It was a dark and stormy night...

Well, that's how most stories of this nature would begin, but then again this isn't exactly your average story, now is it? So then, how should I begin? Well let's see...

Not so long ago I moved to this town with my family. It wasn't exactly an exciting prospect moving into the old run down hole in the wall community of Fuller Heights, but it wasn't the excitement of living the night life out on the town running around to all of the usual big city hangouts that brought me here. Nor was it because of the oceanfront condos, the beautiful view from the mountains, or the thrill of big city life. No, not only did I not come here for those things, but Fuller Heights didn't have any of them. Maybe that's what happened? Where it all went wrong...? Maybe.


Fuller Heights is a small piece of forgotten hilltop ground set against what would be a beautiful backdrop with a nice lake below and a large prairie that extended as far as the eye could see, interrupted only by a city of about 100,000 people located just twenty miles south of here. That's what it would be were it not for the fact that the trees on that hillside grow so tall that even from the highest of peaks you can see nothing but their branches. What's more, with the exception of "downtown" Fuller Heights (a misleading name, as it merely consists of a few mom and pop shops and a theater large enough to host one show and seat a whopping seventy five people) one has to drive oftentimes a half mile to see the next house, and even then they're easy to miss unless you've a keen eye for dirt trails that wind through trees so thick that no end is visible, or in some cases just grass clearances barely big enough for a car to fit through.

So you can imagine how my family who had been raised in a city with a population of over a million people took it when I packed them up and brought them out here in the middle of nowhere. For the first six weeks my kids wouldn't talk to me, and then once they finally did start speaking to me, I spent the next six months wishing they wouldn't. Some of the things they said to me I wouldn't have thought about my worst enemy, let alone spoken to them. I felt guilty for feeling what I began to feel toward them, wishing they weren't there. Wishing I had never even had kids. Wishing I could just wake up and they would be gone. That they would disappear.

Then one day, they did.


It happened slowly. One by one they began to go away, but to where? They were in bed when I went to sleep, and when I woke, there was one less kid. When the first one disappeared -Eric, the oldest boy- I thought nothing of it. Figured he had saved his money from working at the theater and caught a ride out of town. I knew I should feel sorrow, but I couldn't, and I hated myself for it. And the other kids hated me for their brother leaving, but then they hated me for everything.

A week or two rocked on...or maybe it was a month? Who could tell? Every day was the same in a sleepy town like this. However long it was, the oldest girl, Barbara, disappeared too. I was left with only two children at home, but again, I felt no sadness over it. She had hated me for trying my best support them. Nothing I did could please that little brat. So I moved them out here and gave them the biggest culture shock in history. What was I supposed to do? I did all I could to provide for them after their mother passed away and we went from a double income household in one of the nicest condos in the city, to a single income family struggling to keep the rent up on a small townhouse. It wasn't a bad little place, but looking back I guess it must have seemed like a ghetto to those little snots. So when the opportunity came to move them out here and make a good living as an engineer in a neighboring city, I did what I had to: I packed it all up and made the move. She shouldn't blame her old man for trying his best to raise them on his own. What was I supposed to do? Toss 'em on the streets?

Good riddance.


A few days later my youngest boy ran in the house screaming something I couldn't make out for his crying. I finally managed to make out two words: "Barbara" and "Blood".
I'm telling you, I don't think my feet even touched a single one of the twelve steps down from our porch. I began running through the trees screaming my daughter's name, but where was she? I hadn't stayed long enough to make heads or tails of what my youngest was saying. And why did I suddenly care about what happened to Barbara? Better yet, when did I stop caring, and why? How could a dad not care about his own child disappearing? What if she had been attacked by a wild animal? What if whatever happened to her had happened to Eric too?

Finally I quit running in circles -at least I think I was running in circles. No way to tell in these blasted woods- I gathered enough of my wits about me to go back and see what Stephen had to say. Maybe he could lead me to where he found his sister.



When I reached the house all I could hear was the most wretched borderline crazy house babble and sobbing I've ever heard in my life. It was all I could do not to crack and run as far from that sound as I could, but that was my child and he needed his daddy. I had already failed two of my kids, and there was no way I was going to fail the others. Not now.

When I walked in I saw him curled up in his thirteen year old sister's lap who sat in the corner rocking him like a baby even though she was only three years older, and trying to be brave. I suspected that she, much like myself, couldn't make any sense of Stephen's babble, but she looked about as ready to break just from the sound as I was.
Rushing to where they were I scooped Stephen up in my arms. After what seemed like an eternity, the boy finally calmed down enough to make out his words to some extent. I managed to gather that he had found Barbara and she was hurt. After some coaching I convinced him to lead me to her, and had his sister tag along.

"Alicia, when we get to Barbara, you take Stephen and head back home."

"What? No, Barbara needs me!"

Her complaint would have only served to upset me more a few hours ago, but seeing the look on her face I understood perfectly: she was every bit as afraid as I was, but I couldn't show it.

"If Barbara is hurt as bad as Stephen thought, she's going to need her bed. Go get it ready for her." I said looking as serious and compassionate as I could. Truth was, I didn't mean a word of it. I had a gut feeling that the only resting place I could afford Barbara now would be in the cemetery, beside her mother. She'd been gone too long already, no way could she be alive still. But in order to keep my composure in front of the kids, I held on to some small hope that she might pull through.

Upon arriving near enough the spot that I could find her by myself, Alicia complied with my request and took Stephen back to the house, and after I had watched for a few moments and was sure they were gone, I broke into a dead run for the creek bank where Stephen told me his sister was.
Before I got there I saw a trail of blood. It was a small trickle at first, but the closer I got, the wider it grew until finally I saw it: a pool of blood gathering around the edge of a large rock at the creek. As I neared the rock, I felt my nerve drop. Could I really bear to see what was on the other side? As I fought to bring myself to look, my eyes studied the blood, and for the first time I realized it was more of a large stain than a pool as it had long since dried. At that moment I realized that I had seen my daughter alive for the last time. The last time I saw her flashed through my mind: she had shouted things at me...but what I couldn't recall. All I remembered was telling her to shut up and seeing her storm off to her room. That was it. The last time I saw her, and I hadn't told her I loved her, or that I was sorry for all she had been through.
All she had been through. How had I never thought of it that way? All I could see was what I'd lost. She needed my love, and I had told her to shut up. And now here I was debating whether I wanted to even pay a last respect or whether I wanted to run. What had gotten into me? I pulled myself together and slower ventured to the other side of the rock and my there she was: my seventeen year old daughter, lying motionless in her own blood.

I'll never forget what I saw behind that rock...



From that day forward, I began trying my best to stay up all day to supervise my children, and keep myself awake all night to make sure whoever had gotten ahold of Barbara didn't get to Stephen and Alicia... But I knew it was only a matter of time. The human body can only take so much. But my two oldest had vanished while I slept, and I couldn't risk that happening to my youngest. For their sake, my sake, or my wife's sake.

Oh Claire, what have I done?....


________________
Welcome to Fuller Heights. A rural community that once rested peacefully and free of trouble, now a land ravaged by horrors unimaginable. It started slowly, but steadily grew as people vanished and were never heard from again. Then one day it was as though the community was sucked into a dark abyss of insanity, as seemingly upstanding citizens began committing the most heinous of crimes, killing for the sake of killing. But it wasn't a thoughtless killing spree, no the killers all seem to work together harmoniously. The communications to the outside world have been long since cut, the exits have been blocked, and a considerable number of them wander the streets and the woods day and night in search of their next prey. This nightmare has raged on for the better part of a month now, few people seem to be left in the community, and the ones that are left and still sane are left to behold things that try even the strongest of minds.

You are one of the few survivors. You fight to survive each day, but to what end? You'll never survive this nightmare, will you? These people patrol the area religiously, like it's their sworn duty to ensure they kill every last one of the sane people here.
Why? Nobody really knows, but at this point all that matters to anyone is...

Getting Out Alive


Below you will find an explanation of the rules and how the game works in general. If you wish to participate, follow the sign up steps at the bottom of this post (starting with the PM) and wait for me to look it over. I'll then give you the go ahead to post your character information here. The sign up thread and RP are one and the same. Once everyone has joined, the game will commence. As you progress, more and more of the story will be revealed, assuming someone survives that long.



Info

Stats:
Stats are numbers that indicate your character's current condition. For example: Strength 25%, Nerve 50%, etc. These change as the game progresses. Some changes will be shared publicly, some will be shared with you in PM only, and some will be unseen by everyone but me.


There are three subcategories of stats, they are: Foreground, Background, and Hidden Stats. Below is an explanation of each.

Foreground Stats:
Foreground Stats are stats that every player can see, at least, to an extent. All physical stats are foreground, as they are things that to some extent can be discerned easily by the human eye. However, in keeping with realism only you will know your exact numbers. Others will be given vague descriptions of your physical state.

Example: I may show Laian's Strength as "Average" in a post. This would indicate to all players that Laian is close to 50% strength. However in a PM I sent to Laian, I might indicate his strength is at 39%

Foreground stats are set by you.


Background Stats:
Background Stats are stats that only you can see. These will be mentioned in PM between you and I only.
All Background stats are Mental or Emotional, such as Nerve.
However if your mental state decays too much, you will begin showing signs that others will see as well, such as hallucinations (you can only complain about the tree that keeps following you so many times before people start catching on to the fact that you're not doing too hot).

These are set by you as well.


Hidden Stats:
Hidden Stats are stats that only I can see, though everyone can see the effects they have.
These stats include:
•Reputation
•Awareness
•Morality
•Reflexes

Examples of how these work:
I've already discussed reputation in a previous thread.

Awareness determines how aware you are of your surroundings. Perhaps there's a place to hide, or a useful item lying nearby: if your awareness is too low, you may not notice.

Morality determines how you can act in certain situations. Play in a way that causes your morality to drop exceptionally low, and your character will find the human life an easily dispensable thing if it's to their benefit. There will be times that having high morality makes your quest for survival easier, and times it makes things more difficult (good guys don't throw their fellow players to the baddies in order to survive). Morality also dictates how your character acts should a situation require they act independently of you.

Reflexes pretty much explains itself. Get too tired and they become impaired which could cost you your life in a tight spot.

Hidden Stat Points are earned or lost based on your actions and characteristics (more on these later).



Abilities.
Each player has abilities, both active and passive.
Abilities are divided into two subcategories as mentioned previously: active and passive. These are described below.

Active Abilities:
Active Abilities are abilities that you control. You must use them, they cannot activate themselves. Active abilities include:
•Lockpicking. Picking a lock takes time, and so ends your turn.
•Healing (self or others). Healing comes with a cool down time of three turns.
•Building (making or repairing non-consumable items). Building or repairing items takes time, and so ends your turn.

Each active ability can level up as it is used. Maximum level is two, and improves your ability by making it more powerful or decreasing it's cool down time.

You choose your Active ability. You only get one, so choose wisely.


Passive Abilities.
Passive Abilities are abilities that are constantly in effect. These never deplete, level up as they are put to use, and have no ill effects. Only you will see them. They are:
•Stealth (helps you hide)
•Sprint (run faster)
•Fight (helps you win fights, or at least survive them)
•Recovery (how quickly your health, stamina, and other depletable stats refill)

You have all Passive abilities. However you may choose one to be your strongest Passive ability. The one you choose starts at level three while all others start at level one. They will each become more effective as they are used. So if you hide often, your stealth will become better. If you rest often, your recovery will improve. And so on.


Actions.
All actions are available to all players, though your stats and abilities will affect how effective these actions are for you. You may perform one of these actions per turn, but you do not have to unless you wish to. Actions are as follows:
•Fight (may be used on enemies or players)
•Run (may only be used to run from enemies)
•Rest (must be done first and ends turn)
•Hide (Specify where you're hiding. For example: "Eirinn quickly surveyed his surroundings. Spying a large bush, he decided to take cover in it")
•Walk (takes you to one of the adjacent locations on the map. You must specify a direction such as "Walk North")


And that explains all you need to know. Now for sign ups: please fill this out in a reply to this thread.

__________
Character Name:
Character Age:
Character Hair Color (N/A if they have none):
Character Eye Color:
Character Occupation: (Athlete, Banker, Student, etc.)
Character Appearance: (what are they wearing? And literally any other info about their appearance that isn't covered in the other categories but you wish to share)
____________

Please copy the form below and paste it (along with your answers) in a PM to me, and only me. Share your answers with no other player for any reason.

Active Ability:
Main Passive Ability:

(Please set up your stats. You have twenty points to allocate among them almost any way you choose)
Strength: (minimum of three, maximum of ten.)
Speed: (minimum of three, maximum of ten.)
Toughness: (how much you can take before losing your mind. Minimum of three, maximum of ten)
Nerve: (how much you can handle before panic sets in. Minimum of three, maximum of ten)

Final step, I promise.
Answer the following questions. Remember to answer them as your character, not yourself. How would your character handle the following:

1. Your friend works with you. The friend steals money from the workplace to buy food for their family. Do you report them, or pretend you never saw it?

2. You see someone about to be hit by a car. Do you
A. Jump in front of it and push the person out of the way
B. Shout to the person
C. Watch in horror
D. Other (please specify)

3. Back to work. You make a mistake and expect to lose your job for it. The boss blames your coworker for the mistake. You and that particular coworker have always hated each other. Do you confess, or let them take the rap and be fired?

You're now ready to play.

Guess I'll go with my first name because I'd find it somewhat odd if I didn't

Character Name: Ian Peters
Character Age: 24
Character Hair Color: Brown
Character Eye Color: Blue / Silver
Character Occupation: High School Latin Teacher
Character Appearance: Around 6'2, not too muscular but has recently started jogging in the evening. Has long hair and always wears a gray hoodie.

Here is my character (with the portrait because why not )



Character Name: Erin Wolf (Wolf? Like the detective? Hmmm...)
Character Age: 17
Character Hair Color: Blond
Character Eye Color: Pacific blue
Character Occupation: Student
Character Appearance: Thin body, hair a bit dishevelled; wears black and white shoes, black pants with holes at the knees and a black and white t-shirt

Character Name: Marcus Bradner
Character Age: 34
Character Hair Color: black hair, very short
Character Eye Color: brown eyes
Character Occupation: H.S. teacher + sports coach
Character Appearance: Marcus is 5'7, thin, agile, and wears a thin black field jacket, durable dark brown pants, and heavy canvas boots.  His hair is cut within a half-inch of his scalp and he's clean shaven.  He looks younger than his 34 years.  He's a pure athlete, endurant and strong.  He's not so interested in education and only teachers at the school to help coach soccer, swimming and diving, and gymnastics.  He could not care less about knowledge.

mrfe :
Furret :
Laian :
Ghostbear1111 :
I'm going to give the others another day or two to sign up, then close sign ups and start the game. Not sure why they haven't dropped in yet, but I don't want to count them out too quickly. Besides we may land a few extra players along the way.


EDIT: You guys can go ahead and edit in your bios if you want, or post them with your first post in game, or whatever. Again, bios are optional, but they do give us a better grasp of your character. I know some of you already have your bio on standby, so feel free to post it however and whenever suits you.

Character Name: Ace
Character Age: 17
Character Hair Color (N/A if they have none): Black
Character Eye Color: Brown
Character Occupation: (Athlete, Banker, Student, etc.) Student Athlete
Character Appearance: (what are they wearing? And literally any other info about their appearance that isn't covered in the other categories but you wish to share) Tall, light skinned, (more later)

Character Name: Seifer Almasy (anybody get the reference? lol)
Character Age: 24
Hair Color: Light-Brown
Eye Color: Silver-Blue
Occupation: Police Detective
Appearance: Really Short Hair, Wears Jeans, White Tee and Thin Leather Coat, Black Shoes, Height is 5'10, Weighs 165, relatively athletic build but nothing special.

I'm sure we may have late-comers.  I'll kick things off.

GAME ON!

Marcus's eyes opened at the incessant whine of his phone.  He grumbled, cursing the pillow that failed to keep the ring out of his ears.  Nausea swam through his body and he knocked over an empty beer bottle reaching for the phone on the night stand.

It was the superintendent of the school district.  He was getting a personal phone call from the good doctor.

This can't be good, he thought to himself.

"Hello," rumbled out of him.

"Good morning, Marcus," a cheerful voice said, "How are we today?"

"Great, Dr. Thornton," he said, sitting up in bed, "In fact I was about to shower.  I had a nice long run this morning."

The feminine laugh told him Dr. Thornton didn't believe him.

"I'm sure it was refreshing with that heat out there," she continued, "But let me get to it.  There are only two weeks left of official summer but the board has recommended we do not begin school on time.  As we are dealing with the.... situation... in town, we think it is best that students of all ages stay in the safety of their parents and neighborhoods.  I am including the high school in schools that will not start."

Marcus grew alert.  This was new.

"We will continue your pay as scheduled so consider it a snow day... well, many I suppose, until things can get cleared up.  I called personally to answer any questions you may have for me."

Marcus shook his head as he responded.

"No, Dr, I have no questions.  Thank you for the personal call.  Will updates be given through email or phone?"

"We will email you as things progress and we make decisions.  Next week is an open town hall meeting with the city council to handle the parents' opinions.  You are welcome to come but it is not mandatory.  It should be on channel 6 at any rate, Tuesday evening at 7:00pm.  Anyway, I'll leave you to your shower.  If you have questions, you can call Lindsay, the receptionist, any time.  She'll get back with you."

Marcus heard the phone click.  Things had gone from weird to bad if people are keeping their kids indoors.  Marcus didn't have children so he had no worries and he didn't get the protectiveness some people seemed to exhibit.

Hey, snow day, though!  And in August.  Good for him.

MrBeingcool1 :
Frodlex :
Zlinqx :
Just letting you three know sign ups will be closed at ten PM server time (two and a half hours after this post).

Ghostbear1111 : I actually have to post the opening here before the game officially begins, but your post works fine still. It serves as a starting point for your character. Loving the detailed posts by the way.


If anyone else wishes to make their first post to describe their character's situation before things go completely south (in my opening post soon) feel free to do so. It always helps the RP getting more content.

OOC: I'll edit this and finish it up after work, but I wanted to post what I've got for now.

"Man, this sucks.", Mark complained. "Everything was going great, fantastic even, and now it's ruined", Mark complained. This was the third model airplane he had accidentally destroyed in the past week alone, and he was down to his last set. "At least I was able to finish both wings this time," He mumbled, "Why do they make these things so flimsy? No real airplane would break that easily."

Despite what Mark said, though, he enjoyed the mindless task. Doing things with his hands helped keep his mind off of his current state of unemployment. Mark spent the past 6 years of his life working as private security for a warehouse in town, only to be let go unexpectedly due to 'budget cuts'. Though Jack would never admit it, he'd been trying to get Mark fired ever since he took over the Security Management position.

"What an idiot", Mark often thought. "I did exactly what I was paid to do for 6 whole years, and then this a****** comes along and gets me canned. If I could get out of here, he'd wake up with a broken face. He's lucky I can't get to him."

Ever since the creeps started hunting his neighbors, Mark made sure to stay inside and quiet. He was confident that he'd be able to 'take care of' one or two of them, but there were far too many crazies outside for him to consider risking a run to the edge of the community. He'd even gone so far as to put boards up on the inside of all the doors and windows on the first floor of his home, because "you can never feel too safe". Electronics were a no-go as well when it was dark outside, too much light.

(OoC: Final notes: when posting anything that is not a part of the game, be sure to put it in parenthesis with "OoC:" before it just as in any other RP. Put OoC text at the beginning or ending of a post.
Also there will be times when I briefly take control of your character. Don't get too upset about that, please. I'll do my best to keep them in character.
Finally, content must be kept at T and under. Minor flexibility is acceptable. Very minor though)


"We've just received another call, sir" Gerald, informed the sheriff. "The body of a seventeen year old girl was found by Willow creek. Name's Barbara McLaughlin. This is getting out of hand."

"Getting out of hand?" Sheriff Stevens said with a laugh, though his weathered face showed no signs of amusement. "Gerald this thing has been out of hand for the better part of a month."

"There was only one case a month ago, sir"

"Exactly. Gerald we only have three officers and a dispatcher here, and we've never needed more than one of them at a time. We handle traffic stops and parking violations and that's about it." the older officer said as he ran his fingers through his short salt and pepper hair. "We just aren't equipped nor trained to handle this kinda thing. Two months ago the hardest thing I'd ever had to do as the sheriff of Fuller Heights was to tell a boy his dog had been run over, and in less than one full month I've had to investigate six missing persons cases, two suspicious deaths, and call a mother to inform her that her son was found dead."

Gerald couldn't help but feel sorry for the sheriff. He was right, life in the Fuller Heights community had been turned on it's head in three and a half weeks. Taking another look at the sheriff, Gerald again noted that the past twenty four days had seemed to put twenty years on the face of the prematurely aged man.

"Yeah, I know whatcha mean, sheriff." Gerald broke the silence. "This community used to be one of the most peaceful places in the country, and all of a sudden it's become a living h"

"Hey! What the heck happened? Is it storming or something?"
officer Riley shouted, interrupting Gerald as the electricity went off.

"Or something." Officer Bryant said as he walked toward the glass double doors to look out at the sky. "It's as clear as can be out there. Not a cloud in sAHHH!!!"

"David!!" shouted a shocked sheriff as he watched his deputy fall to his knees clutching his stomach that had just been pierced through by what appeared to be a sharpened metal fence post that had been shoved through the glass doors. At the other end stood a man laughing, his head hung low as he started to step through the now glassless door frame. His joy was cut short as all three remaining men in the police station began firing at him, sending him falling back through the doors and to the ground lifeless.

Before the men could step forward to inspect the scene a mob of people armed with everything from pitchforks to baseball bats came running through the door screaming at the top of their lungs. The two officers and the dispatcher did all they could to stave them off, but they soon found themselves without any bullets, and a handful of people still charging at them, trampling over the bodies of their comrades seemingly oblivious to the fact that the bodies were even there.

In less than an hour similar scenes had occurred at the clinic and the fire station. The community looked like a disaster area as cars lay overturned, houses were smashed up, and bodies were strewn in the dirt roads.

The place was destroyed and humans were being hunted like wild game, and the world outside of Fuller Heights was none the wiser as all communications were cut. Signals were were jammed and roads were blocked off. These people were somehow insane enough to have turned from innocent civilians to crazed killers, yet sane enough to know exactly how to do what they needed to do in order to kill every breathing soul and prevent escape.



mrfe :
A loud thud coming from outside of Mark's house snapped the brunette back into reality. Silently he scolded himself for thinking out loud...too loud. Someone out there heard him.

A loud banging at the door soon followed. Someone wanted in really badly.

"Let me in!! Please!!!" A woman's voice shouted.

More beating on the door, followed by a loud shriek. Just when he thought that the poor soul was gone, the banging resumed, only it was even more panicked than before and the voice that screamed at Mark pleading to be let in sounded half choked with tears.

"PLEASE LET ME IN!!!!! Oh dear Lord, please let someone be in there!"

Was it a trick? Or was someone really in imminent danger out there? And if it was real, was it worth potentially risking his own neck?



Ghostbear1111 :
What the heck was going on? One minute Marcus was enjoying his favorite show and the next the channel was gone...in fact, every channel was gone! As he rose from his chair to try and figure out what was going on, his phone sounded an alert. It was an email from Dr. Thompson telling him to stay inside, that the situation had worsened until the entire town was under attack. He could tell by the typos and run on sentences that were very much out of character for the doc that she was indeed in a hurry as she typed it up. He attempted to reply and ask what she was talking about, but found his internet had went down sometime between loading Dr. Thompson's email and clicking the reply button.

"This is some really weird stuff," he muttered to himself "welcome to the Twilight zone".

Before he could muse on his present situation any longer, Marcus heard the glass patio door shatter, and whirling around he saw someone with a barbed wire covered baseball bat coming towards him slowly. Clearly they didn't mean to play around.

Gunshots? No doubt about it, those were gunshots. A lot of gunshots.

"What in the world is going on out there", Mark thought to himself as he ran to one of the upstairs windows. He peeked out the curtains, but not before turning the lights off. If something bad was going on outside, he wanted to avoid giving anyone ideas about checking his place out.

Over the course of the next hour, Mark heard a lot of screaming. He couldn't see much, but small wisps of smoke overhead and the fire stations alarm bell ringing told him that nothing good was happening outside. After everything died down, and Mark was convinced no one had come snooping around his property, he closed the blinds and went back to his model airplane. This was his last one, and it was going really well so far. Not even the insanity outside would stop him from finishing this one.

---

"What was that?" Mark thought he heard a muffled yell from the driveway. "Let me in!" There it was again, this time followed by banging on his front door. Mark quickly snapped to attention, they'd finally come for him. He readied himself for a fight, hiding in a closet under the staircase with the makeshift spear he fashioned from a stool a couple weeks back. If he was honest, the 'spear' was more of a flimsy club, but Mark felt more secure while holding it. The beating on the door stopped abruptly, and Mark heard a loud shriek. Maybe this was some innocent bystander after all?

A few moments later, the banging continued. "PLEASE LET ME IN!!!!! Oh dear Lord, please let someone be in there!" The woman, for he now realized it was a woman, sounded sincerely frantic and scared. He slowly moved towards the door, braced himself against it in case someone was to try to break it down, then called out to the woman. "Hello? What's going on out there? Can I trust you?"

"I hate being the new guy," Seifer thought to himself as he was driving towards Fuller Heights. "Just because I'm inexperienced, they expect me to go check out some hick town over just a couple missing persons." He wasn't so much angry at the assignment given, but the boredom he expected to face while being there. "I picked this job to try and make a difference, not sit on my a** more often than not..." As he was trying to think of some redeeming qualities to being stuck in the boonies, pulling close to the city limits, there was something in the road in the distance. No, not just something in the road, something completely barring the road from being passable whatsoever.

"What the h*** is this?" Seifer thought as he stopped the car a few yards from the barricade of toppled cars and chopped down trees. Realizing there wasn't enough gas to try and go around another route into town, he decided to park the car and walk around through the trees and follow the road in. "I will never understand the mind of a country bumpkin. This must be their idea of a joke..." Maybe a mile or two down the road, (it was getting hard to tell, it was just road and trees the whole way down, and looked so similar to someone not familiar with this kind of area) he came up on a small house with a little farm-like barn in a clearing. "Finally," he thought, hoping someone would be home and could help him into town. But the closer he got to the door, the more he felt a chill, like something wasn't right. As he knocked, the door just creaked open, not even latched, let alone locked.

"Hello!??" he yelled, searching the now approaching darkness that the night was starting to bring. After a few seconds, "Helloooo!?!?!??  I don't mean to intrude, but I'm kind of in a jam here," he yelled again. Still, nothing. "It's too dark to keep going. I'll just wait here and explain myself when they get home." He decided it would be best to wait in the barn, instead of the house as to not scare the good folks when they return. He opens the barn door, shuts it behind him so the owner's wouldn't realize someone was trespassing (albeit with good intentions), and fumbles around in the little moonlight shining through the second floor opening with the little bit of orange his cigarette lighter put out to find his way up to the loft. "Don't mind if I do," Seifer said to himself as he moved some stuff around to create a makeshift bed.

While listening for someone to get home, it wasn't too long before he thought he heard voices in the distance. Looking out from the loft, he could see little patches of light, probably from something like a torch, throughout various parts of the woods in several different directions off in the distance. "Are they searching for one of the missing persons? But why at this time of night...?" Knowing the odds of finding something in almost pure darkness, Seifer decided to lay back down, smoke one last cig for the day, taking care not to burn down the barn putting it out, and start fresh the next morning....

"HOLY ****!" 

Marcus fell over, the chair sliding out underneath him.  The man advanced on him through the room.  Marcus fled to the bedroom, locked the door, and hid in the bathroom.  The second door went click as he locked it behind him.  Hammering sounds came through the wall as the man worked the interior door.  The sounds of wood splintering, breaking, and debris landing on the ground came through the wall.  Marcus did the math.  He had less than a minute before the man would break through the first door.  His bathroom door was flimsy and would last 45 seconds, maybe.

He was glad for a single-story house.  He was athletic and slim, so he slid through the window easily and landed like a cat on the backyard pea gravel.  Bat-on-door sounds came through the window.  His mind didn't take the time to process things.  He ran along the house to the small shed in the backyard.  It was durable, meant to withstand the heavy winters and meant to survive abuse.  The shed was small, 8x8, but he could get inside and barricade the door.

He sprinted to the shed, undid the combination lock and slipped inside.  There were no windows and he fumbled for several seconds to find the flashlight to the left of the door.  He clicked it on and sat quietly, listening.  He heard nothing.  Quietly, he fortified the door with debris.  There were plenty of weapons of opportunity in the shed if he needed them.  Everything was sharp, everything was swingable.  The tree-cutters looked like a halberd from the days of yore and shears, shovels, pruning tools... everything was at his finger tips.

I'll sit tight and see what happens, Marcus thought to himself.  He put his phone on vibrate only and waited to see what would happen.  He felt confident in his heavily-armed fortress to hold off any number of people.  The door was narrow, the shed almost hidden under the heavy foliage of three large evergreen trees.  People often didn't notice it unless he pointed it out.

Marcus decided to let an hour click off on his phone's time piece.  After that, he'd take a next step, unless something else happened.

(OoC: apologies for the late update. I'll try to update around 10 PM server time when possible from now on. And please check your PM inbox after reading each update)


_______________________________________
Update #1
August 31st, 10:45 PM
Conditions: clear, dry. 85°F

mrfe :
His heart and mind seemingly in a race to see which could work the fastest, Mark waited for an answer as his natural urge to protect himself and his humane side battled it out.
"Yes! Yes you can! Oh I can't believe it, someone really is in there! Please let me in! Hurry! They're after me!" The woman shouted sounding as though her face was only a few inches from the door in hopes her voice would carry better through the thick wooden barricade standing between her and safety.

'Of course she says I can trust her' Mark's better sense argued. 'But what if she IS telling the truth? Is that a risk I can take?' his compassion snapped back quickly.

Another shriek.

"No!! One of them sees me! They're running this way! Help me! Help me please!!!"

This was it: the moment of truth. Which side would Mark listen to? Even he didn't know.


Laian :
"What's wrong with you two?" asked a slightly uncoordinated Shawn as he tripped over his own two feet and stumbled into Erin. "Hey Merman, watch where I'm going."

"We heard" Erin started to explain, but trailed off, unsure as to whether he wanted to frighten a house full of drunks like that.

Before he could be sure whether or not to scare anyone, someone else decided to do it for him.

"Hey, what the" Erin hear someone shouting as the electricity went out, but the sound of something hitting the door cut the would be expletive short. In it's place dozens of expletives flew out of the mouths of everyone else. Everyone but Erin who was too focused on what might be going on to even process a word of any kind.

THUD!

Again the sound came, but this time it seemed louder.

THUD!

What was going on? Was this tied in with the gunshots? It was all too coincidental not to be.

Erin began stepping farther away from the door, as he silently hoped this was some sort of senior prank. Dan always did have a flare for the dramatic, or at least for making people laugh by whatever over the top means necessary.

Crash!

The sound of glass shattering sent screams throughout the room as everyone began scrambling for a place to hide or an exit that didn't sound like it was being beaten down. As he too tried to scramble for a hiding spot, Erin glanced back at the shattered window and saw someone climbing through. They had something large in their hand, but it was hard to see exactly what it was in the dark room.

Crack!

The front door flew open finally, and three more people flooded in. If their intentions weren't clear to begin with, they made them rather obvious by using poor drunken Shawn as their example. Judging by the sickeningly wet sound of the impacts and Shawn's screams, Erin gathered that it was something sharp, but he didn't care to stay beyond the second strike to learn more. He scrambled up the stairs and into a bedroom.

'Great, killers break in and I run upstairs of all places. How many horror movies have I seen again?' Erin scolded himself mentally. Perhaps at another time basing his decisions about life on films would be laughable, but for now the logic seemed accurate. How on Earth would he escape from the second story?

"The window." Erin thought out loud, in part to help himself think with some sort of clarity, and in part to drown out the sounds of screaming downstairs. "It's insane, but it's the only choice I have if I don't want to end up like..." his words trailed off as he couldn't bring himself to say Shawn's name.

As he stood there trying to muster the courage to jump, he saw a flashlight beam shining up the stairs, it was soon followed by a large male with a weapon in his hand.

"There you are!" The man shouted as his light beam landed on Erin's face, blinding him. "Seriously? Who runs upstairs in a situation like this?" The man mocked as he slowly walked toward Erin who was trying to shield his eyes from the light. "Well I mean I did, but I'm the killer! That's my job, right?" A loud laugh came out of the man.

Turning toward the window, Erin knew now that he had no choice but to jump, and there was no time to debate it any longer.

"I mean what are you gonna do? Jump out of the second story window?" The man continued his babbling.

Erin ran full speed for the window and leapt with all he had in him.

"What the heck? He actually did jump?" Erin's would be murderer said as he stood still staring at the window Erin had jumped from. "And those people downstairs said I was the crazy one."

Erin landed in a large bush which broke his fall enough to keep him from breaking any bones, but left plenty of scrapes and scratches. Erin, not even noticing them, jumped up and ran for his life. He had no idea what awaited him out there, but it couldn't be any worse than what awaited him back at the house.

But the question remained in his head: where would he go now? And what would he do when he got there?



Mynamescox44 :

Seifer woke with a start, a sense of urgency coming over him. He had no idea why, but his instincts told him something was amiss.

Startled by his own uneasiness and how suddenly it had hit him, he sat up and looked through the window again. He saw nothing now, just that the sun must have long since set judging by how high the moon was. He started to dismiss the feeling and chalk it up to the awkwardness of the entire situation...or the entire night for that matter. But as he started to settle in again, the shed door came flying open, and his eyes settled on a woman holding a lantern. She wore blue jeans and a gray T-shirt. Her medium length black hair spilled over the right side of her face and was a mess altogether. This woman must have had a long day, Seifer could tell by the way she carried herself and how she dangled the arm that was holding the knife so limp at her side.

Knife? Oh boy, she had the wrong idea.

"Hello ma'am" Seifer said as he quickly rose back to his feet and tried to reach for his gun unnoticed. "I think you may have the wrong idea. I'm not some creep messing around your place."

His hand finally reached his gun...but it wasn't there. Just an empty holster.

'Oh great. Of all the times to lose my gun' Seifer thought as his mind raced for another way to deter this woman who continued slinking toward him as though she was getting pleasure from watching the fear that was slowly coming over him.

The whole scene played out in slow motion it seemed, until the woman lunged at Seifer. His training kicked in and she was face down on the floor, her knife kicked off to the side before Seifer even knew what had happened. Before he could even bother to pick the thing up, he heard footsteps behind him. As he turned his head to look, he saw three more people running for the shed, each armed with some sort of weapon. Not liking these odds, he had a choice to make: run, try to talk them down, or fight three people, himself armed with nothing but a butcher knife, and they armed with what looked like a rake, a shovel, and a crow bar. At least that's what they looked like in the light of the lanterns they carried.


Ghostbear1111 :
Marcus sat silently, barely daring to breathe. He knew full well he could top that baseball bat with any one of the tools that surrounded him, but it wasn't something he wanted to do unless necessary. At current the idea of butchering the lunatic wasn't exactly the most appealing, but it wasn't entirely out of the question either if need be.

'I don't want to hurt you buddy, but better you than me' Marcus thought as he stood staring at the door and listening for any sounds to let him know if he needed to prepare himself for a fight.

Crunch.

His ears perked up. Did he hear someone walking nearby? He could have sworn he did, but several moments went by with nothing. Still he listened even more intently than before.

Crunch. Crunch.

This time he was certain he heard something, and he knew exactly what it was: someone was walking on the gravel. The footsteps seemed to be picking up again, as though the pause was them taking the area in looking for him. Now they were on the prowl again.

'Trust me pal, you don't want to find me as badly as you think you do' Marcus thought as his hand half reached for the nearest makeshift weapon ever so slowly.

Crunch. Crunch.

They were getting close. Just a few yards out Marcus judged by the sound. He waited for what seemed like an eternity for the next step as he stood silently breathing in the stale air. This shed made it seem a good twenty degrees hotter than it already was outside. He could be inside with his air conditioning, enjoying his night off, but then something always came up to ruin a day off. He nearly laughed at the odd timing for his mind to choose to betray him with humor.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

They were running now...but they were running the other way. He had managed to shake the psycho this time.

'This time?' Marcus thought as he realized the meaning of the words that had crossed his own mind. Somehow he knew this wouldn't be the last he saw of them. And now that they knew where he lived, they would be back at his place, and soon. Of that he was certain. But how many would they bring with them next time?

Lot of thoughts were stuck in Erin's mind, as he ran away from the house, to the east, and gritted his teeth to contain the pain. "Shawn... Dan... Why...", he thought. Erin just survived a ferocious assault but he wished his friends could have done the same. Out of breath, he decided to take a break and sat at the foot of a tree to recover. "Why...", he said quietly. Nowhere to go, his best bet was to pick up his cellphone in his pocket and call for help. So he did, but noticed something rather upsetting while looking at the screen of the cellphone. "No network. Oh, wunderbar.", he said. He put the cellphone back in the left pocket of his pants and started to think about another good option. "What am I gonna do now? Is it possible to leave this town and go back to New Heaven? Am I trapped, doomed to face the same fate as Dan and Shawn?"

He stopped talking a moment after mentioning their names. A tear dropped down on his face. "I... I... I left them behind.", Erin said, crying. He couldn't get any help using his phone so the best option was to carry on and look for help elsewhere in Fuller Heights. Though, after that scene, Erin knew that town did not smell good. He might not be safe anywhere he will go and the next person he will meet could be friendly or hostile. Though, he had to move on otherwise these killers would find him and god knows what would happen to him. Being lucky once doesn't mean the good shining star will constantly help him. So he stood up and moved on to the east. Eventually, he will find some help... Or go right into the wolf's mouth.

(OoC: Couldn't find the time to reply to this yesterday, sorry :/ )

When Ian opened his eyes, he found himself in his classroom at school. The principal had called him this morning to clean some of the classrooms because the cleaning lady was sick.
"Ugh... I fell asleep... again. Oh well, I'm practically done here, I should head back home." he murmured to himself. As he was walking through the hallways, he remembered some talk about the recent issues in the community. "It's probably nothing serious, this place has always been so quiet."

Upon exiting the building he heard some noise coming from the other side of the courtyard.
Since nobody should be here at school, let alone at this hour, he decides to see what's going on.

"Oh my god..." Seifer said quietly out loud. A single person is one thing, but three armed, crazed civilians was not something he was ready to take on. He grabbed the knife the woman dropped, and started running with all he could give. There wasn't much of a choice of direction, he was being chased, so Seifer went North, hoping he was still headed towards the town.
"If I can just make it into the city, I can straighten this out before any real damage is done. As long as I don't get caught, that is..." Seifer assumed this was just some misunderstanding, not realizing the grand scheme of things starting to take place in Fuller Heights. He put just enough distance between himself and his pursuers to break their line of sight. He made a sharp turn, and ducked into a large ravine. There was just enough brush hanging over the top for him to be able to conceal himself.
He could still hear the group approaching, unsure if they noticed his change of direction. "I need to throw them off my trail somehow," Seifer thought, his mind and heart racing. "I hope this works." Seifer picked a rock up that was about the size of a baseball. He threw it with all his strength in the opposite direction he turned to avoid his would be attackers, and immediately ducked back into his hiding place. Hopefully the sound of the rock landing will be enough to fool them...