( OPEN ) GAME START.

[monstermasher]

▶ WHO: Everyone.
▶ DATE: July 9th, 2015 (Day 1)
▶ WARNINGS: Blood, violence, general zombie horror.
▶ SUMMARY: You've met with a bad... however that line goes. Welcome to Earth.

GOOD MORNING!

---

Please try and ignore whatever it is that you just heard. It should only last for up to a minute... maybe.

It... it is morning, right?

There are no windows.

There's a light, but it's barely considered one. The compound runs on a solar generator, but that doesn't mean it has a lot of power. The light seems to be hanging from the ceiling, swinging precariously. That's when you might actually start to wake up, sit up, find the things that are familiar to you... and then some of the things that aren't. It'd be wise to explore the small room you're in before leaving through the steel door, but there's nobody around to tell you that.

Outside is a tightly knit compound, just as dark and metallic as the room. The hallway you're in houses dozens more doors identical to yours, and if you're unlucky there may be more people poking their heads out through them, just like you. There's a dull glowing sign that reads MEDICAL BAY but not all of you remember being hurt. Some of you may be just fine, apart from the memory of the sound you heard when waking up.

The Medical Bay is stocked with enough medicine to last a couple of months. There's almost everything that can be found in a hospital. Somebody was thinking ahead.

Outside of the Medical Bay are more doors, some are even locked—many aren't. There are living quarters, a food storage, a kitchen, some laboratories; even a room full of computers and nothing else, all with a screen asking for a password. There's only two doors out of the compound, a vehicle bay with what appear to be a few military jeeps and trucks, and the front doors. It's on the inside of the front doors that something is painted in bright red, flecked with what smell like blood:

DO NOT GO OUTSIDE WITHOUT A GUN AND WATER.
GUNSHOTS ATTRACT THEM.
HOLLOWS IS 1.3 MILES NORTH OF HERE.
GOOD LUCK.

And on the outside of the doors, if you choose to open them:

THE WORLD ENDED JULY 3RD, 2015.

Now... how long ago was that? And where is this place? Luckily for you, Hollows is a small town that can be raided. It hasn't been too long since the apocalypse—surely you'll be able to find something there. Batteries, food, weapons, maybe some people—and what you're guaranteed to find. Them, whatever that means.

Outside of the compound there's a fence with a single gate. Nothing can get past this unless you let them in for tea, so be careful. There's a shooting range and a large shed full of weapons and ammo, enough to last two months if you're careful. Guns, knives, anything that would be used by the military and police is hidden away in the shed. There are even a few hunting bows with arrows.

If you climb up the ladder to the top of the wall, there's enough room to walk along the top. There's definitely something moving in the distance, something you should definitely be worrying about. Maybe it's time to get a good look with a sniper rifle...?

Oh.

It's gone.

Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Regardless, it's impossible for everyone to stay in the compound forever. There are nefarious things at work! The choices are to go to Hollows, stick around, or go somewhere else. Really, the world is almost a blank slate. Maybe more of a used slate, but still yours to explore.

When the night comes, you should be hiding. The screamers, the ragers, whatever the hell they are, are running full tilt through the streets and across the landscape, running through anything in their way, ripping apart anything alive. If you don't make any noise, they won't notice you. Especially since they're stuck listening to each other. But if you get noticed by one, it won't be long until a horde forms... you might be able to outrun one for awhile, but they don't seem to let up on their breakneck pace. Maybe someone should have told you how to kill them.

OOC NOTES.

---

There will be zombies in Hollows. Whether you meet them on the way there is up to you. Apart from the undead and the animals (maybe somebody should let those poor creatures out of their houses) the town is completely deserted. In fact, the closest thing you can find to a human are the bodies of those who died without being bitten, and there's even few of those. You can find anything you'd find in a normal town here, and are free to loot and raid the houses and stores—the cops won't be coming, after all. The power is OFF apart from what you can find that is solar powered or still has a charge. If you're lucky and find another town while exploring the first few weeks, you might find an area that still has power—thank hydroelectricity.

Just keep in mind travel time... and travel expenses.

You have creative freedom over everything else. The world is open. The only stationary places are landmarks and cities—if you want to go to Texas and talk to the poor astronauts stranded up in space, it's there. (Might be a long trip, though...)

If your character can figure it out by geography before getting to Hollows, the compound is located a few hours from the west coast, in California.

The way to kill a zombie is blunt force to the head. The head doesn't need to be removed, but significant damage needs to be done to it. This does not include the throat—it needs to be a headshot.

There's also a glaring hint. The computers in the compound, asking for a password. It is impossible to hack at this time. There will be more on this later!

Finally, if your character is exploring outside of the compound (or extensively inside of it) there's a comment here for linking me the thread. You can also PM me! I'll be ducking in with what your character may or may not have found, via a response to the actual RP thread.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS please direct them here!

Comments

Echo || Jurassic World || OTA

[raptorchallenger]

[There's a lot of commotion coming from Echo's room.

The odd nest she'd found herself is torn to shreds, knocked over, in fact anything not nailed down is getting nosed, bit, and experimentally prodded until everything is essentially out of place and tested for edibility. A box of meat discovered under her bed lay in tatters, smeared with blood as the only reminders of what had originally been in it.

If you don't happen to catch her in her room, she can be found tracking the smell of a different spilt blood through the hallways. Her pace is swift and determined but she won't hesitate to stop for a challenger - or a brief meal - whatever role you may fit (or possibly both).

[[ooc; Echo is an angry/confused/wild/highly dangerous animal, so be warned!]]

idek

[scorpiowned]

Grif's making his way back to his room- the room he showed up in, whatever. He had woken with a set of bloody keys and found a piece of a pamphlet or something before leaving. He'd heard crying, too, and had searched for the source but found nothing. Now that's he's had time to clear his head and run (hah) around the compound for a little while, he's wondering if he missed anything.

It's hard to tell which door is which, since they pretty much all look the same, but he thinks he's got a pretty good idea of where he came out. He opens the door that he feels most confident about, and immediately freezes. Suddenly he's not so confident anymore. The room is a hot fucking mess; things are flipped over, the bedding is shredded, something looks like smears of blood, and oh, of course, there's a large thing in the middle of the room.

Grif wants to stare, but his instincts kick in and he yanks back lightning-fast, slamming the door shut in his own face.

Okay...

Okay, so that was definitely not the right room.

Re: idek

[raptorchallenger]

As confusing and strange as this new situation is that Echo has found herself in, she's at least getting some amount of joy from tearing the mattress to hell. Which makes her all the more agitated when that moment is interrupted by someone -- something -- opening the door.

Her head immediately snaps up to asses. Threat? Or treat? It looks hard and shiny but moves like a person. The second she senses movement, she pounces; coilded body springing forward, jaw agape, clawed fingers splayed for the kill.

That Grif moved when he did and not a moment later meant she got a snout-ful of door, slamming into it with force. There's a shriek of agitation and indignation and she's scrabbling at it now, determined to get it open and track down this intruder, tear it apart, and find out what it really is.

Or most likely just eat it.

[scorpiowned]

Nope. Nope. Nope. Grif holds on to the doorknob, as if that will keep the thing from bashing the door from its hinges, and looks around the hallway for some much-needed answers.

What the fuck is he supposed to do?! Leave it in there and run? He's never been good at running. What if it gets out before he makes it out of sight? Maybe he could weasel away if tons-of-teeth would calm down for a minute.

"No!" He bangs on the door from the opposite side. "You stop it! Sit!"

It's a lot easier to feel brave behind a barrier, okay.

[raptorchallenger]

Echo didn't like doors. They were a nuisance and an unnecessary obstacle. She threw her weight at it to try and buckle it like a sapling but it wouldn't give. The doorknob was round abs hard to handle. Nothing.

Then he was making sounds like Alpha but he smelled like Fear. She snorted with impatience and took a couple steps back, assessed the door again, and pounced: Grabbing onto the frame and trying to dig her sickle-claws into it and tear it open with force.

[scorpiowned]

Okay, not going as planned. There's still a lot of noise going on, and it felt like a car just slammed in to the other side of the door, so he does the only thing he can think of.

"That's not what I fucking said at all! That's bad! You're bad!!" Scold the raptor and ease away from the door was all he could come up with, evidently. Yeah...

He decides now is likely a good time to scoot on down the hall.

[raptorchallenger]

The door no longer being encumbered, she's able to finally bump it open and bolt into the hallway, pausing for a moment to get her bearings and catch whatever she can of the strange thing - sight or scent - and then shriek to her absent sisters and give chase.

How are you with running, Grif?

[scorpiowned]

He is literally terrible at it.

He'd ducked around the nearest corner and stopped, beacuse seriously, he's really that bad at running, and he immediately regrets it. He can't see The Angriest Lizard from where he stands, but he can hear that sound, and it sounds like something right from the bowels of hell. There's no outrunning it.

Grif leans back against the wall, drops his arms, and sighs out a long, tired, "Fuuuuck."

His armor holds up against bullets and alien technology pretty well. Maybe it'll hold up against teeth.

[raptorchallenger]

Echo slows as she comes to the corner, pausing to listen and sniff and ensure her direction, and then breaches her head around to find him. He's in her kill zone now, and she's ducking her head, letting her jaw open wide, and splaying her claws. She still didn't know what this thing was; it didn't smell like meat, but it moved like meat, so maybe there was meat inside?

She would just have to open him up and find out.

[scorpiowned]

You know what's terrifying? That's fucking terrifying. It looks like a garbage disposal made up of nothing but teeth and claws, and Grif thinks for a minute that maybe, maybe he's found something worse than bats.

...Nah, bats are still worse.

Still, it is pretty awful to look at, and he's making all sorts of distressed sounds and flaily movements. He's pretty sure that, of all the ways to go, being eaten by a baby t-rex is maybe pretty cool, but he hasn't come to terms with his death yet. "No!" Which is when his fight-or-flight instinct kicks in, and it decides attempting to punch this thing in the face and then run away is the best option for survival.

Guess no one told his instincts it's a bad idea to shove your arm towards something that looks like a mouth made out of 30 crocodiles.

[raptorchallenger]

That was pretty much an invitation to eat him. Echo easily dodges the punch, then clamps down on his arm and yanks back. The metal armor is smooth and tough to get a grip on; she grabs the edge of the gaunlet and kicks a leg at his abdomen, catching on the pelvic plating.

It's a challenge but she's suitably agitated at this point to keep working at it. So far he hasn't done anything offensive, so in those regards he's relatively harmless. She pushes her weight froward to knock him down and pin him, biting down repeatedly on the arm until she catches the black undersuiting. It's still rather tough but eventually a small tear gives way and she thinks she's making progress but then two things hit her at once.

There's a weird foamy blood the creature oozes that tastes absolutely foul, accompanied by a pervasive smell coming from the tear that a sharp intake of breath gets a full nose of. It's overwhelming and sharp and in an instant she's letting go and scrabbling back, rubbing at her muzzle and making distressed noises. This thing is definitely not for eating.

[volumeone]

Peter goes back into the compound's guts to look for supplies. He's got his quad blaster and his leather jacket and something calling itself an iPad, whatever that is, and so far it doesn't look like it's good for anything better than a paper weight. Not a whole lot to work with but he's also worked with less: he can totally make this work with a little elbow grease.

First room he pokes his head in, there's nothing, just dust and a bed shoved against the wall. Someone's been using it to store janitor supplies and what he bets is totally a jizz rag in the corner that there's no way he's picking up to see what's under it. The only thing that looks like it could be worthwhile is a metal handled mop he figures he can use when - and there's a when - his gun's energy cells fart out. Whatever "them" is, he wants to make sure he's got something better than his fists. Preferably he'd be able to buddy up and have someone to run interference. The one sucky thing about flipping the Ravagers the finger is he doesn't get that backup anymore, doesn't get Yondu gunning to show him how it's done.

Peter registers the odd clicking just as he rounds the corner...and almost slams into a giant lizard. Dinosaur, the five year old in him says and the other, older, more traveled part follows up with but it could be an alien - better make sure.

"Whoa!" Peter comes to a stop, draws himself straight and takes one step back, neatly out of arm reach. Lots of claws. Lots of teeth. All of which he doesn't want anywhere near his squishy bits which is basically all of him. "You're in a hurry."

[raptorchallenger]

There's an instinctive reaction to running into someone; splay claws, open mouth, pounce. The first two happened immediately, but the intake of breath caught his scent and caused her to pause and give him a second look.

Echo relaxes her offset jaw into its perpetual sneer, and pulls her hands back towards her chest, making a deliberate step back. There's a rumbled chatter in the back of her throat as she looks him over. Alpha? He seems ... different. She's not sure what to do about it. She's not completely at ease; there's still a tension to her body like a coiled spring, but at least she's waiting for his next move before deciding.

[volumeone]

There's this split second where Peter braces to get charged by a dinosaur that has to easily outweigh him. There's nothing human in the eyes, none of the usual markers he's used to read all the aliens he's met - the muscle tics are all wrong, the movements like a bird, a hawk or whatever, checking a rabbit out. An alien you can reason with once you figure out what they value: money, sex, good food, a triple to some holy asteroid and they desperately need a ride and will pay good units to get it. An animal, though? Not so much.

Peter figures the step back is a good sign since it doesn't get followed by a pounce forward. If that clicking in the dinosaur's throat means anything, his translator implant isn't picking it up - either it isn't saying anything or he missed out on a patch.

"We cool?" Peter holds his hand out, not to pet, but to show he's weaponless and how much of a dick move it would be to jump him. It's a pretty much universal gesture back where he comes from. "You got a name I can actually pronounce?"

[raptorchallenger]

Echo's head tilts as she listens to his tone. Question? Why are they questions? Alpha doesn't usually questions. The chatter becomes more a low groan, a raspy question of her own, and she takes a slow step forward. Her head goes low, nostrils flaring as she pulls his scent in for deeper, further examination. One of her sickle-claws clicks on the ground as a sign to her growing impatience.

[volumeone]

Uh oh. Peter can't speak dinosaur but he figures when the monkey part of his brain is screaming to pick his escape route stat, that's gotta mean something. He's doing something wrong. Pissing it off somehow. If he could at least speak the same language, he'd be able to work it out between death threats from another alien who thinks he's scum. Hell, he's managed to turn some of that around just because he kept talking and talking until he hit the magic word that made the alien stop trying to kick his ass.

That door on the left looks like it's open a few centimeters. His other hand tightens around the metal pole of the mop he's been dragging around, his adrenaline starting to spike as he drops his hand, letting it rest against the holster of his quad blaster. Using it might be a big no-no according to that sign but he figures he'll take his chances if it means he gets to keep all his guts off the floor.

"Guess not. I'm, uh," Peter taps his chest with his thumb. Left door, definitely. This giant lizard makes a pass and he's booking it for the left door. "Peter Quill. Star-Lord? Everyone's heard of me."

[raptorchallenger]

Alpha you're acting weird, but he's still similar enough that she's not sold on attacking quite yet. She liked Alpha. She had learned to trust him. This ... wasn't Alpha but it wasn't not Alpha, and it's leaving her in quite a dilemma.

Why is he poking his chest. What does that mean. Her claw idly itches at her own chest in response, a mimic more than any true understanding. She bends her head low and hisses, but then sidesteps in a sort of stalling dance while she's still trying to figure him out.

[volumeone]

Animal or alien? Peter really can't tell right now because so far the thing hasn't spoken any language in his implant's database. What he has to go on is any movements that looks intelligent - the problem is he's so desperate to see them that when the dinosaur scratches at its chest, he assumes it's copying him. Has to be a sign it's smart, right? Like smart enough not to rip him to shreds?

"Okay, I can't say that if that's your name, buddy," Peter inches a foot toward the left door but doesn't jump for it. Not yet. "Can you get me? Two clicks for yes."

[raptorchallenger]

Head tilt left. Head tilt right. No no this is all wrong. Alpha doesn't sound like that. The tone is too submissive. Head still low, jaw widens, claws splayed. If you're playing a game Alpha she doesn't find it funny and is ready to put a stop to it.

So how close is that door, Peter?

[volumeone]

Close enough that Peter keeps smiling and nodding even as he darts to it. There's nothing graceful about it, he isn't trying to showboat to the girl watching from the Milano's cockpit, it's just pure getting the hell out of there before his luck runs out. His hand closes over the knob as he wrenches the door open, throwing himself inside.

[packbeta]

[ Her pack is here. Her pack is here. That's the most important thing she's learned in the past few hours. The compound is solid, smooth, and a lot of things that don't jive well with clawed feet. The traction isn't great as she explores the various hallways, making sure to take special note of the doors. The connection between them as smaller gates and the cramped enclosure she woke up in is loose, but there. She knows they are something to sniff around, at least.

Blue pauses at the start of another long hallway. In regards to sight, they all look very much the same, but in the realm of scent, she can tell who has been in and out and how long ago it was. And the scent of her pack always sticks out above all else. She'd found Alpha, Delta, Charlie. There's only one left unaccounted for...

Caw! Caw!. She can smell you, Echo. She knows you've been here. ]

[raptorchallenger]

[There's no mistaking that sound, and wherever she is and whatever she's doing at the time, Echo stops and stretches her neck into the hair to answer in kind, then takes in a deep noseful to try and catch her sisters scent.

Then she's turning and following that thread as fast as she can, scrabbling at the smooth ground with agitated growls as she tries to find the fastest purchase in order to sprint. She may still be bitter, but pack is pack and she`s not whole without them.]

[packbeta]

[ Blue immediately turns to the source of the call. That is definitely Echo. Somewhere in the back of her mind, there's the image of fire when they had battled the Big Alpha, the Ex-Alpha. Something that tells her this is a little strange. Death is something that velociraptors understand, loss and someone missing. Death is something that should be associated with Echo, but it's hard to really focus in on that idea when she can hear her sister.

For what a thought it is, it disappears from her mind as she trots to the turn of another corner, alert and listening to the sound of her sister's claws against the too smooth ground. When she catches sight of her, Blue calls out again.

Sister! Here! ]

[raptorchallenger]

[Echo returns it, pushing her speed until she's too close and nearly skidding into Blue. There's a happy thrumm in her throat as they're reunited, tipping her head back in a little dance.

And as strange as Blue might find it to have the once dead Echo not dead anymore, stranger still for Echo to have lived through that moment. Searing, intense pain, and then waking up intact and unhurt. For now it was easy to dismiss; there were too many new smells and sounds to occupy herself with, as well as the task of reuniting with her pack, but in the quiet still times her flank might twitch with imagined flames.]

[packbeta]

[ Blue backs up just a bit to avoid a collision, but she's plenty happy to see Echo. The end of her rigid tail sways slightly, her weight shifting back and forth between her feet in a display of her own excitement. But being higher in the pecking order, Blue does have to hold some sense of decorum, doesn't she? When she tips her head down, nose bumping Echo's affectionately, she makes sure that her stature stays above her sister's.

There's an almost purring coo with the light bump before Blue pulls back. She chitters questioningly, tilting her head back. Where did you go? Pack. Everyone's here! ]