety of stores found in the place. Not that Zombies like to shop or anything, but if zombies possessed even a glimmer of their former lives, maybe they'd think that the mall would be a smorgasboard of juicy shoppers. Or maybe some of them still harbored old tastes for karmel corn or McDonald's. He didn't know - but he was pretty sure that zombies didn't eat books.<br><br>When Luna spoke up again, asking if anyone had any health issues, Willie shook his head no. He watched the girl dig in to another candy bar, and his own stomach growled. The only food he'd had recently was some pop-tarts, and that was all the food he'd carried in his backpack. Hmm, maybe he could work out a trade or something later for something a bit different.<br><br>Caitlin spoke next, and suggested they split into teams. For a moment, Willie imagined himself on 'Team Beautiful', with all the hot chicks, of course, but he figured that wasn't likely, and he wasn't going to dare say that out loud. Instead, he nodded his agreement with the idea - multiple groups could cover more ground, search more area, would be harder to spot by zombies, but would have the downside of less guns - or bats - to fend off a possible attack. Still, the way Caitlin described it, it sounded like an acceptable risk.<br><br>Next, Todd spoke up, and seemed to have some sort of special training, or military training or something. Great, TWO fucking cops? No, on second thought, maybe he was just military or something. <br><br>Eventually, Todd addressed him.<br><br>"Sure, I'll go with the nurse," Willie said, smiling a bit shyly and nodding at Caitlin. He wasn't upset by that at all - if anything bad happened, being near a doctor or nurse seemed like a good place to be.<br><br>"I know for sure that those things hunt on sight and sound both, but ain't sure about smell," he said. "I've seen enough evidence to know at least some of them do, if not all of them, hunt on sight and sound. Following the sound of my ATV - which is out by the loading docks, but out of fuel. And I met a couple walkers at the edge of town," he said, swallowing once, trying to forget the picture of his brother's brains painting the walls of the house. "And they came to investigate after they heard me approach. I didn't know they were in there, but hey couldn't see through walls. At least, I hope not."<br><br>"How about a radio? Two-way or even a regular one. Maybe we could find out if there's any information being broadcast, or if we could get in touch with someone on the outside world, zombies are much about talking, so if the outside world heard us, maybe they'd talk to us and direct us to some kind of extraction point?" he offered, looking around the group.<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>10-07-2012, 20:52:50</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Luna sighed. <strong>"Yeah . . Sorry, I've never really been on this side of town. When I was little I got to live with all the richie rich's, but for most of my life I was living in . .&nbsp; well, let's go ahead and call it the ghetto. Things got pretty bad down there after the outbreak, so any places we could hide would probably be deathtraps over there. Though . . if we ever need parts for anything, there's the old scrapyard I used to work."</strong><br><br>She paused, biting her lower lip, before continuing. <strong>"It's not that safe anymore since the zombies got inside and got to my co-workers and boss, but if worse comes to worse we could try there for heavier tools to reinforce the library, or wherever else we end up? I've got plenty of tools on me already, but I can only carry so much duct tape and nails right?"</strong><br><br>Luna was glad that Caitlin saw the wisdom in her idea, and had suggested good options for them, as did the other group. <strong>"With this many people we could probably carry a bunch of stuff we might need. Blankets are probably pretty important too, and more canned food." </strong>Luna couldn't resist Tony's invitation, and got the smallest stew can she could find and began to feast. Her swiss army knife was enough to get it open quickly, and safely.<br><br><strong>"Oh. Wait, I had an idea. Police Stations might be rough to get into, but has anyone thought about trying to find a firing range for more weapons? I'm sure people have already thought of police stations and gun shops, but a firing range or pawn shop might have stuff that hasn't been scavenged yet? And I totally know that all those gas stations down on southside have a gun under the counter, if we end up on that side."</strong> She was just trying to give extra ideas for when they got out of the mall and started moving around, at this point. Though, she didn't object to going to the Sports Authority. She had plenty of her own gear at the moment, but sports tape and other handy things could help.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>10-07-2012, 23:23:21</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				It annoyed Carl to no end that he didn't think of any these plans. It seemed that inspiration for sensible ideas was slow to come-by lately, but no matter. Brilliant leaders didn't need to have brilliant ideas, that's what strategists were for. He would just have to assume command of the group as soon as they got out of this dangerous situation and someplace safer. He was sure they would see the wisdom in letting him lead. After all, he was the oldest of all the survivors and he was also a man, a priest no less. <br><br>Naturally, that made him the wisest of them all, the logic in this was flawless. He wasn't sure how he felt about babysitting four teenagers with the other two adults though. On top of that he had no business in sport's wear store, as if he would walk around on those unholy sneakers that the youth wore these days. No, it would be far better if he visited a bookstore, so he could borrow the Holy word of the Lord, until he had money to repay the store for their gift. On the other hand, perhaps he should consider it to be a donation to the holy cause. After all, he was but one man who was up against millions of zombies. With the Bible in his hand, however, he could recite verses and let those be their guidance in these dark times.<br><br>Right when he wanted to suggest a prayer, to remember those they had lost and to give strength to his growing flock, he was interrupted by Caitlin, who said with a soft voice, “I think that's a good idea Todd.”<br><br>She even gave Willie a hopeful look, while the man seemed more than eager to join her. The whore... He had no idea what those two where up to, but he would put a stop it before anything came to fruition.<br><br>An idea formed in Carl's mind and he said, “You six can go to the sport's store already, I need to take care of something else first. Between Todd and Kate there is a rifle and a handgun, that should be more than enough to fend off any stray demon.”<br><br>Patting his old revolver, he remarked, “I have my own weapon and I can take care of myself. In fact, I want to go with Caitlin and Willie. My needs do not require a big detour and I should be done pretty fast. However, I can offer them more protection since we also have my revolver and Willie's rifle in that group then.”<br><br>Carl had to cough for a moment, before he continued, “Besides, my old body would only slow you young people down anyway. You can move much faster with just the teens and work on your weapons. I'll make sure that Caitlin and Willie will be safe while we search for those medical supplies.”<br><br>Carl had a hard time to suppress a leering smile from forming on his face, but rather than letting his lips curl up, he kept his face straight. He did his best to look like the weary old man he so often pretended to be and sighed heavily. He hoped his plan worked, he would feel much better having the Word of the Lord in his hands once more.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>11-07-2012, 00:30:31</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Luna actually looked to be a little touched by Carl's words. He had initially seemed a bit like a weird old man to her, but he sounded like a good person at least. Maybe she'd actually have to take a peek at a bible one of these days! Luna glanced at the others. <strong>"I think that's a pretty good idea. Since their group will be smaller, there should be less chance of them being noticed too, and that much firepower will keep them safe for the time being."</strong><br><br>Luna gave the old preacher a smile. Really, guess he was just a genuinely nice old man after all! Too bad Luna couldn't read minds, or she might think a bit differently.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>11-07-2012, 23:12:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Willie glanced at Carl as he made his remarks, finding it somehow fairly funny that the preacher was packing heat. It reminded him of that old Clint Eastwood movie with the gun-toting preacher, but damn if Willie couldn't remember the name of it right then.<br><br>He glanced at Caitlin to gauge her response to Carl's comments. He was perfectly fine, being the newest of the new in the group, following her lead, or Todd's, or Kate's, seeing as those three seemed to have the best idea what was going on at the moment. <br><br>After a moment or two as people were gathering themselves to move, he approached Caitlin and smiled at her almost shyly.<br><br>"Ma'am... I didn't see that you were armed," he said, as he reached to his hip and drew forth his .45 pistol. "Have you ever fired one of these before? If not, it works on a pretty basic principle. This here," he said, pointing at a small lever on the side of the weapon, "Is the safety. It was designed back in the 40's to keep soldiers from accidentally blowing their nuts off when sticking a pistol in the belt of their pants," he said, and then suddenly remembered he was addressing a lady. A quick blush covered his cheeks. "Beg your pardon," he said quickly, clearing his throat. "But, flip that switch, point, and gently squeeze the trigger. Don't -pull- it, as even the slightest motion of a pull will pull the barrel slightly to the side which will kill your accuracy. Brace the grip with both hands if you can, that will lessen the chance of the kick injuring an arm," he said quietly to her.<br><br>Despite all the macho action flicks he had seen, Willie knew that wielding two firearms at the same time was pointless. Caitlin didn't seem to have one, and if she was to be watching his back along with Carl, Willie figured having her armed would be a good thing, even if she wasn't experienced with weapons. Anything would be better than dying with unspent rounds on his hip.<br><br>"There aren't many rounds left in the clip, so I don't think I need to tell you to try to conserve them if you can," he nodded at her.<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>wiccaangel311</strong> on <strong>12-07-2012, 04:43:32</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"To be honest Todd I am not sure there is a such place as a safe house anymore in this town but if anyone has any better ideas don't be afraid to voice them." She said. "Sam you think you can move or does the nurse Recommend you stay?" Kate asked looking at Caitlin for approval. <br><br>"I'm Fine I think I can manage to get to the Sports store." Sam said. She hated being useless. "I can rest later." Sam said as she winced standing but managed to stand fine on her own. <br><br>Kate worried about the young teen She realized an injury was one of the worst things to have in this kind of situation. People tended to revert back to primitive ways in catastrophes. In Sam's instance Kate worried that people would see her as an injured horse. As the thought made itself known inside her mind her eyes glanced to Willie. She didn't know why but he just seemed the type. "Fire ranges are actually a good idea even though getting into a police station wouldn't be too much of a problem it is getting out that i worry about." Kate said. "and Luna is definitely right everyone will have thought of the stations."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>12-07-2012, 20:48:34</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“Willie, I appreciate the offer, I really do,” Caitlin said, “But I think it's better if somebody who is better trained with guns takes it. I really need to practice first before I trust myself with a gun.” <br><br>“In the darkness and with my nervousness...” Caitlin let a soft sigh escape from her lips and while she emphatically shook her head, she said, “No, I think it's better if somebody else takes it. I have my crowbar though. It's maybe not as good as a gun, but the chances that I injure, or even kill, one of you by accident are a lot smaller.”<br><br>She gave the gun a longing look, while she held it in her hand, not even fully understanding why she rejected the offer. Then, when she looked around at the rest of the group and did the math, she realized that the gun would be much better suited for defending Todd's group.<br><br>“Perhaps Todd or Kate can use a spare gun? Or maybe Tony knows how to use one?” Caitlin asked, she hated the idea of not seeing the gun being put to good use.<br><br>A few moments later Kate asked Caitlin whether or not it'd be safe for Sam to move around.<br><br>“Your leg is in a pretty bad shape Sam, but you can move around as long as you don't push yourself to the limits. Running is probably out of the questions for a few days to come and you should put as little strain on it as possible. Normally I would advice not moving around for at least twenty-four hours, so your wound has some time to stabilize, but considering our current options...” Caitlin shrugged, “It doesn't seem like we have a lot of choice, do we?”<br><br>She did her best to give the brave teenager a reassuring smile and softly rubbed the girl's lower leg, to comfort her.<br><br>“I'll do my best to find you some strong painkillers, okay? That might help you get around a little bit easier,” Caitlin promised.<br><br>Thinking over the situation they were in it seemed that the group had several options. They could hole up in one of the shops tonight after they gathered their supplies and then wait till it was light before they moved out. Daylight would mean better visibility, but it also meant that the zombies were more active. Alternatively they could also move around under the cover at night. Their visibility would be worse, but it would probably be easier to escape from the zombies if the group was spotted. <br><br>Both alternatives had some merit to them and she honestly didn't know which one of the two would be best. Holing up in a library, however, seemed like a stupid idea. The building was simply too large to defend and though zombies weren't interested in eating books, they weren't interested in eating normal food either. The chances that they ran into zombies at the mall or at the library were probably about the same. <br><br>On top of that, they would need to get to the library first, which would mean a dangerous journey through several blocks with one wounded girl and an older man who didn't have a lot of stamina. If something happened that would require them to run for a longer distance then they would be forced to either leave the slow people behind, or make a stand. <br><br>Caitlin was pretty sure that if the latter happened that they'd die, since gunfire would only draw more zombies to them. When it came right down to it she would probably leave the slow people behind, but as a nurse she also had the duty to take care of her patients. Though Carl wasn't a patient, she didn't consider Sam to be one. Caitlin had lost so many friends already in the past week, she couldn't stand to see an innocent teenager, who was in the bloom of her life, to be killed, or worse, turned into one of them.<br><br>It would make a lot more sense if they found a building where they could at least secure the exits and give them a good opportunity to escape from in case things did take a turn for the worse. All things considered, perhaps staying the night in the mall wasn't such a bad idea after all.<br><br>Having made up her mind, Caitlin said, “I think it's best if we stay in the mall for the night. Sam really shouldn't move around too much and it's simply too dangerous to try and run with such a large group at night. It only takes one of us to trip over something and make a lot of noise to draw unwanted attention. I also don't know about all of you, but I've been up for most of the day already and I'm simply too tired to search for a safer place to stay. I'm worried that my fatigue will cause me to make mistakes that I wouldn't make if I weren't as tired. <br><br>“Like Todd suggested, we can pick one of the shops in the mall and make up our camp there. If we pick a smaller shop, that has barred windows and a backdoor exit, then we should be able to defend it pretty well. If something goes wrong and the front exit is blocked for whatever reason, then we can still sneak out through the backdoor and don't get stuck in a deathtrap,” Caitlin concluded, while she looked all the adults in the eye to see what they thought of that idea. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AribethAmkiir</strong> on <strong>13-07-2012, 08:49:48</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				An indifferent shrug was given to Carl by Todd, "you're free to do what you want."<br><br>Todd could understand the priest's desire to stick with the person he knew best.&nbsp; Perhaps the old man felt some type of responsibility for the nurse's well being, or maybe they'd bonded in the time they'd been together.&nbsp; Todd really didn't think about it too much.&nbsp; His whole reason for bringing Carl was to keep the people to weapons ratio even.&nbsp; Carl going with Willie and Caitlin simply left the larger group less protected.&nbsp; Of course, Todd had forgotten about Willie's second gun until the man offered it to the nurse.<br><br>"Yeah, I know how to use a gun," Tony said before glancing at his father and then Willie.<br><br>"It's Willie's gun, it's his decision," Todd said before glancing at Willie, "he hits what he aims at and I've taught him how to respect the weapon.&nbsp; If you want those bullets to count, and given the options, I'd say he's the best candidate."<br><br>That was about as close to a compliment as Tony normally received from his father.&nbsp; End of the world or not, some things just didn't change over night.<br><br>Todd's listened to Caitlin and nodded.&nbsp; "If Sam shouldn't be moving then I suggest we bunker down here.&nbsp; Kate can stay with Sam and Rebecca, fewer people moving the better.&nbsp; Willie, Tony, Carl, and I can spend some time making sure this place is as fortified as possible.&nbsp; I didn't see it, but this store should have a back door.&nbsp; It's not likely that they'd bring firearms through the entire mall for deliveries or even purchases.&nbsp; It's also likely to be one of the more secured stores in the entire mall considering the merchandise that had been here.&nbsp; I know the looters who got here first did some damage, but I think we can Jerry-rig something to make it as secure as any other place."<br><br>"Once we're done with that we can scavenge the pharmacies for medicines, and the athletic store for bats, knives, or even hockey sticks.&nbsp; Melee weapons are probably better than guns at the moment.&nbsp; Gunshots give away our position and these things seem to react to noise.&nbsp; I'd like to gather enough for everyone to have one or two.&nbsp; So don't shoot unless you absolutely have to."&nbsp; He finished by glancing at Willie, Carl, and Kate and then giving a hard look to his son.&nbsp; <br><br>"We also need to consider extraction plans for the morning.&nbsp; The doors we came in from aren't too far away, but if there are other entrances people know about then we should consider those as well.&nbsp; There's a parking garage below us, and if Sam's up to it, maybe driving out of here isn't that bad of an idea, given that someone knows how to hot-wire a vehicle."&nbsp; He didn't look at anyone in particular, and believed that alternative to be a long shot.<br><br>"Unless anyone else has anything to say, let's get to work gentlemen.&nbsp; The sooner we get this place safe the quicker we can gather stuff and get back.&nbsp; Ladies, if you can think of things we might need that we're likely to forget.&nbsp; Put priority on the lighter the better, but try to be thorough.&nbsp; Find something to write with and make two copies of the list.&nbsp; Organize it into things you'd find in a drug store and things you'd find in the <em>Sport's Authority</em>.&nbsp; If we find the mall is still safe, we can make multiple trips, but I'd like to limit our exposure as much as possible."<br><br>"Kate.&nbsp; Caitlin.&nbsp; If you believe you'd be more useful securing the store, we'd love the help."<br><br>Todd waited for anyone to add anything else, though he was already moving to look for that back entrance and see what he could do to secure it.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>13-07-2012, 10:19:55</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Carl grunted his approval of that idea, while he thoughtfully rubbed his chin. It made sense to him to fortify this store. He was indifferent about the place they would stay at, as long as it was secure. The demons would have to wait another day before they could try to turn him into a minion of Satan. Once he had secured a Bible he would feel a lot safer. Perhaps he could even hold a sermon before they all went to sleep, it sounded like something that he should be doing. At the very least he could say a prayer to remember those they had lost and ask God for His protection in the hard times to come.<br><br>Carl got up with some difficulty, he had been sitting on stool that was just a bit too low for him and his stiff muscles didn't make things a lot easier either. His muscles ached with a soreness he hadn't felt in years. In fact, he had run far more today than he had in the past two years combined. He rarely ran for just about anything, he didn't deem it fitting for an authoritarian person to run. People with authority walked, especially if they were a priest. If God wished it then he would be where he needed to be on time and else it was His will that intervened. <br><br>For the demons, however, he would make an exception. Extraordinary circumstances required extraordinary solutions and if it meant that he had to run to escape from Satan's hell spawn then he would gladly do so. Thinking of the demons Carl thought that he should perhaps sprinkle them with holy water, that might turn them back into normal humans again, or it might cause them to burst into flames and fall to their knees on the ground, weeping for the unholy sins they had committed!<br><br>In Carl's mind that was a very pleasant option to look forward to, his mind not registering the fact that the most likely outcome of sprinkling zombies with 'holy' water would be some wet and very agitated zombies instead. <br><br>While he looked around, the old priest realized that he wasn't particularly skilled in building up a solid defense, though he could assist with repairing some of the equipment. The front doors of the store had been severely damaged, probably during the initial riots, but the windows of the store seemed to be in a pretty good condition. He made himself useful and with Caitlin's help they improved the blinds against the windows that Todd and Tony had originally erected, effectively shielding the light of the gas lantern from the hallway of the mall. <br><br>Once somebody repaired and fortified the doors, they could put something over the windows of the doors as well and block out the light completely. Carl didn't have the faintest clue how he should go about fixing the door, however, and instead he focused on making the shop more habitable for the night. The advantage of being in a hunting supply store was that it also had several tents, inflatable beds and sleeping bags. While the tents weren't particularly useful, the inflatable beds and sleeping bags were. They would be be able to sleep pretty well tonight, it beat sleeping on a hard, cold floor at least.<br><br>With the first of the beds inflated, Carl noticed how Caitlin offered Sam to help her on one of the beds so that the girl would be more comfortable. The nurse was a kind woman and a good looking one as well, though perhaps a bit too old for his likes. The three teenage girls, on the other hand... <br><br>Every one of them had very alluring charms. If only he hadn't sworn an oath of celibacy... Carl shook his head, he shouldn't be thinking like that. He was a priest, a holy representative of the Lord Himself and the church had been through too many scandals the last several years as it was. The last thing he needed was to have the people turn against him, for violating one of the girls. <br><br>Still, he felt something stir in his loins with all this female flesh close-by that wouldn't be denied. If he ended up doing something that shouldn't have happened, well, he could always repent for his sins and ask God for forgiveness. After all, he was still only a man and only God was perfect. Even in the Garden of Eden it had been a man who was tempted by a woman, Adam had been tricked by his wife Eve no less. Since he was the oldest of them all Carl thought he was entitled to claiming at least one of the women as his, once his position was solidified as the leader of the group. <br><br>However, right now anything could happen. He had only known his new flock for about an hour and already he was prioritizing things that had currently no priority. First he would need to find a Bible, after that he would need to gain their faith and trust. Once he had that, he could work on influencing one of the girls. Rebecca already seemed to be in a relationship with Tony, so that left him with either Luna or Samantha, both of them looked very appealing to him. On the other hand, sweet little Becca might be the most vulnerable of the girls. He would have to give this more thought. <br><br>For the time being, however, he would focus on gaining leadership over the group and one of his first tasks would be to chaperone Caitlin and Willie. Never mind the fact that they were both adults, Carl found it important to impose himself upon them, despite the small likelihood of them doing anything more than they were planning to do; namely, finding much needed supplies.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Latooni Subota</strong> on <strong>14-07-2012, 07:42:43</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Everybody had some good points, and she approved of the variety of ideas and courses of action people were discussing. If Caitlin had never used a gun before, she shouldn't use one now, that's for sure! The girl was slightly put-off by the men jumping on the building tasks and not even considering that she could be helpful for this sort of thing . . . but it was fine for now. It was only a temporary hiding place anyways. When they eventually decided on the perfect place to reinforce, that's when she'd shine and show them how to really build some sturdy barricades!<br><br>After some rummaging Luna managed to find rolls of receipt paper and some pens, and placed them out where the other girls could grab them with ease. As she began to scribble down on the paper, she commented off-handedly. <strong>"You know, with a place as big as this, I wouldn't be surprised if there were storage areas behind every store that keeps larger stocks of stuff, connected by private hallways. You know, ones for delivery people and employees. If there are those around, it'll make navigating parts of the mall easier. Though, even better would be finding the security office. The Southside Plaza Mall had a security office on the ground floor where the rent-a-cops could watch you on the security cameras. Maybe there will be an extra first aid kit, or something useful. I dunno what rent-a-cops from the good side of town would have on-hand."</strong><br><br>She neglected to mention how she had learned about this. Those items had 'fallen' into her purse on their own, honest! Damned security tags . . . By now she'd written down a fair number of things to possibly grab from the sports store. Wooden baseball bats, baseballs, any kind of padded sports gear, sports tape, sports drinks . . . she thought the powerade was a decent idea. With them scavenging on food for a while, they could use the extra electrolytes! Or whatever was in those stupid things. <br><br><strong>"Hmm . . maybe the sports place will have some of those fold-up bicycles? Found one in the scrap yard once, and it seemed like a pretty handy idea."</strong>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Caitlin</strong> on <strong>17-07-2012, 20:55:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:41 p.m. – Jackals and Shots Hunting Supply Store, Mall, Downtown</strong><br>Once the defenses were taken care of, Caitlin wanted to get a move on and find the medicine they would likely need. Already Sam would be helped a lot with some strong painkillers, especially if it turned out that they had to move quickly.<br><br>Luna had suggested fold-up bicycles which sounded like a really good idea, although actual bicycles were probably an even better idea. Fold-up bicycles had the big disadvantage that you couldn't go really fast on them and while they were easy to put away or transport, Caitlin wasn't sure how useful they'd really be. At least they would probably move faster than when they ran, while they could also carry more weight with them, that was a pretty good advantage already.<br><br>Another thought occurred to Caitlin and she pulled her mobile phone from her jeans, while she remarked, “We should all exchange cell phone numbers. That way we can stay in contact. The connections outside of the city might be cut off, but the network inside the city still works fine.”<br><br>Once she had exchanged her phone number with the others and set her phone from ringing to vibrating, she asked, “Carl, Willie, are you ready to go? I want hit the pharmacies first, we can look for Carl's needs next and then hit the GNC on the second floor. I also need to get some new clothes on the second floor and a new backpack. This one has a tear on the side, I think I accidentally scraped it against a piece of glass in the supermarket earlier.”<br><br>Carl confirmed that he was ready and Willie seemed to be ready as well. In Caitlin's opinion they had waited long enough and it was time to get moving, or else they'd never get all the supplies they needed. <br><br>“We'll do our best to be back within two hours,” Caitlin told the others, “I'll give you a call if it takes any longer, or when we run into trouble that we can't handle by ourselves.”<br><br>Having that said, Caitlin slipped past the front door of the shop. Luna was a very bright teenager and her suggestion of using the private hallways that supplied the stores lingered in Caitlin's mind. For the moment, however, she wanted to stick to what she was familiar with, even if it meant that they had to walk a bit more. There was no telling what could be in such hallways and the longer they waited, the more likely it would be that trouble would come looking for them.<br><br>If it turned out that they could stick around longer in the mall then those hallways were definitely an option they should explore, but right now she just wanted to get her supplies and a new set of clothes. The grime and sweat of the past several days made her clothes reek. She hadn't expected to stay in these clothes for such a long time and she <em>really</em> longed for a long, hot shower. Her hair was getting all tangled up and it wouldn't hurt to wash and condition it. Combing it would already do miracles for her hair too, if she found a hairbrush, or a comb, she would definitely take that with her as well. <br><br>She wondered if there were actually any showers in the mall. She knew for sure that there were public toilets, but showers was another story. Maybe there were employee showers somewhere, but just washing her face would be a relief already, even if it was just with cold water. God... She sure missed all the conveniences of the modern world. You didn't realize how much you missed even the basic items until you no longer had access to them.<br><br>Caitlin waited till Carl and Willie were also outside and then pointed in the direction where Rebecca had indicated that the pharmacies should be.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles [IC]</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>arkhos</strong> on <strong>25-07-2012, 02:22:17</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 9:41 p.m. – Jackals and Shots Hunting Supply Store, Mall, Downtown</strong><br><br>Willie nodded at Caitlin's idea about exchanging cell numbers. Of course, Willie's contact directory was filled mostly with his 'contacts', and he'd just have to make sure the cop-lady didn't see it. If she recognized any of the names, he'd be good as busted for sure.<br><br>Willie offered is number, and added others who were willing to share their numbers into his phone. He smiled to himself - he had never gotten so many phone numbers for so many pretty girls at once. Kinda sad, the more he thought about it, since it took a zombie apocalypse to make it happen, but sometimes you had to go with the flow.<br><br>Luna suggested a fold-up bike. Willie made that a mental note - if he could bring her one, maybe that would make the cute lady sweet on him? Probably not, but certainly couldn't hurt to try.<br><br>He nodded at Caitlin when she asked if he was ready to go. "Pharmacies first, check. Then Carl's stop, and GNC. New clothes and oh yeah, backpacks, we can always use backpacks," he said, nodding at her in confirmation. <br><br>Seeing the woman step outside carefully, Willie moved to follow. He felt a bit more naked without his trusty .45, but he figured his rifle would do the trick. Once outside, he unslung it, holding it in one hand and propping it up against his shoulder as he followed Caitlin into the darkness.
			</dd>
		</dl>
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