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 Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 9:29 am
⚔ DAY ZERO ENTRY PROMPT ⚔ Rubbing her hands, Maria glanced around the parking lot as she walked away from the ward. It was getting late, just around 10pm, and she meant to leave sooner. Unfortunately, a new group of inmates had entered the facility, which meant more paperwork for everyone on call. It took some time, but she got everything done which meant she would return in the morning with little to do. It was a small success, but she'd take it.
Pulling out her keys, she just reached for her car when the air seemed to crack and the parking lot lights cut off. Jumping, she looked around the near-empty lot and let out a groan. If the power was out, that meant the gates also would be out. Unfortunately, the generator really wouldn't power the area, so she would be forced to wait until things cut back in. Soon, she would discover that what seemed to be an inconvenience would really lengthen her life.
Sitting near her car, she rotated running the battery so she had some lights and the radio. It wouldn't take long before the news cut in and reports began to fill the air. Chaos, Fires, and Monsters lined the streets of the city, and at first she couldn't believe it. But then she heard the screams, and the moans, and in the darkness her headlights caught shadows outside of the fence.
She cut her car off and ran for the doors.
Banging on the doors of the facility, a security guard quickly let her in and demanded to know why she was outside. Inmates were fighting in some cells, and it was all hands on deck for a lock down. The alarm didn't go off because the power was shot, but he seemed to lack sympathy as he dragged her to an inner room. Until the generators could be turned on, which was a dangerous task with those that were...infected...they would be stuck waiting in the dark.
Rubbing her arms and glancing toward the guards, Maria felt her pulse begin to race. She did not want this dark, corrupt place to be the last thing she saw. Hiding was a necessity, but so was life, and she would make sure she would get out and see the light of another day.
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 9:31 am
⚔ One Month Later... ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 189
Was it her, or were the beds finally breaking in? Maria woke up as if she had slept in a king size suite, her body for once not feeling the aches and the pains of the cell she currently called home. Rolling to the right side of the bed, or so she suspected, she sat up and ran a hand through her grimy hair. It wasn't often she liked to indulged in the group showers, but today she just felt confident and excited. Even the weird sense of someone watching her seemed to be gone that morning.
As she began her day, Maria felt like she was back at work again, ready to take on the world and help those who needed it most. She felt safe, protected, and grateful that she had stayed late. There wasn't really any other place in the city with the safety of a prison, after all. Smiling to herself again at her strange sense of excitement, she faced the day with a raised chin.
Call her crazy, but she just had a gut instinct that today would be different.
It had to be.
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 9:32 am
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 9:37 am
⚔ Mental Assessment Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 484
Redo Left ⚔ 1 / 10
Reward ⚔ 2 Bars
Maria had a tight lipped smile as she looked across the room to the psychologist before her. Never would she imagined that she would be sitting here, on this side, taking the standard test. However, her once-boss assured her that this was standard and that all would be taking it, including the psychs. Still, it didn't quite reassure the once receptionist.
Normally, she was the one helping encourage others, and she found it hard to put herself in those shoes.
"Alright, Maria, let's begin with a standard Rorschach test, shall we?"
Nodding, her eyes darted around the room a second before settling on the pictures in front of her. She quickly responded to what she saw, not too worried about it any longer as she fell into a trend. That was, until the final picture was held up, and her brow furrowed.
At first, she saw a bug, but that quickly morphed into a different view.
"It...it looks like two people...men...but they were once one. Like they are being torn apart and going into two directions...I...I don't know...it doesn't seem..."
"That's alright Maria, that is good enough."
She watched as the man placed the test down and wrote in his notebook, and she suddenly wondered why. Why was this happening? Why was something she needed to worry about?
Maybe it was earlier, when she was told she had to share a cell with one of the other workers. Being the type of person she was, it was often hard to find someone she disliked. But, this worker clearly was agitated with her, and every other word was often an argument. Maria tried, she really tried, to be the better person, but she couldn't help how hurt she was with the words.
Not being a fighter, it was clear others saw her as a weak link and worthless. She wasn't a qualified doctor, she wasn't strong enough to go on the dangerous hunts...she simply was.
She had expressed her concerns to her superior before she was dragged into the test, and now she felt herself being examined and judged yet again. Grumbling, she felt flooded with desperation to prove herself to others. Fighting was out of the question, she wouldn't be caught dead (or would she?) in the fight club...but maybe it was time to actually begin studying. Maybe she needed to focus on becoming more than a pencil pusher and actually use her schooling to help.
Sure, she was hurt, and wasn't used to such treatment, but it only meant she needed to prove herself...right? If she wanted to help everyone, she would need to equip herself with the skills, the training, and the cred as others liked to call it.
Determination flooded her, and she felt a bright smile finally cross her face as she thanked the doctor and rushed out of the room.
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 6:17 pm
⚔ Laundry Day Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 306
Redo Left ⚔ ???
Reward ⚔ 1 Bar
Maria had been selected for laundry duty in the block, and so she carried the worn clothes of her fellow survivors. It wasn't too much, considering they really didn't have much to spare, but it was enough for her to have a load to run and a job to do. Carrying the basket into the room, she placed it down and just pulled out the clothes she needed to wash.
As she shoved the laundry into the designated washer, she glanced around for the detergent. Eyeing the info on the back of the container, she realized that the cap had the right markings, and she filled it up to the one she needed. Drizzling the detergent into the washer, she then turned to find bleach.
Bleach was something she didn't really use, and so she wasn't sure what was needed. As she tilted it in, she accidentally overfilled the container, putting half the bottle in. Gasping, she glanced around and grabbed the softener, hoping that it might take some of the bleach. The question was, how much would she really need? Eyeing the box with a bit of confusion, she didn't see any lines or measurements. Filling the cup up, she quickly threw it in before slamming the door shut and turning on the washer.
So far, everything seemed to be fine. As she waited, she looked around at the other washers. It was boring, and she was glad for the beep. Pulling out her laundry, she noticed a few bleached spots, but nothing too crazy. It was decent enough, and hopefully the others wouldn't notice. Moving to a table, she quickly folded the clothing up and putting it back into the basket. Picking it up again, she moved away from the room and hoped she wouldn't be responsible for laundry for a long, long time.
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:11 am
⚔ Paintball Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ ...
Redo Left ⚔ ???
Reward ⚔ 6 Bars
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 11:44 am
⚔ Cardio Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 342
Redo Left ⚔ ???
Reward ⚔ Nothing
Maria walked to the gym with a bit of a pep in her step, confident thanks to the earlier paintball session. Maybe this training would work, and she would continue to improve moving forward and actually be something meaningful to the people around her. She rushed over to an area well away from the more unsavory occupants and began to move her arms and legs around in an effort to warm up. It was a slow process, but eventually she got warm enough to begin stretching, and feeling her legs and arms loosen and limber. After a good amount of time, she felt she was ready to get going and start working out.
Maria walked over to where the jump rope was, figuring it was a nice and easy practice and she'd be out of the way from the others. Lifting the ends of the flimsy equipment, she began to swing it and recalled her childhood and how easy it seemed to be. In fact, as she jumped she wondered why she stopped playing with the once-toy. That was until she felt an ache in her legs and her shins began to pain.
Slowing down her speed, she jumped a bit and looked around at those around her, eyeing the bigger men and the braver workers. She would need to push past everything and trust those around her, and hopefully find a way to connect and make allies with people she only saw a patients.
It was then that she suddenly felt her foot get caught in the rope, and she fell to the ground with a thud. No one seemed to look her way, but Maria felt like she could hear the snickers from those around her. Tossing the rope away in a fit of childish rage and embarrassment, and leaned over to look at her knee. It was beginning to swell, and she knew she would need to go wrap it.
Great, she came to work out, and now she would be limping out as a bigger inconvenience than before.
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:17 pm
⚔ Paintball Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 329
Reward ⚔ 3 Bars
Maria returned to the shooting range the next day, determined to see if her skills the other day were an act of talent or dumb luck. She saw a few familiar faces, both from the range and from around the block. Ruffling her hair, she found her nerves weren't as much of an issue this time around. Everything in the situation seemed to change, and that would either play to her favor or cause a different sort of performance.
As she grabbed the paintball gun and stepped up to the line, Maria felt calm and cool, but her senses also seemed to dull things. The first zombie popped up so quickly that she didn't have time to shoot it. Suddenly, she was scrambling, and she didn't shoot the second one either. The next human she saw and paused, glad for that, but she turned too late for the zombie that popped up.
So far, she had not fired a single shot.
When the last human popped up, Maria got her gull and focused, just in time to shoot the last zombie in the head. All of them popped up and Maria watched with a wary eye as she noticed more no-shots than shots. She hadn't hit any humans, but she had only hit one zombie too.
"Shame." The instructor grumbled as he took the paintball gun, and Maria shook her head before rushing away with red cheeks. So her first round was a fluke. What an absolute disappointment.
It seemed as if she took one step forward and two back. Letting out a frustrated hiss of breath, she knew she would need to come back again and redeem herself and her confidence. There was no way she'd make it out there with such wild results.
As if he noticed, the instructor approached her after he dismissed everyone, patting her shoulder once, "Practice makes perfect. No harm in coming back tomorrow."
Nodding, she agreed before heading back to her cell.
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:23 pm
⚔ Mental Assessment Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 368
Redo Left ⚔ 2 / 10
Reward ⚔ 1 Bars
Maria shifted in her seat as she once more sat across from the psychiatrist. The man was scribbling down something, but looked up and smiled easily when he caught her starring.
"Ready for your tests today, Maria?" He asked with charm, and she could only nod as he pulled out more boards and began to flip through them. Once again, she answered quickly and honestly, and he wrote down her responses each time. When he got the last one, she studied the blotch for a long moment.
"It looks like some sort of tiger...sabertooth even...with the eyes and the fangs. It's mouth is open, but it's fangs are broken."
Her response was a hum and more scratching before he set the last sheet down and settled in.
"I heard you had an interaction with someone who decided they wanted to address your old lifestyle...one of the previous inmates? How did that go?"
Maria hid her grimace well as she thought back to the man who approached her and began to ask what she would do to help the cause. She had no proper training in health, and was no fighter. So he began to tell her she was not suited for this life considering she didn't bother training herself for any meaning in the last.
It was startling, and she took a long moment to sputter a reply before he went off laughing. But it did prove that she needed to buckle down and actually start doing something to become someone. After day zero, many people who were nobodies became somebody...and the past life seemed to only impact the current based on learned skill. She was smart enough, and knew a bit about health, and so she let the man leave and just realized she needed to train more.
Maybe, she could step up and become a doctor...heavens knows they needed all hands on deck with the fight club.
"Well...it made me think I needed to do more here than just wander...I am no longer a receptionist, so I guess I need to start acting like a survivor."
Her doctor nodded, and began to scribble down in that notebook once more.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:12 pm
⚔ Kitchen Duty Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 350
Reward ⚔ 1 Bar, 10% Cred
Maria was sent to the kitchens as one of her first recruit tasks. They wanted to see how she would fare outside of the med ward, and if she could handle correctly using the limited supply. So, she was part of the group to help make dinner, and her work was not easy.
Looking down at her supplies, she had a bag of a mixed grain, massive amounts of baked beans, and some ghost peppers. Rubbing her head, she tried to think of something she could make out of the weird hodgepodge of ingredients.
"Maybe...a soup...it seems simple enough..."
She began to heat the beans, and added in the grains so they would cook with the juices. Putting on gloves (because even she knew a ghost pepper was not fun), she cut it up and took out the seeds, before adding it in as well and letting the whole thing cook slowly in the giant pots. Every so often, she made sure to stir the concoction and check to see if the grains and beans were heating up nicely. There was no boil, but the simmer seemed to work and a nice smell was filling the air.
Once it seemed heated and the grains saturated, she turned down the heat and took a bowl for herself...it was time to see if her work had paid off.
As she lifted the spoon for taste, she was immediately assaulted with the ghost pepper, the item burning her mouth and bringing tears to her eyes. Had it not been there, the grain and beans may have been manageable, but there was no solution to the heat that filled her senses. Her nose began to run as she rushed to spit out the soup in a nearby sink, whining a bit while the heat died down. If only she had milk as she heard that helps.
Even then, she doubted she would waste such a resource.
As the heat finally died down, she turned to the giant mash and groaned at her failure. But at least she learned a valuable lesson.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:34 pm
⚔ Medical Supplies Quest ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 409
Reward ⚔ 6 Bars, 25% Cred
Maria was at home in the medical ward. She was assigned to finally help out more, and the main thing that was needed was stocking and restocking. It wasn't glamorous, but it was something, and she was quite happy to do it. Faced with a large group of twenty boxes, Maria reminded herself that she needed to find all of the supply lists for each section.
As she dug through the boxes, she found loads of exam gloves, catheters, and even a beadpan. It was only in the last few boxes that she found the master list of what was inside, and she pulled the four lists out and studied them.
After having looked through each list, Maria realized that they were organized enough for her to put them in key locations. She took the first list and set it over by the surgery ward, giving guidance to the current supplies of the syringes, catheters and surgical scissors. The second one she took to the exam rooms, covering drape sheets, exam gloves, bandages and first aid kits. The third one she left in the long-term ward, which simply had bedpans. And finally, she took the thermometers back to the exam area, realizing they were important as they were disposable.
With the sheets now in a very clear place near the storage, she let her leader know so they could begin checking the rest of the supplies.
After they had completed emptying the boxes, Maria was directed to help organize everything in the closets. It was quite haphazard, and it was in need of a good re-organization so that items would be easy to find. Seeing a table near by, Maria dragged it over and began to take everything out. It was a long process, but as she took it out she continued to re-organize everything into piles. After a good hour, the piles were filled and the closet empty, so she began to put everything back inside. The larger boxes that were unopened went to the back, with the opened boxes and loose items near the front.
She wished she had a label maker like old times, as it would be so much easier to maintain if she could mark things. Right now, she would just need to make do.
Stepping back, she was happy to see her work complete, and soon enough was dismissed for the day with a pat on the back and a "job well done".
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Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 8:25 pm
⚔ Zone 1 - Objective 6 ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Reward ⚔ Junkyard Item, Supplies +1
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Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:25 am
⚔ Zone 1 - Objective 3 ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Reward ⚔ 433
Reward ⚔ Clothing Item, Supplies +1
Maria was sneaking through the area toward the radio tower, her eyes shifting around slowly as she tried to get an idea of where she needed to go. She saw a few undead in the area, and quickly ducked to the side and let them pass. Her breath was tight in her chest as she waited, and she tried to keep her heart rate down, as impossible as that would be. When the undead passed, she continued to sneak by in total silence, successfully moving toward and into the radio tower.
Closing the door behind her, Maria did a small little dance before looking at what she was tasked to do. The top of the stairs led to a room with hundreds of communication lines. Reprimanding at what she faced, she connected to one, and heard static.
"So...this is what I will need to deal with...great."
She tried again, this time with a switch farther down the line. It once again came back as static and maybe a voice, but nothing was clear. Rubbing her eyes, she flipped it off and moved away.
The next station she grabbed was a radio feed of the post-Zero broadcast. Maria laughed a bit at the news, and shook her head before turning it off. She heard enough of it in the prison, there was no need to listen to the feed this late in the game.
When she checked for the third time and heard static, Maria let out a curse and turned it off just as quickly. She listened to the silence and swore she would try one more time, but then she needed to go. Nothing was safe, and it was stupid to sit around for too long.
Maria tried her last one, and for once she got success. She almost didn't believe what she heard.
"-- you don't know me but I'm here to help you. Don't listen to anything they tell you. They have it wrong. -- Listen closely. -- undying are not the problem. The thorns are. They cannot be destroyed. Avoid them -- contagious -- do not touch. -- spread. That's how the virus replicates. -- too late for you. They will not let you leave."
Fumbling with the radio she was using on and off, she confirmed the information with the strangers, warning them of the message. It seemed that as she turned the radio down once more, she realized the time, and rushed back out. She needed to get back to the prison and let someone know, in case it was something that needed to be heeded.
Better to be safe than sorry.
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Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 4:07 pm
⚔ Zone 1 - Objective 4 ⚔ Word Count ⚔ 435
Reward ⚔ Healing Item, Supplies +1
It had been a long month. Maria sat down to recall the past 30 days and what she did since Day Zero. The topic was interesting, and as she thought back to it, she was struck by how much really had happened in such a short amount of time.
In the beginning, everything had been chaos. Her being at work seemed to be a blessing in disguise, as she was quickly herded into a location and actually felt quite safe. The Howling Ward was a concern, but the guidance of the leaders helped her adapt to the change in the world, and Maria actually wanted to have someone to follow. Had she been alone, she would have been completely lost. It was a blessing, for sure.
After she got used to the new schedule, the new housing, and her new neighbors, Maria actually tried to get back to her old life. It was no surprise that it didn't quite work out how she wanted, but she tried to be a guide in the medical ward. After being told none-to-nicely that she either needed to help or get out, she realized that Post-Z didn't really have room for administrative assistants. No one cared about nitty-gritty order, they wanted solutions and you better provide it to them as soon as possible.
So, she fell to the wayside and became a ghost, watching the people around her and wishing she knew more. Her days were spent on the outside of the yard, watching the inmates and the others interact and feeling lost. Occasionally she was dragged inside to wrap or hold someone down from the fight club, and she was glad she never went down to deal with that. But she still felt lost, and worthless, in the land around them.
So when they introduced testing and training, Maria was the first to step up after the overzealous leaders. She made sure to learn what she could, focus on her shots and answer questions honestly. She made sure that she took back her lessons and recalled them as she laid awake on the hard mattresses at night. Eventually, it would all pay off, or so she assumed.
And now, here she was. Outside of the safety of the walls and in a zone ran by bandits. She wasn't sure what would happen tonight, but she had faith that something good had to come out of this. They had learned so much, and now it was time to keep on surviving. If that's what this new life was considered, but hey, at least she wasn't dead. Or an undying.
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Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 5:18 pm
⚔ Zone 1 - Objective 2 ⚔ Link ⚔ Here
Word Count ⚔ 260
Reward ⚔ Random Drink and Supplies
Maria found herself assigned to go scavenge at the local store. The walk over was uneventful, and so she opened the door slowly and entered with a bit more hesitation. If it was easy getting in, that meant something had to be inside, right?
As she moved around the building, she began to pick up a strange smell. Not sure if it was sweet for a good reason or a bad one, she traced it to the copier room near the side of the building. Pushing open the door slowly, she noticed a copier room filled with pages. Picking one up, she let out a gasp at the content before scrambling away. Moving away from the room, a sound behind her caused her to still, before she slowly turned.
It was an undying, and a large one. Ducking behind a counter, she closed her eyes tightly and waited for the creature to pass, holding her breath and wishing she had some back up. She felt foolish for being here on her own.
Looking around as she waited, she caught sight of a stapler...attached to an arm . Resisting the urge to even let out a squeak of noise, she just stared at the arm until the undying was well away, before giving up on the place completely and rushing out the door.
As she made her way back to the bandit hideout, Maria reported the undying and the dead bodies. It was clear that the undying reigned supreme, and she warned the others about the area for any future scavenging.
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