The Phoenix Colony

Viva smiled warmly, feeling safe.
"That's so nice of you. You're not crazy too, 'cause I'm not."
She then formed a childish frown, and suddenly hopping a little.
"I'm a singer, actually. I'm known by the name Jenna Roy to many. Uhh...I'm based in Rome. I simply love singing. Singing about flowers, about food, and about family and friends - like you."
She grinned and clapped her hands once more, looking at the sky.
"I think the storm's going! As soon as it's gone, we can play an outdoor game! Right Mr. Huggles?"
Viva's green eyes looked giddily at Pasha.

 

Cull swore as a fat rain drop landed on his head. He gave another glare at the ship it was again flickering with light. He felt like sharing his foot with its hull, like a good kick would do any good. He had no blankets, nothing to keep him warm.

He cringed as a dull pain started in his head and he felt what seemed to be crawling beneath his left ear. He swiped it and then looked at his hand to examine the bug he’d swatted there wasn’t one just a smear of crimson blood. He wiped his ear again and there was more of the stuff. He stumbled to his feet touching just below his ear again. Another wipe this time there was less blood. He’d probably just nicked the lobe on something.

Cull looked about for somewhere warmer to stay, there was space for him between two rocks, that would block the wind now he just needed something to stop the rain. There were metal debris laying about, so he stalked over to were a reasonable piece was gouged into the earth. He grabbed the sheet of broken metal and tugged at it. It was steady in the earth. He frowned then began to rock the piece of metal until the hole it was within became sloppy. Finally after his muscles ached with exhaustion he tugged the metal sheet free, then began the ominous task of dragging it back to his rocks. Standing on top of them he dragged the metal on top of the rocks then started to place smaller rocks on top of the metal to hold it in place.

 

Juan was wet and heard voices all around him. "Harold?"

"Yea Juan," said the mobster as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm right here."

"I was sleeping and then ... I kept getting tossed around. I though Big Joey had come for me."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore," said HArold as he looked down at Joey's crushed skull.

Juan sniffed the air. "You ate last night."

"Yea, we ... both did."

Mercerdo shook his head. "No, you ate something else." The blind man grabbed Harold's lapels. "What did you eat?!"

Harold shrugged. "I don't know. It was kind of like a big deer."

"Did it have flat teeth? Think! This is important."

The mobster thought hard. "I think so."

"They brought a big animal into the camp?"

"Yes. It was good."

"I'm sure whatever beast hunts your deer thinks the same thing."

 

Allen was back in Alaska. It was so cold. So cold.

There was a low groan and Allen stirred. He was not in Alaska. He was in a shallow stream. Thinking was hard, he hurt all over, and was colder than he ever remembered being in his life. Hypothermia was setting in, after all he had been lying unconcious in a moving stream on a cold night.

Allen raised his head. Directly upstream from him was a wall of dirt and rock. That explained why he hadn't drowned. The stream should have been a raging torrent after that storm, but the lanslide had at least tamed it somewhat. He couldn't tell if the slide had completely blocked it off or if the water was trickling through the rocks. It didn't matter right now. He needed to get out of the water and get dry.

It took all of his energy to move. Crawling hand over hand he made it up and over the bank, collapsing in the mud.

 

***Bad News Bulletin***
​

Second GM note of the day: Allen's landslide blocked the tributary downstream of the part of the wreck that just slid into the ravine. Due to the heavy rains in the recent storm, the runoff has made the tributary into a torrent and now that it is dammed the water is rising fast.

The ravine will be flooded by late afternoon tomorrow (game time). The tributary, once the survivors' best source of fresh water will be a contaminated flood due to fuel from the ship and dead bodies.

Oh, don't forget it's almost midnight, with big storm clouds...so it's REALLY REALLY DARK. Don't go 'seeing' too much but rely on some other senses unless you have light somehow.

Good luck!

 

Ben had managed fairly well, getting into the woods and dodging trees for about 10 minutes as the storm began to let up. He saw others, oh yes, the rest of the scum, some didn't fair as well as Ben had. He saw one get his head crushed by a burning pine, like a watermelon, the sides exploded outward as blood forced its way past the bone. Then there was the poor bastard who tried to jump out of the way of one falling tree only to have his legs crushed by another. The screams were muted by the unspeakably loud booms that sounded off all around him. By the end of the ordeal Ben had worked up a sweat and had many, many close calls, but all in all he felt getting the hell out of dodge had been the correct decision.

He looked up to the sky, clearly visible now as all the tallest, fullest, oldest trees were now shattered and burning on the ground. It was dark, and his eyes were trying desperately to adjust, the light of the heaven's hammers had made for very sporadic lighting, and made Ben's eyes pulse in anger as it changed from light to dark. Now all it was was dark and Ben could begin to see again, see the blood and fire, the bone and flesh and bark. It was unlike any destruction he could begin to think of, the smell of cooked skin was oddly arousing, either that or the adrenaline rush of the storm had given Ben quite the downstairs mix up. Hunting did that to him as well, the feeling that his ancestors had felt as they killed giant ****ing elephants with rocks, time may have changed a lot, but it didn't change the basic feelings of humanity.

Tiny drops of white fell form the clouds, adding a calm to the havoc around. Others were beginning to make their presence known, groaning and begging for help as the stumbled around aimlessly in the wreckage. Ben didn't wait long before moving on, back towards the sound of shifting steel, back towards the ship. The walk was one of gruesome scenery, people with flattened arms, men dragging around charred lumps of tissue, limbs sticking out from under massive, 10 foot wide pines. Ben couldn't stand it, the imagery combined with the pleasing, pungent scent caused him heave up all he had eaten, not only leaving him with a sour taste in his mouth, but it left him hungry. That caused him to dry wretch with each step as he tried to block the sights around him. When Ben finally arrived at the ship, sticking up out of the ravine, he managed to get a hold of himself. Good God in heaven, thank you for my each breath I take. he thought to himself as he tried to figure out what to do. He stood there for 10 minutes amongst the flaming craters, giant hunks of misshapen glass sticking out of where sand once laid, when it finally dawned on him. He raised the barrel of the shotgun to the sky and shot three times, then yelled, "ANY SURVIVORS MAKE FOR THE SHIP!"

 

Chrys was awakened by a loud thunderclap. She opened her eyes, but saw nothing. "Holy freaker, I'm blind!" She screamed, her voice echoing off the walls.
She waved her hand in front of her face in disbelief, and let out a sigh, she could see the movement, but couldn't tell it was her own hand. She could see.

She went for her lighter, illuminating the small cubby that she and Chad found shelter in.

She waved it around Chad's face, trying to get him to wake up, "Not this again." She muttered, grabbing the tazer from her pocket, "I do't want to have to do this, but he's the only marksman 'round here, and I am not going to be a sitting duck."

She aimed at his foot, "Now wake up." She started to push the trigger, but realized how stupid it would be to shoot elctricity at a soaked person. She returned the tazer to her pocket, and rumaged around for something else she could use. She found nothing.

She laid against the wall for a few moments, thinking over what to do, then it hit her.

It being a windblown stick. She prodded at Chad's side with the stick, intending to annoy him awake.

 

Britney sat there in the corner watching Fox. Fox was barely conscious. "She deserves it for killing so many people." she thinks to herself. Britney shakes her head and thinks "No, for now we need to work together." She hears Reva say "Can someone get that?" and looks over to see the flashlight rolling across the floor. She grabs the flashlight and shines it on Reva, "Did you find anything useful?"

 

Raylene shrieked! "A flashlight! Let me have it for a second. There's alot of trees close by, maybe the supplies ended up tangled in the limbs. I'm going to look real fast. I know I put some medications in the bundle. Something in there will help her."

She runs outside and to the bank of trees, searching for the white sheet among the browns and greens in the forest. "I tied it up tight, they had to stay together." She thinks to herself. The tell tale signs of scattered supplies makes her heart sink to her feet. The sheet is tangled up in a limb close by. Looking down at the ground, she searches for anything still usable. Stuck in a crevice of rocks, she sees something shining from the beam of light. She pulls out a few gauze pads, still in the wrapping and a syringe. Searching farther into the forest she finds a vile of some medication. She heads back for the ship.

 

Reva ran out with Raylene, gasping at the slap of cold air even in spite of the burgundy sweatshirt she had found and put on. She helped Raylene search, stumbling through mud before she realized that the flashlight's beam was pointing up into a tree.

The flashlight's beam swept back and forth, focused, and then the blonde woman was hurrying back past Reva in to the ship.

"Did you find something?" Reva hurried after her.

 

Britney ran outside with the other two girls. Raylene and Reva showed signs of being cold, but she wasn't cold at all. She thinks "Thats odd, its the middle of the night and raining, shouldn't it be cold." Before she thinks of anything else, she notices that Raylene shines a light onto a tree.

"I can get it." says Britney. She used to climb trees all the time as a kid. Going up the tree, she made sure to only grab the strong branches. She grabed the sheet and dropped it down to Reva. "Catch!" she says as she begins to climb down. Once she reaches the ground she says "Lets hurry back to Fox."

 

((Okay, rather than all of us editing and falling over each other let's assume everyone went in with Raylene and the medicine is being administered to Fox))

 

"There ya go Fox, you should start feeling better." Raylene sighs and slumps down to the floor again. The adrenaline rushing out of her body has left her feeling very weak. Sleep sounds so good right now.

 

In spite of the cool air through the broken window the room felt stuffy to Reva as the other two women worked by flashlight over Fox. Reva felt queasy whether from the prefab food she had bolted earlier or from the smell of vomit and blood.

"Okay, I'll get some wood," Reva replied when Britney asked her to go out for some.

She went out through the narrow opening to what she was beginning to think of as the 'foyer' and the door leading outside. She turned left, climbed through the open door and out into the cold once more, hoping that nobody would follow.

Right now she just wanted to be alone.

She waited outside the door to let her eyes adjust as much as they could. After a moment she saw vague shapes in the dark but little more of the landscape.

Stumbling a bit over unseen rocks she went up to the top of the berm and began to walk back along the top of it, hoping for a slice of moonlight to pierce the cloud cover but it didn't happen. At least the night was peaceful now. Cold, dark, but peaceful. She stopped some distance from the nose of the ship let the quiet wash over her soul.

Her stomach settled, fresh air filled her lungs, the blackness pressed in on her and she felt almost content.

Until a scratching noise sounded behind her.

At first Reva wondered if she had heard it at all then it came again. A scratching thud and the rolling patter of dislodged rocks. Whatever it was seemed to be up the slope from her, away from the berm.

"Hello?" Reva called, thinking that one of the women had followed her.

There was no answer but a sighing breeze that seemed to die in a giant's throat. Reva's heart constricted then started to pound. How many convicts had survived the crash...any of them could be out here, stalking them.

After such a storm? Do you really think they'd be stalking you now?

She almost hoped so. Reva turned and started to walk quickly back toward the shelter and the other women. How far had she come?

A blast of warm air met her and something she couldn't see pushed her over the berm.

 

Fox lays there as the others come back into the shelter, by this point she didn't have anything left to throw up so she was just dry heaving. Without looking up she could sense every move they made. When Raylene gave her the medicene. Her body just reacted without her even thinking about it. Afterwards things went back to normal for her. A few minutes later, her stomach muscles finally relaxed and she passed out.

Britney watches as Fox takes the medicene. She began to feel cold again. She looks at her hands and whispers to herself "Why didn't I feel cold while I was outside?" She shivers, and asks Reva to get some fire-wood. She sits down and keeps her hand by her stungun. As she sits there, she stares at the door. With Reva gone and Fox and Raylene passed out, she was the only one who could defend their shelter.

 

Rocks and bracken slapped and pummeled Reva as she tumbled down the muddy eight-foot berm. What had been and fairly easy climb turned out to be a lousy fall.

Reva landed hard on her back, winded, adrenaline flooding her system. Her heart beat triple time, senses dulling from lack of oxygen to her starved lungs. Listen for it! Run! Her instincts screamed for action as she fought for air.

There was the sound like a belly flop in the mud somewhere just above her.

Reva’s eyes dilated, searching the darkness. She might as well have been pinned to the ground when she heard another rain of small stones, somewhere not far from her feet.

Air whooped into Reva’s lungs and she rolled over, struggling, thankful to breathe again. She got up on one knee.

A low menacing growl came from the darkness directly at her feet.

Reva bolted like a sprinter off the blocks she raced blindly into the skid, running across the flat, smooth surface. Not good. Anything could catch her here.

She scrambled up and over the opposite berm, hitting the ground running, arms pumping, her ribs aching as she sobbed for breath.

Mud sucked at her boots, and unseen branches and weeds slapped and tripped her. Several times she fell over rocks. She didn’t really realize when she ran out of flat and began to descend but she scrambled on, heart pounding, intent on leaving whatever-it-was behind.

When she fell across the body, her hands splashing to the elbow into cold water, she cursed. Great, as though there weren’t enough dead bodies at the crash sites now they were sprinkled through the countryside, too.

Reva scrambled to get up off of the body and stood, gulping for air, her heartbeat slowing slightly as she swiveled her head, listening intently for sounds of pursuit.

 

Allen felt lousy. He was lying in the cold mud and water, beaten and bruised and broken, stranded in the middle of nowhere on an alien planet without even the dubious aid of known psychopaths and murderers. Needless to say it didn't help things at all when something stepped on him. Almost immediatly the pressure was removed, but then it grabbed his arm that had been shattered. Allen let out a scream of agony.

 

When the dead body screamed, Reva screamed, too, dropping the arm as though it was red-hot and jumping back from him.

"What the bloody freaking HELL, you're alive!" She yelled.

 

........."Of course I'm alive Lawrence. You think those children playing rebel could kill me?" Allen lifted his head out of the steaming mud on the jungle floor. "I'll need some help getting into the shuttle though, I'm hurt." There was an odd look on Lawrence's face. For some reason he seemed scared. "What's wrong, are they back?"............

Allen's head started pounding like a bass drum, causing him to writhe in agony.

 

Chrys prods at Chad so long that her arms tire and she can't keep herself against the wall. She stumbles out of the ship, thirsty and hungry, yet again.

She looks into the ravine, but the only thing she finds is mud, so she walks farther along the ravine, where she finds the water piling up against a wall of displaced earth. SHe plops down on the ground, still holding her lighter, flame out.

Chrys leans down for the water so fast that she forgets to close the lighter, which falls into the water, and promptly extinguished.

"No, not L13!" She screamed, reaching frantically for the lighter, and throwing herslef into the water. She retreived the lighter, only problem was the current that wouldn't let her go.

 

Wrong thread.

 

Reva listened to the man's babble in dismay, figuring that he was delirious. She knelt, blindly feeling along his chest until her fingertips rested at the angle of his jaw. His pulse was strong and steady but he was shivering. He was soaked through and probably suffering from hypothermia.

"I'm Reva," she murmered, "no Lawrences here."

She hadn't heard any noises of pursuit but that didn't mean that whatever-it-was hadn't followed her. "We need to get you warm and both of us into shelter. Can you stand?"

 

Pasha managed to bring out another smile as he sat down next to her.

“A singer, eh? You any good?”

He gave a little growl at the name. He really wasn’t fond of Mister Huggles, but he was going to keep that to himself. He wanted her to get better before he made any comments on it.

“You need to get better before we can play.” He spat out the word play. She almost seemed like a child, something he wasn’t use to. He usually quieted the children first, their necks were the easiest to break. He hated children, but for some reason, he couldn’t get his mind of this girl.

“Maybe she’s a witch too.” Said Yuri with a laugh.

 

Joseph half watched Pasha from a distance. It was funny to see this killer give into the whims of this...girl. And that name made him stifle a laugh. "Mister Huggles..." It was purely priceless.

Joseph gave another shiver, and again it didn't seem to come from the cold. He felt his knees shake, then a searing pain in his chest. He let out a cry. It was so great that he was brought to his knees by it. Coughing. He thought he was going to die. Some blood came out of his mouth. Then. as quickly as it had come, the pain left...and it left Joseph writhing on his back.

 

Viva grinned and then made a childish frown.
"But I'm great! Just a little flu I've got, nothing...achoo!"
She sniffed, and then giggled.
"I sing nice, I think. Okay, maybe nothing like Madonna, but I do have a fan following. Do you want to hear me sing?"
She gave him an anxious grin.