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That final thwack against the head did it. Somewhere in the back of his head where he could no longer hear it, Trynt and been snarling explicative after explicative, but now even that steady buzzing ceased to exist as Finn's eye rolled back in his head, and the crumpled to the ground. Noemi's apologies were not heard either, nor would they be remembered when he came to again.

Blood was still dripping slowly, almost lazily down his chin. His body lay so still that it looked as though he was not breathing. He stayed this way until one of the life techs came to administer the temporary vaccine, while muttering under his breath about what a pain in the a** these trainees were, getting themselves infected out of sheer stupidity.

It was almost immediately after the administration that Finn came to, his eye flaring back open wide, no longer sickly looking but it's usual dull, cold brown.

He stirred and groaned. His head ached like crazy, and there was a stiffness to his movements as he pushed himself into a sitting position and rested his head in his hand. What had just happened? The brightness of the light in the room was too blinding just yet for him to take a chance to look around, instead focusing on his thoughts and memories.

The lights had gone out. He had groped blindly on both sides of himself for the hands that he had known to be nearby but had failed, one of those jerking and slipping away between his fingers. Noises, panic, voices. Jack's voice, Ripley's, Chel's......

Pain in his shoulder, which resonated with the feeling in it currently. He had been bitten, and though he had tried in some frayed sense to remain composed and tell himself it was nothing, he still remembered the hunger, even now.....

"s**t." He coughed, forehead furrowing. After that his memories became a blur. He had blood on his face, could feel it, could taste it on his tongue and lips. Whose was it? He hoped the answer was nobodies, and only his own.

It took a moment longer to push himself to his feet, a hard stare going to those gathered around him. Noemi, Milo, Cee. Jack and Chel and Hanna. He didn't know what to say to any of them, but looking at them all, though they were frayed and Jack's jacket was stained with small spray of blood, nobody really appeared to be hurt.

That was good. Maybe that meant that Finn hadn't actually gotten a mouthful of anybody.

There was one face in the crowd that was missing however, and where his voice had been lost before, now he felt he had a sentence, a question in fact, that was worth saying.

"Where is Ripley?"

Stormy made to follow anyway, if only because being on the move made her feel better. Like she had more purpose to her steps.

But seeing Tuck lunge at Heidi brought her to a full stop: heart, body, and mind.

No no no. This had to be treatable. There were hunters around them who were waking up as if in a reverie, so it had to mean that knocking him out would make him better. But even so, striking Tuck was a hard idea to swallow.

Do something. It's your fault he's like this.

"Tuck." Her voice cracked, so she tried again in a stronger voice. "Tuck, if you're mad at someone, then you're mad at me." Get him away from Heidi, make him ignore Evan, do something. She brandished the great sword, trying to bait him with a slow swing. "C'mon, Tuck, I'm right here!"

HP: 60
Damage: nope

Infected - 12HP

It was a veritable smorgasbord of food, flesh, flesh, meat, meat meat. Something pulled at his arm, but it didn't register. Someone else swung something at him, but it didn't matter. He was hungry. He was rabid.

There came a blow from behind, and he stumbled forward just a bit. He let loose a low, wet gurgle before lunging towards the nearest person.

DMG: 8
TARGET: Evan

Evan froze as Tuck turned to attack him. Time seemed to slow as everything dropped: his heart, his stomach, his nerve. His pulse pounded in his ears as he took in the vacant, mindless, hungry look in Tuck's eyes. This was not unfamiliar to him. He saw it in his dreams night after night after night on other faces that were no less beloved.

Way to go. So much for "never again," huh?

"N-no," Evan whispered in horrified disbelief.

Is this what I died for? So more people could die on your watch?

Evan staggered back as Tuck attacked him, but he couldn't bring himself to retaliate. He hadn't even gotten his mind around it yet. Tuck had been turned into the very thing Evan hated most in the world, and it was his fault. He hadn't been able to save Tuck. He had failed his best friend--again.

HP: 37/50
Damage: neutral
Charge: 1/3; 1/1, 1/1

With the larger mob of bodies gone, the smaller fights of those she knew and recognized became all the more clear. Shooting Peyton a small, brittle smile, America passed by Rep and Harrison, voice low and strangely flat, "It's not a joke."

The lights came back, and Leslie let go of Abbi's hand like he'd been burned. (Because, of course, in the dark he'd shoved his shoulder against hers and clutched her, unsure of who had done the reaching first.)

"Christ," he said, giving a good, hard look to the infected bitches all over the room. He summoned Aleria, and kept his back to a wall. "Some of the others are turning into like. Whatever the ******** the patients were. Jesus."

Stormy had no idea if he could even understand her but she kept talking anyway, because this was Tuck and not a mindless creature, not a thing no matter how he was acting, and maybe somewhere in there he could hear her. "That's right," she coaxed him gently, wincing as he took a slice out of her shield but feeling no infection yet. "Good hit. No more performance anxiety, huh? That's good, that's really good..."

Evan and Heidi were safe for the moment. She could see Heidi's defense was pretty solid anyway if this didn't work, but it was the Sun's horrified look that drew her glance. This was the first time Stormy had ever seen him look so shaken, and for a moment she got close to the brink too. Maybe she was doing it wrong again; that seemed to be her specialty. Maybe she ought to be as frightened.

But Evan believed they had failed, and she didn't. She wouldn't, not without undeniable proof, and maybe not even then. Her brothers needed her, and that was all that mattered.

In the second that they locked eyes, Stormy became strangely serene and decisive. For all the times Evan had supported her, it was time to pay some of it back. She nodded at him slightly as if to say it's okay I can handle the rest, and then focused on Tuck.

"I got you," she said softly, remembering that was what he used to say. "Don't worry, I got you." And you can hate me again when you're better.

In one swing he was downed.

She barely paid attention to the tech that leapt in seconds afterward to administer the cure, muttering about resources. All she could focus on was the unshakeable feeling of hope and misery that had been mixing inside of her for the last hour, making her tremble with nerves.

HP: 54
Target: Tuck
Dmg: 14 wtg