( 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!

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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.

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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

[villainously]

( he hardly understands what she means when she accuses him of scaring her. Storybrooke is that way, isn't it—leaping from one threat to the next with no breathing room in between. he hardly remembers the mixed up world the author had thrown them in, the fact he'd been cut down by some snarled and broken version of her father trying to protect her, because he's lost himself to the next new panic. much more overwhelming than the last, because this darkness might not be possible to fight. she can ask him not to scare her but he'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. he'll always see her life as more valuable than his. he's risked his life for her before, he'll do it again, even if she doesn't like it, even though she's very good at saving herself. she's the hero, the savior with a heart so strong she'd sacrifice it to darkness to save a crowd of people that didn't deserve it. comparatively he was a reforming villain whose past was stained with mistakes. if one of them had to fall, it should be him.

he's not likely to ever make Emma think that way, granted, but it's equally impossible to change his mind.

there's some bitter irony that she's worried about him when not even hours ago she brokenly told him she loved him—something he's been waiting for, hoping for, something that should have been the best moment in his miserable life—and took on the curse to save them all. it's undeniably her, and he can't resent her for doing what she did. Emma will always put the happiness and safety of others before herself, it's beautiful, admirable, remarkable; it doesn't save him from being terrified what might happen, now that she's set to be poisoned by the darkness tethered to the dagger. he wants to have faith she can overcome it, but it's impossible to know when he doesn't know where she is.

he's searching for stains of that curse, confusion marked in his expression. just because it hasn't changed her appearance, doesn't mean she's safe. still, the heat of the moment requires more than just staring, and luckily for him Emma doesn't seem to mind. they're both a bit overwhelmed by the panic of losing someone, a harrowing threat that seems to constantly hang over their head. he had refused to try to love again after Milah, certain he couldn't take another loss. he'd lived for centuries that way, squandering in a darkness of his own making until she'd burst into his life like a light he couldn't ignore, drawing him forward. Emma has shown him that everything they have is worth too much not to fight for it. it's like not living at all, to close a heart to love. now that he's found it again he's not going to let himself be afraid of it.

his forehead presses to hers, just drowning in the fact that she's here and more or less, seems all right. he doesn't expect anything after the fumbled exhale. he already knows, he knew before that moment when she looked at him with tears in her eyes and the dagger clenched in her grip. he knew it on the bed, could see it in her eyes and her smile and that was enough until she was ready. it aches a little, that she told him only when everything fell apart, that she was ripped away before he could say it back, but he's righting that wrong now. when his eyes manage to open he sees that smile again, that same one that was playing on her features as she pinned him against mattress, and he doesn't need her to say what he already knows...

but that doesn't lessen the impact of hearing her say it in a happy breath, instead of a tortured one.

he smiles back, he can't not; it's just a boyish twist of his lips before he kisses her again, heart still pounding a bit painfully. he's learned long ago love isn't enough to keep someone safe. loving him especially just seems to be a death sentence. he still wants to drown in that fact for a bit. Emma Swan loves him, they've crossed that hurdle he wasn't sure they ever would. it may not be perfect and it may not be true but love was more than enough for him. he kisses her like he bloody well might die without it, like there's a ship sinking around them and this is their last chance, and then he kisses her harder because it's not their last chance, he won't let it be.

when he pulls back, it's because he needs to focus. it's always too easy to drown in her, he just can't afford that temptation when even now, standing before him, she could be in danger. )

Emma, the curse— Do you feel differently? All that darkness, and then you disappeared, I thought— ( his hand curves over her cheek, and looking in her eyes it seems very much like she's perfectly well, but he can't believe even that. ) You disappeared, did it bring you here? ( why on earth would it do that? )

[sheriffing]

[For those first few seconds, there's nothing to keep it from being a good moment for her. If Storybrooke doesn't give them any downtime, she can only imagine what they're in for here - another fight to get home, more of the same considering all they've been through - but it doesn't matter. She's learned that for a few seconds at a time, they two of them can be happy. Sometimes it stretches out to minutes, to days, weeks if they're lucky, but a normal life isn't in the cards for them. It's not the kind of thing you get to have when your parents are Snow White and Prince Charming, and your boyfriend is Captain Hook - but if that's the tradeoff for having someone who loves her enough to face every challenge with her, then Emma isn't about to complain.

They do alright most of the time. Neither one of them has the best luck with love, and they both struggle with what that means for their relationship. They have every reason to turn and run if they wanted to, but they haven't. And she's at the point where she believes they won't. She never expected to find love again after Neal left. She didn't want it, she didn't believe in it, and she definitely didn't believe she was capable of having it. He might have heard her say it before, but to Emma it's a first; and a damn good one, too.

If they're supposed to be concerned with the situation they're in, that will have to wait. She lets herself get lost in that kiss; having him near, knowing he's safe, feeling loved and realizing her feelings are out in the open. It's not perfect, but it's strong, and real, and worth fighting for. She kisses him like it's the start of something better for them because she thinks it is. There's no hiding her feelings from him anymore, no being afraid that the truth will be too much to take. She's not waiting for him to walk away, or to decide it's too much. Part of her will always be afraid of losing him, but that means she'll have to fight that much harder to make sure she doesn't.

Things are going well until he pulls back, which forces her to remember where they are, and how few answers they have. She'd start to lay out the questions she has about the building, but Killian's quicker at putting words together - the last ones she was expecting him to say.] The curse?

[There's no curse. They've dealt with plenty of them, but this isn't one. And she didn't disappear. There was no darkness, at least not in the way he seems to be asking about it.]

Killian, what curse?

[She frowns, brow lined and heavy, head tilted to meet his gaze.] I think I'd remember disappearing.

[villainously]

( she already knows that he thinks the same way. that no matter how little he deserves it, she's his happy ending. he can't fathom living that without her, which means he'll fight for her and fight for them to the very last breath he has. because he's tried it the other way around, he's tried living just for himself, forgoing happiness and just existing instead, leaving his heart in the past and pretending he had no capacity for more. he's past that now, and he doesn't want to, but just because he will fight, doesn't mean he wants to. doesn't mean he wants to live that moment again, when that familiar mantra becomes reality; loving someone is not enough to save them from the imminent loss that came from loving him in return.

she might think she'd remember, but just looking at him has to be indication that he's not imagining things. he's just lived his greatest fear, one he's had to survive twice now, three times if one counted a boy he practically begged to be his family once upon a time. he used to be good at covering this sort of bold emotion, but Emma always managed to see through it anyway. right now there's no attempt to hide the sheer terror that he'd lost her for good, even with proof that she wasn't entirely gone burned onto the dark one's blade. )

The Crocodile. That... idiot apprentice tried to save him by sucking his darkness out of him, into the hat. It didn't work, it ran rampant through town. ( he isn't sure he wants to recount this story, not even to Emma. it still too new and too raw, and he can remember it all falling apart when he closes his eyes. he doubts he'll be sleeping for awhile. he presses his forehead to hers and his palm over her heartbeat like he needs proof that it's there before he can keep going. )

That darkness needs to be tethered to the dagger, or it will destroy whatever it touches. It was after Regina, and you had the dagger and... ( he leaves out broken promises of love that he didn't even have a chance to give back, but that doesn't make the last part of the tale any easier to say. ) You tethered it to the darkness, and yourself, and then you were gone. ( she may not believe him, but he's got the proof tucked in his coat. he can't honestly explain why she doesn't respond to it or she doesn't remember, he just knows it happened. )

[sheriffing]

[Killian isn't sure he wants to tell her, and Emma isn't sure she wants to hear it, but she listens. It's something she should know, maybe something that can be changed where she's from. She'd like to live in denial and pretend it's not something she would do, but he's already seen it happen and that pain is visible as he explains what he's carrying with him now. She promised Regina she would help her find her happiness. It was a promise she meant, something she'd always intended to follow through on. She never expected that it would cost so much for them, and that already weighs on her conscience when he presses his hand flat against her heart, closing her eyes while she stands tucked against him.

Was it the right thing to do? Yes, she needs to stand by that. If it happened the way he says it did - and she's hoping it didn't, that it was some kind of a trick - then it was still better that it was her. Regina has had to earn her happiness back piece by piece, and she didn't deserve to have it ripped out from under her now. She's sacrificed herself for them, stepped up when she didn't have to, broken curses and learned what it is to love someone. Killian doesn't deserve this either, and Emma knows what this is like. She watched Neal sacrifice himself for Storybrooke, held him knowing all she could do was let it happen.

It's not as final as that, if all she did was disappear. That means they can find her, they can fix it. All she wants to do is find a way around it, but it's hard to connect that far when he's talking about something he's experienced that she can't even grasp. Hearing about it makes her feel like this happened to someone else. Like they'll find a way home and work on a way around it, when in his mind she already vanished.]

Are you sure? [Is he sure this place didn't do something to do him, or change things around like the author of one of those books? This isn't their world, who knows how they could have been manipulated?] Are you sure it isn't some kind of trick? Like a fake memory, or, I don't know - a hallucination? [She was out for a while, he could have been, too.

But deep down, she knows better than to think it was some kind of made up scenario. He's still shaken from it, and she can't even apologize for doing it if taking on the curse protected Storybrooke from the darkness. Her eyes find his in the moment when she leans back, not far enough to break away, just enough to get him to look at her.] ... If it is true, we'll figure it out. Think of how many things we've faced together.

I love you too much to give up now, I'll keep fighting if you will.

[villainously]

( it was very much like her. did that make it right? oh, the selfish bastard in him might like to argue. Emma was the savior, the victim of Regina's curse just as much as everyone else, and yet she'd been so determined to protect the evil queen she'd been willing to take on the darkness for her. in the end it's more than just Regina Mills, that darkness would have ripped through Storybrooke using Regina as a vessel if they hadn't tethered it back to the dagger, it just doesn't make any of it any easier. he'd have much rather taken on that curse than watch Emma take it on in front of his eyes. she had a family, a place, and all he had was her.

it's true, even back then in that moment, she'd been bidding him with the task of saving her. the fact that it wasn't supposed to be forever doesn't manage to ease the sting of losing someone he loved all over again. he'll fight to save her, he'll go from this world to the next, he'll devote another three centuries to hunting the newest dark one if it means he can save her from that horrible fate. he's just aching from the loss all the same, even with her here and solid next to him, curved closer like just that could be a comfort.

is he sure? he'd like to follow her logic, he would. it sounds unreal, and he knows that, but he knows it happened. he watched it all fall apart in front of him, and he'd pushed through Robin of Locksley to be the first to pick up the dagger with her name burned into the wicked metal. the last fragment of her he had left, and no real indication of how to move forward and find her. she leans back to catch his eye and insist they'll find a way, that they'll figure it out and find a way back to each other. )

I'll never stop fighting for you. ( and he means that; but there's a broken misery to the promise, from being the one doomed to be left behind when the world needed her. he can't hate her for that, it just doesn't make it ache any less. he swallows back the unhappiness painted over every inch of him, because it won't help either of them right now. they're together, he won't let himself lose sight of that. maybe that future can be avoided; he'll do his damnedest to make sure Emma never has to face that possibility. ) I promise.

( his touch presses a little closer over her heartbeat, before he pulls back to pull something out of his coat. if she needs proof that it's not a hallucination, it's on the dagger he tugs from an inner pocket. wicked lines, grim and dark metal, and her name boldly written across the flat of the blade. ) It wasn't a hallucination, Emma. I wish it was. ( he holds the blade out for her to take. he thinks that she's the best keeper of it; Emma has always needed the ability to make her own choices, he won't take that from her now. )