Survivors! Zombie Apocalypse RP

Steven bit hislip and nodded. "Ah...I see." Well people did have different stories it seemed. He took a few bites of sausage before speaking again. "I don't think I left much either. I had a few friends but I was basically a recluse, reading books to teach myself. Still, I would prefer that small semblance to life rather than the constant risk of death." He then smiled and laughed. "Wait, what am I saying? Death was always around. Huh. I guess nothing big changed after all." For some reason this was very funny to him, so he kept laughing.

Sharon smiled. She could sympathize. She'd felt lost for half a decade. Still did, kind of. But she supposed there was no helping that. When you were lost...

You just keep wandering. she typed. I think everyone feels a little lost right now. It'd be hard not to be. And I'd love to tell you there's an easy way to stop feeling like that, but, she chuckled solemnly, it's not that easy. Emotions never are. You have to sort them out. You're the only one who can. And it takes time. A lot of it. So I guess, you just keep wandering. Keep being lost until you're found.

Seiko had somehow hoped that the advice would help her feel better or maybe more optimistic. All they did, no matter how true they rang, was to make her feel ill at ease about her future. If she even had one. With all that had gone down she was increasingly surprised that she'd managed to survive. If all she could do was wander then she would probably eventually wander into a dead end, but that wasn't something to worry over right now. While she might not have anyone she'd call a friend here, there at least were a few people who seemed okay.

"Sharon.. if... if a ghoul bites me, but not eat me, promise you kill me? I don't want to turn into one," she requested, then ravaged another pancake.

Sharon grew morose. How does one respond to a request like that? "Sure, I'll shoot your horrible, monstrous visage and put you out of our misery"?

You can't talk like that. I don't know if I told you, but I've seen actual combat before. Led groups like this too. And if I've learned one thing about holding a unit together, it's staying positive. It sounds corny, I know, especially with the way things are right now, but trust me. It doesn't just soften the blow, it actually helps you survive. When you don't concern yourself with ifs, ands, or buts, you hesitate less and you keep yourself alive.

Besides, she set down her fork and tried to appear as comforting as possible, This is nowhere near as bad as actual war. Sure, there are more of them then there are us, but we have a bigger advantage.

Sharon pointed to Seiko's carbine with a grin. We have guns. As long as we stay stocked and careful, and stick together, we'll be fine. So don't start going all Debbie Downer on us, okay?

edited 24th Jan '12 11:07:00 AM by KSPAM

In response to an answer she didn't expect Seiko blinked and stared for a little while. Sticking together as a group would just make them a bigger target for the zombies wouldn't it? Certainly they wouldn't move as fast with a large group. Being alone wasn't worth the speed and concealment advantages it provided though. Psychologically it was damaging and dangerously threatened to ream any emotion out of you, leaving one as a detached creature working on pure survivalist instinct. Maybe Sharon had a point. With the military experience the woman had just spoken of, Seiko considered her to have a bit more authority now. Someone to look to when things got nasty.

Managing a slight smile Seiko nodded slowly, "Okay. We stay alive and together."

"Actually, being the bitch so far is my role, it seems." Rita interjected as she grew tired of the idle chatter."But if worst comes out of it, I'd gladly put yourself out of misery, kid. After all, that's the job of a doctor. To alleviate suffering. Saving lives was just a fringe benefit."

Rita did not stop as she eyed her up and down. "Your leg wound. Needs proper care. I've been informed you were given only emergency treatment."

Tam raised an eyebrow: "Fuck, I forgot to tell y'all the good news!!! The zeds' infection is chronic but treatable. Fluid exposure is survivable... As long as there's a steady supply of meds, you can keep on living as a human being", she said, brightening up a bit.

Scalps got pissed off: "You knew that and you fuckin' forgot to tell us? Talk 'bout stupid", she said.

edited 24th Jan '12 4:19:23 PM by SavageHeathen

Sharon was just about ready to give their bitch M.D. another good shake, but luckily for Rita, Tam broke the tension in the most wonderful way possible. Seriously? You're not shitting us here, right?

She breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't much, but to know that this thing could at least be treated was a load off her mind. But if they wanted to do that...

We need to get our hands on the proper treatment equipment. Sooner we do, the less we have to worry about from our undead friends. Also, she turned to face Scalps, Are there any leather jackets around here? Humans can't exert enough bite force to pierce leather, at least not unaided. That means the zed's can't either. It wouldn't be body armor, but it'd be a step in the right direction.

edited 24th Jan '12 5:49:03 PM by KSPAM

Steven listened to all of this in absolute surprise. "You're kidding me. This thing is survivable? I mean...how in the world was this figured out? Nevermind, asking doesn't matter, this is great!" Steven smiled a bit more. Any bit of good news really helped around here. Especially the thought that death was not inevitable. This could all be handled. A chance to survive...now that was something!

He looked around at everyone. Looks like a chance that groups might actually have a chance of survial in all this, as long as people are smart and not too antagonistic. He thought and smiled wider. Of course that meant that now the other woman was a liability. But that didn't matter to him, he still didn't plan to stay either way. But he still couldn't leave alone. Maybe infection could be stopped, but death via discovery by horde couldn't. If he planned to survive all the way to California, he needed to get a group together away from here.

He looked at Tam and Arnold, same grin on his face. "This news couldn't have been any sweeter huh?" He said casually.

Rita sighed. "Of course the infection is treatable. I've known that for a while."She paused, not really bothered. "Although I weighted against telling people because there aren't medical supplies nearby and it can induce to recklessness." She pointed.

"I've got a few in fact, just in case." She shrugged. "But the first measure to not get infected is for people to stay sharp." She glared at the biker. Now you've done it, bitch. It'll be the ruin of us. Her stance tensed. No doubt some of them would think they knew more than enough to kick her off.

edited 25th Jan '12 12:34:27 AM by AtomicNut

Tam gave an explanation: "The damned thing was designed to be treatable from the ground up: Accidental exposure happens, and you don't want no zeds on your research labs: Fucks with employee morale and I believe it opens some liability issues.", she quipped. "The Feds built their supervirus from rabies, HIV and swine flu. It fucks with the nervous system like rabies, causing brain damage and psychotic aggression. It builds reservoirs like HIV, so it's incurable. It spreads like a fluid-borne swine flu... And it's treatable with generic swine flu antivirals.", she said.

"All that's according to DoD documents made public by the Commissar of War back in San Fran a week ago.", she said. "There's bad news, though: 25% of people don't develop the disease... But they can transmit it. Direct fluid contact with carriers can infect you just like a zed would... And we ain't got the means to test for it., she said.

edited 25th Jan '12 5:52:53 AM by SavageHeathen

Sharon suddenly became tense. Shit! She'd forgotten about the carriers!

A quick fact check narrowed down the list a bit. Okay, she and Arnold had first "swapped fluids" (she would've chuckled a bit at that had this been a laughing matter) almost twenty four hours ago. Neither of them were showing symptoms. Unless they were both carriers, that ruled them out. Seiko and Kaimi both had managed to douse everyone in an impressive amount of their blood, and while internal fluid contact was debatable, they could both be ruled out for the moment.

That leaves the bikers, Steven, Cail, Tam, and Rita. Sharon rose from her seat. Nothing much to do about that now. We don't have the right equipment for it. She turned to Rita. I'm going to ignore you holding out on us, but only because this is your area of expertise. I have an idea how we can test for it, but I'm not one hundred percent sure it'll work. You willing to hear me out?

edited 25th Jan '12 6:30:44 AM by KSPAM

Rita sighed as she saw what the other woman typed. She first addressed the hacker. "That's ten percent more than you told me earlier. Is it because we do have more statistics, ragazza?"

She then rolled her eyes."I'll hear it out, indeed. You seem the type to play quack even if I didn't."

Tam facepalmed: "Yeah, my bad. Only 15%... The odds of not meeting carriers are a lil' bit better.", she said.

edited 25th Jan '12 8:25:50 AM by SavageHeathen

Sharon scowled, a low rumble rising in her throat. Man this bitch pissed her off! But now wasn't the time for another beating, so she grit her teeth, and calmed down.

It's not exactly humane, but since we don't have the tools to run a proper blood test, I propose we start taking captives. Before anyone could react, Sharon added, Only if they're hostile, of course. If we can take out a group of raiders without killing all of them, we can expose them to our blood and see if they develop symptoms. That way we don't need to test it on each other.

She sighed. I know it sounds bad, but without the right tools, we don't have many other options. The sooner we clear this issue up, the better. We can't risk accidentally infecting each other. Better the raiders than us.

Cail had been wandering aimlessly around the corridors since the conflict with Rita, she'd gone straight back into the main room but he didn't want to get dragged back into anything, if that woman was going to antagonise anyone, he wasn't going to put himself in any awkward positions over the fact. He'd found a washing machine that had recently been started, he'd heard it being started up and he tried to catch the person who did for some casual conversation but luck wasn't with him. Deciding to make the best of the situation he grabbed his dirty clothes dumped them by the machine he then quickly rechecked his weapons, holstered his magnum by his side and decided to finally go get something to eat.

Reentering the kitchen he found the breakfast mostly eaten and the talk starting up.

... seem the type to play quack even if I didn't

Cail grabbed a plate and piled some sausages on, scanning around for some bread, the eggs all but eaten up.

Yeah, my bad. Only 15%... The odds of not meeting carriers are a lil' bit better

"What's up?" Cail asked, the conversation topic seemed like stuff you needed to know given how closely everyone in the room was following it, Cail found the frozen loaf of bread and he pried a few pieces off putting 'em into the recently used toaster.

edited 25th Jan '12 8:49:19 AM by Hevchenko

Steven looked over at Cail where he was getting food. "Seems there is a lot more to this infection than people would normally think. Like how it is treatable by swine flu medications, but also that some people could be infected without having symptoms. Which, of course, is bad." He figured it would be helpful to catch him up to the situation and avoid any confusion.

But the idea of potential carriers gave rise to new worries. Could I be infected?? He thought in a near panic. That one zed on the road that nearly had me...I'm sure I got splattered after Sharon shot it. Sure, I know none of it got in my eyes and I didn't swallow any. I shouldn't be infected. But either way, it is better safe than sorry.

Steven looked over at that other girl, Rita, and sighed. "Well, looked like for once the bitch has a point." He spoke in his best deadpan, reserved for people who just annoyed him. "We have to stay careful anyway. Just because this is treatable doesn't mean all of our worries are over, but it does help our survival odds." He couldn't help but notice that Sharon was typing to her, and he knew that they didn't like each other...to put it mildly. So this had to be important. But he couldn't see her typing from her. Maybe Rita would bring it up; if not, he could just ask Sharon later. She didn't seem the type to keep something important hidden for no reason.

The talk of there actually being treatment for an infection was a total surprise for Seiko, who had assumed that bites were lethal. As she thought about it more she didn't know if she'd want to spend the rest of her waking days taking meds so she wouldn't go zed. That would force her or someone else to hunt down those meds for her and thus make her a burden on the group. This was the last thing Seiko wanted; to slow down the other survivors, possibly preventing them from escaping just because she needed special attention. Which led her to the decision that since she had no ties here really, and was unlikely to ever see her true home again, there was only one thing to do if she was bitten. How that happened was totally up to her.

Staring at the doctor she remarked, "If it happens, I shoot myself.. not need to waste your time on me."

"Do your job," she added, thus granting permission for the self-proclaimed doctor to treat her graze wound properly.

Scalps looked at Seiko, puzzled: "No fuckin' way: No-one gets left behind... Some of y'all get sick, we loot some meds 'n keep it n check.", she said. "After all, someone's gotta find a cure... Eventually.", she said. "Until then, we've gotta soldier on.", she said.

Kaimi looked at Sharon, smiling: "Let's hear the cunning plan!", he said. "It's gotta be better than guesswork.".

I wouldn't exactly call it cunning. It's basic, and pretty grizzly work. If anyone has problems with it, I totally understand.

She took a deep breath. If we want to test ourselves, we either need the proper tools to perform blood analysis, which we don't have, or we need test subjects. Willingness optional. If we can, we should try to spare as many raiders as possible. If we can take some alive, we can expose them to our blood and see if they develop symptoms.

She typed again. It isn't humane, or even right, but it's all we have right now.

edited 25th Jan '12 5:47:01 PM by KSPAM

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Jeff asked aloud when he finally returned to the room. He was again wearing the somewhat too large clothes, but his hair was still wet. He had moved his work uniform into a dryer after finishing his shower and changing, and now moved over to where the remains of breakfast were. Well, at least there's some left Jeff thought, taking two sausages and after some searching went the route Tam took earlier and converted them to impromptu hotdogs.

Turning and looking at the others, it seemed like they were probably discussing something important. Jeff considered adding some follow up question to his first, but waited and took a bite first.

Rita raised her eyebrow at the other girl typing. She did not come closer to Seiko, instead stopping her movement and levelling her eyes to Sharon.

"You forgot also to say mostly useless." She paused "That, is your fear speaking for you." She did not move an inch. "Assume we go your way. You would have to take an unwilling subject undergo a test, with a considerable cost of resources and firepower. The test has a 15% chance of failing it altogether on the sheer probability of it being immune. Not to mention the chance that it's not precisely a clean slate, and it could be infected beforehand."

A second pause as she drew closer and closer towards the mute. "And what would you do if you find what people is a carrier, and who isn't. Would you become reckless in combat, or paranoid in the intimacy? Do we really WANT to test ourselves?"

She stood up once again. "You lifted me by the neck earlier for suggesting to live and move on. For the sake of not downthrodding morale. And now you're suggesting to perform experiments on people AND put us a carrier or not carrier tag, just because you feel yourself a little queasy and paranoid. What's going to wreck the group more, hm? I will consider it only if we get comfortable enough to adquire blood sampling equipment. And only on personal request."

She then moved on the Schoolgirl, and proceed to help herself with the bandages and tools, trying to repair the damage in the girl's leg.

edited 26th Jan '12 1:31:40 AM by AtomicNut

You're acting awfully high and mighty for someone who doesn't know or care about keeping a group together. Paranoia already made itself at home when we got this news. Sooner or later, people are going to get suspicious, distrustful. Maybe even fearful. And that aside, seeing who's a carrier has significance far beyond the morale of the group. Not knowing which of us are carriers puts the whole group in jeopardy. One small mistake, and someone could get infected. Bam! There go those meds! What's worse for group morale, hmmm?

She sat down. I'm willing to wait for blood work since my idea won't work, but the test should be mandatory. We need to get this issue cleared up, just for safety's sake. All in favor?

edited 26th Jan '12 6:04:21 AM by KSPAM

Steven bit his lip and watched/listened to the conversation between them for a while. He spoke up then when it seemed there was a lull in the talking. "I guess it is important to know. Any carrier could be a threat to everyone around. Maybe it is wrong to alienate someone like that...but I guess that is better than death through someone's ignorance. I agree with having people tested when we can. Heck, I'll be first in line even." He really was worried that someone, anyone here could spread the disease. But it wasn't the end for someone if they were a carrier, they just had to be very careful. It sounded like the fairest choice.

Cail damn near choked on his first bite of food when he glanced at Sharon's proposed plan, the entire thing certainly seemed unfeasible and paranoid.

Cail didn't bother with a reply, instead wolfing down his breakfast, Jeff's entrance greeted with a nod was the only response to any outside stimuli Cail focused on his food and the conversation.

With Steven's agreement Cail decided to speak up, "The entire plan seems pretty shaky and paranoid to me, no offence. There are few enough of us here that there is a slightly higher probability neither of us are infected carriers and, if we were the person in question, they would at least know they were a carrier, either through contact with a zed... or by creating." Cail left the final words ring a little, not yet sure how to proceed.

Sighing Cail continued, "I'm just saying we shouldn't be going out of our way to try and find a carrier in our midst, if the oppurtinity arises sure test everyone, start biting eachother to be sure, for all I care. But for now let's just assume we're all non-carriers and make our plans accordingly. Times like these, we should start dealing with potential problems when they're no longer potential."

edited 26th Jan '12 11:01:38 AM by Hevchenko