SET Initiative

Addison kept her pistol on the woman, glancing over at Austin when the woman spoke. This was ominous. She turned her attention back to the woman, eyes narrowed.

"Who did you kill? What happened?" The redhead kept her focus on the woman, though shifted her eyes to look at her visor, to see if it had any input or feedback about the woman.

Austin was suddenly very worried.

The woman wasn't covered in other peoples' blood- It was her own blood. She was bleeding out in front of them, and all she was doing was crying.

"So many people... So many innocent people..." The woman stood up, beginning to cry again. "I'm so sorry..." Her eyes were a crimson red color, and her skin was colored a light pink. She began walking slowly towards the two.

Addison's visor would have placed a targeting reticule on the woman's head, heart, lungs, and other various vital organs. The reticules turned red.

Infection detected. Eliminate.

Austin started to back away slowly. "Don't do anything stupid... We're here to help. You didn't have any control over what you did. Just please stay calm."

The woman just kept advancing, repeatedly muttering phrases like "I'm so sorry," and "So many dead." Her head twitched to the side, and her whole body moved in a manner unnatural for any human.

"Don't shoot her. If we can just talk her down we might be able to avoid an attack."

Addison paled as her visor indicated the woman was Infected. She followed Austin, backing away very, very slowly. She desperately disagreed, and wanted to shoot the woman before she attacked them, but she was willing to give it a try. Just in case, though, she stepped to stand more directly in front of Austin, her pistol lowered just enough to not be as threatening, b easy enough to fire, if needed.

"He's right, it wasn't your fault.. you didn't mean to hurt them, it's okay, we understand. Just try to relax..take a deep breath, just sit back, ans relax."

The visor was still flashing over the woman, but Addison ignored it, for the time being.

The woman was shuffling and stumbling like a zombie.

She didn't necessarily bleed. It wasn't just pouring out of her. But blood was exiting her body somehow.

And her eyes. They were empty. Not sorrowful. Not full of sadness. Not even ready for blood.

It was as if she were dead.

And yet here she was, walking and talking.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

Suddenly Austin cried out in pain and fell to his knees. He dropped his rifle and held his head in his hands.

"What the hell!?" He squeezed his eyes shut.

The woman's body language didn't change. She continued shuffling forward. Slowly. Softly crying, and repeatedly whispering "I'm sorry."

Addie's visor piped up again.

PSIONIC ENERGY DETECTED. ALLOW MENTAL LINK?

The visor's whole color shifted from blue to red now. It was obviously telling her to shoot. Now.

Addison didn't hesitate. The moment Austin dropped to his knees, Addie fired everything she could st the woman. Thing. Creature. She slid her pistol back to her thigh, so jt could recharge, and snatched up the rifle Austin had dropped. She kept firing, and firing, until the woman thing fell.

Whether she stayed down or not, they were getting out of there. She grabbed his arm with her free hand, and yanked him uo, thankful for the boost the suit gave her.

"C'mon, we gotta go, we can't stay. Are you okay?"

She made an effort to get him to the door, glancing back, rifle ready to fire if the woman got back up.

The woman took every shot. She was only slowed her pace, and continued (although the sound of her voice bounced with every bolt of plasma) to apologize in the eerie fashion she had done before.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

The rifle's power was a bit stronger. One of the bolts hit her in the chest and she crumpled to her knees.

Entirely blackened eyes stared up at Addison. The expression on the woman's face was one of intense hatred.

"I'm..." She muttered through gritted teeth, "Sorry."

With that she fell forward. Her short hair showed a computer chip embedded into her neck. This one had a longer antenna than the one in Austin's. (I think I mentioned at one point in OOCChat that all neck chips have antennae. Sorry for not bringing it up ICly. )

Austin grabbed Addison's arm and stood up. "I'm fine. Sorry. She was one of those telepathic cyborgs. I'm sorry. Should have been more aware. We need to go."

(No worries, everyone forgets stuff now and then.)

She raised her eyebrows. Telepathic cyborgs. Great. Just peachy. Addison just nodded, making a mental note to ask him more later, when they weren't in such a perilous situation.

Once he was on his feet, she pushed him towards the door. "C'mon we gotta get back to the car." As they moved back through the apartment complex, she kept her rifle up, ready to fire on anything thatmoved. The pistol, once it was ready for use, was held out to him, walking on the balls of her feet to keep her steps as quiet as she could. The less attention they drew, the better, right?

She paused to peer around a corner, trying to see if the coast was clear to get to the car and get back on the move and out of the area.

Austin nodded with a groan. "Mmkay."

He followed her closely. His vision was blurred. He took the pistol and examined it, putting his left hand over his right and stabilizing it.

When Addie paused, Austin accidentally bumped into her. "I'm sorry," he muttered. There was nothing in the parking lot.

Wait.

Addison's visor picked up movement on the horizon. It was quick.

Infection detected within immediate area. Evasive action recommended.

A small map was pulled up in the bottom left corner of the visor's 'screen.' Two red dots appeared on it.

Addie grimaced. Crap. How were they going to do this?

She hissed, trying to think quickly. The visor blinked over the apartments nearby, to a dumpster that had been overturned. It turned red, indicating that she should fire at it. So she did, without hesitation.

The dumpster erupted into flames, with the papers and garbage igniting after being so dry for so long.

The red dots immediately started to move towards it, putting considerable distance between them, and without hesitation, Addison grabbed Austin's hand and practically dragged him to the car, sprinting as fast as she could go. She waved at him to go around and get in his side, and she all but dove through the window to start the car.

Austin quickly realized what Addison was thinking, and opened his door as fast as humanly possible.

They got out of there in time to see the Infected close in on the building they were in. Their car was all but unnoticed.

Austin didn't even pause to think about what could be in that horrible place.

"Floor it!"

~~~~

Winter came quickly. It wasn't too cold, at first. This was Texas, after all.

Austin's behavior and demeanor changed rapidly and drastically. One day he was too tired to be able to do much of use. The next he'd be closed to anything that might happen in the outside world.

There would be days when the car wouldn't start, and the suit would give it a jump. Infection attacks became more frequent. Food was scarce now. The cold had scared off or killed anything that could be eaten.

Today Austin was feeling relatively normal. He said he was good to drive.

By now they had already hit Dallas, and Austin. Neither of those two major cities' checkpoints were active. It was starting to snow.

Austin's plan was to move on to Arizona next. There had to be a state where someone was still active. There had to be.

He glanced over at Addie and smiled.

"You doing okay?"

Addie was curled up in the passenger seat. To be honest, she really wasn't. She could handle the now frequent attacks. Ahe could handle the car trouble, the cold, and the snow. She could even cope with Austin's mood changes, even though they gave her whiplash. But all of those things, smashed together? It was taking it's toll on her.

But, she managed to smile faintly back at him, nodding. "Yeah, I'm alright. Let me know if you get tired and I'll drive." She offered.

The already slender woman was incredibly thin now. Her hair was longer, having not been cut in ages, but it was almost always braided and pulled up out of the way. After answering him, she returned to just staring out the wind shield, hands tucked beneath her to keep her fingers warm.

You're an idiot. Of course she isn't okay.

I'm trying to be nice to her. You're not helping.

The nicest thing you could do for her would be to just shoot yourself. You've put her through enough.

And then what? Let her carry the weight of these circumstances on her own?

As if she isn't already!

That's your fault.

You say that like we're two different people.

We are! You're a result of Infection. An outsider. Leave me to my thoughts!

I am your thoughts.

"Alright, good to know. Thanks, I will."

Austin's physique was much worse as well. Dark circles were under his eyes, and he was a bit thinner. He couldn't afford to lose much more weight, though. He needed his strength.

After a few moments in silence, Austin sighed deeply and rolled his eyes. "Hey," he looked over at Addison again. She didn't look like she was doing alright. "We've been traveling for a while. What do you say we take a break?" Rest was scarce. What little time they did have to even close their eyes was more often than not spent in paranoid insomnia.

"It might help if we ate something, too." On their last gas station trip, Austin had made sure to stock up on non-perishables.

Addie know he wasn't much better off. They both looked like hell, and it probably wouldn't take much more to do one or both of them in.

At his sigh, and then following suggestion, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. Turning to glance at him again, she hesitated for a moment. Was he serious? They both desperately needed a break, but she didn't they'd get one.

"That..sounds like a good idea, actually.. We're getting closer to New Mexico, there's more trees out here, and hills, so we could just.. find a place to camp for a day or two, I guess. " She assumed he just meant a short break. She'd take what she could get, at this point.

"I have all of those matches, so we could actually try and have a hot meal, for a change."

They stopped at a place with lots of trees, camped for a few days, and ate. Austin was even able to find and kill a few birds.

Time passed. By now they had traveled to every major city in the state on the way to AZ.

The border passed uneventfully.

After some hours of driving, Austin blacked out. If you were to ask him what happened, he would answer with "I wish I knew."

An indeterminate amount of time later, Austin woke up in a SET cruiser. The same one he had gotten to at Fort Worth.

So at least one other checkpoint was active. Unfortunately, he was on a cruiser filled with Infected SET Operatives and civilians. He was at least 220 miles above the earth.

Fun.

Addie was on the complete opposite side of the massive ship. She had almost no recollection of what happened. She remembered Austin blacking out behind the wheel, and the car they were in going nose first into a rather deep ditch, then it was lights out.

Now, however, it was apparently going to be business as usual. Only worse, because she was in a confined space, on a cruiser, 200-some miles above the earth. And to make matters worse, there was no sign of Austin anywhere around her. Just that watch. As soon as she had woken up, and realized what was happening, she had pressed the side button, and activated the suit of armor. She was at least familiar with it by now. Hopefully she could survive a little longer.

She had actually done fairly well, which surprised even her. Though the cruiser was packed with hostiles, she was small enough to squeeze into smaller spaces and keep out of sight. When she found herself unable to walk anymore, her head pounding, legs aching from her previous injuries, she found a small storage room, and barricaded herself inside, using the plasma beam from the suit's pistol to more or less seal the door, once she had made sure the room was empty.

She didn't bother taking the suit off, just the helmet. Sitting against the far wall, facing the door, for the first time in several months, she drew her knees in to her chest, put her arms on her knees, head on her arms, and just cried.

Austin was probably dead, or had turned into one of those monsters.

She was completely on her own now.

Austin's first goal was to find a combat suit. One that wouldn't generate plasma while he was without shields. Unfortunately, he'd need to get to an armory first. That meant dodging Infected. He'd either have to find a suit on a fallen operative or make do without until he found Addie. That was assuming that she was still alive, which was unfortunately unlikely.

Austin kept clear of large groups of Infected, hoping they wouldn't notice him. An Infected person's senses can vary, so he made sure to stay very far away or behind heavy cover.

Guns weren't hard to find. The watches weren't either. Only problem was that they were pretty much destroyed.

Austin found a railgun that wasn't completely crushed. It was designed for combat against heavy armor, and assumed that the user would be wearing SET Combat Armor. The thing kicked like a truck.

The ship's layout was simple. It had ten floors. Each floor had a designated purpose. The first floor was designed for Orbital Drops. Second was the mess hall and training floor. Third was also training. Fourth through sixth was intel and archives. Seventh floor was the bridge between it all, and eight through ten was control.

Austin thought he was on the fifth floor. Hopefully somebody was smart enough to leave their armor on...

For a short while, she allowed herself to get it all out. But, she wasn't about to just sit in that storage locker until she starved to death. There had to be someone else on the cruiser who wasn't dead or Infected.

Bringing her helmet back on, she fiddled with the watch for a while. Finally, she figured out how to turn the thermal sensors on. What she saw was terrifying.

She was surrounded, up, down, beside, in every direction. Monstrous shapes trudged along on multiple levels, the Infected of course varying in shapes and sizes.

She was about to seriously consider giving up and just staying put to die after all, when she caught a glimpse of something below her, but quite a ways down the ship from her. A single form, that looked upright, proportionate..human. Even if it wasn't Austin, if there was a chance it was someone else alive, she had to try, right?

She leaped to her feet, unsealing the door as quickly and quietly as she could, before she cracked it open, and peered out into the hallway. For the moment, the coast was clear, and she took advantage of it. She looked all around, trying to find the quickest route down. She didn't want the person to move before she got there. She was about to check out one of the ventilation shafts when there was an incredibly loud crash behind her. An Infected had knocked over giant cargo crates.

The sound probably would have echoed through a good portion of the ship.

Austin heard the noise. It was muffled, but it was above him. He made his was to the nearest staircase and ran upwards. The next floor up had more infected than he anticipated. He kept his head down and moved quickly and quietly down the corridors. That sound meant something was happening. Austin needed to get there fast.

Moments passed before he was in a wide open area. Cargo boxes. There was a huge tank of an Infected man, obviously looking for something. Or someone.

Austin didn't hesitate to put the gun to his shoulder and holding down the trigger. The three second charging period passed, and when he released it the bolt of electrified steel hurtled through the air and tore the thing to shreds. A bit of blood was generously shared.

Austin's eyes scanned carefully for signs of life. The low lighting of the ship wasn't helping matters much. He heard growling, crying, and other sounds that meant more Infection were close.

Austin dropped the steaming (and now empty) railgun and looked for a place to hide.

Addie was just about to be spotted by the infected when something tore it apart. She ducked down, flinching as blood sprayed everywhere. Army-crawling, pistol in hand, as soon as she heard the crying and growls start to get closer, and the HUD of her helmet started showing the movement, she scrambled to her feet and practically sprinted back to the storage room. She'd have to wait for them to settle down, cause she certainly couldn't take them al-

Wait.

She caught a glimpse of something on her visor. That shape, that human form. It wasn't far from her now! She took a few steps in the direction of the person, pistol ready, just in case. Suddenly, one of the Infected shapes on her screen was right beside her; damn it. She had been too focused on trying to get to that person. She fired into it, but the thing was big enough that it just kind of made it angrier, and it slapped her into the wall across from it. She grunted as she slammed into the metal, then the ground, but with the distance, it gave her the opportunity to pull down the rifle from her back. She was able to kill that one, but her ears were filled with cries and growls. Crap.


She didn't have a choice. The human was going to hide, and she couldn't shout, or risk just completely giving away her position to every Infected on the level. So instead, she just grabbed her pistol, stowing it, making sure her rifle was ready, and took off the other way. The sheer volume of noise was a pretty good indication tha tshe didn't need to just hide; she needed to leave that area, NOW.

An armored SET Operative ran past him.

Shoot.


The growls grew louder and louder. It was now or never. Austin decided to give chase to the operative.

After a few moments, he realized that was a mistake. A former SET Operative, whose armor was still attached, jumped out at him. The muscles bulged and the armor was cracked and missing a few pieces, but the visor was still mostly intact.

Austin did a once-over and raised his eyebrows. "Mind if I borrow that?"

The Infected responded by punching Austin in the gut. Austin coughed and decided that this wasn't worth it. He kept running. More Infected appeared, and soon he was in yet another scene straight out of Jurassic Park. But replace a herd of dinosaurs with crimson zombies that had twice the abilities of a superhuman.

Screwed.

Austin dove for the nearest man sized air vent and crawled as far away as possible. He hoped he could find the other person ASAP.