( 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

Bruce Wayne | Dark Knight Trilogy | OTA

[knightbynight]

Bruce wakes with a splitting headache, and a foggy memory. Neither one does his mood any more favors than the sound of leathery wings or the disorientation of waking up in a new place. The dim light, however, is welcome. He takes stock of his own belongings and the other things that in the room with him that he doesn't recognize.

The map, apparently a toy, is folded and tucked into his shirt pocket before he closes the door behind him. Everything else is left behind. The kevlar armor and cowl are especially left behind. He won't forget where his room is; he doesn't forget anything unless drugs or a hard knock to the head are involved.

He walks quickly, and quietly. He takes in the shape of the place, sticks his head through doorways. He spends time investigating the medical bay, the kitchen, and any other common area he can find. He catalogues supplies, but unless he finds someone in those places he isn't going to linger. He'll visit the computer banks and the laboratories for more in depth investigation later.

His priority, his goal, and his mission is the door outside. When he finds them he pauses in front of the sign, and snorts. Gun? No. Water and weaponry of some sort he does retrieve. Then he goes outside, finds the ladder surrounding the wall and climbs. He needs a vantage point that provides him with a view of the land this compound is on. It's important to complete his mental map.

Important enough to have him out there without a gun, but with a lead pipe, a bottle of water and still not nearly as defenseless as he appears. Possibly more stupid, though - who carries explosives around in their pockets?

When someone else emerges and heads for the wall he pivots, turns immediately but not slightly. He won't turn his back on the world outside that wall. "The view's lousy." He sounds conversational. He isn't really.


[OOC: interrupt him anywhere, if you want him before he gets to the wall]

[debts]

"I bet."

The voice sounds wry, unbothered, matching a sliver of his brand of conversational for her brand of disinterested. Natasha cuts an interesting shape up on the wall; her hair's short, but she's also still in a catsuit. She has a medical bag slung over one shoulder, zipped up in a way that suggests it's full of basically anything other than the pre-arranged supplies it's supposed to stock. The light catches a little on the chrome rim of her hourglass buckle when she turns.

There's the affectation of something casual in her spine. One hand cupped over her eyes, she tucks her gun back into the holster around her right thigh and presses her lips together. "Tell me you see a Chipotle."

The tone of her voice? Just about as dry as the Sahara.

[knightbynight]

Bruce, at the moment, looks mostly like a guy in what was probably once most of a business suit, but is currently a pair of black pants, dusty wing-tips, and a white shirt that's turned grayish. He also looks mildly beat up, since he's got a bruise across one side of his face, but he sure as heck isn't worried about it. He's even got his hands stuffed into his pockets while he surveys the landscape.

"I don't, but I wouldn't want to eat at one if I did." He's more wry than dry, though there are elements of both. "There's something moving around out there. Keep watching, you'll see it again."

[debts]

Yeah. A guy in a half-gathered suit with a bruise across his face. The easiest story to pick up is someone who likes trouble, though Natasha's not sure she can settle that with the calmness in his stare.

Not that that's important. Things evolve on a scale. Natasha, she hitches the medical bag over her shoulder a little more securely and stays still. Lashes jump once, then twice. "You know," she adds mildly, "'Something' sounds nice and ambiguous. You couldn't make it out?"

[knightbynight]

He likes trouble; he's very calm about liking trouble. In this case, though, he'd feel a whole hell of a lot more calm if he was sure what trouble was. At least he knows where it's coming from.

"All I can tell you was that it seemed to be bipedal." So not wildlife. "It never got close enough for a good look." He glances down at her thigh and the gun holstered, there. "Or close enough for a good shot."

[alonetogether]

Ellie is having none of this kumbayah we-are-all-mysteriously-kidnapped-together-by-people-who-like-snakes bullshit. Giant robot-people, caped (admittedly pretty awesome) super-people, more kids than she's seen since she left school - yeah, not having it. Joel is out there somewhere. Somewhere. This big giant mystery can take care of itself. She has prior commitments.

[knightbynight]

The big giant mystery needs solved, at least according to the mostly black dressed man standing on top of the wall. It can, however, wait since solving that mystery and dealing with someone joining him on his perch are at least temporarily incompatible.

"Going somewhere particular?"

kdsjf I AM SORRY (SORT OF)

[alonetogether]

She stops and turns, glaring up at the wall. "To fuck your mother. Don't you people have anything better to do? I swear to God it's like having ten thousand chaperones."

[knightbynight]

"She's been dead for thirty years. I don't think either of you would find that particularly satisfying." Just sayin', kid. Just saying and trying not to look disgusted or impressed, though he's bits of both.

[conversed]

Clint didn't even see him on top of the wall. Stupid. But he glances up like he isn't surprised, takes a second to look him over, squinting against what's left of the sun — or maybe just squinting because he's got a headache and he just woke up. Judging by the state of his hair, the second one's just as likely.

"Lead pipe?"

Said in the tone of really. Clint, meanwhile, has a quiver on one hip and is holding a hunting bow in one hand. Maybe not the guy who should be casting stones.

[knightbynight]

One of them's got blood in their hair, the other one's got a nasty bruise spreading across one upper half of their face, and that is a recipe for a couple of guys with headaches and probably a really pleasant conversation.

He looks pointedly from the bow, to the quiver, and then back to Clint's face. "I've always preferred close range weaponry." Said in a bland, dry, tone. "Fewer variables in application, and more diversity." His tone is polite enough, probably excessively polite, but the look on his face and stance are still somewhat... confrontational.

Mostly he's trying not to call the guy an elf.

[conversed]

Wouldn't be the worst thing he's been called. This week, actually. Clint watches him for a second, considers engaging in a riveting debate about weapons. He doesn't actually have much of a horse in that race — he gets it. Lead pipes have their perks.

Instead, he glances towards the ladder that's a few feet off from the other man's perch.

"You mind?"

Lousy view or not, he'd like to check it out himself. And while the guy hardly has dibs on the entire wall, that confrontational edge makes an attempt at manners seem like the strategic choice.

[knightbynight]

Bruce moved a couple of more feet away from the ladder - gave the guy room to come up and be out of range of aforementioned pipe as a gesture of, if not peace, lack of intent to beat his head in. He moved pretty well up there for a guy his size, but that was just ingrained at this point.

"Help yourself. Maybe you'll have better luck recognizing landmarks."

Confrontational and cranky or not, he's not - Okay, he is violent, but he takes provocation to be violent. That's something, right? Clint backed down, Bruce can back down.

[zombae]

By the time Kieren arrives he's been encouragingly nudged through a couple of the other rooms in the compound, and has his arms wrapped tightly around a box with a red cross printed on the side of it. It's the only really reassuring thing he's found here, and even then it only contains enough of his treatment for a week.

They'll have figured out what's happened in a week, though, surely. There are loads of people here.

No one by the door though, not that he can see. So he doesn't bother to keep his face hidden in case the corpse pallour and bleached out eyes freak anyone out. Just shuffles up and reads the message on the door. And with a message like that, you sort of have to find out what's on the other side, don't you?

Besides, his main priority is finding out whether or not they're locked in. The whys can come later. They usually do.

Muttering, "Where are you supposed to find a gun?" he pushes the door open, gingerly, sticking just his head outside. Then the rest of him, shoulder by shoulder. There's just... there's nothing. A great big wall and another door. So, time to see if that one opens.

He doesn't notice the dark figure on the top of it. Well, he isn't really expecting one, to be honest.

[knightbynight]

Bruce does not turn his back on what's outside the wall, but does pivot with a fair amount of ease to stand so that he can keep an eye on movement coming from the compound itself. He waits until the shuffling figure continues to make its way toward the wall.

The gait and pallor leave him with the hair on the back of his neck raising and the strong feeling that whoever this is shouldn't be inside the compound at all.

He waits until the figure is just about to reach the second door, then jumps down in front of him. Lands lightly given the drop and that he still has his improvised weapon in hand.

"Medical supplies?" That makes... no sense, but that red-cross is a pretty universal symbol.

[zombae]

The gait's in large part just down to being a teenage boy, to be fair about it. The pallor, though, he doesn't have an excuse for. Back home he paints his face to a tanned shade he never quite achieved in life, and wears brown contacts which irritate his eyes. It's worth it because he passes, at least until someone brushes his hand and finds it cold. He passes.

So being here's already a little bit like a nightmare, and that's before shadowy figures drop down in front of him out of nowhere. The sound he makes and the stumble backward are just a little bit embarrassing.

Too late to hide, obviously, but he ducks his head enough to try and keep his face in the shadows. "Medicine. I'm -- I'm not stealing it. If anyone else needs it, I mean."

Unlikely, unless anyone else turns rabid without a regular dose, but you never know.

[idiosyncrasies]

He's been watching him for a few minutes. There's something about him—the face, the body; the hair was different, though. And maybe the age. Dick thinks that maybe this is a case of alternate universes; a man who gives off major Bruce Wayne vibes, but isn't. Still, he can't help himself; he'd hidden the batsuit not long after meeting Jason, found a pair of pants and a shirt to cover himself with, followed it up with some shoes.

And then he approaches him, arms crossed and his smile gentle. The man is looking out to the wild—Dick figures he's considering going out.

"What, do we smell?"

[knightbynight]

There isn't anything threatening about Dick's approach. Bruce can see him coming, hear him coming. The smile is absolutely not an issue, and the crossed arms aren't something that immediately scream 'defensive' to him - though he's reserving judgement about that one.

He's still a smart ass, though a very, very dry one. "Unless something's wrong with your nose or brain, I'd assume so." And then since he knows what he's being asked: "I won't leave until I have a plan. Until then, the company's fine."

And he doesn't have one of those, yet. He will, but for now he's gathering information.

[idiosyncrasies]

He sounds like Bruce, but... younger? Maybe? He's not sure.

But he does know one way to find out. Keeping his smile up, he offers a hand; calloused, there are even a few scars. At least he can explain it away by mentioning his acrobatics.

"Dick Grayson," he says, indicating with a tilt of his head to their surroundings. "It's nice to meet you, kidnapping aside."

[borntochoose]

"Doesn't get any better if you can see further away."

Clark had decided to sit on the edge of the wall, looking at the world outside and trying to get a better glimpse. He's seen some movement so far, but while he will eventually go take a better look at the rotten people ('zombies' seems too much of an overkill, for now) he knows better than to jump straight into action. He'll wait an hour before he does that, at least.

"Why the lead pipe?"

[knightbynight]

Bruce looked from the man to the pipe he was holding in his hand. Tossed it end over end and caught it. "Because I don't like guns, couldn't find a sword, and even if I had, it wouldn't have had enough weight or structural strength to be as effective a weapon in these circumstances."

Ask a question - get an answer. It was at least a reasonably intelligent one.

Reasonably.

His own was not going to be. "Just how far can you see?" Right now, his reason for asking was practical rather than paranoid. He was up there to find out where the hell they were.

[borntochoose]

"Pretty far. Far enough to see the world itself isn't all that different from the one back home- after some sort of apocalypse." And did't that sound familiar? He went from destroyed city to another, but at least he didn't cause this one's destruction. Small consolation. He also decided against asking more about the lead pipe. He sensed he wasn't sharing everything, but that was pretty solid reasoning and he wasn't being a reporter at the moment. He could leave some things be.

"We're in California, I think."

[cassassin]

He's younger, some details are different--

But she'd know him anywhere. This doesn't make a lot of sense to her, but she can see it in his face, how he's holding himself--this is Batman. Bruce Wayne. She pulls herself up onto the wall next to him, replacing the grapnel at her belt. She gave up on shadowing and investigation when she realized no one she'd spotted knew anything, but--

Well. If anyone had learned anything...

"What do we know?" She's in her suit and cowl, so no sense in playing cagey.

[knightbynight]

He has no idea who she is.

He has no idea why she's wearing a uniform that is too similar to his own to be coincidence.

He has no idea why she sounds young and female.

It's a bad combination all around. He hates not knowing, and he particularly hates being confronted by someone who knows more about him than he does them. The way she's speaking to him makes it clear that she does know.

So he rounds on her, face expressionless and jaw set and outright demands: "What you do now is tell me who you are and why you're wearing that."

[cassassin]

She can see the tension. He's even more in the dark than she is, in certain ways. There's no trace of recognition there.

It stings. She hadn't even gotten to see him again before she woke up here.

Cassandra sighs, pulling the cowl off and spreading her arms in an attempt to mollify him. "Cassandra. Batgirl." One step at a time, even if that doesn't really begin to cover it.

"... You don't recognize me." This was going to be fun to try explaining to the others.