Difference between revisions of "Oakland: Chapter 1"

Latest revision as of 05:46, 22 May 2013

Sorien is prepping the bus, loading the final supplies as she awaits the arrival of her crew.

Apostasy wanders out and helps Sor load the supplies onto the bus.

Sorien softly churrs, "Hi sweetie. Sleep well?"

Apostasy smiles and nods. "Yeah, pretty well. No nightmares. That doesn't happen too often."

Sorien softly churrs, "Ugh. I never remember mine."

Apostasy lilts, "I used to not have any... or at least, not remember them. Lately... not so much. But eh. that's life."

Taggart steps out of the Den, AUG and pack on one shoulder, baseball bat hanging from the opposite hand. The man is stretching his neck, quiet and sombre as usual before he slips up into the bus.

REDACTED is out in the yard having a discussion with Mara, Sorien's grown-up child, and has Kaylah in her arms who has her arms locked around her mother's neck. REDACTED looks like she is trying simultaneously to comfort Kay as well as prep Mara for the two being gone for a bit.

Cilan wanders over to the bus and soon enters, moving to one of the seats near the back, once there she plops herself down, and pulls into a more reclined position, inquisitive hazel eyes soon looking out the window at the preparations being made.

Taggart slips back down from the bus, his gear deposited in a seat while emerald eyes glance around. A small frown finds his lips and he slowly makes his way over to REDACTED and children, immediately slipping his hands about Kaylah's hips to pull her over into his own arms. "Listen, you... ya listen ta Mara now, right?"

Sorien softly churrs, "Oh! Apo sweetie... You still have that gatling?"

Apostasy grins at Sor. "Glaurung? Of course! He's in my room. Why?"

Kaylah has tears in her eyes as Tag picks her up, she says, "Mama no go!" loudly but seems to stop her crying as Tag picks her up. REDACTED is looking on and continues discussing with Mara about how long they're expecting to be gone, and running down basic things she needs to watch for now bewinged and mobile Kay.

Sorien softly churrs, "... (Sigh)... I'm thinking maybe to bring it. And I'm thinking maybe of mounting it on the bus if you're amenable."

Apostasy frowns. "Well, while I can bring him along if you really want, I'd rather not give him away. So no, not really amenable to mounting him on the bus."

Sorien glances over at her daughter, Tag, Mara and REDACTED, and sighs again, ears flatting. "Be right back..." She goes over to the four, and looks at Kay. "Sweetie? We're gonna bring something back for you. You want that, right?"

Taggart smiles gently at the child's tears, raising a finger to wipe some of the salty fluid from her furry cheeks. He slowly pulls her a bit further away from REDACTED and Mara, and then Sorien, raising a finger as if to ask for a small, private moment with Kaylah, speaking gently to the child. "Kaylah-dear... kin' ya do me a favor? I need ya ta be strong fer yer mum's. They're cryin' jus'as much as you are, inside... they dun'wanna leave ya, I promise ya that."

Kay snuffles. "Mamas no go."

The force of Kay's argument is a bit diminished by Tag's frankness. She seems to be having trouble comprehending that her parents could be sad.

Taggart smiles softly again and gives her stomach a soft poke, "I know, luv. I promise ya I'll bring'em back safe, aye? Yer Uncle Taggart'll return'em to ya, sound."

"Go see ga'mpa?" Kay asks.

Taggart shakes his head, "No, darlin'... not gunna go see grampa... we're goin' ta get chocolate! Like yer mum said, we'll bring ya sum, iffun yer good."

Kay brightens. "Mo' legos too?"

Taggart chuckles just a bit, "We'll see'bout sum legos. Iffun we kin find sum."

Grantok sprints in a bit of a rushed manner up towards the gate of New Ireland and the idling bus, somewhat out of breath . She resecures the ragged satchel at her side, inhales deeply, and walks up to the entrance of the bus. "Didn't miss the road trip south, did I?" She says with a slightly exhausted grin.

Kaylah sighs, sounding a bit like Sori when she's exasperated. "O-okay. Down pease?"

Taggart smirks softly and nods, leaning in to give her salty, fuzzed cheek a little kiss before he sets her down. The man turns, then, and heads back and up into the bus.

REDACTED bends down and kisses Kay goodbye, "I'll be back soon sweet one. We'll have presents. You be good for your sister please."

Sorien takes her turn hugging Kay. "We'll only be gone a few days, sweetie. It'll be okay."

Apostasy giggles as she crouches in front of Kay after Sor, licking the little girl's nose. "Me and your uncle will take good care of them, little one." She ruffles her headfur. "And I'll make sure they bring you really good presents."

Rosalyn approaches on foot, glancing around at the preparations with interest but no real surprise. Raising a hand, she catches REDACTED's eye. "Hey, REDACTED. What's going on here? Looks like you're moving out somewhere."

Kaylah waves and says, "Bye mamas!" before moving over to pester Mara about something. The words, "Ice Cream" can be heard as Mara leads her off to the bathhouse.

Sorien returns to Apo. "Sorry about that... And I wasn't implying that I wanted your gun permanent. Just... You know, as protection. In case."

REDACTED looks up, not having smelled Rosa's presence before her words, distracted from Kay. "Oh, Rosa, you don't come by New Ireland often..." then her eyes narrow, "Who told you we were going back to San Francisco?"

Apostasy smiles. "We'll be fine without it, Sor. If nothing else, the noise that thing makes would call down as much trouble as it cleared, from what you've told me about San Fran. And it doesn't have an infinite supply of ammo."

Sorien nods. "Yeah, I'm probably worrying too much."

Rosalyn cocks her head to one side. "Going back? Nobody told me anything. I just finished up my business early today; thought I'd take a walk, and ended up wandering down here. Why are you heading back to the coast?"

Sorien softly churrs, "We all loaded up?"

Sorien softly churrs, "Last call before I button the storage up."

REDACTED says, "It's been stuck in Sori's head for a while, and I finally agreed to let her put herself in danger if I am there to protect her. She seems to want to get mass quantities of chocolate, and see if we can find a working boat in the harbour."

Apostasy climbs up onto the bus, saying "I'm all set" over her shoulder as she does.

Apostasy pokes her head back out. "It's me who wants to find a working boat!"

Sparhawk meanders in at doubletime. "I am, of course, just in time. No need for any luggage on my part beyond what I am lugging!"

Sorien softly churrs, "Hee. We'll see. We're headed for the port first, roughly."

A hollar echoes out of the bus, "An' yer jus'as daft'as'er!"

Apostasy giggles at Tag. "You say that like it's a bad thing!"

Sorien nyahs at Tag from outside, and makes faces.

REDACTED ears twitch and her head tilts at Tag's comment from inside, "Rosalyn, this could be dangerous. You know how nasty the city was, and we're heading to the outer city this time. You remember, the one people where trying to run -from-"

Sorien nods at the responses and non-responses, and starts buttoning up the cargo bays.

Cilan gives a simple salute with only her middle, and index finger and says, "I’m ready too.." from her seat near the back of the bus.

Rosalyn snorts, glancing over the bus. "Well, it looks like you've prepared for passengers this time, at least. I don't think you'd have been able to cram this many people into the old van..."

Taggart growls gently inside the bus and stands back up, moving to the front of the bus to honk the horn once. "Come on, then! I'm gettin' antsy... an'that leads ta unpleasantness." The man sits back down then, knee bouncing slightly as his foot taps heel at a rapid pace upon the floor.

Grantok hops into the bus and grabs an empty seat wherever she can. "Bus may be different, there's some different faces, and we're heading in a completely different direction, but I'm already getting that little feeling of deja vu. Let's hope it's the good kind."

Apostasy starts to fidget in her seat and gets back off the bus. "You know what? I'm gonna fly. Being in the bus makes me all... twitchy. I'll keep in radio contact, of course."

Sparhawk files up the narrow entrance, bending around the corner with nimbleness in the space not strictly designed for hexataurs. "If you get antsy, do I have permission to be spidery?"

Rosalyn looks back over to REDACTED. "Well then, you heard the man. We'd best not keep him waiting." She hops up the steps, boarding the vehicle.

Sorien locks the last hatch and climbs aboard. "Okay, silly people. Ready to roll!

Cilan looks over to Apostasy as she leaves and she calls out to her, "Take care of yourself, sis.. stay safe, hmm?"

Sparhawk also, waves to Rosalyn. "Got stuff t'discuss with you in more private surroundings someday!"

Taggart snerks softly at the pun from the hexataur, "Yer always spidery, Spar... so... you've already got one up on me."

REDACTED enters on as one of the last, finding a nice quiet spot in the back, not braving another drive yet.

Sorien softly churrs, "Right. Rolling on out!" (Sori starts the bus, peeks out to see that Apo is in sight, then pulls out.)"

Apostasy runs, dropping to all fours before leaping into the air, quickly gaining height and following after the bus.

Sparhawk occupies, as ever, the aisle at the front of the bus for the first two-and-a-half rows. "This reminds me of a story someone told me--she was sitting next to a door doing homework and the security guard told her to move because she was a fire hazard. 'If I am flammable and have legs, I am not blocking the fire exit.'"

Sori says, "Heh. Trust me, If we need to get out, most of us have ways to remove enough bus to get out.

Rosalyn eyes Sparhawk. "So what you're saying is that if you become fireproof, we should all be very worried?"

Sparhawk grins over his shoulder. "Not as worried as you should be if I am actually on fire!" He tilts an ear back townward for a moment. "Good, Las has Milly occupied for now."

The bus gets onto the freeway with little incident, though there are still a goodly number of abandoned vehicles lying around. Sori doesn't rush it, and gets up to speed once past the blockage.

The roadway south isn't as pretty as it is going north. No real forests, and coastline largely blocked by garish abandoned houses.

Apostasy follows along behind the bus, occasionally falling behind a bit, but then catching up when it has to slow down to get around some obstacle.

"Damn, I really ought to get down this way more to see what I can find," Sori says. "I bet there're a lot of books and such in those monstrosities."

Sparhawk is, as always, looking around with interest. "And you did say you got a cargo container for the bus... instead of a Science Bus it'll turn into the Bus Of Adventure soon enough."

Rosalyn peers out the window with distaste. "I doubt it. Most the types to own houses like that didn't find themselves reading more than business journals and newspapers."

Ferals, and natural animals can be seen all over the abandoned places, the empty human habitations quickly being overrun by plants. New shades of flowers and weird looking plants are cropping up. The progress southward is paused by a heard of wandering sheep in the roadway.

Apostasy laughs happily as she swoops down into the flock of sheep, scattering them everywhere and allowing the bus to continue.

"Oh, Baah (giggle)" Sori hits the horn to get them to move.

The sheep lazily move out of the way, taking their time, grazing on the cracks in the pavement that grass has grown through and not in the temperament to care about the angry bus, or the swooping Lunerin.

"Well, that works too." Sori grins at Apo's divebombing tactics.

Grantok stares out the window during most of the trip, silently watching as the urban sprawl grows slowly. The strange flora piques her interest as they proceed, but the remainder she spends in contemplation.

Along the way to San Francisco Cilan readies her weaponry, checking both them, and the ammunition, "Hrm.. haven’t had mutton in a while.." is heard as she looks idly out the window..

REDACTED looks up in confusion at the honking, and then notices all the sheep. She says to Rosalyn, "Oh, how has Ellen been?" reminded by the sheep.

Once the sheep are clear, Sori gets back up to speed.

The sheep clear before long, but it's at their own pace, eventually clearing a path for the bus. They continue southward, their journey growing more cramped despite the widening roads, as the abandoned vehicles get thicker.

Apostasy finds it easier and easier to keep up with the bus as it gets slowed by the increasing numbers of abandoned vehicles. Eventually, she starts lazily circling it as it crawls along.

Rosalyn watches the sheep thoughtfully, before being startled out of her reverie by REDACTED's question. "Oh! Ellen's been... adjusting. I think those courses that I had her take at Zephyr have been very helpful, though she's still not entirely comfortable around large groups, yet. I've been thinking of offering her a job doing some clerical work around the office."

"We may have a potential snag if the cars get too thick... But I think that there was enough clearance last time. It’s the route we'll follow that I've NOT driven that'll be the iffy situation." Sori glances at the map-book near her.

REDACTED smiles, always forgetting that the sharp teeth of a predator are never taken well, but she says happily, "It's nice to hear, I was worried she'd continue changing, or that her genetics might affect her ability to function."

REDACTED sees her mate struggling to navigate and nods to Rosa before moving up to help her mate. "Love, I know this area better than you do. We're going to go west around the bay this time. You won't need to break off from the path we know is clear until we're far closer."

Sori nods. "Ah, okay. Just lemme know where to turn then."

REDACTED continues, "We'll take 37 out around, rather than trying to other bay bridge, we don't want to have to walk from Richmond to Oakland my love."

Taggart glances up to the front of the bus, "Tha shuttle still operational?"

"Nooo, we don't." Sori grins.

"Shuttle?" Sori asks.

Taggart nods gently, "S'like a bullet-train... kinda. Not as fast. Runs up the coast an' connects a buncha major cities."

The road begins to veer off from the coast, and they pass through some forested pretty areas of the southern redwoods, although less exciting than the northern forests. It then quickly shifts back into populated areas, and the signs for Santa Rosa loom in the distance.

"Oh! Hum. I'll bet not. It... Was pretty bad from what we saw last time." Sori looks a bit grim.

More miles pass before REDACTED says, "See those signs for Petaluma, we're getting close. Watch for a turnoff and be careful love, we don't know if this roadway is cleared."

Sori nods, and pays attention; she drops her speed back, and takes the turnoff when she reaches it.

Sori says, "Someone take a look at this thing and find the way to the Port of San Francisco. That's our first goal- find out if we can learn anything about what happened outside the US."

The outer areas of the city the itching sensation of a nanite bubble start to be felt, but it's strangely faint, even more so than would be expected despite the distance from the centre.

37 wraps around a portion of the bay, the water truly stunning so up close. On the edge of the bay swarms of birds have taken up residence, nesting openly without predators.

REDACTED says, "Vallejo could get tricky, but see if we can keep going to 80, then take that south into where we need to be my love."

Sorien nods, giving REDACTED a brief nuzzle and follows her directions.

"Heyhey! Look! Normal life! Hooray!" Sori points at the birds.

After turning onto 80, Sori has to avoid some thick traffic, REDACTED points her off some side streets to avoid it, then back on. The short bridge they have to cross thankfully still intact.

Apostasy calls in on her radio, "Don't get too excited, Sor... plenty of weird looking anthro birds, maybe anthro gulls, on the San Fran harbour side of the bay."

Sori returns the radio hail. "Yeah, but it’s nice to see normal critters."

Sparhawk leans on the seatbacks to get more uplooking direction. "I could peer at the map, but I have been here as many times as you have, Sor. If you want me to get out and help scout that's also possible."

The rest of the way is pure city. Richmond and such is the beginning of the hellzone. There are many burned buildings that can be seen on either side of the highway, there's a tank left abandoned in the middle of one of the main Richmond streets.

Sorien looks at the devastated scene ahead. "...Whoa. I was going to respond... But look at that.”

Sori calls over the radio, "Apo, is there anything in the vicinity of the tank?"

Sparhawk halfheartedly says, "Second chance to drive a tank home? Bet that siphoning from the bus wouldn't work though."

Taggart mumbles softly, "We don't want tha tank. Prolly outta fuel, anyways."

Grantok's ears perk up at the radio message. "Shouldn't she get in the bus if there's a worry of anthro gulls?" Noticing the current surrounding of Richmond she adds. "Not that it's much better where we are."

Apostasy swoops down to get a closer look around the tank, staying high enough to avoid ferals of a terrestrial nature.

The tank looks as if it's fired on some buildings, and then was abandoned while running. It is a very strange sight, but it's clear that military was firing on civilians.

"It looks safe... but it's pretty plain there was some really bad shit going down here before the end." Apo says over the radio.

The highway curves right next to the bay, and the Berkeley marina shows all the yachts destroyed and sunk into the bay below, the occasional hull still peaking above the surface, docks all burnt.

"I was thinking on grabbing its jerrycans and any grenades that might be inside, but if you think it’s unwise, I'll skip it." Sori says.

Taggart glances out to the bay, frowning and nodding. "Contain tha'infection."

Apostasy responds, "They don't keep grenades inside tanks, Sor. Not where you want to keep that kind of thing. No jerry cans, either. Looks like it's been looted at some point."

REDACTED says, "And we're about to hit Oakland my love. I'm not exactly sure where the factory you want is, but the harbour is south of the bay bridge."

Cilan looks curiously towards the tank as the bus passes it, and she quietly mumbles something to herself, but shakes off the thought, and returns to simply watching the roads and buildings pass by.

"We want the port authority offices, and/or the naval base." Sori replies.

Rosalyn shakes her head, sighing. "Oakland was a hellhole even before P-Day. I'm torn between suspecting it's worse than SF was, or that the apocalypse actually *improved* the neighbourhood."

Sparhawk looks a bit depressed by evidence of things having gone wrong that also happened long ago. And that no one has made an effort to clean it up since.

"Apo, any signs of current life or activity of either feral or rational nature?" Sori is looking well ahead to plot her course."

Apostasy flies out ahead of the bus, looking around for signs of life to report back.

The edge of the bay seems to be gull territory, going closer would put them in range of the creatures. Small movement in buildings can be spotted on occasion by Apo above, so there are definitely at least some living things inhabiting, but many of the buildings are just outright abandoned. Unlike SFC, there aren't any mutants strung up and hung at street intersections, but the damage done to the infrastructure is far greater.

Sori doesn't have anything to say about that, and just keeps picking her way towards their first goal.

REDACTED has Sori navigate off the highway and down into the harbour areas. Apo actually manages to spot the Ghiardelli factory just south along the bay.

Apostasy grins as she starts descending towards the factory, circling slowly downwards.

Sori follows Apo's flightpath as best she can on the roads, keeping a sharp eye out for threats both passive and active.

As Apo dives closer towards it a bullet grazes by her left wing. The distance and accuracy of the shot is surprising.

Apostasy yelps and veers to the side, quickly gaining height again. "Son of a bitch!" She looks about for where the shot might have come from.

Sparhawk has only been idly drumming his fingers to an internal melody for a minute now, probably not nearly enough time to get annoying.

Apostasy calls into her radio, "Contact, hostile contact! Some bastard just took a shot at me!"

"Apo? Are you okay? What happened?" Sori recognizes evasive manoeuvres when she sees them!

Cilan jumps at the sound of the fired bullet and looks around calling to those around, and into the radio, "Sis! You alright?!"

Apo doesn't see where the bullet came from, until another shot is fired. This one grazing her ear. The noise of the gun is coming from the roof of the factory.

Sori stops the bus to wait for her to rejoin, especially with hostile fire.

"Come back to us then; I'm not risking your fuzzy ass being shot!" Sori stops the bus to wait for her to rejoin, especially with hostile fire.

Taggart scowls gently and takes up his AUG, moving toward the roof hatch of the bus to pop it open. The man jumps upward and hooks arms on the roof, pulling himself up and out a ways while trying to maintain his balance on the moving bus.

"Flying in from the bay when we saw all those gulls before. Guess some crack shot thought it was an attack." Grantok remains eerily calm for the moment.

Sorien sets the radio on scan, to see if anyone is broadcasting.

Apostasy yelps as the bullet's passing stings her ear. "Agh! Either this guy is big on warning shots, or he's not quite as good as he could be." She folds her wings, dropping like a stone towards the roof of the factory, flaring them at the last second to break her fall as she lands, and quickly readies her sword and shield as she begin stalking about for the shooter.

Rosalyn glances to either side of the road, to see how close a raiding party could get to the stationary bus before being seen.

"Goddamn it, she's engaging." Sori starts driving again. "I'm going to pull in at the factory- Be ready, people, hostiles."

Taggart pulls his AUG up and peers through the scope at various buildings, scanning quickly and for the most obvious sniper points. A soft growl over his throat-mic at Apostasy, "Apo... iffun I drag ya outta there, I'm gunna be right-pissed."

The radio finally hits on a scanner range, with voices. The word, "Incoming" is made out in the chaos of barked orders. When Apostasy lands they find an abandoned rifle with a steadying arm on the roof.

Rosa notices out of the corner of her eye, down one of the streets a human, teenager, staring at the bus wide-eyed. He looks barely dressed in rags, and then quickly darts away.

Rosalyn mutters as she readies her own armaments. "Epic gunbattle at the O.K. Chocolate Corral..."

"I'm gonna try to contact them." She picks up the mike, and on the channel she heard the orders she calls, "Attention! We are nonhostile! I repeat, nonhostile! Cease fire please!"

Apostasy growls softly as she sees the abandoned rifle. She calls out "Whoever's out there, while I'm pissed that you were shooting at me, I don't actually mean any harm. To use a cliche, I come in peace!" She mutters under her breath. "Of course, if you decide to keep shooting at me... well, then on your head be it.."

Sparhawk rises to his paws, preparing to lead the charge out the fire exit as soon as the bus stops. "Who guards the chocolate?"

Rosalyn double-takes at the sight out the window. "Oh, hey -- there's some uninfected around here, too! We might be the bad guys!"

The radio goes quiet after Sori speaks over it, the channel must have been cut.

Sori listens for a response, impatiently.

REDACTED frowns, "What do we do here?" And shifts, worried about Apo being all alone.

Sori sighs, and tries again. "We are nonhostile. My name is Sorien. We've come from up the coast from a settlement of survivors. Please respond, we'd like to make peaceful contact."

Apostasy finds the roof cleared, and the hatch down from bolted shut, although it looks in a hurry.

Grantok alluringly purrs, "Only thing we can do. We get out and hope that someone is going to be willing to talk."

Sparhawk checks his draped gear, tugging at buckles and re-seating the laser pistol (of less doom) in its holster. All obvious time-killers while the bus rumbles on up.

Sori lets the mike switch up. "I don't know, sweetie. We hope, I guess."

Cilan assures, or at the very least attempts to assure REDACTED with, "Apostasy is a tough girl, Im certain she'll be fine.." finished she places a hand on her shoulder and adds, "And if she needs help I can easily shift to something else and join her.."

Apostasy speaks into her radio. "Found a hatch on the roof down into the factory. Even though I know at least Sorien will say I shouldn't, I'm going in." She sheathes her sword, then grabs the hatch and -pulls-, putting all her ridiculous strength into it.

Sori yells into the mike. "No! There could be a trap!"

Taggart frowns gently and pulls himself down from the hatch. He calls up to Sorien, "Open up tha doors, Sori... maybe they'll relax seein' anot'er'uman." The Irishman shoulders his AUG and then immediately growls into his throatmic again, "Apo... I'm warnin' ya... yer actin' mental."

Sori opens the doors after stopping the bus.

Rosalyn smirks over at Taggart. "Always useful to bring the token human along on outings like this..."

Taggart raises his hand and middle finger over his shoulder at Rosalyn, not bothering to look back as he slips down and out from the bus.

Sparhawk murmurs, "Token white male human...minority. Heh."

"Stay close, sweetie. I don't want us all separated." Sori watches Tag as he steps out.

Grantok shakes her head at Rosalyn. "Nothing ever token about a Tagg, demeanor included."

Apo strains on the surface, but manages to shear the bolt, and the hatch pulls open, with the ladder going two floors down into the factory below. Lights are seen and startled sounds as people run for cover, one human brandishes a pistol and seems to be waving it up in the direction of the hatchway.

Taggart pulls his rifle down from his shoulder and across the front of his body, letting it rest in a relaxed grip, but one capable of bringing the rifle to bear quickly if needed. A sharp whistle resounds from his lips, a hand raising up and waving to the front of the factory as he slowly moves toward the front doors.

Sparhawk glances around. "Are we letting him be...polite and disarming, or do the rest of us traumatic mutants pile out of the clowncar?"

Taggart growls softly, a hand pushing the throatmic against his Adam's Apple. "Dammit, Apo... stand tha fuck down'fore I shoot ya, meself..."

Apostasy yells down through the open hatch, "Seriously, people! We're not hostile! Can you please stop with the running and the shooting and the brandishing of weapons?"

Rosalyn turns an eye out the windows of the bus, seeing if there's any more activity in the streets to either side. "I think we should wait, for now."

Grantok alluringly purrs, "Let's see what the local reception is to the circus coming to town."

The factory itself has large cargo bay doors that have been welded shut and reinforced, the front office entry appears to be the main accessible entranceway. As Taggart approaches, a voice calls out, "You there, back off." It's young, the owner clearly not much past his adolescence.

"We wait. A stampede of freaks is the last thing that they want to see, I suspect." Sori keeps watching, then keys the mike again. "Please respond. We are nonhostile and rational."

Taggart pauses in his approach, emerald eyes quickly turning toward the sound of the voice. "Oi... can't do that, m'afraid. Me mate's up top there. Jus' wanna get'er back wit'out'er gettin' shot." He pauses, "Friend-mate... not... ot'erwise..."

Apo hears mostly whispered voices, and the man who's looking most nervous fires up, the bullet clanging off the metal decking. She hears hushed voices, "They brought a human, and they talk?" can be heard among it.

Apostasy winces a little as the bullet hits the decking, but doesn't move away. "Yes, I can talk. Hear, too. Are you ready for calmness and speaking now? Also, please don't attack my friend out front. He wouldn't like that very much."

A head bobs above the window way and peers at Taggart, the young boy is dressed in garish mixes of camouflage meant for the jungle and not the city. His eyes boggle at Taggart and he seems to talk into the radio, perhaps asking for orders.

Sori sets the radio back on scan, to see if they can pick up the transmissions again.

Sparhawk closes his eyes and breathes quietly, half his attention still on people talking, the other half on tasting/smelling/hearing the local nanites. While he's bottled up inside the bus he may as well try the immaterial investigation.

Taggart waits patiently, letting the rifle hang on his shoulder for a moment as he taps out a cigarette and then lights it with silver zippo.

She finally finds the channel again, they apparently swapped over to another insecure open radio. The words come over, "What, what do we do?" the young voice is nervous. A slightly older and a little more calm voice says, "Stand your ground, they may be after the food in revenge."

Sori calls from the bus, "Tag, come back here and ditch the gun. Then try."

Being tired of waiting, cooped up on the bus, Cilan leaves, adding another human, albeit, heavily scarred human to the mix, her inquisitive hazel eyes looking over the windows of the factory, trying to search for movement within.

Taggart pushes against his throatmic, "It's fine... they've got more weapons'n'us. I'll leave'er on tha road if I have'ta... ya don't walk away in tha middle of a stare-down."

Sparhawk murmurs absently, "How many sandwiches are we carrying again?"

"Okay, sweetie." Sori calls back.

Grantok shakes her head, listening to the radio. "Really ought to secure their channels better. This shouldn't be hard to jam with a little tinkering and some spare parts. Only if necessary mind you."

"I've stores for at least a week or more, why?" Sori responds.

"Ya gunna let me in, yet? I kin' leave tha rifle, iffun ya like." At the words, the man unslings his rifle and hands it off to Cilan, both hands raising up in a gesture of peace and goodwill.

REDACTED is about to look at Spar and be very confused at how shi can think of food at this situation, then a light hits, "Oh, offer food?" she asks.

"Helloooo? Anybody home?" Apo calls down the hatch.

The young nervous voice tries to act in authority and says, "Please back off, we don't have anything you want here, please leave."

Sori blinks. "We could share half our stores. That could work."

Rosalyn warmly intones, "Assuming we can negotiate to the point where they're willing to ingest anything that we offer up. Then again, if they're hungry enough, that won't be too difficult."

Grantok alluringly purrs, "Uninfected? Offered food by us? No offense but doesn't that just sound like a trap. I mean if you see it from their point of view."

A woman in her thirties moves calmly out of the shadows below Apo, and pulls a gun up and says, "Leave, now, and we won't open fire."

Taggart shakes his head, "Told ya, already... can't do that. Ya shot at me friend. Need ta get'er back."

"Its an option. We'll get nowhere if we only see parania." Sori keeps watching Tag.

Apostasy frowns. "That's not very friendly. And how can I be sure you won't? After all, you took a couple of potshots at me already."

The radio flares up again, "I am going to ask you to open fire if they come any closer. Can you do that for me boy?" The radio is silent in response.

Another voice nervously offers up, "We don't have many bullets..." before it's suddenly cut off with a small squeak.

Taggart pushes to his throatmic, "Wut're you doin' up there, Apo? Kin ya get down? Or you inside?"

"Oh, fuck this shit." Sori clicks the mike live. "Dammit, I don't know what you think we are, but we won't fight you! We can share some food if you like, and we have a safe haven you could come to if you wanted. Just STOP with the hostility!"

The radio drops silent again, but below Apo there seems to be a lot of activity. The woman that is still standing up threatening has a younger boy walk forward with a gun pointed at her, Apo hears him nervously say, "Ma'am, kindly put the gun... down... please."

Apostasy responds to Tag. "Still up on the roof. There's quite a few people in this place. A nice lady has said if I don't leave they'll open fire, but since they've already opened--- hold up..." She calls down through the hatch. "Kid's got a good head on his shoulders. I'd listen to him."

The radio chirps, a younger girl's voice calls out, "I don't know who you are, but we really don't have anything you'd want, but we'll let you in and see it. Just please don't hurt anyone."

Taggart pushes on his throatmic again, "Jus' get down'ere... don't help none makin'em feel like they're surrounded."

REDACTED sighs, and decides to be the first mutant to walk off the bus, not wanting her mate or friends to take a bullet should anything go wrong. She steps down, and slowly approaches behind Taggart, putting a clawed hand on his shoulder.

Sori responds. "We're not here for anything but information. We're wanting to learn what happened here and elsewhere. We can share food if you need it. Can we talk face to face? I'm Sorien. What's your name?"

Grantok slips out behind REDACTED but waits at the front of the bus, not wanting to press their luck too much all at once.

Apostasy replies, "Not right now, Tag... something's going on... dissension in the ranks between those who want to shoot us and those who are more peace-minded, I think..."

Taggart sighs with more than a little exasperation, "Ya'll've no bloody idea how ta deal wit'people." The man simply shakes his head and takes back his rifle from Cilan, turning around and stepping back up onto the bus.

Sori looks at Tag as he re-boards. "I've a girl on the radio; she seems... less inclined for a fight, and sounds pretty young."

There is a pause before the voice answers, "Jas", she says nervously, "Please, just keep your weapons away." she says meekly.

Taggart shakes his head at Sorien, "Chocolate's gone... let's get Apo back in'ere an'keep movin'."

REDACTED frowns at Taggart, and sighs, before turning back onto the bus.

"Okay. I'm gonna come to the doors, Jas. Is that okay? I'm a skunk, kinda, so you know. My friend on the roof is Apo." Sori then waits for a response.

"Tag, sweetie... They're kids. If we can help, we should. Even if it’s just giving them directions for Fairhaven," Sori says.

There's a bit of silence, before an answer, "Just one of you with no weapons, and wear a face mask please."

Rosalyn blinks. "A face mask? To keep us from biting at them, or something?"

Taggart raises both of his eyebrows, "N'ow's Fairhaven any better'n'ere? Same shite werld, iffun ya ask me. They've done fine on their own fer a year, they'll eit'er keep doin' fine... er not, jus'like us." " Sori blinks at that, then responds. "Okay, I'll be right there. Let me find something for the mask." To Ros she says, "I think... Maybe something like that." She gets a pillowcase and cuts holes for her eyes quickly, then puts it on. "Okay, someone stand by the radio." She sets it down and goes out of the bus to the building doorway.

Rosalyn warmly intones, "Well, for starters, we've at least got some treatments. Out here, if they do get infected, they're pretty much fucked."

Grantok laughs a little, "Shouldn't they be the ones with the masks if they're afraid of what we might pass on to them?" She taps the grill of the bus as she chuckles.

REDACTED grabs Sori before she exits, "Are you sure you're going to be all right love?" looking at her nervously.

Sparhawk grins at Sorien after he opens his eyes for a moment. "Guess we got our Halloween costume after all?"

Taggart growls softly and shakes his head, "Bloody knew I'd'ate comin'ere. Na, don't let tha'uman talk ta tha ot'er humans... makes too much bloody sense."

Sori nuzzles REDACTED. "No, but we have to try. I'll not get myself killed."

The boy holding up the gun at the woman manages to disarm her, and takes her off somewhere below. Apo -could- enter, but she isn't necessarily invited.

Apostasy frowns at the display, and makes a radio call. "Hey, I've got a clear way into this place. Should I pop in, or what?"

Sori reaches the door, and waits.

Cilan returns to the bus and returns to one of the seats answering Apostasy with, "I’d suggest against it.. probably wouldn’t look well on our part.."

The one in the silly camo with glasses and big ears looks nervously at Sorien, he holds a gun at her, but his finger isn't even on the trigger and he's shaking, "Ma'am?" he manages to ask. Not sure if she really does speak.

"Hi there. I'm Sorien. Uh... Could you not point that at me? I'm not bulletproof in the least."

The kid almost jumps his skin, and drops the gun on the ground. "Um... you can go inside, but please, don't make us sick."

"Make you sick? I don't want to do that. Thank you for letting me in, and not shooting anymore. Who should I talk to?" Sori says, moving in the direction the boy indicates.

The boy shrugs, "Just in the factory, they said you can go." He then tries to pick his gun back up but seems to be flailing. He watches Sori's tail nervously specifically.

Apostasy lilts, "Yeah, guess not. I'll just kick back up here for a while. Not turning my back on these folks just yet."

Sori goes in, making sure to not seem threatening. "Do you need food? We can give you some if you want it."

Taggart growls gently and pushes his throatmic, "They're a bunch a bloody scared civilians... they ain't gonna shoot ya unless you try ta go inside. Jus' give'em bloody warnin'... an' get back down'ere. Knowin' some mutated bird-wolf-t'ing's on their roof prolly ain't makin'em sit easy... specially wit' Sori right there inside."

The boy follows far behind and says, "Not... not unless you can feed the resi... residents." He stammers a bit, and what he means by that term isn't clear.

Grantok leans on the front of the bus, bound and determined to stretch her legs for as long as possible. She keeps a watchful eye on the factory entrance as well as watching for movement in the windows.

Apostasy lilts, "Oh? And was I trying to go inside when they took some potshots at me earlier? I think you'll find I was not. 'sides, I should probably fix this hatch before going anywhere, since we've apparently decided we're gonna help these folks."

"Residents? Who or what are they?" Sori asks. "And... Please don't be scared of me; I won't hurt you."

Taggart growls again, "They probably thought you were a damned gull, Apo..." The man feels his teeth clench and unclench, at which he promptly flips off his radio and sticks earbuds into his ears, loud music suddenly blaring from Ferox's old iPod.

Apostasy grabs the damaged hatch and forces it back into place as best she can. Then she lays her hands over the metal, and it seems to shimmer before the dents, buckles and damage smooth out, leaving it pristine. "There. Better than new." She calls into her radio. "Hey Sor, tell them I've fixed their roof hatch and I'm heading to the bus, and not to shoot at me or I'll get really pissed off."

The pathway through old offices that have been stripped bare of furniture and anything that could burn, empty metal cubicles and desks, and dead computers line the way, and eventually fall off into the big factory that raises above. The production area has big boilers and rolling lines and heating racks. The boy points over past the inoperable equipment towards the big storage facility attached behind.

The kid says, "The people, anyone left still themselves..." He nervously says, "We're running out."

"That way? Okay. My friend on the roof is leaving for our bus. She's asking you not shoot her." Sori doesn't answer the radio call. "We've a settlement where we've food, and we've done a little rebuilding. We've found people up in Portland too."

REDACTED sits down quietly, trying to keep her mind off of worrying for her mate.

Sorien exits the factory floor into storage, although the high racks look largely empty. There are crates in the back, and some closer stacked up, but the total supply of the place is truly paltry compared to what it once was, and many of the packages are clearly not chocolate, the space just being used to house and secure other supplies.

Rosalyn keys into the radio. "Apo, just get back down here. If they can't decide whether or not to shoot you while you're inside, it's unlikely they'll feel *more* threatened by you leaving."

"How much further? I'd like to let my friends know that I'm okay." Sori says.

There are two people sitting looking angry, and about a dozen others around them, which all look nervously as Sorien enters. The older man glares at Sorien, hate in his eyes. There's one younger girl among all the teenage boys. She looks up and asks "Sorien, what kind of name is Sorien?"

Apostasy shrugs and says to herself "I'll assume she's told 'em..." before walking to the edge of the roof and diving off, wings spread. She glides over towards the bus and drops onto the roof with a thump, where she sits watching the factory.

Sori smiles, though it can't be seen. "It’s the name I took after I changed... It turns out to be Indian in origin, though I didn't know that then." She looks around. "Can I sit down? I'm unarmed."

The girl is mildly dark skinned but speaks clear English, she appears to be studying Sorien, trying to understand her motivations and unfamiliar body language. "Sit. But I ask again, why are you here?" Her words aren't threatening, and come off soft and a bit meek, but not nervous. She doesn't seem as instinctually bothered by the sight of Sorien as the others.

Rosalyn heads back into the carriage of the bus, rummaging through the supplies. "Where'd you guys pack the food, again?"

Sori takes a seat on the floor. "We're here to try to learn more about what happened here, and to see if we can learn anything about what happened in the rest of the world. All communications outside the United States has been cut off. We visited here once before, but it was over at the University by the Presidio, and what we found there left us almost with more questions then we'd had previously. And... Honestly, we wanted to get some chocolate as a secondary goal."

The girl, clearly Jas from before screws up her face and says, "You came here... for Chocolate?" She boggles, "It's the only thing we don't even bother protecting in the way of food supply. Nobody wants it." Before she can really finish talking though, the furious man grabs a gun from the boy who was supposed to be guarding him, and then shoots at Sorien.

Sorien acks and dodges!

The bullet aimed for her head misses and pierces Sorien's thigh muscle as she leaps out of the way.

"Holy jumpin' jesus what the fuck is wrong with you?" Sori yells after the shot, and looks for cover!

One of the boys shoots at the man with the gun, but misses, and he turns around and shoots the kid in the head.

Jas herself dives off, and pulls a radio out of her pocket saying, "I'm... I'm sorry, your friend has been shot. We need your help."

Sorien stops, seeing that, then reverses course; she spins with a kiai! yell, kicking the man full force!

Sorien kicks the man with her injured leg, causing it to bleed more profusely, but she manages to knock the gun out of his hands.

Apostasy curses as she hears the radio, and jumps to her feet, launching herself towards the factory. She quickly bursts through the doors and sniffs, searching for Sor's scent trail.

Sorien concentrates on the wound, working on healing it with her abilities.

Rosalyn drops the food she'd been packing at the sound of Jas's voice over the radio. Darting a look at REDACTED, she grabs the edge of the roof hatch and pulls herself up. Damned if she's getting between REDACTED and the door.

Sparhawk's ears perk, then go flat. "Righto. Go time." There is an unfolding, then a gleaming golden dragony monster swarms out of the bus and makes for the factory. Definitely fire-exit time.

Grantok's ear twitches at the radio chatter and stays on Apostasy's heels as she dashes in. "Nothing like the cavalry to the rescue."

REDACTED hears the horror of her mate being shot and has leapt up towards as well. She bolts on all fours towards the factory.

Cilan quickly answers the call by pulling her handguns out of their holsters and running towards the doors at full speed, joining Apostasy in the attempt at rescuing Sorien from her attacker.

Apostasy detects Sor's scent amidst the other smells in the factory, and sprints after her, sword drawn and ready.

The angry man is tackled by two of the other boys, but they shy away from the bleeding Sorien, looking at her in near horror. Sorien tries to concentrate and will her nanites to heal her, and despite the really low level of nanite activity her wound begins to close, but not before she's bled on the factory floor.

Sori yells at her now-disarmed assailant. "What the FUCK is wrong with you? You just shot a KID!"

REDACTED barrels straight into the front office way, unhinging the door as she impacts against it, it landing below her with a thud, and she continues on, quadrupedal using her nose to guide her.

Apostasy bursts into the room Sor is in and moves to stand in front of her, snarling at the humans in the room. "You get one chance to explain yourselves."

The kids seem to be lost in all of this, and the woman with the pistol doesn't seem to be in her seat anymore. The man on the ground looks in full hatred at Sorien and spits at her feet.

Taggart flits his eyes open quickly as he feels the bus suddenly unload, watching after them with confusion in his eyes. The man puts things together in his head, possible scenarios and shakes his head, giving a soft sigh. "No... don't let tha bloody'uman go in... makes too much sense." Taggart stands and slowly makes his way down from the bus, pulling AUG around and up into a ready position as he scans for targets.

Sorien stands again. "You worthless, bloody fuck. Shooting me I can understand, even if it was utterly stupid. But You. Shot. A. Kid. Murdering FUCK!" And she decks him!

The rest of the kids just seem to flee into the factory. Jas however crawls back out. She sort of looks mystified by Apo, not really saying anything, but when she sees the sword, she screams.

Rosalyn follows REDACTED through the passageways, trusting her to be able to catch Sor's scent quicker than anyone else.

Apostasy strides over to the prone man, guessing him to be the shooter. She presses the tip of her sword against his throat. "You're the idiot who shot my friend, I take it. Big mistake."

Grantok peeks her head around behind Apostasy's side only to see Sorien deck the man. "Well there's goes diplomacy of any kind."

Taggart pushes gently against his throatmic, as if omnipotent, "If any of you hurt any one of them... and it ain't self defense... I'm shootin' ya."

Cilan enters the room a few moments after Apostasy, once there she readies the handguns and looks to the scene in front of her, though she chooses to remain silent, preferring to wait in the background, and only act when needed.

REDACTED and Rosa, wingless arrive shortly after the other two. REDACTED leaps into the room and removes both her blades, searching for her mate and flaring at the blood covering the ground. She only relaxes at seeing Sorien still standing.

"No killing. Tie him up. Just... Tie this shit up." Sori takes the pillowcase-mask off, and goes over to the dead boy. She sighs, and gently closes his eyes.

Jas is still screaming, even more so now at REDACTED, she seems to have lost all sense of herself at the sight of the blades.

Apostasy doesn't take her eyes off the man as she growls "Get some rope or something, then."

Sparhawk swarms up onto the ceiling of the room, wings half-spread and claws out... while other people decide to be actively violent, he hangs upside-down and observes. After Taggart brouges over the radio, Spar says, "Sure is a lot of tension in here for people who are busting into someone else's home. Excuse me..."

Apostasy adds "And -someone- do something about the screaming girl!"

Sori sighs again, and stands. She goes over to Jas. "Hey... Hey. Jas? It’s over."

Rosalyn glances around, taking stock of the room with a resigned sigh. Walking over to Sor's side, "Sor, you mind sitting down for now?" as she takes the discarded pillowcase and begins tearing it into strips for bandages.

Sori spares a glance to Rosa. "It's healed. It’s just messy." She returns her attention to the girl.

Sparhawk wanders down the wall until back on the same gravity plane with people, walking relatively-slowly over to the screaming girl. He gets between her and the rest of the room. "Betcha we could have a pretty good screaming contest, Miss," he says with an amused (and pretty human) tone.

Taggart pulls a silencer out of his combat vest, slowly screwing it into place on the end of the AUG. The man pulls the magazine free from the rifle, tucking it away while ejecting the live round in the chamber, catching it with his hand. Slow, methodical, practiced. Tucking the round into a pocket, he pulls another magazine and slaps it up and into place, letting the chamber slide forward. As he enters the warehouse, he immediately raises the AUG to his shoulder and peers down the sight, moving tactically from room to room.

The girl claws at Sorien and continues to scream, not really herself at all. She seems to be looking at something that isn't there.

A woman tries to club Taggart with the butt of her pistol.

Not knowing what else to do, Sori hugs the girl and lets her scratch or whatever, all the time whispering, 'sshh... It’s okay, it’s okay... it’s over.'

REDACTED is totally overwhelmed by the sight, but her mate not being in danger helps her relax enough to put her swords away. However she still seems really perturbed by the amount of Sori-blood, her hackles are raised and her teeth bared.

Taggart quickly pulls his head back and lowers the rifle to shoot a round against her leg, the non-lethal, anti-riot round slamming and bruising skin and bone, sure to drop her to the ground.

The response is little more than a grunt as Taggart unloads in her leg. She falls quickly and holds at her wound, glaring. "You would side with these freaks?" she snarls between sucking breaths inside her mouth.

Since nobody seems inclined to bring something to tie the man up, Apo drops to one knee and slams the pommel of her sword into his head, knocking him out. She quickly strips him of his shirt and tears it up, using it to tie he arms and legs. That done, she stands and sheathes her sword.

The girl is simply not calming, the degree of her freaking out seems completely wrong considering the situation, and her previously calm state.

"Aye, that I would." Taggart nods and then leans down, swiftly, a buttstroke to her head an attempt to knock a still potential threat unconscious as he moves on after.

Sori keeps trying to calm the girl, a rocking motion starting in an instinctive action to help. She keeps the 'it’s okay' mantra going, and starts moving her out of sight of the scene at hand.

A few of the remaining kids eventually come out of hiding, most of them have their hands above their heads, having given up with no real way out of the factory besides the entrance taken.

Sparhawk notes that Sorien's got the problem as much in hand as he could do, and goes over to the presumably spreading pool of blood from the boy who was shot. A triage glance will probably tell the story of his future (or lack thereof).

The kid is missing a big chunk of skull from the close impact, having shattered and opened it up, there's no real chance he'd be mended due to brain damage.

Sori guides the girl out of sight, and tries to get her to sit down. She doesn't do anything to restrict the girl, other than not allowing her to run off.

Apostasy places a hand over her eyes and takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself, before addressing the kids coming out of hiding. "Ok. I'm assuming none of you were up for this. Could you please tell me what has been going on here?"

Taggart finally enters the room with the rest of the group, glancing around with cool, almost relaxed emerald gaze. A cold anger and frustration obviously hide behind the relaxed demeanour, but he's keeping it in check.

Sparhawk starts pulling silvery blankets out of his right rear saddlebag sadly and wrapping them around the thoroughly slain child. He murmurs something at length. There is the word 'apologize' recognizable occasionally.

One of the kids, the one earlier that had been guarding the front door has his head bowed low, not looking Apostasy in the eyes. "We, we're just trying to guard... the food so people don't starve... This is all we have left for the residents of this quadrant." pointing at the few remaining crates in the front area of the room.

Apostasy says softly, "How many people are you trying to feed?"

The boy shrugs, "We don't count..." Another one of the kids, in big baggy pants and an oversized kevlar vest offers, "We stamp ‘em, they get food, they don't get food if they have been stamped with this month's stamp."

The girl, Jas, has seemed to be just shivering in a little ball, her eyes closed and she whimpers.

Taggart glances around slightly, noting the one girl. "Where's all yer ot'er females?"

Apostasy frowns. "Alright. And where exactly are all of these people?"

Sori gently strokes the girls' head, letting her have time to recover. "Hey... Sweetie, you with us again?"

Rosalyn heads over to one of the crates, to inspect the food supplies.

The baggy pantsed one offers, "Avoiding the gulls, and the other strange creatures, or fleeing from the massacre down south like the crying one over there." whether he's answering Apo or Taggart is unclear.

Cilan says, "Well, while I know it’s been said already, we /could/ replace any food.. bolster the supplies and maybe even bring you to a safe place with plenty of other people.. or at the very least some place better than some old factory.."

There's mostly military food packs, nutrition bars, vitamins, and nonperishable supplies.

Taggart growls gently, "This ain't our problem."

Apostasy lilts, "Why don't you get them to come here? Stay together in one group, instead of letting them fend for themselves outside?"

REDACTED moves off to follow Sorien, and comes up behind her mate. REDACTED whispers into Sorien's ear, "Are you all right my love? You had me really worried."

Having kept relatively quiet after arriving, Grantok simply clucks her tongue what little she can at the responses. At the mention of the massacre though, she stops and returns to her silence.

The kid doesn't really have a good answer, he just shrugs. "It wasn't our idea, I only joined because I got this sweet gun." and holds a big rifle up happily in the air.

"I'm okay. Give me a bit here. Make sure that son of a bitch back there is well secured. He shot me, then shot a kid... Just shot him. I don't mind being attacked; but..." She trails off, the failure she's feeling in her voice.

Taggart shakes his head and glances around a bit more, eyeing Sorien for a moment and then the man on the floor. Taggart simply shakes his head and moves over the unconscious fellow and drags him up, hefting him over a shoulder as he starts to take him into another room.

Apostasy groans. "You have -got- to be kidding me. You have no idea why you're doing what you're doing, do you?"

REDACTED doesn't let her mate go, and rather says, "What's wrong with her my love. She looks at the girl and frowns, not really sure what to make of her reaction. "Was that you were talking to on the radio?"

The remaining armed children look varying stages of uncomfortable, some shrugging, others looking at the ground.

"Yeah. This is Jas. From what I overheard just now, she fled a massacre." Sori gives REDACTED a look when she says that.

Sparhawk looks up at the question. "So who told ya to pass out the food, then? Surely it's not that bad that you'd give it all away?"

REDACTED suddenly shivers and freezes.

Taggart speaks quietly over his shoulder, "Someone go pick up that bird I left downstairs..." The man makes his way into a nearby office and shuts the door, closing the blinds.

Sori nods to REDACTED, then gently head-gestures her to back off some.

REDACTED turns around and exits, not saying anything, her ears pressed flat.

Rosalyn eyes Taggart a bit suspiciously, but heads out of the storage room, back along the path Taggart took.

"Given a gun, orders, a place to sleep. Sounds like a regular right piece of heaven." Grantok mutters under her own breath. "Surprising the place has lasted this long."

Apostasy shakes her head in despair at the kids, and heads out the door, muttering, "Bloody hell... don't have a damned clue what they're doing... and I have neither the time nor the patience to try and sort them out.."

REDACTED continues walking, exiting the building on her own.

Sori stays with Jas, still stroking her head. "Come on... Can you talk to me, Jas? It’s okay now..."

The soft "pffft" of a silenced pistol being discharged is heard from the office, followed by a muffled shout of pain.

The girl seems to come out of her catatonic state slowly, she bawls openly and hugs at Sorien's shoulder, not really caring the shape Sorien is other than being a shoulder to cry on.

Apostasy follows after REDACTED, and catches up to her. She puts a hand on her shoulder, and squeezes gently. "REDACTED, please. Talk to me."

Sorien holds the girl and lets her cry. "Thats good. Let it out, sweetie. It’s okay now... You're safe."

Cilan looks over to both Apostasy and REDACTED as the two leave, though she does not follow, choosing to remain in the room, watching for something she could do to assist either the kids, or her friends.

REDACTED looks over to her friend, and her green eyes have tears in them. "I... I killed that girl's family. I murdered her entire life. I destroyed her soul, yet she still lives. That monster made me do horrible things, and I feel so weak that I can't face up to that." She looks completely deflated, unsure of how to cope.

Apostasy wraps REDACTED in a tight hug, squeezing her. "No, REDACTED. That wasn't you. It might have been your body, but it wasn't -you-. You would never do those things. You may not be able to undo what happened in Daly, what happened to her and her family... but you -can- decide what happens in the future. And you have Sori, and me, and everyone else to help you whenever you feel you're not strong enough."

Another silenced pistol shot from the office, with no sounds of pain following. The sliding open and shut of a window, then the office door opens and Taggart steps back into the warehouse. Cold green eyes look at all of them, "Iffun any of ya kin' make it there... Fairhaven is (appropriate direction and approximate walking time) from'ere. You ask around fer Taggart an' New Ireland. Ot'erwise... you do wut you can'ere. Give wut ya get." At that, the man falls quiet and makes his way outside.

REDACTED says, "I... I just need time to think." but she doesn't push Apo's comforts away.

Sori stays with Jas, til the girl starts to realize her surroundings again. She lets her go then, and says, "D'you wanna talk, sweetie? We should get back to the others soon though."

The girl finally stops crying and shakes her head, it's hard to tell how much of what was freaking her out she remembers.

Apostasy nuzzles REDACTED neck. "Take as long as you need, REDACTED. Just remember you can always talk with us." She squeezes again, and then just stands hugging her.

Sorien comes back around with Jas, her hand gently on the girl's back. "Can anyone here tell us about what happened here? We know about people changing, obviously- but what happened to us is different than what happened here."

Sparhawk pokes around at the food supplies curiously, apparently at loose ends.

Taggart pushes at his throatmic as he changes the rounds in his AUG once more, removing the silencer. "Let's get outta here, Sori... we dun enuff damage."

Grantok sighs and heads over to the crowd of kids. "Look. You're going to have to pull together and toughen up. I'd venture a guess that you aren't going to find much else in the way of food stores around if all you do is scavenge. Take what you have and work together to take up the big guy's offer." With that said she makes her way towards the exit.

Sorien softly churrs, "I... Dammit, Tag... How can you be so cold?"

Sorien doesn't sound at all happy, but thereafter shakes her head. "Jas, are you and your friends going to be okay?"

No one seems to offer Sori anything, the kids are all mostly lost, now even more disorganized without leaders. One kids said, "The army came, then they left, then everyone left or changed." his story is extremely basic and offers no help.

Taggart frowns gently, "We jus' got that kid killed... we did it. Not them. I offered them a place, if they kin' make it. We don't have tha supplies ta do this taday."

Jas nervously says, "I am not sure. They were the ones to save me." Jas' heart and authority seems to have left with her trauma.

Cilan looks over to the leaving members of the group, and joins them, making her way out of the building, offering one last sad glance to the survivors as she leaves the room.

Sori says to Tag, "No... No we didn't. I think it just sped it up. He shot him, just..." She breaks off. "God, I hate this."

Taggart sighs gently and pushes to his throatmic again, "Welcome ta tha End a' Tha Werld, Sorien." The man simply shakes his head and makes his way around the corner of the warehouse, disappearing for a moment.

Sparhawk looks around, not having found any business cards or letters from Dr. Claw in the piles of food. "If someone could loan me a shovel, I would like to help bury this child whose name I do not know." His voice is loud enough to hear through the room, but he doesn't look at any one person specifically.

Sorien softly churrs, "Jas... Pass the word that there is a stable settlement at Fairhaven. We're mostly not human, but humans are welcome. Farms are starting to be set up, and people who can work, or help out in other ways, are always welcome." She looks to Spar. "I'll... I'll help, sweetie.""

A name is offered, "Tim? I think his name was Timothy." Jas says softly, she seems to be the only one who paid attention.

"I'm... I'm sorry Jas. God help me, we meant no harm." Sori is looking a little shaken and ragged about the edges.

Sparhawk nods gratefully to Jas. "You can come, or not, as you choose. Someone who could point me at a place to dig where I won't hit a gas line and make a really pretty explosion would be handy tho. A little field somewhere, so Tim doesn't think we've forgotten him?"

Jas says, "I'm... sorry for freaking out." Her head lowers, "I know she won't come back for me."

Taggart pushes gently on his throatmic, "Bring Tim downstairs." His voice is quiet and slightly sombre.

Grantok exits the warehouse and climbs back aboard the bus, taking a seat by a window that overlooks the bay, simply staring out in silent thought.

Jas sombrely follows, and turns back to the others, "You are all free to leave, take what food you need."

Apostasy leads REDACTED gently back to the bus, and sits beside her. "How're you doing, REDACTED?" she asks, looking at the silent woman with some concern.

"It’s okay. Lets... Let’s put Tim to rest." Sori follows Spar out so that the boy can be buried. "We've got enough food, sweetie. Can we trade you for some chocolate though? I don't feel right just... Taking from you. Especially now."

REDACTED doesn't really answer, she appears to be trying to sort through her emotions without breaking down, yet again. Sick of being weak, she fights her emotional tide.

Apostasy just hugs REDACTED, resting her head on her shoulder, trying to help the only way she can think of.

Sparhawk bundles up the blanket-wrapped child and lays him on the taur's back, walking slowly to follow Taggart. They are sufficiently absorbent that they only leave dark spots on his scales, instead of leaving a dripping trail on their path.

The sound of gulls in the sky grows a bit, perhaps drawn by the scents of blood or the gunfire, Anyone paying attention would notice it long before they arrive.

Apostasy's ears twitch a little as the gulls seem to get louder. Or perhaps just closer. She speaks into her radio. "Folks? Think we've got gulls inbound. Stay sharp if you're not indoors or on the bus."

Sori starts to dig the grave when the spot is located, with help it won't take too long to ready it. It won't be 6 feet deep, but it'll be deep enough to prevent scavengers from excavating it.

The girl stands silently behind, watching them dig, but doesn't say anything. She seems defeated and lost.

Taggart unloads Tim from Spar's back, giving the hexataur a little nod. The man is standing by another inert adult body, the other also bearing hole-in-the-head. He nods gently and glances to the bus, "All of ya get back to tha bus, I'll be along shortly."

Grantok gnashes her teeth. "The kids won't make it past the next block or so if a flock decends this way." She continues to keep her eyes in the direction of the bay only more on the skies than before.

Sparhawk has one ear pointed at the sky. "Now's as good a time as ever to find out what those birds do. Y'wanna tell us why you need to be alone, Tag?"

Sori leans in to whisper to Tag once the grave's dug. "Let the gulls have the bastard," she says.

Taggart frowns softly to Spar, shaking his head. "S'personal, Spar. Jus' lemme do this... since ya'll decided not ta listen ta me bafore."

Rosalyn sighs. Roughly bandaging the woman's leg and head, she finds some chain or cord in the storage areas of the factory and binds the woman somewhere along one of the more well-travelled routes of the place, making sure the dropped pistol is no longer in her possession before heading back down to the bus. Let the kids figure out what to do with her, if they stick around.

Sparhawk shakes his head right back. "I'm not the person who was ignoring you. Are we driving the bus away while leaving you here? 'Sides, I gotta carve the gravestone."

Taggart grinds his teeth, "Dammit, Spar! Jus' go! It'll take but a minute!"

Grantok hops back out of the bus and climbs her way up on top of it, hoping her ears would lend to a better bearing as to where the gulls would be coming from and how many.

Sorien leaves Tag and Spar to place the body and fill the grave, simply saying 'I'm sorry' to the lost boy. She goes to the bus, getting a box of MRE's out of the storage. She takes the box to the factory, and swaps it for a crate of chocolate. She brings the exchanged item out to the bus and loads it, then goes back over to Jas. "You can come with us if you like... But for now we can't take you all. I'll let others know you're here, and maybe more help will come, or you and your friends can make your way to Fairhaven on your own. Up to you... And I'm... I'm so sorry."

Grantok hears a few dozen voices, although gulls are hard to make out as they all sound the same. Their caws are much deeper and heavier, more tonal than natural ones so it's clear what they are, and they aren't far off in the harbour.

Jas shrugs, she doesn't seem to care at this point if she lives or dies.

Sparhawk shrugs. "Me hanging around people who need help is the way things should be." He spends a minute kicking local rocks until he finds a good one, then whispers at the broken chunk of concrete and carves into it: "Timothy Because the world should be better than it is."

Grantok peeks her head back down into the bus doorway. "Someone get on the radio to get all we can in here now. We're outnumbered by what's coming at us definitely."

Taggart growls gently as even his human ears pick up the caws of the gulls. Without further delay, he lowers the body of the boy to the ground and then tugs the murderer over as well, gripping them both around the throat. Very suddenly, his hands become amorphous red and black... gel. A soft growl in the man's throat as the forms begin to dissolve at his 'touch', slowly consuming their bodies into his own. It is a rapid thing, taking mere seconds before all that's left is their clothing.

Cilan finally makes her way out of the factory, having taken her time to do so, and stands by the bus, near the entrance, waiting for everyone else, during that time she readies her rifle, and drops to a knee, and watches the skies, looking out for the gulls, the woman ready to fire at any that present themselves, or to enter the bus should it become too dangerous.

Grantok tilts her head slightly in Cilan's direction, continuing to watch the sky. "I count roughly two dozen, give or take. Not going to be pretty by any standard."

The first one comes into sight ahead of the others. It looks really disturbing, it's big beak juts out angled and it's awkward shape makes it almost look ridiculous, but it begins to dive for the nearest target to it.

"I left about a week's worth of MRE's inside, Jas. A week for 8 people. We've enough food in the bus beyond that for us for days. Use them as you will. We should get going, and you and your friends should bottle up. I wish you luck." Sori steps up into the bus, and starts the vehicle in preparation to go; she's not interested in a further fight, and won't be much use against the gulls- that will be up to firearms and ranged attacks.

Apostasy climbs off the bus casually, and takes to the air. When she gets closer to the seagull, she points at it and says "Burn." A gout of incandescent silver fire leaps from her hand, engulfing the gull.

Sparhawk leans the gravestone against the building's wall, in the lee of a tree. "Explosions time." A solar gryphon begins glowing with brighter radiance. Not the only glowy person, no doubt.

Cilan notices the disturbing bird, and having been prepared for this, she pulls the trigger, her shot going for a quick kill.

Jas just nods and sits there out in the open. One of the boys runs out and tries to pull at her, she doesn't move or react at first til he tugs harder, and eventually he gets her to move and follow.

Grantok flexes out her claws and braces herself for a scuffle. Her hackles are raised and her tail is thrashing back and forth, a spark forming between the two tips. She waits for the gull to get in range before letting loose the wisp.

Taggart sighs gently as he sees Sparhawk beginning to glow, glancing up as Apostasy also takes flight. The man only shakes his head, looking a bit tired as he slowly starts to walk to the bus. Obviously tired of fighting, he doesn't even try to defend himself, letting everyone else springing into action to take care of it.

Rosalyn boards the bus once more, closing the roof hatch to prevent any clever "bombing runs" on the gulls' part.

The creature takes a bullet to a wing, and then is lit up by all sorts of energy expended on it. Its feathers melt, and it falls to the ground.

Satisfied with what happened to the first gull to get close, Apo returns to the ground and climbs back onto the bus. "Let's get out of here once everyone else is on, Sor."

"Roger that." Sori seems to be trying to focus on business, not... Other things. She has the bus ready to go, engine idling.

Cilan continues firing at the gulls, waiting for everyone to board before she joins them, making sure that everyone else is safe before she leaves herself.

"All aboard! Time to roll!" Sori calls out through the open door.

Sparhawk floats, in the manner of someone suspended by an aura of power, pointing at roughly the centre of the flock. Hir voice is steady, and probably only loud enough for Tag to hear; "Attacking children in the moment of their weakness is unjust. This is the consequence." Then the twisted path of the meteor reaches the blue marble, exploding among the mutant birds.

Sparhawk spins and skitters back to the stone, then floats to the bottom of the still-open and still-empty grave, leaving it there and giving about a cubic meter of dirt a shove into the hole. Then there is a Spar on the bus, bits of dirt still falling from his wings.

Grantok scampers down from the top of the bus and into her seat once a Spar gets aboard.

As soon as both Grantok and Sparhawk are on the bus, Cilan moves through the doorway and to one of the seats.

As soon as the last person is aboard, Sori closes the doors and the bus rolls again, this time towards the port.

Click here to continue to Chapter 2.