NationStates Jolt Archive

WARNING: This RP will not be given any rating, unlike some which the person might give their Rps a PG-13 or R, this RP will be not rated for reasons that some people might find its gore and language content shocking. But there is no explicit sex in this RP.


Rpers

Gorgamin
Tarlachia
Assington
Callisdrun
Outer Heaven MK II
Valient
Squornshelous
Halibris
Androtia

****************************************

QUIET


That is the only way to describe the once bustling capitol of the United States. The trains sat in the metro stations, their doors open, waiting for the flood of commuters that would never come back. Moving above ground, the streets were littered with wreaked cars, broken glass, leaves, trees, bits of food, and newspapers. The grey November sky hung over the city like a blanket, there was no blue in the sky, just a blanket of grey. No body walked the streets, no cars speed down the roads. All was quiet in Washington DC, all was dead quiet.

A UH-1 Iroquois helicopter suddenly appeared, disturbing the silence. Its blades cut through the air in a rhythmic beat. The dark green helicopter flew low over the Mall, almost touching the ground; he pulled up on the stick slightly, pulling the Iroquois up to avoid hitting the trees.

The pilot looked at the deserted grounds; he sighed and looked behind him. Three men sat in the back, the two enlisted of the crew manning the M60s on each side of the chopper, and another making calls out on a radio set in front of him.

“Can anyone hear me? If you can hear me on this frequency, please get to the Washington Monument. I repeat, please go to Washington Monument.”

The man at the radio turned some dials and repeated what he had said, nothing. The radio man looked at him and shook his head; the pilot turned around and let his co-pilot fly as he radioed in.

“This is Hotel Four-Five, all messages we have put out have come up negative. We have patrolled our sector and turned up jack shit, may we come home?”

“Roger Four-Five, you may come back to base” a voice replied over the radio.

The pilot turned the Iroquois around and began to climb to a hundred feet. Flying above the capitol the helicopter set its course for home. It made a quick detour over Fort Meade, smoke rose from many of the buildings from fires deep inside that had not died. Bullet casings littered the ground, vehicles were smashed into each other, into walls, and some formed crude barricades. The base had fallen only the week before. The pilot made a quick circuit around the base, which had fallen only a month earlier, before he headed back home.


The leaves were turning their fall colors of gold, red, and brown. Underneath the canopy of branches and leaves, the ground was slowly being covered by them. The forest continued unbroken till it reached a small field. It continued for a good fifty meters till it reached a twelve foot tall metal fence, with barbed wire on the top. Another twenty-five meters was a tall concrete wall, standing nearly forty feet tall. On the outside it looked like a prison, high concrete walls, though it lacked towers on each of the four corners, it instead had crescent shaped machine gun nests with three heavy Browning M2HB .50 machine guns each. A large, thick metal gate on the east wall, large enough to admit an eighteen wheeler was sealed shut.

On the top of the wall was a soldier, who was dressed in full fatigues, of the 82nd Airborne. He kept the binoculars he held trained on the Iroquois as it flew in. The man watched it get closer and lowered the glasses; his pale green eyes looked across the forest before he turned to survey the base.

It seemed small on the surface, most of the room was taken up by another walled in area, the motor pool, entrance to the underground base, and by the helipads. The motor pool had five Humvees, two Jeeps, two Bradley Armored Fighting vehicles, and several pickup trucks and vans. He watched as the Iroquois kissed the ground next to its more modern brother the UH-60 Black Hawk. One Iroquois, two Black Hawks, a CH-47D Chinook, one civilian helicopters, and a Coast Guard CH-53E Super Sea Stallion; most of the helicopters usually were out on patrol, today just the Iroquois was used for a few hours. The helipads dominated the north wall, the motor pool the south, the west wall had the enclosed area, which also had its own roof, and the rest of the base had low concrete buildings, which housed the entrances to the rest of the base.

Colonel Sean Merrin turned back to the forest. He knew the creatures would never reach them, they were too far away. A cold stiff wind blew through; he quickly rammed his fist into his pockets. He picked up his M16A2 and slung it around his shoulder. He walked down the flight of metal stairs and onto the hard concrete ground. Sadly, there was no grass inside the massive walls, none at all.

Merrin walked slowly past the bunker entrances, which were just staircase, elevator, or life entrances to the main complex below his feet. He walked to a thick metal door and stared at the other concrete compound at the end. It was small, only about a half acre in area, with one entrance, but always guarded by two men armed with MP5s. You needed written permission from the President to enter.

Merrin opened the door and headed down several flights of metal stairs before reaching the third level. Underground consisted of seven levels, and because of rushed construction, there was little organization where things went. He knew third level was the mess hall. He walked in and got a plate of hot food and a cup of coffee and sat down at one of the tables.

He ate slowly, wondering what was going on outside the protective walls of their fort. He knew the answer, death, but by what? That was the question that plagued everyone, what were the creatures? Are they us? Or are they something else? He finished his meal and left the mess hall. He headed down the minted-white color halls of the complex and headed down the stairs to the Fourth Floor where the medical wing was.

Merrin opened the glass door and walked into the small hospital of sorts. Several nurses and doctors went about their work; most of the people in there had broken limbs, or nerves. Merrin walked into another of the wards where there was a single used bed. He watched a nurse finish tying a thick cord around a body, wrapped tightly in white bed sheets. She looked at him.

“Captain Frost died a half hour ago, I’m sorry Colonel.” She said.

“It is okay, he did his duty.” He said.

The nurse nodded and stood, she went to the front of the bed with Frost’s medical clipboard hung. Merrin turned to leave, but spun back around when he heard her scream. He spun to see the nurse drop the clipboard and move back from the bed. The human form, wrapped in bed sheets began to rise from the bed. Merrin pulled out his Browning BDM automatic and leveled it at the covered head; he paused before he pulled the trigger.

The head jerked back violently as the 9mm bullet smashed into it at point blank range. The back of the head burst like a ripe tomato, a spray of blood splattered against the wall, quickly followed by grayish brain matter, that slide down the wall after it hit. The head smashed against the metal frame of the bed, leaving a large stain of red before it finally struck the floor. Something fell out of the hole in the back of the head; it was round, covered in a film of blood, with tendons and veins sticking out the back. Merrin walked forward and calmly squished the eye under his boot.

He turned to the nurse, who was crying and shaking violently. Merrin looked at a doctor who had just rushed in, a Webley MkVI revolver in his hands. He doctor put it away when he saw Merrin had done the deed. Merrin holstered his pistol and picked up his rifle.

“Doc, check where he was bitten and come tell me. Then…..you know what to do.”

“Yes Colonel.” The doctor knew what to do, take the body up to the surface and toss it over the wall into a large pit, and then several soldiers would drop Molotov Cocktails into it, destroying the body.

Merrin left the room and headed down the hall into an elevator. He hit the up button and began to head to the surface. He pulled a bottle out of his pocket, opened it and pulled out a small pill from inside. Merrin swallowed the pill, closed the bottle and put it back. The label on the bottle read diazepam. When the elevator reached the surface, Merrin walked back out into the cold air.

As soon as the Iroquois had touched safe haven, its crew of five hastily jumped out--one of them being Major Andrew McGreggor. Attired in military fatigues, he sported a rather brute countenance that had been chiseled by the daily scout runs he participated in.

He still couldn't get over the fact that the city of Washington D.C., once the capital of a world superpower, had been reduced to nothing but empty streets and scattered flames. The creatures dared not come out when the choppers flew overhead...Perhaps they had realized that doing so was nothing more but a request for a lead enema.

Eyes darting about, Mac finally spotted Colonel Merrin emerging from the underground facility. There was no use expending energy to walk towards him and give him the same report--for days, it had been the same: no response, no survivors.

As the Colonel looked back, Mac did nothing but form a "0" with his right hand.

He was dead.

Richard Baxton was sure of it. Everything was awash in darkness. He blinked several times. Nothing.

Baxton rolled over (Was such a thing even possible now? He must be suspended in nothingnes...) and felt an immense pain in his knees.

That's right. I'm in this God-foresaken hole in the ground.

He slowly stood up and groped his surroundings, until he found a switch and hit it on, turning the absolute, supreme darkness into blinding light.

"Damn it!" He fell to his knees again, and buried his face into his hands.

After a minute in this position, he slowly stood, for the second time, and looked around. Not a bed adorned the small room; only a duffle bag in the corner.

I fell asleep in a damn closet? Baxton kneeled down and examined the contents of his bag, into which he had hastily thrown items as he fled his home; two cellular phones, a Rolex, several pens, his I.D. card for Congress, and a copy of theWashington Post:

"THE DEAD WALK
Crazed, homicidal Creatures Resurrect Dead As Their Own"

Baxton dropped the bag, streched, and noted to, next time, sleep on a matress.

Corporal Erik Iversen sat up on the wall, watching the surrounding countryside. He was in a bit of a daze, as the past week's events had been almost unreal. He had been looking forward to returning home from Kosovo, but all this... he couldn't understand the events, he just knew they had happened, had happened. He was a fairly sensible fellow, and so had called his girlfriend, and she had gone up to a place they had built in the mountains. Too bad he couldn't go there himself.

He thought to himself about how bleak it was. He had never liked the capital city, but it was even worse now, for obvious reasons. Erik peered through his binoculars, not really paying that much attention, until he saw some movement in the trees. Upon closer inspection, he could clearly see that several of the... things... were slowly making their way towards the base. He shouted to the machine gunner "There's about five of them headed this way, at ten'o'clock!"

The guns barked and he saw them, whatever they were, get torn to pieces. And then it was quiet again.

Ruben sat calmiy within one of the assigned civilian quarters. None of the soldiers here knew of his past and he intended to keep it that way, hence he kept to himself. The roar of gunfire blared overhead, distracting Ruben's train of thought momentarily until he was sure it had ended. The creatures sometimes ventured out of cover, usually met by a wave of intense gunfire.

These seemingly walking dead irritated the hell out of him. Ruben had ideas, great ideas that could take him far. But what good were ideas when there wouldn't be a world to implement them in? These creatures hindered his ideas and so they must be eliminated. That much, Ruben was sure of.

Brushing his hands back through the brown mess atop his head, Ruben sighed. He knew it wouldn't be long before they called him up for some assistance. The soldiers knew he was an able warrior, yet they didn't particularly trust him. Unfortunately, they still made sure he did 'his part'.

Sheathing a combat knife and holstering a glock, Ruben picked up his composite bow and began making his way to the surface levels of the complex...

The sssscchhh-click of the dual arm-blades out of their sheaths drew the attention of a number of the decaying walking corpses from their approach toward the military base that remained under human control not too far from Washington D.C.

Swish-shhrick-swish-shhrick

Rikan Tansho lowered her arms, the arm-blades now dripping with the stagnant blood of the dead walkers. Their bodies stood still for a few moments, before they suddenly slid sickeningly apart in multiple chunks. Legs separated from the hips, arms fell off, the torsos slid backwards in two pieces, and the heads rolled off the shoulders and smashed into the ground. Grey matter spilled out of the noses and eyes before settling in a pool of blood and gore surrounding the corpses.

Rikan took a quick look around for any more threats, before taking out her lighter, a small can of napalm and stepping back. She opened the can slightly and tossed it into the middle of the waste and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it. She puffed slowly for a moment, observing the corpses.

A strange phenomenon which I have not seen before. I have dealt with a number of shady, dark characters in my time, but this one takes the cake...

Dead men walking...

A finger twitched on one of the dead hands, and was followed by the entire hand suddenly crawling toward her.

A steel studded boot clamped down on the hand and then shoved it back toward the pile. Rikan turned away, taking a final puff of the cigarette before tossing it backwards over her shoulder. Instantly, a raging blaze erupted and consumed the dead corpses with ferocity. Rikan listened to the fire crackle and burn. Moments later, the zipping sound of fuel igniting was heard as a line of fire circled around the entire base that now lay before her.

She stopped before the base and waited. Someone would notice the fire, there was no way to not do so.

For now, she was safe, her rear protected by the raging napalm flames. They would burn for hours on end until they finally found no more fuel to feed upon. Rikan took a look around behind her once more. She noted the dense trees that surrounded the base.

No one's coming in or out for a while...

She turned back to the base and called out in a clear voice that carried great distances:

"Hey you assholes! You gonna let a woman do your job?! Open the gates!"

Merrin cursed under his breath when he saw McGreggor's "0". He wanted some good news, any news. Merrin walked through the motor pool, checking on the vehicles when the alarms began to blare. He unslung his rifle and sprinted for the wall, others began to drop what they were doing, grab thier weapons and make for thier post.

He sprinted up the metal stairs, taking them three at a time. When he got up there, he saw a young woman shouting at them, a large fire behind her. What the fuck? He picked up a phone, turned the dial to the sensor room.

"Anything?"

"No, Colonel. Nothing, only someone near the east gate."

"Alright, keep me posted."

Merrin wasn't too concerned with the creatures, one or two had moved through the forest, but none near the fence. Merrin knew the woman had attracted them, but she seemed skilled enough.

"Open the gate."

Merrin walked down the stairs, M16 slung around his right shoulder. The massive steel gates groaned as they opened. They opened wide enough for one person to pass. He walked down the short dirt road and stopped several meteres from the fence's gate. The controls were safely back in the fort, so the woman couldn't open them.

Merrin wasn't about to have another infected person in his base. He unslung his M16 and leveled the barrel at the woman's chest.

"Strip naked, now."

The woman stared at him, somewhat baffled. Merrin cocked his weapon.

"I said strip lady, now"

Rikan didn't move but merely snarled at Merrin. Her arms remained at their sides though. Merrin's eyes could be seen eyeing her exotic weaponry on her arms.

"Explain your reasoning." she demanded, still unmoving.

"Only way to know if you're not infected bitch, now strip your clothes off, or I'll have my men 'assist' you..."

A few of the men that were near the colonel snickered, hoping they'd get chosen for the task.

"Fuck you asshole." replied Rikan.

"Anytime bitch." Merrin countered with a glint in his eyes.

Click to see Rikan's profile (http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UAAdA!YZYEEf2CrpaMV24TwbuxvybmCuhZfO8UMvUDkngmytJmQQJdIML9NBZQyHLlcu0xtQ0PM2xu!tLuy12YI1cevFvrFMhcS LXJa7eguTQoq*MPhRqXSCMRwAcDEc/deistyina.jpg?dc=4675458798536403902)

With a defiant look, Rikan slipped easily out of the black leather top and pants. A few moments later, she stood completely nude before the men. Their eyes, obviously scanned her body hungrily.

"Fucking pigs." she retorted with a growl.

Merrin stepped closer, the gun still trained on her.

sssccchhh-click
sssccchhh-click

Merrin found both arm-blades suddenly at his throat and at his crotch.

Rikan leaned in close, snarling, "Don't try anything..."

Merrin still stood from the other side of the fence. He lowered his rifle and motioned to one of his men. One ran back inside a few seconds later, the gate slide open. Merrin walked around her, her blades never leaving his neck or crotch. No bites, not scratches on the front.

"How is her back?" He called to one of his men.

"Sweet Jesus Colonel she has a fine ass. No bites, she is as clean as a whistle, with the tighest number you've ever seen."

Merrin chuckled, he turned his attention back to the woman. His eyes suddenly softened.

"Sorry ma'am, but we are very cautious around here. I'm Colonel Sean Merrin of the 82nd Airborne."

"Rikan Tansho." The woman said.

"Well, Ms. Tansho. Pleasure to meet you. Put your clothes back on, there are things we need to discuss, inside."

Merrin waited for her to get dressed and headed back to the fort. The fence's gate slide shut and when they were back inside, the large steel doors closed also. Merrin stopped and turned to Rikan.

"Tell me Ms. Tansho, what city have you come from or have you been living on the road during this incident?"

The ruckus had thrown Mac into a paranoid trance. This woman...she was trouble. He was sure of it. As he accompanied to Colonel to meet the newcomer, he trained the tip of the M4 Colt right at her forehead.

"With all due, respect, sir...What the fuck are you doing? She hasn't been put under quarantine for the techies to examine her, and I'm sure as hell aren't willing to risk an outbreak here." Fort Meade had made the mistake of allowing a civilian to pass through its doors weeks ago who had been unwittingly infected thanks to a slight scratch to his forearm--an tiny, unnoticeable injury that nonetheless matured him into...an abomination.

He stood there, resolute to pull the trigger until he was sure Merrin would turn her over to the lab boys....

Jakob woke up slowly. He glanced around for a minute, forgetting where he was, then suddenly, it all came back to him. He'd been on a weekend break from college in D.C. when the epidemic had started, he remembered people fleeing the city, where they were going he had no idea. He'd become a hunted animal, taking refuge from the zombies wherever he could. He had a 9mm handgun that a Secret Serviceman had dropped after being bitten, they hadn't seen Jakob. He looked around, he was sprawled in a tree on the mall cradling the big battery powered radio he'd looted from an electronics store this morning, after failing to draw the attention of the helicopter. He looked around, no zombies in sight. He looked a the charge meter on the radio: nothing. He sighed and shifted positions, unfolding the hand crank that would allow him to transmit until his arm got tired. He cursed himself for not grabbing some extra batteries. He placed the radio in his lap and began to crank, holding the mike in his other hand. The messge would be garbled, but maybe someone would hear him. This was what he said:

Hello, if anyone is listening, please, come help me. My name is Jakob Nyle, and I am in a tree on the National Mall. I have been able to hold out, but I am having trouble finding food. Please, someone come and help me.

He stopped, and waited for a reply.

Before Tansho could respond to Merrin, or Merrin could respond to Mac, a loud ruckus was heard down the compound, and it was heading closer to the group.

Peter Carrington, carrying a clipboard and wearing a bright white lab coat, approached with fury in his eyes. The microbiologist/bio-chemist waved around a pen in the air, as if to make himself seem bigger than he really did. After all, he was only 5'12''.

"Merrin! Why did you leave one of those... those... plague victims in my lab unattended? And with a bullet hole to the head. My walls are covered with blood and brain matter."

Merrin cursed. The other doctor didn't take away the body yet?

"Sorry, Carrington. It wasn't supposed to be there."

Carrington huffed, still not noticing the gun Mac was wielding, or the beautiful woman in front of him.

"You're lucky the virus is benign..."

Then a radio close to them, carried by another civilian crackled and came to life.

"Hello, if anyone is listening, please, come help me. My name is Jakob Nyle, and I am in a tree on the National Mall. I have been able to hold out, but I am having trouble finding food. Please, someone come and help me."

Merrin turned to see Carrington. Ohh shit not that fucking prick. Merrin apologized and listened to the man. Before he could speak he heard the transmission from a Jakob Nyle. His reaction was immediate.

"Mac, take Ms. Tansho with Carrington and have her examined. I want some of your leathernecks and have them posted on the walls to check and see if any more creatures are coming. I doubt there will be, thier meal is right next to me. I'll take a squad of my paras to get this Nyle character. I'll see you later Ms. Tansho."

Merrin quickly barked some orders on a handheld radio.

"I want a squad of men at the helipad in two minutes, we got a live one. I want Easter along as second in command."

"Easter is sick sir, his stomach is causing him trouble."

"Right, then get me Corporal Iversen, I want everyone to haul ass. Weapons and ammo only. A drop in, evac and out."

Merrin knew time was of the essance. He reached the helicoptors ahead of everyone else. The only crew that was at thier chopper at the moment was the Coast Guard crew. He walked up to the female pilot.

"Mac Donaill, get your bird warmed up and ready to take off in three minutes. We got a guy in a tree at the National Mall."

************************************************

A private of the 82nd ran up to Iversen.

"Erik, Colonel Merrin wants you to haul ass down to the pads. We got a live one at the National Mall."

************************************************

A young man, no more than twenty-three in a blue business suit, walked up to Baxton's door. He knocked on it and heard a groan from inside.

"Mr. Baxton, the President would like to see you."

[OOC: May I join or is it too late?]

ooc: Sorry Hrstrovokia, the Rp closed.

[OOC: No problem, should have gotten in sooner. Big Resident Evil/Romero fan, so I'll keep watching :)

"Aw, fuck." He didn't particularly want to go out there, with all of... them... around. He found the creatures, though he still didn't know what to call them, the creepiest things he'd ever seen. Luckily, he had very good aim.

Erik Iversen hopped up, grabbed his gun, an M24 (Remington 700) sniper rifle, and headed down to the helipad. He also had a Mac11 as a side arm, but he didn't use it much. He stopped by his bag on the way, to get some cold rations that he had kept from Kosovo. Inside the bag, along with the regular things, were a number of mementos of places he had been on duty. He still had his blue helmet from various UN missions, a couple things he had gotten in Africa, others he had gotten down in southeast Asia, and a number of other places. He also had a picture of his girlfriend, Liz, and him. He closed his bag and proceded directly from there to the helipad.

As Merrin allowed her into the complex, she answered his question. "I am from anywhere and everywhere."

"So...you travel alot."

"Yes."

"Oh."

Mac interrupted their conversation. Rikan scowled at him, completely disregarding the gun. With a twitch of her nose, she suddenly released and sliced the gun that he was holding into three pieces. Merely a few seconds later, she had the blades at his throat, in a scissorlike fashion.

"First of all, you should know better than to aim a gun at a woman. Second of all, I would have killed myself already to spare you lot the trouble of dealing with me as undead. I would have ensured that these...fuckers would never be able to use my body ever for their twisted purposes."

The radio transmission cut into her speech. Immediately, everyone started moving.

She feinted her blades slicing Mac's throat before warning him, "Don't fuck with me asshole."

Rikan turned back to Carrington, looked him over with a disgusted look. What a scrawny little shit...

She pushed past the two and started walking toward the main complex building. She called out, not turning her head.

"Let's go assholes. I've got better things to do than have you poke at me with q-tips."

The blades retracted back into their sheaths with a sliding click.

Baxton rubbed his forehead for a moment and straigthened his hair the best he could with only his hands, and then opened the door.

"Of course, let's go."

OOC: Hey guys, sorry for not posting sooner, skools a beautch! Anyway, to introduce my character, could someone go and fetch my character for the copter thing? Thanks.

As Jakob sat in his tree waiting for rescue, a sense of panic came over him. It was a little odd. Now that he was about to be rescued and taken to safety, he was scared. He hadn't felt like this at all over the last week. But now that freedom was in sight, he was paraniod that something would go wrong. As he looked around the mall, every bush that swayed in the wind loomed up at him in his imagination. Then, he clearly saw 3 figures walking across the mall about 200 yards away. They walked in a straight line, without looking around. They were also unhurried, not rushing, like someone afraid of zombies would. He felt an icy ball settle into his gut, and slipped his hand into his jacket pocket for the reassuring touch of the 9mm there.

As much as any regular Joe would have shit his pants, Mac kept his cool. Even with his M4 sliced in half, and the blades hovering close to his jugular, he didn't even blink. He had already been desensitized by the outbreak--hell, riddling your mutated family with hot lead would do the same to anyone.

He stood there, intently drawing his neck close to her face. "Go ahead and do your worst, bitch. After all the shit I've seen, you think I'm not ready to die?" Mac sure as hell wasn't lying; you could tell by the way his left eye twitched to mask his tears (of insanity or regret?)

Others were willing...no...yearning for death. A few days ago, one of the MPs scaled the wall and jumped to his doom on the other side--a mass of flesh eating freaks quickly devoured his body. The only thing that had been tossed back was his watch. Since having moved to the fort, a few had done the same. Some sort of PTS, the doctors said.

Whose move was it going to be next...?

(OOC: GS, should we have another patrol to get Jacob introduced to the RP?)

Erik waited patiently at the helipad for others to arrive. One common criticism of him was that he always appeared "mopy," like his dog had just died or something. Of course, given the current situation, nobody thought anything of his somber demeanor. He clutched his M24 sniper rifle tightly, very concious of the sudden increased value of his weapon, as he would not be able to get another one very easily if something happened to it. Erik was acutely aware that this was no longer about controlling a problem or even studying the problem, it was about survival.

Some commotion was audible a little distance away, and looking up, he saw some of the other soldiers having a bit of a... he didn't know what it was... with a very attractive female. Everyone was on edge as of late, it was only natural.

As the author of the first Survival Horror RP on NationStates, I want to wish you good luck. Have fun and keep up the good work.

OOC: I think theres a mixup with Mac and Rikan. Oh well, Ill follow your lead Tarl.

IC:

Carrington hurried up to Rikan and grabbed her by the arm.

She turned around and grabbed him by the throat. To her surprise, the scientist did not scream.

He instead looked her in the eye and glared.

"Ms, whoever you are. You simply cannot barge into here without a checkup. There are regulations that must be followed to stop the passage of any viruses, including those that you may have brought in from outside."

OOC2: Where is Jacob?

(OOC: Oh jeeze...my bad. I meant Erik, Callisdrun's character. Sorry about the mixup

EDIT!!! Yes, I Meant Jakob, Squornshelous's character. Sorry for the SECOND mixup)

Ruben didn't bother changing his pace as the echo of curses came down the hallway. He didn't like the vocabularly of soldiers, the way they thought it necessary to swear every sentence to prove something of themselves. They were brutes, unthinking killers. Ruben didn't like unthinking killers.

As he moved down the corridor, Ruben stepped to the side to allow the rushing soldiers to get by. Obviously they were off on another brute mission, he didn't care. It was the heated voice of a female that grabbed Ruben's attention. There weren't many females in the fort, most got themselves killed before they could make it to safety.

Ruben came up beside the woman and looked her over, a critical expression upon his face. His lips parted as if he were about to speak, but then he merely turned away and kept walking down the corridor, ignoring everyone else...

Liadan MacDonaill cursed under her breath and ran towards the Sea Stallion. She boarded and swung into the pilot seat. Her co-pilot, Murello, was sound asleep in his chair. She shook him roughly.

"Goddammit Murello! Wake up! Merrin wants us off the ground in three minutes. "

"You can't warm up a chopper in three minutes!"

"Not if you don't shut the hell up and get to work."

Liadan started the helicopter's engine. It came to life loudly. Then, abruptly it cut out.

"Harper! Get your ass out there and tell me why my chopper just quit!"

The mechanic jumped out of the chopper. A minute later he stuck his head back in.

"Ma'am? Try it now."

The engine roared to life and the mechanic climbed aboard. Liadan looked over at Murello as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear and put on her headset.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Let's go."

Liadan toggled the radio and signaled Merrin.

"Colonel Merrin, sir, we're ready to go when you are."

Merrin watched as his team assembled, Erik with his M24, two privates armed with M16s, and another with a M249. He waited looking at his watch, the seconds felt like hours as the chopper was warming up. Never a man to look anything over he cursed under his breath, it was standard practice to bring some sort of medic along, and Merrin only had one choice, Lt. Halycon. He yanked out his walkie talkie.

"Lt. Halycon, get your fucking ass up to the helipad now with your rifle and med kit!"

He clipped it back on his belt and nodded at MacDonaill. He motioned for his men to get in and climbed in. He walke up to the cockpit and put on a headset.

"Hold your horses MacDonaill, we still got one more coming."

*******************************************************

The President was a short man, only 5'7, bald, and with a small salt and pepper color goatee. The President looked ten years older than a man in his late 40's. He was slightly on the portly side, and ran one of his stubby fingers through his goatee. He sat behind a large oak desk in a bare light blue room, a large map of the US was behind him, with different colored pins showing the human held forts and bases.

His pale grey eyes stared at a picture he held of himself, his now dead wife, and his son, whose location was unknown. He put it away when he heard a knock on the door. His aide stuck his head in.

"Mr. President, Baxton is here."

"Good, send him in Will."

A few seconds later Baxton walked in the room. The President stood and shook Baxton's hand.

"Richard, always a pleasure to see you. Please sit, we have some issues to discuss concerning Project Racoon."

The President sat down in his chair and stared at Baxton.

"Do you believe that your project will work? Five men have already died because of it, six if you include Frost. I don't want any more deaths Richard, people are getting supisous of the noise from the compound up top. Merrin wants to break down the door and see what is inside."

OOC: Hurry your asses up soldier boys! :p

IC:
Jakob looked up at the sound of a dog barking. It was one of the thousands of strays that now wandered the streets. They were almost as dangerous as zombies, half wild and crazed with hunger. It was standing and barking at the three zombies, who turned and walked toward it. The dog, somehow sensing the unnaturalness fo the figures approaching it whined and backed away. The zombies walked with single minded purpose toward the dog. They would not stop until they had killed it, or somehting else attracted their attention. As the dog came closer to his tree, he recognized it as the same big lab that had chased him down an alley a few nights ago. It growled at the nearest zombie, which continued walking forward. Feeling cornered, the dog attacked, sinking teeth into the zombie's arm. However, the zombie bit back, and soon the two others were there. They ripped the dog apart in a matter of seconds. Then, one fo them happened to glance up into the tree. "The enemy of my enemy," said Jakob, "is still my enemy." He pulled out the 9mm and put three slugs into what had once been a taxi driver.

Baxton drew a deep breath. "Firstly, Mr. President, I want you to know I am deeply saddened by these deaths, and that of Lieu-er, Captain First-That is, Frost. They died in service of their country--and humanity.

"Yes, sir, some more may die. But what about those who would die if we did nothing? All of us, Mr. President, all of us would die. Eventually, these things may die..." Baxton stopped short.

Deep inside him, never quite thinking about it lest he be overcome with shame, Baxton couldn't let these things die off. He heard talk from some that the surviors should hole up in the fort, and wait it out, while the things, stupid and lumbering, starve to death.

But not when Baxton could end this in one swoop. Not when he could have the things hunted down, by his lead, while the indesicive Preisdent did nothing. Not ever.

"Never mind that, sir. We have no idea when these things would die. And we don't have an unlimited supply of ammunition and food." Maybe the fort did, though. These things went down stories into the ground.

"Mr. Preisdent, I advise we continue our research. If Merrin keeps sticking his nose in something out of his jurisdiction, we could tone down the experiments. But I hear we are coming to a breakthrough.

"And sir, I understand your qualms. People place everything in your lap. I could take responsibility for this, if you so wish."

Erik waited patiently for the medic to show up. It would be careless to go out without one, begging for trouble in fact. His manner remained taciturn, as usual. Then he said something quite random. "So, sir, who was that... interesting woman you were talking to earlier?" It was normally not easy to tell when he was bored, however, it was now.

Merrin turned back to Erik.

"A woman named Rikan Tansho, she's a drifter, no place to stay. I've seen dozens of them, they come, take what they want, then leave."

Merrin removed his headset's plug and put it in his walkietalkie, and turned it on. He set it to the motor pool office so no one else could hear it.

"This is Colonel Merrin, I want you all to keep a close watch on the vehicles, put up and extra guard at night for them and the choppers."

"Roger, who should we watch out for?"

"A woman named Rikan Tansho, she has short blades hidden in her arms, so watch it. I don't want her taking one of our vehicles, and keep her from the fuel dump."

"Roger."

Merrin put the plug back in the Stallion's port, allowing him to talk to the crew. He looked at his watch, and waited.

*************************************************

The President shook his head at Baxton.

"No Richard, I'll take full responsiblity if the project ever got out into the open. I authorized it, so I should take the blame, Logan failed in Florida, so we must try here."

The President leaned back in his chair. His tired eyes looked at Baxton.

"Richard, I trust you more than I do the VP. That is why I put you in charge of the project. Keep up your reasearch and immediatly destroy any speicimen who could pose an immediate threat to your team."

What came next was something that always popped up in meetings of the remaining thirteen members of Congress, Senate, and the Presidential Administration. But the President had yet to hear out Baxton's full opinion on the matter. He swivled in his chair and looked at the map of the United States.

"What is your opinion on using nuclear weapons against the cities where these creatures are most centered?

Busy, always so busy. One would think that being stuck in a military fort due to rampaging undead that there would be little to do. Not so in Ruben's case, there was always something to do. Ruben always thought ahead, not just the immediate future, he prepared things that he may not need for years to come, but when the time did come... he would be ready.

Now upon the wall, Ruben watched. The leg of a recently dead dog lay on the other side of the wall, Ruben wanted to attract the creatures. He knew well enough that a few gunshots could take one down and that a bullet to the head would be effective, but was this the same for all projectiles?

It wasn't long before a group of three undead came wandering out of the shrowd of the forest, overwhelmed by the lust for meat. Ruben had managed to convince the soldiers to not fire, even though it had taken some persuasion. Finally they came within range, their barely coordinated hobble moving the rotting corpses at a slow rate.

Nocking an arrow, Ruben drew back on the tightly strung bow and line up his target. Ruben prefered to be known as a skilled melee combatant, but over the past few weeks he had learned to become profficient with a bow. The reason being, he didn't like guns. He was able to use guns but they were a last result. Ruben considered the taking of a life to be a significant act. Although he wouldn't hesitate to do so if he deemed it necessary, he thought guns were far too casual, too impersonal. If you are to kill someone, it should be through your own physical or mental efforts, not some casual pull of a trigger.

The arrow whistled through the air until it halted with a dull thud, now firmly wedged within the eye socket of the closest undead. The creature stood for a moment before collapsing to the ground, twitching slighty. Ruben smiled slightly. He had assumed that an arrow would work, it seemed that any puncture of the brain would end the undead life. Better to be sure than assume and find out you are wrong at a critical moment.

Another arrow released and another undead down, landing directly on top of the other. Ruben watched as the final creature attempted to navigate it's way around it's fallen comrades. He pulled out the last arrow and unclipped a small canister from his belt. Dipping a cloth into the canister, Ruben withdrew the soaked material and wiped the substance over the arrow shaft and head. Replacing the canister, a click signified the withdrawl of Ruben's chrome silver zippo lighter.

Now alight, the twang of the bow string echoed through Ruben's ears as the whoosh of the flaming arrow became a distant noise. The path took the arrow through the jaw of the undead creature and forced it to the ground, the head burrying into the pile of other two undead. The still living creature could do nothing as it and the other two corpses were quickly engulfed by flames.

Ruben scowled, his shot had been off. He wouldn't be in a good mood now. Ruben expected perfection, that was not perfection. More practice would be necessary, he must be perfect...

Rikan scowled into the scientist's face, "I should cut your balls off for your ignorance. Did you not see myself standing completely fucking naked in front of your goons? They more than checked me out for any of these "infections" that you say I might have, and found none. I assure you with my own word that I have not been infected. Understood?"

The scientist nodded meekly before being released from Rikan's rather surprisingly strong grip. Rikan watched out of the corner of her eye as another figure seemed to want to talk to one of them, but walked away.

God, I hate these fan clubs...

Rikan beckoned mockingly to the scientist with her arm outstretched, "Lead the way."

Liadan sat in the Stallion, waiting, growing more impatient by the minute. She was restless, her crew was restless, the fucking chopper was probably restless.

She looked over at Murello and noticed him napping peacefully in his position. That did it. She toggled the radio.

"Colonel Merrin, sir? What the fuck is taking you guys so long?"

OOC: *beats head on keyboard* huygyhhgyhghititybgbuihguhtuunhtuyhgytgfi

IC:
Jakob shoots the zombie some more.

OOC: Calm down Squorn. OH2, just to keep the Rp going, I'll have to leave your guy out of this mission.

IC:

"Fuck it. MacDonaill, take off, head to the National Mall." He barked.

Merrin was furious, when a soldier was told to do something, they got it done quick. Halycon would feel Merrin's wrath when they got back with Nyle, if he wasn't infected. He checked his weapon as the Stallion lifted off.

OOC: Calm down Squorn.

Sorry.

Sick of the burning flesh stench, Ruben made his way back off the walls and directed his path to the medical facilities of the fort. Unfortunately when he had lit the flaming arrow, it had also ignited his finger tip slightly and had singed away some skin, leaving a red burn in its wake.

Not one to parade around in an attempt to look tough, Ruben accepted when he was injured and delt with it swiftly and effectively so as to not hinder himself in the future. As he entered the med hall, two pairs of eyes found him. Rikan and the scientist. Ruben merely gave them a casual glance as he held up his burned finger.

"I just need to clean this up, I'll take care of it myself."

He didn't wait for a response before searching through a draw until he found what he was looking for. A small bottle of medical metholated spirits. Without hesitation he poured some of the clear liquid over his burn, causing his hand to twitch in reaction to the intense burning of the metho. The pain didn't matter, the burn was now clean. Replacing the bottle, Ruben sat down and began to bandage his finger.

Baxton shifted in his chair.

"Well sir, I must say, I do have a bit of sentiment in me-Destroying those cities doesn't seem quite right. But, what use are they to us now? If we've done our best recovering survivors..."

Baxton thought for a moment. "Yes, I think we should use them."

The President leaned back in his chair and looked at Baxton. The President rubbed his weary eyes.

"I'm sorry to say Richard, unfortuanlty. We cannot use nuclear weapons at this point. The black box is in the Boston stronghold, with someone I trust. I sent him to Boston with it for this very reason. There he shall remain. I'm sorry if you disagree, no nuclear weapons will be used, not while your project still has a chance at working."

OOC: Sorry for my absence guys, but school always bites back...anyways, seeing your OOC GS, I'll just do something else...

IC: Life is but a dream...

*BRRRRRRRRRING!*

Face clenched, Nathan hit the alarm clock.

"Man, what a dream..." Nathan thought. Sitting up, Nathan pulled his hair away from his face, and opened his eyes, his blue eyes taking in his surroundings. Nathan swung his legs over the side of his bed, and stood up. Stiffling a yawn, he went into the bathroom. Looking at his reflection, he grinned, and then ran the cold tap. Splashing his face, Nathan felt himself wake up fully, his skin freezing over. Cupping his hands, he drank some of the cold tap water, swilled it around, and then spat it into the sink. Taking a comb off the nearby shelf, he combed back his brown hair.

Recently, toothpaste had been 'rashioned', and Nathan was only allowed to brush his teeth once a day. He quickly checked his teeth, and decided he'd wait until tonight to brush them. Quickly checking his face over, he smiled. Stretching, he walked out of the bathroom, and headed to the wardrobe...

A couple of minutes later, Nathan took his rifle from the top of the wardrobe, along with four clips of ammo. Sticking them in his pocket, he checked the clip in the rifle. Satisfied, he slapped the clip back in, and ed the rifle. Straightening out his uniform, he slung the rifle over his shoulder, and then took a can off the top of the wardrobe. Opening it, he took a swig, closed it, and then put it in his breast pocket. Sighing, he turned, and went to the door...

A few minutes later, Nathan walked into the Med Hall.

Rikan merely scowled as the scientist seemed to have his feet frozen to the ground. With a scoff, she turned and walked away. Her eyes found Ruben and she walked closer.

"You're whining about a piss-ass boo-boo?" Rikan taunted, with an laughing smirk across her face. Ruben looked up at her, somewhat surprised at this.

"If this is what you call as something requiring medical attention, then I must admit I'm surprised you've survived this long..."

Ruben looked over at Rikan, a scowl upon his face.

"I do not kid myself with this idea of appearing macho. I take care of myself as I see fit and your petty opinion of what an injury is matters little to me."

Ruben finished wrapping his fingers and gave Rikan a closer inspection. She was an attractive girl, although that mattered little to him. He had far more important issues than women.

Ruben gathered all his gear and began to move past Rikan, but slowed as he came close to her ear.

"Those with common sense admit they are not invincible and do get injured. They take care of themselves, they are the ones that will ultimately survive."

Without another word he walked off...

Merrin stood behind Liadan as she brought the Stallion for a quick pass over the mall. Leaves covered most of the grass and very few trees actually had leaves on them. As the Stallion moved in to land Merrin turned around.

"LOCK AND LOAD!"

The sound of cocking weapons was drowned out by the three General Electric T64-GE-416 turboshaft engines. The soldiers checked thier weapon's safties were off and the magizines were secure. Merrin spoke into his headset to Liadan.

"Keep the engine running and the props spinning, this fucks don't seem to like it."

He got a quick nod and climbed back into the cargo bay. The back ramp opened as the chopper descended, when it finally kissed the ground the soldiers quickly moved out to form a defensive ring around the exposed back of the Stallion. Merrin took a mega phone and moved to the front of the chopper, leaving his men to guard the open ramp.

Merrin was about to key the mega-phone when he heard it. A loud moan, a steady deep throated moan. The creatures. Merrin looked down on of the streets leading to the mall, there they were, hundreds of them slowly making thier way to them. There was a slight shiver down his spine, he could hear them over the engines of the chopper. Merrin keyed the mega-phone.

"JAKOB NYLE! GET OVER TO THE SEA STALLION, WE'RE HERE FOR YOU AND CAN LIFT YOU TO SAFTY!"

OOC: Hey guys, just to let you know that Nathan is looking for Merrin (I know he's gone, but Nathan's clock went weird, cheap ass piece of fu-, and anyway, he doesn't that Merrin left yet). If someone could acknowledge him, that'd be swell.

Jakob had watched the chopper come in from his tree, and now he jumped down. He slung the radio over his shoulder and jogged toward the Sea Stallion, waving. "I'm over here." He glanced back over his shoulder at the creatures advancing slowly toward him and ran a little harder. He slowed to a jog as he reached the chopper, instinctively ducking as he passed under the rotors, even though he knew they were many feet above him. "I'm Jakob Nyle."

Merrin looked at the man in front of him. He then looked at the creatures, they were closing in. Fuck.

"Get in the chopper."

As Merrin watched Jakob climb in he walked towards the bird. Just as he was about to enter, he heard screaming. He spun to see a woman running towards him. She was moving at a good pace, but Merrin wondered why she never came out when the choppers flew overhead. The woman ran to him, he sprinted towards her and stopped in front of her. She was out of breath, her chest heaving.

"Th..th..thank god. I couldn't figure out how.....to use radio..."

Merrin wasn't listening to her, about her hiding out in the old CIA building....he just saw her right arm. It was bandaged, a large red stain was there, he quickly undid it and found bite marks.

"Ohh, this? Just a bit of med attention. That is all it will take."

Merrin looked at her and punched her, she fell to the ground. He quickly jogged back to the chopper and hit the ramp close button.

"LIADAN! TAKE THE FUCK OFF!"

The creatures were getting pretty close by the time the copter started taking off. Erik popped two of them in quick succession. Their heads looked almost to explode when the heavy caliber rounds it them, both square between the eyes. A third tripped over the bodies of the two that had fallen.

As the loading ramp slammed into place and the whine of the rotors increased in pitch and volume, Jakob huddled in a corner trying to stay out of the way. Having nothing else to do, he clutched the radio to his chest and sat still.

"Exactly how I run my life as well..." Rikan replied to the back of Ruben's head.

A good head on his shoulders he's got...I should keep him close...he'll be good in combat against these dead ones...

Rikan watched as Ruben stalked off. With him turned, he didn't see the respective nod she gave.

A very good head on his shoulders...

Ruben stood within the makeshift projectiles range on the bottom level of the complex. So far every arrow had been a direct shot, dead centre of the target. He wasn't satisfied though. That off shot had really irritated him and the only way to move beyond such was to reassure himself he was a master marksmen.

Now heaving with the exertion of constantly drawing upon the bowstring, Ruben sat down. His muscled arms gleamed with sweat, making the black singlet cling to his body. Ruben considered the day. Nothing out of the ordinary, save for that new girl. Rikan. She was an odd one. Although she appeared to have one of those soldier personalities, there was something more to her. She was smarter than that, he could see it in her eyes.

Ruben would keep an eye on her, perhaps she would be useful after all...

The woman tried to stand and move after the chopper. She was confused why the soldier had punched her. A shadow was cast to her left, she turned slowly and screamed. One of the creatures stood there, its left guy gone, its right handing down by tendons, its face a dark blackish brown color from years of decay, dirty bone was visible, and the eye slowly turned and looked at her. The walking corpse opened its mouth to reveal several large teeth, and moved to bite. She scrambled on the ground, trying to get away; she just made it from the creature’s grasp.

She ran for the trees, she tried to wave down the chopper, but it kept climbing, and soon it would be gone. She tripped, quickly twisting her ankle. The woman heard the moaning; in front of her were nearly a dozen of the creatures. She fumbled with an H&K P9 automatic, and fired. The 9mm bullets smacked harmlessly into their bodies, only causing them to pause before advancing. She had quickly emptied it and was trying to fit a fresh magizine into it when a hand grabbed her shoulder.

The teeth of the creature sunk into her exposed neck, she screamed as the teeth sank deeper into her flesh, crimson red blood oozed out of the wound. The creature pulled back violently, tearing a large hunk of red, tender, flesh; blood shot out of her pumping arteries, covering the face of her attacker, the creature sat on the ground, hungrily devouring its meal. Blood continued to flow, attracting more of the animals. Grabbing her arms, they slowly bit and ripped off her fingers, and bits of arms, gnawing at the flesh, protecting savagely what they had in their mouths. Other hands ripped away her clothes, exposing her bare stomach, their fingers dove in, sending geysers of the red liquid into the air. Each hand pulled back, causing more blood to flow to the surface, now with her belly open, the creatures began to rip out and feast upon her soft insides. The woman’s screams began to die and another began to rip into her neck. The last thing she saw were two fingers suddenly dive into her eyes, whatever bit of muscle that was holding her head to her body was no match for the creature’s brute strength, it carried off her head behind a tree to feed.

High above the carnage Merrin watched as the woman’s body was soon covered by the creatures. Fucking pisshead sons a bitches, I’ll kill every last one of those mother fuckers. He didn’t see the grass turn wet with her blood, he did see many of the forms drop to earth as though they were licking the ground. Merrin walked down the aisle and moved to the cockpit.

“Let’s go home.”

All he got was nod before the Stallion was swung back in the direction of the base. Merrin’s hand went inside his fatigue pocket, it stayed there for a few seconds, before he yawned, and brought it to his mouth. No one was looking when he put the two diazepam pills in his mouth and swallowed. He put his hand back in his pocket and closed the small bottle. Merrin walked back to the rear of the chopper and sat down. He looked out the window, though it was mid-afternoon the sun still had yet to punch through the grey sky. He put on his headset, switched the frequency, spoke for a few minutes, before taking them off.

After a more relaxed ride in the air the Stallion kissed the helipad back at the base. Everyone began to file out, Merrin stood and moved behind Jakob. Just then a half dozen men in white biohazard suits toting Bushmaster A2 Carbines appeared in front of Jakob. Jakob froze and looked at them then at Merrin.

"Don't worry Mr. Nyle, just standard procedure when we bring someone in who has just been in such close contact with the creatures. They'll escort you to our med-lab, you will be given an examination by Doctor Carrington. Just cooperate and you will do fine. Gentlemen."

One of the men walked forward simply motioned with his carbine for Jakob to get moving and follow them.

************************************************

Boston, Massachusetts

You could not see ten feet because of the heavy fog, this made the operation even more hazardous. On the stretch of road which had been converted into a small runway, a three men shoved weapons and packs into a Cessna 208 Caravan. One grabbed a black suitcase and put it in one of the rear passenger seats. The other grabbed his MP5 and rushed back into the fog, he appeared a few seconds later holding someone by the arm. The man carrying the MP5 put the person into one of the other backseats, he climbed into the pilot’s seat while another climbed into the co-pilot’s seat. The last person fired two quick bursts from his MP5 into the fog, before climbing in the back.

The pilot gunned the Pratt&Whitney Canada PTGA-114A turboprop engine. He begged the plane to start, then as though he had said the magic words, the propeller turned and the engine roared into life. The pilot completely opened the throttles and the plane shot down the runway, he pulled up on the stick as soon as he could, launching the plane into the foggy sky.

Dozens of figures slowly materialized out of the fog, advancing on the spot where the plane had once been……

OOC: Where is everyone?

IC:

Carrington looked up to see the men in the bio-hazard suits escorting Jakob into the room. They pushed Jakob onto a table and removed his personal effects. One of the men walked up to Carrington, while the rest watched Jakob, thier guns at the ready. A gloved hand grabbed him by the arm and hauled him a few feet away from Rikan.

"Got another for you doc, we'll stay here and watch over. If he is bitten, we blast him."

The masked face turned to Rikan, before the man looked back at Carrington.

"Is the bitch bitten?"

**************************************

Merrin dismissed his men and watched them return to their duties. He headed back down into the underground complex and began moving through the halls, looking for Nathan. He saw Nathan standing in the hallway outside the Med-Lab.

"Lt. Halycon!" He barked as he marched down to the other soldier.

Nathan snapped around and saluted Merrin, Merrin returned the salute.

"At ease, we need to talk."

Merrin lead Nathan down another level to the sleeping quarters and into his own room. It was about half the size of a hotel bed room, a single cot was up against the far wall, with a small table that had a few personal effects, a simple metal dresser with his clothes was next to the door, along with a calender, a rack of assault rifles and other weapons took up most of the left wall, and on the right wall, a door leading into the bathroom. It was better than most, many people slept in barracks on bunkbeds.

Merrin took off his weapons, spare for his pistol and put them back on the gun rack, he then sat on the bed and leaned against the wall.

"Sit down Lt."

Nathan sat and looked at his commander.

"Nathan, where were you when I called you on the radio? You didn't answer me, was it off?"

Erik hopped out of the helicopter and went back up to the wall. Life was a daze now, with seemingly interminable periods of boredom punctuated by terrifying action. The situation was surreal in a grotesque way. When he had first joined the military, he would have laughed if you'd told him he was going to be shooting what were for all intents and purposes basically walking corpses in Washington D.C. He had thought being sent to Kosovo was unlucky, but this took the cake.

As it darkened, he occasionally blasted creatures when they came by. Disgusting and durable as they were, they were slow moving, and therefore easy targets.

Jakob walked into the medical facility, escorted by a soldier toting an assault rifle. "I just got here," he announced, "they sent me in to get checked. . ."

Rikan scowled but kept her cool. When the one soldier addressed Carrington about herself, she instead spoke.

"You really are an idiot aren't you?" she challenged the soldier. The soldier turned to look at her, his eyes studying her from behind his mask.

"If I were bitten, don't you think I'd have taken the base at any opportunity? Believe me, if I wanted to kill you all, I wouldn't have bitten anyone, I'd have made you human corpses of art with these." she continued, punctuating her words with one of the arm-blades unclicking and locking into battle-set. She pulled her arm up and leveled it straight at the soldier's face.

"A more creative method of dying, don't you think?" she grinned, a malicious look in her eyes.

Click-Click, Click-Click, Click-Click, Click-Click, Click-Click

Rikan looked into the lenses of the man's biohazard mask and saw the five other men had leveled thier Bushmaster Carbines at her. The man spoke.

"We don't want to blast you...might need the bullets. But, if you keep being a problem you will be killed or......tied up, taken in a bird to the city, and dropped off. It is your choice of what you want...I suggest you be a good girl and don't do anything to get anyone pissed the fuck off. Now, move your metal toothpick from my face."

Ruben finally returned to the med lab, just in time to catch the words of the man within the bio-suit. Ruben did little but shake his head in disgust. Even when their very survival was threatened by these creatures, humans still found the time to turn on eachother for the most insignificant reasons. Being one of the few women in the complex, Ruben imagined Rikan would have to keep her guard up at all times.

Moving past the armed men with their weapons trained at Rikan, Ruben located a packet of small bandades. All that practice with the bow had cut into his fingers slightly. It wasn't a significant cut, but Ruben wanted it healed so as to not hinder his work with the bow when he may need it. That was Ruben's number one rule. Be prepared.

Taking a seat as he applied the covers, Ruben set his gear down and focused upon his finger, whilst making an apparently offhand remark.

"Do you think it is possible for you lot to have one word with eachother that doesn't result in the drawing of weapons? Keep in mind that those creatures would just love for us to do the hard work then merely walk in and have a feast. Think a little and you can avoid those situations."

Rikan glared into the mask of the soldier in front of her, her blade still pointed in his face. She ignored the weapons pointed at her. She had faced worse before...

"I don't follow your orders, nor anyone elses. I am a mercenary, I follow my own rules, my own choices. I suggest YOU behave yourself, lest you find youself unwittingly bound and tied and tossed to the scavengers..."

The soldier replied, "Is that a threat?"

Rikan answered, "No, that's a promise." before she disengaged the blade and returned it to its sheath. She turned away from them, but called back to the soldiers, "Next time, you may want to teach your men how to hold their weapons more surely, it's obvious they haven't seen much combat..."

Rikan left the med lab, nodding slightly to Ruben, acknowledging his words silently. She found her way to the mess hall, grabbed some food and sat down at an old table of wood and metal. She began to eat it, watching the room and the door out of the side of her eye.

OOC: Where is everyone?

IC:

Carrington looked up to see the men in the bio-hazard suits escorting Jakob into the room. They pushed Jakob onto a table and removed his personal effects. One of the men walked up to Carrington, while the rest watched Jakob, thier guns at the ready. A gloved hand grabbed him by the arm and hauled him a few feet away from Rikan.

"Got another for you doc, we'll stay here and watch over. If he is bitten, we blast him."

The masked face turned to Rikan, before the man looked back at Carrington.

"Is the bitch bitten?"

**************************************

Merrin dismissed his men and watched them return to their duties. He headed back down into the underground complex and began moving through the halls, looking for Nathan. He saw Nathan standing in the hallway outside the Med-Lab.

"Lt. Halycon!" He barked as he marched down to the other soldier.

Nathan snapped around and saluted Merrin, Merrin returned the salute.

"At ease, we need to talk."

Merrin lead Nathan down another level to the sleeping quarters and into his own room. It was about half the size of a hotel bed room, a single cot was up against the far wall, with a small table that had a few personal effects, a simple metal dresser with his clothes was next to the door, along with a calender, a rack of assault rifles and other weapons took up most of the left wall, and on the right wall, a door leading into the bathroom. It was better than most, many people slept in barracks on bunkbeds.

Merrin took off his weapons, spare for his pistol and put them back on the gun rack, he then sat on the bed and leaned against the wall.

"Sit down Lt."

Nathan sat and looked at his commander.

"Nathan, where were you when I called you on the radio? You didn't answer me, was it off?"

Nathan rose an eyebrow.

Oh great, the y alarm clock messed up again...

"No sir," he said, producing his radio. He then replaced it.

"However, my alarm clock malfunctioned again...I've only been up around for the past thirty minutes, looking for you. But I apologise either way sir. What did you need me for anyway?" Nathan asked, hoping that his absence hadn't proved .

Merrin leaned back against the wall and stared at Nathan. He liked the soldier, he did what he was told and did it to the best of his ablities.

"We picked up a new guy in Washington, he is down at Med-Lab with Carrington checking him over. I want you to go over and talk to him, the guy's name is Jakbo Nyle. Find out what he has heard, seen, done, the whole nine yards. After that...check out Ruben Halifax, there ain't a lot on this guy as you know so I want you to talk to him and found out who he is and what he did before this whole thing started. While you do that, I'll go check on our guest Ms. Tansho."

Nathan got up and left and Merrin grabbed an M4A1 off the rack and a few magizines. He headed down the hall towards the Med-Lab when he was intercepted by the soldier in the biosuit. He explained to Merrin what had happened, and Merrin dismissed the man to go back to watch over Nyle.

Merrin headed to the stairs cursing under his breath. Rikan was appearing to be more of a hazard to the humans inside the compound, than she was to the creatures. He jogged up the stairs towards the mess hall, spotting Rikan he got himself a cup of coffee and walked over to her.

Merrin unslung his rifle, laying it on the table, and sat across from her. There was silence for a minute or two before Merrin talked.

"You're being quite the little troublemaker Ms. Tansho. You will do as I say here...."

"I don't follow your orders. I fol...." Rikan tried to start her sentence. Before Merrin slammed his fist on the table.

"You will follow my orders you little bitch or you can fuck off! I'm second in command here, and you can do one of two things. Shape up and do what I say...or leave on foot. If you continue to act like you are now is a one way ticket into DC. Personally, I would like to have you around...but not when you are a hazard to my men."

After watching Rikan's confrontation with the soldier in the medlab from what he judged to be a safe distance, Jakob stepped forward into the middle of the room. "Hi, I'm Jakob Nyle, they picked me up off the mall this morning, I'm supposed to get a physical here or something."

Rikan didn't flinch as Merrin hooted in her face of his so-called dominance. She continued to eat her food, and took a sip of the water. She closed her eyes as she drank the water, then placed it down, keeping her eyes closed.

Finally, Merrin stopped his ranting, allowing her to reply. "Are you finished?"

Merrin glared at her, suddenly hating her strange calm. "You dare--"

Rikan looked at him with stern eyes, "Shut up. First of all, your men need to lighten up. I threatened no one initially. However, once they started, I felt it necessary to deflate their egos. You're in serious need of a 'deflation' yourself."

Rikan stood and carried her trash to the bin and dumped it in. Merrin followed her, almost hot on her heels. Rikan turned and looked cooly into his eyes, their faces merely centimeters from each other. Rikan's breasts pressed into Merrin's, but she ignored it. She spoke in a cool tone, "So long as I am treated with the respect I deserve, others shall recieve their due as well."

After watching Rikan's confrontation with the soldier in the medlab from what he judged to be a safe distance, Jakob stepped forward into the middle of the room. "Hi, I'm Jakob Nyle, they picked me up off the mall this morning, I'm supposed to get a physical here or something."

"Then you'll want to talk to me then Jakob." Nathan said, appearing in the doorway. Placing his rifle on the table next to him, he walked over to Jakob, hand outstretched.

I never knew that my other skills would be useful here... Nathan thought.

He grinned. "I'm Nathan Halycon, Lt. But you can call me Halycon or Nathan."

Merrin glared at Rikan, the woman was starting to really piss him off. He didn't say anything, so Rikan turned and headed down the hall. Merrin stood there for a bit before following her, the hall was deserted and he spotted a half-open door. He silently extended the metal collapsible butt on the M4 and moved up behind Rikan.

The woman spun, expecting another rant, instead Merrin slammed the buttstock into her stomach. The move caught her off-guard, Merrin grabbed her arm, and tossed her into the room. Merrin moved in and shut the door.

He turned and was tackled by Rikan, the M4 skidded across the bare floor. Merrin was suprised how quickly she had recovered from his hit, she might be useful; if she wasn't such a self-absorbed bitch. Merrin grappled with Rikan, each exchanging punchs, Merrin was just grateful she had yet to use her wristblades.

Merrin finally smashed his fist into her face, stunning her slightly and tossed her off. Rikan extended a wristblade and spun on Merrin, only to here an all to familier sound.

Click-Click

She looked at Merrin as he kept the M4 leveled with his right hand, and wipped the blood oozing from his nose with his left. He spoke in a calm and very cool tone to Rikan.

"You want respect huh? When you start acting like you're not the center of the world, and start respecting me, then my men and every last man on this base will respect you. Now, if you can't abide by that...I'll be seeing how fast you can run from hundreds of those things.

"I don't like it when people come in here, and have yet to prove thier usefulness to this outfit. You have to earn and work for respect around here, trust....is the only thing we have left. You have yet to earn anyone's trust or respect."

Merrin lowered the M4.

"Am I clear?"

Rikan snarled at Merrin, "Hundreds of those creatures would not stop me, if I truly put myself to the test."

Rikan sheathed the arm-blade and squared off with Merrin. With a straight face, she spoke, "But for your sake, as well as your men, I will do as you ask."

Rikan looked about the room, taking in the details. Grinning seductively, she stepped closer and raised a hand to Merrin's face and caressed it lightly.

"There must be a reason why you brought us into this women's bathroom..." she implied.

Merrin looked at her, his guard not let down. Oh God...why did this room have to be this one in particular? he thought to himself. Yet, despite what had transpired only moments before, he allowed Rikan to touch his face.

"You're a fucking bitch you know that?" he declared, while simultaneously pushing her away by the stomach with his left hand. With a glare, he stalked out of the restroom, somewhat shaken.

Rikan merely watched him leave, a sly grin plastered upon her face as she crossed her arms across her front.

"Then you'll want to talk to me then Jakob." Nathan said, appearing in the doorway. Placing his rifle on the table next to him, he walked over to Jakob, hand outstretched.

I never knew that my other skills would be useful here... Nathan thought.

He grinned. "I'm Nathan Halycon, Lt. But you can call me Halycon or Nathan."


"Hi, I'm not really sure what exactly I should do here."

"Hi, I'm not really sure what exactly I should do here."

Nathan smiled.

"Well, my Commander will sort that out for you later. But I'm here to just welcome you here and chat. I've got nothing else to do today, I've done my patrols and stuff," he lied, "So I decided to see you."

Nathan pulled up two chairs.

"Heh, take a seat Jakob. Say, would you like a drink?"

Jakob sat down, suddenly feeling more tired than he had in weeks. Thanks, I'll just have a bottle of water if you've got one. As he took the bottle from Halcyon, he noticed his hand shaking, and realized he hadn't eaten since yesterday. "Do have anything to eat around here?"

Jakob sat down, suddenly feeling more tired than he had in weeks. Thanks, I'll just have a bottle of water if you've got one. As he took the bottle from Halcyon, he noticed his hand shaking, and realized he hadn't eaten since yesterday. "Do have anything to eat around here?"

"Sure," Nathan said, "What'd you like?" he asked, grinning a bit as he watched the spiked water in Jakob's hand...

When Nathan first came here, he found some water, and some alchohol. He mixed the two together, took a sip, and was knocked back instantly. No-one knows what's in the water, but Nathan's had it for as long as he'd been at the Fort, and he'd only ever had a few sips...

Merrin sat in the mess hall, fuming over his argument with Rikan. The woman seemed at least now to be cooperating with him. He took a sip of his coffee and pulled out a pack of Camels, thought about it then put them back. Smoking was a bad habit but, what was the point of living a healthy life anymore?

He looked up to see Liadan walking towards him. Merrin stood up politly till she sat herself down in front him. He wasn't surprised she didn't have any meat on her plate. She had always struck him as a strange one, believing in what she called "the old ways" with folklore and such. Merrin called it a bunch of bullshit cooked up by someone who had just been high too often.

Merrin still found her very attractive and smart person, and one of the few people around who could keep thier head. Then the intercom flicked on:

"Attention all personal, we have just recived word over the radio that Boston has fallen. I repeat, Boston has fallen to the creatures."

Silence was the answer. All across the base everyone stood there stunned, Boston had been the second most fortified city on the East Coast.

Merrin cursed angerily under his breath. If Boston fell, how long before we do? Merrin thought of grabbing a diazepam pill, but with Liadan sitting across from him, he thought better. Instead he turned and looked at her.

"Mac Donaill, we have not gotten anywhere in telling us what the fuck is happening out there. Noone has giving me a solid idea of what is causing our dead to get up and start walking again. With your interest in mysticism and folklore...what is your opinion on what is causing this.....infection...or whatever you want to call it?"

Jakob took a gulp of the water and thought about what he wanted to eat. Or at least he tried to think about it. The room swam out of focus and as the cieling and walls developed large bubbles, he wondered which of the two Lieut. Halcyon's he now saw to ask for help. The world tilted crazily and he belatedly realized that he was falling over and should do something about it. His head hit the floor and his conciousness went for a little walk around the borders of space-time.

OOC: Sorry I've been so long, guys. Homework sucks.

Liadan looked down at the tray of sludge in front of her, taking a moment to compose her answer to Merrin. After a few moments, she looked up at him.

"Honestly, sir, I...I don't know. This is way beyond anything I have ever read or been taught. I have gone over books and scrolls. I have cast runes and beseeched the Lady of the Forest for advice. Even my brother, Ciaran, who is better versed in the lore than I am does not understand it."

She reached out and placed one of her tiny pale hands on Merrin's. Sure he was ruthless, and he could be downright mean when he wanted to be, but he took care of his men. He was a good officer; and in Liadan's opinion, a good man.

Erik came down to the mess hall, picked up a tray of food, and sat down next to Merrin and Liadan.

Jakob took a gulp of the water and thought about what he wanted to eat. Or at least he tried to think about it. The room swam out of focus and as the cieling and walls developed large bubbles, he wondered which of the two Lieut. Halcyon's he now saw to ask for help. The world tilted crazily and he belatedly realized that he was falling over and should do something about it. His head hit the floor and his conciousness went for a little walk around the borders of space-time.

"Oh fie, he's a y -weight!"

Nathan calmed himself, before thinking his options through. Sighing, he ran and locked every door, and then bit his lip.

He ran over to Jakob, and checked his pulse.

Pulse is a bit accelerated...

Nathan then took a white pack with a red cross on out of his largest trouser pocket. Opening it, he took out a small torch. Twisting it on, he then opened Jakob's eyes. He shined the light in one eye, which reacted minorly, and he did the same to the other, with the same results.

He watched the eyes as they moved about.

"Jeez, that stuff knocked him out cold."

He shook his head.

"I have just the thing..."

Turning off the light and replacing it, Nathan instead produced a vial, full of green liquid. He then produced a 'hypospray', as he called it, due to it's resemblance to the hyposprays in the old Star Trek.

Nathan stuck the vial in the 'hypospray', and then pulled back the slider. As it clicked into place, the top of the vial had been punctured by a large tube.

Then, he checked over the needle on the end of the 'hypospray'.

Satisfied, Nathan stuck it into Jakob's neck, and pulled the trigger. The green liquid was sucked out of the vial, and shot into a vein Nathan had chosen.

After a few moments, Jabok took a deep breath in, and went rigid. After a moment or two, his body relaxed, and Nathan bent over Jakob.

"Wakey wakey..."

He slapped Jakob twice, and hard.

Merrin smiled at Liadan, he liked the Coast Guard pilot. She was smart, a damn fine pilot, and had a killer body. He was about to speak when Erik sat down next to them. Merrin smiled at the soldier, thought about his question for a second before asking.

"Iversen, got a question for you. What is your best guess on what the fuck is going on up there on the surface?"

Erik answered as best he could. "Well, it's getting pretty windy and cold, but the... things... whatever they are, don't seem to mind at all." He thought for a second. "They come around every now and then. Maybe they can smell us or something. I don't know, I'm no biologist. Some of them seem more intelligent than others, cause a few will try to approach through the trees, where it's harder to see them. Most just come right out in the open though. We pop 'em if they get too close. They're easy targets, cause they're slow. Sometimes it seems like they get distracted, and they walk away. It's kinda creepy how they all act exactly the same." Erik shuddered at the thought of them.

OOC: Nathan and Jacob are still in the med lab right? If so, I can do a post of Ruben reacting...

OOC: Nathan and Jacob are still in the med lab right? If so, I can do a post of Ruben reacting...

Yes, they (we?) are.

Merrin nodded. It was the same answer he always got from people, the things are creepy and they act the same. One thing everyone had learned about them, the only real effective way to kill them was severing the head or shooting them in the brain. The creatures were obviously driving by one function, the need to eat.

The thing that confused everyone was, why human flesh? Merrin remembered during the fighting in Washington before pulling back to here, a squirrel passed in front of one of them, the creature ignored it and kept moving after him. It had never been established why, but that really didn't matter to many people.

Merrin remembered something that happened about nine months back.

"Remember a few months back that Philadelphia SWAT memeber and a woman came in on that chopper, then left after a week to god knows where? I asked him what he thought was going on. He said 'When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth.' Very strange."

Merrin looked at Liadan and Erik who seemed to be thinking over what he had said.

"What do you two make of it?"

Ruben had continued to fix himself up, ignoring Jacob and Nathan. It wasn't until Jacob crashed to the ground that Ruben looked up, curious as to why the new comer had just collapsed. Taking a few steps forward, he noticed a bottle of water next to the now unconscious man. Ruben spun around with a critical look upon his face.

"What did you put in that water?"

Stepping back, Ruben allowed to Nathan to tend to the fallen Jacob first and within a few minutes the fallen man was awake once again. Ruben thought the whole ideal was completely pointless. Nathan's casual manner made it obvious that he knew what had caused the black out and he couldn't understand why he would do that to Jacob. Picking up the bottle, Ruben sniffed carefully. Alcohol.

Ruben merely replaced the bottle lid and gave Nathan a disapproving look. The guy was obviously a clown, Ruben didn't like clowns at all. Their lack of common sense irritated him. Ruben had killed clowns before, unfortunately he would have to leave this one alone... for now.

OOC: Nathan didn't know that Jakob was a lightweight. That stuff is high vol, but still, it's not something that'd flatten you. Oh yeah, Squorn, waiting for your response.

Rikan emerged from the restroom, adjusting the leather top she wore, watching as the others filled the mess hall. Silently she returned and sat in the corner, listening attentively while closing her eyes and leaning back against the wall.

A thought crossed her mind and she spoke, "So what's the plan, chief?" She emphasized the last word cynically purposely. Her eyes remained closed.

Merrin looked at Rikan and smiled. She might be useful to get him information he had been dying for.

"Excuse me Liadan. Business calls. Follow me Rikan."

Rikan followed Merrin up to the surface. He climbed up a flight of metal staircases to the top of the wall, Rikan right behind him. He pulled out a pack of Camels and offered one to her. She took it and Merrin pulled out his Zippo and lite it for her. He lite himself one and inhaled. He blew a column of smoke into the air and looked at her.

"See that building over there?"

He pointed to a squat, ugly concerete building guarded by the two Secert Service men.

"Get in there and find out what they are guarding, then report back to me. Okay?"

Rikan glanced over to the structure that Merrin was indicating. She turned back to him.

"I won't be long..." she replied, recieving a raised eyebrow in response. Merrin slipped into the shadows of the doorway where they had just come out, watching as Rikan made her way to the two security men outside the squat building. Rikan began her trek across the grounds, beginning her plan with a hand freeing her tied up hair and letting it fall down her backside. It stopped its descent about halfway down.

As she walked toward them, the two men looked her way, then glanced at each other before turning their attention back to her. Just as they did that, she reached up and pulled her top off, exposing her 34-C sized breasts to the guards. She tossed it toward the guards, it's leather weight causing it to land a few feet from them. She smiled as they whispered to each other, "Oh yeah..."

As she drew near, she stopped momentarily and slipped seductively out of the pants she wore. Glancing back up at them, her eyes seen through the hair that hung down over her face, she smiled almost innocently. Standing, she kicked her pants to the side as well, not watching as they landed on top of her top. She eyed both men seductively, and stepped closer.

Both men instantly raised their MP-5 rifles at her, their purpose for being there still in the front of their minds, despite the strip show they were seeing unfold before them.

"This is a restricted area ma'am. I'm sorry but we cannot allow you to pass..." one of the guards spoke, raising his rifle slightly higher.

Rikan pouted, and replied, "Then I guess I won't just 'take care' of you two tonight..." She turned and bent over to pick up her clothes from the ground, deliberately giving them a full exposure of her rear.

It was enough.

"Uh...ok, fine, but you've got fifteen minutes." reacted the speaking guard, recieving a relieved look from the second guard. Neither had removed their gaze from her toned, sexy body.

Rikan turned her head back to them, straightening her posture as she did so. "Thanks boys. Here, hold my clothes for me as your 'insurance'. I'll be back soon."

The guard turned and inserted he key into the lock, punched in his security code and opened the door for Rikan. He watched as she stepped inside, her killer body casting a rather attractive shadow on the floor inside as the sunlight lit the entryway.

The door closed with a click and several bolts could be heard locking rapidly.

She was in. Pigs... she thought to herself, always looking for an orgy...

She made her way into the building, stealing quietly as the somewhat chilly air inside bit into her bare flesh. She ignored the effect, concentrating on what she was seeing. All around her, stacked neatly were boxes of all kinds of things, paint, spare parts, tools and a wide variety of other things, none that looked out of place in this storage unit.

I just basically fucked myself to get into a storage unit? There's more here than meets the eye... she thought cynically to herself, almost wishing she could just return and chew the living shit out of Merrin for sending her on a fool-hardy task.

Suddenly, just as she was passing a row of boxes, she heard the grinding of gears, coming from halfway across the building. She moved quickly and silently toward the wall from which the sound had come from. Moments after settling into a hiding spot, a wall panel slid upwards, revealing a set of steel elevator doors. The doors hissed open quietly, and two men in white lab coats stepped out, walking toward the entrance as they chattered to each other about some experiment that was being conducted.

They never heard the soft patter of footsteps as Rikan slipped silently into the elevator and waited for the door to close. She heard the wall panel close outside the elevator, and waited until it was finished before pushing the B-2 basement button.

The gears shifted, then groaned before they stopped and allowed the elevator to begin its descent into the Earth. The floor indicator screen showed the light blinking as it moved to the B-1 basement level, before it alarmingly stopped.Rikan immediately leapt up with agility and braced herself just under the ceiling of the elevator. She took care to not block the dim light of the elevator. The doors slid open, and two more scientists stepped in, oblivious to her nude presence above their heads.

If they only looked up, they would get a double shock, an unauthorized person in the elevator and a nude woman at that...

"What are we going to do with the Radico project? Have we gotten the 'ok' from the president on using the Nicarah solution?"

The second scientist answered, "I'm not sure yet, we've still yet to recieve the approval. Also, I've heard some of our boys telling me that they've been getting a little too suspicious about that Merrin commander. Seems that he's been testing the security around this compound in just about any way he can."

"He's probably just doing it to make sure that the base is safe for all of the others that reside within the base currently." the second scientist defended.

"Maybe, but still, I want to ask Doctor Kracken to beef up security, maybe get a few cameras on Ground level, running 24/7."

"I don't know...funding's been slack lately, you know that. Hell we all took a pay cut not too long ago."

"But we did that for the sake of national security. And this is a national security issue."

The doors slid open to the B-3 sublevel, apparently an isolated residential level, specifically for the scientists that worked for the government. They walked out, still talking about the project, and about the base's security. The doors slid shut, and Rikan waited momentarily before leaping down, crouching down as she landed, so as to lessen the sounds of her fall. Standing, she pressed the B-2 button once again, despite the fact that it was still lit.

Good thing they didn't notice that before... she thought to herself, as she waited for the elevator to rise. She turned and pressed herself into the side of the elevator next to the door. The cold metal bit into her flesh, causing her to gasp slightly. A few moments later, the door slid open, and she stepped through, after waiting momentarily. She looked about, warily keeping her eyes alert, her ears listening for any sound out of the ordinary. It was a room just chock full of a variety of items that might be found in a laboratory: computers, charts, a rack of orange hunting vests, another rack of cattle prods, and a large steel door directly across from her. She stepped closer to one of the computers which was displaying six different camera views. Cameras of rooms somewhere nearby obviously, rooms that held, of all things, zombies within. She pulled the keyboard closer, hit the Alternate-Delete button and waited as the task manager screen popped up. When it did, she simply moved the mouse to the shut-down button and pressed it. The screen blinked a few times as the cameras individually turned off. Moments later, the entire network shut down, the sound of computer fans slowing as silence filled the room.

Rikan looked toward the steel door and walked toward it. For some reason, she decided to retrieve one of the orange vests and one of the cattle prods for her use. She didn't know why they were here, but she had a suspicion. She opened the door and walked in stealthily. In this room, there were a number of steel doors on both sides, three on each side of her. All the doors had small thick windows of glass inset into them. And the strange part was that the doors were color coded. Two were orange, two were blue, and the remaining two were green and red, respectively. The doors were also numbered.

Rikan peered into one of the doors, and saw two zombies just simply standing there, as if they were frozen to the spot. She opened the door, the cattle prod and one of her arm blades at the ready. She stepped closer, but strangely, the two didn't attack. They merely stood there. Rikan halted, slightly confused.

Odd... she thought to herself, before surprising herself and stepping backwards, keeping her eyes on them as she closed and locked the door once again. She looked down to the floor and hung her head.

She moved to the other doors. Inside there were more zombies, but these ones were chained up to the walls, their limbs stretched tightly. They had their heads hung low, as they awaited their fates.
___________________________

Back on the surface, the door opened to the sun-lit day outside. Rikan stepped out, the orange vest and cattle prod having been placed back where they had been taken from. She blinked a few times as she looked pleasurably at the guards. They smiled warmly, lustingly.

"Thanks boys, I hope you don't mind this..." she said, making sure each got a full view of her breasts. She accepted her clothing back from the one who had taken her clothing. She pulled the garments back on, as one of the guards spoke,

"Mike here had to hide your clothes behind his back when those two geeks came walking out. It wouldn't do to have them seeing him holding those..."

Rikan chuckled and replied warmly, "Now that just wouldn't do, now would it?"

Both men shook their heads.

"Well then boys, I guess I'll see you later then?"

"Definitely ma'am."

"Don't come looking for me. I'll find you."

"Yes ma'am."

The two men watched as the sexy brunette walked away, back to where she had come from.

Minutes later, Rikan appeared in the mess hall, where Merrin had apparently returned. She sat down where she had earlier leaned against the wall, and did so once again. She would wait till Merrin would see her, and he would probably take her into another room for her debrief.

Rikan shook her head as she remembered the guards. Fools...

Merrin turned to see Rikan. She motioned for him to follow and she took him to another room, thankfully it was just the armory and no one was ther.

"Well, what did you find?"

Rikan turned to Merrin, indicating he close the door behind him. He did so. When she spoke, she spoke softly, her voice barely audible.

"It's some sort of laboratory, with a few holding high- security holding cells."

"Anything in the cells?"

"Only the dead."

Merrin snapped his head up from his thoughtful position, "What?!"

Rikan raised a hand to silence him, "There's more. It seems that this base has much more than you may realize. There's an entirely segregated base underground this one, that houses an unknown number of scientists. These scientists are apparently conducting some range of experiments, including one that I heard a pair calling as the "Radico Project". I was unable to hear any more of it, beyond the fact that they've asked the President for approval to use a "Nicarah solution"."

Merrin looked at her quizzically, "A what?"

"I have no idea. All I know is that you've got some high-tech black ops going on in your base..."

Merrin appeared calm, but Rikan could see he was furious. Grabbing a chair he hurled it down the racks of guns, spilling weapons and ammo to the ground. He tried to calm himself down, but was unable to.

"FUCK! THOSE SHIT EATING BASTARDS! THEY KILLED FROST!"

Merrin ranted and raised Cain for ten minutes straight before he calmed down. He looked at Rikan.

"Thank you. The bastards, those creatures on my base..."

"What are you going to do?" Rikan asked.

"How would you like to meet the President?"

Rikan seemed puzzled but followed Merrin out of the armory. When the civilian assigned to look after it got there two minutes after they left, he was speachless. To him it looked like a tornado hit it, he put down his food and started to clean up.

*****************************************

The President was sitting at his desk, drinking some tea when Merrin burst into the room, a strange woman closed it behind him. Merrin slammed his M4 onto the desk.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Pardon Colonel?" He asked calmly.

"This project with the creatures? What is it?" Merrin pressed.

"Operation Racoon, please sit Colonel. We have much to discuss."

Merrin and Rikan both sat across from the President. The old man ran his fingers across his balding head.

"We are training them to be docile, and not attack us."

Rikan snarled, her face twisting in rage. She leapt toward the President, not giving a damn how much of a security risk she was becoming as she picked him up with surprising strength and slammed him into the wall behind the desk.

"Do you fucking realize the fucking things can never be 'docile', as you so blatantly said? They're fucking dead, and they're fucking willing to kill us all, simply because we look like CHICKEN-A-LA-CARTE!!"

The President looked calmly at Rikan. He had seen men ripped apart by the creatures, so the woman didn't phase him that much. He stood there calmly till Rikan released him and planted herself agains the wall, glaring at him.

"Thank you ma'am. Let me get to the point and sum this up. Now Colonel, since the cat is out of the bag there is no sense in covering it up. We are trying at the least to learn about them. The orange vest provoke something in their minds not to make them attack. Grant it, it takes a long time...and training...but sevearl don't react to you when you wear the vest. That is the abreviated version....I won't go into much deatil. Though, we have been experimenting with chemicals that could hopefully speed up thier decompistion...sadly none have worked."

"What about the other doors?" Merrin asked, he didn't give a shit about how fast the creatures decomposed, they were dead anyway.

"Orange, Blue, Green, and Red; our color coding. Orange means they are docile, Blue almost there, they might move towards you. Green is they will attack you, after a slight delay. Red, they will attack you like they are in the wild. Colonel, Miss..."

"Rikan, just Rikan." She said.

"Very well, you both must understand...I'm trying to help our situation. But, it is your call Merrin." The President said.

Merrin sat there and looked at the President, then at Rikan. He leaned back in his chair and made up his mind.


Ten minutes later, Merrin, Rikan, and the President watched at two men sealed the metal door of the building shut with torches. The Presiden sighed and looked at Merrin, there was nothing he could do to stop the man. He turned and headed back into the complex.

Merrin turned and looked at Rikan. He was feeling calmer now, and the woman had proven herself useful.

"Thank you for finding this out."

With that Merrin bent down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. He smiled at her and headed back to the entrance of the underground complex.

*Thwack!*

"Oww!" Nathan said, rubbing his head, "I bumped my head off something!"

Sighing, Nathan turned to Jakob.

"You okay yet?"

OOC: C'mon Sqourn.

OOC: Sorry, dude, I've had 2 soccer games and a band concert this week.


IC:
Jakob sat up slowly, "What happened?" He looked at the water bottle lying on the ground next to him and remembered his last few waking moments. He frowned for a moment then looked up at Halcyon, "Real funny." As Ruben helped him to his feet, he spoke to no one in particular. "I'm out of here, where are the sleeping quarters?"

"You're not going anywhere."

Merrin stood in the doorway, blocking Jakob's way. He walked calmly up to Jakob and stared at the man.

"We must figure out a use for you. If you are to stay here, you must help out. Now...what are your specialities?"

"So if I'm useless you just toss me out to the zombies? I'm sorry sir, but I'm not feeling very helpful at the moment. Ask Lieutenant Smartass over there, I'm sure he can tell you why." Despite his words, Jakob realized there was no possible way for him to leave without cooperating in some way. He relaxed a little bit, seeing that there was no way he could push past the soldier blocking his way. "I'm good with technology, scrounging computers from parts, hacking files, that kind of thing."

OOC: Squornshelous, don't use the Z word

ic:

Merrin smiled at Jakob.

"Go get some rest and some food, follow the signs. I have a job for you, we have been having trouble with some of our stuff lately...our last comp guy....well he is wandering around DC looking for a meal."

Merrin moved out of the way.

"You can leave."

After watching the beginnings of a confrontation emerge, Ruben sighed and finished patching himself up. The soldiers always had to start a fight. If it wasn't with those creatures roaming about, it was with someone in here. Ruben couldn't stand it, they were simple minded brutes.

Obviously Jacob noticed that these soldiers were indeed brutes and thought it wise to make his abilities public. A good choice. Whilst Ruben didn't like these soldiers, he had proved himself as a competent warrior and able to maintain weapons without much difficulty. Hence, the soldiers mostly left him alone knowing he was doing his part.

Finally Merrin stepped out of the way, allowing the newcomer to pass. Ruben also took this as his oppurtunity to leave and began walking for the door.

Nathan cursed under his breath for the first time in ages.

That wasn't supposed to happen. While there was alchohol present, there shouldn't have been enough to knock a man down, just enough to make him feel quite relaxed.

Gritting his teeth, Nathan crushed the bottle, some of it's contents splashing over his hand. He then threw the bottle into the bin.

It shouldn't have happened!

Nathan walked through the doorway, and then turned to Merrin.

"Sorry Chief."

He then headed up to the surface, he needed some fresh air...

Erik hopped down from his station on the ramparts to near where Ruben was. Erik was a bit of an enigma to the others. He hardly ever talked, and seemed melancholy much of the time. However, he was a very good sharpshooter.

Merrin watched as Jakob, Ruben, and Nathan passed. He closed the door to the Med-Lab and headed back down to the Mess Hall. Merrin looked at his DOXA SUB 600T watch, 5:00pm. Already it was getting dark outside, the time everyone feared, anything could happen. He was just happy it was Friday, and on Friday there was usually a movie in the large auditorum that was suppose to serve as a temporay Senate. Merrin remembered they were showing Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, the paratrooper laughed. They only had a few dozen films from the thirties to the early sixties, though some films were shown over and over; it was always good for morale.

He walked into the Mess Hall and spotted Liadan trying to finish the mush of unknown material the military called food. Merrin walked up and sat down in front of her.

"Lieutenant, tonight is movie night. How about I come by your room....lets say 6:30? The movie starts at 8:00."

*****************************************

The airplane kept moving at a solid pace. The co-pilot kept looking at the map he held, then tried the radio again, and failed to raise Washington.

"Fuck this shit, we can't raise them. That means they're not listening."

The pilot looked at the co-pilot.

"They can't fucking hear us because you don't know shit about radios you dick. Let me try."

The pilot tried, with not success.

"So, who looks like the dick?" the co-pilot said.

"Shut...the fuck up. We're only about two and a half hours from Dulles, we land there, and try to raise them again."

Nathan stepped out into the fresh air.

Breathing in deeply, he looked around, before breathing out, and cursing.

"I f**ked up big time!"

Seeing a stone, he kicked it hard, and then cursed profusely. The stone flew toward 'Rikan', the mysterious woman that had got those guards all hyped up, talking about threesomes and other things. Hearing them, Nathan thought Perverts.

If you had to pick out the weirdest thing about Nathan, it was that he was rarely turned on. It was like he was lacking hormones in key areas, but that wasn't the point. 'Rikan' had some sharp things on her person, and Nathan prayed that he wasn't going to have to face them...

Rikan heard the sound of stone hitting boot and reacted immediately. With an unnatural speed found in few humans, she turned quickly, unsheathing one of the arm-blades and sliced the incoming rock in two.

Soft rock... she thought momentarily to herself.

Rikan faced the one who had sent the stone toward her. She glared, "What the hell is your problem?"

Nathan smirked, which was unusual.

"Well, lets see. I've been stuck here for the past month doing patrol duties, I knocked out a guy with a bottle of water, my friend is out there," Nathan said, pointing past the walls, "Feasting on some poor human being, my superior isn't very impressed with me, and that that rock was off target! That's my problem lady."

Nathan then sighed.

"Sorry about the rock."

Liadan felt herself blush bright red, something very unusual for her. But then, being asked out was unusual for her. Normally she would have told the guy to fuck off, but she liked Merrin, a lot, and for reasons she couldn't quite explain.

She smiled up at him. "Six-thirty would be just fine, Colonel." Then, to hide her red face, she suddenly became very interested in her coffee cup.

Merrin smiled at the blushing Liadan. He stood and left. Walking up the flights of the stairs he reached the surface. Merrin jogged up the flight of narrow stairs to the wall. He lite a cigarette, and blew out a long stream of smoke. In the gathering darkness he cold make out Rikan talking with Nathan about something.

Merrin's gaze went over the dark shapes of the vehicles. He remembered the targeting computers on one of the Bradley AFVs need some repair. He would get that Nyle character on it when he was going to meet up with Liadan.

Merrin turned around and looked at the dark forest. He drew on his cigarette, his face glowed in the orange light from the end of the cigarette; he then blew out the smoke in one large puff and flicked some of the ash onto the ground. Merrin looked past the trees to what was once Washington DC.

He looked at his watch again, he had about an hour and a half before he would meet Liadan. Now he was going to relax for a bit.

Ruben had finally relieved himself of the bow and other asorted weapons, save for a knife tucked into his right sleeve. He was now attired in a simple grey robe he prefered to wear when he was relaxing.

Deciding it was too hot to be underground, he made the trek up onto the wall. Watching the darkness as he moved along the structure, Ruben stopped short of running into Merrin.

"Good evening Merrin. I trust things have settled down after todays excitement?"

Whilst Ruben didn't like soldiers, he could appreciate Merrin and what kind of pressure was upon the man to be in charge of a place like this. Merrin had a degree of respect from Ruben.

Rikan broke a smile at the mention of a water bottle knocking out this one's friend. It was a rare thing to see coming from her.

"Superiors are nothing but idiots, at least most of them. The good ones lead by example, and are usually the quiet ones."

She extended a hand, "I'm Rikan Tansho."

After the medlab incident, Jakob stalked outside into the sunlight, wincing s his eyes adjusted. He walked toward a building that looked like a barracks of some sort, avoiding people as much as possible. Being drugged had put him in one of his antisocial moods and there was no telling when it would wear off. He got some food out of a snack machine and found himself a room to crash in. He pulled an mp3 player out of his pocket, pushed play and leaned back. As he closed his eyes, he wondered what Merrin had in mind for him, and how he was going to get back at that dumbfuck Halcyon.

Merrin looked up at Ruben as he walked towards him. He liked Ruben, found the man to be an excellent fighter, a person he could trust to in a combat situation.

"Everything has calmed down Ruben. We got ourselves a new fighter, a new tech guy today. Not a bad haul."

Merrin looked out towards DC and the only monument he could really see was the Washington Monument. The cigarette hung limply in his mouth as he turned back on Ruben.

"What were you doing before this....this shitty mess started Ruben?"

Ruben paused slightly. He'd have to come up with something since his actual past would most likely earn him a new cell. Ruben was good at lying though, it was a useful skill that he employed often.

"I used to live in New York... but I was up here on some business when they arrived. I had to hide out in the mall, but thankfully there was a gun shop in there and I stocked up and fought my way through until I came across some of your guys heading for an outpost outside the city."

Ruben took another glance out at the mess that was Washington DC. He needed more, something about what he did.

"I used to work for a large arms company, making contracts and the sort. It took a while but I worked myself up from a lowly assembler, to a marketer and now a reasonably important business negotiator. Not that it matters anymore, but at least I've got some useful skills."

Ruben smiled slightly... that should do.

Erik, after going to the restroom, climbed back up to his post on the wall. He usually slept there now, under thick blankets. It was near where Ruben and Merrin were talking. He rested his rifle against the rim and peered outward, dimly hearing what the two were saying.

Rikan broke a smile at the mention of a water bottle knocking out this one's friend. It was a rare thing to see coming from her.

"Superiors are nothing but idiots, at least most of them. The good ones lead by example, and are usually the quiet ones."

She extended a hand, "I'm Rikan Tansho."

Nathan smiled. He started to shake her hand.

"I'm Nathan Halycon, and your theory is all too true Rikan."

Merrin looked at Ruben. He would have normally found his explination strange, but the military had cleared out buildings and stockpiled them with weapons. He wasn't suprised Ruben would have called them gunstores, that is what most people called them. He also wasn't suprised when Ruben had told him he had hide out near the National Mall, hell that Jakob character was hanging out there.

"Working for an arms plant...not bad. That is one thing we are short of, ammuntion. Too many of those fucks out there to kill."

Merrin looked at Ruben, he then allowed a bit of his Southern accent to come through:

"By the way we are south of New York you dumb Yankee. So, you come down here for business, not up here. You sound like you've never been to the USA."

Erik chuckled at the comment, he hadn't considered whether he had come "down," or "up." He finally decided that he had come "back."

Ruben cursed silently. He hadn't made a particular effort in learning American geography and thus another mistake. He hated it when he made mistakes. Grinning slightly, Ruben attempted to look sheepish.

"Of course. I guess I'm just losing track of those details, now that it doesn't really seem to matter. So were you stationed here when it all happened?"

Ruben decided a change of subject would be best, it would take the attention off his filthy mistake.

OOC: Bah, I'm not an American

Merrin decided to go along with Ruben. If the guy wanted to mess up American geography, that was fine with him.

"I was sationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina when this thing started. Military ordered all avaliable units to move north and basically blockcade Pennsylvania. Shut off all roads and patrol. The Seabees and Engeniers began to build a large wall around the whole border. We also moved into Pennsylvania to try and rescue people and kill these thing, first time I saw one was at Gettysburg.

"The goverment began to set up bases...like this one in hopes of that they may never be used. Well, they were wrong. No one knows how they got out....back then we didn't know the bite was lethal and could make you one of them, so a soldier was probably bitten, then turned after they had left the quarentine zone. Next thing I know...we're in a fighting retreated back to DC. Thats about it for me."

Merrin looked at his watch.

"Ruben, been nice talking to you...but I must go."

He shook the man's hand and climbed off the wall. Merrin went to his room to prepare to meet Liadan.

Ruben nodded and watched as Merrin quickly departed. He wasn't happy that he'd made such a stupid mistake, it didn't look good upon him and the character he was portraying. Now in a bad mood, Ruben had to do something about it.

It wouldn't be practical to go out and kill some of those creatures now, he would have to find a way to channel his rage within the base. Ruben stormed off the wall and went down into the base, ignoring everyone as he marched towards his room, still unsure of what he would do.

Liadan returned to her quarters. She stripped of her uniform and stepped into a hot shower. Twenty minutes later she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. She sat at her vanity and began to comb out her long black hair. When she finished, it fell in waves to her waist.

Still in the towel, she went to her closet and opened it. Surveying its contents, she shook her head in disgust. What am I going to wear? she thought to herself.

After about fifteen minutes of frantic searching through her closet, Liadan found the one nice outfit she owned: A tight black sundress and high-heeled sandals. She dressed, then turned her attention to putting on a little bit of makeup, something she did not do very often.

Liadan scrutinized herself in the mirror and decided that what she saw was acceptable. She picked up a book, sat in a chair, and waited for Merrin to arrive.

OOC: EDIT: This is Tarlachia...KT(Gorgamin) was using my comp for her posts and the stupid NS server decided to keep her logged in...

IC:
Rikan finished the handshake, noting the strong grip given. A strong handshake always means a strong persona. I like...

Rikan beckoned for Halycon to accompany her as she walked away from the area where Merrin had been standing. As they walked, she questioned Halycon, "Tell me your story."

There was a knock at Liadan's door. She stood and opened it, smiling at Merrin. He was wearing a light pair of khaki slacks, dark brown shoes, and a dark green collared shirt. He smiled at her.

"I'm a bit early, but may I come in?"

Liadan let him in and Merrin kissed her lightly on the cheek. She shut the door and smiled at him. Merrin looked over her body, this was the first time he had seen her without her uniform; and he liked what he saw. He produced a bottle of wine from behind his back, one of the things he had found on a patrol a few months back.

"I don't suppose you would mind sharing these with me? Bottled just before the rest of the US was run over."

Liadan blushed again as Merrin kissed her on the cheek. He looked good. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he liked what he saw. When he produced the bottle of wine, she nearly squealed with delight. She hadn't had wine in ages.

"I'd love to share that with you. Please, sit down." She indicated one of the two small chairs on either side of her tiny table. "I think I have some glasses somewhere."

Liadan rummaged through her cupboards and finally came up with two plastic cups. Not what she was hoping for, but they would have to do.

"Well, I don't have wine glasses, but I suppose these will work." She handed the cups to Merrin and waited for him to pour.

Merrin opened the bottle and smelled the contents. The label had long since gone, but the wine still smell good. Taking the cups, he poured, finding it to be a deep red wine. He then handed one to Liadan who sat down in the other chair. Merrin smelled the wine again and gently sipped it.

"Still good."

Merrin watched as Liadan carefully took a sip, and he could immediatly see she liked it. He took another sip from his glass and leaned back in the chair.

"Liadan, you were telling me earlier...you consulted scrolls and a Lady of the Forest to try and understand what was going on up there. Could you explain to me more in depth now?"

*******************************

In the radio station on the surface, Pvt. Savini played solitare. He kept the radio on, but there was rarely any transmission. He began to hear static. Savini put on his headsets and listened, someone was on the line!

He began to scribble down the message while his fingers flew over the keyboards to find the position of the transmission. Writing down the location, he quickly ran out of the building to find Merrin.

OOC: EDIT: This is Tarlachia...KT(Gorgamin) was using my comp for her posts and the stupid NS server decided to keep her logged in...

IC:
Rikan finished the handshake, noting the strong grip given. A strong handshake always means a strong persona. I like...

Rikan beckoned for Halycon to accompany her as she walked away from the area where Merrin had been standing. As they walked, she questioned Halycon, "Tell me your story."

Nathan smiled.

"Gah, where to begin? Well, I'm an orphan, my parents both died before I was one, and because of that, I spent most of my childhood in an orphanage. But I got lucky. I did great in school, got a load of friends, even got a scholarship for college. Then I joined the Army," Nathan paused, and then continued, "I was stationed up here in Washington for a few years. All we did was patrol around the base and run field exercises, but I also trained soldiers in close combat, meaning daggers, swords, of rifles & pistols...the list goes on.

"When the whole crisis broke out, the base was put on lockdown. Sadly, me and a group of five men were running a couple of field exercises. And so, we fought past a few of those creatures, whatever they are, and our numbers dwindled. By the time we reached this Fort, I had one man, but...he was bitten. At the time I didn't know, but as we reached the gates to this place, he turned into one of them. I shot him twice in the Cranium, and then I made my way into the Fort. I've been here ever since..."

Rikan listened to the words of Halycon as he spoke of his life, and of his woes. She closed her eyes, unseen by him, as she realized what may have been all too true.

He almost seems entirely pessemistic...

She turned to him once they were far enough from where the others were. She questioned him with a glint in her eyes, "How are your fighting skills? Ever get forced to do hand-to-hand combat?"

Nathan smiled.

"Good, I know some Martial Arts, and I'm a seasoned brawler. Tae-Kwando, Kung Fu and Ikei-do are the main three Martial Arts I know. Only a few times have I been forced to use them, why do you ask Rikan?" he asked.

Wait a minute...I think she wants a fight...

Nathan decided to wait for Rikan's response.

"Really? Is that so?" she smiled in response.

"Let's see your mettle then!" she declared, stepping into formation as she waited for him.

"Your attack first." she offered, her eyes focusing on him entirely, ready for anything he might throw at her.

Nathan feigned surprise, and threw his hands up.

"Why Rikan, why would I do such a..."

At that moment he launched himself, grinning, at Rikan, his right hand chopping towards her...

Liadan looked down at the table and blushed.

"I wish I could. There's nothing to tell. I've researched, I've done everything I could think of, and there aren't any answers. I...I did find one thing. I'm not sure what it means though."

She got up from the table and went into her bedroom, coming back a few moments later with a huge ancient-looking tome. She plunked it down on the table and opened it.

"This book contains recordings of archdruids' premonitions throughout the ages. It's been translated into Latin. You see this verse I've marked?"

Merrin nodded, but looked confused.

"You don't read Latin, do you Colonel? That sentence roughly translates to 'When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."

Merrin sat there and thought. The Pennyslvania ex-SWAT officer had told him the same phrase, only it was related to voodoo. Finding out that there were more people with this same view, slightly disturbed the soldier. Before he could reply, Pvt. Savini burst through the door.

"Colonel! Someone is on the radio!"

Merrin jumped from his seat and literally bulldozed through Savini. The soldier turned and bolted after Merrin. It was then Merrin noticed he had forgotten to say 'exuse me' to Liadan, she would understand. Merrin got to the surface and bolted to the radio shack, ignoring Rikan and Nathan sparring.

He skidded inside and picked up the headset, only static.

"Sir, I asked for a Blawk Hawk to go check the site out. The crash is at the National Mall."

Merrin walked outside, trying to regain his breath. He nodded and saw the dark shape of the Black Hawk move to DC.

*****************************

The Cessna was in fair shape, considering the rough landing. The wings and landing gear had been torn away and the aircraft was laying on it's side; yet the fusulage was mainly intact. The Blawk Hawk didn't bother to circle it, it landed right next to it.

Two men toting M4s rushed to the aircraft. One, nearly vomited. The windsheild was covered in blood, and a figure could be seen in the cockpit. The men shined the flashlights on their guns at the figure, the greenish, brown face turned to them. It's face was coated in a thick layer of human blood, and an large bit of neck hung in it's mouth. Both men opened fire, the head erupted, sending a cassacde of blood and brain in the cockpit.

Both men quickly looked around the aircraft and grabbed several packs. They counted the pilot and co-pilot dead, apparently no survivors of the crash. They ran back to the Black Hawk and climbed it.

They did not see the two sets of footprints, leading from the aircraft, into the city.

***************************************

When the helicopter it was swarmed by people. The announcement was made, no survivors. Merrin cursed angerily to himself. He walked up to the two men who had looked at the wreak.

"Find anything?"

"These packs sir, they got food, water, weapons, ammo, and explosives. Nothing else."

"Alright, put that stuff in the armory. Savini, keep monitering the radio traffic, just in case. Alright everyone, disperse."

Merrin walked slowly back to Liadan's room. She was still there at the table when he walked in. Merrin shut the door and sat across from her. He took a sip of wine.

"Well, plane crashed in DC. No survivors. God dammit, I would like one bit of good news."

OOC: I'm still here...

IC: Ruben remained on the wall, looking out into the night and considering the future. There was no forseeable future, save for life inside this base and killing a few more creatures. It was depressing. Ruben had plans, grand plans and they would never even take their first steps.

The news of the crashed aircraft didn't really concern him, just another victim to the creatures and a few more supplies for the base. Moving off the wall, Ruben watched the sparring match as he slowly walked by...

Jakob woke up slowly, unsure of where he was. He looked around, seeing the unfamiliar outlines of the room, and instinctively reached for the 9mm in his jacket pocket. After all, a building like this could be full of creatures. He became even more confused when he not only didn't find his gun, but didn't find his pocket either. He sat up and looked around, remembering everything as he changed, putting on the first clean set of clothes he'd worn in weeks. He carefully loaded his gun and placed it in his jacket pocket, before walking out into the hallway. "Hey," he flagged down a passing soldier, "Which way is the mess hall?"
"Down the stairs and to the right."
"Thanks."
Now he could finally get some food and drink in him. Jakob found the mess hall alright and walked in, piling his tray with food and walking to an empty table.

Rikan grinned as Nathan feinted at her. Immediately, she flew into action, her left hand blocking and thrusting his swinging fist away as her right simultaneously hammered into his chest, the force surprisingly strong and throwing Nathan back onto his backside.

Rikan didn't wait for him to recover as she launched herself forward to drive her heel where his stomach was.

Nathan looked up to see her maliciously grinning face...

...And grinned to himself. He waited for a few seconds before rolling to the left, and using his right foot to lift himself.

As Rikan's heel drove into the ground, Nathan, using his hand, pivoted right, and shoved his foot out. His foot smashed through Rikan's ankle, throwing her leg out.

Nathan then got up on both of his legs, and using the remaining force of his twirl to boost his strength, he brought his elbow down onto Rikan's stomach, making her hit the ground with a dull *THUD*. Nathan then flipped backwards to prevent any counter-attack Rikan could hope to muster, and then stood in a defensive stance, ready...

With an agile motion, Rikan flipped from her backside back to her feet and paced off against Nathan. She nodded toward him, "Very good. You are good. But can you handle a mercenary and a hunter of "exotic" species?"

She didn't give him time to respond as she ran forward and then completed a kick-up combined with a backflip. The effect was as she hoped, causing her boots to connect with his chin. He lifted slightly off the ground, but stumbled backward a few steps. Yet he still remained standing.

Rikan tilted her head to the side slightly, a raised eyebrow, "Tough shit aren't you?"

She drove a fist toward his gut..

Jesus, that's the last time I let my guard down!

Nathan just grinned.

Big mistake...

Just as Rikan's fist was about to connect with his stomach, Nathan grabbed her wrist, spun it around, and then slammed Rikan's now twisted arm onto her back, pushing her to the floor. Nathan heard a *click*, and her cry out a bit.

Leaning closer, he spoke into Rikan's ear.

"Just in case you missed what I just did, I twisted your arm, flipped you over, and pinned your now twisted arm to your back. Now, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to be painful, but that jaw kick wasn't nice. And FYI, I'm not tough , I'm gooooood ."

Nathan then flipped off Rikan, and continued until he was a good four meters away.

Oh you're going to pay for that one little boy... Rikan scowled to herself, as she stood back up. Her mouth was bloodied, having had her teeth slammed into the ground by Nathan. Still, she kept her teeth, although now sore.

"So you draw blood? Is this how you want to play? Because that is exactly how I kill..." she called to Nathan. She watched smugly as he stopped suddenly at her last word. Quickly, she ran toward him. Nathan turned slowly to look at her, hearing her words and her footsteps.

Rikan was nowhere to be seen in the darkness of the night...

Nathan's eyes went wide with surprise. How exactly had she moved so quickly?

Suddenly, he heard the landing of boots as she landed right behind him. The sound of dual blades unsheathing was heard. Nathan turned, only to have the blades pressing into his throat and gut. A thin line of blood traced along the almost horizontial blade from his throat.

"Checkmate." she grinned into his face, her blood covering her chin. It almost seemed that she was a vampire, the way the blood flowed, combined with her grin.

Erik had been out for a stroll when he overheard the commotion. Curious, he came upon Rikan and Nathan sparring, but only arrived as the match was concluding. "Kinky," he said, jokingly.

Nathan grinned.

"Really?"

With that Nathan jumped and then flipped, knocking the blades out of Rikan's hands.

He landed, and the grit his teeth. He'd cut himself at the gut, but that was expected. Holding out both his hands, Nathan caught, both of the blades.

"But if you'd wanted too, you'd have killed me, so good match." Nathan said grinning. He held out the two blades.

"Want these back?"

Ruben stood back and continued to watch the spar as it came to a conclusion. He was all for practicing combat, but he thought they had taken it a little too far with the blades. Ruben didn't like to needlessly endanger himself, even if he was confident that he wouldn't get hurt, he still didn't like it.

As it finally ended, Ruben noticed another character moving toward the mock battle. He didn't know the guy but judging by his 'kinky' comment, he was an idiot. All Ruben could do was sigh. Why is it that the world would have to be rebuilt with people like them at its foundation?

Remaining silent, Ruben watched the newcomer whilst keeping an eye on the other two. None of them he trusted at all...

Erik leaned back against the wall. The sparring pair obviously had either not noticed his comment, or had ignored it. He sometimes had a problem of saying exactly what he thought. To him, the fierce sparring match, though intense, appeared to be a form of flirtation between the two. He had never been much for martial arts himself, though he deeply respected those who were proficient in them, for obvious reasons.

He looked down at the ground. He smelled something, and then realized what it was. Cigarette smoke. He hated cigarette smoke. He couldn't believe how many people back east smoked, and that's one of the reasons he had never enjoyed visiting the place much. But now he was stuck here. He drew in the dirt with a stick nearby, for he was quite bored, and there seemed nothing else to do around here but wait to get killed. Erik was a fairly talented artist, and so, despite being in the dirt, the little drawing was fairly good.

Two dark figures made their way through DC, one kept helping the other, urging him on. The pair made their way to a metal door and one picked the lock as the other stood nervously watching for anything. There was a soft click, but in the dead silence, it sounded like an artillery barrage. The door groaned in protest as it had not been opened in years, they quickly hurried inside when they heard a noise that sounded like someone was dragging their feet, down the alley.

Flashlight in one hand, helping keep his friend stable with the other, the pair moved through a large series of backrooms, covered in a thick layer of dust. When they reached a door, the man quietly opened it and shined his flashlight on the largest of object in the room.

The Messerschmitt Me262 was the first jet aircraft ever to enter combat. Armed with a nasty group of four 30mm cannons in it’s nose, it could saw a B-17 in half with a single pass; it’s twin jet engines pushing it over a hundred miles per hour faster than the American Mustang. Now mute, it no long posed a threat. The figure moved forward, pried open the cockpit, and placed a black suit case inside.

He ran back, grabbed the other person and dragged him upstairs to the World War 2 room. They dropped their packs and the man leaned against the wall. The other figure moved off, while the other fell asleep. His companion came back, reached inside and extracted a small radio.

He moved to the World War 1 room and tried to make it work, he failed. Before he could try again, he heard a moan, followed by the sound of dragging feet……

OOC: As most of you probably already know, Tarlachia is off for a week or so. I'll be Rping Rikan while he's gone.

IC:

"Well, sir, they haven't cancelled the movie yet." Liadan smiled at Merrin. "And...I've made dinner. I hope you like chicken and potatoes."

She got up and went to the stove. She pulled two plates out of the oven where they had been keeping warm and shut the oven off. Grabbing butter for the potatoes out of the fridge, she brought the plates over to the table. Merrin grinned. "Looks good, MacDonaill."

"Please, sir, call me Liadan, and it's an old family recipe for pan-fried chicken. You'd better eat up or we'll be late for the movie.

.................................................................................................... ....

Rikan said nothing, but took her blades back from Nathan. She had been fairly beaten, and she knew it. He was right. He was good. She sheathed her blades and looked at him. It was then she saw his wound.

"That looks nasty. Are you all right?"

Merrin smiled, he took a bite of the chicken.

"Very good Liadan. And you can call me Sean."

They ate quickly, finished the wine Merrin had brought over. He smiled, took her hand and lead her down the hallway. They took the elevator down to the next level and Merrin took her to the room that was suppose to be for Congress if there was a nuclear attack, it was now a movie theater, and a breifing room. They took a seat and the room quickly filled with other soldiers and civilians who were off duty and needed to relax.

An old projecter whirled up and Heaven Knows Mr. Allison started.

*********************************************

The figure hid in the Grumman F4F Wildcat. He peered over the rim of the cockpit, sweat pouring down his face. He could see a dark figure, aimless wandering around. He sunk back down in the cockpit, his whole body shaking with fear.

Erik had trudged off after the spar had ended. He was easily depressed. He had managed to find a bag of popcorn, and had prepared it before the movie, which now was watching, from the back corner of the movie theater, quietly and slowly eating his popcorn.

After eating, Jakob returned to his quarters. Going through his pack, he brought out a laptop computer and plugged it into a wall socket. He started it up and brought up the wireless internet function. Aside from the bases network, he also picked up a signal from a museum server in Washington. He clicked on it and began working his way into the system. It was easy enough to log into the basic system as a guest, but he wanted more than that. He located the security system and began the process of hacking in. There was no particular reason to do so, but it wasn't like he was going to get arrested. Besides, he could use the practice.

.................................................................................................... ....

Rikan said nothing, but took her blades back from Nathan. She had been fairly beaten, and she knew it. He was right. He was good. She sheathed her blades and looked at him. It was then she saw his wound.

"That looks . Are you all right?"

Nathan smiled, and nodded.

"I'm fine Rikan, I can patch myself up anywho."

He pulled out his Med Kit and set it on the floor. Sticking his hand in, he fished around. before pulling out a bandage and some tape. Smiling at Rikan, he undid his shirt and pulled it off, exposing his toned body. Getting the bandage, he wrapped it tight around his gut twice, and then offered the tape to Rikan.

"I need to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, while I do that, can you put some tape over the bandage, so it'll stay in place?" he asked.

OOC: Okay guys, I'm fast forwardin to the next day, when things start picking up.

IC:

When the movie had ended, Merrin had took Liadan back to her room. He still could not take his eyes off her body. She stood in the doorway and smiled at him.

"Thank you for a great evening Liadan, really brings up someone's morale."

"Well, thank you to Sean."

She smiled and softly closed the door. Merrin smiled and headed back to his room, he relaxed on his bed. It had been a pretty good day, they pulled in two people, and had gotten some more supplies. Merrin closed his eyes and fell asleep.


The Next Morning

"Colonel? Colonel Merrin?"

Merrin cracked an eye open to see a dark figure standing over him. He closed his eye again.

"What the hell is it?"

"Sir, remember that plane that went down last night? We got a static filled transmission a few minutes ago, from inside DC."

Merrin immediatly got up, he followed the man to the elevator and up to the surface. A light mist hung in the air as the pair jogged across the deserted lot to the radio shack. The soldier on duty spun and looked at Merrin, he pressed Play on a tape recorder.

"He****I******o**help me*******hu*****g********i****Ohh God*****"

Merrin stood there for several seconds.

"Got a fix?"

"Yes sir, whoever sent this is at the National Air and Space Museum."

Merrin nodded and turned to the other soldier.

"Go and wake the cooks. Get some hot coffee and food ready and sent over to the briefing room. Then wake up MacDonaill and her crew, Halycon, Nyle, Tansho, Halifax, Iversen, and get squad 6."

The other man ran off as Merrin headed back to his room. He shaved, cleaned himself up, put on some fresh fatigues, put on his pistol belt, and grabbed his M16. He headed into the conference room twenty minutes later to find several tables put up, filled with food, and some plenty of fresh coffee.

Merrin got himself some breakfast and coffee, then took a seat at a table on the stage. Over the next ten minutes, everyone slowly filtered in, rubbing their eyes and grabbing some chow. When they had all sat down, Merrin stood.

"Alright, we got a survivor or survivors in the city. The location of the broadcast is from the National Air and Space Museum. Now, we don't know how many survivors there are, but there shouldn't be that many. Lt. Macdonaill will fly us in and land in front of the building. Liadan, I want you to come inside with us since you have a gift for talking to people in the most strange of circumstances.

"This should be a simple in and out operation. Mr. Nyle, if we run into any kind of electronic troubles, I need you fix them on the spot and damn fast. Halycon, get your med-kit set and grab anything extra.

"Max out ammo and grenades in the armory, bring an extra weapon if you think you need it. This shouldn't take more than an hour, but you never know around here. Any questions?"

Ruben calm listened to Merrin as he went over the details of the mission. It had been a while since he had been out of the base and was thankful for the chance. The chance to also test his skills in a more realistic combat situation against the creatures.

"Colonel, that call came in last night. How do we know they aren't dead already?"

OOC: Sorry for the short post... not a lot to say.

"Colonel, I think I can help answer that question." Jakob glanced at Ruben. "Last night I was messing around and I got into the museum's security server through wireless internet. I can probably get a feed from any security cams that are still working." We hsould be able to spot anyone or anything moving aound in there."

Merrin took a sip of coffee and looked at Ruben.

"We have been trying to get in contact with the party who sent the message. Unfortunatly we have been unsuccessful. We have to risk the possiblity of them still being alive...so that means we have to go in and search the building. But, before we abandoned DC we locked and secured all the buildings, in the hopes after this shitty mess was over we could reopen them without any of those things inside."

He picked up the rest of his hashbrown, ate it and thought about what Jakcob had said. This was wonderful, they could see if they were alive or not. Before he opened his mouth, another person spoke.

"So you're the one who broke up my connection with the South Koreans?"

Everyone turned around to see the President walk down the stairs to the floor. Merrin froze as the President walked forward, the old man turned and looked at Jakob.

"I can tell you're our new tech man. I ask you to refrain from getting on whatever internet we have left. What we have left is pitiful and it is hard to carry on a conversation a half a world away. It is the only way for whatever is left of the world's goverment or military to talk and exchange advice. But, when you get into DC..you are free to try and get power back to there and see whatever cameras are working."

"Everyone, dismissed...get to the armory, load up and get out to the pad. Macdonaill, as soon as you get your gear, warm up your bird. Get moving!"

As everyone filed out the President went to Merrin. The old man made sure everyone had left before he spoke to Merrin.

"Colonel...there is something that one of those survivors must have I want. A black suitcase...bring it back here at all cost."

"Yes sir."

Both men left the room together, but Merrin went to the armory while the President turned to another meeting. Merrin grabbed plenty of M16 and pistol magizines. He also picked up 2 Beretta 92FS and a MP5A4 along with more magizines, he also loaded up on grenades.

He headed backed to his room. Openning a small safe he pulled out a new bottle of diazepam. He took out his old bottle, swallowed several pills and pocketed them both. He then headed upstairs to the helipad and found the last few men getting inside. Merrin climbed in and headed to the cockpit.

"Alright Liadan, lets go."

The Stallion lifted off and they went through the usual ride until they reached DC. The aircraft turned and headed to NASM instead of the national mall. Merrin looked out his window at the building and the streets, nothing. They touched down softly and the Stallion quickly empited as everyone poured out in preperation of an assault. None came.

Merrin, followed by Liadan were the last out, the prop was kept turning as the group made thier way to the large doors. One of the soldiers quickly picked the lock, and they entered. Guns at the ready, they looked at the dust covered Wright Flyer and the Spirit of St. Louis. Merrin, closed the door behind them and spoke quietly. He already had a plan in his head.

"Liadan, Rikan, Halycon, Bishop, Foree, and Sharpe. Take the upper floor. Rest of squad 6, and everyone else...we clear out this floor. I don't want anyone talking above a whisper. Move quickly and quietly, move it out."

Inside the main museum lobby, Jakob walked to an information kiosk and looked under the desk. Sure enough, there was a hire power USB port there he could plug into. He connected his laptop and waited and the system slowly came online. He entered the information for the security account he'd created the previous night and waited again as the server checked his clearance. What a way to start his work here, before he even did anything at all, he'd disrupted a presidential conversation. "I'll just heave do to a hell of a job here," he thought to himself. As a precaution, he took out his 9mm and laid it on the desk next to his computer. He looked around, nothing, the museum was still as a tomb.
Turning back to the screen, he found that the computer had accepted him and given him full clearance to all systems. He immediately brought up the security camera system. Soon his screen was covered with a dozen or so different views of the museum. He found a camera that covered the kiosk he was standing in. It would be pretty stupid to allow one of the creatures to sneak up on him while he ws absorbed in the computer. Just then a thought occured to him. He brought up a media recorder and began saving all the camera footage to his hard drive. Taking a deep breath, he focused all his attention on the screen. So far, all he noticed was the soldiers moving stealthily through the museum, some past the space program display, the rockets towering over them, others walking by an exhibit dedicated to Amelia Earhart. Nothing else was moving yet.

"Clear. Bishop, Sharpe, take point. Liadan and Foree, I want you covering out backs. Rikan," Nathan smiled at her, "Take whatever posistion you think's appropriate, but only attack if I give the word. Clear everyone?"

Everyone nodded. Nathan smiled and nodded ahead.

"Lets go."

Flicking the safety off his M4, Nathan pointed his favourite carbine ahead, and everyone proceeded.

Ruben moved carefully around a corner, bow drawn. He'd hadn't used his bow in combat yet and had been jumping for the chance, even if all the M16 armed soldiers were giving him strange looks, he didn't care. It was a rather large composite bow, standing from Ruben's feet to his chest and gleamed a slick black in the flickering lights.

Petting the quiver at his side, Ruben continued to sneak through the museum, arrow nocked but not drawn. It was quite the effort to sustain such a tight string in that position for a prolonged time. Besides the bow, Ruben was armed with twin Ballers (are they even a real gun?) and a rather large combat knife. He didn't much like SMGs or rifles and so kept it small.

So far there was nothing...

Shouldering her M4 Carbine, Liadan moved off silently towards the Sea-Air operations room, keeping eyes open. Suddenly, as she turned a corner, she saw a zombie. She pulled out the M4 and aimed it, but as she was inexperienced with guns, she missed.

The zombie moved towards her. She screamed for help and ran. Unfortunately, she ran into a dead end. Liadan was trapped. She backed up into a F4F Wildcat and jumped up onto the plane. Oh God...I hope they get here soon...

Merrin was exploring the old giftshop when he heard Liadan's shooting. He quickly bolted out of there and rang to the sound of the gunshot. He could see everyone else also running. He hoped they weren't too late.

*****************************************

As the zombie slowly approach Liadan, she desperatly looked for something to use to fend it off till help arrived. She put her hand on his pistol belt, ready to draw it. When the creature was only a few meters away, it's head suddenly exploded in a gory mass as a large part of the head was blown away.

Liadan's ears were ringing from the blast, she covered them as another tremendous explosion rocked her ears and the rest of the head exploded, covering the ground with blood and tissue. Liadan looked stunned, she turned around, and jumped back, nearly tripping over the corpse.

She looked down the massive barrel of the 12 guage Remington 870 shotgun. Her eyes traveled up the barrel to see it protruding from the cockpit, and in the hands of a person...a teenage boy.

The teen looked at Liadan through terrified brown eyes, the youth slowly climbed out of the plane, one hand still holding the gun. He tripped and fell, Liadan rushed around, hoping to see if the survivor was hurt, she was once again faced with the shotgun. The youth crawled into a corner and pumped the 870, ejecting an empty shell, and chambering a fresh load of buckshot.

The boy was no more than 17 years old, standing at about 5'11 he had short brown hair and wore a dirty pair of blue jeans and a red t-shirt. He looked at her, opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he tried again, and spoke in a shakey, very scared voice.

"A...are.....yo....you....your...you? Are you...youself?"

The few M4 shots grabbed Ruben's attention immediately. If there was shooting, there must be some of those creatures around. He was already on his way when he heard the woman's scream, obviously she hadn't taken care of the target.

Weaving through corridors and doorways, Ruben heard another two shots, a different weapon though and was disappointed. It seemed that someone had most likely taken care of the situation. He dediced to investigate anyway, perhaps he would be lucky.

A few minutes later and Ruben emerged from the shadows to see a boy holding a shotgun whilst Liaden stood there shocked and the remains of a creature around them. Idly holding his bow, Ruben looked down at the boy.

"And who might you be?"

"Oh ."

Nathan heard the gunfire. Whirling around, he saw Liadan was missing.

Stupid bitch, I told her to cover our asses!

" , Liadan wondered off, c'mon!"

Nathan ran towards the source of the gunfire, when he heard a shotgun going off, and an eerie silence.

Nathan kicked a door down, to open up to Liadan, Ruben, and...a boy. He looked at the remains of the zombie, the shotgun, and then the kid.

"Nice work kid."

The teen stayed shivering in the corner, cornered by these new people. He didn't speak, as one man seemed to be asking him who he was. He didn't move, the barrel of the shotgun remained pointed at the group, slowly moving and shaking in the teen's hands.

Merrin moved into the room with everyone else as he moved forward he jumped out of the way of the shotgun barrel. The teen kept it leveled at Merrin.

"Kid, put that fucking thing down. Now." he said in a hard angry tone and he took a step forward to disarm the youth.

The teen quickly repsonded by pumping the shotgun, that made everyone freeze. A good shell was ejected and the teen quickly grabbed and rammed it back into the underbarrel tube magizine. Merrin moved a few feet back, he knew this was very dangerous. They had a survivor, yet this one would be a problem. He was young, terrified of all the new and armed people, and totted a 12 gauge shotgun.

When Merrin stepped forward to try again, this time something happened no one expected. The loud eruption from the shotgun filled the tight area, the spread of buckshot went high, putting many holes in the underside of a SBD-6 overhead.

The teen quickly pumped the shotgun, chambering a fresh round. His message was clear...come close and get blasted.

Merrin looked at everyone. He was no good at negotiations, and he knew it. Hoepfully, someone was.

"Someone, try and talk to him. Get him to put that damn thing down."

Erik, who had been taking his time in the rear of the group, moved as quickly as he dared towards the sound of the gunfire. He didn't want to recklessly sprint there, for it would not do to round a corner only to collide with a creature. Any mistake could potentially be fatal.

When he got there, he saw the standoff. He didn't know quite what to do, so he brought up his heavy rifle to aim close to the kid. He didn't want to shoot, though, because it was no good for people who were essentially on the same side to kill each other. So instead he tried to talk.

"Hey, calm down. We're not trying to hurt you. We recieved a message from this area, and we came to help. We've been fighting these... things..." he gestured towards the creature's remains, "for quite a while now. As you probably know, they don't talk or reason, so you have no reason to fear us. Please let us help you, that's what we're here for."

Jakbo cringed as he heard the gunshots. "Shit!" He flicked rapidly through camera views until he found the one showing the room where the action happened. He watched the boy fire his warning shot and saw Eric move forward and crouch down. A thought occured to him, and he brought up camera views of the surrounding hallways. Most were empty, but thorugh one he saw a human shape. It walked slowly down the hallway with an unhurried gait and turned the corner toward the room with the F4F. A crowd of other forms followed it. Jakob cursed silently and picked up the handheld radio he'd been left. "Colonel, you've got company coming up the hallway. They're out the door and to the right, I count about 20 of 'em." He paused to recount, "Yep, about twenty, they must've heard the shots."

The kid quickly swung the shotgun at Erik, Merrin put his hand on Erik's shoulder. He knealt and whispered in his ear.

"I don't think pointing a weapon at him is going to work. He is scared, and he has a mean bit of artillery with him, lower your weapon."

Merrin stood and looked at Liadan.

"Try to talk to the kid without getting killed. It might take a woman's touch to sooth him."

When he heard Jakob over the radio, he cursed angerily. The teen spoke.

"Back door. Jet...room. Close. Then, no more baddies."

Merrin looked at the kid and nodded, the teen was talking like a 7 year old, but it was good enough. Everyone execpt for Liadan and the kid, who was still in his corner, followed him. Jakob would keep watch on the moniters.

Merrin lead the group pounding down the stairs and spotted the group of creatures. He brought his M16 up and fired a quick burst, the first creature stop as the bullets slammed into it, Merrin remembered only headshots. He fired a single round, creating a small hole in the creature's head, and it fell to the ground.

"Alright everyone, headshots. Take the fuckers down! Then we'll close the back door."

OOC: Outer Heaven, just to let you know, during that duel earlier, there was no way you could have relieved Rikan of her blades. They're attached to her arms like gauntlets. Look at the pic here, which was given earlier in the thread. I'll just let what happened go, and blame it on loose bindings or something :P :

Rikan Tansho (http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UACNAuoZaEEf2CrpaMV24TwbuxvybmCuhZfO8UMvUDkngmytJmQQJdIML9NBZQyHoKrKt6fa!Bn5qBk3DrMECO9rcUp8W5YwN0Y qA4eNeMHbRY4w8SjDDXSC4hcAcOIX/deistyina.jpg)

IC:
Rikan heard the transmission over the radio that Merrin had. She heard the numbers and grinned. How she loved a challenge.

"I'll take care of them, boss. Get everyone out of here. If I'm not at the chopper shortly, take off, and I'll get back to the base on my own."

With that, she took off running, unsheathing the dual blades from their gauntlet sheathes. Her footsteps were light, but swift as she made her way toward them. She could hear them now, moaning slightly as they shuffled toward her friends. A gun blasted the head of the nearest one, but the shot didn't faze her. She leapt upward over the railing, spun in mid air and landed in front of the creatures kneeling to absorb the shock. She flipped her hair up out of her eyes, and snarled at them. A half-moment later, she charged toward them, her blades moving up and ready to slice the throats of the nearest ones. The blades, as sharp as they were, sliced cleanly through flesh and bone. The bodies fell in succession, as she immediately moved to the next of the dead walkers. Blood began to cover the floor of the NASM but none of it was hers. Each time one of them reached for her, or attempted to grab her, the limbs were severed, followed moments later by the head. Soon, bodies began to fall into a circular heap around her as she held up her stance and stamina.

She glanced the others making their way out of the museum. Then she noticed that more were coming from where the first group had come from.

"Shit!"

An arm swiped at her but never made contact. She leapt to the stair railing and pulled herself up to the next floor, remaining on the edge as she took a momentary breather and assessed her situation.

"Bloody hell..." she muttered as she watched the creatures moaning and starting their way up the stairs after her.

Ruben watched as Rikan battled the masses of creatures, cutting them down as they drew close enough to feel the sting of her blades. He had to admit, she knew what she was doing with those things and wouldn't like to be on the recieving end of such weapons.

Eventually the numbers became too great though, and Rikan decided it best to retreat a little. She watched as they came up the stairs, hungering for her flesh. A loud thump to her left drew Ruben's attention, there was another creature coming out of what appeared to be a maintenance closet.

Although Ruben was confident she could manage it herself, he felt the need to use his bow on something. Bringing it up to height, Ruben drew back on the string and took aim before releasing. Rikan had just turned to her left to meet the creature when an arrow flew over her shoulder and passed directly through the creature's eye, causing it to fall to the ground in a fit of disturbing spasms.

Rikan turned around to see Ruben nocking another arrow. He merely gave the female warrior a nod before searching out another target.

Harper was screaming, though noone could hear him. He crawled frantically back into the Stallion. His legs, covered in blood, large bite marks in them. Behind him he could hear he moans and the feet off the creatures. He turned on his back and pulled out his 1911. He never got off a shot before nearly a dozen creatures were on top of him.

Broken teeth ripped off his fingers, and hands pulled off his legs and left arm, leaving little strings of nerves and muscle and large pools of dark blood. His screams finally reached Murello, who was in the cockpit, listening to the radio. He spun and grabbed his MP5 and jumped down back into the main compartment to see his friend being eating alive. A creature stood, Harper's groin in it's mouth.

Murello fired in quick burst, all head shots. The thrashing mass stopped, the man ran forward and pushed off the corpses from his friend. Both legs, his groin, and one arm were missing. He turned away to see more creatures approaching the chopper, he grabbed his walkie-talkie to get Merrin.

"Colonel! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE! MORE OF THOSE...AH!"

Murello screamed as a bloody hand grabbed him by the shoulder and the now living corpse of Harper reached up and tore into Murello's neck. The man screamed as more creatures covered him and tore into his flesh. His right hand found a grenade. He managed to pull out the pin.

********************************

Merrin watched as Rikan and Ruben took care of the creatures. He quickly ordered Squad 6 to secure the back door. He got Murello's message, and ran back to the entrance, to see dozens of creatures swamp the chopper. It then exploded, parts went flying, but none hit the glass doors...keeping the entrance for the creatures down to the back door.

Merrin cursed angerily, everything had gone to shit. Thier chopper was gone, more creatures were coming in. But, all they had to do was to close the back room door.

He ran back to the jet room and found the door open and his squad coming out.

"Back door secure sir. It is welded and barricaded shut. No more of those fucks are getting inside."

Merrin nodded, he slapped a fresh mag into his M16, then his men did. The door to the storage rooms was closed and locked. Merrin spoke over his radio.

"Alright, we lost the bird. I'll explain later, but we got the back door secure...so no more of them will come in. Now it is hunting season. Kill all these fuckers."

Jakob had unplugged his computer and gone with the rest of the people to the jet room. Now he felt out of place, the pistol in his hand didn't quite feel right. He followed the soldiers back down to the lobby holding his gun in one hand, pointing it upward until he found something to point it at. As he passed the still bodies outside the F4F room he shuddered involuntarily. Those had been people, mothers and fathers and siblings turned into mindless killnig machines. It just didn't seem real.

Rikan had felt the air passage of the arrow over her shoulder, merely inches from her ear. A few moments later it embedded itself into the head of the creature. She turned to Ruben, and nodded in response her appreciation.

"Keep shooting, and for your sake, don't shoot me." she called to him, as she flipped over the railing to the second floor and moved to the stairs. The first of the dead ones were beginning to come within reach. They died, simply. A few arrows began to bury into the heads of the ones at the bottom of the stairs. Rikan moved further down the stairs, eliminating the few caught between her and Ruben's volleys.

Ruben merely gave Rikan a slight grin before unleashing another arrow, pinning one of the creatures to the wall. His marksmanship was much more acceptable today as every shot had been a fatal blow to the walking dead.

It wouldn't be long before they were all dead and the pair could catch up with the others and complete the purging of the whole museum. Normally Ruben would unleash a few flaming arrows, but he doubted Merrin wanted to risk having the building burn down, even if Ruben didn't care.

Another arrow, another dead creature...

Everything was turning into pandemonium. Erik saw Ruben and Rikan killing some of the lumbering corpses. He assumed position, crouching against a wall a ways back, to make sure there was no space behind him where something could sneak up. His heart was racing, but he managed to take steady aim, as he had been trained. He gently but firmly squeezed the trigger. There was a loud *CRACK* and the thing's head appeared to explode in a cascade of bright blood and gobbets of pinkish greyish flesh.

Erik took aim at another almost before the bullet had hit the first. The second's head was pulverized similarly, and then the third, and the fourth and so on. Sometimes he missed slightly and hit a walking cadaver's neck. This usually severed the head, which went flying, while blood from the neck shot into the air.

"Oh screw this..."

Nathan laid his loaded M4 on the wall, and unholstered two Desert Eagles. Slapping fresh clips into the Eagles, he threw them up, pulled the sliders, and grabbed them.

"I'll be back in five!"

Pulling the hammer's back on his Desert Eagles, Nathan left the Jet Room in a straight out run.

In under a few seconds, he'd reach a nearby stairway, with Rikan and Ruben going up, with those creatures following them.

Perfect.

"Close quarter combat with two Desert Eagles, I thought I'd only ever experience it once..."

Grinning, he tip-toed up to the stairway, and waited until the creatures had gone up a few steps. Then he casually walked up a couple of steps, and tapped a creature on the shoulder.

"Hey mutha er,"

The creature turned.

"Time to die!"

*BAM!*

The creature's head flew back, it's skull exploding outwards, bits of brain covering another creature, it's body falling over the banister. By the time that had happened...

*BAM!* *BAM!*

...Another two were already flying through the air, holes through their heads.

Punching another creature in the stomach, Nathan waited until it was a few centimetres off the ground, before pulling the trigger...

*BAM!*

...And the three creatures in front were knocked down by their comrade...

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

...And were shortly after.

Nathan put one barrel against two creature's skulls...

*BAM!* *BAM!*

...and they fell off the side of the banister, hitting the ground with a crunch.

Two more creatures turned to Nathan, and swung at him. Ducking, Nathan stuck both his Desert Eagles out.

*BAM!* *BAM!*

Another two creatures fell off the banisters and hit the ground...

Merrin didn't head straight to the action. He ran through the building, making sure all the doors were secure, and thankfully they were. He then ran to the action. Merrin saw everyone was blasting away at the creatures, Nathan, Ruben, and Rikan seemed to be doing a fine job on the stairs.

A creature moved from his side, Merrin sidesteped avoiding the creature and slammed the butt of his rifle into it's head. The creature stumbled back and Merrin brought his M16 up. The creature, opened it's mouth and Merrin fired, blowing it away.

He swung the barrel and shot another in the back of the head. He smiled, only a few were left. Then they could get to figuring out how to get out of here.

***********************************

The teen looked at Liadan as she stepped closer. He shivered violently as the woman approached, a small smile appeared as she stopped. His eyes flew to the entrance of the exhibit room as the gunfire reached them. He move looked nervously in that direction, nothing was coming. He turned back to Liadan, the barrel never leaving her.

"Who....you?"

Liadan stayed very still and smiled gently at the boy. "My name is Liadan." She tossed her gun gently to the ground. "I'm not going to hurt you, all right?"

The boy said nothing, but he slowly lowered the barrel of the shotgun.

"That's right. I'm your friend. I want to help you. Are you hungry?" She reached in her pack and pulled out a field ration. "Here." She took a step forward to hand it to him and immediately he pulled the barrel of the gun back up.

"All right. All right. Calm down." Again the gun was lowered. She put the ration on the floor and slid it over to him. He picked it up and looked at it. "It's food. Sort of."

The boy tore open the ration and began to eat. Liadan smiled at him again. "Thank you, by the way. For saving my life. I'd like you to trust me. I want to help you. Please? Please trust me and come with me. I promise you will be safe."

The teen ate hungerily, he hadn't seen anything that resembled food for so long. When he finished, his hands returned to the shotgun, yet he didn't raise it. He just stared at Liadan, unsure of what to make of this new person. He was still shaking slightly and his body tensed as the explosion of the helicopter reached them. Liadan and him both looked at each other, unsure of what had happened.

***********************************

Merrin aimed his M16 at the last creature twitch on the ground. He didn't fire as he stared down the sights. The creature seemed to be once a 10 year old girl, the lifeless eyes turned and looked at Merrin. He pulled the trigger and blew the head away.

Merrin looked around, the halls were now quiet, every last creature was dead. He ejected his magizine and slapped in a fresh one. Merrin ordered his paratroopers to put gloves on and removes the corpses, then get whatever cleaning supplies there were and clear the blood up. While they carried it out Merrin looked at everyone else.

"Meet me in the Exploring Planets Exhibit in 15...I'll get Liadan and the kid."

Merrin walked up the stairs and headed back to where he left Liadan.

"Liadan, get the kid and move over to the Planet Exhibit in 15."

Liadan nodded and Merrin left. When the soldier had left the teenager looked at Liadan and spoke quietly.

"Colin..I'm Colin. Were are we going.....Liadan?"

With the last of the creatures now dead, Ruben slung his bow over his shoulder. He was still alert in case one of them jumped out of nowhere, but that was nothing he couldn't take care of with his pistols. Moving back into a corridor, Ruben waited for Rikan to catch up. She had put up an admirable fight and proved herself a very competent warrior in Ruben's eyes.

Jakob made his way to the Exploring Planets exhibit. He looked around in half-interest, it was the usual bull that you found in museums these days, full of big pictures of planets and probes and rockets and very little actual information. He smiled slightly to himself, most of the public wouldn't understand the information if they actually presented it here. His thoughts turned back to the situatiobn at hand, if the loud explosion he'd heard had been the helicopter they'd come in, getting out of here was goibng to be a very difficult proposition.

Erik came out of his crouch after the last of the creatures had been disposed of. Before starting over to the Exploring Planets exhibit, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and took out his pistol. If something surprised him, he wouldn't have time to wield the big weapon. He didn't run, but trotted, wanting to make sure he saw everything ahead of him. Erik also listened intently to the air around him, to try to hear any approaching threat before it was upon him. He heard some footsteps, but could see that those were only being made by Ruben, in a ways ahead of him.

Rikan reached down to one of the dead bodies, lifted the shirt carefully and wiped her blades clean. Moments later, the shssssh-clicks of the blades could be heard as they retracted back into their sheaths.

Rikan followed Ruben, and glanced to see where Nathan was. For some reason, he was still staring at the creatures now being taken away. Whatever suited him...

Nathan knelt over a creature, and smiled.

"Hey bro, didn't think I'd find you out here."

The creature had long grasy hair, in messy dreadlocks. Nathan got out a bottle of 'water'.

"God, why, oh why, was it you that was bitten first? I remember, we ran through the streets, you tripped, and they dragged you off. Heh, if I'd just been a little more on target..."

Nathan sighed.

"To you bro, and to a good time in the heavens that you'll have, I hope..."

Nathan opened up the bottle, and took a few gulps. Nathan then got is Desert Eagle, and held the slider.

He turned the creature's head sideways, and then, he rose his Desert Eagle, the silver butt glinting.

*CRACK*

Nathan collected the teeth that fell out, and put them in his zip pocket. Nodding at the creature, he holstered his Desert Eagle, and then caught up with Rikan.

Liadan breathed a sigh of relief. The kid was coming around. She'd been worried.

"We're moving over to the Exploring Planets Exhibit, Colin. The others will meet us there. Will you come with me?"

Colin nodded, and Liadan relaxed a little more. The two of them moved out cautiously, taking their time, being as quiet as possible.

It didn't take long for them to find the exhibit where the rest of the team was beginning to gather.

Merrin looked at a map of Washington, there were small red marks on several buildings, a smile cracked across his lips. They might actually be able to survive. He looked up as Liadan and the teen walked in, soon after the rest of the team arrived. Merrin took a breath and got ready for what he was about to say.

"I'm sure you all heard the explosion and that was our chopper. Both crewmen dead."

He paused to let it sink in, and he could tell everyone's worst fears had just come true. They were now stuck in a city full of those fucks.

"Will they send anyone?" Colin asked quietly.

Merrin looked at the teen, and shook his head. "No, unless we can get in contact with them. Since we planned this to a be a in and out in a few minutes mission....the radio was on the chopper. Back at base they will think we have been killed, or that someone was bitten, turned, and began to attack everyone on the chopper flight home. If they thought someone on the chopper was infected, it would be shot down by a Stinger missile."

Merrin looked at everyone else.

"Our goal now is to survive and think of a way to get back to base. While this place was still in our hands, we left a crate or two of weapons, ammo, and supplies in sevearl buildings across DC. We might of removed one of the crates, but there should be at least one in the basement.

"Mr. Nyle, there should be a generator down there also. Don't know if there is a lot of fuel left in it, but try to get it up and running. Then I want as many security cameras online as you can manage, along with lights and heat...starting to get a bit chilly in here. Rikan and Ruben, I want you two to haul whatever weapons and supplies crates are down there up here. Corporal Iversen, I want you walking perimeter, try your best to keep out of sight of the window...we don't want our friends getting excited at fresh meat. Nathan, I want on the roof with me in ten minutes. Lets get moving people."

Merrin located a staircase in the backrooms that allowed him to get to the roof. He lit a cigarette and looked at his map of DC, there had to be a way out. He walked to the edge, the cigarette fell from his mouth and fell to the ground below. Before him, around the burning remains of the chopper, were not hundreds....but thousands of the creatures were pouring out of the woodwork. He pulled out his binoculars and looked down a long street, there were more coming. He lowered them, his eyes wide.

"Jesus Christ."

***********************

Colin sat there quietly as everyone began to leave. He looked at Liadan. He felt like he could trust this woman for some reason. He took a deep breath.

"Ms. Liadan, can I show you something?"

Liadan nodded and Colin lead her to the Me262 downstairs. He climbed onto the wing and pryed open the cockpit. He extracted the briefcase and climbed down. Colin pulled a key out of his pocket but didn't unlock it. He looked up at Liadan.

"You promise you won't tell anyone what is in here?"

Holding back tears of grief for her crew, Liadan looked into Colin's eyes. This was one of the bravest and strongest kids she had ever met. If he wanted to trust her, she was not about to do anything to jeopardize that.

"I promise I will keep your secret, Colin. Please show me."

A few minutes later, Nathan appeared behind Merrin, his M4 slung over his shoulder, lit cigarette in his mouth. He blew some smoke out above Merrin's head.

"Hey Chief, why you so spooked?"

Patting Merrin on his shoulder, Nathan looked over to the streets below. He bit down on his cigarette to stop it from falling.

"Holy ity ...we have a few visitors..."

Nathan unslung his M4, and took aim down below. He then hesitated, and then slung his M4 back over his shoulder. He then looked at Merrin.

"This changes things..."

Colin smiled and unlocked the suitcase. He paused and opened it. Liadan looked down, the briefcase seemed to be a large computer. The keyboard was not like any she had seen before, there were some letter and number keys, but most were for commands. She looked at the top part of the briefcase which was a screen for it. Colin opened a small compartment next to the keyboard and pulled out some papers and handed them to Liadan.

The papers were covered in locations across the USA, and they had a series of codes next to the names. TOP SECERET was stamped on each sheet. None of it made sense to her till she looked at one of the other sheets, her eyes went wide. Colin took them out of her hands and put them back inside the briefcase. He locked it and put it back in the 262, and made sure the cockpit canopy was secure. Colin shoved the key back in his pocket, sat on the wing, his feet resting on the jet engine. He nodded at the question in Liadan's mind.

"That is the black suitcase. It lets the person who knows the right code to start it up...fire any ICBM in the USA. There are a lot of people who think we should launch a nuclear attack against these things. That briefcase would let them do that. The man who was with me...Mr. Hope told me the codes, and gave me the key to unlock it."

Colin looked at Liadan.

"Don't tell that Merrin guy...I can tell he would want to use it."

Merrin looked at Nathan and nodded. He lit another cigarette and opened his map so Nathan could also see.

"Here we are, here is base. About fifteen or twenty miles away. We obviously can't fly, but there are numerous car parks around this city. So..maybe a car can still work. So..we can possibly drive out if we can't get in contact with base."

Merrin blew out smoke from his nose and looked down at the mass of creatures.

"Now, theses guys are our problem. Thousands of the fuckers. And we don't have enough ammo...fuck. So, now we have the problem of evacing everyone and not getting eaten. I figure, we rest here for today, fortify this place. Got any ideas?"

"Yes. You said we don't have enough ammo, thing is, these," Nathan tapped his fist, "Have unlimited ammo. If we're going to try and get through these, and conserve our remaining ammo, I should teach everyone how to fight close quarters. These creatures are strong, but slow, and not that smart. A few well placed punches, and a knife to the head would kill one no problem."

Nathan, blew out some more smoke.

"And, we need to look for alchohol."

Merrin looked at Nathan, and shrugged.

"You and that Rikan woman can teach everyone. But, the key word you said in there is one, and there are thousands of those fucks out there."

Merrin and Nathan walked around the roof, looking over the edge to see if there was any clear spot for them to escape. Everywhere the creatures were milling around, looking for a meal. Merrin tapped a bit if ash down into the mass, to no effect. The pair walked around back and still looked at creature filled streets. Merrin cursed and looked at Nathan.

"Alchohol, what do you need it for? Are you planning a big bash were we all get drunk...or molotov cocktails?"

Nathan grinned.

"Maybe both, but certainly Molotov's, and actually, if I can take this..."

Nathan tapped the map.

"I might work out how we can use those to offput pursuit."

Rikan nodded her understanding and walked over to one of the information maps along the side of the museum. She read over it carefully, looking for her objective. She finally saw it, the security office.

"Hey Merrin..." she began, "Don't you think it would be wise to keep the lights off in this place? I would think that the lights would draw the creatures toward us like moths to a flame. I'll see if we can locate some alternative sources of light for our use."

"Ruben, let's go." she called out as she began pacing down the halls toward the office.

Minutes later, she was jiggling the lock on the door of the security room. Of course, it was locked. She fished a small multi-tool out of her leg pocket and bent down to the lock and began to turn the tumbles and gain access.

Ten seconds later a click was heard and the door swung open. She stood and grinned at Ruben, "I'm glad I learned that trade from an old friend..."

Inside, there were a row of computers hooked up to various televisions. Obviously these were the security cameras. However, they were not her objective. She located the unmarked door in the rear of the room, and approached it. It swung open upon her command and allowed the two to enter the dark abyss of the basement. She retreated a few moments later, a thought in her mind as she made her way back to the security desk. She opened a cabinet drawer and found what she was looking for. Two high powered flashlights. She tossed one to Ruben and returned to the basement once more. Down in the basement the twin beams of light swept the room.

"There. In the corner." she said, making her way to the ten crates piled neatly. "Get the other end, Ruben."

Ruben nodded as Merrin gave out instructions and waited quietly as Rikan checked the map. He assumed it would be somewhere down low, away from where all the visitors would be. The pair made their way down stairs and corridors, Ruben allowing Rikan to lead since she knew where she was going.

Coming up against a locked door, Ruben was about to empty a few rounds into it when Rikan suggest a more suttle way. He didn't complain and merely nodded. Ruben didn't know how to pick locks, it was something he meant to learn but never did.

"You should teach me that some day."

Soon enough, the pair were inside the basement and had come across the supposed weapons crate. Before picking it up, Ruben grabbed a crowbar that was lying against the wall and began to pry the lid open.

"We might as well see what we're taking upstairs. You wouldn't want to get there and find out we hauled a crate of museum displays all that way."

OOC: GS, I'll let you decide what exactly it is that we find inside those crates.

Merrin nodded and handed the map to Nathan.

"Knock yourself out Nathan."

When Nathan left, Merrin pulled a bottle of diazepam out. He quickly shook out a few pills and swallowed them. He felt odd inside, cold and frightened, though he didn't show it. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before, but he would make it, he would live. Merrin kept telling himself that as he headed back downstairs.

He looked around to see his men making small rifle nests out of display cases and benches. Merrin headed downstairs to find Rikan and Ruben lifting the first crate. They put it down and the trio spent a few minutes hunting around for something to pry them open. Merrin located a crowbar and pried open the first box.

"Well, it is the thought that counts Ruben."

He pointed to the two Maxim machine-guns inside the box. With the light from the flashlights, he quickly checked the pair. Both were gutted and were obiviously meant for display. He quickly pried open the other nine crates, two held MREs, one held extra M16 magizines, and the rest had stuff for display.

"Alright, lets haul them up."

In another part of the basement, Jakob had finally found the generator. Picking his way through crates of spare museum property while you knew the city was crawling with creatures was a great way to have an aneurism, he decided. He looked at a gauge on the side, showing that the fuel tank was roughly 2/3 full. A quick search around the area yielded two gas cans, containing 3 gallons each. He poured fuel into the generator was full, leaving some gas in one of the cans. He then started the generator and smiled as dim, red emergency lights came up in the basement. He quickly made his way back upstairs and set up camp in the museum control room. Within a few minutes, every computer screen had four different camera views on it. In a view showing the main lobby, he saw creatures moving around outside the plate glass doors. He quickly punched in a command that closed steel shutters over the entrance, originally intended to trap any aeronautically inclined criminals or terrorists inside the museum. "No way they're getting through that." He put his feet up the table and called up the museum blueprints on his laptop. Jakob began studying the screen for alternate ways to exit the museum.

Erik headed down to the perimeter hallways. He always seemed to have duty that involved being alone. Although he wouldn't normally be that uncomfortable by himself, the fact that he was in a building that was in the middle of a city whose entire population seemed to have become rabid walking corpses had its way of sending chills up his spine. He was relieved greatly when he saw, just barely around a corner, the enormous metal doors closing. He continued to walk quietly, just him and his rifle, around the whole building until he came to the entrance to the basement, where others had been sent. He paused here for a moment.

Ruben nodded upon confirmation, seeing the weapons within the crates. He didn't care that his guess had been wrong, at least they knew they were taking the right crates now. Ruben hated doing pointless things and avoided them at all costs.

Picking up one side of the crate, he moved towards the stairs of the basement.

"Colonel, what's the plan when it comes to getting out of here? There may be a lot of them around here, but they aren't exactly your average einstein. We should be able to figure something out."

Merrin was helping Ruben and Rikan haul the crates up, making sure nothing fell. He glared at Ruben.

"Well no fucking shit Captain of the Obivous. I have been thinking that over since the damn chopper was destroyed. Go on...get these back to the space room."

Merrin stood aside as Rikan and Ruben hauled the crates up. He noticed Erik standing there watching the pair move the crates back to thier base.

"What the hell are you staring at?! Get the hell back on patrol!"

Merrin moved past Erik, knowing the man would have enough sense to do what he was told. He paused, turned around and headed back into the basement. After a while he found Jakob at his laptop in the old security room. Merrin walked in and smiled at Jakob.

"Alright, fill me in. What do we got in terms of power, cameras and such that still work?"

Jakob looked up and set his laptop aside as Merrin entered. "Well, as you can see," he gestured at the bank of computers showing scenes around the museum, "most of the cameras are still working. The creatures don't seem to have any interest in destroying technology. They can't get in here without me knowing."
Jakob then pointed to a large electronic map of the museum on one wall, a red bar across the front entrance was lit.
"I've also closed the emergency shutters over the main entrance doors, unless the creatures can operate some heavy duty cutting tools, they can't come in through there."
"The generator's running just fine, and we have plenty of fuel, what's in there now should last about," he paused and glanced at his watch, "10 more hours. We can get another 4 hours if someone goes down to top off the tank in a while. If we end up running out, I can shut down some of the systems to conserve power, including interior lighting, and some nonessential cameras."
Jakob picked up his laptop again.
"Right now I'm going over the blueprints to find us another way out of here. Washington is full of tunnels, there might be a way to get into the subway systems, or even the government tunnels. If we can pull that off, we'll have a clear path all the way to the Pentagon."

Erik continued patrolling, after being yelled at. When he was out of earshot, he mumbled something under his breath. He remembered when he had first been to this museum, as a kid. It had been a lively place, for a museum, full of people. All the exhibits were still intact. Fascinating stuff, he thought. Iversen walked slowly, not out of laziness, but because he wanted to make sure that if there was someone or something moving around, he'd hear it. Sometimes he would stop to look down hall ways, but all remained calm for now. He was again nearing the basement entrance.

Rikan restrained the anger that rose within herself as Merrin snapped at Ruben. Finally, Merrin walked away, only to snap at Erik while he was on his patrols. Rikan turned her head to Ruben, stating icily, "That's why I hate brass. They think they know it all, the fuckers..."

She indicated with a gesture of her hand their action to be done with the first crate in their hands. She released her grip...

The resounding boom throughout the museum seemed to be like a roll of thunder, its echo traveling through every hall, every room.

Rikan looked at Ruben and grinned mischieviously, her eyes alight with danger. It was no doubt that their action would scare the living shit out of everyone in the museum, hell, it had sounded like an explosion almost...

She sat down on the crate and extracted her left blade as she pulled out a cloth from a pocket and began to shine the metal of the dirt and grime of battle. Ruben took a seat next to her and chuckled,

"Give them a few moments, they'll come, I assure you..." she replied softly, in a way only he would hear.

Merrin looked at the screens and listened to what Jakob said. He blew some smoke out of his nose and shook his head at the suggsetion to go underground.

"We can't go underground. Hundreds of people tried that to escape...and all at that commotion and warm meat quickly attracted a few creatures. Complete chaos, gunfire killing humans, those things killing humans. No, too risky. There still could be a few wandering around down there."

Merrin jumped up with his M16 when he heard the boom, he quickly checked the moniters and saw Rikan standing there, her end of the crate on the floor. He quickly figured out what happened. He turned and headed back up to the main room.

***********************************************

Colin, still holding his shotgun, jumped at the sound and darted towards it. As soon as he entered he fired. He was too far away from Rikan and Ruben for the spread of buckshot to be close and deadly, much of the shot hit displays, though one pellet narrowly missed Rikan's leg and buried itself in one of the crates.

Colin looked around, nothing was wrong, he slowly walked forward, looking through the shudders on the doors to the hundreds of creatures clawing at the glass. He turned to Rikan.

"What was that boom?"

Rikan didn't flinch as the buckshot buried itself into the crate, merely inches from her leg. She looked up casually at Colin who was holding the shotgun somewhat nervously. She smiled mischieviously.

"Just an amplified voice of an annoyed bitch..." she replied, while looking at the creatures beyond the doors.

Erik burst in, rifle at the ready. "What the hell was that?" he asked, looking all around the room quickly, baffled as to what had happened. "It was hella loud." Looking around again, he relaxed and scratched his head in resignation.

Merrin walked into the room, his eyes scanning the faces. He walked forward and gently lowered the barrel of Colin's shotgun. He turned to Rikan and stared at her. He then looked at the crate, thankfully it hadn't broken open. He looked up at her and spoke in a very calm and clear voice.

"What was that about?"

*********************************

Colin slipped back to Liadan who was still at the jet. He looked nervously at his shoulder at Merrin, then he looked at Liadan. He licked his lips, very nervous of what she would say.

"You Colonel Merrin, he isn't right. I know it...something is wrong with him."

Rikan looked up at Merrin, noting his eyes browsing the crate and the faces. Finally it rested on her. He seemed to think that it was her who caused the noise. She looked back at him innocently.

"Only your shitty attitude toward Ruben."

She stood and walked over to the security office and looked thorugh the door at the screens showing the security views. Some of the cameras were above the entrances on the outside of the museum. She could literally see swarms of the creatures standing there, as if they expected a grand opening.

She returned to the others, "You said you wanted respect. Why not show it yourself first?"

Rikan walked up to Merrin and glared him in the eyes, "Some commander you are..."

She walked away and returned to Ruben's side, her face still calm, yet her eyes alight with daring...

Ruben smiled as Rikan dropped the crate. He didn't expect or ask for her to stand up to him as he could take care of himself, but the commotion she would cause could be quite amusing. He hadn't been amused in a long whilse and welcomed it.

As the kid burst through the door and unleashed a shotgun blast, Ruben had his knife out of the sheath and within his hand, ready to throw before the kid realised what was going on. Accepting it was an accident though, Ruben lowered his hand but kept the blade within his hand.

"Do not do that again, or you may find that a prematurely thrown blade finds itself imbedded within your throat."

Finally Merrin walked into the room, still as edgy as before and inquired about the noise. Ruben stood but was unable to speak before Rikan began having a go at the Colonel. With a casual manner, Ruben launched his blade towards Merrin and stuck it into the crate by his leg. It wasn't a threat, merely an indication that Ruben was not some incompetent he could push around.

"Colonel, I think it's about time you told us what's going on. You're in more than a bad mood. Do not lie to us, it would not be wise."

Ruben wasn't really concerned about being yelled at, but Merrin seemed a little odd. And he didn't want a leader that had issues at a time like this.

Merrin looked at Rikan, he was really getting tired of the woman's attitude. He also didn't flinch when Ruben tossed his knife at him. He stared calmly back at Ruben.

"I have not lied here. Our chopper is destroyed, and unless we somehow contact base...no help will come. So, we have to somehow contact them...or get out ourselves. Now, we could make it for the metro stations and try to get out that way...though you run into the problem of the unknown numbers of creatures that are down there. So we need to think of a way to get out, we have supplies for several days so that gives us a bit of a breathing space."

Merrin reached down and pulled Ruben's knife out of the crate next to him. He tossed it to him, and Ruben caught it. Merrin glared at him.

"Do not throw knifes at me, it is not wise."

Merrin tilted his head slightly, and Ruben saw Merrin's paratroopers on the upper floor; they were well protected by what things they could find to make crude rifle pits, yet they all had thier weapons out.

And they were aimed right at Ruben and Rikan.

Ruben didn't pay much notice to the other soldiers, he didn't care. The world had already gone to hell, Ruben didn't have anything to live for. Standing up, he sheathed his blade and walked directly up to Merrin, stopping mere inches from his face.

"Then why do you have your panties in a bunch... Colonel?"

Without waiting for a repsonse, Ruben turned around and made his way up a flight of stairs, away from everyone else.

Nathan walked in, his Desert Eagles in hand and loaded.

"What on ea-"

He stopped to see Merrin's Paratroopers aiming at Rikan, and just saw Ruben running up a flight of stairs.

"Merrin, what the hell are you doing?"

Rikan looked cooly into Merrin's eyes, not releasing him of her stare. It gave the effect of a cat watching the mouse with rapt attention, waiting for the right moment. When she spoke it was like a rising tide, soft at first but growing larger and louder by the moment.

"Is this it Merrin? Is this how you're going to end it? By shooting all of us in here? Huh? You do that, and you'll be no better than those fuckers outside the damn tin walls! So, if you're going to shoot someone, shoot those fucks! Not me!"

Rikan strode away from Merrin, her spittle still coated on his face, as she went up to one of the men holding a rifle. She walked around the protective barrier and came in close to him. The man's hands were shaking. It was obvious he'd not seen combat before.

"Back the hell away! I'll fucking shoot you!"

"Really? Then why haven't you done that before I got close to you? Have you not seen those fuckers out there? If you don't shoot them, they rip you apart, starting with your fingers..."

The man's hands were trembling in fear now. Rikan stepped back and taunted him with her arms outstretched, "So, if you're going to shoot me, do it!"

The man raised his rifle and took aim.

Five seconds passed...

"Well?" Rikan taunted some more, "I'd be now chewing your goddamn nose off!"

The man lowered his rifle and replied, "I--I can't shoot you!"

Rikan slapped the gun out of the man's hands, "You're fucking pathetic. I can't believe Merrin would trust you with his life..."

The man just stood there dejectedly.

Rikan strode away deeper into the mall, disappearing into the women's restroom. She walked over to the sink and turned it on. Surprisingly, the water was still running in this place. She washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror.

You're an asshole Merrin. You're fucking losing it... she thought silently to herself...

Erik watched the whole thing, and made a face that seemed to say "I really don't want to be in the middle of this!" and then quietly stepped out of the basement.

Liadan stared at Colin for a second. Then she grabbed his hand and hauled him off into a corner. This was a big accusation and the boy better have an explanation.

"What do you mean there's something wrong with Sea...er...the Colonel?"

Merrin glared angerily at Rikan as she stalked off, the bitch was getting him angry. He looked at Nathan and simply turned and headed up the staircase, ignoring his second in command. He moved up to the soldier and looked at him.

"You're not from this squad?"

"No sir....from Squad 19 sir. My friend got sick and asked me to take his spot. He has been in combat."

"Who is he?"

"Richard...Richard Humphries."

Merrin thought for a while. "Name sounds familiar, like I know him....but don't think I ever met him."

His soldiers went downstairs and collected the crates and hauled them up. Merrin looked outside to see the thousands of creatures clawing at the doors, eager to get inside and feed. He smiled and found a quite spot where he was out of sight of the cameras. He pulled out his pill bottle and swalled several. Merrin pocketed it and headed back out.

Merrin looked around. Where the fuck is Liadan?

**************************************************

Colin looked at Liadan, he felt he could trust this woman. He knew instantly that she liked Merrin, she had nearly called him by his first name. He licked his lips and stared as Rikan stormed upstairs, and Merrin followed a bit later.

"Look at him, he is snapping at everyone else. I saw it in Boston...he isn't right in the head. He is breaking down. Please....believe me. I don't know how my dad put him in charge of the DC security."

OOC: I'll be away from the 8th to the 18th/19th. Gorgamin will have control of Ruben until then.

"What are you two talking about?"

Liadan turned to see Merrin standing at the entrance of the exhibit. He walked slowly in, not paying attention to the dust covered displays. He stopped a few feet from Liadan and Colin. The teenager stared at Merrin, he could tell something was very wrong with the man. Colin said nothing, so Merrin looked over at Liadan.

"Well?"

"Oh, Sean!" Liadan cried and ran to him, throwing her arms around him and bursting into tears, in a totally uncharacteristc display of emotion. Suddenly she was more terrified than she had been in a long time.

It wasn't until later that she would truly realize why she had done it. It was the look in Merrin's eyes. The look that told her Colin was right.

Merrin smiled warmly at Liadan. Colin glared at this, it looked like he couldn't trust her. Colin quietly slipped out of the room and headed upstairs.

"Well, this isn't really the place to be acting like this." Merrin said in a light hearted tone.

He kissed her lightly on the cheek and smiled at her. Merrin looked past her to see at least a dozen creatures clawing at the glass, wanting desperatly to get in. Merrin turned back to Liadan.

"You never answered my question. What were you and the kid talking about?"

************************************************

Colin walked around aimlessly, the whole damn place was falling apart. He paused as he heard something, running water. Colin followed the noise to the woman's restroom. He walked quietly inside and spotted Rikan standing at a sink. Colin moved a bit deeper into the restroom.

"Are you okay?"

Rikan looked up into the mirror to Colin standing behind her. She cracked a small smile, "Little boys should not be in the women's room you know..."

Colin simply looked down, a slight blush in his cheeks. He never got the chance to apologize, for Rikan continued to speak.

"Not that it matters to me. I've been around men all my life. Frankly, I am more of a loner. I hate the men for their pig-headedness, and the women for the stuck-up attitude, as if they were squealing pigs themselves. So frankly, you being in here, doesn't concern me at all."

Rikan turned to Colin and crossed her arms as she leaned back on the counter,

"As for your question, I'm fine. It's Merrin I'm starting to worry about. He's becoming a total fucking idiot. He's not thinking rationally. He's exhibiting poor leadership skills and so much more. I fear he may be close to the breaking point..."

Nathan cursed.

"What the hell is going on here!?!"

Sighing, he looked around at everyone, and shook his head.

"Everyone back to your duties, I guess Merrin's not in a good mood."

And with that, Nathan bolted up the stairs, until he found the women's restroom.

Maybe she's in here...

Nathan knocked on the door.

"Rikan, you there?"

Rikan turned to the sound of Nathan's voice outside the restroom.

At least someone's got courtesy... she thought to herself.

"In here. Come in."

Nathan strode in and glanced at Rikan and Colin, the latter being a surprise to him. Rikan didn't give him much time to think as she began speaking in a hushed voice. If someone passed by, they wouldn't hear her voice unless they at the least cracked open the door. And if that happened, she'd see it immediately, as her eyes were watching the door in her periphrial vision.

"Listen up. I was just telling Colin here about my suspicions on Merrin. I've seen people like him before, seemingly in control, yet their mind will rip them apart like a predator would its prey. I suggest we prepare for such an instance with Merrin. It may not happen today, it might not even happen tomorrow, but it will be soon. When he does, we've got to take him down, even if we have to do it by force. Do you understand?"

Rikan looked carefully at the both of them, waiting patiently.

Nathan nodded.

"I understand, but if Merrin's gone, that means I'll have to take charge..."

Nathan sighed.

"Anyway, what the hell happened back there Rikan?" Nathan asked.

Colin also nodded to what Rikan had said. He could tell Merrin was losing his mind, very slowly. Colin pulled several shotgun shells out of his pocket and quietly slide them into his weapon until it was full. He looked at Rikan and Nathan, and spoke in the same hushed tone, yet it was obvious he was nervous.

"Jesus do you know what will happen if they find out?! If we try to kill Merrin? They'll kill all of us...I saw it in Boston. If Merrin or any of the paras catch something is amiss they'll kill us. What the fuck are we suppose to do?"

Rikan grinned slightly at Colin.

"There's only one thing we can do..."

"What can we possibly do with the brass running on our ass?"

Rikan smiled even more, "We first try to reason with them. If that doesn't work, we'll be forced to kill them."

Rikan looked at Nathan, "Survival of the fittest, so to speak..."

Erik continued to patrol around the perimeter. It was beginning to give him the creeps, and was the most incredibly boring duty he'd had in a while. He wanted someone to talk to, so he went looking for everyone, first going to the planets exhibit where they had met before.

Colin couldn't believe what Rikan was talking about. Before he could get a chance to speak, he heard someone moving down the hall towards them. Colin rushed forward and shut off the water, the trio were silent as the footsteps drew closer, then the person kept walking. He looked at Rikan and Nathan.

"Do you know what you're talking about? War between ourselves. We lack a radio....we can't get help from anyone. We're fucking stuck here with thousands of those fucks outside, and you're talking about killing half our group?!"

Rikan opened her mouth to speak but was cut off as Colin started speaking in the same nervous, hushed voice.

"You got a plan of what we are going to do if we kill Merrin? What if it gets into a full scale fire-fight and the doors break open? Those fucking things will be pouring in here....have you thought of that?"

Rikan strode forward and gripped both of Colin's shoulders with her hands a bit tightly. She looked into his eyes deeply.

"Listen to me kid. I have been fighting greater numbers and more powerful enemies for all my life. I have never given up, and I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Before I found the base, I lived by myself out here, fighting the fuckers, and killing them all one by one. You obviously have some talent in surviving yourself. All we have to do is stick together, and do our best to survive. Sooner or later, the whole shitty time in our lives will fade into memory and we'll look back and laugh on the times..."

Rikan released the boy from her grip.

"And another thing. These creatures are slow and dumb. We simply have to be the opposite. Got it?"

"No Rikan"

Nathan stood up, and unholstered his Desert Eagle. He flicked the safety off.

"I will not kill Merrin, no matter what. Enough people have died form the things outside, and the last thing I want to do is have us fight against each other. We can detain people, not kill them," Nathan paused, and nodded at Colin, "That kid is smart, we need a contingency plan. I frankly don't give a about the survival of the fittest crap, or anything else you've just said, it's all crap. We need, to be in the same numbers we are now. And those things might be slow and dumb, but they're numbering in millions."

Nathan looked at Colin.

"If Merrin is our for the count, then I'll have to take charge. However, if Merrin's loco, we can't take him with us, so we'll have to detain him here for now, and try and retrieve him later."

Rikan turned and faced Nathan with a cold look in her eyes. It was the kind of look that froze opponents in place, that unnerved them and simultaneously made them realize they were treading on thin ice. Rikan stepped forward and brought her face close to Nathan's.

"Listen. I won't have any problem working with you, and having you lead the group. But there's one thing I won't do, and that's allow psychotic assholes to fuck up our chances of survival. If I have to, I will kill Merrin. And you will not stop me, I swear to you. After that, we shall fight off the damn asswipes walking around out there..."

Nathan stated once more, "But there's millions of the creatures out there!"

Rikan looked at him, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly, "Never tell me the odds. All right, now...we've got to get some others into this little plan of ours. We can't do this alone."

Nathan sighed.

"What's stopping me from stopping you? You can't kill Merrin, and that's final. Even if he is loco, everyone will turn on you."

He then grinned.

"I don't think we should let others in on this. I mean, we're predicting things that might not happen. We're all on edge at the moment, and Merrin's not the type of guy to keep it under wraps."

"He...he told me something. I'll tell you later, Sean. This is neither the time nor the place to discuss it, ok?"

She lay her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. They stood like that for a few moments. When they finally broke apart, neither of them spoke.

Liadan trailed her fingers along the front of Merrin's uniform. As she did, she felt something strange in one of his pockets. She looked up at him, her face questioning, and pulled it out. It was a bottle of pills.

"Diazepam?" Liadan read the label. "But that's a depressant. Sean...I don't understand. Why do you have this?"

Colin looked at Rikan and Nathan, he was uncomfortable with this conversation. He looked at both of them.

"I'll round everyone else up."

Colin slipped out of the bathroom and quickly tracked down Ruben and Nyle. He debated getting Erik, but the soldier seemed to be okay. He lead all three of them back to the bathroom.

"Okay, guess this is all of us."

**************************************

Merrin smiled at Liadan, he reached out and grabbed the bottle and shoved it in his pocket. Liadan slowly backed up, frightened of the man. When she turned, Merrin pulled out his Browning and hit her on the back of the head with the butt. Liadan fell to the ground, temporarly knocked out.

Merrin looked up to see his men looking at her, then at him. He gave a nod and they carried her back to the planet exhibit, and layed her down on the ground.

***************************************

Colin turned to Rikan and was about to speak when the lights suddenly went out.

"Technology, so unreliable....just like people."

The voice didn't belong to anyone in the room. The lights came on and the group turned to face the barrels of the para's M16s. Merrin glared at them, his Browning in his hand. Another para appeared, holding a M60; all of the weapons were cocked and ready to fire.

"Take thier weapons, all the fucking weapons."

One man moved forward and began to knock weapons out of people's hands and remove knifes and anything else he found. Once everyone was clean and the weapons moved out of thier reach, the man turned to Rikan. Merrin smiled at her, he could tell she would kill the man if he stepped forward.

"You move Rikan..and you will be dead."

The soldier moved forward, and removed her weapons, spare for the blades attached to her arms. It took him a second to figure it out and he removed them and tossed them in the pile of other weapons. Merrin motioned with his pistol to the door.

"Move your asses."

The group slowly moved, carefully watched by the soldiers. When they reached the planet exhibit, they could see the weapons and food crates moved outside. Colin saw Liadan on the floor and ran to her, the rest of the group was roughly shoved inside. Merrin looked at Colin.

"Where is it kid?"

Colin stood and looked at him, sweat poured from his forehead. "What?"

Merrin growled and slammed the butt of his rifle into the teen's stomach, when Colin bent over, the butt smashed into his face. Colin feel to the ground like a stone, blood coming from a cut across his face, the boy moaned slightly. Merrin walked forward and quickly searched him and found the key to the suitcase.

"Where is it kid?"

Colin spoke in a quiet voice, barely above a whisper, the blow had knocked him senseless. "Jet...2...6..."

Merrin got up and walked to the entrance of the exihibit where his men were waiting. Rikan lunged at him, ready to rip his throat out. A anti-thef gate fell from the top of the entrance and locked at the bottom. Merrin turned around and grinned at her from the other side of the gate. The gaps between the metal bars were too small for her to fit her hand through and she stared angerily at him.

"Now my dear...don't get so angry. I might feel like a bit of...entertainment later on. Lets go boys."


The soldiers went back to thier duties, while the one with the M60 sat guard.

Merrin pocketed the remote for the door and turned his back to the caged people. He headed downstairs to the Me262, he smiled to himself. They were trapped in that exihibt, the gate was too strong for them to break through and there were no doors leading into it. They were effectivly trapped and at his mercy.

His smile got bigger when he saw the suitcase in the German Jet.

Erik's face was expressionless when they took away his rifle. It was expressionless as he was marched back to the planet exhibit with the others. His mind though, was exploding with questions. What the fuck is going on? Is he out of his mind? what the helld does he think he's doing? What's the key for?. He couldn't figure out what the point of all this was. When Merrin cruelly hit Colin, he caught the kid as he fell. Colin was just a few years younger than he, and didn't deserve this treatment. However, he said nothing, not wanting to get them all killed. I can't jeopardize the lives of the others. I'm totally unarmed... oh... wait...

Rikan was infuriated beyond words. Merrin had snapped earlier than expected. He had even managed to deprive her of her infamous bracer blades. That in itself eliminated her favorite method of combat.

She turned to the others. Nevertheless, they would figure something out. And they had to do it quickly...

She looked around at the exhibit, carefully surveying everything. Soon, an idea formed in her mind.

She walked over to the rest of the group, and silently mouthed to them key words as she pointed to various items in the room.

To Ruben, she pointed to the wires holding several of the model planets up to the ceiling. They were to be used to his imagination, as he saw fit.

To Liaden and Colin, she pointed to the Mars rover and indicated that they should figure out some way to move it to ram the gate.

To Nathan, she beckoned for him to keep an eye on the sole guard who had his back to the gate. He would distract the guard if necessary.

Rikan immediately snuck over to the wall, leapt up to the nearest handhold she could grip and then launched herself to the nearest hanging exhibit. It swung under her weight slightly, but silently. She moved up to the ceiling and pushed aside the panel and flipped herself through. She glanced down momentarily through the hole at the others, nodded to Ruben who watched her go, and then replaced the lid. Her movements were soft and somewhat slow. She made sure she followed the ceiling braces and headed in the direction she figured was the bathroom. Soon enough, she heard the soft sound of the plumbing in front of her, and she slid aside a panel silently and peered down.

The pile of weapons was still there. She glanced throughout the women's restroom carefully, noting that there was no one in there. She lowered herself carefully, attached the bracer blades and the unique combat knife that was hers. She also took five guns in her pockets or slung over her shoulder, securing them before climbing back up through the ceiling once more. Once again, she replaced the panel.

As silently as before, she returned to the other room. She listened carefully for voices, and heard none. She opened the panel and waited for one of the others to look up momentarily.

Colin was the first to do so. He saw her hold out the weapons and indicate that she would drop them. Colin nodded in understanding and held out his hands as the five guns were dropped carefully. He caught each one and set them out of sight of the guard.

Rikan knew that the others would do the next task as she instructed, and watched as each stole their way to a hiding spot out of sight from the guard. Soon enough, the guard would be alarmed and contact Merrin.

She figured that Merrin would send some men into the room to search for them, and when that happened, the prisoners would make their move.

She deliberately left the panel open, so as to lure the guard into thinking that the prisoners had escaped through the ceiling, as she had done. However, it was a panel that wasn't seen immediately from the gate. One would have to venture further into the room before seeing it. And when that happened, the others would make their move.

Or so, Rikan hoped.

It was their only way of surviving Merrin's insanity, from her point of view, and if the others were as smart as they made themselves out to be, they would realize this too.

Rikan disappeared from sight and stole silently through the darkness of the ceilings of the museum. She had a mental picture of the museum in her mind, and this is what she followed...

Merrin stared at the computer in the briefcase, it wasn't making sense to him. It finally dawned on him he needed the kid for the codes. He picked up his M16 when another soldier ran over.

"Sir, the prisoners."

Both men went running towards the exihibit. Merrin cradled his rifle in his arms as he walked forward and stared into the exihibit.

*********************************

Colin was still very dazed after Merrin's blow to his head. A rough bandage was over his forehead, stopping the bleeding. When Rikan had passed down the weapons, he quickly rammed his Colt Trooper mk III revolver into his pocket and hid the others.

Colin had seen Merrin come, rage was burning hot in him. How could my dad let him command security here? He pulled out the revolver from his pocket and smiled at the .357 Magnum rounds in the cylinder. Colin pulled the hammer back as gently as he could, and got it at half cock. He was going to shoot when Merrin decided to send a man in.

Nathan bit his lip. He was currently behind a large astronaut, which was next to the door.

Fuck...Merrin's snapped completely. There's no way to persuade them to let him live...I guess I'll have to find a way...

Cradling his beloved Desert Eagle, he held the barrel. Sadly, Rikan forgot to check if the weapons were loaded, and Nathan's was...but with no bullets. But it didn't matter. He then heard some footsteps.

"Fuck...time to create my distraction..."

Nathan lit a cigarette, replaced his lighter, took a quick puff of it, and then threw it behind the Mars Rover. He then grinned, and waited.

OOC: I hate my comp. Fucking viruses.
I guess Jakob is with the others locked in the exhibit.

IC:
Jakob crouched behind an exhibit holding a moonrock the size of a golf ball. That bastard! As far as Jakob was concerned Merrin was nuts, no better than the creatures outside. He quietly chambered a round in his 9mm and stared thorugh the thick plastic over the rock at the closed gate. He looked down at his back, that Rikan had retrieved from the bathroom. It was probably the most valuable thing she could have brought back. He had easily located a museum network plug in the exhibit, originally meant for visitor information, and had patched into the secrity network. With the touch of a key, he could lock the regular control room out of the system and run the whole museum form his laptop, but for now, he waited for the soldiers to step up to the bars.

Erik could tell slightly what the others were doing. However, they had left him out of the plot, to fend for himself, and he did not have either his rifle or his pistol. He gripped the pen he kept in his pocket. It was a nice pen, his grandfather had given it to him. It was metal, and was the best "weapon," he had. As soon as the guard was distracted, he would do what he could with it.

Merrin stared through the bars as the cigarette went behind the rover. Something in his gut told him there was something very wrong. A soldier walked up to him.

"Sir, what should we do?"

Merrin simply smiled at the para and walked back and went to the rifle pit where the others were waiting. The para at the gate moved back also.

****************************************

Colin's hands were shaking, never before had he been so afraid. He opened the cylinder and extracted the two .357 shells inside. He managed to put them back in and put the cylinder back. Colin peered around the corner and spotted the soldiers pulling back. What the fuck?

He saw Nathan hiding near the door and both of them looked at each other, slightly confused. The door began to open, everyone in the room got ready. The door stopped only a third of the way up. Colin risked another peek, his eyes went wide and he quickly shot back behind his corner.

Nine grenades come boucing and rolling into the exhibit, the gate closed behind them. Colin closed his eyes and tensed as the first grenade exploded, followed by the others. He know understood Merrin's plan, he was going to sweep the exihibit with grenades before moving in.

The gate began to come up again, more grenades were thrown in, and the gate was closed and locked. Colin closed his eyes again and readied himself for the next group of explosions. Holes were torn into the side of the exihibit from the explosions and smoke began to fill the room.

************************************

Merrin stared into the smoke filled exihibit. He drummed his fingers on his M16, ready to kill anyone in there. He looked at his men, one was covering thier rear, while the others watched the gate. Merrin decided to try something, in case anyone was in there.

"I want Liadan and the kid up to the gate, once they are there, we will send a medical kit through for any injuries. You give me Liadan and the kid, you get medical supplies. Does anyone hear me in there?"

Rikan froze momentarily as she heard the sounds of explosions behind and below her. She snarled in rage as she slid aside one of the panels slightly and peered through the narrow crack.

She could see the soldiers getting ready to throw their second volley of grenades. They did so. Rikan replaced the panel once more, and moved over to where she gauged the wall to be. She eventually emerged stealthily from the ceiling and dropped silently to the ground. She moved toward the nine men with silence and unseen. All of them had their attention focused on the room, including the one who was supposed to be watching their rear.

The blades were already extracted as she moved closer.

She was like a viper, ready to kill its prey...

The Viper struck at the first soldier, the one in the rear of the group. She gripped his throat with her arms and squeezed until he couldn't breathe. Shortly thereafter, he passed out, and she dragged the body away out of sight. Once done, she slit the man's throat and his entrails. Grabbing his entrails, she wound them around the man's throat, wrapped them with a rope found nearby and hung the man up above herself. Blood and gore flowed slowly from the dead body and pooled at its feet.

Rikan disappeared from the area once again, moving toward her next objective.
_____________

The crate opened under her command, and she saw the weapons inside. There had been one more crate in the basement, and that was where she was now. She pulled out the item and also some of the ammunition.

Minutes later, she emerged from the basement and glanced at the security cameras. Still, the soldiers waited for Liaden and Colin to move to the gates. Good...keep em sweating guys...

She made her way quickly to the other soldiers with Merrin. She set down the weapon in a hidden location and proceeded to take out the next man with stealth. As the first, she strung him up, but this time, gouged his eyes out and placed them in his mouth. His fingers were sliced off, and stuffed into his eye sockets. His chest was ripped apart, as if one of the creatures had done their deed on him.

The third soldier suffered a similar fate as well. Merrin never noticed his team disappearing behind him as he waited for Liaden and Colin to obey his commands. He barked out an order, "I will ask you one more time, before my patience wears thin! Liaden and the kid, NOW!"

Six men were left, but these men were now side by side to each other. Dispatching them as she had with the first three would be impossible without being seen. So Rikan returned to her weapon and retrieved it. She opened the chamber and placed two of the rockets inside. She came around the corner, holding the rocket launcher in her arms.

She took aim...

The small explosion launched the first rocket toward the five soldiers near Merrin. Merrin was thrown aside by the force of the explosion. Yet, he would survive...

Two of the men instantly died, being at the center of the explosion. The remaining three were seriously injured, but were not fatally so.

The second rocket was fired at the gate. It would be powerful enough to destroy it's function, leaving it permanantly opened halfway up.

Rikan dropped the rocket launcher and extracted her blades in simultaneous ssssschhhh-clicks She disappeared from sight. She made sure her footprints of blood lead just beyond the corner before she cleaned them off on one of the dead men's shirts she had carried with her. The footprints would lead whoever followed them to the museum's newest exhibits...

She disappeared from the area, waiting for the next moment to strike...

OOC: Why is everyone ignoring my character? This has been happening through out the entire thread, and it's really frustrating. Is my writing really that crappy? I guess so.

IC: At the sound of the explosions, the guard looked away. Erik saw his chance and somehow quietly jumped forward, wielding the metal pen like a dagger. The guard was bigger than him, but was surprised when Erik pounced on his back, efficiently constricting his arms while driving the pen towards his jugular vein.

OOC: As far as I know, the single para guard is still there. Correct me if I'm wrong.

OOC: We're not trying to ignore you Callisdrun...at least I'm not. Try getting yourself to stick closer to some of the others or something. You're doing good in this thread, keep it up.

Now waiting for others to respond...

Rikan froze momentarily as she heard the sounds of explosions behind and below her. She snarled in rage as she slid aside one of the panels slightly and peered through the narrow .

She could see the soldiers getting ready to throw their second volley of s. They did so. Rikan replaced the panel once more, and moved over to where she gauged the wall to be. She eventually emerged stealthily from the ceiling and dropped silently to the ground. She moved toward the nine men with silence and unseen. All of them had their attention focused on the room, including the one who was supposed to be watching their rear.

The blades were already extracted as she moved closer.

She was like a viper, ready to kill its prey...

The Viper struck at the first soldier, the one in the rear of the group. She gripped his throat with her arms and squeezed until he couldn't breathe. Shortly thereafter, he passed out, and she dragged the body away out of sight. Once done, she slit the man's throat and his entrails. Grabbing his entrails, she wound them around the man's throat, wrapped them with a rope found nearby and hung the man up above herself. and gore flowed slowly from the body and pooled at its feet.

Rikan disappeared from the area once again, moving toward her next objective.
_____________

The crate opened under her command, and she saw the weapons inside. There had been one more crate in the basement, and that was where she was now. She pulled out the item and also some of the ammunition.

Minutes later, she emerged from the basement and glanced at the security cameras. Still, the soldiers waited for Liaden and Colin to move to the gates. Good...keep em sweating guys...

She made her way quickly to the other soldiers with Merrin. She set down the weapon in a hidden location and proceeded to take out the next man with stealth. As the first, she strung him up, but this time, gouged his eyes out and placed them in his mouth. His fingers were sliced off, and stuffed into his eye sockets. His chest was ripped apart, as if one of the creatures had done their deed on him.

The third soldier suffered a similar fate as well. Merrin never noticed his team disappearing behind him as he waited for Liaden and Colin to obey his commands. He barked out an order, "I will ask you one more time, before my patience wears thin! Liaden and the kid, NOW!"

Six men were left, but these men were now side by side to each other. Dispatching them as she had with the first three would be impossible without being seen. So Rikan returned to her weapon and retrieved it. She opened the chamber and placed two of the rockets inside. She came around the corner, holding the rocket launcher in her arms.

She took aim...

The small explosion launched the first rocket toward the five soldiers near Merrin. Merrin was thrown aside by the force of the explosion. Yet, he would survive...

Two of the men instantly died, being at the center of the explosion. The remaining three were seriously injured, but were not ly so.

The second rocket was fired at the gate. It would be powerful enough to destroy it's function, leaving it permanantly opened halfway up.

Rikan dropped the rocket launcher and extracted her blades in simultaneous ssssschhhh-clicks She disappeared from sight. She made sure her footprints of lead just beyond the corner before she cleaned them off on one of the men's shirts she had carried with her. The footprints would lead whoever followed them to the museum's newest exhibits...

She disappeared from the area, waiting for the next moment to strike...

Grinning, Nathan twirled out from behind the astronaut, and struck a paratrooper across the head with the butt of his Desert Eagle. The paratrooper fell to the ground. Holstering his Desert Eagle, Nathan picked up the paratrooper's gun and fired once into the unlucky trooper's head. He watched as Erik shoved his pen into a paratroopers neck, the leaking out. He grabbed Erik's wrist.

"C'mon! Move it soldier!"

Nathan pulled Erik under the gate with him, and they began to run down the corridor...

Merrin shook his head, getting the ringing out of his ears, everything had happened so fast. Merrin spotted Nathan and Erik, bringing his M16 up he pulled the trigger and sent a spray of bullets after them. He spotted a shadow on the ground and spun, striking Colin in the stomach with his rifle. Grabbing the kid's pistol from the ground, and tore back to downstairs.

He grabbed the suitcase, and a FAL off the wing of the German jet. Heading back upstairs he found the prisoners had flown the coup. Merrin was left with no soldiers, only himself. It was then he spotted Colin hiding under a corpse. Merrin grabbed the boy, avoiding a knife the teen stabbed at him with. Merrin grabbed his hand.

"Those are my men they murdered....my men. Now, you're coming with me little boy, and you're going to be nice."

"Fuck you, how did my dad put you in charge?!"

Merrin smiled. "Your daddy might be the President, but here he isn't worth shit. Now, you're all going to pay."

He dragged the teen up, but Colin struck Merrin in the groin, then in the side. Merrin doubled over and Colin snatched his revolver, the FAL and suitcase. He went tearing off in the direction Erik and Nathan took.

Merrin pulled out the remote and picked up his M16. He gave out a short cackle and pressed the button. The shudders a the doors retracted, and the doors became unlocked. Merrin smashed the remote, now the doors could never be locked again.

Colin stopped and saw what was happening.

"Jesus Christ."


Spurred on by the smell of blood and seeing prey, thousands of creatures began to shuffle in the museum.

Rikan landed with agility behind Merrin, almost like a cat, and immediately stood and brought one of her blades up to bring deeply into his neck. Blood began to flow from the sharp blades, but she halted when she saw the main entrance suddenly opened. Her eyes widened,

"YOU ASSHOLE!"

She snarled into his ear, "I ought to kill you just for that, you fucking asshole. But I want to kill you in a slower way, more painful..."

She yanked him back by the throat with her hand, knocking him to the ground, before dragging him as he scrambled to his feet. He slapped her hand away and glared at her when she stopped.

"You want to get the fuck out of here? Trust me." she demanded. She hollered in a loud voice to the others fleeing now toward her, "Let's go! I know a way out of here!"

She led the group as they ran toward the upper floor and to a fire escape through the roof...

"Rikan!"

Rikan turned to see Nathan.

"I need to collect some stuff, gimme a min!"

Not waiting for an answer, Nathan dived through the door next to him. Running dow the corridor, he shoved open some double doors, which lead to the Staff Room...

"Heh heh..."

Smashing the door open, Nathan jumped in, found a fridge in the back, and started to put bottle after bottle into his backpack, and for the triggers, Nathan collected a load of old newspapers. Satisfied with the twenty or so bottles he had, Nathan hefted his backpack on, and began to make his way to the roof...

Merrin grabbed his M16 and sprinted downstairs. Several creatures spotted him and began to shuffle towards him. Merrin ran to one of the large window and shot it out. Feeling a hand grasp him, Merrin struck the creature with the butt of his gun and jumped through the window. He ran out into the destoryed street, many of the animals were inside.

Merrin ran like hell, he tossed his rifle aside and kept running down the street. He spotted what he wanted, the meto station. He turned to see dozens of creautres following him. You're gonna have to work for your meal.

Merrin ran into the dark and deserted metro. Pulling a flashlight out, he kept running, hearing the moans behind him. He charged into the underground terminal and shined his light on a bright red jeep on the tracks. Hearing moans from behind and seeing shadows approach from other parts of the terminal, Merrin ran into the jeep and gunned the engine.

***********************************

Colin ran after Rikan, he turned and fired his revolver at one of the creatures. The bullet hit the chest, it stopped for a second, before continuing after them. He turned around and fired another shot, this one went through the head, killing the creature.

He pulled out a box of shells and reloaded his pistol and thrust it and the ammo into Erik's hands. Colin unslung the FAL and fired another shot as the group moved towards the roof.

Rikan watched Nathan disappear down into the museum again. She cursed aloud, yelling to Colin to take the group out of there, since he probably knew the museum best.

She chased after Nathan, her blades extracted and slicing into the creatures as she passed by them. Then she halted...

She stared at the mass of them in front of her. There was no way to get past them... Just beyond them was Nathan, of whom all the creatures' attention was on.

She took a few steps and then ran forward, nearing toward the wall. She leapt up and planted her feet on the wall as she ran sideways and landed next to Nathan. Her hair whipped around her face as she looked over at him.

"Let's get you the hell out of here boyo." she said, giving him a slight wink as she looked over the railing on the other side of Merrin. She had an idea...

"Come on!" she cried as she leapt onto the railing and slid down the stairs, almost as if she were surfing them. As she went along, she slashed at the creatures that lunged toward her. They fell down, dead. Rikan ran toward the nearest room. She spied the staff cart sitting by itself on the side.

She leapt into the driver's seat and waited as Nathan did so as well. She turned the key and was relieved to hear the electric engine start up.

The cart peeled out of the room and barreled through the creatures as she made a dash for the main entrance...

Nathan shot a few clones of Rick. Grinning, he sat back down, and looked at Rikan.

"Thanks for the save."

Erik ran after Colin, using the weapon of the para he had killed and the pistol to shoot the undead as they raced down the halls and made their way to escape. Survival was not nearly as likely as a horrible death, and became less probable with every slight mistake.

Rikan glanced over at him, then swung the cart sideways and watched as the cart slid into a group of the fuckers. Nathan immediately brought up his guns and finished off the few that had managed to stay on top of the cart. Rikan let go of the wheel momentarily to slash at one that hung near her feet.

Out of the entrance, she floored the pedal and the tires screeched as the electric engine whined in response. They zipped out of there, dodging the seemingly millions of fuckers slowly making their way to the museum.

They tore around the corner of the building and stopped abruptly as Rikan looked upwards. She called to the others on the roof now.

"Let's go! Get your asses down here!"

Erik looked to Colin and said "C'mon, let's go now." He then hopped down to where the cart was, though not abruptly, he hopped to one ledge then another until he was standing next to Rikan and Nathan.

Jakob had waited in the exhibit while the others ran out through the hallways. After the soldiers went running after them, he quickly and quietly locked the security system as he'd planned to. As he walked thorugh the hallways toward a servicew exit he'd found in the blueprints, he heard the unmistakeable sound of the steel shutter over the front doors opening. "What the fuck!?" He tried to close them from his laptop, but Merrin's remote had activated manual override. "Fuck!" He slung his bag over his back and began to sprint through the museum pulling out his handgun as he ran. He paused for a moment where two hallways crossed, and turned right. Luckily, the commotion caused by Merrin and Rikan's flashy escapes had attracted most of the creatures away from this side of the museum. He found the access hatch on the floor and slid down onto a maintenance gantry. He closed the hatch behind him and ran down a few flights of steps into the first basement level. He continued running until he heard a sound behind him, somehow, four of the creatures had followed him. He blasted away at them while running, emptying a full clip, and was relieved to see one of them fall with a slug in its head. Another one overbalanced when sturkc repeatedly in the chest and fell off the narrow walkway. Jakob turned and ran as he reloaded. Up ahead he saw the door that led outside, it would have been a simple matter to open the locks, but not with two creatures following him. He paused just before the steps leading to the door and took careful aim. One of the creatures fell immediately, but he couldn't seem to hit the other. He jammed his last clip into the gun and fired again. Still the creature staggered forward. Fianlly with the creature no more than 2 meters away, he hit it full in the face. He quickly turned and opened the door, running outside into the sunlight. He heard Riakn shouting to Erik and Colin, and ran in that direction.