day nine | the fog has lifted

[voidnpcs]

CHARACTERS: Anyone.
DATE: ( September 4th (day 9) )
RATING: PG-13~R for gore.
SUMMARY: Daylight breaks and the fog rolls back out to sea, revealing what the strange noises caused.

Comments

[cafpowgirl]

Abby smelled it before she saw it. The stench of death was something she was well familiar with. But that didn't make it any easier when she saw the bodies. In fact, she took a step back as she realized what who she was looking at.

It was the unfriendly man whose feed she had hacked breaking into a building on the island. He hadn't even been outside. He'd been murdered inside the dorms, one of the few places she felt semi-safe. If this was a game, someone was seriously ill. It was becoming a battle to keep from throwing up but Abby couldn't bring herself to leave the scene.

We're all going to die here. started repeating over and over in her head and for once, Abby didn't know what to do.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot had been meaning to check on Big Boss again after having hauled the man back to his rooms a few days -in 24 hour terms- ago, but Hardison told him Big Boss had disappeared, which Eliot took to assume the burly guy was restless and left on his own steam. It would be what Eliot himself would have done, so he thought nothing of it at the time.

Of course, he should have realized something was wrong given the type of place this was.

It was too late by the time he found Big Boss. Or rather, what remained of him recognizable only through the scraps of cloth that was more rags than clothing. Eliot wouldn't be disturbed by the ugly scene if it wasn't so damned familiar.

"At least he wasn't killed in his room," he muttered, walking into the possible crime scene with a wary glance around.

[cafpowgirl]

Force of habit caused Abby to look in Eliot's direction when he entered, but she didn't wave, or say hi or any of the other things that a non-freaked out Abby would have done. She swallowed hard and started to stagger backwards out of the room. Why had they been killed? Was it because they were trying to get into things that whoever brought them here wanted protected? Was that what was going to happen to her next?

As her fingers brushed the doorjamb, she stopped, her back against the wall.

[distinctive_guy]

A glance told Eliot that Abby wasn't going to break down, so he stepped past her for a closer inspection of the body. His expression remained grim as he took in the mauled body, quickly determining from the extensive amount of blood that this was where Big Boss had met his demise. The gore, well, all that could have come after, but the body had to be alive for the blood to flow.

Whatever manner of creatures that did this, they obviously climbed in and out of the broken patio doors of the inhospitable room. Bloody claw trails leading the macabre dance around the room eventually went out the same way.

Staggering back to his feet, he gave Abby a look then tilted his head towards the door. Out there where the air was fresher. The metallic tang of the sticky mess clogged his senses, and as he stepped out into the hall, he snorted several times through his nose to clear it as successfully as removing molasses with a gust of wind.

He grimaced and treated Abby a light look. "He deserved better."

[cafpowgirl]

She watched Eliot as he examined the body. When he gestured for her to follow him out the door, she did. Once the body was out of sight, she felt slightly better, but not much.

"Yeah, he did." At first it looked like she was done, but then in typical Abby-fashion her words started rushing out. "I saw him..on the video. He was trying to set off a bomb. What if that's why they did it, why they killed him? Because he was trying to see things that he wasn't supposed to see and wasn't playing by the rules? If I try to hack the system again, am I going to die too?" Her voice cracked, and she sagged against the wall.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot looked rather grim as Abby explained her theory, an expression that steadily darkened as it carried on. But it fit the circumstances well enough that no one would question the reason.

"Yeah?" He looked back to the direction of the room, and recalled Hardison's discovery of Big Boss breaking into the offices after them. If that really was the reason, the only difference between them was the burly soldier was too obvious.

"No... maybe. Doesn't make sense. For him, yeah, but..." What about the others? Except Eliot wouldn't know about there being others without having seen things he shouldn't have himself. He latched onto the other topic instead. "What's that about a bomb?"

[cafpowgirl]

Abby saw Eliot's expression change, but figured he was just concerned as she was. "He must have been military. I don't know any average people who go around carrying C4 and a detonator. It looked like he was inside a building somewhere, but he didn't want to give me any idea where he was."

She pushes herself back up to her feet, taking a few breaths to get herself back under control. Breaking down wasn't going to help the situation any. "I don't know what to do now."

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot knew a few non-military people who loved carrying those things, one of whom was on the island herself. But rather than revealing this exciting insight, he just nodded along. "Military, makes sense. He carried himself like one." He didn't volunteer his knowledge on which building either.

"First, we find some way to clean up." They can hardly leave the body there to rot and decompose in the dorm. He gave her a sympathetic look and asked kindly, "You alright?"

[cafpowgirl]

Abby absentmindedly brushed her pigtails and shrugged. "Not really, but freaking out isn't going to help anything right now, is it? Thanks for trying to look out for me though."

Eliot was probably the closest thing Abby had to a friend on the island. She looked back at the room where the body rested. "Have you seen a graveyard anywhere on the island? You'd think this place would have one with all the monsters about."

[distinctive_guy]

Yeah, the office. Eliot shook his head, no. "Whatever happened here, they didn't anticipate the needs for one. Or they didn't have time. Best we come up with a place to..." He glanced at the open doorway. It was like war all over again. Soldiers charging into the battle field and there weren't even enough left to bury when they were done. "...put him."

He tried to lighten the mood with a soft smile. "We hafta look out for one another here."

[cafpowgirl]

She's actually having a different thought. "Given what appears to be the point of this place, I find it hard to believe they didn't plan for it. They seem to have planned for everything else."

She does manage to return his smile, though. "Yeah, we do. I'm pretty glad you're here."

[distinctive_guy]

There was more than one reason for a graveyard not being needed, but Eliot didn't try to bring any of the others up for Abby's peace of mind. "Easy enough, if it's a plan, then they planned to not have one. Doesn't mean we have to go accordin' to plan." Not that he was eager to make a graveyard or anything. It'd be bad luck, liking jinxing oneself, and soldiers were a superstitious lot.

[cafpowgirl]

"So what is the new plan?" Abby didn't really didn't want to talk about the dead anymore. "Maybe we should finish exploring the island."

She didn't really know how much of the island had been explored, having mostly focused her interest on learning about the worlds and skills of the additional inhabitants of the island. "There sure doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who they're bringing here. Law enforcement, people with powers, regular folks."

[distinctive_guy]

Cleaning up Big Boss, an answer he hinted at by nodding at the door. Burials aside, if someone didn't, the blood and gore could turn the area ugly pretty quickly. "Talkin' of people with powers, think anyone will have some way of dealin' with that?" He didn't relish the idea of having to scrub the place clean by hand. "Came across anyone?"

[cafpowgirl]

Abby was far more used to dealing with the non-human bits left behind after a murder. The idea of going back into that room to clean up made Abby's stomach turn. She thought about all the people she'd met on the island so far. "The only person I've met with powers is Magneto, and his power is over metal so that's not gong to be too helpful. Maybe we should ask over the network."

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot waved at her in a way that said, Go right ahead. "You can work on that. Meanwhile..." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the dorm exit, "I might start pickin' up some cleanin' supplies in the mall." Yet from his grimace, it was obvious he wasn't in a hurry.