Impact: Chapter 1

[ReformBlade]

"Selena..." Janson started but faltered in what to continue with. She's freaking out and she's being rather hysterical. And now she's turned her other arm into a knife... So she's freaking out and potentially acting hostile. "Selena... do we really have time for this? Come on." He decided to try and talk some sense into her, even though he knew it'd end badly. "There's worse things to lose, you know. I mean... I mean look at you. Quivering like a scared animal, backed into a wall. You're better than this. You came out here all by yourself, you can get back there with us, and you'll be fine." This isn't going to work, this isn't going to work...

"Well why don't we discuss a plan of action instead of just musing about, hm? That's my suggestion, and I guess I can't force you to think about the situation all the time... in fact, I really would like some sleep... Can I trust you to keep me safe?" Wyuna asked him in all seriousness. She wasn't about to fall asleep if she thought she was in immediate danger.

[Eail]

Slowly coming to from where he was still lying on the ground, Cyrus opened his eyes to see a blurry world. Sitting up against one of the desks near him he rubbed his eyes clear and saw that Selena seemed to be terrified while Janson was talking to her. "Guys..... what's going on?"

[Nanami Touko]

Dustin

"Yeah, sure, I can keep watch. Need to rest my leg anyway. Marcus, you want to keep watch with me?" he pulled himself closer to the two of them, resting near one of the tarp's poles, "I could use your ears in case something starts coming." He picked up the rifle, aiming it at a tree. "Yeah, this isn't too hard to aim, should be alright. At least I can be useful with this." He chuckled, making himself a bit happier. It's better to joke about these things, right now. We don't need to get worked up about things.

Amera

"Well, how do you feel? Does it hurt when I move your legs? Why don't you guys fill me in on... whatever... happened..."

"Guys..... what's going on?"

She bit her lip and cringed as Kayla began moving her legs around. As grateful as she was for the help getting into the chair, she swatted the girl's hands off of her before she could move anything else. "S-Sorry! That was just really hurting. I just need to let them rest for a bit, I'll be fine. Besides..." she looked over at Selena, who was scared out of her wits, "I'm not the one you should be worrying about. Selena just... I don't even know what happened, but her arm's gone. Maybe one of those monsters happened, but..." She stared at Selena with a great amount of pity, "I can't imagine how she must feel right now..." She looked at Cyrus, and at Kayla, "anyway, you two, see if you can comfort her or something. We can address what you heard in a bit, Kayla. I think Selena takes priority."

Edited July 25, 2012 by seph1212

[Sakusa]

"I'm not the one you should be worrying about. Selena just... I don't even know what happened, but her arm's gone. Maybe one of those monsters happened, but... I can't imagine how she must feel right now... Anyway, you two, see if you can comfort her or something. We can address what you heard in a bit, Kayla. I think Selena takes priority."

"Amera, listen. Selena's important, but keeping this classroom secure is more important. We don't have any escape routes, and who knows when we can get back at this rate? The door's wide open, and the only people who can possibly be up for another round of combat are probably me and Janson. I've never handled a firearm in my entire life, and going hand-to-hand with my electricity is out of the question. The glass in the windows are mostly shattered, and I wouldn't put it past them to be able to jump through them. You also saw how they ended up swarming us; who knows if they're going to do the same thing again?"

Kayla held Amera's hands and gave them a squeeze. "You need to calm down. You're panicking. We'll make it through this, I promise. We just need to think this through." She stood up, dusted herself off, stopped to ruffle Cyrus' hair, and then moved past him. "Amera hurt her legs and Selena's not quite right in the head right now. You just take it easy, okay, darling?" She rushed over to the door and shut it as quietly as she could: drawing attention could end up being deadly.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Huang Yueying

[Nanami Touko]

Amera gave Kayla a weird look, "uh, Kayla..." she almost smiled, feeling the corners of her lips curl a bit, "I'm not panicking. I'm just in a lot of pain, worried about Selena... Thanks for the concern." She shook her head, "but that's not important, and you're right, get the room secured... Give me a bit and I'll be up and running, don't worry. Just wanna ask, though," she had begun to wonder about that noise Kayla had heard, "what kinda noise was it? Just some clanging, no growling or talking or anything?" If not, it might've been another person. With how many people we've seen dead in this place, it'd be a wonder if any of them were alive. "Maybe it was your brother! That'd be a nice change of pace..." She joked a little, smiling, her legs starting to regain some feeling. Regaining feeling meant more pain, though, as she cringed for a moment. Hopefully I can get this power under control before I cripple myself...

Edited July 25, 2012 by seph1212

[Jaybee]

Kaden

Dustin... What the hell's wrong with you?! You didn't understand why I /wrote/ instead of talking?

Where the scream had come from was now nothing but silence. Kaden felt horrendously uneasy, quickly running off towards where he had heard that horrible cry for help, overtaking Alan without even looking at him.

He had to run for around 5 minutes, weaving his way through the trees and bushes. As he got nearer, he heard low growls, and the dull sound of something crashing against another flat surface.

As the growling got louder, he picked up a sharp branch, holding it like a spear. When he saw the young girl, bloody and huddled over, shivering as a disgusting... ghoul rained blows on a light blue, pulsing dome around her, he lost control.

"Get the hell away from my sister!"

[Parrhesia]

Cheney lit up a cigar, alone in the field. He looked back on the events of the past couple days philosophically. He was on death row at last back in civilised lands, and in comparison to that even the peace and harmony of this place seemed palatable. He'd awoken a day previously, not entirely certain he wasn't fucked up from impure drugs, and seeing that what had previously been quite a serviceable right hand was now essentially a six-fingered slab of meat. He was a little irked about this until he punched a nearby tree in his frustration, causing it to collapse. The apples it contained were enough to sustain him, but the tiny, ugly, furry thing it fell on top of was the real treat; it roasted rather nicely in the fire he'd managed to start. Sure, there was a lot to be said for rubbing two sticks together, but there was a hell of a lot more to be said for cigarette lighters. Technically, it was bribed off one of the prison guards, but they weren't exactly going to come for him now.

A chill breeze moved through his makeshift camp, and the fire flickered and died. Cheney swore loudly, and despite the best efforts couldn't start it up again in the mild breeze. "Fucking..." Click. "Low-ass budget..." Click. "Piece of shit..." Click. Click. Click.

After three more desperate minutes, Cheney spat in disgust. The time had come to move on... maybe he'd even find another human! With no real hope of survival in his heart, driven on more by apathy than by any real purpose, Cheney headed in the direction of the only building in sight...

[Shin]

The screaming grew louder as Alan grew closer. He had to run for a good couple of minutes, slowing down at the end to catch his breath. The boy had overtaken him quite a while ago, hopefully Alan would arrive before it was too late.

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Caliban was a little younger and faster than Alan, but still had a little further to run. As he drew nearer, he could make out that it was the scream of a girl. It didn't really sound like anyone from the group, did that mean there were more survivors.

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After his tumble, Richard was certain he'd be spotted. Picking himself up off of the ground, he looked around... so far he had been lucky. There would be no survival if he couldn't defend himself, but doing that would be difficult. Making sure the coast was clear, he crept towards one of the classrooms.

He paused, he could hear noise coming from inside.

[Jaybee]

Kaden

He ruthlessly swung the branch at the creature's head, drawing its attention to himself. The... thing hissed at Kaden, and with claws outstretched, it lunged at him, driving its claws into his shoulders.

He yelped in pain, kicking the creature off him before picking himself back onto his feet, several trails of blood coming from his shoulders.

[Sakusa]

"What kinda noise was it? Just some clanging, no growling or talking or anything? Maybe it was your brother! That'd be a nice change of pace..."

Kayla laughed quietly. "It'd be great if it were Richard, but those chances are so ridiculously slim that it borders on absurdity. Anyway, it was just the sound of a locker falling onto the floor. I'm not sure if it was pulled off by a monster or if someone was inside and got out or if a monster was looking for something and pulled it off. I couldn't get a good look at the thing, and I wasn't taking any chances." She moved away from the door and rummaged around for keys. Even if it wasn't much, having the door locked might be able to buy them a few seconds of time to either prepare or escape. "Amera, do you want painkillers? There's a bottle of ibuprofen if you need it, but you need to take it with food."

The girl sighed. "No luck, and barricading the windows will be a challenge. Wait a second... don't all classrooms have first aid kits? Something about being required by law or whatever and just in case and stuff." She found the kit miraculously still attached to the wall and removed it. Then she dumped it on Cyrus' lap and busied herself with with trying to figure out how the heck she was going to be able to pile desks on top of each other by herself and not manage to somehow drop them out the window.

[Ether]

At the very least he wasn't coming any closer. Selena merely hugged her knees to her chest with her remaining arm, still wary of anyone getting too close.

[Shin]

Alan and Caliban had arrived at pretty much the same time. Kaden was being savaged by some creature, and a strange blue dome had blossomed from the ground.

The pair looked at each other, they knew what to do. Alan called out to Kaden, who had probably seen better days.

"Hold on there! We're coming!"

Both made their attacks opposite to each other, there was no way the creature could defend from both sides.

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Richard listened carefully, he could recognize one of the voices.

"It'd be great if it were Richard, but those chances are so ridiculously slim that it borders on absurdity."

It was Kayla! She'd survived too! There was someone who he knew! All his classmates had died, so he had been alone the whole time. The coast seemed clear, he opened the door nervously. Popping his head through, he said;

"Hello? Kayla is that you?"

Edited July 25, 2012 by Shin Chan

[Sakusa]

"Hello? Kayla is that you?"

A familiar, too cute face peeked in, and Kayla dropped the stack of binders she was holding onto her foot. Instinctively, she yelped and started hopping up and down on one foot only to slam her knee into the corner of a desk, trip over a chair leg, and land face first into Amera's lap. "Oh my gosh! Amera, I'm so sorry!" She got up with a groan only to hit her head against the edge of yet another desk. "Ow ow ow ow ow..." the clumsy girl whimpered, rubbing the sore spot. "Is that adorable little Richard Streiss I'm seeing, or did I hit my head too hard?" she groaned, not wanting to deal with any more pain.

[Shin]

"Is that adorable little Richard Streiss I'm seeing, or did I hit my head too hard?"

Yep, that was her alright. Richard shyly went through the door, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He addressed Amera.

"Uh... miss, is my sister alright? She's normally a little strange but did she hurt herself?"

[ReformBlade]

Making no progress, Janson decided to back off from Selena, still giving a worried glance towards her until he started hearing an unfamiliar voice. A kid had walked in, and from the sounds of it, was Kayla's brother. Not wanting to interfere much, Janson decided to try and figure out a way to get everyone and everything home safely, but no solution was coming to him. "Come on... think..." His thought process was interrupted by another loud shout down below, a monster from the way it was shouting. Looking out the window, he saw three of them converging on their location, so Janson immediately pulled out his pistol, though he didn't shoot just yet, as they seemed to be weaving in an odd pattern towards him. "We've got company! Three of them!" Dread overcoming him, Janson debated what he'd have to do in order to get everyone out of here alive, and his only solutions kept running towards a sacrifice, but he shook his head every time. He wasn't sure if anyone else was up for this, much less capable of moving at all. Selena was cowering like an animal, Kayla seemed to be bungling into everything, the new kid from the looks of it was just an average kid, Cyrus still seemed groggy, Amera didn't look like she could move... Is this it? Cornered like rats?

Wyuna smiled and decided to simply relax herself, lying down flat instead of up against the tree. "Always felt more comfortable on the bare ground. Don't know why."

Hissing as loud as it could, the creature only saw the old man coming at it and so she lunged aat him, pinning the immediate threat to the ground and attempting to bite his face before there was a sudden force knocking the creature over, sending it tumbling wildly. Picking itself up, it shouted at them, "FeEBLe! WorTHLESS! Go bACK tO YoUR SilLY SkY CitY, COWarDS!" and then she went in again, the smell of blood driving her mad.

[Nanami Touko]

Amera

"Amera, do you want painkillers? There's a bottle of ibuprofen if you need it, but you need to take it with food."

"I don't think so, I just need to sit down without any movement, KaylaaAAAAA!" The girl had dropped a stack of binders on her foot and fallen into Amera's lap, the impact causing a lot of pain for her thighs.

"Oh my gosh! Amera, I'm so sorry!"

"Y-Y-Yeah, th-that's fine, K-Kayla... Just t-try to watch the legs?" Owwwwww, ow ow ow that hurt! This girl's gonna kill me! She sniffled back tears, wiping away whatever had appeared in her eyes. Seriously, I ask her to let me rest and she falls over right onto me. This isn't funny... She sighed, as she knew it wasn't Kayla's fault. And she had another person to contend with.

"Uh... miss, is my sister alright? She's normally a little strange but did she hurt herself?"

It seemed that the boy had caused Kayla's miniature flippout, Amera trying her best to smile at him. Sister, huh? I hope he's not as clumsy as her... "Yeah, yeah, she's alright. I think." I never was very good with children... "anyway, what's your name? Richard, was it? You doing alright?" I wonder if he really understands the gravity of the situation we're in. Unbeknownst to Amera, it was about to get even more grave.

"We've got company! Three of them!"

She groaned, any calm she had completely gone. "Are you serious? Is this just some really bad joke?" She could barely muster the strength to act surprised, at this point it all seemed ridiculous. So we're just gonna die, after all of this? This is so stupid... "Hey... everyone, I don't think I can move, so..." she didn't want to say it, but it seemed like the best choice, "just give me a gun and go, alright? I can keep them busy long enough. You all shouldn't have to die for my sake. I-I mean, I don't want to die, but... no other choice, right?"

Dustin

"Always felt more comfortable on the bare ground. Don't know why."

"Would prefer a bed, not gonna lie..." He didn't have much else to say, letting her take her nap. Maybe I should've taken that history course on ancient weapons... I don't even know how this thing works other than point, click, bang.

[Eail]

'More of them? You've got to be kidding me!'

Cyrus looked around the room, Selena was still freaking out, Kayla's brother was just a kid, Amera couldn't move, and Kayla..... no he wasn't going to risk her. Taking out his pistol and ammo he reloaded the rounds he had fired earlier before getting back on his feet rather groggily he handed his bag of supplies to Kayla "Kayla, you and your brother should help Selena and Amera out of here. Me and Janson will hold them off while you get away." Eyeing the other man he asked "You have a problem with that plan?"

Edited July 26, 2012 by Eail

[ReformBlade]

Don't give in, dammit. You give in, it's over. Amera, we need you, Cyrus, we need you, we need EVERYONE in this GODDAMN room to LIVE! OK? There's to be no heroics! He wanted to shout that so loudly at them, to tell them that their lives shouldn't be thrown around so carelessly but the hypocrisy kept him from that outburst though, so deep down he was trying to formulate his own plan. I'm in this by myself, I just need to keep those things on me and maybe the others can get out of here. "Look... let's just... We've gotta remain calm. And to be honest, we can't move everyone out of here that easily... I don't think there's much of a choice here, people. We've gotta make a stand here. Amera, you said you can still use a gun, right? Then here." Janson walked over to her, gingerly handing over the handgun to her. "Just focus and aim to cripple or kill, no inbetween. OK? I'll try to keep them on me and before anyone says a goddamn thing I am NOT planning on fucking DYING here, OK?! I can recover if... when they tear into me, you all can't, not without bringing Cyrus down with you in the end. And besides..." Pulling out the knife and staring at the tip, "I'm pretty fucking pissed. I'm taking them down if it's the last thing I do." He looked at the desks around him, "Also, I think we've got an advantage here, a damn good one..."

Turning his attention out the window, one of the creatures began scaling, its tongue out and panting like it was simply unable to wait for the feast. It roared in delight as it eyed Janson, a cold stare in return from said man.

[Sakusa]

"We've got company! Three of them!"

Kayla had only barely reunited with her brother, and already things were getting to be dangerous again. She quickly pulled him into a tight hug and kissed his forehead. "Things must've been hard on you, Richie, but you have to be brave. We'll get out of here together. I'll protect you. We're not going down without a fight, but you need to hide and keep yourself safe, understand?"

"Kayla, you and your brother should help Selena and Amera out of here. Me and Janson will hold them off while you get away. You have a problem with that plan?"

"Yeah, I have a huge problem with that plan," she replied more coldly than she intended to and knocked her knuckles against the side of his head and putting the supplies back down, "We're on the second floor. There are only two ways out of the classroom. We can either jump to a quick death two stories below or run out that door to try and escape, but get surrounded and killed off one by one." She ran over to Amera's share of supplies and fished out the painkillers, dumping two pills into the palm of her hand and handing one to each Amera and Selena, giving the redhead's shoulder a squeeze and sending her a light electric current as she held her own hand out for Selena to take the pill. "If we're going to fight, then might as well get rid of prior pain, right? I know you might not be up for it, but we're gonna need all the help we can get. Oi Janson, whaddya want me to do?"

Edited July 26, 2012 by Huang Yueying

[Nanami Touko]

She was about ready to give up. There was no way they could take another three of them in their state. I give myself up, they live. That sounds fair, right? About to start crying, Janson wasn't having that sort of thinking.

"Look... let's just... We've gotta remain calm. And to be honest, we can't move everyone out of here that easily... I don't think there's much of a choice here, people. We've gotta make a stand here. Amera, you said you can still use a gun, right? Then here."

"Y-Yeah, I guess... I can aim it and fire, not sure how good I am..." She took the gun, reluctant to let go of his hand.

"Just focus and aim to cripple or kill, no inbetween. OK? ..."

"Alright." What he'd said to her earlier in the day was still weighing on her mind. She knew that he didn't consider himself much to the world, and she was scared that he'd do something drastic if it came down to it. "Janson, just... no heroics, alright? You stay alive," or I go down with you... What he said afterwards was slightly reassuring, but the thought still worried her. She had to stow it into the back of her mind now, Kayla handing her a painkiller. She reluctantly took it, hoping that it'd kick in quick enough for her to start kicking in some heads. Gun aimed at the window, there wasn't much else she could do but wait.

Edited July 26, 2012 by seph1212

[Eail]

Giving a sigh he handed his pistol to Kayla before grabbing the rifle that was lying near Amera "I'll apologize once we get out of here, but you can handle that thing right? 17 shots are nothing to mess around with, just aim and shoot" Cyrus said as he aimed at the window

[Ether]

As the girl came closer, Selena began to shake slightly, and though she had hoped on fending her off, her near-fetal position did not give her anywhere near sufficient reaction time, and the girl placed her hand on Selena's shoulder.

*bzzt*

Alarms began ringing in the right side of her head.

'...what's... going on?'

Half of her vision blanched red, as the scanner mounted on her head began to examine the girl who had squeezed her shoulder.

"Kay... la?" She mumbled, as her eyes began to scan her surroundings, her bearings completely lost. As they lander on the stump of her arm, she jerked her head away violently, looking down to the floor on her left.

"What's going on, Kayla?"

[Sakusa]

"I'll apologize once we get out of here, but you can handle that thing right? 17 shots are nothing to mess around with, just aim and shoot"

"Wait, what? What're you apologizing for? What am I handling? I've never even held a laser gun before, what am I supposed to do?" Kayla asked as she started to lose her cool. "Do I just pull the trigger or something? Throw me a bone here!"

"What's going on, Kayla?"

"There are three creatures scaling the school, and we need to fend them off and fast. I left the ibuprofen tablet on the chair over there if you're still in pain. If you need energy or whatever, you can hang onto me, but we need to act quickly!" she replied to Selena and messed with the safety on pistol, trying to figure out how to cock it. She stole a glace at Cyrus pleadingly and then looked away quickly.

"Oh Kayla, you idiot. Stop panicking and calm down. Remember: you're gonna be a heroine of justice one day, and you're gonna make sure everyone gets out of here alive. Don't count on Cyrus to hold your hand through things, he has better things to do. You've always figured out everything on your own."

[Parrhesia]

The walk wasn't an especially long one, particularly as Cheney seemed to have far more stamina than he was used to. All those years of chain-smoking hadn't left him with much... not before the mutation.

Cheney really, really hoped his supply of cigars would last. He had a packet in either pocket, but even then he feared it wouldn't make the distance... still, if he died smoking, he'd die happy.

The building seemed unremarkable, save for its size... red-brick walls, slightly invaded by foliage, a fairly intact tiled roof, some kind of gargoyle thing on the walls...

...

...

Fuck.

[ReformBlade]

Taking a swipe at Janson, the beast tore a chunk of flesh right off of his face, eliciting a scream of pain and a train of swears as he stumbled backwards. Gritting his teeth, Janson watched teh creature pull itself in through the opening, going right for him again. Ducking under its reach, he planned to bring the knife up into the beast but he wasn't quite fast enough on the draw so the beast backed itself up in time as it swiped at him again, clawing him across the chest, eyeing the delicious liquid prizes Janson was leaking Zombie jackpot. Another monster seemed to crawl in through another window, its eyes focused on a the girl who seemed to be fiddling with a gun. It shrieked at her as the creature leaped into teh room, scrambling over the floor and desks to get to her.