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

[perservering]

I don't know. We don't even know how we got it.

[ She admits with a sigh. Their ignorance of their own state is humbling. ]

There's some doctors around. Maybe one of them could compare our blood or something. See if they can tell what it is that makes this happen, and see if everybody else has it now or not.

[worn_wings]

[ Probably a good idea, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. ]

Think we can trust 'em?

[ Not that the Fleet wouldn't be kind of justified if they abandoned them on an asteroid, but he'd rather it not come to that. ]

[perservering]

[ She shrugs. ]

Does it matter? Not like we can hide it, now. What do you think they might do about it, though? Turns us into walkers and stick us in the deep freeze? If they kill us we'll just come back like Carl did.

[ Her voice wavers a little and she swallows the lump in her throat that's been there ever since she found out what set off the whole catastrophe. ]

[worn_wings]

[ It matters, but he's not sure how to say so.

And yeah, he hopes-- fervently, no matter how he tries not to hope-- that the damage they've done isn't any worse than what shows, that even if they're ticking time bombs, no one else is.

He can't find anything to say. It should be a relief, the thought that even if the worst happens there's-- something. Some way back. But he can't make sense of it.

Without any answers, he leans in to bump her shoulder with his. Fuck, he's tired-- bone-deep, soul-deep, tired in a way he hasn't felt since he's been here. ]

[perservering]

[ She sighs softly, still trying to swallow the lump in her throat. Shake the ever-present feeling of dread. She leans her head on Daryl's shoulder. ]

I still feel guilty about being glad you're here. But... it would have been a lot harder without you.

[ Saying it aloud takes some of the pressure off. The weight of those warring feelings lightening, if just a little. ]

[worn_wings]

[ It feels a little unfair to be comforted by her presence, when he meant to comfort her, but-- hell, he feels better. Maybe that's not so bad.

It's almost funny, what she says-- it matches so closely what's on his own mind.

He hums an agreement-- wordless, but clear, he hopes-- letting himself lean comfortably against her. Honest, he feels the same way, even if he feels like an asshole for being glad she got kidnapped. ]

[perservering]

We should do something when Carl gets back from the Marsiva. Family dinner or something. Don't have a lot to make much, but it would do us good to have some time together. What do you think?

[ She doesn't move away. Instead, she slips her hand into his, holding lightly. ]

[worn_wings]

[ He nods, not that it's terribly visible from the side, but she can probably feel the shift. And really, she knows him so well she can probably guess without him saying that he's in favor. ]

It'd be good. [ He looses a slow breath. ] Don't like bein' spread out.

[perservering]

[ She shakes her head. ]

I don't like it, either. Feels so vulnerable. Especially now that we know... [ She sighs. ] We should probably work up some kind of security protocol for what to do with one of us if we die and give it to the security officers of the other ships. I don't want something like this happening again.

[worn_wings]

[ It's a sensible, practical measure. As the security officer, it's what he'd want, if it was someone else who was a liability. ]

Guess it's all we can do.

[ It's strange now to even think of people who aren't infected-- who haven't just gotten used to doing this on their own. ]

We'd hear if they got sick, where we were... right?

[ There are other people out here in space, surely there's gotta be some kind of news, communication... ]

[perservering]

[ Carol shakes her head and sighs softly. ]

I'm not exactly sure how things work around here. Although... [ She rubs her chin. ] Maybe if we... There's doctors on some of these ships. Medical bays and equipment that's gotta be at least on par with what the CDC had. Do you think they could do some kind of blood test? Didn't that guy say it was a virus? There's got to be some way we can see if the whole fleet has gotten infected with it. I don't know about the people on other planets. Not really sure how easy it is to communicate with them.

[worn_wings]

I guess we gotta.

[ Much as he doesn't want to. They owe it to everyone else-- and if it's too late, if it's spread, they need everyone to know, to be cautious. What happened on the station can't happen again. ]

Dunno if Maggie and Carl told anyone.

[perservering]

Well, whether they did or not. They know now.

[ She shakes her head. ]

I wouldn't have said anything in their place. Why invite that kind of trouble? Better to hope it isn't going to follow you. Although maybe they should have tried that blood test thing.

[ She frowns a little. At herself, not them. ]

Easy to say on Monday morning, I guess.

[worn_wings]

[ Being stuck here, surrounded by strangers, the last thing you want to do is make yourself seem like a threat to be dealt with, stamped out. He wouldn't say a damn word if he had a choice in the matter. ]

Spilled milk, I guess.

[perservering]

[ There's a lot that the others could do about this. And the thing is, Carol wouldn't blame them for any of it. What would she do if faced with this kind of threat? She'd do anything to contain it. ]

You think they'll quarantine us?

[ It's one of the kinder solutions. At least they'd be together. ]

[worn_wings]

Might,

[ he says, darkly. If they're smart, it'd be a lot worse than quarantine. It's hard not to think of the prison, the sickness sweeping through it. What Carol did--

The Fleet wouldn't be unreasonable, if they tried to do something of the sort. The damage they left behind on that waystation is proof of that. ]

[perservering]

[ She rubs her shoulder, trying to work out the knot that forms there. ]

How do you want to play this? Just keep our heads down and wait to see if it blows over or not? Or start building up some kind of defense?

[ Her brow furrows as she tries to think of how they could even do that. They're all spread out, and it's not like they can just walk across the street if they need to gather in one place. ]

[worn_wings]

[ Tactically, being spread out is a huge disadvantage. The fact that the two of them are their ships' weapons specialists don't hurt their odds, though.

But it still doesn't feel like a strong move. ]

Don't wanna look like we're startin' a fight.

[ Even if there'd be, at least, a soothing familiarity to that. Everything always comes down to war, right? ]

Come clean, keep things safe as we can, try to keep the peace. I guess.

[perservering]

[ She sighs. ]

Yeah, you're right. None of them have had to deal with us the way we have. They might not even be thinking like that. Better not start that ball rolling.

[ She leans against him, taking some comfort from it. Not too much, though. ]

[worn_wings]

[ Weirdly this whole business makes him feel a little better, if only because it feels so normal. That is, he knows, eminently fucked up. He sighs. ]

We'll be all right.

[ Maybe he's trying to convince himself, too. ]

[perservering]

Yeah. Always are, right?

[ She looks at the tree, not really believing what she said but trying to will the words true anyway. ]