TEST DRIVE MEME #1.

[therunning]

OPTIONS: WAKING UP You wake up in a studio in an apartment building that's got windows all boarded up. You remember being sick, you remember dying, and you probably can't believe this is the afterlife. If you head out into the hall you'll see that others are heading out too, looking just as confused as you are. All of you died, most of you of the same thing. If you head down to the front office, you'll meet a native resident who will explain in brief that you're in Aqora, a settlement living among the undead and that people like you show up every so often. You'll be given an informational pamphlet, a shitty cell phone, and a walkie. Then you'll be expected to figure it out. No one has time to hold your hand. EXPLORING Miscellaneous things here: shops and restaurants turned into places to live, apartments full of people living day to day, the main focus (the library) being the hub where people come to learn and children go to school. Because school never ends, even in the apocalypse. Feel free to buddy up with other newcomers to figure out what the hell is going on. OR, say you've been here a while. It's time to figure out how to get more supplies! Let's go on a supply run. You'll just be heading out past the barricades to start, and you'll have to dig through buildings to try and find things. If you're lucky, maybe you'll hit a cache. If you're unlucky, you'll find too many undead to fight. No one goes out alone though, so hopefully your partner can help. "NETWORK" Someone has set up a rudimentary network using the nearest cell towers. You can communicate with others in the area but only via voice and text. Anything further out is voice only via walkies. You can have a username or leave it blank. Have fun, campers.

Comments

[shambler]

Peter shuffles back, his ratty shoes with their treads, worn from all the shuffling, squeaking slightly. He starts to hold up his hands and he can't tell if he wants to grab or he's trying to show he's unarmed.

"I'm....R," he says and he's actually relieved he not only can remember his name today, he can get it out it one shot. Barely any groaning. Go him. "Heard...talk...ing. Curious."

And this probably won't help, but he's pretty full from the zombie buffet last night - while he had time to scrub his face clean of gore in a street puddle, it hasn't been long enough where his permanently dry mouth starts leaking black fluid instead of spit. For a corpse he figures he's presentable. Hopefully conversation-decent if the door opens. Can't even remember when he had one of those.

[choosetruth]

"R." She sounds skeptical. It's not much of a name. And he might be talking, but you can hardly call what he's saying full sentences. And while she's curious herself, she's also not interested in dying today. Indulging curiosity isn't enough of a reason to be stupid. Not without Shaun here to watch her back, anyway.

"Why haven't we met before?" The settlement only has so many people. It's not impossible there's someone with a single letter name that she hasn't run into before, but he sounds like she'd remember him. Slurred speech is a sign of amplification, at least where she's from, so it's something she'd pay attention to. Unless it's new, and that's even more worrying.

Goddamn, does she ever miss blood tests.

[shambler]

"Uhhh..."

R suddenly has the vague inkling that this probably isn't the brightest idea he's ever had. He knows he doesn't have it in him to lie - numbed lips that struggle around words don't help - and he's afraid of telling her the truth, that he's pretty much homeless and his gainful employment is basically shuffling, murder and cannibalism. If he had working blood vessels, they'd be turning his face a bright shade of red.

He could shuffle away. Or he could hang onto her voice, the ups and downs, the way she actually seems interested in anything at all.

"You're...new...?" R tries to stall as he waffles between what to do. His gray, mottled lips purse into a line. "Not...from camp."

There.

[choosetruth]

"Not that new." The way he's talking is setting her on edge. Like it's one dragged syllable away from a moan. But he's obviously not a zombie. Zombies can't talk.

"What do you mean, not from camp?" She frowns. "Have you been bitten?"

Obviously not a zombie doesn't rule out in the process of becoming one. If that's the case, she might open the door. Wouldn't be her first mercy kill.

[shambler]

"...N-no...?"

This is the part where R probably should've done the proper zombie thing: either bust down the door and gone for the jugular or shuffled off, head hanging.

Beats his lame attempt at a groaning lie.

[choosetruth]

"You don't sound very sure about that."

Usually it's not a question. It sounds like a lie, though she knows the usual tells aren't always reliable, especially when you get scared.

"If you are, I can help you." By shooting him, of course, but what other help is there?