[BP] Into The Wild Black Yonder (Tallahassee)

[Orestae]

Quote:

Team: Tallahassee

Mission: Retrieve medical supplies from the infirmary and spare clothing from the Drama room before sunset.

Members: Andeon, Mackenzie, Lucas, Nihls

Ah, Barren Pines.

What had once been an academy for bright and gifted young men and women was now little more than an academic wasteland. With most of the windows boarded up for safety and many of the doors chained shut, it looked like a scene right out of Silent Hill. You know, before the siren went off. Halls that had once been filled with laughing, talking students were now still and silent, occupied only by scattered papers and the occasional sign of struggle. A smashed window, a dented locker, an occasional smear of blood that vanished into some dark room. These were the only traces of the zombie brethren that shared their campus.

At the far end of the hall, the slightly ajar door allowed a single shaft of light to pierced the otherwise dim hallway, guiding them towards the parts of the building that still had power. Parts of the building more likely to attract the bloodthirsty shells of their former classmates. Andeon would have preferred not to lead his small troupe of merry misfits into such a deathtrap, but the need was dire. Medical supplies were going to be of vital importance soon enough, and they needed crutches if they were ever going to keep Jess alive. A long list of things they needed – food, water, clothing – weighed heavily on Andeon's mind.

It was a trying task to keep people alive. Especially with a small horde of blood-sucking, face-eating schoolkids nipping at your heels.

“If anything comes up,” he half-whispered, leveling the flagpole he'd procured as a weapon so that the spaded tip was held out before him, “Don't ask questions. I don't care if that zombie was your lover, your friend, your sister, or your ******** mom. If it's green and it moves, kill it.”

That said, Andeon prodded the spear forward, nudging the door open.  

[x_Nata_x]

Mack crept along behind Andeon, checking her six every few minutes, just in case one of those so called 'blood-sucking, face eating schoolkids' decided to sneak behind them and make them an easy snack. This was no video game -- there was no pause button if a zombie decided to snatch them out of the darkness, no resetting if they suddenly found teeth gnawing at their intestines. Tensing a little, the redhead shivered, a cold, terror-laced chill running down her spine, feeling something decidedly slimy and warm on the wall where she had had her hand, jerking it back ******** this place had changed. You could practically cut the tension with a knife.

Swiveling her head back towards the front of their gang, she peered at the boy through the dark, nodding sharply in the darkness. At least they agreed on that. Then again, as time had gone on, Mackenzie had found more and more that she she didn't mind Andeon 'dickwad' Whateverhislasnamewas. In this situation, the two of them had sort of taken over a very minor leadership roll of what they had affectionately dubbed 'Team Tallahassee,' with the pink haired boy being more of the authoritative figure than herself. She preferred it that way anyway. She had never been much of a leader (see: Student Council Representative, not 'President') so she was actually glad when Andeon had stepped up to give orders. She'd offer advice when needed and try to keep morale up, but order-giving was his job.

"And don't hesitate," She mumbled in return, keeping a tight hold of Nihls' arm as they walked, just in case he couldn't see. Her eyes paused when they focused on what she thought was Lucas', silently trying to see if he was alright. Of them, he had seemed the most tense when they had left their 'safe house.' It was dangerous to say anymore than she already had, but she gave him what she hoped was a reassuring nod, if only to let him know they were all together. Raising her bat high, she swallowed as the door slid open with a low creak, heart beating loudly in her chest as they peered inside.  

[Ryuthulhu]

Nihls swallowed around the lump nerves had put in his throat, staying close to Mack, who was currently his equivalent of a guide dog. Survival and self preservation made any small concerns about dignity an thought shoved onto the farthest back burner of his mind.
If there'd been any doubt, his behavior was either the best acting on campus, or he really had no functional night vision.
"... I don't -hear- anything..." he offered, quietly, hoping he'd at least be of some use as a pack mule, since he felt otherwise functionally useless.  

[Iris_virus]

-What Mackenzie had taken as nervous tension was actually excited adreniline. It was Lucas' Go time face. The familar grimace and stare were the same one that stared at the screen for hours. Only now his head whipped back and forth now and then, finding it alittle more difficult than he remembered to keep an eye on their surroundings. If they ran into any actual monsters, the next step would be gritted teeth, and then hopefully a victorious grin and slew of curses.

The hallways were beginning to dim a little with the daylight as they reached the infirmary. He fell in place, listening for the telltale sign of 'trouble'-  

[x_Nata_x]

Inside, the room was only slightly better lit than the hallway from which they had come. The scene before them, however, probably left them wishing it wasn't.

The infirmary had become a butchery. A single light bulb was what remained of the lighting in the room, the light fixtures laying smashed and half-hanging from the ceiling. Blood dribbled eerily from some of the broken glass into a puddle on the floor to their right, echoing as it pooled on the filthy floor. The walls were no longer a pristine, sterile white -- gashes of blood and flesh stuck to the walls, lines left by dragging fingernails marked the walls where someone tried to claw to their escape. The remains of something that use to be human lay scattered among the room in bits and pieces, severed hunks of flesh like misshapen, uncooked hamburger patties.

On an old, beaten up heater, the remains of what had been someone's shoulder lay cooked on to the metal grating, still smoldering, the stench of roasting meat wafting through the door and out to meet them, the air hot and sticky with the moisture of human bodies.  

[Orestae]

Andeon wanted to vomit. His stomach knotted and heaved, and only sheer force of will kept him from returning Mackenzie's earlier favor. Perhaps it might not have been so bad had he been wearing shoes, or even socks. However, when his bare foot came down into a large, still-warm pile of what he could only assume were human entrails, Andeon shot Mackenzie a look. It said I needed those ******** socks. Slowly, the boy lifted his foot from the muck, a long string of bowel caught between his toes. He nudged it off with the base of the flag pole and, after side-stepping out of the mess, leaned on the pole as his body fought to overcome a rising wave of nausea.

“Team of two,” he said, his face paling, “Get bandages, blankets, medicine. Anything we might need. If you can find any antibiotics, those take priority.”

And then Andeon leaned to one side as his stomach heaved, and deposited his half-digested lunch all over the floor.  

[x_Nata_x]

The only reason Micky did not toss her cookies was because she had already done so not an hour before. And even now, she was dry heaving, trying not to gag on the mere smell of half-cooked meat.

The worst part was it almost smelled like steak.

Letting go of Nihls' arm and stepping into the room, she covered her nose and mouth with the crook of her elbow, trying to ignore the squishing sound as her boots moved over the tile. O-oh s**t. She could do this. They could do this. Again, the redhead swallowed, taking a deep breath through her mouth, trying not to imagine the taste of blood in her mouth. This was really going to test what they were made of. Slowly she picked around the room, following Andeon as if she were a Snuzzles-wannabe, tensed and ready for whatever was out there.

Right off the bat she found a closet against the far wall, the metal door hanging open and requiring only a little nudging of corpse out of the way to get inside. "Found some blankets," she murmured under her breath, glancing over her shoulder at the rest of them, "They seem relatively clean. The closet... shielded them, it seems." Shielded them from the human hamburger. She was going to need some therapy after this. If she survived this.  

[Ryuthulhu]

Nihls shut his eyes for a moment, head spinning, and tried to control the gagging reflex that turned his stomach into a knot. It wasn't the sight, not as such. Spared from the color he couldn't distinguish the black and pink of perfectly cooked meat, or splattered blood, from any other dark, black and gray, and as such, the visual aspect was less... visceral for him. The SMELL however...
And if he let his eyes linger too long on any one thing, he knew his shocked brain would eventually allow itself to recognize what it was seeing, and then he would join Andeon and Mickey, if in savage dry heaves, not having eaten since his escape last night.
With his jaw clamped tight, he forced himself to swallow, though his throat was dry, his senses conflicted by the fact that cooked human didn't smell so much different from any other unseasoned and cooked meat, and finally added with a rasp to his voice that indicated the burn of bile at the back of his throat. "I'll help..."
He forced himself to press into the room, though he was as tightly strung as the strings on his lost violin as his bare feet squished in things he refused to examine, though his hands were trembling savagely as he did so.
"W... we can make an carry all with one of the blankets." He suggested. "Take as much as we can." ... so that they didn't have to come back to -this-. He shuddered again, swallowing the harsh burning taste at the back of his throat, though this inevitably came with the -taste- of burned meat and blood that lingered in the air, and only made the waves of nausea feel worse. "...Anything stronger than asprin... we might have to break a lock." he advised, searching the room for where such things might have been kept. Although limited supplies, they should have some things they might be able to use. Even a codine-supplemented cough syrup might be better than say, no real painkillers at all.  

[Iris_virus]

-The smell was rank. Seriously, seriously putrid. Like hours into a convention in 100 degress weather with his more nerdy breathern, you know the ones that didn't seem to grasp the joys of good hygiene. It wasn't the same smell of course, but it had that same overpowering, I can almost taste it, nastiness. He almost would have prefered the massacred remains been that of a skunk instead of human, so there would be SOMETHING to mask it.

However, Lucas couldn't help but scrunch his face in distaste as 'fearless leader' hurled like a rookie police officer. Years of desenstivity with this same exact scene... He did offer a bit of friendly advice as he stood back, keeping an eye on the door and his surroundings as the 'team of two' scouted forwards.-

"Be ready to jump back at any moment."

"This is WAY too fresh. I'll bet my money that there is something in here just waiting to pop out at you." -Trickey zombie bastards.

He set his hand down on the counter near him without thinking about it, redrawing it when he felt warm gushiness instead of cool metal. Bleckkk...

Shaking his hand a few times unhappily, he wiped the remaining gunk against his shirt, attention suddenly turning to the desk. Information... Secrets..

Giving the top drawer a hard tug, he was surprised but pleased to see it open without trouble, and slowly he began to rustle through the many pages in the files looking for anything that looked like a diary page, secret governmental file, or floor plan schmatics. Very little luck with THAT.-