( 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

[borntochoose]

It doesn't take Clark long to tall when he's being followed, heartbeat and all. It doesn't surprise him that he catches people's attention- if the primary colors didn't do the trick the flying would. But it is a surprise to see that he's being followed in the air.

Well, hello to you too fellow flying person. Give him a moment to recover because this is the first time Clark has ever (ever) met someone who can fly like him and who wasn't trying to kill him. Which is why as soon as he recovers from the surprise, he frowns in what could be mistaken for a glare.

"Are you Kryptonian?"

[blackagar]

The could-be glare doesn't seem to phase him in the slightest. (He's around a large amount of people that do a lot of glaring, and he himself isn't exempt.) He pulls up about ten feet away from Clark, hovering. That takes a little more energy, but it just means the crackle flares brighter around him.

Kryptonian. Is that a name? Maybe a group — or even a nationality. He can't tell from the context. But the one thing he can tell is that it doesn't apply to him. He shakes his head shortly, with his attention still closely on Clark. It's possible, unlikely but possible, that this man has more answers about this place than Black Bolt does.

[borntochoose]

Clark raises an eyebrow when he doesn't reply out loud but doesn't think much of it. Just because he's kind of a chatterbox sometimes doesn't mean others have to be, and he did get his answer.

"Well, what are you then? I've never seen anyone else able to fly."

[blackagar]

Ah, the open-ended question, his natural enemy. Without a change in expression (he's unannoyed and ever-patient, a lifetime without words has made him so) he taps his throat with two fingers, covers his mouth, and drops his hand again back to his side. Try the question again as a yes or no, won't you? If they're both lucky, there won't be any sound coming out of this throat.

[borntochoose]

That’s more or less when Kal realizes the other man hasn’t uttered a word out since this conversation started and he suddenly feels really, really stupid. But the man doesn’t seem to mind, so he bites down apologies that would only make is even more awkward and gives him a nod of understanding.

“Sorry, I don’t know sign language. But you can nod or say no, right? So are you an alien?”

[blackagar]

That's an interesting question. Clothing aside, Black Bolt knows he looks very human -- and so does this man, for that matter. The question must mean he's not. After a few seconds spent in consideration, Black Bolt shakes his head. Then he gestures toward Kal, an eyebrow raised questioningly. You are?

[borntochoose]

So he's not an alien. Interesting. He wishes he could ask 'then what are you' because playing 20 questions when he has no idea of what's in other worlds would take forever. So he'll just take 'superpowered human' and run with it.

"Yes, I am. Kryptonian, that's why I asked you. I had... never seen anyone else fly. What else-" He purses his lips for a second. Then: "Can you do other things?"

[blackagar]

Now he's getting it. What could almost be a flicker of amusement crosses his face, and this time he nods. Can he do more than fly? Black Bolt can hardly recall ever having met someone that could only fly.

But he'll probably have an easier time satisfying his own curiosity on the ground rather than pantomiming in midair, so he indicates downward with a nod and then begins to descend himself, trusting he'll be followed. He aims for a small clearing below, just outside the fencing.

[borntochoose]

Clark grins because he was having the same kind of thoughts, and then goes down to meet the man there. His landing is a bit… rough around the edges, the landing of someone who’s only been flying for a few months. But at least he doesn’t cause any holes on the ground anymore.

“I’m guessing this is your way of saying ‘yes, let me show you what’?”

[blackagar]

Yeah, that was a pretty shitty landing, and Black Bolt learns a few more things about this stranger to see it. He himself had landed smoothly, with the practice of a lifetime — which means that's exactly what Kal doesn't have. He folds his arms over his chest with that question with a single shake of his head. His powers aren't really the type to be shown off without cause, nor is he the sort of man to indulge the curiosity.

It does make him wonder why Kal wants to know, though. A quiz of a stranger's powers would not be his first inclination. So he shifts again, moving toward a mossy tree, wet from recent rain. It will be a decent canvas. He traces a single word in the moss, outlined by green and water droplets: Why?

[borntochoose]

That’s a fair question. The problem is that Clark doesn’t really have an answer: he just wants to know for the sake of knowing, because he’s a big fat cat and curiosity will get him killed one of these days. And also, maybe, because being the only one with that kind of power is… frightening, and a weight on his shoulders he never wanted.

“I can do more stuff than flying.” He says, as a compromise. In a second, his eyes turn bright red- it takes him a few seconds, and it’s not just his eyes. The veins leading to his eyes also shine bright red, because he still doesn’t have control of that either. But he has enough control to write with his laser vision.

And so he writes ‘A lot more stuff’ on the tree, with said laser.