THE STORY!
FRIDAYThe story begins early Friday morning. The lab staff, has been testing out a new "feral serum" on lab animals in attempts to better understand why some of the islanders are exhibiting severe psychological reactions to the serums. In order to put this to the test, they isolate what they think might be the cause, and test it on a group of islanders, some more changed, some who have exhibited incidents of feralness in the past, some more in control, predators, prey species, and even one "control" - Nita, who at that point was unchanged. The list of "feral serum" test subjects are:
Ambrose, Cassidy, Antony, Chubbs, Kaveri, Pyroth, Nita, Joliette, Emelyn, Ian
Early Friday morning, jeeps from the labs are sent down, these subjects (and any in their quarters) are buzzed, these individuals brought back to the labs, injected, and then deposited at various places around the jungle before unbuzzed.
While under the effects of the serum, the animal DNA effectively takes over the mind, suppressing rational thought and the human consciousness. When the effects do wear off, it leaves the subjects with no memory of the time under the serum.
Even after it wears off, the staff does not wish to tell the subjects to see if there are any lasting effects of this serum. Telling them might add psychosomatic reactions.
Chubbs and Joliette were left near eachother purposely to see how much of the human side might have shone through in two particularly violent animals. They got into a scuffle before parting ways.
A few characters, who were out in the jungle or nearby, caught glimpses of some of these feral islanders. Angelina also encountered Ambrose (on Saturday). Wolves, being less violent towards humans, and that part of him already identifying her as his mate, did not attack her, but was still quite skittish, and easily spooked by the rolling thunder.
Many of the subjects under the feral serum over the next couple of days hunted, killing island fauna (and getting themselves bloody).
That afternoon, clouds roll in. James also arrives Friday late afternoon, and has his spat with Moreau.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?page=4&t=1142272#59420166SATURDAY By Saturday morning, the storm has broken, getting worse as the day progresses.
Around 7pm, Zach is buzzed. Sabin drives down to the village to retreive him, and takes him back to the labs in order to administer his third injection. He has him in the labs, exalting over the changes up-close, and taking care to do everything right.
Meanwhile, just a few doors down, Aubrey has attempted to attract Moreau's attentions, only to end up in a BIG fight:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?page=25&t=1140502#59553015In the elevators it is 8:27 when the first power-flicker happens. The whole power goes off for a few minutes, and then back on at half-power. The village only runs the 'essential' things - the cafeteria, dim lighting in the rooms - no hot water, none of the entertainment stuff. Most of the outlets don't even work. Meanwhile, in the labs, only those cameras pointed at the feral serum subjects (and Jamal) are kept activated - those who are most volitile and likely to hurt someone. Moreau isn't even aware Aubrey left the labs, and Billy isn't feral-serum'd, so the staffmember on duty doesn't even see the Aubrey/Billy encounter.
Aubrey gets into her fight with Moreau.
After going back to her room, changing clothes, crying, she drives out to see Billy.
Meanwhile, Sabin has decided to keep Zachary in the labs for observation of his change firsthand, hoping to keep him unconscious with the buzzer for the change - saving him the pain.
Aubrey and Billy: Aubrey runs to Billy from her argument with Moreau.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?page=17&t=2195502#59551443Billy starts to change, then, at 12:13 - just after midnight,
ZOT! A huge flash of lightning and the power goes out. For real this time.Aubrey gets scared, knowing the chips won't work if the power's out, and flees to the jeep. She drives frenetically back towards the labs, but with the storm, no power, and the dark road only lit by intermittant flashes of lightning, she veers off and gets stuck in the mud about a mile from the village. She grabs a flashlight, gets out and starts to head back to the labs on foot - at least two miles from the labs still.
MEANWHILE:
- James, who has been in the town hall during the storm, realizes the connotations of the power out. Grabbing his knife, he starts to head towards the labs, knowing the fence will be out and he can get in and perhaps do some damage.
However, on the way, he gets ambushed by PYROTH. James takes some damage, but succeeds in stabbing Pyroth in the shoulder pretty badly. Before he can pull the knife away, Pyroth takes off and runs back in the direction James came - towards the village (some part of him remembering that the village is usually safer). Outside Rex's window (between the Duplex 33/34 and 35/36 buildings), he is able to wrest the knife out of his shoulder with a yelp, and heads back into the jungle.
Defeated and battered, James retreats.
ALSO MEANWHILE:
Sabin, in the labs with Zach, also takes note of the powerout. However, this means that if Zach comes to, Sabin has NO way of restraining him. Zach has yet to start changing (nor does Sabin really expect him to for at least another several hours). He carries him outside to another jeep, and starts driving back towards the village. However, the serum kicks in sooner than Sabin anticipated. Zach lets out an inhuman screach and flails as his tail grows longer and a new arm tears itself quickly from his stump. Sabin looks back in shock (not happily - this is NOT the time) - and is WHACKED by the flailing Zach in the eye. Sabin veers off the road, smashes into a tree. The airbags deploy and Zach is thrown from the vehicle, going mad with pain and the turbulent emotions of his change (that like his first one are monstrously chaotic for him - seven animals in a serum makes for maddening changes). Sabin is knocked unconscious. Zach tears off down the road, still changing.
Zach soon encounters Aubrey heading in his direction. In the flashes of lightning, and Zach's inhuman screaching, she flees into the jungle hoping to lose him. Zach, the predator in his mind sees something running and tears after it. He eventually catches up to her and rends her across the stomach, leaving her bleeding and severely injured faced down in the mud. No longer moving, and no longer holding the dragon's ire, Zach continues his rampage in the general westward direction. Eventually, his body exhausted, he retreats into the cave - a setting familiar to the bat side of him as well as the spelunker (and a place he has encountered Emelyn (maybe not the same cave, but a similar one) - realizing its safety.) A combination of the rampant post-change emotions and the shock that everyone received from the chips (some had more memories wiped than others) Zach remembers very little of the previous night.
EARLY sunday morning, Kaveri encounters Aubrey, and acting under the impulses of the Vulture, begins to eat. The scent also lures a few others who are nearby already closer - Ambrose who surveys the scene, and Emelyn.
SUNDAYEarly Sunday morning, the power finally comes back on. However, when it does the failsafe (as well as the frantic button mashing of the labtechs on duty) sends a surge through all of the chips, KO'ng all of the subjects. Some subjects take this MASSIVE shock harder than others - losing hours or even, in the case of a few, days of memory.
This final KO shakes loose any remnant effects of the feral serum in the aformentioned subjects.
The staffmembers quickly learn that the HUGE power surge not only means that the tapes from when the power was out weren't working, but the surge wiped all of the active tapes in the machine, erasing all data from the entire night.
As for some of the other minor mysteries, for example Antony's tree-bound predicament: it's a wonder what adrenaline and feral instincts will do when you've got a feral bear/wolverine/taz devil after you. Animals in the wild have to compensate for broken or damaged limbs or get eaten. The big gashes in the tree are from Chubb's claws before he gave up in search of easier prey.
Cassidy's bulge was a middle-sized jungle animal that got in the wrong side of the tree-snake (likely a monkey).
Before being injured by James, Pyroth had also encountered a juvenile boar, hunting it and eating a part before being driven off by Chubbs, a bigger predator - leaving him still hungry.
Sabin is covering for Zachary. He doesn't want it to get out that Zach gave him the shiner because Zach is HIS project, and doesnt want him to be a suspect to Moreau. He also knows Zach overthrew his vehicle on the road and went rampant, but doesn't know where Aubrey was found or the condition she was found it.
Sabin was still surprised and eager to see Zachary later as he never exactly got a good, close look at him during the rainstorm when he drove off the road, and Zach was unfinished changing.
***
most of the 'evidence' turned into the lab had been in situations too poor to extract a good sample with the machines they have. They are good for extracting DNA from good subjects, but not meant for forensic research to get partials and damaged or mishandled evidence.
http://www.reliagene.com/index.asp?menu_id=forensic&content_id=f_evidence((Even a lab that specializes in DNA matches can't work with the type of evidence that the islanders were submitting)).
The facilities on the island are not meant to extract damaged or contaminated DNA - and had to be sent off-island to specialists.
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