Don't Dead, Open Inside || Action

[postocular]

Who: Carl Grimes, a bunch of zombies, and you
Broadcast: kinda?
Action: Waystation
When: Right now


(( ooc: This is a blanket content warning for blood/gore/death. So! There are zombies ahead and you’ve found yourself on the waystation! You have two options: evacuate, or fight them off. Things of note to remember: Being bitten or scratched are the easiest ways for infection. We don’t suggest being eaten. Magic will be hit or miss depending on player preference/discretion. Characters who become zombies will be treated as in-character deaths. Standard rules apply! The event will last a total of 24 hours. Have fun, and enjoy all the undead things. If there are any questions or anything at all, feel free to pm this journal or hit me up at skorozima. ))

[ The Fleet has been floating along its predetermined path for the past few days, getting further and further away from the Yadrolla System and toward unknown territory. Along the way, those oh-so convenient waystations continue to pop up at their usual intervals. Identical in every way to every other, boring waystation. Neat, right? There are even some of those familiar orange-skinned aliens and some human travelers milling about and generally minding their own business. It’s a good place to stretch your legs, get sodas of questionable flavor, and take those nifty new pets for a walk!

Interrupting the general peace of the waystation, a shrill siren starts, and a robotic voice comes over the intercom as well as all communication devices on the station and surrounding spacecraft, repeating a monotone message. ]


ATTENTION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. LOCKDOWN IMMINENT. ATTENTION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. CALMLY EVACUATE USING THE NEAREST EXIT. LOCKDOWN IMMINENT..

[ Soon, it becomes apparent to those on the waystation what the emergency is. A gaggle? A murder??? Just.. a lot of undead. They’re not in any particular hurry, shambling and stumbling along.. until they spot what looks like some good eats. That seems to get them excited, arms stretching forward, teeth gnashing, and more growling than any sort of verbal mishmash meant to be words. THEY’RE NOT A WORDY PEOPLE, OKAY?

For those looking to escape, it’s quite easy to outrun them unless you’re not paying attention to your surroundings. Corners can be tough! Just don’t get bit or scratched and all is well, except for their incessant attempts at making you a snack. For those who haven’t come across them before, or have run into some variation of them in another world, they’re resilient up to the point of losing their head or the brain being destroyed. Limbs being broken or missing don’t seem to slow them down, just send them a little off-balance.

All they know is attack and eat.

For those of the fleet still on their ships, they gravitate around the waystation, seemingly not wanting to go anywhere. There is a short window of time from the emergency alert to the entire waystation going on lockdown. Those wishing to help evacuate can do so- but they have to be quick!

Once the lockdown is in place, communication ceases with the waystation. All the rest of the fleet can do is sit and wait, and hope for the best. The doors will re-open twenty-four hours later, once it’s clear the situation is handled and they can regroup, count their losses, and wait once again for the perished to rejoin their ranks. ]

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

Let's hope what we've been doing is good enough. I have a couple other ideas...

But I'd really rather not have to.

[candothat]

Would I regret asking what ideas those are?

[outstandingbalance]

You might. I'll let you know if it starts looking like we don't have any better options.

[candothat]

I would rather not see how bad things need to be before you determine that there are no better options.

[As if to affirm that, yes, things are pretty bad right now, one of the creatures comes shambling around a corner. Judging by the growls and moans, more are right behind it.]

My current idea is to run. Yours?

[outstandingbalance]

Running is good. Find somewhere we can defend. Dig in and keep them out until a clean up crew shows up.

[Because there's going to be one. The fleet, the station, the Avengers, they'll get this organized.

But for the time being...]

Failing that... we take out as many of them as we can. Start cleaning up from our end.

[candothat]

This may shock you, Tasha, but I sincerely doubt that I will be of much help cleaning up. [Surviving is in his skill set. Making a stand against zombies? Not so much. Which isn't to say that he won't try if it comes to that.] I know where there is an empty room. Or it was empty. Hopefully it still will be.

[He's going to start heading that way at a brisk pace.]

[outstandingbalance]

Let's head to this empty room, check it out. As long as you can stay out of the way and keep your eyes up, I think I can handle the rest.

[She says that, and she makes herself believe it. Failure isn't an option.]

Good?

[candothat]

Good. Staying out of the way is something I can do.

[He sounds about as resentful as he's capable of being—not at her entirely reasonable suggestion, but at his own uselessness in this situation.

They take a couple of turns, pausing occasionally to listen for danger, before reaching a door. Pavel opens it and, mercifully, finds it just as empty as it was when he initially found it.]

What are you going to do?

[outstandingbalance]

This looks like a good start. Thanks.

[She immediately starts checking for alternative entrances and exits, making sure it's secure.]

First thing, make sure we'll be safe here. After that, we can focus on putting down any of those things that come our way.

[candothat]

A sound plan.

[On the up side, it's a pretty secure room with no obvious entrances or exits beyond the door they used to get in. On the down side... no entrances or exits would make it a bad place to be if they're overwhelmed at the door.]

Did you see anyone else after the lockdown? People from the Fleet, or anyone who was here originally?

[outstandingbalance]

[A quick shake of her head.]

Not since everything went to shit. I know there were a few people around. Most of them people who can take care of themselves.

[She hopes.]

[candothat]

[He nods and begins poking around the room. Maybe there's something in here that a genius with a largely plot-dependent set of skills could make use of...]

Those are the best kinds of people to be trapped on a station with mindless cannibals. If someone has to be, I mean. [Ideally there would be no mindless space cannibals at all.] Other than you, I have only seen Daryl Dixon and Nami. They were both doing well.

[outstandingbalance]

Imagine they would be. If I'm not wrong, these things are from Daryl's world.

[And if she's right, he's probably as concerned as she is. More. Naturally.]

[candothat]

That explains a great deal.

Or possibly not. Maybe he always travels with an entire ship's armory on his back.

[outstandingbalance]

Can't rule it out. Takes all kinds. [Maybe he was a crazy survivalist before zombies? Who knows.] Either way, he's probably better off here than a lot of people.

[candothat]

I'm not worried about his ability to survive this. [His tone implies that he's worried about other Daryl-related things, which he is. It doesn't take a lot of time around Daryl to surmise that not all is well with that man.

But there are a lot of other things to worry about at the moment.]

Natasha, you aren't obligated to stay here if your primary motivation to do so involves protecting me. You probably know that already, but it seems worth saying.

[outstandingbalance]

I'm not obligated to do anything. I'm choosing to stay here and keep you alive.

[So deal with it.]</small

[candothat]

Also not necessary.

[He's a trained Starfleet officer, he doesn't need a babysitter. Then again...]

...And thank you.

[outstandingbalance]

You're welcome. [She'll ignore that first part.] Believe it or not, I'd prefer having someone around to watch my back to. You might not be a zombie slayer, but you have eyes.

[candothat]

One of my better qualities, yes. [He gives up on a way to be useful from inside the room and moves to stand near the door. May as well have eyes that are being useful.] Have you seen anything like this before?

[outstandingbalance]

Not myself. But in calibrations last year... Yeah, I saw this. [Her lips narrow. Based on what she does know, she has some idea what might have happened. It worries her.] The dead come back to life, but there's nothing left of the person they were.

[candothat]

Ah, calibrations. [It's great that almost everyone in the Fleet sort of collectively agreed to not discuss the things they saw there.] Daryl said something very like that--that killing them is a kindness because who they were is irreversibly gone.

It's good to hear it again from someone else. To have that confirmed. [Because the killing thing doesn't sit well with Pavel and he doesn't distrust Daryl so much as question his judgment. Silently. It's not clever to question the judgment of a man carrying all of the guns out loud.]

[outstandingbalance]

I think it's more that they're still dead, even if they're up and moving. The person who was in there is gone. [So there's not much to do for them, kind or otherwise.]

The best we can do is make sure it doesn't spread further.

[candothat]

It's a very strange way of being dead. [That up and moving thing. He hates it. It's the worst way to be dead, honestly.]

So this is spread by bites, I understand that much. Is anyone certain that it isn't airborne?

[outstandingbalance]

It's... not impossible. But being exposed to it in the air won't kill you now.

It does mean people who die of any cause might come back to life, such as it is. Even if they just tripped and hit their head.