Decision Time

[paper_stars]

(sorry if it sucks lol.)

The events that led up to this moment were rather eventful; the group had encountered three of the threatening forces on earth. Those three forces coming from one source, though they may all seem different in appearances and how they work, they are, of the same source of an alien Bio technology. Despite being so far into the feature, the technology they had faced was never created on earth. The technology as it could be called, is its own alien life force, its own alien race. The government knew of this threatening race, and knew there was a possibility that they could come to earth and destroy it by feeding off its life forces. The life forces include; animals, plants, bugs, and humans. The alien force is cannibalistic, however after the invasion occurred, it was discovered that these aliens found a way to reproduce using the bodies of their victims, which included anything they could eat. Now for example, if one of those aliens laid its eggs in a dog, the babies would come out looking rather similar to a dog, now if they laid their eggs in a human body, the result would be the same. Later research also shows that, the aliens were trying to evolve before the last humans were destroyed; they were trying to evolve so that they could physically mate with a human. The last known data entered about these creatures had been inputted into the system 60 years ago. Majority of the data about this threatening force is corrupted.

Data regarding the earth’s ships in space is also corrupted and the last communication from space to earth was dated 100 years ago. There has been no attempt at communication since.

“There was something I found.” Jodie said as she sat at the table in the rather comfortably furnished office. She explained what little information she had on those creatures they had encountered. “I was able to retrieve an email from my brother, it was sent a year after we had all been put to sleep.” A vivid screen would light up above the table, it flickered dimly due to the lack of power, but the image would be seen clearly enough. A video would be opened from an old email account, the video was somewhat distorted with noise and the sound wasn’t that great either.

“Hi Jodie” The screen flickered; her older brother was sitting in a little folding chair inside of a military tent. “ Heard you’ve gone missing, no trace, I didn’t want to give up hope you know. I know you work for the government and a lot of what you do is topic secret. I don’t know if you’re alive or not, but there are some weird things happening.” The image would flicker out momentarily. “we’re under attack, it happened lastnight, something came out of the sky, like a space ship. Half of our battalion was killed, we didn’t even see them.” Again, the video would flicker out. This time, when it came back in, the video was shaking like the web camera was being shaken. “I just wanted to tell you, that ma misses you and loves you, and I hope your ok. We sure as hell aren’t. I don’t think ma will make it… her hearts pretty bad now. I gotta go little sis, I think this is it.” The video didn’t cut out, her brother left the tent with his gun in hand. Everyone who was at the camp was getting the chance to say their goodbyes and mail it off. However, when her brother left with the camera running, you’d be able to see from the opening of the tent something run across the ground. It skittered like a squirrel and it was nearly the size of one.

“Our purpose for being frozen was to aid the remaining government officials after the war, they knew we were going to be attacked. However I don’t think they knew how bad it was going to be. I don’t think they expected to fail. As it stands, we are the only ones alive.. but” Jodie then proceeded to bring up a map on the screen. “There’s more facilities like ours, with cryogenic sleepers. Three of these facilities, are out of power and the backup generators don’t work. From the data that was recorded, no one was ever woke up. So they are dead. There is however, a facility up in California that is up and running with the backup generator. So I figure, we can get to the weapons factory that isn’t to far from us, stock up and head our way to California. “ she paused for a moment, glancing around.. “I don’t know what we can do, I don’t think we were meant to save the world. But we’re here. I think its best we just find a solution to what is going to be our problem.”

[Paroxysm]

Immediately after Jodie had finished speaking, an abrupt, but distinguished amount of clapping could be heard. At first, others may have looked around, seeking out the source of the clapping, and sure enough; they wouldn’t have to look all that to find a smirking and almost, almost laughing Johnny Bennett.

“Bravo, girl,” he said in contempt. “Find a solution, you say, why, now, don’t that beat all, I wouldn’t have even thought that to be a good idea

Johnny leaned forwards, sliding his chair back slightly, resting his head on his left hand, and rolled his chin in its palm; elbow pressed into the table, his eyes darted from Jodie to the others sitting at the table, and then back again.

“Now, don’t y’all get me wrong, I’ve no wish to die here, against those things, but Calafornya?” He’d seem almost surprised by the suggestion, “and what, if I may be so bold, are we going to find there?”

He stood up suddenly; the man wasn’t a small one, he was just shy of 6’0”, his hair was chopped in random places, as though he had taken scissors to it himself; build-wise, Johnny wasn't easily dismissed, not in the least, but he wasn’t overly muscular, either; his was the body type of a hard worker, someone who had worked their body to the bone, and was better for it.

“Now, a venture to Cali might be a good idea, who am I to say otherwise, but is it worth it? What’ll we find there, you think? What if it isn’t worth it and end up wastin’ all those valuable supplies we’d have to expend for the journey, or what if our little convoy is attacked in transit?”

Johnny sighed and rubbed his temples with his left hand’s fore and thumb, he wasn’t trying to be a mood killer, or an obnoxious bastard, for that matter, but he did want things thought out and explained before they took too many risks.

[Nayt]

Natalie said nothing-- nothing at all. She (who now had clothing, fortunately; it was nothing more than a white hoodie and a pair of black shorts, though) was sitting in the in chair next to Johnny's, almost needlessly close. He was something of a comfort to her; she didn't even think about it, though. Every day, if everyone was sitting down, she sat next to Johnny. If there was little friction or her chair had wheels (like this one), her seat eventually ventured closer into the proximity of Johnny's. Really, she didn't even realize she was doing it. Truth be told, Natalie didn't talk at all anymore, not to Johnny, not to anyone.

She couldn't. She wouldn't. It confounded her to no end how these people could just take the situation so easy. They'd lost everything to time. No family, no friends. Everyone was dead-- wiped out by a terrible plague of beasts that beset the earth. And they all took it so well. It was like they'd lost nothing at all. They all shrugged their shoulders and moved on with their lives. How? Why?

How could someone be that cruel?

Natalie Lei was not that cruel. All she had left were her memories, and the ever present question of why. Why was she, of all people, alive? She wasn't part of the government, she'd never signed up for anything. She remembered filling out a government survey, sort of like a consensus thing, but nothing ever came of that. So why? Why was she somehow chosen to live?

It baffled her. It disgusted her. It saddened her. It angered her. It hurt her. The girl was going through every ill emotion that could ever be felt by the human heart.

She might have heard Jodie's explanation and Johnny's remarks for caution's sake, but she didn't respond to it, and she didn't even begin to think about California. No, she instead kept her eyes averted and kept hugging her knees to her chest.

[Syntaphar]

Dr. Andrew Smithson, still in his old labcoat and sticky-note nametag outfit, but now with a little alien blood from his experiments mixed in, would chuckle audibly at the proceedings. "I for one agree that we need to find a solution, for those who think my opinion is worth a damn. However there are a few things I need to add to the plan. We have the weapons factory nearby, and that's good, but we should probably stock up on improvised weapons for the trip there. Also, I submit we should use a large, armored transport, rather than small agile ones. We should have the supplies somewhere to build some sort of Mad Max battlewagon that can hold us and all our supplies. Third, I am coming rather close to developing a vaccine to immunize us from the modern illnesses that our situation holds. I insist that medical safety comes first in this case."

Unable to resist the fun, he would look towards the people who gave him lip back in the Medbay. He would then say, with a mock polite tone so strong, it would be hard to listen to: "I can put that all into a prescription for you, if you need something in writing to listen to my ideas." He would cackle in a much too high-pitched voice to be considered sane at a joke that maybe only he would find funny. He would look straight forward again with a smug grin on his face and wait for the proceedings to continue.

[Skylar]

She pushed herself from the wall and moved closer to the group. There was so much to take in, so much going on, so much to do...she wanted to rip her hair out. She winked at Natalie as she moved past her and placed her hand on Johnnys chair soaking it all in.

“Maybe we aren’t even looking at this the right way.” She stared off past everyone, her thoughts twirling about her mind. “If it were us stuck out there, frozen, vulnerable, we’d be grateful to those that came to our aid. Maybe their expertise will compliment ours, only making us stronger, if we survive the trip.”

The thought of leaving this place didn’t really bother her, she wasn’t real comfortable anyways, but she wasn’t so naive to think that death wasn’t a possibility. As always, the Doctor had some to offer, but always had to put his little smart ass twist on things, as if what they were talking about was anything less then their lives....

“Anyone seen Markus?”

[Zenith]

As the cowboy had spoken, Markus had stepped in silently to stand by the door and watch the fiasco take place. The group seemed to be babbling about moving from where they were at -- currently (and possibly without power, since the generators didn't work?), and then some stepped forward and some kept quiet about the situation. Right about this time that the squabbling began, Mark pulled out a knife and began to clean out beneath his fingernails, trimming them up as he needed and saw fit to do so. When his name was mentioned, Mark looked up to Lucy (checking out her ass) and cleared his throat slightly.

When all was silently, he would speak. Lifting the double-edged, silver blade to his cheek, scratching a spot on his chin lightly, yet efficiently with the tip of the blade he sighed and began, "Now ... I don't think an attitude is necessary from the cowboy to get a point across. It's a good thing sarcasm hasn't died out in a thousand years, or we'd all be really boring people ...

But what I can say is this -- if these things are invisible -- and you want to make it across the country? And we don't even know exactly where we are or what the surface looks like? I'd say you're out of your mind and the cryo-chamber didn't feed you enough oxygen.

In my expertise -- the reason why I was chosen to be apart of this mission ... it's simple. I have to keep you alive, and that means - No Big Cities. They're suicidal breeding grounds for these creatures, as any infection or infestation would be. Cities and sewers harbor an abundant supply of food and evil, why add to their flavor?"

Spinning the blade and re-sheathing it at his hip, Markus moved in to join the rest of the group, coming up behind Nat and Johnny to stand behind the desk and lean into it, watching the group. With soft eyes toward the little girl, Mark bowed a gentle head, stooping down to her level a bit and whispered, "How you feelin' kiddo? Gave us quite a scare back there pullin' that floating Houdini trick..." He smiled, grinning lightly at her timid self.

[Zach Kaiser]

This is not how things were supposed to go...too many variables, too many unknowns.

Christoph Zalien remained deep in though for a period after Jodie explained the situation. Though he listened to the others, it was hard to tell from the way he remained sitting perfectly still, hands folded under his chin, green eyes focusing on a point in the distance.

They're all taking this surprisingly well, save for the girl. Perhaps it hasn't truly set in yet; or perhaps these are just the kind of people they looked for.

Once Markus was finished, though, he rose from his chair, addressing the group as a whole. Each of them ostensibly had a role to play, and his was that of the administrator--a leader, a decision maker, the person on whom fell the burden of taking in all the data and from there ascertaining the best course of action. While Markus might have been responsible for their immediate survival against hostile forces, it was up to Christoph to evaluate the risks to begin with, and ultimately any difficulties or--if it came to it--casualties would most likely fall on his shoulders.

"The way I see it, we have two main goals. The first is simply to survive," he said, nodding at Markus, "and the second, as Jodie mentioned, is to contact and assist the U.S. government, if any of it remains."

He paused. "The latter, however, is a long term goal. More immediately, we need to move to weapons facility. Jodie made emergency repairs to the generator here, but it will not last long. We need to get ready to leave immediately; gather any supplies you can, food, weapons...if you aren't sure if it's necessary and we're running out of space, run it by Markus. He'll have the best idea of what to prioritize. Once we arrive, we hopefully be able to update our data. I'm reluctant to make any decisions based on information at least sixty years old. A lot can change in that time."

Another pause; that was all he needed to say as far as orders and the like went, but he felt like he should say something more. He lowered his voice slightly, to speak in a quieter, more emotional tone. "If you are like me, you signed up knowing you would not wake until everyone you knew was long gone--however, I also know this is not the situation I was expecting. I'd just like to remind you that we cannot be sure yet that we are alone; it's still too early to take the weight of the world on our shoulders. And so long as we work together, I am certain we can survive."

He took a deep breath; he was trained to remain composed in any situation, and he knew that training would not fail him even now, but even for him it was a lot responsibility to shoulder. "Unless anyone has something to add, I suggest we start packing. Natalie, was it?" he asked, now addressing the young girl--the one who wasn't part of the basic mission. "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you..."

[paper_stars]

It was a lot to take in, sure understood that, she lost everyone too. However, loss was something that wasn’t knew to her. She knew how to deal with it, and except it… even if it this was much harder. Everyone’s entire family line could be mainly extinct. Jodie stood silent, as each person spoke. They indeed had the right to say what they wanted to say and it wasn’t her place to say otherwise. She was just the informant, she had the information, she wasn’t the one in charge. The one that was in charge was Christoph so it would ultimately be his decision..and if no one wanted to follow it they could dig their grave alone.

“We don’t have a choice one way or another.” She said, glance around at each person. She wasn’t good at this, she wasn’t good at talking to people. She was good with machines, she could talk to those. “The generator has five hours max, so we have to leave.” She placed her hands into the pockets of her jump suit, since she was attacked she had changed into a new one. Her shoulder stung and throbbed, but Olivia did a wonderful job in getting the stinger out. Jodie was still tired, but at the moment there was no time to rest. “If you want to stay here, you’ll suffocate. “She glanced toward Christoph, nodding her head. It was true, their best bet would be to get to the weapons base.

“Look. Those things are nocturnal. We can travel in the day and we’ll be safe. If we leave when dawn comes then we can make it to the other base before dark.”

“The facility, Markus isn’t in the city. The government made sure to place these underground facilities away from big cities.” Jodie pursed her lips together. “I have a list of all the working facilities, I have the vitals of the sleeping individuals, I know they are alive still. It would be wrong to leave them to die.”

“What use would the little group of us be to find a solution to anything? I understand you want to stay alive, but what is there to live for when there isn’t anything out there?”

“And if we are going to survive, we have to go to these facilities because they will be the only places that will have food that hasn’t perished over the years. There are no animals left, no plants, there’s nothing to eat besides what is in those facilities. If the weaponry is as advanced as it should be, then we should be able to detect these things, figure out where they nest or whatever and be able to stay away. “

“Right now the world is nothing but a big desert bowl.”

She glanced toward the girl, as Christoph called to talk to her. “There is something else.” She would say as she looked around at the group. “in each of the facilities, they all have one child with them. Like Natalie” Her jaw worked for a moment as she tried to contemplate everything she was telling them. “There is data that I am still trying to decode, about why we are here, about these children that are with us. Some of its so messed up it can never be restored. “

Jodie turned off the power to the computer so it would no longer waste anymore of the energy that they needed. They will have to leave, there is no doubt about that. But what to do afterwards can wait to be discussed later.

[Paroxysm]

“Whatever,” Johnny shrugged as he finally started to speak again. He had since sat back down, pulling his chair out a bit more, and mostly only paid half-attention to what everyone else was saying. He didn’t care about dying, that was one thing they may have mistaken about him, Johnny had signed up because he had nothing left, and this was a much more interesting way to go out than suicide. However contradictory it might have been, he just didn’t see the point in looking for death, either. Granted, staying in the facility also meant death.

He sighed, it looked like his game was chosen and he reluctantly accepted it, but he would find a way to change the rules at some point. He always did.

After Christoph asked to speak with Natalie, Johnny sub-consciously gestured towards the girl, who, at this point, may have looked to him for approval. If she did, she’d know to go ahead, and if she didn’t that was fine, too.

“Well, I hope y’all know how to use a gun,” he laughed, “’I reckon we’re going to need ‘em.”

Civilian or not, Johnny wasn’t a stranger with guns, even some of the big ones, not many, but some. The others, though … he wasn’t too hopeful about. Markus was fine and some of the others may have even gone through some military training, familiarization, even, but in the end that would be all they had.

Finally, he’d go back into his own little world, he didn’t care about the other children, sure it seemed odd, but what in the world wasn’t odd at this point? Honestly, Jodie could have told him that there were genetically enhanced midgets that specialized in maritime combat-tactics and he wouldn’t have even blinked.

[Nayt]

When Markus addressed her, the girl looked up to him with a forlorn expression. One might not even need to speak with her to understand that she was hurting. It was outward, really. She was the only one moping, she was the only one hugging her knees to her chest and trying to pretend that none of this was real, just as she was the only one that hadn't actually signed up to be a part of this. If she were going to die, she would have rather died with her family and friends. That was such a sad conclusion to come to.

"I'm . . ." she began, her voice so quiet it was barely over the pitch of a whisper; someone on the other side of the room would even have a hard time hearing her.

Not

". . . okay." This would have also accompanied a fake smile if she could have brought herself to force one-- but, sadly, Natalie couldn't even do that anymore.

The mention of other children "like her" perked Natalie's interest, but there was only so much she could do about that, as the leader of this group specifically requested to talk with her. Natalie had, in fact, looked to Johnny for approval. Some part of her probably thought that if anything else bad were to happen to her, that he'd protect her. Whether or not that was true was yet to be seen. The part of her that believed in his willingness to keep her safe was influential enough to get her to nod, too.

Without a word, she uncrossed her arms from around her knees and let her feet fall to the floor. With her head hung low, Natalie Lei stood from the chair and stopped before Christoph. She hadn't a clue what he wanted to talk about or where, but it didn't really matter much at this point at all, did it? They were all going to be alien food soon, anyways.

[Syntaphar]

Over his years of residency, Smithson had learned how to follow authority without question. Not his favorite habit to have, but damned useful. Immediately, he would stop listening to the proceedings and think about what he would have to pack. He would certaily be bringing along at least one duffel bag of painkillers, antibiotics, what have you. And once he finished off the vaccine, he would certainly bring vials of that along. Besides that, he would play it by ear, leaving a good deal of room for outstanding and immediate issues, guns perhaps being an example.

With that train of thought stopped, Dr. Andrew would snap back into the current goings-on about when Johnny mentioned using guns. Oh damn. Not that he particularly cared about the Hippocratic Oath in these trying times, he just never learned the basics of gunnery when he was younger. Oh well, he was always best in a support role anyway. That, and (he thought to himself) his training in chemistry might make for good weaponry. Certainly there was enough iron oxide and aluminum foil to make some decent thermite around, and he was sure he could make a neurotoxin out of the supplies gathered from the alien corpse. But now was not quite the time to think about that. He decided to follow Mr. Zalien's advice and start packing. With little acknowledgement to the rest of the group, he would adjourn once again to the medbay.

[Skylar]

Speak of the devil and he appears.

From the doorway he made himself known and something inside her seemed a bit more at east. Just has Natalie had her cowboy for comfort, Lucy had hers as well. She turned toward him in time seeing his eyes on her ass, no surprise really. Shaking her head she moved over to his side. She’d go wherever he went, it was as simple as that really.

And then of course it happened. More great news - they would indeed be losing their power here. Staying was not an options. She had her back pack with what little meant anything to her, so packing wasn’t something she worried about. She did worry however, that there would be little she could do to help them prepare for such a move.

She bit her tongue at the thought of more kids being brought into this shit. Lucy was an intelligent girl, but really so little information was given when she was put to sleep, and some of the memories still a bit fuzzy in her mind, she tossed another glance to Markus. They couldn’t leave a child to die, she knew they would all feel that way after seeing how they all coddled the one in their group, herself included....

“I’ll do whatever I can to help move things, organize things, whatever you need from me.” She spoke up finally trying to hide her thoughts.

[Zenith]

The man seemed to try and rally up the troops for a little bad news and then people seemed to just fall out of place. The group was itching for sunlight, itching for safety and security, but with the defenses down in their current establishment and the power dwindling with each second there wasn't much time left to wait.

Markus rubbed a hand through his unkempt hair and then sighed heavily, his mind whirling with options and thoughts, but as Christopher approached the little girl and she stood, Mark squinted and stared at the man for a moment -- he'd clear his throat, making sure the man knew that he was watching and that no weird shit was about to go down or he was going to watch his wording with the little kid or lose his ability to speak...

"Johnny -- I'm appointing you the kid's guardian, man. She needs to be watched out for at all times, and you two have seemed to form a good bond since you kicked ass and saved her, and all... sound unreasonable or is that cool?" Mark's words were directed to the cowboy who was merely feet away and the discussion tone was light and without intimidation or worry. The Survivalist just thought it best that she stick with the one she was most comfortable with, and their brother/sister bond seemed to be at an all-time morale high, at the moment.

"For the rest of you -- I'd say with Jodie's good work, she's bought us another five hours tops. I understand and realize that we all just slept a few thousand years, but I'm requiring everyone to take at least an hours worth of shut-eye, because who knows when we'll be able to rest next. I need everyone refreshed and ready in four hours. We'll be sleeping in the warehouse. There's several lockable containment units for supplies in there, so it's a tight-shift and easy watch point.

Plus, it has all the gear in it and we'll be ready to rock. Also -- no one is to be left alone. If these fuckers can turn invisible or whatever ... then we can't have a man alone. ... or woman." Mark spoke, eyeing the females on his last sentence. His thoughts were for long-term and one male was one male, but one female was hope for survival. A mother to-be, should that bridge come to pass.

Turning, Markus would leave the room -- probably towing Lucy along and they'd walk down the short halls to the thick door that opened the warehouse. A hiss would release and the doors shifted to the left and right, revealing the massive, open, nearly-fifty thousand square foot warehouse. Vehicles, guns, supplies, equipment -- everything they needed to effectively make a stand.

Markus began to think about who should be doing what, when they readied to leave...

Johnny and Nat on an ATV, possible...
Guys as pack mules. Girls with guns ... hnm...

[paper_stars]

Jodie decided she would go and take a shower, to refresh and help her wake up a little bit to get some things packed . Sleep was out of the question for now and she would defiantly end up pushing herself to exhaustion; but she had too much to take care of to sleep. She would leave them as well, everything was already settled and she wasn’t needed. She went over in her head the things she needed to do to prepare them for the journey, she would have to draw out the maps for everyone who decided to drive. They could possibly split into teams, since they had three armored hummers fitted with machine guns, three trailers to haul with and then three motorcycles and four quads. Jodie planed on taking one of the bikes or quad, she would take the lead to guide them through the desert. If they got lost, each of the vehicles was fitted with GPS and an old fashioned compass, if everyone gets a map they could find their way and she could hack into the GPS and guide them through that as well. They’d each be able to have their own radio as well, to keep in contact however the radios only reached up to ten miles before cutting out, so they were only good in close proximity of each other. If there aren’t enough people to drive the bikes, those can be put onto the trailers and pulled. It would be a smart idea to take all of the vehicles in case they would need them.

She idly scratched the back of her head as she made a mental list of it all, she eyed the shower momentarily before hitting the button to on. The water would come out cold, due to the lack of power the heating would be off. She removed her clothes and stepped under the freezing water; despite it being cold it was refreshing. She ran her fingers through her hair with her face tilted up into the spray of water.

Blood trickled down her back and chest, the wound she suffered bleeding just a little bit through the stitching and with the stretching of her skin due to the movement of her arm the stitches tore a little bit. She’d defiantly need to go see the doctor and get him to fix it up better, it burned as the water ran over the wound, irritating the skin around the stitches.

Her skin crawled with goose bumps from the cold water and she shivered, but she remained under the spray as she placed her hands against the wall to support herself. Now was not the time to have an emotional breakdown, but she could feel it. The tightening of her throat, the tensing of her chest as it became almost over whelming. It was too much, what was happening to them, and it was beyond unfair.

“Breathe Jodie.” She whispered to herself trying very hard to remain calm.
--
The robots in the facility would be there to help them pack; they would prepair the vehicles and even go as far as to attach the trailers to the hummers. They buzzed and hummed while they worked, skittering across the floor in preparation for the leave, however the sad thing about it was none of them would get to go with, there just wasn’t room or the means to transport all the little bots. They would remain in the facility, functioning until their circuitry gives out, or just shutting down all together with nothing to do. With no purpose.

[Zach Kaiser]

Since when was a child standard for a mission of any kind? Christoph wondered upon hearing that each of these facilities had one. Well, it did at least assuage one of his fears, so he instantly changed his mind about what he was going to say to Natalie.

"I understand that unlike us, you didn't sign up for this," he said gently, crouching down to talk to her. "Once we're some place a little more...stable, I'd like to talk to you, perhaps there's some clue in what you can remember as to why you're here..."

He paused; yes, the entire world was a mystery right now, but he could handle mysteries on the outside. Mysteries within the group were unnerving--not that it was Natalie's fault, but he wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.

"Until then, however--is there anything we can do for you?" He suspected that most of the others would be busy gathering up their supplies; since he didn't have a specialty that was an actual discipline, he didn't need to worry about much more than food and basic first aid supplies.