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[Fire Ze Missiles!]

((OOC: You asked for it, here it is. This is IC, so please nobody post any replies. If you have any questions, queries, praise, hate-mail, or just general discussion and theories, feel free to make a topic in the OOC section. Now, onto the important stuff...))

+++ Several hours after the events on 13th Street +++

Alpha had been running for hours, but had almost reached his destination; he could see the blot of the dam growing on the horizon. In a little while, he drew to a halt outside the traffic-control hut on the edge of it. Barging through the broken door, he crouched down, letting the weight he had been carrying fall to the floor. He tapped on the floor three times; slowly, loudly. A CCTV camera in the corner of the room groaned as it turned to face him. Alpha rose to his feet and stared at the camera until, after a short wait, the floor before him opened. Picking up his load, he jumped down into the abyss.

Ten minutes later, having proceeded through an extensive yet meaningless series of security checks, Alpha found himself striding down a dank corridor, periodically lit by dim electric lights on the ceiling. The hum of the dam's enormous hydro-electric generators permeated the entire complex. At one point he passed a patrolling guard, who shrank against the wall as he passed.

Soon, he padded through the door into a large operating theater. A tall young man in a lab coat stood bent over a cadaver laid out on an operating table. He turned as Alpha entered, revealing his shock of striking blond hair and piercing blue eyes.
"Ah, Alpha, good to see you back." His voice felt reassuring, like an old radio presenter. Alpha nodded his acknowledgment.
"You have brought what I asked for, I presume?" Alpha nodded again, and laid down his load on another table.
The Doctor examined the body for a moment. "Do you know his name?"
'One of his companions called him Gary.'
"Companions?" asked the Doctor, raising an eyebrow quizzically. For the briefest of moments, Alpha said nothing.
'Dead. I killed them.'
"Naturally. They didn't go down without a fight, I see?" spoke the enigmatic Doctor, gesturing to the large buckshot wound in Alpha's shoulder. He continued,
"Get yourself down to the medical wing and cleared up. Have a look at those slash wounds as well, they're pretty deep. Oh, and it's time you got another shot."
Alpha left without replying. The Doctor sighed, and dragged a sheet over the first body. It was too old to work with, the subject had died on the table. This Gary ought to be much more useful...

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Two hours later, Alpha strode out of the medical wing, his enormous shoulders brushing the walls. He walked confidently along the dim corridors, though he had nowhere to go. He didn't need to sleep or eat, unlike the inferior creations; he had nothing to do.
He continued to wander aimlessly around the vast complex, moving through checkpoints, airlocks and automatic doors for hours. Eventually, he found that he had somehow completed a full circuit. Just as he realized this, the Doctor stepped smartly from a doorway.
"Ah, there you are Alpha. I've been looking all over for you."
Though the Doctor's smart appearance said otherwise, Alpha simply replied 'Why?'
"I want to show you something. Follow me."
Intrigued, Alpha did as he was bade. They quickly arrived at the doors to the operating theater.
'So what is it that requires my attention so urgently?' Alpha asked, as the Doctor found his keys.
"My experiment - the subject you brought back - it worked!" He pushed open the heavy doors to reveal the floodlit operating table.
The man Alpha had returned with was lain out upon it, hundreds of syringes and electrodes protruding from all over his punished body.
'Why the straps?' he inquired, gesturing at the strong bonds which held the man to the table.
"Well... he probably won't be too pleased when he wakes up."
'Wakes up?'
"Yes. He will be like you,..."
A voice echoed in Alpha's mind. "Become...like you? I...choose...death!"
"...but faster, stronger, leaner! He-"
The Doctor's monologue was cut short as Alpha grabbed his neck and slammed him against the wall.
'Can it be stopped?' He snarled, threateningly.
"No... the process.. has begun!" choked the Doctor, struggling in Alpha's death-grip.
'How much will he remember?'
"Nothing!" Alpha growled and pulled the Doctor close to him. "But there are triggers! Some things... will make him remember!"
The Doctor breathed in, terrified for his life. Agonisingly slowly, Alpha's head moved in a nod. The Doctor exhaled heavily, relieved to have escaped Alpha's wrath. I'll have to have him put down... he thought to himself.
'I heard that.' came the reply.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

The Doctor's eyes widened in terror. Alpha snarled.
"Please!" he whimpered. "Don't...hurt me!"
'Pathetic...' sent Alpha.
There was a quiet crack, and Alpha let the unconscious Doctor fall to the ground. He sighed; he would have very much liked to kill the Doctor, but he knew he could not. Not just yet anyway. Instead, he moved to a workbench and grabbed a syringe. It contained what was essentially an amnesia serum, which the Doctor used on the patients he re-awakened. He stabbed it into the Doctor's neck, and turned to the operating table.
Alpha examined the cadaver. When he looked past all the things sticking out of it, the body looked largely the same. Same long hair, same wild stubble, same tall, muscular build. In fact, except for a little scarring, it looked exactly the same. He leant in to look closer. This was incredible, barely a hair out of place. Alpha leant even further in, staring hard for some kind of disfigurement, anything. How could this be? Surely-
Gary's eyes snapped open, and he roared. A feral, wild roar. Alpha jumped back, warily. The monster that once was Gary raved and screamed, tearing at its bonds. Fortunately, they were too strong for him. Alpha knew he had to calm him somehow.
'Gary!' he sent, 'Gary Angelos!'
The creature paused.
'Gary Angelos. That is your name, is it not?'
No reply. Alpha tried again.
'Gary. Do you remember how to speak?'
An inhuman growl emerged from Gary's throat, then a series of other bizzare noises. Clearly he was attempting to speak.
'Don't worry Gary, it'll come back to you. Listen to me now.'
Gary stopped, and tugged at his bonds again, meaningfully.
'Yes, Gary. I'm going to release your bonds, OK? Just stay calm.'
Alpha moved over to the table, and undid Gary's left leg. He twitched slightly, but did not thrash. Alpha breathed a sigh of relief, and undid the right leg. Still no movement. He undid Gary's arms and took a step backwards.
'There now. Just stay calm, and I'll-'
Alpha's reassurances were cut short as Gary leapt from the table, throwing Alpha's huge bulk to the ground. He snarled, and raised a fist above Alpha's head. For a few seconds it hovered there, ready to smash Alpha's face to a pulp. But it did not descend.
Gary growled again, then leapt away, out the door.
'Oh, fuck.' thought Alpha, climbing to his feet. There was something inhuman about the way Gary moved, but however he did it, he was definitely fast. And Alpha had to catch him.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Alpha leapt out of the doors and sprinted down the corridor after Gary, who was already out of sight. He stopped at a fork, looking around him frantically. 'Where the hell'd he go?!'
A burst of gunfire rang out to his left. Alpha charged down the narrow passage. He sped up as he heard a gurgling scream. Alpha did not stop as he passed the guard post. The enormous bloodstain sprayed up the wall told him everything he needed to know.
More screams and gunfire erupted form ahead of him, and suddenly Alpha knew where Gary was going.
'Oh, shit. Major shit!'
Brushing aside tables and chairs, bodies and blood-heavy air, Alpha barged through the now open doors of the security checks and pushed into the entrance annex to see the elevator slowly ascending, just out of sight.
Alpha didn't stop to think. Had he done so, he may well have reconsidered his actions. As it was, he simply ran forward and leapt, his fingers grasping for a dangling tow-cable. As he saw the endless depth of the lift shaft spread beneath him, he could feel the air rushing past his greyed skin. He saw every tiny sparkle, glint and reflection from the vast metal gridwork.
And as he soared through the still air, he had a thought. 'This is nothing, Alpha. You've died before.'

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Alpha's vast bulk slammed crushingly into the far wall of the elevator shaft, but he came up swinging. As he hung suspended from the cable and the lift continued upwards at an agonisingly slow pace, he reflected on what he had just done. He'd never have done that...before. But before his ruminations got too deep, the lift juddered to a halt.

Alpha pulled himself out of the trapdoor on the dam surface, and looked about him. Where'd that bastard gone now...
Then Alpha saw him, sprinting away from the dam at full pelt, and took off in pursuit. He kept his distance for a few minutes' sprinting before issuing his summons.
'Gary Angelos! Halt! I said halt damn you!' he continued as Gary failed to slow.
'Gary Angelos! I can take you to your friends!'
He stopped running. And turned.
"My friends? My friends who you killed?!"
'What? No! I did not kill them Gary, I swear it.'
He growled. "So. Say I believe you - for now - how can you take me to them? How do I know you're not just leading me to some pointless backwater?"
Somehow, Alpha's mental pause was audible, before he said, 'You don't. You'll just have to trust me.'
"Ha! Trust! I barely remember it, you know. I don't...I can't remember their names. Only the faces. Screaming. Crying. Dying. I don't know if I trusted them. I don't even know whether they were my friends at all. I..." Gary choked up, and sat down heavily on a rock.
"I know I used to be someone, I am Gary Angelos. But I don't know anything about him. I might as well be one of them. I don't remember their names! How can I not know the names?!" he was almost screaming at the end, then collapsed head in hands.
'They were.'
"What?"
'They were you're friends. They came back for you.'
"Did they? Then why am I here?"
'Because I stopped them. I stopped them and I took you away. I'm sorry. I'm sorry it's turned out like this.'
Gary looked up. "Turned out like what?"

Edited by Fire Ze Missiles!, 23 March 2008 - 07:13 PM.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Alpha stalked through the dim corridors, awaiting orders. The summons did not take long to arrive, and his required presence was announced over the PA system.
Alpha swiftly made his way to the familiar briefing chamber, where the Doctor awaited him.
"Ah, Alpha, good to have you with us." he called. Alpha noted with displeasure the presence of Beta and Gamma, creatures similar to himself, yet infinitely inferior.
"All right then gentlemen, this is your charge. You are to head to....."
The Doctor droned on, and Alpha switched off. His brain was logging everything the damn fool was saying, and he could call it up at will. But right then, he had other things to think about. He was thinking about Gary, wondering where he was, how much he could remember...
Alpha sighed inwardly, he knew that he may well never know what happened to Gary Angelos, their paths had crossed so briefly. The Doctor's talk seemed to have reached an end, and the arrogant Beta and show-off Gamma moved to leave.
"Alpha, wait behind a moment please." Alpha paused, and waited for his companions to leave the room before turning to the scrawny figure that hailed him.
"Alpha. As my most trusted servant, I have a special task for you." Alpha raised a sceptical eyebrow.
'Do enlighten me.'
"You are to accompany the other two for the first few days, then split off and head north. I imagine you recall a certain...incident last week."
'You mean the escape of your test subject?'
"Quite. This must be rectified. You need to catch him for me, bring him back in. If he stays escaped it could wreak untold havoc on my plans. Understand?"
'Of course, master.' Alpha bowed his head, and ducked from the room, smiling.

***

Gary dived to the side and rolled up onto his knees. The confused creature span on its heels to face him, but he had already launched himself toward it. The misbegotten sprinter attempted a clumsy lunge at Gary, but met only his bladed fist. Its head flew apart in a shower of gore, laying yet another coat of reddy-brown over Gary's travel-stained clothes. The man suddenly pivoted at the waist, bringing his hand round in a sweeping arc. His blade found his mark, near decapitating the infected attempting to sneak behind him. Gary finished it with a square punch to the nose, caving in it's putrid face.
As it collapsed, Gary stood motionless, breathing heavily. The lightly-forested floor about him was littered with bodies; he had been beset by an entire pack of sprinters. He could not remember how he had survived their attack - the red haze had robbed him of most of his memory of the scene - but survived he had.
He panted heavily and, wiping his various blades on the grass of the clearing, returned to the hunt. The tracks he had followed here had been too indistinct to take any further, but he was sure there were some clearer cut markings round here somewhere....
A rustle behind him. Gary span and crouched, raising his unusual weaponry in readiness. A squirrel. Just a squirrel. Strange that something so innocent should thrive in a world so corrupted...
Gary turned back to the ground around him, and padded off in a randomly chosen direction. He was on the hunt for his friends, and he would find them, though it may take him months. He would find them again...

Edited by Fire Ze Missiles!, 26 February 2008 - 10:14 PM.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Alpha was running hard, the ground shaking beneath his tremendous footfalls. He had lost Beta and Gamma yesterday, by setting fire to the building that he had been sat alone in. Much to their confusion, they had been unable to find Alpha's body, for he was already long gone. The pair cared little for each other, and less for Alpha, and it was likely that they had simply continued with their charge. But nevertheless, it was wise for Alpha to put as much distance between himself and his erstwhile companions as possible. Besides, he didn't want them to know about Gary.
The creature carried on running, his vigilant eyes constantly scanning the ground for signs. Tracks, fallen leaves, deserted birds' nests, broken twigs. Anything that might indicate the man's presence. For a lesser being, this would have been a difficult task, but faced with Alpha's superhuman senses and tracking experience, the task paled into insignificance. It was not long before Alpha was following flattened grass and Gary's unique scent deep into the forests that blanketed this area.
The forests were springing up everywhere. All across the world, there was no deforestation, no logging, no paper to be made. No-one to cut back the weeds from the highways. Without mankind to tend to them, Nature was reclaiming the cities. And she would not be stopped.
Alpha liked to think of himself as a force of nature...

***

Gary stalked silently through the undergrowth, watching. On the other side of the clearing, something broke a twig. Gary frowned in annoyance as the doe's head snapped up, warily. But nothing further happened, and the animal returned to her gentle grazing. She was stood right in the centre of the clearing, as far from the borders of the woodland as possible. It would be difficult to reach her before she sprang away. Gary was fast, but not even he could catch a frightened deer. This would have to be subtly done.
Picking up a stone by his foot, Gary weighted it in his hand. Small, fairly jagged, solid. It would do. He looked carefully through the leaves of a bush, examining the distance, checking the wind, the shape of his projectile. At length, he was ready, and pulling his arm back, sighted one final time. Then, in one sudden motion his arm snapped forward and the stone embedded itself in the forehead of a shambler which had suddenly crashed into the clearing.
The doe reared in fright and sprinted away. Gary cursed violently. He had very little meat left over from his last kill, and was determined not to use the syringes Alpha had given him unless he absolutely had to. Infected meat was no good anyway; the taste was rotten.
Sighing, Gary rose to his feet. Recently, he had lost all direction in his search. He must have followed the wrong tracks at some point, for he had found himself in a completely abandoned area with no human trails younger than a few months - the beginning of the outbreak. Where to go from here, he did not know. For a moment, he wished that the enigmatic Alpha had remained with him; he always seemed to have a plan. But the moment passed, and Gary returned to his fruitless search for clues.
He paused. Something had just made a noise. It was either very loud and very far away, or more likely, very quiet and very close. Gary dropped noiselessly to the ground and looked about him. He could see nothing, yet a prickling sensation on the back of his neck told the man that something could see him. Slowly, Gary swiveled around, checking every angle, even above him. But wherever he turned, there was only the silent emptiness of the wood to behold.
There! He had seen something, a tiny flash of grey. So, it was as he had suspected. Someone, or something, was tailing him. For how long and for what purpose he did not know, but soon he would find out.
A grim expression of purpose settled across Gary's features as he crawled slowly towards where he knew his watcher to be. As he progressed, he flicked out the shining blade attached to his wrist, ready for whatever was behind that tree...
Gary was now right next to the tree. Whoever was spying on him was but inches form him, and they surely must have known it. Yet there was no movement...no matter. In a single fluid motion, Gary launched himself to his feet, swung round the tree and grabbed his observer. Raising his blade and his face to his opponents, he let out a feral snarl-
And stopped. In his hand, he held only a scrap of cloth. His eyes widened in realisation, and he span on his heel.
'Hello Gary.'
The man smiled, and lowered his hand.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again."
'I'm full of surprises.'
Gary laughed. It was amazing how heartened he was by this mysterious appearance - 10 minutes ago he would not have been able to laugh even if he'd wanted to. "So. Killed the Doctor yet?"
'Alas, no.'
"Then...what are you doing here?"
Alpha paused, as if hesitant to admit whatever truth he was concealing. 'He sent me to reclaim you.'
"I see..." said Gary, his smile departing.
'Don't worry, though. I have no intention of obeying my orders. There are grander schemes at work here.'
"Do indulge me."
'I take it from your absence of companions that you have not yet found your friends?'
"Indeed. And pretty fucking frustrating it is too."
Alpha nodded. 'Of course. Well, I may be able to help.'
Imperceptibly, Gary's eyes brightened. "I was hoping you'd say that."
Alpha's damaged face contorted into what might once have been a smile. 'I found you didn't I? But listen, this is not just random altruism. Your companions are in greater danger than they know.'
Gary tensed, as if by being ready himself he could somehow protect them. "What do you mean?"
'There is a creature, a distant relative of mine, who is following them. His power is terrible, his hunger great. For the past two weeks, he has been leaving a wake of destruction across the land. Two bands of survivors have been all but obliterated by his attention already.'
"What? We have to stop him!"
'It's not as easy as just that. His psionic powers are enhanced beyond even mine, and the hordes will bend to his will without hesitation.'
"So what? We can deal with little'uns easy enough."
'Gary, let me put it this way. He has four arms.'
"...Ah."

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

((And then a lot of stuff happened which is at the end of Chapter 2 I think, and then this happened.))

Gary staggered, and fell to his knees. Surprised, Alpha quickly moved to support him.
'Gary? Are you allright?'
The man gasped in pain, then shuddered. "I...fuck me. Ow." Alpha relaxed, and stood up.
'What was that about then? Are you getting me all worried for nothing?'
"The Screamer. He's dead."
Alpha blinked. 'Eh?'
"Y'know, dead. Deceased. Done. Down and out. Kicked the metaphorical bucket. And quite painfully it felt like too."
'Oh...well that makes our job somewhat easier, in the short term at least. Are you sure it was him?'
Gary grimaced. "I'm sure. Having met him, you don't forget how his mind feels. That was definitely him, and definitely just released a lot more psychic energy than is healthy all at once. Thus, I deduce, dead."
Alpha nodded. He had come to trust Gary's enhanced senses more than his own. 'Very well. We must find what is left of him then. Discover the cause of death.'
"Agreed. It didn't feel like too far from here."

* * *

((And then some stuff happened at the beginning of Chapter 3. And then this happened.))


He had no idea where he was. Everything was darkness. Gradually, he became aware of something. It drifted in and out of his consciousness, and he gradually realized what it was. A name. His name. Ryn.
'Ryn Necavero...', he thought, 'that's an odd name.'
Suddenly, he noticed a brightness, far above him. Intrigued, Ryn floated towards it. As he approached he felt something, a tingling sensation he did not recognise. Ryn was confused, and wanted answers. He had no idea what was going on or why it was doing that. The universe was being cruel to him, and he would not stand for it.
He tried approaching the light from different directions, but the unpleasant tingling continued. It always seemed to know where to find him. Frowning, he made up his mind.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, he launched himself at the light. As he neared, the tingling increased, but he did not feel it. He was elated by his success...
Ryn's eyes flashed open, and he remembered everything. Looking down at his mangled body, he screamed.
"Whoa, easy boy..." said a familiar voice.
Twisting his face in pain, Ryn forced himself to look up. He recognized the face that swam into focus above him, but he hadn't seen it for a long while...where did he know it from?
"Gary?" he tried to say. but all that emerged was a strangled yell of immense pain.
"Hey, hey, cool it Ryn. Don't you move anything, OK? It's me, Gary. You remember me?"
Ryn appeared to nod, but it could have just been a spasm of pain. Wiping a hand across his eyes, Gary stared down at the mangled remains of his former friend below him.
"I'm gonna save you Ryn." he said, his voice cutting through Ryn's pain haze to his conscious brain. "I'm gonna save you. Don't you worry."
Gary looked up at Alpha, who stood above them, looking sorrowful. "We can help him, right? We can save him?"
Alpha stared at Gary. 'Not without making him one of us.'
Gary stared back, then looked at the pitiful wreck writhing in pain beneath him. His eyes set hard.
"Do it. Save him."
Alpha nodded, and withdrew several syringes from Gary's backpack.
'Ryn Necavero,' he sent, injecting the first syringe. 'Forget your pain. Move back into the darkness. Stay away from the light until we call you. Stay in the darkness...'

Edited by Fire Ze Missiles!, 30 June 2008 - 02:09 PM.