The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World, Wednesday, Period 4

[raspberryturk]

When the students stepped into the Danger Shop for Reno's class today, they'd find themselves stepping into the lobby of the dormitory all over again, with a few pointed differences. There seemed to be a barricade built against the boarded-up windows, consisting of a good deal of the furniture that had clearly been dragged down from the floors above them. The power to the simulated building had been cut off completely, which meant that they were sitting in near-absolute darkness, because naturally Reno was going to be an ass and set this scenario for the dead of night.

There were cans of food lined up against one wall. There were weapons, what looked to be the entire contents of both the weapons locker and sharpened, weaponized versions of the practise fare from the Salle, laid out against the other. A sign hastily scribbled down on a piece of paper pointed deeper into the building, directing any possible injured to a first-aid station in the rec room.

Reno was sitting in the middle of the floor, grinning up at the students as they came in, legs splayed out in front of him and his elbows on his knees, Danger Shop supplied stun baton in one hand.

"Trust me," he said coolly, nodding back to the doors that closed themselves and instantly fell behind another barricade the moment the last of the students stepped in, "you don't wanna go back out there. This ain't your everyday Fandom invasion, where somethin' shows up, tapdances nasty around us all for a week, an' then gets sent packin'. This is the real friggin' deal, yo. This is your doomsday scenario, where there ain't no cure for bein' dead. Where if you get bit and infected and turn into one of them, you ain't snappin' out of it. Where the weapon that blew up the school took half of you with it, and you don't got time for so much as a head count to figure out who's left."

He leaned back, the cool metal of his baton scraping against the floor of the lobby, playing an eerie harmony to the sounds from outside, which alternated from complete silence to screams to gunfire, to the sound of something not remotely human calling out into the dark, answered by what had to be a hundred more just like it, all converging in on one point: The Dorms.

"I ain't gonna pretend there ain't heroes among you, I ain't gonna sit here and point at you one by one to tell you the likelihood of comin' back alive, either. If you're one of them who's gonna run out there, then there ain't nobody who'll be able to keep you inside. And that'll cost the island one of its first big advantages early on. Because once you guys are dead, what are the people who ain't fighters gonna do?"

And then, all at once in a flash of speed that was jarringly unnatural, Reno was on his feet, baton on his shoulder, and he was prowling back and forth in front of the students.

"What the enemy out there is don't matter in this scenario. What's out there is the predator, that thing that goes bump in the night, that sees you as prey or pest, but whatever the case is, it don't want us here, and it's lettin' us know with extreme prejudice. This is the Danger Shop, so if you go out them doors here, you'll just be steppin' out into the school again. This lesson ain't about fightin'. This is about stayin' alive. Look around. Take in what's been set up, here. Let it sink in that there isn't a single resource in this lobby that'll last even a severely reduced dorm population more'n a few weeks at best. And then, try an' figure out what the hell you're gonna do about it."

[Open! Go nuts!]

Comments

Look Around!

[raspberryturk]

Wander the dorms alone or in groups, and try to figure out how to make the most of what you've got at your disposal. Your resources are as follows:

- Canned food, enough to feed maybe ten people for three weeks if carefully rationed.

- One gas-powered generator, turned off to conserve precious fuel, of which there isn't nearly enough.

- Moddable weapons! Clearly not outside being used, possibly because all the fighters already ran off and got themselves killed. Possibly because the firearms have run out of ammo. Possibly because against whatever is out there, weapons just don't work.

- In the Rec Room, there is a makeshift first-aid area set up. Here is where your healers or medics are probably going to end up pushing themselves to the point of collapse, especially once the limited amount of physical first-aid supplies run out trying to save any of you would-be heroes.

- Water? There's the pool downstairs, but the water in that is chlorinated, not fit for human consumption. The power is off, and you can probably assume the tap water has been subjected to the same fate. If it hasn't, yet, then you're going to want containers, aren't you?

- And, of course, all of the assorted paraphernalia that teenagers coming to school tend to bring with them. Toothbrushes and teddy bears and pencils and erasers, in all of the dorm rooms.

- And for all of your wandering? It is safe to assume that you and your classmates are the only ones in the dorms. Who knows where everyone else went? Probably outside. That was stupid of them.

Re: Look Around!

[livebytherules.livejournal.com]

Will really, really hoped things back home were not going to get this dire. He knew it was a possibility what with the things they might face but he really hoped it wasn't going to happen.

He set out slowly around the dorms, pulling up his Grid as he did. He guessed they were alone in this place but it was always good to know where heat signatures were and where things might be hiding.

Re: Look Around!

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy tried the faucets for water and took stock of the food. After that, the medical supplies. They definitely needed more of, oh, everything.

Doing this in the dark with the noises coming from outside made this even more terrifying. She was betting on nightmares tonight.

Re: Look Around!

[justwantedfriends]

"This is beyond creepy," Kira said, looking around. "Also, are we just supposed to ignore the 'everyday Fandom invasion' part that he mentioned?"

Re: Look Around!

[spin_kick_snap]

"This is my second class where I walked in and there was something terrifying flying for my face," Kathy agreed, ignoring the part where nothing had actually attacked them, yet. "And, umm, about that. Yeah, there are invasions every so often. Some of them are random ones that usually go away in a day or so? But then there are others that are lots scarier."

They involved things like gun machines and murderous gangs and tears in reality and...you know what? Kathy just wasn't going to get into detail about those right now. The situation didn't need any more help becoming terrifying.

Re: Look Around!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

Someone didn't look like they were handling this well. "Buck up, Big Sis," Joker told her. "It's not like it's the end of the world! Besides, you're too pretty to die."

Re: Look Around!

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's only a few days away from it," Kathy said, giving him a tremulous smile. "Though I'm glad that there's nothing charging at me, trying to eat my face. That was Friday's class."

She paused.

"Not the crazy office class. A different one."

Re: Look Around!

[pulseof_life]

Yeul wandered down halls, and into rooms, her movements unhurried and entirely unconcerned about what could happen.

While she found for herself that there wasn't enough of anything to last for all that long, Yeul wasn't worried.

Eventually she took a seat against one wall, out of the way, and contented herself with waiting it out. All things considered, that was probably the best reaction anyone could hope for with her given that she nearly felt fear nor cared enough about her survival to be anxious about their situation.

Re: Look Around!

[spin_kick_snap]

Sorry, Yeul. While Kathy was about two decades to young to really understand this, she was a Goonie and Goonies never said die!

Which meant that she was beelining over to pick your brain as soon as she spotted you.

"Hi," she said, giving Yeul a friendly smile that might have been lost some in the darkness. "Coming up with ideas?"

Re: Look Around!

[pulseof_life]

Yeul blinked up at Kathy.

"No," she said honestly, after a moment of puzzled silence. "I'm afraid that I am not the one to ask in this sort of situation."

That was what Caius was for. Because Yeul and 'survival instincts' were lucky to live on the same planet, let alone anywhere closer to one another.

[Sorry for the slow! Had a doctor's appt.]

Re: Look Around!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

Joker poked a finger in Yeul's direction. "Hey," he said, softly but firmly. "You've got a terrible attitude about this sort of thing. Listen to me very carefully: You don't care about yourself, and you don't care about whether you live or die, in all kinds of fucked-up ways, because you've got that immortal-slash-resurrection-slash-whatever thing going on. But we need you, 'kay? You don't get to sit this one out."

Re: Look Around!

[pulseof_life]

She blinked, startled, since sitting this out had seemed like the smartest plan she could come up with since none of what he said was news to her except--

"You all need me?" she echoed, baffled.

Re: Look Around!

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry went over and looked over the gas powered generator and frowned. Yeah. They could do better than that.

Barry started making a list which included:
1. Broken refrigerator
2. Vitamin C tablets
3. Glass
4. Mirror
5. Duct tape
6. Scrap wood
7. Soy sauce
8. Plastic bottles.

Re: Look Around!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

Joker peered at the list from as much of an unobtrusive vantage point as he could manage, what with his shortness and the crutches and everything. "You.. just keep doin' your thing, man. You need anything?"

He pointed at his omnitool. "In case it helps, I've got a computer that puts the ones in this time period to shame, and a few micrograms of a substance that fucks with mass and gravity when you apply current. No, you can't actually crack it open right now, but add that to whatever plans you're making."

Re: Look Around!

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry's eyes lit up at the tool. "Niiiiiiice. Definitely on the list of things to use. Think the big red head will care if we bring in tools we own?"

Re: Look Around!

[not_every_mage]

Anders tried to canvas the entire first floor, but focused most of his time on sorting through the first aid supplies in the Rec Room. It wasn't encouraging. Much of it was unfamiliar, and his best reckoning was that even with magic as a back-up, the longest he could make things last would be two or three weeks -- and that was assuming there weren't any epidemics.

Re: Look Around!

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor took careful stock of what they had. Enough for now, but not enough for very long. And then she was going to ransack the dorm rooms looking for extra supplies.

Re: Look Around!

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

Four glanced around, feeling more at home in this scenario than in the real version of Fandom. This was more like Dauntless--though Dauntless would have more weapons.

Re: Look Around!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Is this more like home?" Joker asked him, with a bit of a wry smile. "We do try to be accommodating."

Re: Look Around!

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"This is much better," Four said dryly. "Maybe I'll take some of it back to my room after class is over."

The simulation aspect didn't bother him either: sims were just as homey as the smell of decay and the darkness.

Re: Look Around!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

Joker had a hand up. "Is this our dorm?" he asked. "Specifically? 'Cause if it is, I've got some useful things in my room, but like hell am I taking those stairs if this is more generic-y."

Re: Look Around!

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"I'll go," Eleanor volunteered. "Just tell me what you need in there, and I'll grab it."

They could both go, if she teleported, but she was trying to keep that ability a little closer to her chest. This was only a simulation, after all.

Re: Look Around!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Nah, the Man On High says it's not there. He offered to add it, but, eh. Thanks for the offer, though. This sort of situation, I might need to rely on you a lot... I feel pretty bad about that."

Re: Look Around!

[raspberryturk]

"Well, I haven't been in everyone's dorm rooms," Reno pointed out. "I can't really program this place to follow everyone's rooms personally, so, nah, it's pretty generic, yo."

He tilted his head thoughtfully.

"What were you gonna get? Assuming those are things you got in your room all the time, it wouldn't be cheatin' to program them in. They'd be a resource you'd reasonably be able to expect to have."

If he knew what the hell they were when Joker described them, anyway.

Re: Look Around!

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

"Noooot something you can just program in on the fly," Joker told him. "I can't ever tell which things around here fall in the bounds of common sense, and which just kind of do whatever by magic pretend hand-waving. I've got luggage that floats in the air and carries things, some clothing that's better for keeping you warm or cool than the cotton crap everyone's wearing... Meh. Don't worry about it."