The Disease... [RP Thread, Apoc RP] ...Is unstoppable.

This is an archived version of FeralFront. While you can surf through all the content that was ever created on FeralFront, no new content can be created.
If you'd like some free FeralFront memorabilia to look back on fondly, see this thread from Dynamo (if this message is still here, we still have memorabilia): https://feralfront.com/thread/2669184-free-feralfront-memorabilia/.

    Sign Up Thread

    11:00 AM, Saturday, July 16th, 2024

    Will paced nervously back and forth, they'd sent a party out of the mall this morning two hours ago, they were supposed to get back after an hour... He would pray if he were a religious person, but he'd never bought into the whole God thing, he'd started two a little bit before the Sickness began, but any chance at forgiveness or whatever it was they promised shattered when it all started. He looked at his watch again, not much battery left in this thing but for now it accurately told the time, 11:03, if they didn't come back soon Will would just assume they were dead. He started pacing again, fingering the safety on his handgun, he was getting tired of waiting, but he certainly couldn't just go running out after the search party. Will wasn't normally one to freak out like this, but the party had been six of the fifty people left in the mall, and if they didn't return it would be another hit to their numbers, another drop in the few they had left from the original number, which was near three hundred. They'd better make it back.

    Eric silently watched as Will paced back and forth on the tiled flooring of the mall from his spot in a chair with its back touching a wall. At the time that Eric had gone into the mall, he had brought with him a backpack full of things he thought would be useful when he was packing it. Inside it was medical supplies that was slowly becoming a rather pitiful stash. There was a handgun when he had arrived but at this moment it was holstered to his hip just in case. Unfortunately he didn't have any other ammunition than what was in the clip of the gun, but there was no point in crying over it since it was more than enough to protect himself. There were a few personal items like his wallet and phone, but at this point it was almost not even worth lugging them around anymore. At least he would know what time it was because of the beautiful silver watch his mother had gifted him for christmas a few years back.


    He had a neutral look on his face while he watched Will agonize over his decisions from earlier. It wasn't all that hard to guess what he was so worried about. The people he had sent out earlier were honest people who only wished to survive. That was the part that probably had him so frustrated while he paced back and forth. Eric would offer to do something to help but he couldn't really think of what exactly he could do to lift any of the weight off of Will's shoulders.


    Will was the one who had taken charge in the panic that was left after the original group of 300 had holed up in this part of the mall. He had already proven himself to be more than just dependable, but trustworthy as well. Something Eric had deemed to be a rare trait in people these days. With a sigh, Eric stood from his chair and walked over to Will, hoping his expression was anything but grave. "Will, is there anything I can do? I kind of feel useless just sitting here."

    rocko sits not far off from the men, flipping quickly through a picture book about exotic birds he'd never heard of before. he'd found it about a week beforehand, but it seemed to keep him entertained longer than originally thought. the child has already been here long enough, to tell when william was stressing himself about something. the near - constant pacing was the most obvious sign, even to the untrained eye. once eric approached him with a calmed tone in his voice, even rocko can tell it's the correct thing to do in the situation. he often found himself trying to act as a morale booster, standing atop one of the now empty stock box to rave to his fellow survivors that they can do anything if they just looked on with even an ounce of positivity. most, just chocked it up to his childish outlook on the world. the child approaches the pair, once interesting book simply stuffed just under his arm. uncharacteristically, rocko is seemingly able to lower his voice for once. a small hand tugs on the end of will's shirt, eyes swivelling their way between both william and eric. ❛ i - i wanna' help, too. ❜ he speaks up, offering them one of his somewhat toothy smiles. many were missing, but he looked sincere in his words. ❛ i can help! ❜

    The thing about malls, Even though they were big- They honestly had little to be helpful. So much glass to break threw, The lack of food. Sure most had a cafeteria. But they didn't exactly last long. Soon supplies got low and they needed to be replenished. Which ment going outside- Something that Kayden wasn't eager about. He had enough time outside. And while his journey hadn't been too awful- He hoped to never, ever see one of those monsters again. A wish he doubt would be fulfilled. So for now Kayden had chosen to stay out of the way. The young man sat on one of the benches that was a slight distance from the rest of the group. His eyes on a book. One of the few things he had brought with him- Sure it was awful to lug around. But it was something from his school. The slim hope of life returning to normal soon had made him keep hold of the thick book. It also held a little bit of useful information- Though by this time Kayden had read threw the thing multiple times.


    His gaze then briefly moved upwards. His eyes catching sight of tense figures. Worry in most eyes, It was something Kayden seriously wanted to avoid. The man that Kayden took to be in charge was no different. Speaking with another guy- Will and Eric. Kayden had picked up their names. But he hadn't properly spoken to either men. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think the big guy, Will was scary as hell. Seriously, How had he even got those scars? Kayden didn't want to know. The other guy.. Eric. Some one with proper medical knowledge. Kayden had seen him work. Perhaps it would have been best to speak with him for advice- But something about the man gave off a not to be messed with vibe. So Kayden had avoided him as well.

    Then a little kid was running forward.. R- Something. He didn't know his name fully. But he had seen the boy running around. No mother or father to watch after him. It was hard not to feel sympathetic to the kid. But Kayden never knew how to exactly help the kid. Slowly KAyden drew his eyes away from the group. He didn't want to be caught staring after all. But he carefully listened in hopes of picking up what ever conversation was shared.

    Will sighed, "I don't think there's much we can do except wait, unfortunately..." He stopped in his pacing tracks, no longer playing with the safety on his weapon, "They'll probably make it back, but we can't send out a group to try and find them, we might just lose even more people." He took in the seen around himself, his glance going over one of the many broken store displays... when they first quarantined this place there'd been panic, until Will had done his best to control it. He didn't do most of the leading, that was left to people much smarter than him, but in the beginning he'd fired off two quick shots that'd shut the panicked crowd up...


    He pat Rocko on the head, "I know you really wanna help, kid, but I don't think you or Eric can help out right now... Why don't you just go back to whatever you were doing?" He looked at Eric and took a less kind tone, "I mean, you kind of are useless... but I need someone to go check up on the barricade blocking the East entrance." He didn't seem like he was trying to insult Eric, but his tone and his words said two separate things, "You wanna make yourself useful? Go get that done." He went back to his pacing.

    Eric couldn't help but let a small grin cross his face when he looked down at Rocko. He had a bit of a soft spot for younger kids like him. His smile quickly faded and left his face with a neutral frown. William's words weren't at all untrue so he took no offense from their seemingly rude exterior. It was little more but the truth, something that couldn't be avoided. Eric wasn't exactly useful when he wasn't treating people so if he could help in some way he'd be happy to. "Yeah you're right about that. I'm not worth much unless there are injured people to treat and fortunately there aren't any at the moment." Eric ran a hand through his unruly mop of black hair. Over the time that they had all been holed up in the mall his hair had gotten more and more messy, which inadvertently added to his look. Intelligent and badass looking.


    "I'll go check the East entrance, but do you mind if I take another person if anyone's willing to go with me? I'm not exactly great at defending myself." Eric may have been an athletic person, but he wasn't very adept at defending himself. Even if it was only walking corpses he was up against, he had learned his lesson from an assortment of movies and books, as well as from common sense, that going on the trip to the East entrance was a trip better gone with at least two people.

    rocko puffs out his cheeks in defeat. he accepted the innocent pat on the head, feet dragging him back off to where he sat moments before. the child would've offered his assistance to eric with the aid of his bb gun, but he knows the effort would have been a futile waste of his time. one of the two men would've shot down his excited support. though rocko was generally upset with their answers, he understood the reasoning behind it. he was still a little kid. otherwise, he often felt there wasn't much he could do in the way of lending a hand around the mall. sure, every now and again, he'd be asked to go fetch something for one of the other survivors, but he found that to be the extent of work offered to him. his attention is once again drawn to the exotic bird encyclopedia, a low hum sounding from within his throat as his eyes idly scan the colourful pictures. without taking in the information the pages offered to him, rocko holds a finger to one of the pages, back to sneaking glances aimed at the pair. there was always the chance he could follow along, even just for a bit of fun. he had a wild imagination, and liked to envision himself as someone lending a hand, while he was really just sneaking his way about in their trail. surprisingly, he'd only been caught in the act for this once.

    "Hmmm..." Will looked around, most people were busy doing one thing or another- his gazed stopped, lingering on a guy sitting on a bench holding some kind of textbook? He whistled, "Hey, book worm, head with Eric here to check on the East gate, and uh... Rocko, you too." He'd seen the kid with his little BB gun, and he knew for sure if you hit someone in the right spot with one of those it could do some serious damage, if you were good enough you could blind or potentially kill a man by hitting him in the eye... "Just get going you three, I need to take stock of who we have left in case of another attack."

    He turned and walked away, he ran a thumb across his right cheek, dragging it over the scar tissue from the knife wound he'd suffered so long ago. He remembered it like it was yesterday, and the memories came back to him as he sorted through what weapons they had stockpiled and counted up the number of able fighters they had. It had been years ago, before he was even eighteen. He'd been cornered in the alley by some punk who'd wanted his wallet, he'd managed to get away, but only because once the guy had him pinned and started carving his face up for fighting back a cop showed up... The cop hadn't even hesitated, he saw a kid in danger and shot the guy clean in the hand holding the knife, he'd just told Will to get lost, and Will hadn't hesitated. They had about thirty people who were currently able to fight, and enough weapons for nearly double that number, they'd managed to retrieve a lot from their dead allies over time.

    Kayden lightly chewed on his lip as he attempted to listen in on the others. But they were soon calling his attention anyway. The whistle made him jump a bit- What? Did they think he was a dog calling him like that? sitting up straighter. He couldn't help the small expression of annoyance that came to his face. "Why don't you go with him- Your clearly not doing anything usef- " He shut his mouth quickly, As the longer he stared at this dude. The most he realized. He probable didn't want to make the big guy mad. So he settled by giving a little. "Fine. " And sticking his tongue out when the other had turned around. A childish action. But Kayden could be rather petty at times. Moving to his feet. The young man strode over towards where the man- Eric was standing.


    Kayden wasn't really prepared for this. He didn't exactly have any weapons. But his gaze flickered up towards Eric.. This might be a interesting chance, He hadn't had the chance to speak to the man. He was someone with far more experience with medicine then Kayden. Who's experience was limited to dog and cats. Thus a useful person to talk to. Kayden though didn't decide to open up with any questions. Instead murmuring. "So the east gate right? " He asked, Glancing around briefly. His gaze then fell on their other team mate- And he blinked for a moment. They were bring a kid? What if the barricade was broken or breaking? That didn't sound safe and he couldn't help but wrinkle his nose. Turning his gaze towards will with narrowed eyes.

    Eric only gave William a nod before he looked his 'new recruit' up and down. He seemed like a sturdy young man so he wasn't complaining. "What's your name? Also, do you have any weapons? We'll probably have to go and grab a few from whatever stash of weapons we have at the moment since all I have is this-" He lightheartedly patted the hand gun holstered to his hip. "Otherwise we'll be all set to go." Eric put his hand out for Rocko, hoping the kid would take his hand and follow him and their new friend here to find some adequate weapons to take with them on their trip to the East entrance. He could only hope that there was possibly a machete or something he could take with them seeing as he wasn't to confident in his aim. That and he wanted to keep whatever noise they ended up making to a minimum if he could.

    rocko grins with excitement, squeaking his thanks to william as he snatches his ever precious bb gun. it was quick to rest in his small hands as the child rushes up to his new companions, taking his place in the empty spot besides eric. he'd never gotten to head to the east gate before, so his excitement for the excursion was nearly palpable. it wasn't the fact he was fond of shooting at something that was once a living, breathing human being, but the simple thought of being involved in something that could possibly be considered important. though, he could understand kayden's possible worry with the situation. he didn't seem to be in possession of a weapon, leaving his child companion and eric as the only two defensive ones of this little ragtag group. of course, rocko feels the sudden urge to attempt and consul the man. ❛ don't worry, mista' kayden! my mama' taught me to shoot real good! ❜ it was true, he was a decent shot with the youth - sized bb gun. he never aimed for the head, only the knees. taking a corpse down for someone else to deal with was how rocko tended to work. the small boy couldn't possibly have the heart in him to legitimately kill something; be it a monstrous figure or otherwise. moments later, he happily takes eric's offered hand, beaming another one of his bright smiles up towards the man. the child saw him as far too kind.

    (I'm late to the party.... so just gonna squeeze her in....))


    Avangelina scurried up the fire escape behind two others from the side of the mall, before crashing through the fire door on the roof. She quickly bolted it with the help of the other two before heading off towards where the group was two backpacks strapped to her back, while her two companions each carried a large duffle bag. The small olive skinned girl moved quietly through the mall. She had been one of the six that had been sent out on a supply run. Ava trailed behind the two keeping more to herself. Upon spotting where her group was she picked up her pace. Her limbs were sore as her adrenaline rush wore off, but she moved towards Eric first. "Had pick a lock for these." She plopped one of the backpacks down carefully, as she knew there was some glass in there. It was mostly over the counter medical supplies, but she did manage to break into the supply cabinet that was badly beaten up and retrieve much stronger medication. She then moved towards Will.


    "Sorry for being late. Ran into a problem, and then got swarmed by the sick." She said, a look of regret on her face as she knew the fate of the other three that had gone with them was not as lucky. She set the second back pack down as she continued, "We had to go further away this time too. Even then there was hardly anything left. We scavanged three separate stores. A Pharmacy, Grocery, and a Convenience Store. All had hardly anything. With the exception of the Pharmacy. We managed to pick the lock to get into the back where the stronger drugs were." She informed, as she set the backpack down and removed one of her overly padded sleeves she had made for herself before removing her overly padded leg protection as well, revealing her brown bomber jacket and dusty black skinny jeans.


    Avangelina rumaged through the bag and found a two books. One looked more comic book like while the other was old Time Magazine she had grabbed from the Pharmacy store, one of the good ones too that would cost about $15 and explained space, and travel, and all that fun stuff. Even the potential of another planet. "Hey, found you something." She said to Rocko holding out the comic book and the magazine. "Not much, but perhaps you might enjoy it. I wasn't able to find any BB Guns." She had a small handgun strapped to her hip, despite her being a bad shot, and a metal baseball bat hung on her back. She was a better shot swinging the bat that she was shoot the gun, and even then it took several swings to take down one Sickly. She was far better with her slinshot and rocks.

    Will was silent for a moment as he listened to what she said and noticed their lack of members, "I'm guessing Thomas, John, and Sarah... didn't make it?" There was a bit of pain in his voice, he'd been good friends with Thomas, and unless he was out scavenging Thomas normally took the lead on things that were a bit too tactical for Will. His death would be a heavy loss on them, but they would move past it and keep going, like they always did, like they always had... "We need a better way to get farther away from the mall, some kind of safe path we can take until you're really out there."


    (Sorry this post isn't too long, putting this up real quick before I head to bed, I'll be able to pop in early tomorrow with a post but then I'll be stuck at school all day, sorry!)

    Kayden could feel himself being looked up and down and well. It made him shift a little uncomfortable. "I'm Kayden.. Er.. And afraid not. " He told with a shake of his head. His gaze drifting down to the gun. Honestly, It did make him wary. Some having guns and him not. But he didn't speak about that. He wouldn't even know how to shoot a gun. Kayden couldn't help but feel a smile on his face as the little kid spoke up. Leaning down a bit so he was at the boys height a bit more. "Well then, I trust you'll always come to my rescue then? " He teased lightly. Before straightening out. About to agree with getting more weapons. When another visited arrived. Ava- Part of the missing party. He watched as she strode along. Stepping a little bit back and out of the way.


    She seemed to have gathered medicine and a few trinkets for the kids. But.. What use was that? Kayden couldn't see any food or water in her bag. The Medicine wouldn't be much use if everyone just starved to death. Not that Kayden was hungry right now. But he was well aware things could go easily from bad to worse. The leader was then speaking about a path. What path? The only way to get much farther was perhaps a car.. But that would make far to much noise! Still, Kayden stopped to think. Deciding he was going to Try and be helpful. He really hadn't done anything the whole time he had been here. "You could go threw the sewers. I doubt most of them.. Things have bothered to open up the manholes. " His nose wrinkled at the idea. It would be completely disgusting. And they wouldn't have a map to use most likely.


    Kayden then told lightly. "But whats going to happen when everything is picked clean? We need to figure out how to grow our own food. Or set animal traps and try to catch one of those pigeons flying around. Or something. " Kayden was well aware that was easier said then done. He doubt any of the people here were farmers. Nor did they have anything to plant. And the mall wasn't really a easy place to catch things. But Kayden had seen the occasional squirrel outside. As well as pigeons who had perched high enough to avoid the dead.

    Up on the upper floor of the mall, in the area all the survivors hung around in, sat a particuarly small woman; whom only seemed to be watching what was going on down below. Her legs hung through the gaurds that were in place when the mall was built, danging above as she just kind of listened to everything going on down below. Of course an entire team would have gone missing, well, most of them at least. It did seem like a few of them had made it back safely, and with SOME supplies at least. Didn't seem like everything they would need, how pitiful. With the lose of those unfortunate lives, Zahara didn't feel a inch of grief for them, she did not take the time to get to know them and death always seemed the peacful way to go. Who the hell knew what it was like to become the sick, to have their very beings taken over by something like that.


    Zahara could only hope she wouldn't go that way, at least, something more peacful would surely do for her. Eventually she did seem to speak up, a little curious of this odd enough sewer plan actually. "You'd have to find a way into the sewer though," she spoke up from the upper floor, "I'm pretty sure, unless you plan to flush yourself down the toilet, you need to find a way to get into there safe enough."

    rocko's eyes widen like saucers, bb gun in question tucking itself delicately under his free arm as the child accepts the offered items. ❛ aw, 'dis is so cool! thanks, ava! ❜ as one of the only children still left here in the mall, the other survivors often looked out for him, be it entertainment purposes or legitimate survival instances. the boy could honestly say it was something he wholeheartedly appreciated. once kayden and zahara shift the conversation to the city sewers, rocko holds his new precious possessions close to his chest, again piping up from his place besides eric. sewers made him think of rats, and he'd seen rats. they could eat those, right? ❛ oh! i saw rats in the west sida' da' mall one time! ❜ the child seems somewhat proud with himself for a moment as he revealed the information, before tilting his head to the side with a slouched frown. ❛ i didn't catch one, doe'. a - a corpse did! i let 'er have it... ❜

    Ava shook her head at Will's question of the other three. She did not really want to go into it. Most of the things the small group had gotten a hold of where medical things, with a few cans of food nothing near what they could have had if the other three hadn't fallen. The six had split up. It had been a smart idea at the time, but looking back they never should have done it. Maybe they might have had more of the group survive if they had, or maybe all six would have been dead. Either way, she knew they never should have split. "There is a store similar to Lowe's near here... we could get most of the supplies like seeds, dirt and stuff from there. But it takes at least a half our walk each way from here. It is next to one of the grocery stores we Scavanged today... but do we even have anyone with a green thumb who could work on the whole growing the food?" Ava asked looking to Kayden.


    She grinned at Rocko as he took the stuff she had brought back for him, "Your welcome, Rocko, figured it was something you might like." Ava then added to Zahara's comment, "If we could get into the security officers' room we might be able to find plans. They have to have that kind of stuff somewhere in this mall incase something ever happened. If we are lucky we should be able to find where the lines lead." The only reason she knew the Security Office might have plans sewer line plans was because she had been in a mall's security office before for shop lifting... but she was not going to bring that up. "And there are sewers in the parking lot..."


    "Don't rats carry viruses?" She asked Kayden curiously.

    Kayden looked between the two girls. Zahara was throwing up a fine question, Kayden hadn't seen any way into the sewer when he arrived at the mall. But he hadn't exactly been looking. Surely it wouldn't be that hard to seek out. His gaze then flickered down to Rocko. Grinning. "Maybe we could put traps there for them? " He suggested. If there was rats in the mall.. It was worth trying! His gaze then flickered up towards Ava who was suggesting a solution. "Maybe, But the door might be locked. It would be worth trying to get it open. Their might be other things useful in there. " Kayden suggested. He wasn't confident in finding a map. But there might be a gun in there or something of use. He then paused at her question. Thinking for a moment.


    "As long as we wash our hands and cook the meat properly. I'm sure it would be fine. Lots of people eat Rats. " Kayden didn't think the disease could survive a flame honestly. He also hadn't seen any infected dogs cats or other animals. So Kayden brought up. "They might carry the disease. But they don't seem affected by it. I haven't seen any animals going crazy. But I haven't been looking. You've been out their more then me. Has anything seemed to act wild to you? " He asked Ava curiously. Looking around the group curiously.


    //rushed

    Will cleared his throat, "This talk about farming and all that is great, but I don't think there's anyway we could safely bring back a bunch of bags of dirt. People would be weighed down too much." He looked at the girl above, "Last I checked near anything can pry open a manhole, and there are no wild animals." His gaze was back on Kayden. Next he scowled, "I thought I told you, the doc and the kid to head over to the East entrance? Does this look like the East entrance to you? Get moving over there, we've had a breach there before and I'd rather not have the Sick spill in this place. And everyone else stop worrying about eating rats, if we start running out of food and supplies nearby our only option will be to move. We can't sustain a civilization in a mall." He breathed deeply, "Anything else I need to try and address?"


    Will was a tad overwhelmed by this sudden discussion, his own personal plan in the beginning had been to leave the mall, to get out of this place and leave all these people behind, but it was slowly becoming apparent he was the only one who might survive out of those who had first chosen to take charge. He hoped he could get out of here, maybe take a few people he trusted, a couple of the better fighters, but things were shaping up in a way that he didn't like. Sometimes he actually found himself attached to these other people, sympathetic for them, that wasn't a feeling he welcomed or enjoyed.

    Display Spoiler

    The post was edited 1 time, last by kastia ().