Be "Prepared"

[Sinopa]

Day 1:

​

Day One
Major Goal: Get to safety
Minor Goal: Learn about your manipulation
Manipulation Restrictions: Extremely weak; Uses a lot of energy
Surprises: All of the Prepared have some kind of mark somewhere
on their body hinting to their manipulation
Date: Tuesday; November 17, 2020
Time: 6:56pm
Location: Tullytown
Weather: Cloudy; light snow
Corrupted: Red; 691,967/933,832
Survivors: 241,865/933,832
​

"Breaking news!"
All across Tullytown every tv and radio blared out the new broadcast. In the distance weird lights could be seen, but it was so far that no one paid it any mind.
"Mysterious orb sightings are being reported all around the world. People say that those who are touched by the spheres are leaking what seems like blood from every orifice on their face. Stay inside. I repeat, do not leave shelter. This is a world-wide crisis, emergency precautions are to be taken, this is not a drill. This could be the end of the world as we know it…"
The distant lights got closer and soon armies of orbs the color of blood rose from the edge of the city and began plowing through the streets. Those unlucky enough to be touched by them dropped to the ground in pain, spewing red liquid as the broadcaster reported; a gruesome sight for those fortunate enough to witness.

"…What's that? How did it get in! The doors were locked!!! No! JAMES!!! OH MY GOD!!! RUUUUUN!!!"
Screams filled the air as the camera dropped to the ground. Everyone in the news room ran for their lives as a swarm of crimson orbs chased them down. Then it was silent… Even in the streets where pained cries and terrified shrieks used to echo, the only noise was static on screens and radios.

That was until the sound of a female clearing her voice chimed out on every electronic with a screen and/or speakers, including cell phones, tablets, computers etc.
On screens a silhouette of a woman appeared. The only feature seen was a distinctive hair color of pink illuminated only by the screens of the many computers in the dark room.
"Hey all."
She smiled as a small hand gave a single wave.
"You may have seen red orbs flying around in your area as the news caster previously mentioned. I expect you've already seen what they can do. It's a scary sight. Those who have already been touched are gone. Corrupted. Do not try to save them. Stay as far away from them as possible. They are much like zombies, don't let them scratch or bite you or else you will turn. Your best bet is to abandon them. I cannot stress this enough, no matter who they were to you before, no matter how much you loved them you cannot save them."
A hand reached out and slapped her shoulder and her gaze slammed towards the owner. After a moment of silence and a roll of the woman's eyes she turned back to the camera.

"You may think that all hope is lost, but you're wrong. This is not the end of the world. It may seem like you're being punished, that life is spitting in your face, but do not let that get you down."
Her words were strong and inspirational. There was a fire in her eyes that made people believe every word she spoke.
"Fight back! Survive! You may not know who you are now, but when you do, know that you are capable! You can defeat this blight and come out on the other side! Don't stop fighting! Nothing can tear you down even when you feel you can't take it anymore! You can do this!"
She then slumped back in her seat with a proud smirk on her face as the last words she said before the screen went black left her lips.
"You are Prepared."

When the outbreak began Alistair, after receiving a text from the demanding Will, ran into Amber on his way to his friends house. When they arrived they found Will holed up in a well supplied shack surrounded by traps and a few dead Corrupted. When the coast was clear Will grabbed some "meds" from his house, finding another corrupted that was soon quickly disposed of, then the packed into a car and headed towards Mania Industries.


Meanwhile, Charlotte made her way to the Mania building only to find that the whole place was a building of horror. Blood and burn marks covered the walls of each floor. She found Arima in her home on the top floor, in the living room, two charred lumps of gore lying in front of her. Charlotte did her best to take care of the traumatized girl. Once she managed to calm Arima they decided that they needed adults, and that the safest place in Tullytown would be the company Arima just inherited; Mania Defenses.


Remington found the hospital to be quickly overrun by the corrupted so she made her escape carrying a few syringes, with the knowledge that they can stun the corrupted. She ended up near a music shop where she found the twins, Jason and Mason, in front of their parents' shop. Remi picked them up and they were off. On the way they saved Axel from under a car surrounded by the corrupted. Once they learned that they all disappeared 5 years ago they decided to make their destination a local hardware store.


In the slums, Jax spoke to his guardian for the last time, his last words demanded Jax to go to Mania where he'd be safe. Jax left the man and went on his way, though hesitant about going to South Tullytown because of all the cops. He managed to pick up a bike and soon found himself in front of the school, which seemed to be the new base for gang Jax used to be a part of. He charged in, took out a few of the members then holed up in a classroom.

Letizia woke up on the day and had a calm morning in her apartment, lazing around until the early afternoon before she had to leave for a photo shoot. She arrived on time for makeup and wardrobe but ended up waiting for the other model. After he arrived the photo shoot began and after a while it was over. Letizia changed and then went back to the studio room to look at the photos with the photographer. However the news cast soon was displayed and a red orb attacked the studio. Letizia was stunned before seeming to fall into a state of shock that a co-worker had been forced to drag her around during the hysteria. In panic she had physically hit the orb, only to throw it to the side quite shockingly. Regaining her senses at this point she ran into the streets and the alleyways to escape. She then ran into Aimery, who she had not seen for ages, who she quickly reconnected with before the two of them escaped via and truck. One which Aimery was left to drive as she doesn't know how to drive (and she sucks at it). They eventually reached Bloomys Herbarium where the blind Rococo hid.

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In Mania Defense, hunkered down in Alistair's workshop, Will brought his phone up to his ear as her waited for his parents to pick up, then it went silent and suddenly the group found the corner their handicapped friend occupied was now empty. His body vanished without a trace, with no marks to hint his whereabouts or how he just disappeared.
~~~

Meanwhile in the hardware store, after a few minutes of ransacking the place for supplies, groans, moans, and shuffling feet began to get closer and closer. From outside Jason called out to the others
"Guys! Horde! Get out!"
"I need to get Jason!" And with that, Mason ran out the front door without another word, before the two vanished out of nowhere.

~~~
A young man passing by saw the commotion in the school, and heard all the gunshots inside. He was tempted to just ignore it and continue to his destination, but the thought that kids could be in danger was enough to guide him towards the back entrance of the school. There were people watching the doors, however, something inside seemed to draw their attention. As they left their posts, the boy snuck inside. Traveling down the halls he was sure to listen, footsteps and voices echoed loud in this place so it made it easy for him to hide when someone was heading towards him.

"Get ninja-ed then, motherfucker!" A voice called out before a gunshot. It sounded close, so he jumped into one of the classrooms, hoping to hide until they passed. He crouched in the corner before suddenly the door swung open and closed, and a man plopped down with his back against the door. His heart began to beat rapidly, the stranger had a gun, and he was just in plain sight in the corner, not knowing what to do. If he hadn't noticed him already, he would definitely notice him eventually, and surprise is not good when it comes to people with guns. The young man slowly rose to his feet and held his hand up.

"Hello…" he said nervously, hoping that this would gently grab his attention.​

 

[DangoYumi]

Mania Defense Inc., South Tullytown, Arima (@Sinopa) Charlotte (@Aka~Kitsune) and Albatross (@Crowley)
Amber had been staring at Alby with worry, unable to understand what was going on although knowing that he was badly hurt. He had hoped that maybe Will knew something and turned around to speak to him, but was once again overcome with shock when she saw the man no longer there. "Wait what...?" she muttered to herself, looking around trying to find him. She couldn't seem to find any traces of him, and could only hope that he was safe as she turned back to Alby.

Amber cleared her throat to try and get his attention, organizing her thoughts in her mind. "Okay Alby... I want to ask you something... about the tattoo." she spoke, starting with her mentioning the tattoo. She couldn't get the thought off her mind, the scene replaying again and again. He had a tattoo on his arm, but it was glowing bright with a fiery passion, and he somehow could break an anvil without even a sign of pain or wounds on his hand that he had used to punch the anvil down. In fact, he somehow seemed even better than before despite the wounds that he had around his body. She knew that the tattoo caused the heart-wrenching pain that he had, but what she couldn't understand is that she had something similar. "Where did you get that tattoo? Or... did it just appear?" she continued, asking the question that hopefully would get her answers about her own tattoo that she knew nothing about. She moved her hand towards her tattoo and touched it lightly, remembering the pain that it caused her to have and the heartbeat that pumped from it. She was looking at Alby with hopeful eyes, hoping that he would be able to answer her question to this tattoo and pain that appeared out of nowhere.

 

[Crowley]

Albatross
Mania Defense Inc.
​

Albatross slouched as he eased himself on the ground, bending his legs at the knees he placed his elbows upon them as he cast his gaze between Amber and the two young girls. "Tatoo...huh. That's an excellent question. I don't recall getting one, though it feels as though I've had it quite awhile. The ink is definitely settled." He replied with an exhausted and jaded tone as he stared down at the strange brand on his arm.​

​

"Didn't even know I'd break the anvil...just couldn't think straight. As soon as I touched the metal...all the pain in my body was just...gone. As if I transferred it into the anvil or something." Albatross stated the words with confusion and frustration as though it were a puzzle he couldn't solve. He'd never possessed a scientific mind, he wasn't the smartest man but trying to understand what had occurred was thoroughly beyond him as a blank expression washed over his features.​

​

Remaining silent for a few minutes he stared back and forth between the young girls and Amber before reaching over to drape his right arm around Arima's shoulders and offer her a gentle embrace and smile. "It doesn't matter what happened...or why it happened. All that matters is that all of you are my responsibility and I am going to keep you all safe." He spoke the words with confidence and resolve, though Will's absence hadn't gone unnoticed but at the moment he needed to focus on problems he could solve. ​

​

"I have a small cot in the back and a couch with a pull-out mattress. Amber you need to eat something light and lie down, you've likely over-exerted many of your muscles." He recalled that Amber had barely moved since he'd awoken from blacking out and could tell she was hurting as he turned his gaze over to the young girls beside him. "You two are welcome to stay up for awhile, until your nerves are calmed. I built this place though, nothing is getting in without my permission. It's safe to sleep." His words were an attempt to be reassuring, though he knew whatever had occurred that left the two children all alone must have left a scar of some sort. He didn't even know the girl Arima had with her, not that it mattered, but he felt sympathy for her losses as well.​

 

[RaccoonKing]

Charlotte Knight

@DangoYumi @Sinopa @Crowley

Charlotte had watched the proceedings with stilled fear, something odd for the usual hyperactive and mobile child she was. A sharp breath in was the only sound she made, seeming to be a pause before she even dared exhale. Charlotte had no idea what was going on anymore. Zombies...Her parents...A guy jumping over them....Parents....the bodies.... Her mind was as it normally was, chaos, yet this time it was debilitating. So, the normally screaming and cheering blonde was left in her thoughts as they slowly drowned her...until she heard Arima asking if she was okay.

For a while, blue eyes just stared at her friend as the corners swelled with unshed tears as lips remained parted to speak of the pain that was settled on her mind. Yet she retracted and fell silent, watching as Arima interacted with the unknown man who...well, beat the living hell out of the zombie... things. He spoke to them but Charlotte kept an unconfident gaze upon him, only when he had turned completely from them both had she turned to look at her friend, going to stand closer to her, grasping at her arm.

"Ariiii....Who are they...?"

Charlotte definitely trusted them more than the infected but still...in this situation she was quiet cautious. Fearful, actually. "I'm fine...Rattled...My dad and mom...." She mumbled out, finally answering the girls previous question. "H-he...was in the building...." She added as a hand reached up to press furiously against tears that swelled up and fell. For a moment she was rubbing furiously at her eyes in an attempt to remove them before she looked properly at her friend, brows knitted. Even in a state of falling she never had Arima far from her mind. Her best friend found her parents dead bodies... "A-are you o-okay? W-we...are safe now..right?" She asked, silently peering over to the other three present.
​

 

[RaccoonKing]

Letizia Fiore
@Pray4me @Sinopa

When Letizia poked her head into the bathroom and took a tentative step inside, the sharp scream was the last of what she expected to happen. A zombie? Perhaps. A corpse or two? Likely. Someone calling her a freak and screaming their head off was not something she was prepared for. She took in a sharp breath and held it, stumbling back for a second as her hand settled against the porcelain tile wall. Clearly shaken, she swallowed loudly before breathing out, her eyes flickering around before she took a few more steps forwards.

Her gaze steeled as for a moment she kept an eye on the girl, wondering for a brief second if she was corrupted herself. Only after a few silent moments did she settle...She seemed human at least. "Hey...Are you okay Miss?" She called out, having taking a few more steps closer...thought not being near enough to have contact with the woman. "Have you been caught in this too? Are you injured?" Letizia questioned as she held her hands up in surrender. "Just be calm okay...We are one of this things...The zombies...we are still human..." In all honestly, Letizia had no idea what to say...

After a moment she looked briefly behind her, only to turn back to the girl. "Give me a second, okay?" She muttered, her tone having become a near whisper. She stood up properly before walking over to the door and poking her head around to look for Aimery. "Aimery! There is someone here!" She called out, not waiting for a response as she headed back inside to continue to talk to the woman. "Um...I'm Letizia. The guy who is with me is Aimery...He is out there..." Letitiza explained before smiling faintly. "Who are you? How did you get here...Sorry, I may be rambling but there is quite a lot of crap going on right now and who knows what else is going to pop up at this point..."



​

 

[Sinopa]

Aimery Wren
@Aka~Kitsune @Pray4me​

Aimery inspected the corpses more, and the bullets that rested within them. Someone quite recently did this, which probably meant that this place was not safe. He walked over to the opening that used to be a window and knelt down to inspect the glass.
"The shattered glass is inside the store, not outside of it, meaning that whoever did this was shooting from out there…" Aim mumbled to himself as he picked up a shard. He looked around, looking for signs of the shooter entering, however a screech interrupted his thoughts causing him to drop the glass and charge towards where he last left the model. When she peeked out to call for him, he was already there with a confused expression in his face as she introduced them to whoever was in the bathroom. Aim looked around to see who it was, she was a frightened little girl who was backed up against the sink.

Aim returned to the other side of the wall, Letizia could handle that better than him, he wasn't much of a kids person… He wasn't really much of a people person either.
"I'm going to see if I can find supplies around here. Yell if you need me." He said before walking back. He stepped over the corpses in the room and made his way up the stairs in the corner. He stopped at the first floor, finding dozens of shelves full of books about herbs. He continued to the third top floor. A strange feeling went through him, after reaching the top of the stairs he felt a little dizzy. However he shook it off and looked around. It seemed like a greenhouse, plants were everywhere, labeled, and connected to some kind of automatic watering system. The roof was made from glass so that the sun could reach them, and the plants that needed shade where in the side of the room where the ceiling was opaque. There was a desk in front of the entrance that Aim began rummaging through in search for something useful.

"Ah ha!" He breathed as he pulled out a binder and opened it. The binder contained pages of information about all the herbs in the greenhouse. He looked through and found a few pain killing, wound healing, and relaxing herbs. He grabbed a few of the baggies on the side of the desk and began finding and harvesting the herbs he wanted, carefully following the instructions in the binder, then securing them away carefully.
It took a few moments trying to figure out the right way to do everything without messing up, but when he was finished he let out a sigh of satisfaction, placing the last little baggie of herbs on the desk with the others. He then set them all on the binder and lifted it, using it as a shelf for the herbs and his chest as a stop to keep them from falling as he returned to the first floor.

Once again he placed the binder and herbs on a desk, then began surveying the corpses once again, this time he searched to take. He spotted a backpack on one of the bodies.
"You're not going to need this anymore, are you?" He said when he removed it, he found that it had a few bullet holes, but none that would cause a problem for its use. He unzipped it, tipped it over, and shook all the belongings out before making his way back over to his stuff and organized it all into the backpack. He looked back and started to look for other useful stuff on the bodies, waiting for Leti to finish up.

 

[Sinopa]

Arima Mania
@Aka~Kitsune @Crowley @DangoYumi​

Arima watched her friend with a blank stare. She could tell something was on her mind; Charlotte wasn't acting like her normal self, then again, who wouldn't? But Charlotte always seemed different, it seemed as if nothing in the world could faze her. The touch of the girl surprised Arima, but she refused to move.
"Alby is the company's blacksmith, he visits us a lot too. He can be trusted, he's the adult we need." She answered, her voice naturally low, but slightly emotionless despite her efforts. She was numb at the moment. She couldn't feel sadness for her parents, relief for finding Alby, concern for her friend, worry for their lives, she felt… nothing.
"We're safe."

She listened to Alistair speak, and after a moment she only offered him a quiet thank you. She didn't know what she wanted, was she tired? Was she rattled? She didn't know.
"I'm sure your parents are fine. This place is huge, and your dad is surrounded by the best defensive gear and weapons in the entire city." She replied as an attempt to comfort her. "Do you want to sleep? Are you hungry?" Arima asked not really knowing what to do.

"Alby…" She called out before pausing for a moment. "Do you know what's going on?"

 

[Sinopa]

@SoleStride @DustBunny​

Down the street walked a cautious young man. His quick steps were quiet, and his evasive moves helped him steer clear of a majority of the corrupted. On his back rested an empty backpack and his destination was the hardware store to get some supplies he needed. He had been heading that way before the orbs attacked, which worried him, he had a family at home, a whole clan, was there anyone still alive? His worry swirled around his head but he refused to turn around. If they were still alive and well they would need the stuff he set out to get.

When he neared the hardware store his shoulders dropped in disappointment when he noticed a truck in the parking lot. He came to a complete stop when someone ran out of the store then vanished along with the person in the car. He looked around and found that a horde of zombies were charging straight for the store. The boy sprang back to life heading towards the back entrance of the store. Once inside he threw what he needed in his backpack before noticing two more people in the building.

"Guys! There's a horde coming, this place is about to be overrun! Those people that were outside literally disappeared. We've gotta get out of here!"

 

[SoleStride]

Remington Austen
@Sinopa

She was at a standstill with herself here. Even though it was like a zombie and would only infect her, she did not want to hurt this thing…person…whatever. She just couldn't do it. All she could do was back away from it until she heard the sound of someone yelling from another part of the store. Mason had yelled something and took off out the door without them. Remi wasn't really surprised, but she still could only think of him as a jerk for just bailing like that. Swallowing hard, Remington grabbed her basket and dropped the sledgehammer into it, looking around the monster in front of her to see Axel on the other side of it. Was he done or not?

More yelling caught her attention. A voice she didn't recognize was yelling about a horde coming their way. Those people outside? Was he referring to the twins? Did they both bail? They better not have taken her truck! She grit her teeth together and ducked around the infected person, grabbing Axel's shirt and pulling him along behind her whether he was ready to go or not. It was time to get out of here. After getting a few feet, she let Axel's shirt go so he could run on his own while Remington pulled her keys from her scrub pocket. Just like before, the action caused her to nearly run into someone and she skidded to a halt about two inches from the dude's face. He was of the living variety of human and had a backpack on – she assumed full of hardware supplies. He must have been the one to warn them about the horde.

No time to think. The guy is alive – offer him a ride. She pushed at him with both hands, pushing him back toward the door so they could all get out. "There's a truck outside – jump in." With that, Remi started running, sliding around any infected that came her way and trying her best not to have to use any force. Evasion was going to be the name of the game – for her anyway. Once she was out of the back door, she was sprinting for the truck, gripping her keys tightly in her hand until the edges dug into her fingers. Get to the truck, get to the truck, get to the truck.

When she spotted it, the first thing she noticed was that Jason was gone, and Mason was nowhere in sight either. Shaking her head, she threw the annoyance away. They were on their own if they were going to just run off like that. The second point of interest was the corrupted beings ambling around her beautiful vehicle. With her free hand, she pulled the sledgehammer back out of her basket, using just as a separation device so she could push the zombies away while she jump up into her truck.