Utterly Mad

Heinrik adjusted his grip on the machete as he stared at the group of zombies walking towards him. A swing and two heads rolled to the ground as he took a stride forward. A second swing and three more fell. These things were growing increasingly common as of late.

Still they had no real way to harm him, their claws scraped against metal plates and their jaws broke when they tried to bite through it. Soon they all were gone and he continued on his way. Soon he reached New Paris.

The guards had him stop outside and approached. One, the elder and most likely more experienced of the two, asked him “What is it you’re here for?”

Heinrik shrugged, he was here for a number of things, “Food, shelter, work.”


A short discussion on the expectations of his behaviour later and he walked in. The noise he was met with immediately made him stop in his tracks. The dull anger in his brain made him wonder if this endeavor called life was worth it. “Why in the name of any god is that playing over the speakers?” He asked to  no one in particular. The response was one he hadn’t quite expected. Someone quite plainly being an asshole.

“Why, who, and where?” Heinrik asked as he stood there. He got the answer to all three. From there he walked to the person who appeared to be in charge and continued “Give me a rocket launcher and I’ll take care of whatever’s playing this noise.”

It was fifteen minutes later and Heinrik, standing his full eight feet tall with a rocket launcher slung over his back, started towards the orchard. It would take him a while but he simply didn’t care. It would take however long it would take, and in the end these fine folks wouldn’t have to listen to that ‘music’.

Elsewhere Sokolov walked over the bridge and into Walkerville. His rifle was still hanging loosely in front of him as he walked to the community center and spotted someone. Walking over he said “Isaac yes? You were friend of Alexei?”

Isaac nodded and suddenly found himself staring at the man. He couldn’t really discern much beneath the helmet and mask but he said “Yes, that’s me and yes that was my friend.”

Sokolov nodded and continued “I know where large number of cultists that attacked him reside. You get revenge, I get revenge, everyone happy.”

Isaac felt the old temper flare. He knew the men that had caused that explosion were more than likely still alive and now that had been confirmed. And he somehow knew the man wasn’t lying. “Alright, but let get some help first. If they feel like coming that is.”

And with that Isaac went to find Nathaniel and present the situation to him. When he did find him he gave him what info he had, having known that there was a group after Alexei thanks to a private conversation between the two. “We could get some justice for Alexei Nathaniel, we could do something about these guys. But it’s gonna need to be more than just me and a stranger.”

Elsewhere Bolt had finished his first shift of the day and was sitting by himself. He unwrapped his sandwich and nibbled at it as he worked on one of his projects in his head. If he just had the parts to make a hydraulic system he could actually make a system to help him bend steel.

He was soon interrupted by TJ sitting down beside him. “Hi Bolt, how’re you?” TJ asked as they sat there.

Bolt finished his bite of the sandwich and said “Good. Work was annoying, too much pipe that needed cutting today. But work is not the whole day.”

TJ and Bolt sat in silence for a minute and TJ nervously asked “Hey can I uh..can I show you something?”

Bolt nodded and the two started walking. Unbenownst to the crew that had made the bridge TJ had found a small alcove under it where one could sit in peace. He’d built a small cover for the entrance to it and had dug a hole that he’d slid a cooler into in the soft dirt. A pair of fishing poles were set to the side as well.

Sitting down the pair just stared at the water for a few moments before Bolt said “Is nice and quiet down here.”

TJ shrugged “Yeah, quiet is nice I guess but I just like being able to stare at the water personally.”

Bolt had to agree that the way the water ran over the rocks under the bridge was oddly soothing. As was the presence of TJ in a strange way. Unlike everyone else he’d met TJ didn’t treat him strangely due to the markings on his fur or the way he acted. It was nice to have a-

Bolt’s thoughts were interrupted by TJ pulling out a book and asking if he’d like to learn some more. Bolt nodded and looked down at the book as TJ pointed to one of the words and helped him read it. After a moment Bolt rested his head on TJ’s shoulder as they worked on his ability to read.

Bolt tapped his foot rapidly as he waited for the foreman to go down the line. He already knew what he was going to be  doing but the last time he’d gone straight to work the foreman had been less than pleased. So he waited, tapping his feet and ignoring the other mislings that were to either side of him.

Finally he got his instructions: dismantle and salvage. Turning and walking away Bolt made his way to where the mislings used to disassemble various things for salvage and parts. He’d not been here long but already knew that the walk was simply a hundred steps, give or take twenty to avoid people or jams of foot traffic.

Once he reached the area he opened the locker that had been designated as his and retrieved his tools. Unlike the others his tool belt included an air tank that connected to his special tools. As he filled the tank nearby he couldn’t help but smile as he recalled how much easier his tools made his work.

He’d made them himself for the express purpose of his salvage job. Of course none of the others believed that he’d made them. Not that he cared if they believed he could build things, he was fine with everyone believing he was only capable of dismantling them. Life was easier when people didn’t expect much from you after all.

Humming to himself Bolt set to work now that his equipment was fully operational. His first task was to cut some pipe down for the construction crews.Nodding to the foreman of the ‘pit’ Bolt retrieved his cutter. Turning on the tool and inserting the pipe, sliding it along so that it was the proper length, Bolt squeezed the handle. The saw blade attached to it was designed for cutting metal so the pipe was taken care of quickly as he slid the next section into place.

Once the pipe was done, which lasted maybe a half hour of work, Bolt was told to just work on the pile. This was what they called the heap of items that had been left in the pit to be disassembled for any sort of use they could make of them. This usually involved stripping items for useful materials or parts such as circuit boards or valves or what have you.

This was work Bolt was particularly good at. That was mostly due to the fact he’d done it so much he could do it without really thinking about it. And so he sat there gutting computers and appliances until he came to a few gas tanks that had made their way into the pit. Inspecting them yielded the reason that they were down here, they’d been punctured here and there. If he were to hazard a guess the holes were small enough to have been caused by something akin to a screwdriver.

Taking off the valves and seals Bolt pocketed a few while the Foreman wasn’t really paying attention. It hadn’t been the first time he’d done such a thing even when the foreman was paying attention. The two had simply come to an understanding. ‘Dont pocket everything and I wont have a problem’ was the gist of it.

After that he just let himself slip into work. Which left his mind to wander. He was curious about the new person, TJ. He’d never seen anyone wearing that many bandages before. And there was an odd mixture of curiosity and sadness about him that clashed with how he tried to act happy. Or maybe Bolt was just misreading him.

Still the pair were outsiders among what appeared to be their own people, they had that much in common. The other mislings had decided that Bolt was unlucky, some due to the marks on his fur and others simply because he’d received more than a handful of opportunities after the misfortune of others. As such he often found himself on his own. So he’d made himself content with his lot in life.

Before long, well at least before it felt like it had been a long time, the bell rang. Bolt finished his cut and walked over to the lockers. Stowing his gear Bolt slid the lock into place and decided to go find something to eat. A bit early for dinner but he’d not eaten lunch.

So he made his way to the community center that Isaac had built. He’d never met the man but had heard from the other mislings they gave food for free. And they were nice people. He’d check and see then go and find TJ.

Entering the place he could smell food cooking and spotted Alice setting some out onto the serving trays. Isaac spotted Bolt and waved as he said “Hey right on time! Let me go get some plates and we’ll let you grab some grub.”

After a moment Bolt had his meal and was sitting down to eat. As he was used to no one really sat next to him. This gave him time to muse over his various projects at the very least.

At the same time as all of this TJ had been wandering around. He’d stopped to talk to some of the mislings here and there but none could really point him towards work that could earn him anything. As Bolt had put it “there isn’t any scrip here yet.” was the general consensus.

As such TJ had found himself sitting with an older misling in what appeared to be some sort of rug stall. The misling wore an old vest, dress shirt, pants and a pair of leather shoes along with a rather long and well kept and trimmed beard of grey hair. The pair had talked over a home mixed and brewed tea that the elder misling had made. “So you say you don’t know your past? Perhaps it matters not where you came from, perhaps you have yet to fulfill your purpose in life? Perhaps you have yet to even determine what that purpose is.”

The way the elder was watching him made TJ somewhat uncomfortable as he sat cross legged across from the man. Taking a moment to sip his tea and collect his thoughts TJ finally admitted “I don’t know, I guess I haven’t really had time to figure out what my purpose is.”

The elder simply nodded as he drank from his own cup. A younger misling had entered the stall and spoke a few words. “Oh for that design you should use that pattern there. It will look lovely, take the roll and bring back what you don’t use.”

From what TJ had gathered this man organized quite a few of the odds and ends for the construction crews. Some of the young mislings under his employ kept things organized in this stall and the others in the area where things like rugs, cloth, and other such items were kept. It also was built like it was going to be turned into a market at some point. Regardless the elder looked at him and said “That is okay child. Many do not find their purpose for most of their lives. What matters is that you carry yourself in a manner that is respectable, one that anyone could admire and look up to. Of course..” he paused for a moment to show that the vest concealed a blade “..sometimes one must act in unsavory manners to protect himself and others. That too is understandable.”

TJ shrugged. He’d killed once and found the act..distasteful himself. Before he could say anything the elder smiled and said “Ah, a pacifist? Admirable I must say but you need to be willing to defend yourself should the need arise.”

TJ nodded and said “I know, I really do. I just hope it doesn’t come to that. That’s why I’ve been trying to find a place like this where I don’t have to fight people.”

For a few minutes the pair sat in silence as the elder inspected TJ.  Finally he stood and retrieved a long dark blue piece of cloth from a table. “I have known many men. Some wear these for the purpose of worship. Others because it means something to them as a symbol of things such as pride and courage. To me it is worn as a symbol of dedication and self worth not for some religious reason.”

Wrapping it around TJ’s head the elder hummed softly to himself. After a moment he finished wrapping the turban and tied it off, leaving a trail of the blue cloth hanging behind TJ’s head. “May it take on whatever meaning you assign to it however. You can always change the style as well, perhaps add layers or shorten the tail of it. That is ultimately up to you, just as all paths ultimately lead to the same place in the end.”

Reaching a hand up TJ touched the turban as the elder misling provided him a mirror to inspect himself. It was a deep blue and unlike the mislings it was only wrapped around his head a couple times to keep it on without really protruding from his head. “Thanks. I don’t really have anything to pay you with though.”

The elder waved the thought of payment away. “All I ask is that you remember our conversation today. I hope that it helps you find your way in life.”

The elder misling bowed and TJ returned the gesture after standing up. “I will. Thank you for the tea.”
The elder smiled as he said “Of course, and as I said whenever we figure out money here I’ll be more than happy to have you working with me.”

TJ departed with that. Some of the younger mislings that worked for the elder waved and nodded to him as he went. The snug feeling of the turban wasn’t dissimilar to his bandages and was oddly comforting. Checking the time he realized it was almost six pm and decided to see if Alice and Isaac needed any help.

The walk there didn’t take very long and he spotted only a handful of mislings making their way in. Walking in he took a look around and spotted Bolt sitting by himself and decided to walk over. Sitting down he couldn’t help but smile at Bolt jumping slightly at his presence. “Hi Bolt, how was work?”

Swallowing a mouthful of mac and cheese Bolt shrugged “Was work. Same thing I did yesterday, same thing tomorrow.” Fishing in his bag Bolt pulled out the valves and seals “But got parts for air gun. Can take time to work on it tomorrow before shift if you’d like.”

TJ nodded as he leaned back and said “That works for me. I’m not gonna have much of anything to do anyway, at least that I know of. Maybe going out to look for parts or books.”

Bolt scratched his nose as he said “You read books? Could teach?”

TJ again nodded and leaned back in his chair “I could.  We could start tonight if you want too.”


Bolt nodded eagerly as he took another bite of his food. As they sat there it dawned on TJ that Bolt was pretty small for his age, standing at thee foot four inches. The pair were both sixteen(well Bolt was Sixteen in misling years) and here they were living the farthest things from what they’d heard described as the life of someone their age. Instead of studying and dating they were disassembling salvage and working on a weapon that could kill both zombies and people while one of them taught the other to read.

Once Bolt had finished his meal he returned the plate to a receptacle and walked back over to TJ. Reaching over TJ pulled a seat out next to him and waited for Bolt to sit down as he retrieved a book from his bag. “This one should be pretty easy to start with.”

As they sat there TJ was surprised at Bolt’s eagerness to learn. The constant stream of questions made him imagine a child if he were honest. But he did his best to stay patient with Bolt as they sat there.

flips the tables, screams in jiberish, and lights something on fire

yeah its still going. Mostly it's on Discord now though so there's not much activity here outside of the rec room and creative endeavors.

‘Foster’
Various points before the cataclysm
Full name: Hanz Krieger, Alexander Williams, Benjamin Corsair, Norman Henderson, various other aliases

Background: Foster graduated from college at the age of twenty with a masters in both engineering and masters of research. During which he went to several different colleges in differing states and in one case a different country. Six months after graduating a group simply referring to themselves as ‘Section 1’ offered him a job researching the artifacts he’d been hunting himself.

Joining required three months of weapons training and basic combat training. He also agreed to hand over all of the artifacts in his possession.  In trade they ceased poking into his past and the misconduct of his during his college years

Whilst Foster proved invaluable the subject matter he was researching proved less so. The artifacts simply proved to have overtly mundane effects such as one that acted rather similarly to a flashlight. Two years later and the retrieval teams, known as ‘Section 2’, found the ‘motherlode’. A cache of artifacts that proved to be a bit less mundane.

Only two made their way into Fosters hands however, the rest were sent to ‘Section 3’.  Whilst infuriating to Foster he made due and found one artifact promoted the growth of natural floral and fauna. The other made the other researchers remarkably nervous. Foster did not share in this sentiment as he often sat near it while working in the lab to keep the unnecessary chatter away from him. Though the principle difference between himself and his coworkers was not lost on him when contemplating why the effects of the artifact were non existent for him.

Two years into his employment Foster joined Section 2 for a number of raids on a number of locations. Incident Zulu and Incident X-ray occurred during these raids and will be detailed below. After these raids Foster’s connection to Section 3 began with Moriarity contacting him to inquire about the environments they found the artifacts in. From that point on the pair remained in contact, swapping notes and occasionally artifacts to study.

Incident Zulu
Participants: Section 2’s Team 1(codename Scorpion) and Foster(codename Voodoo)
Location: Seguridad Incorporada private security company secure storage facility, somewhere in Mexico

As the box truck pulled up to the gate Foster sat in the passenger seat with a ballistic vest and helmet on. The man next to him set a gas mask in his lap as they stopped and waited for the guards. Once they were beside the doors the sniper team pulled the trigger. Just as quickly as they fell the bodies were pulled out of the way and the truck was allowed to proceed.

“For a security firm that’s paid in the millions these guys are kinda trash.” Star said from the driver’s seat as he parked and stepped out. Foster had known things were going to get messy but he hadn’t expected Star to shoot the two men approaching them out in the open. As the rest of the team dismounted Star said “This is also..not what was in the brief. Fuck maybe they were just bluffing about their numbers.”

The front door was unlocked as the team pushed through with Foster. The first hallway led to an empty lobby. Checking behind the desk  Scorpion 1 said “Hey Actual, got an unconscious tango behind the desk.”

Star shook his head and switched the MP5 to full auto. “I swear if this one goes like that El Salvador job.”

Pushing through the next hallway they noted the group of unconscious men there as well and moved on to the warehouse part of the facility. There they found yet more of the guards knocked out. From there they entered an area labeled Anomalous Containment Area.

Inside they found one guard standing over an injured man in a suit of metal armor. A three round burst from Star’s MP5 took the guard down as Foster walked over to the injured man and knelt down. Looking him over Foster recognized a few symbols here and there. “Why is a medieval knight fighting men armed with guns?”

The response was a sigh as the man informed him “You really shouldn’t mess with what’s in here.”

Retrieving his pistol Foster responded “Let me tell you something. It doesn’t matter what you think we’re taking these. And on top of that your injuries would kill you within the hour. The only thing I have to offer is a small bit of mer-”

Foster fell back as a flash of light blinded him. His ears rang as well for a moment before the world started to come back into focus and he caught sight of the knight attempting to charge Scorpion team and getting gunned down. As the corpse lay on the floor Star hauled Foster up to his feet as one of his team fired two rounds into the back of the knights skull. Shaking his head Foster wondered aloud “What kind of fanatic would dress like that and attempt to kill a large number of gunmen? And how did he make it through all of the security in this place?”

“Voodoo who the fuck cares? Next time just shoot him in the head alright.” Star told Foster as the pair turned to their bounty.

[restricted access, Section 3 personnel only]

‘We found four more armored individuals, two of which were carrying firearms. Their weapons have been confiscated for study. Foster remains unaware of the presence of the other individuals thankfully and believes that it was some crazy from the nearby town who had a streak of astounding good luck’

‘And the hammer?’

‘We kept it as well as other objects to aid us in our work. The teams share these things of course but we do enjoy the benefits of using them immeasurably.’



Incident X-ray
Participants: Section 2’s Team 3(Team Idaho) and Foster(Voodoo)
Location: Unknown facility in England countryside

“Alright Voodoo, let me and Spud take the lead alright?” Idaho-1 said as they entered the building, an abandoned underground office building that no one had managed to find records for. Despite that the place was immaculately clean.

Spud led his squad deeper into the structure for a time until they came to a reinforced door. “Three, get the cutter out.” Spud ordered as he kept an eye on where they’d come from. “Voodoo you getting any bad vibes about this place?”

Foster looked around the place. A few chairs were here and there but no sign of the place being occupied  beside the absurd level of cleanlieness. “Something isn’t right..let’s proceed carefully.”

Three stepped back from the door and reported it was ready to open. Less than ten seconds later and the team had sweeped the room and Foster followed them in. On a pedestal was an artifact and in the corner was a man cowering in fear telling them not to touch it.

Spud was trying to get the man to make sense when Foster let a round off from his pistol and the man slumped to the floor. Spud turned and shouted “The hell Voodoo? He could have had info!”

Foster grabbed the artifact from its pedestal as he said “He was useless, and the last time I trusted a wounded man not to act the fool he nearly bashed my skull in.”

Pocketing the artifact in a bag Foster started for the door with the team in tow. After a minute all of them save one had exited the room. He reached the door before letting out a scream. Turning Foster caught sight of the black tentacle that had wrapped around his chest and throat before it pulled him back into the room. Spud threw a grenade in after him before giving the order to run.

They had neared the exit before the giant octopus wrapped it’s tentacle around another squad member and slammed him into the ceiling. Turning the others opened fire spraying hot lead into the creature. It took a few seconds before it looked like it had finally died.

The team exited the building after leaving a series of demo charges. As the helicopter flew them away Spud tossed Foster the detonator “Here Voodoo, have some fun.”

[restricted access, Section 3 personnel only]

‘We let Foster take the artifact after a few months of nothing. Whatever is special about it we can’t figure it out. Just some unnatural sense of dread whenever you’re alone with it.’


Foster’s personal log, private experiment number CV Entry 42
2 weeks before the cataclysm
With the artifact I was allowed to keep I’ve been experimenting with another..vagrant that I managed to capture. This house is owned by Kaizer, another psuedonym of mine, and no one bothers the place while I’m gone. Exposure to the artifact has seemingly no effect but he abhors it when I remove it from his presence now. Acts like it causes physical pain.

I’ve put him through some physical torture and he seems to recover so quickly it’s almost like it does nothing now. The artifact is rather useless to me now so I think I’ll allow him to keep it when I work my ‘magic’ and send him off to be yet another serial killer I’ve caused. Oh well, time to go prepare his final injections.

Entry 43
2 days before the cataclysm
Injecting him with my blood caused the usual screaming and other nonsense but then he went quiet. Unlike the others he refused to speak to me. Just like the others you can still see the soul in his eyes but there’s something else there as well.

I would kill him but I have no way to dispose of his body without arousing suspicion. I’ll drive him out into the countryside and cut him loose. He’ll still be just like the rest though, random violence until he gets gunned down.




TJ
1 year after the cataclysm
Full name: Thomas J. (at least he thinks)

Journal entry 1
Found this little journal. Zeds haven’t messed with me today, just like the past few days, so I don’t think I’ll be bothered by them. Guess that means I can relax a bit, maybe build near them to provide more security. That is if I can manage to stand the smell.

I only got free a month ago so I’m still learning a lot of stuff. No one seems to like me, probably my appearance? I’ll cover myself up in some of the bandages I’ve found and see if that works. If not I’ll adjust until people stop trying to attack me on sight.

Suns getting low so I should get some sleep. I’ll write more tomorrow..or the day after. It’s a nice distraction.

Foster slid out from underneath the car holding a couple of parts that he slipped into his bag. The pipes would need to be properly cleaned thoroughly first of course. Turning he spotted a building that looked..relatively undamaged. A surprise to be sure but a good place to look for parts.

A short while later Foster left the building with little to show for his effort. Checking his watch he decided it would be a good time to head home. There would be plenty of time to get what he needed after all.

An hour in and Foster was close what Isaac had told him was called the Hall. Perhaps getting to know the neighbours would be a good idea. Less suspicious to try and not be a total recluse, at least in the old world.

His trip was cut short by someone tackling him from the side after a few minutes of walking. He’d caught sight of the Hall before the world turned sideways and he found a man who’s eyes were a dark black in color standing over him.

The raised knife and the crazy gibbering about needing to eat of the flesh gave Foster more than enough reason to kick the man off of him and onto the ground sprawling to get back on his feet. Foster didn’t bother to stand as he retrieved his pistol from it’s holster under his left arm and took aim.

The forty-five ACP round flew from the barrel and struck the man in his infected eyeball. The spray of black blood was enough to throw his compatriot off. The second shot from Foster’s pistol struck him in the throat.

Reaching over Foster picked up his sunglasses and slid them on over his eyes before standing up. A couple of steps was enough for him to be standing over the man clutching his bleeding neck. “Fascinating. The only things I’ve seen with blood like that are usually undead.” Kneeling down he retrieved a vial from his bag and took a sample “Shame you made me shoot you and your friend, I’m sure I could have gotten this in a much more civil manner.”

Foster hadn’t noticed the other cultists watching him. Watching and waiting.

Not far from him the Vikings rushed out with weapons drawn and ready. Steinar, in a particularly grumpy mood, hadn’t even gotten his helmet on when he stepped outside with a blade at the ready. Liam rushed out of the woodworks on the other side of the Hall with his puffball of light right behind him. “What the hell is going on?” He shouted as he made his way to regroup with the others.

Elsewhere TJ had pieced together a fishing rod and had bartered for a cooler. Walking over the bridge he noticed the river below and decided to take a seat to do his fishing.  Half closing his eyes he settled in for the wait. His mind drifted as he sat there and thoughts of his past poured in. Memories of losing pursuers in the crowds of the undead that had filled the city he’d woken up in when all of this started. He didn’t have any memories from before that after all. And the undead’s indifference to him had always perplexed him. Maybe it had to do with-

His thoughts were cut off by a tug on the line. Giving a tug in return to hook the fish TJ settled in for the ‘fight’. A couple of minutes later and he hauled the tired fish up and tossed it into the cooler. A salmon just like all the other people fishing seemed to be catching. Maybe he could find something more interesting...

Standing he decided to go along the river and see if he could find any other species. Some time later he found a spot where the flow of the river was slower and the water was calmer. Retrieving a pair of old rubber boots from his bag TJ slid off his shoes and put them on. Then he removed his jacket and shirt revealing even more bandages covering the entirety of his body.

From there he waded into the water and kept darting his eyes around. He’d read about catching bass by hand and this was the most ideal place to find them around here, at least that he’d seen. This process took a lot longer and more trial and error than he’d prefer. But after about twenty minutes he finally caught hold of a bass with his hand and hauled it out of the water. Walking over he slid it into the cooler and went back out.

An hour later and he had a number of fish. Enough that he could probably use some to barter and still have enough to eat for the day. Looking around he noticed he was alone out here.

Sliding his bandages down and retrieving a mirror TJ inspected himself for a moment. Thanks to some daily effort his teeth were white and in near perfect condition. His jaw could use some cleaning but so could the rest of him. Not that he stunk but he could spend some time getting the dirt off of himself a bit more.

Replacing the bandages on his face and tightening them some more so they couldn’t fall down TJ started back home after putting his jacket and shirt back on. As he arrived back on the bridge one of the locals waved and he returned the gesture. At the very least they weren’t hostile to him.

Walking along he made his way back to the library and saw Isaac doing some mild butchering to perpare for lunch. Walking over TJ said “Want some help with that?

Isaac looked over with a smile as he said “Sure kid. You know how?”

TJ shook his head as he grabbed a knife and a piece of meat. “Alright kid, just do what I do and you’ll be good.” Isaac said as the lesson started.

Foster had woken up early in the morning and made himself coffee in the mess halls kitchen. Even this early in the morning he had company in the kitchen as Alice prepared some eggs and hashbrowns for the morning meal they’d serve. Looking over at her unexpected guest she gave him a smile and said “Howdy. Glad to see y’all are sticking around even if just for a day.”

Foster nodded to her as he waited for the coffee to brew. He’d set his percolator, one of the few things he’d kept with him that wasn’t an absolute necessity, on a burner and was letting it work while he tried to wake up without a dose of caffeine. As such his response was a somewhat slurred “Morning. Glad to be here.”

Alice pretended she didn’t notice the absolute monotone in Foster’s voice as she peeked through the window between the kitchen and the mess hall. A few mislings were starting to file in and wait for the meal to be served. “You really need that morning coffee don’t you?”

Foster nodded in response, adjusting his glasses to ensure they were properly covering his eyes, and said “Coffee is just about the only vice I have. Work got me hooked on the stuff with numerous late nights. Nowadays I just feel..sluggish before my morning cup or two.”

Pouring his coffee into a thermos Foster set the percolator to the side. Taking a drink from his thermos Foster started for the door. Soon he found himself walking through Walkerville with purpose.

Thanks to some direction Foster made his way to the man in charge of getting things built around here. “A pleasure to meet you sir. I’ve been told you’re the one to talk to about getting myself a place to properly live.”

The misling shrugged as the pair walked and inspected the remaining build sites. “I ‘spose I am. I can getcha a place built but it isn’t free. You’ll have to sign me an IOU though on account of there not being a system of currency in place.”

Foster described what he was looking for and the pair came to an agreement. There would be enough space for him to assemble a lab, both TJ and himself could have rooms, and with his specifications he would be able to dig himself a basement in time. With the specifications out of the way he signed the IOU.

TJ meanwhile woke up when the morning crowd started getting a bit rowdy. They were all discussing their plans for the day from what he could hear. Granted it was mostly the construction crews shouting to each other to about what jobs they had for the day.

Nothing that really interested TJ if he were honest so he decided to go outside for a while. Soon he found himself making his way to the forge having grown curious about the noise coming from the place. Not particularly wanting to draw attention to himself or wanting to interrupt whoever was at work TJ decided to watch from a distance instead of bothering them.

Charles had met with Sev3n during the night, slept at the radio station for a handful of hours, and was now nearly home again. The backpack he was carrying with him contained a computer and a small cylindrical drive that contained what he’d traveled all that way for. Setting it down near the forge at the Hall Charles retrieved everything else he would need.

He had already prepared the parts, now it was down to assembly. The armor itself all slotted into place perfectly. He had after all been trained to make it so. Connecting the electronics and hydraulics of the chest piece and arms was somewhat more difficult. Then attaching the batteries in the proper slot and integrating a port for the drive took some time.

Then came the time to attach the mechanical arm to the back. It resembled some older bits of machinery, a basic system that allowed it to rotate at three different joints and a ‘hand’ that consisted of three ‘fingers’. By the time that was installed the others were stirring in the barracks.


Sliding the drive into place and twisting it to lock it in Charles waited. A minute later and the armor lit up and the arm attached to the back jerked upright. Smiling Charles tapped the earpiece he was wearing and said “Hello Maddy, I’m Charles.”

The arm turned to face him, the optic built into it focusing on his face. Giving a friendly wave Charles waited for her to say something. That came after a couple minutes processing when she imitated the wave and said “Hello Charles. I am Maddy.”

Walking over Charles recalled Seven telling him it would take some time for Maddy to fully ‘form’. Kind of like an accelerated process of a child developing a personality. Picking up the helmet Charles slid it on and watched as Maddy played with the heads up display. “Having fun are we? Well so long as you learn how to actually run it I don’t care.”

Maddy gave him an exaggerated sigh as he walked over to his work table and retrieved an old knife. As he began practicing throwing the two talked about various minor things. As the others started to emerge Maddy turned her eye to observe them as Charles explained who they were.

Foster felt TJ pull on his sleeve and turned to look at him. Looking up at him TJ said “Let’s at least check out this Walkerville place. We have a radio so she’ll be able to reach us whenever it’s time for her plan.”

In response Foster nodded. He wasn’t quite sure why TJ was interested in the place but he’d go along with it for now. Looking back to Jenifer her told her “Yes, for now we’ll be checking out Walkerville. When you need us just call us on the radio-” He rattled off one of the old radio frequencies Section 1 had used to stay in touch with the retrieval teams, a frequency that had been dead silent since a year into the cataclysm, “- and we’ll come to help out.”

With that the pair turned to leave. Foster hummed to himself as they walked away, feeling like someone was watching him but he couldn’t tell from where. Still he had somewhere to be he supposed so he’d stop and find whoever it was watching him later when TJ wasn’t so antsy to be going somewhere.

Elsewhere Isaac had found a few spare minutes. Not many people were using the community center in walkerville yet so the place wasn’t too busy. So he’d made his way back to his truck to find some of the things Charles’ had asked for.

A vest was easy enough to find, something to carry magazines with adatable pouches. A Battle rifle for mid to long range was next. G3A3, modified to accept a variety of sights, the muzzle could take a suppressor or compensator of the operator’s choosing, and a foregrip that could be removed in favor of a bipod. For closer ranges he picked out a Saiga 12 gauge and a UMP, both designed to be modified for the operator’s comfort.

With the guns he grabbed a variety of components that Charles might want to attach or use in some way. Then he got the other components Charles had asked for. Mostly it was spare parts for his helmets, things Charles was going to integrate into one he was going to build for himself. Of course he also packaged in a power system so that the suit would be capable of prolonged operation.

All in all it took him a half hour to get everything together. As he walked with the duffel bag towards the bridge he called over a younger misling, still an adult but not by much, and asked to call in a favor. One of the perks of running the community center was a few people owed him favors. So upon reaching the bridge Isaac gave the man instructions to deliver the duffel bag to Charles.

Looking across the bridge he saw the pair of approaching strangers. Waving to them he scrutinized the one in bandages before speaking once they were within earshot “Hello! Welcome to Walkerville, I’m Isaac. I..I run the community center over that way, it’s also a library. If you’re looking to stay we’re currently working on some new housing unless that got done while my back was turned.”

Foster smiled as he shook the offered hand and said “Foster, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. This is my friend TJ-” TJ shook Isaac’s hand and nodded to him before Foster continued “-I do hope there’s somewhere we could stay.”

Isaac nodded to that “worst comes to worst you can sleep on a cot in the community center. We’ve got beds, a cafeteria, a couple of bathrooms though we still need to get the showers hooked up, and of course the library. I’d show you around the place in general but I’ve got to get back to my daughter.”

Foster nodded and was about to speak when TJ said “Okay, hope she’s doing well.” to which Isaac just nodded. Foster gave TJ a curious look as the pair continued across the bridge.