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

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

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!]

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"Pfft, nah," Reno waved a dismissive hand. "I like it when people speak up. I'm not even sayin' you're wrong, yo. If whatever's out there killed everyone else on the island, it's probably a good idea to get the hell off the ground floor."

He tilted his head at her and grinned a little. Poking the little mice was fun.

"I mean, unless they can fly."

Reno, you shit.

"Flying doesn't negate the possibility of walking," Kathy said, her eyes still studiously trained on the ground. "If they can fly, getting us higher won't be as helpful, but it still limits the number of ways that they can get at us. Especially if it's not just one type of creature, but several. We're not any more vulnerable to fliers up a few floor and we're less vulnerable to walkers or diggers or whatever."

Reno nodded.

"Good call," he replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets and leaning back against a chunk of furniture that had been pushed up against the doors. "So, do you have any plan for survivin' here long-term? It's probably safe to assume there ain't nothin' coming to rescue you, yo. It's gonna get ugly once you run out of food."

"Not here in the dorms," Kathy said with a shake of her head. She stuffed her hands into her pockets, trying to look casual and not like she wanted to apologize for bothering him before slinking away. "There's not enough food or supplies. If we're completely surrounded, we might have to figure out how to live here long term, but I think we have a better chance if we get to town. Probably Luke's with the crazy freezer I've heard about on the radio."

She didn't want to say it, but it was probably easier to get ten students across the grounds and into town than however many there were before.

"But before we can make any plans like that, we need to know more about what's out there."

"Good, good," Reno replied, nodding. "The dorms have room, but they don't have resources to keep you going, yo. Assuming whatever's out there is locked to the ground but fast enough to catch up and rip apart every speedster on the island..."

That was a smug little grin. Every one except himself, anyway. He'd given that little demonstration when he'd pulled himself off the floor earlier in a blur.

"... How you gonna get that far, once you've busted up the stairs?"

Edited 2014-05-14 11:16 (UTC)

"I'm going to need to talk to Barry about some of this," Kathy said, forgetting to be nervous as her brain ticked through options. "It's stupid to make plans without input from everyone here and I know he's a genius at building stuff."

Or, rather, she was taking him at his word. But details, really.

"But we can improvise ways to get down. Tear enough sheets to make ladders if we really have to. It depends on how long we're staying here. More than another day or two, be expand up. If we decide to leave in a few hours, there's no point."

"Good call, good call." Reno was taking note of how thinking through this seemed to be calming her down. Clearly this meant that he was going to have to poke the little mouse even more often. "What about people who can't climb down your rope ladder? Not everyone's necessarily as able-bodied as you are, yo."

Kids with crutches didn't seem like they'd handle being chucked out of windows well, for example. And that Yeul girl appeared to have a bit of a limp.

Edited 2014-05-14 11:22 (UTC)

"Harnesses and slings," Kathy said promptly. She was starting to perk up again as she was able to counter each of his points. "Pulleys are simple machines, we learn about them in, like, third grade. If we're using sheets, it would be easy enough to have anyone who can't climb a ladder sit in a sling and use a lever to move them up or down. They can hoist and lower it themselves, or someone else can do so. And that's assuming they don't have their own ideas for transportation, of course."

"Of course," Reno agreed, smirking a little. God, he loved it when the timid ones started to reach their stride. "Gonna have people standin' watch while you do that, I assume. A pack of ten kids creepin' out a window on one of the tallest free-standing structures on the island is gonna be hard to miss, from here to halfway across town, yo."

"That's why we need to know more about them," Kathy said, her back straightening a bit. "We need to know how they move, how they think, if they think, what kind of hunting techniques they use...Are they like a pack of lionesses? Are they stupid zombies? Are they smart enough to use lookouts? Can someone rig up some kind of weapon that only affects them with a tissue sample?"

She gave Reno a look that was somewhere between shy and triumphant. "Because I have an idea how to get them away from the dorms, but I don't know if it will work until I know more about the enemy."

Reno was just straight-up smirking, now.

"I'm not going to confirm what's out there, yo," Reno noted. "But for the sake of this conversation, let's assume they're pack animals. Maybe they don't think well, but they know how to work together to hunt whatever looks delicious. They're fast and they're tricky, if the amount of people gone missing is any indication."

He nodded.

"Your turn. What's the plan, Rookie?"

Uppercase R. She was doomed, now.

"My plan is to have Barry rig us up some kinetic-powered lights. I don't think that should be too hard. There are watches that can do that. If they're powerful enough, I'd take them up on the roof so we can examine the creatures at least from a distance."

She paused and blushed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "Then, uhh, the stupid part of my idea comes into play."

Oh, yes. There was a stupid part! Reno loved stupid parts. Those were usually the fun ones.

"So far so good," he mused. "Wanna let me on on this stupid plan of yours?"

Seriously. He was grinning.

"There may be others who are better suited to this, but until I know for sure, umm, well, the stupid part is that you and I run out as bait."

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"I know you're faster and I think I'm faster, though I won't know for sure until I see them in action. Which means you might be going first, just for a quick lap."

Kathy, you had just earned yourself a slow clap, while Reno continued to lean back against the barricade and smirk.

"Nice," he decided. "I tell you to look around to take in all the resources you have, and you do. I'm standin' right here, yo. Means I'm not outside of this situation. So." He nodded back toward the doors. "You want me out there, playing catch-me-if-you-can with the nasties? You have a contingency plan for if I get caught?"

Kathy slowly shook her head. "I don't. Someone else might? But I'm pretty sure you're the strongest and fastest. If you don't make it, I don't know if there's a contingency plan to that would work."

She was hanging her head now. "And we'll know there's no point in trying to escape."

If their best couldn't do it, no one could.

"But I'm sure there are lots of people here who could come up with a rescue plan!" She looked around for anyone else to chime in. "We have lots of different skills here!"

"We do," Reno agreed. "I'm not gonna say no to a suicide run so you lot can get to know your enemy if you all figure that's what it takes, but I'm not gonna take off until I know what your entire group's got to offer. Fair enough?"

If this situation was real, he already would have volunteered for that run, after all.

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

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