Rapture

[Fortune86]

With Whisperlee and all the others good to go James started off down the street. It only took a couple of minutes to leave Stanleyton and get onto the main road. Once on the carrigeway there were more cars, all abandoned, having either coasted to a stop or driven off the road or into a barrier. Thankfully a good chunk of the carridgeway was clear, but within five minutes James came across an obstruction.

 

As he slowed down to approach it James cursed. An Argos lorry, probably due to the sudden absence of its driver, had hit the side of a bridge and overturned across the road. The lorry itself self had split open and sprayed its contents all over the place, littering the road with cardboard boxes.

[Fangirl05]

"I'll man the map" Erin offered and extended her hand. She and hers hadn't explored very far beyond Hawkingsthorne while they were there, but she'd gotten a pretty good handle on how English streets were laid out.

 

She watched and shook her head sympathetically as Juane piled into the back of the ambulance and Mak took the driver's seat. "Poor Mak" she mused out loud.

[Avialae]

Micah had already gotten into the seat beside Petra and buckled himself in. It was a little confusing having to walk around to what he usually considered the driver's side to get in, but he didn't really want to sit next to the unfriendly mother cat, and, to a lesser extent, a litter of kittens who might not have learned to play nice yet. "No, that's all right, I'll do it," he told Erin. "Navigational responsibility belongs to the person sitting in front." Micah hadn't considered that British streets might be organized differently than American ones.

 

Micah couldn't really find it in him to feel much pity for Mak. Yeah, he normally wouldn't wish Jaune on anyone, but it was the other man's decision to travel with the dangerous boy in the first place. Given those circumstances, it only seemed right that Mak should have to be the one to put up with him.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Avialae

[Marcus Pheonix]

Jaune pulled himself up into the back of the ambulance and shut the door. He then lay his head down and grabbed one of the medical books in there.

"Do you get car sick when you drive Makky? I don't, though I find it funny when other people do, especially when they're not doing something like reading," Jaune said cheerfully to the driver. He then opened the book and skimmed through a few of the pages before stopping on cpr.

"Hmm, cpr really has changed over the years... I recall when people would pretend to have drowned just to have the hot life guard pull them in and kiss them, nowadays if that were to happen they'd just have someone cave in their chest thirty times first..." Jaune trailed off as he continued reading.

 

((Haha! Jaune can be a good boy!))

[Fangirl05]

Erin surrendered the map without complaint, but she wondered how a similar situation might play out in the future. Hardcore religious nuts being raised with unbending male and female societal roles, she considered that at some point he might try to talk one of the women out of doing something they loved, like asking Nay not to teach others to fight. She couldn't promise that she wouldn't let him get decked if that happened. Or that she wouldn't deck him herself just to teach him that girls could beat down a man.

 

As the small caravan set out, she touched the side of her forehead to the window to watch the scenery pass by. "Hey, Petra," she asked against her better judgement, "what were your kids like?"

[Salix]

Petra thanked Mak for the map, popping it on the dashboard of the car while she fiddled with her phone, calling up a Sat Nav app. she reasoned that while they still had the use of such technology it would be a shame not to make use of it. Once the destination was loaded she waited a few minutes to see if the Sat Nav was still working, and for it to show a route. To her surprise the Sat Nav showed the same route that Mak had marked up on the map.

 

Smiling she handed Micah the map. “I’ll try using the Sat Nav to navigate, but if you both wouldn’t mind keeping an eye out for any hazards and what-not I’d be grateful. I intend to keep behind Micah and Nay, so the map shouldn’t really be required unless we have to have to plot another route for some reason”.

 

As the convoy set off from the pub Petra pressed the button to activate the CD player, reasoning that a little driving music may help the time pass quicker. Adjusting the volume, to make sure they weren’t suddenly deafened by music, she grinned happily when the sounds of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody filled the car; obviously the previous owners of the Landover were people of taste and discernment. She glanced across to Micah to see if he was okay with the music, but he young man seemed to be concentrating on the road, and a glance in the rear-view mirror showed that Erin was looking out of the window.

 

Her miming along to Freddie Mercury was interrupted when Erin asked her question “What were your kids like”.

 

Petra paused for several seconds, first to swallow down the well of emotion that had threatened to engulf her as she thought about her children, and then when she had regained her composure, to think how she could answer the young girl.

 

“The boys….well they’re wonderful” she smiled “Yes I know that every parent thinks that about their children. They are full of mischief, adventure and life. Josh is the more adventurous one, always up to something and going on some escapade, and if there is trouble to be found then he will find it. Thomas….Thomas is the counterbalance to Josh, he is the more thoughtful, where Josh is quick to act, Thomas will think things though. Thomas loves reading, Josh likes reading too, but unless it’s a really good book he will lose his concentration and want to be off out doing something. Both the boys love making things. Steve, their Grandfather, had been teaching them about car mechanics and camping, and both of the boys loved it….but then they loved spending time with their Grandfather”.

 

After a short pause, Petra asked “What about you, how is it that you are in the UK, were you over here on your own?”

 

[Mistress of Whispers]

((I am currently swimming in deadlines and it'll be another week before I can type up a decent reply. Until then, just assume Wisperlee is tagging along.))

[Fortune86]

James turned off the engine of his bike and climbed off to go and investigate. The lorry had slid right across road under the bridge. While a person on foot could probably get around it, the convoy of vehicles that would be following after the two bikers would not. Since the lorry was on its side, just driving it out of the way was out of the question either.

 

Backtracking a few steps James tried to get the whole mess into view. On this side of the road there was an enbankment stopping vehicles from driving round the bridge, but the other side was clear. The downside was the barrier seperating the two sides of the road.

 

Checking the boxes he found squidgy bottle of sealant, the kind used to fill and cover small tracks. Getting back on his bike James drove back up the carridgeway until he found a gap in the barrier. Finding the darkest coloured car he could James used the sealant to draw a giant arrow across the bodywork, the white paste sticking out against the dark grey, to indicate to anyone approaching to go through the gap. On the other side of the road he drew another mark on a red car, to indicate to keep travelling down this side of the carridgeway.

 

Back at the bridge James drew one final arrow, to show that the bridge could be driven around on the right hand side.

[Fangirl05]

"My mother scored some time off work, and I'd saved up some pocket change, so I suggested we take a trip overseas," Erin explained, "it's just one of those things some people have on their bucket list. My sister wanted Ireland, but we couldn't find anything in our budget. Eventually we found a Good Samaritan willing to rent out their country house for a month." She chuckled. "Said Samaritan actually lived in Cambridge." She sighed. "We'd been here for two weeks."

[Kestra15]

By the time Mak's convoy had reached the signs left by their front-runners the sealant had dried in the sun, perhaps a good half hour or so behind the two scouts. The larger but slower ambulance was tucked in between the Land Rovers driven by Nay and Petra, making slow but steady process through the stilled traffic. Despite the disappearances being at night there was still sufficient traffic around to make the going slow, with mostly heavy goods vehicles littering the carriageways and occasionally blocking access to the smaller side-roads Mak would have preferred they taken. Occasionally wildlife - and domestic life - could be seen near the edges of the roads, but years of learned behaviour would not be undone overnight and many kept away from the roads despite the lack of traffic.

 

Mak managed to somehow filter out Jaune's ramblings as they drove towards their goal, and he relaxed enough to let the driver-side window down and settle into the drive. The fresh air and lack of noise actually made for a pleasant trip, the comforting sound of their fellow convoyers providing the illusion of a busier world than the one they actually inhabited. It was, if anything, a bit like taking a driving lesson all over again; easy roadways with parked vehicles to provide a static challenge to maneuvering, with only a few other users in the same tentative position as they were. It was just engaging enough to stop Mak dwelling on the bigger picture without unduly stressing him out.

 

The air was sweeter as they moved down one of the B-roads that had been indicated they take, away from the busier dual carriageways and threading past one of the small industrial estates, perhaps only an hour out from Oakington at the rate they were travelling. Mak recognised the small plant from his travels, one that always had a faint tang of sugar as they drove by though he had never discovered what it was. A sugar refinery seemed a bit far-fetched and it looked to small, but small-scale breweries were doted all over this area of England and it was likely one of those, or perhaps one of the Robinsons Squash factories. Normally it was a gentle, fruity scent that just coloured the air, but today it seemed thick and heady as they drove by.

 

The first Mak knew about the problem was he felt rather than heard the heavy *CRUMP*. The ambulance bucked as if rammed from behind by an articulated lorry, and then a flurry of sound and wind swept past the vehicle as it skidded hard to the right and angled towards the ditch on the other side of the road. Ears ringing and heart suddenly pounding Mak barely managed to stop a furious spin on the wheel and instead gently turned the wheel, one foot coming off the accelerator and the other down on the clutch to kill engine power but not try braking and making it worse. As twigs, leaves and dirt swirled by the ambulance he managed to straighten out on the road, catching a glance at Petra's car in front as it too got caught in the explosion. Barely giving a thought to the other cars on the road Mak battled to stop the ambulance from swinging too far the other way, the wheel sliding through his hands as he struggled to keep his frantic mind from overruling his calm body.

 

The explosion echoed around as the ambulance, somehow, managed a controlled stop straddling the white lines down the middle of the road, turned just slightly to the left. Exhaling as he pulled on the handbrake Mak took a few seconds to take stock of himself. Despite the shock of the impact and sudden jarring action forward he seemed mostly intact, the seatbelt saving him from being put through the windscreen. His chest ached and he would no doubt carry some bruising, but it had done the job. His neck felt fine and he could move all four limbs; as far as he could tell, he would make it.

 

Unclipping his seatbelt Mak looked into the rear view mirror to spot Nay's car; the explosion had occurred behind them and she therefore would have had a worse impact. Her own Land Rover had turned a full one-eighty but was otherwise intact; equally Petra's vehicle ahead of them was upright but stationary also.

 

And where the plant once stood was instead a towering fireball.

 

((GM note: Yes, Wisper and James can see the fireball from where they are. The East of England is very, very flat after all! -KM))

[Fangirl05]

Erin's eyes bulged at the sound and sudden pressure of an explosion, then shrieked in terror as the car spun in the ensuing chaos. She curled around Dingo the way airplane safety pamphlets showed mothers curling around their children.

 

Almost immediately they straightened out. After first enduring that she could move and Dingo was alive, she turned to panicking over the other two passengers.

 

"Micah! Petra! Are you okay?!"

[Fortune86]

James skidded to a halt when he saw a burst of fire in his mirrors. Tearing off his helmet he turned in his bike's seat for a better view. Fire and smoke were billowing up into the sky. It was more or less right behind him, back down the road he had been driving up. He didn't know where the others were. Had they been caught in the blast? Or had one of them been the cause? Had Juane doee something when people weren't looking?

 

Cursing louding James turned his bike around and started to drive back the way he came.

[Marcus Pheonix]

Jaune had been napping in the back of the ambulance when the explosion occured, and thus didn't know what it was that caused Mak to slam on the breaks. Lying on the floor of the van Jaune quickly slid forward and his head hit against the wall with a loud bang, waking him.

"Agh! What on earth was that!" Jaune exclaimed sitting up and holding his head. He looked down at Juni who had also been shocked awake but she had been cusioned by Jaunes body. Jaune stood up and walked to the back of the ambulance. He opened it up and looked outside. The others had stopped behind them, he turned his head and his eyes widened as he saw a huge smoke pillar from a nearby building.

"Wow! Someone is truely devoted, let's go have a look!" He said, shivering with excitement. He jumped out of the ambulance and began walking towards it before he paused and looked back at the others.

"For what It's worth I didn't do that!" He called out to them.

"I wish I had but..." He muttered quietly to himself.

[DragonSpirit009]

Emily didn’t say much as they drove. In the first place she didn’t want to get to involve with Juane mostly because he freaked her out and she wasn’t in the mood to talk to a crazy person. In the second place she enjoyed dozing off every now and then day dreaming about things that of course would never come true. It made her smile at least now and then causing her to forget what was really happening.

 

Emily patted Nougat on the head praising the dog that she was doing a great job for behaving while they drove. In return the pooch gave her a lick on her hand which made Emily even happier. The sun’s rays broke through the clouds and into the vehicle through the window. As the sunlight fell on Nougat’s golden coat the inside of the car suddenly lit up brightly. It blinded Emily a bit which caused her to move to the other side within the car.

 

Carefully Emily stepped over Nougat looking up and down making sure she didn’t step on her dog but in the process of moving she stopped half way. She looked out the window frowning. Something caught her eye in the process. Something in the distance, near the wooded area. Blinking a few times Emily narrowed her eyes in order to focus. She wasn’t sure if the sunlight was toying with her or the shadow of the trees playing with her imagination but she was... a thing. Four elongated limbs and a very slim body, very deep gray/green in colour, ducking into a wooded area quite some way from the road, in almost the total opposite direction to the plant.

 

Just as Emily was about to ask Mak to stop the car something took everyone by surprise. The young woman had no idea what happened but all she knew was the window was cracked and smudged with blood while she was laying on the floor of the van drifting in and out of consciousness.

 

[Salix]

Trying to keep calm and relaxed Petra battled to keep in control of the Landover as it was hit by a sudden blast, and resist giving into the temptation to slam on the breaks; instead she slowly eased off the accelerator and brought the car to a slow stop.

 

Taking a few deep shuddering breaths Petra tried to orientate herself. The car was still in an upright position; as far as she could tell it was undamaged, and still more of less pointing in the direction they had been travelling. With unsteady hands she switched off the ignition and glanced across at Micah, who although pale and shocked seemed to be okay.

 

Licking her lips she answered Erin “Yup I think we are both okay, how about you?”

 

A glance in the review mirror showed that Mak and Nay’s cars were still on the road too. “What on earth just happened?”

 

Gingerly she unclipped her seatbelt, and turned slowly in her seat so that she could look properly at Micah and Erin. They both, to her untrained eye, looked to be okay.

 

Movement from the ambulance drew her attention as she watched someone; it looked like Jaune, get out of the vehicle.

 

“Will you guys stay here while I go and check on the others” she asked as she opened the door of the Landover and got out, “I will come back once I know what has happened, but Micah it may be prudent for you to slide across into the driver’s seat….just encase”.

 

Cautiously Petra made her way over to the ambulance, looking to see what damage it may have suffered and if it was leaking any fluid. It was only as she neared the driver window that her attention was caught by a huge pillar of smoke, and she could plainly see the flicker of flames appearing menacingly in the smoky gloom.

 

“Mak, Emily” Petra called urgently “are you okay?”

 

[Fangirl05]

Erin watched Petea leave uneasily, but let her go. She herself was still breathing a little hard and fast for her liking.

 

Dingo uttered a worried - sounding mew and sniffed her cheek. She gave him a smile that she hoped was reassuring and stroked his head a few times, then leaned forward in her seat.

 

"Micah," she pressed, hopefully gently, "are you alright?"

[Kestra15]

Mak watched as Jaune jumped from the ambulance and headed off towards the explosion, displaying his usual lack of concern for the well-being of others. Emily, on the other hand, was slumped to the floor. It took Mak a moment to undo his seatbelt with shaking hands, but he finally managed to free himself and swing the door open, slipping out onto unsteady legs. Using the front of the ambulance to support himself he started making his way around the vehicle as Petra approached.

 

"I'll...I'll be okay," he said, looking up as he found his balance. "Emily...she's injured I think. Knocked out. I've got the medical supplies in the back there so if you check on her, I'll make sure Nay's okay in the rear car."

[Avialae]

Micah was rendered unable to speak for a few moments due to the ringing in his ears and the sharp ache in his neck and chest caused by his shoulder harness. Once he began to return to himself, he immediately felt a sharp pain in his pant leg. He looked downwards, afraid that there was some injury to his leg from the crash but instead saw the tiger kitten climbing up his pants leg. The box that Erin had put them in must have fallen over when it had gotten caught in the explosion.

 

Micah hesitated for a few seconds, not sure if unbuckling his seat belt was the best idea right then, then gave a mental shrug and did so anyway, bending down in his seat to pick up the tiny kitten. He winced as he felt its sharp claws dig into his hands and half handed, half threw it into the row of seats behind him to Erin. "Here," he said to her. "I think we'd better get these guys back into their box unless you want them running all over the road." He paused, only then registering her question. "And I'm fine, as far as I can tell. How about you?"

[Fangirl05]

Erin flinched at the kitten flung at her, then stared at him in confusion. Had he really climbed into Micah's lap after the explosion? Maybe he had a thing for him after all. She reached into the front for the box. "Pass it here."

 

Erin dropped the box on the seat next to her and pulled the flaps open; the kittens, save for Bruiser, were wide-eyed with their fur fluffed out in terror, huddled together under their furious mother. But then, she usually looked furious. She handed Bruiser back to her and pushed the box aside.

 

"I'm gonna go check on the others" she told him and unbuckled her seatbelt, "With any luck, Juane's neck'll be broken."

 

Mak and Petra were apparently talking about something serious. Emily was unconscious on the van floor with a bleeding cut on her head. Erin gasped and shoved the others aside.

 

"Petra, grab me that neck brace" she nodded toward it as she rolled Emily onto her back, "Mak, I need a light. Or smelling salts. Whatever you find first."

Edited October 12, 2014 by Fangirl05

[Salix]

Petra watched Mak carefully as he made his way around the ambulance, using it for support. He looked shaken, but then they probably all did, but at least he didn’t have any obvious injuries.

 

She had just gingerly climbed into the back of the ambulance to see how Emily was doing, when Erin brushed past her to take control of the situation. Uttering a shallow sigh, for she had discovered on the walk over to the ambulance that any sudden deep breaths would cause her pain; Petra resisted asking Erin what she thought she was doing here, as she had specifically asked that both Micah and Erin to remain safely in the car until she could find out what had happened.

 

“Erin stop” the words came out a little more harshly then Petra had intended, but she really needed the younger girl to just stop and think before acting “No more moving Emily, if we move her we move her together and only when we are quite sure that we have her neck and head supported and immobile….okay”

 

With a little searching through the bags she managed to locate some smelling salts and the neck brace Erin had requested, and then schooched herself as near to the girls as she could within the confined space between the seats.

 

Positioning the neck brace she looked at Erin “Okay, on the count of three you support her head and I will roll her body onto her side, then we will slip the brace under her neck and fasten it, and we should probably leave her on her side encase the smelling salts cause her to choke….okay?.....Right, one, two, three”.

 

[Fangirl05]

Erin gave Petra a dirty look; if she'd already done further damage by rolling her onto her back, wouldn't rolling her back onto her side make her even more worse? Still, she did like she asked and cradled her head as Petra rolled her, then quickly slipped the brace under her neck and fastened it. It probably would've been better to do this with Emily on her back, but hey, what did she know, right?

 

"Emily," she called as she pressed a gauze pad to the cut on her head, "can you hear me?"

[DragonSpirit009]

Emily heard voices and she could feel people touching her but she couldn’t see them or recognise who was who. It was all too blurry. She heard someone say here name but all Emily could do was mumble.

Her hands and arms moved slightly wanting to chase away the buzzing sound in her head. But her movements were irrational and barely lifted from where they laid.

“Sha... do.” Her lips slurred as she tried to speak. It all felt like a bad dream, that part of the dream where you are awake but still dreaming.

 

 

[Fangirl05]

Erin's teeth clenched. Incoherence and apparent muscular spasms; this was very bad. She held out and urgently flexed the fingers of one hand while trying to tape down the bloodied gauze with the other.

 

"Mak, I need that light!" she said insistedly. She tipped Emily's chin back so that their eyes were almost lined up. "Emily," she said more firmly, "if you can hear me, open your eyes."

[Marcus Pheonix]

Jaune casually hopped over the fence, cheerfully whistling completely oblivious to the chaos occurring for the other members of their party. He casually skipped over to plant, pausing to admire how far the fire had reached.

"Wow would you look at that, it's reached so far, it's almost at the road!" He exclaimed to Juni who was keeping a reasonable distance from the singed earth. Jaune hopped over the fire and continued skipping until he reached the outer edge of the plant. He sighed in appreciation as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He pulled his coat off and wrapped it around his waste before hopping up over a brick wall and into the compound. Standing on the half demolished brick wall Jaune let out a long piercing whistle as he admired the schorched remains of the plant.

While he was keen to simply stand and admire the still lingering flames his mind eventually turned to how this was caused. He hopped off of the brick wall and held his arm out for Juni, who seemed far too afraid to approach the scorched remains of the plant.

The ferret scurried onto his arm, but seemed distraught when her usual nesting spot wasn't there. Jaune chuckled and stepped over a small fire as he continued exploring the ruins.

"What do you think juni? Could this have been the work of something other than human hands? Was it caused by Moltres fire! Damn... or mayhaps it was simply caused by humans or a goose? We shall have to investigate!" Jaune held up an imaginary magnifying glass and eagerly continued his exploration still oblivious to everything outside.

[Kestra15]

((MP, please keep in mind that this is the kind of fire that dedicated fire crews can take up to a week to extinguish, with multiple secondary fires and explosions - Jaune won't be able to just walk around the plant's 'smouldering ruins' without, in all honesty, being killed.))

 

By the time Erin had arrived at the ambulance to help Petra, Mak was already walking down the road to check on their last member, strength returning to his gait quickly. He could see Nay through the front window of her vehicle and seemed to be okay, but he couldn't be sure until he met and talked with her. Other than being shaken up it turned out she was okay, though the stores in the Land Rover had been sent flying and left the vehicle a mess on the inside. Assuring her that the rest would be okay Mak made his way back to his own vehicle.

 

"What kind of light?" he replied to Erin's impatient command; he guessed she'd not noticed him leave as she and Petra had set to work on Emily. He wasn't entirely convinced about the neck brace, but he wasn't about to jump in on somebody else's care.