Wastelands ~ The Game's afoot

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((Whoops, I but driver instead of passenger. Oh well, too late to do anything about it now. On with the RP!))

"Okay." Alan went to his assigned area and searched the area for anything of importance.

Nothing around here, Alan thought to himself as he searched the area. As he searched he saw something shine in the corner of his eye. He thought nothing of it and continued on. It was when this shining kept occuring that he decided to go check it out.

It was group of vehicles. Fairly new ones at that. There were bullet holes in them and many were in various types of disrepair, be it the fuel tank blown up, missing a door, tire, the list went on and on. Many decaying corpses strewn about the area around the vehicles could be seen. There were many spent bullet casings on the ground and one could occasionaly see a weapon of some sort on the ground. "Uhhh, Saldana?," Alan radioed in trying to sound undisturbed by the sight, " I found something that you should probably see."

Saldana had been sweeping the area, and had found nothing at all conclusive, when Alan radioed him, asking that he come to Alan's position immediately. "Roger that." The Colonel ran from his position, homing in on Alan's radio signal. After about 6 minutes, he reached Alan and the scene of carnage down a muddy clearing, half a mile away from the original car.
"Well, looks like there was quite a fight." Saldana noticed that three of the corpses were mutated and bloated with tumours, bulging eyes and pale, leathery skin. Two males, one female. "Yuck, see that? Those freaks look like they were using a vehicle, that SUV Technical. They must have been attacking everyone else. The machine gun on top of that Technical has spent casings all around it, crashed into the back of that black Cadillac." One male, and one female corpse was also in the wreckage, and the doors of the cars were open. Everyone else must have escaped. "Alan, this looks bad. I'll message the bunker using the Dune Buggy radio, and tell them what's up."

Before Sydney could open the door the radio comm warning went off - catching Virgil completely off guard. Bolting to the nearest terminal he accessed the radio system and tapped in to the signal. The screen read "DUN_BUG_01" in its archic font. Cameron had luckily stayed at the door and had her ear pressed to it, as if listening to something.

"What we got colonel?"

Sydney had reworked the laboratory during the night. He should technically have been sleeping, but his mind was going at a great speed, and he couldn't stop, wouldn't stop, shall not stop! !! !

The computer desk now faced the doors so that Sydney was behind it. The DEW lay on the desk, slightly menacing. And there was a bucket with an aerosol can next to it, full of the decontamination fluid. When the time came, he woould use it to great effect. But the artist knew exactly when to make his move.

Sydney had monitored Virgil's approach, and was preparing for his little coup d'etat, when the comms system rang up with the Colonel and Alan's communication. And Sydney was always (even when sane) a memeovore: he devoured information. So he settled in with a Coca-Cola he'd left in the mini-fridge that he himself had installed in the lab and settled back to watch....

"Virgie, what the Colonel say?"

"They found so infected humans and a battlefield a bit aways from here. We can get it the virus it seems."

He bolted right for the door to Sydney's lab to tell him the bad news but Cameron held him back.

"I don't like this Virgil, somethng is wrong with the Aussie. I know it."

"Your just being crazy Cam. Sydney might be weird sometimes but he isn't a killer."

"Your right about that but I don't think he is inside that body right now. Call it dead lover's crazies but I don't want you going in there first. Swipe the keycard from out of view and let me go in and see whats up." Cameron's face was dead serious and when Virgil tried to protest she just covered his mouth. "He cannot even see me, let alone kill me. Hell, I am already dead!"

Virgil felt like he was like a cornered animal. He just couldn't ignore Cameron's words, she seemed honestly worried something was up. She hadn't been wrong in life, she had been the one who encouraged him to start the bunker in the first place and he'd scoffed at her at first but as usual she had been right.

Letting her take the the lead he pulled out the keycard and gripped the shotgun in his other hand. Shaking a little he swiped the card slowly in the slot and almost dreaded it as the light on the door turned green and the door slid open.

Nodding sliently to Cameron he watched as she walked in, hoping she was wrong.

Sydney had his feet up on the desk as Virgil came in. Shotgun in hand.

How disappointing....

Sydney said out loud "Good morning, Virgil.", making it sound like Hannibal Lecter saying "Good morning, Clarice".

"So nice of you to drop by. I suppose you want a little natter?"

"What's wrong with you? Been watching too much Slience of the Lambs?" Virgil didn't see anything wrong. The phaser thingy Sydney had been working on was facing towards him but he was sure it was off. Cameron on the otherhand was deathly pale. "f**k! Vigil, I suggest a rapid retreat and closing off the sublevel......"

Virgil didn't listen to Cameron, Sydney looked fine but looked and sounded a little creepy. Probably just hungover from the work. He let his hands relax his grip on the shotgun and sighed.

"The Colonel found three humans with signs of the virus in the middle of a small battlefiled near here. We can get the disease."

That revelation smashed a hole in Sydney's brain. He brought his feet back down to the ground.

Human infection? That was not possible.

No, not impossible. Just not bloody likely....

"They should have taken my multiscanner. That way, I would be able to deal with the results. It may have been simple radiation poisoning gone bad. Or it may have been something else. Tell the Colonel and Alan to to take biological samples. Very carefully. Put them under the same sort of containment as radioactive materials. Set it up in the decontamination area. That way, there is less risk of it contaminating us."

Sydney then smiled at Virgil.

"Don't worry, Virgil, if it was a virus, you'd be a horrific pile of protoplasmic crap already. The filters in this base are designed to filter out radioactive particles, not viruses or bacteria. Now, can you please let me be? I have a few things to think about...."

"Alright, but get some sleep and eat something man. You look like s**t and sound hungover. Don't hit the Aussie liquor so hard, Okay?" Virgil got a chill down his spine with those last words, they felt somehow wrong but he couldn't place it.

Cameron had seemed to have taken off for the time being but he was getting the feeling she had been right about him, he just had this horrible feeling that Sydney had a screw loose and might explode in some graphic manner. Virgil started towards the meat locker on sublevel six, it was the only room without cameras or microphones and he needed the privacy.

When finally reached the meat locker he made sure the locking system was completely offline by ripping out the electronic wiring for it and set to work.

Accessing the keycard system he removed Sydney's ability to access the armory, tech room and both command stations and put all of lockdown systems on standby. If Sydney pulled something he could instantly seal the level he was on and within five minutes he could have all the air pumped out of the level and replaced with nerve gas (One of the special features of the bunker only he and the Colonel knew about.).

Once the damage was done he started back towards the third level to wake the spanish woman, he didn't feel right leaving her unarmed. Half way through the messhall Cameron came back and instantly started yelling "Why the f**k did you ignore me?! That puppy needs to be put down!"

"Don't worry, the puppies playpen has been ringed in and his choke collar is on. If he does something I can have him dead in minutes."

Cameron fumed in slient rage for the rest of the walk to Nida's room. Rapping gently he said "Nida, we have a situation with the medlab. I need you up and ready to work with me."

The knock had been gentle, but Virgil's words hinted at an unusual situation. Nidia answered the door immediately, head tilted and brow raised, as if to question what this could possibly be about. The question went unasked. "Absolutely. I'll come with you now."

((Just so you guys are aware for future reference, I'm generally not 100% by the computer, even when I'm online. So I apologize in advance if I have to go or be delayed.))

"We need to drop by the armory first, I'd prefer it if you had a weapon." Virgil feigned normalacy well and listened to Cameron's insults quietly. "Why the hell are you trusting her?! She probably capped her own uncle for f***s sake!"

Liquor? My dear Virgil, I do not drink.....grog.

With that thought, Sydney started checking the systems. He'd only found out about the nerve gas jets about 10 minutes before Virgil came in (through an examination of the systems of the bunker, Sydney had noticed several superfluous systems that seemed to not be there for back-ups). However, he had suspected some sort of thing, given Virgil's paranoia. And Colonel Blimp's gung-ho, death-or-glory attitude. Nerve gases would be more kinder, probably, than explosive, where those trapped under rubble could spend even days under the rubble before perishing. But Sydney had found a way around this paranoia. He went to a drawer and started opening and closing drawers, seemingly at random. There was a click, and a secret compartment swung outward.

My dear Virgil, you are only human, and a pretty poor one mentally speaking. You may have paranoia, but you do not seem to have a memory for little details, like spare hazard suits in case of contaminated areas in the bunker.

With that thought, he then set to work on the door's lock. It might buy him a little time. It would take explosive placed directly on the door to destroy it when locked-down, and he didn't think dear Virgil had the ability to use even the small amounts of semtex that was down in the armoury. He'd have to wait for the Colonel.

With that, he began to suit up. He was still able to access the comm systems, and that would be vital for his plan to come into fruition....

Nidia merely nodded. Inwardly she was more than a little satisfied with the idea of having a weapon at hand. All night she'd been plagued with nightmares reminiscent of The Shining. She kept pace at Virgil's side on the way, not initiating any further conversation.

Sydney looked at the monitor, the SCBA of the suit not quite in place. Nidia and Virgil were heading towards the armoury. He smiled, then composed his face into one of panic. He activated the comms system for the suit radio system and broadcast to the Colonel and Alan.

"Colonel! Alan! Get back to base, right now!! ! I'm holed up in my lab. Virgil, he's trying to kill me!! ! He's gone mad, and he's got that woman Nidia on side, she doesn't know he's flipped. HELLLLPPPP!! !! !!"

He then clicked the comms off, turning it off completely, isolating the bunker's comm systems from the suit systems. He looked at the monitor. Nidia and Virgil hadn't heard the message. Good.

"Alright, there are only security camera's here. The mircophones aren't working right now. I think Sydney is losing it and could try something. I know you've had experience with guns and I need someone to cover my ass." Swiping his card in the armory door he slammed the behind them. "Pick out whatever gun pleases you and get some extra rounds for it, I'm going to try and sabotage the explosive weapons here."

Going into the back room of the armory he yelled back "Cover me! If Alan or Sydney try to come in you have orders to shot them. The Colonel is alright, I sent him a message to get back here ASAP while I was in the meat locker."

By now, it was dark, 11pm. It had stopped snowing.
The Colonel took photos with his helmet mounted camera, and headed back for the buggy after he had taken a tissue sample from the mutated humans. The base was informed of the situation.
Suddenly, when Saldana was one hundred yards away from the buggy, three rabid mutant wolves appeared at the end of the road, and ran viciously towards him, nasty looking fangs bared in a gruesome looking snarl. Argh! The Colonel trained his M4 on the wolf in the middle of the pack, and fired four bursts, which blew the wolf's head clean open. The other two kept on coming, and Saldana loaded the M203 grenade launcher, aimed, and then fired a powerful phosphorus grenade at the wolves, burning them in a haze of bright white smoke. They both howled, and ran away, into the night. "Whew." Saldana checked the corpse, and continued back to the buggy. "I was attacked again, Alan." He radioed to his companion. "Virgil, we'll head right back. I encountered three rabid wolves along the way back to the buggy, and put them all out of action."