Endgame Earth

[NovaAurora]

    Nova watched Ip and Luke disappear down the hallway to find the others, still slumped against the wall. After a minute the old man spoke again.
    "They appear to really respect you," he said softly. "If only my own resistance had had such a charismatic leader, we may not have wound up like we did..."
    Just then, screams echoed up from below. Nova's blood ran cold- the old man had been right, and they were already under attack. He leapt to his feet, fueled by the sudden surge of adrenaline, but fully aware that he was in no mental state to fight right now. He turned to the three men and asked desperately, "Isn't there anything we can do? You know the layout of this base, surely there must be something that can give us an advantage, even a small one, just so we can hold out until he have a better plan or at least prevent us from dying such undignified deaths!" He was panting heavily.
    "There is... one thing." the man said slowly. "A vault within the base's armory. It's a colossal construction, the door looks like it was built to withstand a direct nuclear blast. In fact, it probably was intended to do just that. But it's locked tight, believe me. We tried to get in but no amount of force could break it open. However, if we couldn't breach it, I'd bet anything that neither could the Consumers. Who knows what you might find in there should you find a way in, maybe it can save us all..." His eyes drooped once again to the floor.
    "Then that's all we have." Nova said with somewhat renewed determination. "You three should come with me, together perhaps we can do what your group failed to before." He took a couple steps towards the hallway, motioning them to follow.
    "No... we will stay here." the man said solemnly. "I cannot bear to look upon the carnage of battle again."
    Nova glanced with slight frustration to the two sons. "And what about you? Are you going to hide up here and do nothing as well?"
    This time it was the old man who spoke in irritation: "Do not talk to them like that!" he said bitterly. "You don't know what they went through..." Nova saw his fists clenching tightly as if he was recalling an unfathomably painful experience. The reaction startled him, so he simply nodded and turned to leave. However, he hesitated and looked back over his shoulder briefly.
    "I'm Nova by the way." he said. "I don't think I ever got your name..."
    "It's Harold." the man said quickly. "But names matter not anymore. Good luck in your endeavors... Nova. We'll be up here praying for your safe return." With that, he shut the door to the room and Nova heard the locks being engaged once again. Taking a breath, Nova sprinted down the hallway, down the stairs, and out into the cold wintry day. He saw Luke and Ip standing next to each other looking rather frazzled. Running up to them he shouted, "What's going on?! Where are the others, it's a long shot but that old man gave me a lead on something that might help us!"

[FurryJunky]

Katelyn was still on the floor with her left arm behind her, propping up her back while she clenched her handgun in her right hand. Her and Warren where slightly in the hallway and out of direct sight. Slowly her nerves where back under control but she was shaking violently with her near death experience. Looking over at Warren- (Im not sure if you gave me complete control, but ill move Warren in minor ways as to not cause too much distress.) -she saw that he had offered her a hand witch she took and slowly stood up. Once back on her feet she forced herself to calm down and steady her breathing before walking in the middle of the door frame. What she saw was where the consumer first got shot and then the splatters of blood leading off through another door way across the room.

It was a streak of red to the adjacent set of double doors to the left of the reception deck. Looking down at her left arm she felt a warmth growing from her elbow and noticed she took a small scratch to her arm. It was meager but it stung at the most, and just barely cut the skin. Placing her right hand on the door way to quell her shaking hand she relaxed her grip on the handgun before looking forward at what caused its retreat. Two other had ariv- three. Seeing Nova just enter the building and hearing the others ask about the scream she gave a meager nod of her head, fearing if she spoke her through your clench up and her words would be slurred. Taking in a deep breath through her nose she exhaled through her mouth before walking into the main room pointing at the doorway to her right along the same wall she just exited from. "A... consumer.." She said in a bit of disbelief. "It was... huge."

 

[Byracka]

It was with trembling steps and a thousand mile stare that Jave left the vehicle and walked away.
The sight of Himawari in tears was overwhelming; he couldn’t stand the thought of tearing up and cry in front of her. His whole chest felt like it was falling into itself, ascending down to a place where the heartbeats didn’t reach and where there was nothing but stale veins and silence. He didn’t close the door but simply left it swaying on its hinges, leaving room for a regretful turn around. But that choice vanished with every step.
Why did she tell me those things? I never asked for this. Why did I go to her? I should mind my own business. She should mind hers. He tugged the few tuffs of fur still on his head and furiously kicked the snow. A thousand cold stars glistered in the evening sun. Just like the spray of salt water did out in the sea. Or the embers of a home destroyed in fire.
It was a human that hurt my brother.
In his mind, Jave’s little brother screamed as the knife penetrated his abdomen. An ambush on a quiet rural gravel road ended a life and gave the attackers nothing in return.
It was a human that stole my water.
Jave thought of the peaceful trade that turned violent. A promise and an arm that was broken and he felt the scar still pounding.
It was a human that put me in the cage.
Paranoid bastards that had all the painkillers in the world but wouldn’t want to risk anything or even thank the one that saved their asses. Just left to starve and writhe in burned skin.
It was a human that. Saved me.
Jave heard whimpers, pitiful and solemn. But this wasn’t a memory from the past, they were here and now. As he took one more step every muscle contracted. His whole being fought the urge to leave. Small dents appeared in the snow below him, a pattern of tears. A column of air rose from his gaping mouth, swirled in the wind and fled far away from all earthly woes. Jave leapt back and threw open the door. With open paws he held Himawari’s head, embracing her temple. With a cracking voice he said.
“I want to help you”
“Please, I want to help you any way I can”

[Ventus Fall]

Himawari took hold of Jave's paws and looked at him, smiling through her tears. She first thought Jave would suddenly just leave and perhaps even tell the others, but she was extraordinarily glad when he returned and seemed genuinly concerned.
 "Thank you." She said, almost whispering. "I don't know what else to do, but I would be very grateful if you wouldn't say anything to the others. Not yet."
She gently pushed Jave's paws away from her face and took a moment to think.


"Aha, they're here." The voice in Himawari's head, or so she assumed, sounded pleased.
She flinced and stepped out of the car, not knowing entirely what she was doing. The cold didn't seem to affect her as much as she figured it would.
This is odd, she thought to herself before her mind was clouded again. She felt trapped and didn't know what was going on.
Suddenly she heard voices, whispers like she never heard before. The whispers were growing louder and louder.
She couldn't quite place it, but the voice in her head apparantly could. Himawari felt as if it was smiling.
She quickly turned around to the car again, and Jave. She suddenly knew what was going on. The least she could do was warn Jave and the others.
But something was holding her back. She couldn't walk any further or open her mouth to yell at Jave. She just stood there.
"It's my turn," the voice said to Himawari, loud and clear.
Her eyes felt as if they were burning. Without noticing it, her eyes turned blood red again.
She wanted to talk back or fight back one way or another, but nothing would seem to work for her. Instead, she tried to communicate with it another way.
Nothing seemed worked, whatever the voice was, it was making sure she couldn't do anything to it.


As the voice took control over Himawari's body, it walked towards the car again. It was using Himawari's mouth to grin, her feet and legs to walk. And soon, it would try and use Himawari's hands to grab the pocketknife and... The thoughts and feelings overwhelmed it. This was never like it feeled before.
As it neared the vehicle however, Himawari was able to somehow push it back into her mind, letting her regain controll over her own body. She crawled back in the car and breathed heavily. The whole experience was exhausting and terrifying, but she had to warn the others now.
"Jave, I cannot controll it any longer. I don't think I'm insane. It's something else." She paused, panting, and looked at Jave with her eyes widening.
"I heard them, Jave. I heard them talking, communicating. There are so many out there, coming towards us. I have a plan, but I will need your help. You must warn the others to try and hide or protect themselves. I will... try and stop them. I fell somehow I can. So I must try."


"Stop them?" The voice uttered, practically laughing.

"Please, go to the others." And she slumped in the chair while an insane grin was slowly starting to form back on her face.

[Takamei Edevane]

Ip walked up to the side of the door frame and leaned against it. "We can't waste time, if there was a consumer and it escaped there are probably more on the way. Lots more from what that human said." He stepped outside looking left and right. "Ill gather the ones from my jeep. Ill meet up with you back where that old man was." He then ran straight ahead towards the convoy.

[NovaAurora]

    Nova watched Ip run off and then started to hastily explain to Katelyn and Warren what the situation was before they could panic. "That consumer you just fought off was no ordinary one, and Ip is right, they will be back in much greater numbers." he said. "There's no time for me to explain fully right now, so just listen for the moment because I'll need your help. I met three human survivors in that main building, leftover from a much bigger group that was wiped out by hordes of those super consumers that you've only had a glimpse of. They made it clear that these new foes are not to be toyed with, and seemed to think there was no way to defeat them. However, they mentioned a vault within an armory here on the base, and apparently it's still sealed from the war. There could be weapons inside that could help us. Since you two have been poking around..." Nova looked around the hauntingly empty space, "I'm hoping you two have found this vault and maybe can help us all get inside." He paused then and looked at the two hopefully, for he knew if they were to have any hope of surviving the night they'd have to act immediately.

[MrRazot]

"We can show you too the vault, but we couldn't find a way in."
Warren sounded hasty from the exhaustion of the passing moments.
"We've also encountered one and it seemed to know how to wield crude armour and weapons."

[FurryJunky]

Katelyn gripped the wood of the door way, digging her claws into it before standing up straight. A human colony? Here? Every single person wiped out?!... "Oh god..." She said silently to herself before dropping her right arm and sliding her handgun into her holster. Pointing down the hallway they came from. "We did find it, its at the very back of this hallway, and from the looks of it, the consumers have tried countless times to break in it, but that door is thick... If 'Super' Consumers can't get in, how are we going to?"

[Byracka]

Sarah had been sitting idle for some time. With a satisfying grin she reassembled her guns. Not a trace of dust, dry hinges or loose screws. Sarah drew a face on the window of the car, the warmth of her finger made stick figures in the condensation. She breathed on the stick figures, they were engulfed by a ring of moist breath. What a sad way to go she thought while make little screams as the figures met their doom. Honestly she was a bit bored not sticking with the other furs as they explored the facility. Though no one stayed to watch over the other unarmed furs out here.

She needed to stretch, her paws had gone asleep, leaving a pricking sensation. With stumbling, uncontrollable legs Sarah went outside for a quick yawn. Though the pleasures of extending your arms towards the sky only lasted for a second when Jave shouted and ran towards her frantically. Sarah reached for Ivy, from her eyes the unknown scolded fur they saved from the human compound was about to attack but before she could process the situation and fire a shot Jave was already pointing a finger at her, shouting commands.

"You. Help me. Now!" He panted

Sarah stared in disbelief, stuck mid motion.

"Help who what now?" She coughed.

Jave went forward and rested his palms against her elbows. Sarah pulled a step back and questioned her own eyes. Jave panted and mumbled incoherently, throwing incomplete sentences between shallow breaths.

"What, WHAT is it!?" Sarah grinned in doubt.

"Himawari's gone crazy, we need to tell the others before she goes more crazy."

Sarah's expression said many things; most noticable was a twitch of her left eyelid. She stood straight with her arms dangling loose. Taking just a precious moment to breathe in and during her exhale she spoke towards the, not at all pathetic, Jave.

"Yeah, you stay in my car and I'll settle things."

Despite many protests Jave soon found himself tucked into the trunk of Sarah's car. His streams of complaints diminished to a muffled noise. Sarah wiped her hands carelessly against her legs and went to check upon Himawari. Glancing carefully from some distance she noticed something was wrong, she had never seen Himawari smile before, something was very wrong.

[Ventus Fall]

Eventhough Himawari couldn't seem to keep her facial expression under controll, which she thought was pretty disturbing as she took a quick glace in the rear mirror of the car and backed away just as quickly, she still could contain a certain amount of self-controll over her body and thoughts. It was difficult, however, as she could hear the voice growing louder and more persistant. The whispers of other things she could hear coming closer as well.

"The Consumers," she mumbled under her breath.

The voice suddenly fell silent, the whispers became a lot quieter.
For a moment, Himawari could concentrate and grabbed the handle of the door, swining it open. She had a plan and had to help the others. Somehow....
When immediatly the voice started talking to her directly. "What do you think you can possibly do? Save them?"
She tried to ignore it the best she could, but it was not an easy task as she slowly began to pace into the open, away from the military base and towards the snowy mountains.
The voice suddenly sounded a lot nicer, Himawari knew it was trying to manipulate her. "I can help you."
"Yeah, right." She said, grinding her teeth, fighting against the sheer cold.
"Truly, I can. That  Jave ran away quickly when he saw our true face, didn't he? Or should I say your true face?"
"Shut up."
"Haven't you been more happier in your life since... well... a long time? I mean with your father missing and-"
"None of your business!" She interrupted the voice.
Slowly, she did feel an odd sensation. It started in guts and spread all the way to the rest of her body. At first, she couldn't place the feeling, but she did remember it. Then it hit her: She was enjoying this!
But why? She did not know. She didn't care anymore either, the feeling was too powerfull. She couldn't fight off this feeling, she had missed it for so long.

She stood still for a second, after marching for so long, and just simply opned her mouth and laughed like she never did before.
Once she was done, she walked again with a wide grin across her face.
"You're right." She adressed the voice.
It was pleased, it had succeeded. "No, we're right. We are one. We have always been one being ever since we entered Earth's atmosphere and found you. There is a reason why we are one. You know why that is, don't you?"
Himawari nodded. "The others."
She turned around to face the base one more time and recalled what her original plan was. The voice became frustrated and tried to trash about. With much difficulty she eventually found some Consumers -which looked rather different than the ones back in New York City- and knew she would not be attacked.
These things could sense something inside of her, which was keeping her alive.

For now, they were distracted. Himawari was satisfied she was able to give the others more time to find a way out.

[NovaAurora]

    Exasperated, Nova threw up his arms and strode into the room towards Katelyn and Warren. "I don't know how we're going to get in, but that's what we have to find out, isn't it! Especially if they're fashioning weapons..." He stood now in the entrance to the hallway that contained the vault, hands on his hips, with a half-determined, half-paniced expression on his face. "Well, let's see what we've got, shall we?" As if he were mustering the strength to proceed further, he took a breath and started walking down the gloomy hall. He kept his right hand on the hilt of his weapon reflexively, anticipating any second to be ambushed by unseen foes even though there was no conceivable way they could magically pop out of the bloodstained reinforced concrete walls. After the short walk Nova found himself staring at the colossal metal door, unlike any kind of safe he had ever seen before. It certainly did look like its builders created it to withstand just about any force mankind could muster; the fact that at one time the utilization of such force was commonly accepted as a necessary evil only helped to depress Nova further.
    He reached out and touched the gigantic wheel on the door that evidently had to be turned before the door could be swung open. He didn't expect it in a million years to budge, but was still slightly disheartened to find that it moved not at all. Standing back again he ran his gaze over the entirety of the structure. There didn't seem to be any way of manually opening the thing, clearly it wasn't a simple key or code-based system. Quickly he came to the conclusion that it must only be openable by some kind of electronic command, initiated from elsewhere. That way it would be assured no one could just break a component and force themselves in; all the security was internal, behind the god-knows-how-many-inches-or-feet-thick solid metal, operational by computer only. He turned to Katelyn and Warren and voiced this observation. "So, anyone got any ideas? Either of you two master hackers?" He said in a halfhearted attempt at humor, fully aware that hacking would require first finding where the hell the terminal was that controlled the vault, if such a thing even existed anymore.

[FurryJunky]

Katelyn walked in silence behind you as if she where your shadow before coming to a hault just as you stoped. Staring at the door it was just as she left it, but on a second glance, there where a ew more minor scratches that she missed the first time, other then that, it was still the same solid steel door. Shaking her head idly she replyed with an edge of humor saying, "Just a weapons smith... And I don't think there is anything 'left' around here for enough exsplosives... We should talk with one of the others maybe... See if we can boot up a computer and see what we can do from there..."

[MrRazot]

Warren walked up to the massive vault door. "The thing is that we can't brute force it or there's a small square of glass that will break and prevent us from opening it at all." Warren stepped back to see if there was any obvious sign of a key slot, digital input panel or a dial. If not then at least cables leading to a terminal of sorts. Warren then noticed a small security camera that looked towards the vault door.
"Perhaps the door is opened from a terminal in another room? We don't really have much time."

[Luke White-Heart]

Luke looked around as well, looking for any adjacent rooms that might contain any sort of tech.
"This is pointless!" he growled, kicking a wall. He wasn't one for this standing around; he felt like he was failing because nothing was being done. Then he thought about secrets, and the lengths people would go to protect them, and he thought of Daniel. He had removed Luke's memories in order to protect him.
The humans had most likely done something similar. Hiding the access panel in...plain...
Luke spun around and began to press against the walls, trying to find anything that might aid his search.

[Byracka]

Sarah felt alive. Not because she had just wrestled a bony ocelot down into the trunk of her car, while the feat was thrilling it wasn't the main reason for her gained concentration. She felt her heart beating all the more swiftly, a thumping foreboding for things to come. Where were the others? Nova should be told about Himawari's mental state. But neither Nova nor anyone else had been heard from. Sure, Sarah had seen a couple move from building to building but she had no grasp on where they were as a whole group.

She rushed into the nearest building. Desks, tables and chairs laid in a mess. An old American flag slanted from the balcony above as an eerie reminder of dead times. It was silent, what if they had gotten killed? What if there were enemies around, fowl beasts that would claw her to bits if she shouted her presence? Sarah found comfort in her two guns.

"Hello?" She shouted. No response.

To the right were stairs that led to the second floor. On the way up the creaking stairs she saw two bullet holes in the plaster wall to the left. No blood luckily, it could just be something from a past settled fight. The fur on her neck tensed but there were nothing behind the corner. Just a long dusty hallway and that was it. But she stopped, the floor had many scraping footsteps that swirled the dust and left darker spots. The others must have been here, so much Sarah figured. Why the door at the end of the hallway was locked she couldn't understand.

"Why didn't they open this?" She whispered while trying to push it with her shoulder.

After a minute Sarah went outside again. No one was inside the building. Although she was certain something moved behind the locked door. Though in the haste she excused herself and blamed that on sleep deprivation. The next building was a large, made of concrete and stood like a mighty cube. Design was one of the militarys stronger points. She passed a steel door that swayed on its hinges, the lock had been destroyed with gunfire, which only made her question even more why the locked door before still remained so. Sarah went inside and peered through the solid glass panes viewing the workshop. It was flooded by the last red light of the day shining through one of the open ports. Nothing but rusted vehicles, workbenches and old moldy papers that stuck together on the greasy floor. "Hello!" Sarah shouted with force, but nothing more than rytmic drip drops were heard. She glanced at the roof, icicles had formed in the cold and damp room.

Just as her shoulders droppped and she stopped listening for a response footsteps were heard just outside. Sarah recognized the scent, it was Ip. She stepped out of the building and waved at him. With a quick glance towards the vehicles she saw that Himawari was gone.