TEAM TRAINWRECK IN THE HOUSE

[major_west]

Who: Major West, Iago, Snoop Pearson, Scotty, Abigail, and the Marquis
Where: PORT. A cabin in the woods (I'm thinking northern Michigan)
When: POOOORT.
Warnings: VIOLENCE AND ZOMBIES. Mod NPCs who aren't me are welcome.
Notes: For the sake of simplicity, since we all have different schedules, I'm saying no set posting order, BUT don't go like,

Comments

[inhumandog]

Dammit. That was all Iago had in his mind at the moment. Dammit. Thankfully, his time in Masterworld had accustomed him to weapons. They were not like this, but he had certainly moved beyond bows and arrows and swords. It would be simple to figure out.

At West's orders, Iago simply nodded, trusting that he at least seemed to know what he was doing. He wasn't going to follow them yet, but he had no reason to argue.

"What is it?" he asked curtly, picking up a pistol and checking it. It seemed sound enough and it fit fine in his hands. It was quick. Efficient. Easy to handle. But he wanted to know why West jumped to that conclusion before he started shooting anything.

[major_west]

"It's Infection," he responded, his voice clinical and detached. His eyes caught flashes of figures moving between the trees, and he steadied the gun (some sort of Uzi the former occupants had left behind), following the movement. "Highly contagious. If their blood gets into the eyes, mouth or an open wound, you have approximately thirty seconds before you succumb to the virus." He fired a burst of shots at one of the approaching Infected, downing it despite its persistence. "So. It's best to keep your distance."

[inhumandog]

That message took a moment to fully register to Iago. However, he didn't really understand until he quickly moved beside West and saw for himself what the man was talking about.

What. The hell. Was that? Certainly no virus he had ever seen before in his life. It certainly answered a lot of questions. He moved to a nearby window to keep watch as well, but also to continue his questioning.

"This isn't real." He whispered that but the second was a deliberate question. "Major...how do you know this?"

[itweresport]

Abigail - who has wanted no part of this cabin excursion but found herself along anyway due to, she assumed, the presence of her new warden - wrung her hands. She had never used a gun before, and to see the two men arming and positioning themselves at the windows made her frightened. The talk of infection frightened her less so; she had seen some nasty outbreaks of typhoid and syphilis in Salem. It was West's reaction to it all that upset her.

Frightened, she approached Iago - the closes thing she had to a friend here - and put a hand on his sleeve.

"It is only a sickness. Why must we arm ourselves? The sick are of no threat if we let them not come near - is it not so?" she asked, her tone betraying her nervousness about the guns.

[beam_me]

Generally not one for silence, Scotty had been abnormally quiet, piping in only to speak with Abigail or attempt to calm her in quiet tones. His position at the window opposite West had been held long enough that he believed him -- well, now. Scotty felt that West was being paranoid initially, but then the noises had begun. They emerged. He was right on the ball with his suspicions and description, which had left Scotty speechless and compliant.

Abigail's question, although directed at Iago, was answered in a soft tone by Scotty, "Y'ever heard of rabies, Miss Abigail? They're... it's unfortunate, but that seems t'be the case here. They're crazed beyond reason."

[major_west]

"Because this is..." He hesitated, trying to find the right words as he fired another burst of shots at the figures moving amongst the trees. "Where I come from, what was left of it when I... arrived on the Barge." He fired again, indiscriminate of what he hit, then pulled away from the window when the tell-tale screeches stopped.

For now. He knew there would always be more.

"If you become Infected, I will be forced to shoot you," he said firmly, casting his eyes on the others. "There is no cure to the virus."

To Scotty and Iago, he pointed to the window and walked away from it. "Stay by the window. Keep an eye out for them." Pacing for a moment, he tried to come up with a game plan. "Normally, I'd advocate remaining here until the port's conclusion, but as it is... We will be forced to leave soon enough. So, we'll need to come up with a solid plan to find this safe house with... minimal casualties." Looking at the others again, he studied them. "What are your strengths?"

[impure_tale]

The Marquis had been mostly silent during all of this, at first deferring to Henry's commentary because he immediately seemed to know where he was. However, the more he spoke, the more he began to realize this wasn't necessarily a good thing. He examined the weapons for a make he was more familiar with or at least felt confident he could operate. But by then he had also decided he'd been quiet long enough.

"Henry, I think that's quite enough." He took up one of the smaller weapons and checked its ammunition. He figured it out quickly enough. A hard glance. "I think the lot of us might be of a good deal more use if we didn't start by voting on who's expendable and focused more on getting everyone home."

[major_west]

"I haven't called anybody expendable," he responded sharply. "But in order to determine how we're getting to this safe house, I need to know what everybody's strengths and weaknesses are. Unless, of course, you'd like to take a sloppier approach for the sake of sparing feelings." There was an underlying snideness and contempt in his voice.

[impure_tale]

The Marquis looked utterly incredulous -- at the very suggestion that he could be accused of softening the blow for anyone. "I don't spare anyone's feelings," he said tersely. "Least of all yours, so slow down and don't get ahead of yourself." He shook his head, knowing that his own irritability wasn't going to help matters, and with a breath clarified. "Please. Your familiarity with this situation will certainly help, but you wouldn't be with us now if there were not other dangers for you."

[major_west]

West gave him a very pointed, creepy-dead-inside stare and spoke very plainly. "The danger for me was betrayal." He cast his gaze to the others, remaining stonily silent for a moment, then spoke again. "So I suggest we all cooperate."

[inhumandog]

Iago shook his head at them. "Stop. This isn't going to get us anywhere. Obviously, Marquis, the Major knows something we don't. So I suggest we defer to him for the moment. And I'm quite sure you, West, understand my strengths. At least when it comes to military operations."

He stayed near the window, but, almost as an afterthought, put a hand on Abagail's after she touched his sleeve. "Go to a corner, away from the window," he whispered to her sharply and turned his attention outside.

[impure_tale]

The Marquis turned from West and began rifling through the other supplies he could find -- picking up a med pack but not immediately certain what it was. "There is wisdom in that, Iago. But defer doesn't imply obey. And I don't want to hear you throwing the word 'betray' about again." He looked sternly at him. "No one here has the intention of delivering everyone else to their deaths, nor have any of us a great desire to die here."

[pissinthatcup]

Snoop had seen enough zombie films to know what was going on here, so while the initial explanations went on, she'd busied herself with the weaponry, checking and loading a pistol, and tucking it into the waistband of her pants, before taking a second pistol and going through the same checks. As the conversation progressed, she tested the guns sight, pointing it a little to the left of the Marquis head, "Well fuck it, man. I get bit out there? Y'all have my fuckin' premission to get my ass done with."

This said, she lowered the gun, giving it a final once over before tucking it too into her waistband, and returning to peruse the rest of the weapons, "Way I fuckin' see it, that shit ain't livin', and the motherfucker what come at you wearin' my skin? Bitch won' be me."

[major_west]

"Don't you ever tell me what to say again," West responded, looking at the Marquis very coldly. "You brought up my death, and I told you what delivered it. Now, you're simply stirring shit and taking issue with everything I say for the sake of it. So shut up and let us plan." He looked to Snoop, silently approving of her subtle action, then took a mental inventory of the others. Iago and Snoop were soldiers; he could rely on them. The Marquis was already becoming a problem, and while West didn't relish the idea of acting against him, he wasn't going to let one man doom them all by unnecessarily stirring conflict. Scotty... an engineer. He knew that much from his limited exposure to Star Trek. The girl was another matter entirely. She appeared to be a civilian through and through, and he had absolutely no knowledge of where she came from or what she was capable of. He would have to keep her safe, as was his duty as a soldier

[inhumandog]

Iago nodded and knelt down by the window, finally deciding that a pistol wasn't enough. He needed something bigger. Putting the pistol in his waistband, he grabbed something more appropriate for the long range shots and positioned himself by the window again.

He glanced at the Marquis only once, giving his head a small shake. Iago knew the man had a tendency to speak out, but Iago didn't want that to be the case here. The last thing he wanted was to choose sides. He knew that he should probably side with the Marquis, but he also realized that he would end up siding with West anyway.

He glanced to Snoop. "Take that window back there. We don't want any surprises from that end."

[pissinthatcup]

Snoop nodded wordlessly, and moved across to the other window, drawing her gun and readying herself at her own window. She didn't have any allegiance to the Marquis. She'd prefer not to have to kill an old guy, but this wasn't a negotiable situation. There were fuckin' zombies outside. If he wanted to cause shit right now? Then the way she saw it, he took the hand that came with it.