event: the beginning of the end

[mayfield_mods]

[Things in Mayfield are... well, they've been better.

The Smith Household, long a town staple, has burned to the ground. And while the house's primary resident, one Jonathan Zemekis/Lucy Smith, may not be seen? He's certainly being heard.

A storm has descended upon Mayfield- both literally and figuratively. Gale-force winds are whipping the town, rain and hailstones falling from black clouds that cover the sky both day and night. Somehow, despite the rain, most of the buildings in town are on fire. Your houses, thankfully, are safe, and the phone lines are still running- but going outside is not advised, because the storm isn't the only thing out there.

Thanks to to the Milkman meddling in a certain rescue mission, a horde of moving corpses has swept the town. No mindless zombies, these- they're running, climbing, attempting to break down doors and windows, and generally do whatever it takes to find and kill you. They are joined by men in hazmat suits wielding axes and machetes, who will burst into clouds of poisonous gas if killed.

There is one safe spot in all of the madness- the Library, where Annie and the Postman have settled for now. 20 feet around the Library, an invisible barrier of sorts seems to be keeping both the corpses and hazmats at bay. If you're looking for a safe place to ride out the storm, this is the place to go. But be careful getting there- any death from now on will be permanent. (Obviously we won't be forcing this on anybody, it's solely your choice if you want your character killed.)

Only one other building stands out at the moment: the Church of Salvation, which is neither on fire nor a safe zone. The whole building, in fact, is locked tight, with no way inside... yet.]

Comments

[walking_nuke]

[This is the kind of combat Balin does best.]

[If you're anywhere between Goldberg and the Library, you might feel it before you see it, if you're capable of sensing magic or things like it. The sensation of a lit fuse. Look in the right place and you might see, in the flood of hazmat suits and ambling dead, something that looks almost like a bright star just before an entire street's worth of the walking dead are yanked off their feet, pulled inward toward it.]

[Followed moments later by a nuclear explosion 40 meters wide.]

[Curiously, no matter how close you may be to the blast, if you're not one of Zemekis' minions, you won't be so much as flash blinded or the least bit cooked, and neither will the surrounding environment. All the destructive power has been focused solely on the walking dead and their hazmat allies.]

[And charging through the fading glow of the nuke is Balin Wilbur. Once again wearing his Mech Armor suit and with his AFS weapons on hand, having recalled where they were (and how to use his Receptive powers) once he'd put an end to his mental torment by making a deal with the Postman not too long ago. He also seems to have a notebook on him.]

[aozaki]

[No effect on actual people? That's good, not that Touko was ever concerned. She seems to be sauntering around in a bubble: that much is obvious because the edges of the perimeter she's moving in are shimmering, plus it's advancing with her. At her side is a large shadowlike black cat with glowing golden eyes, and she's carrying a suitcase with her free hand while calmly taking a smoke like usual.]

Flashy, but shouldn't you be more careful? The hazmats emit poison gas, too. Think of the neighbors.

[idkmybfforin]

[There hadn't been a handy raven hood ornament at Goldberg for some time now--but there was a new addition to the doghouse elsewhere. A rather undoglike dog, but still a typical dumbshit animal.

...yet, she wasn't. Not completely, anyway. Something felt strange in her head--was something else talking in it? She didn't like it, that voice--far, far too loud. But it told her things; that by going to this building in particular she could make the voice stop.

It didn't, of course.

But now Utsuho remembered. Remembered her name, who she was, where she was--and those shambling humans. Oh yes, those. They were things she had no patience for; she hadn't recognized anyone in it yet.

There's little flashy finesse of a spellcard now--those were gone, traded in. Instead, there was only a horrid shrieking and the crackle of flames as the hell raven dove at the mob again and again, ragged lasers scorching out of the arm cannon and sparks curling away from her wings. Even when the horde scattered to present a much smaller target, she chased them down this way and that. She wasn't completely unscathed either; already, a machete slash marked her arm.

It was only that...feeling that attracted her attention. Like a maddeningly familiar static charge building up in her mind. Okuu gave up chasing the ever-more-elever zombies abruptly and winged away, feathers still cascading sparks.

The mushroom cloud was a distinctive enough beacon, though...oddly, it didn't bother her eyes in the slightest. The hell raven flew towards that--and then circled around it, peering around for that red armored figure that was probably behind it.]

[commentboxtroll]

[And when Balin left the house, Caesar wasn't far behind. It's safer to stick together, right?

For all of Caesar's past reservations about this kind of weapon in the past, he's damn glad to see it now. Of course, it's being put to use against the things that want to kill them. It only makes sense. Still, it's hard not to look away from the explosion, not with his newly regained memories recalling a larger cloud like the one Balin's bombs are leaving.]

Are you going to use that thing every time?

[Not that he should be complaining. All Caesar has is the sword and Virginia's old revolver, both of them of Mayfield origin.]

Oh God, what the hell!?

[thecoolexec]

[Running. That's what Tony is doing. He is running and he is hiding. This is all kinds of unholy hell around him and he doesn't know WHAT is going on. First those Mayfielders went down into the Chasm of the Droned Dead, then the Milk-monster... exploded milk and reanimated everything into a horde of rage... His mind is spinning its gears at top speed trying to understand.]

[Behind him he hears bangs, shouts and crashing metal, but he won't look back now. He makes a beeline for his house and his basement, hoping against hope that the... zombie... thingies... will just rush by if they can't see him and leave him in peace. HE didn't touch any corpses! Why would they want him? Right?!]

Re: Oh God, what the hell!?

[answerer_sword]

Tony?

[Bazett is running too, having broken off from the main group after they exited the basement.]

[shadow_possession]

[Dainn is outside, wandering about. he may phase through the buildings that are not on fire, maybe up through the ground or hiding under anything that might shield him from the rain.

true, it was safer in the Library. true, if the Immortal slipped up he could be killed. for a being that deep down feared dying, it was kind of strange for the Shadow to be out like this. but you're forgetting one thing.

Mayfield had made him forget his sisters and he was pissed off.

so, missing his right eye in exchange for his precious memories back, Dainn is outside, blasting the undead with the homing version of his Klorofolun attack and hiding when they get close. hit and run tactics, sure, but he didn't care right now.]

[hintcoinplz]

[Luke had never planned to go anywhere near the hospital, but because of the zombie horde, he and Once-ler was forced in that direction anyway. And the thing about hospitals? They always seemed to have the most zombies. There was a small path beside the front entrance of the hospital, which makes it look like an ideal escape route. The only problem? When they try to get close to it, there's a loud crash-

-and if they look up, they'll find the front entrance is caving in. On them.]

[roadroller]

[Rin's house was overtaken by the corpses and hazmats; not one to die quietly, she managed to escape to the family car. Now she's burning rubber on the roads, and hoping they don't catch her. She might have tried running some over, but... there's bad memories attached to that, memories of herself dying. So for now, she's only fleeing. However, the crowd from her house seem to have found other prey, and she's spotted the church, not burning. Looking around her, she tentatively pulls up beside it. Anyone there?]

if you don't want this, let me know

[doudemoe]

[The zombies wasted no time overtaking Minato's home, but not before he escaped with whatever he had grab. His social link items were stowed in an extra bag by him; there was no way he was going to part with those. They're too important to him, the proof of the life he thought he lived. In the end, only the laptop and his extra clothes were left behind. There was no way he would be able to carry all of them, so in the end he decided to take his now-trusted sword.

He wished he could thank Hiccup now.

When he saw Rin drive off in the car, after calling after her, he glances at the car in his driveway. Despite officially being given a license by Mayfield, he'd never actually driven it in all his time here, preferring to walk.

...Now's not the time to hesitate. He quickly gets in, straps on his seatbelt, and after some mishaps manages to drive off after Rin. It's...quite a mess by the time he reaches her at the church.]

[kettchmeifyoucan]

[Wes had on occasion longed for the days of problems he could shoot. This though? THis was overkill.

But there's not really any option other than making his way through the ruined streets of Mayfield, shooting the walking dead.]

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa has been running since hitting the top of the stairs in City Hall. It is all she knows to do - other than trying to get others to safety. ]

[ She has been lucky, so far. She has not tried to get to the house, there is nothing there that will help, no one there needs her. The Mayfield Ilsa shrieks in outrage at that thought, but another part of her knows the corpse she saw in the chasm was Egon, the real one. ]

[ Is is luck that the undead haven't been able to capture her? There have been a few close calls, where some force pushed them away from her, but Ilsa has no idea what is happening to cause it. Is she is wishing them away? In response to that question, there is a sudden strong feeling wishing for something, at least for herself, is a bad idea. ]

[ She is exhausted when she stumbles on the steps of the Library, and it takes her a few moments to notice she is not followed across the barrier. She catches her breath, and realizes the storm is being held back, as well. ]

[ She stumbles up the stairs to the doors, hoping they'll be open. ]

[imjustpicky]

[For as much running as Ilsa had been doing, some people had a head start. Like the little boy that was peeking through the partially-opened library door at Ilsa.]

...oh!

[And then he's scrambling back and opening it just enough that she can slip in.]

Get inside! Get inside! Is there anyone else out there?!

[theboywiththebook]

[The town had gone to absolute hell. Seriously, this was worse than Storybrooke by ten thousand times over. He had been to see the people giving back memories because apparently he had forgotten. So he had given up his walkie talkie for his memories.

But, now he has to deal with zombies...like he had to awhile back. There's no Ed here to save him from the horde. Just himself. Harry was at home...hopefully safe with Akira, but Henry? Nope he was in the streets, doing his best to hide around every corner to avoid the Hazmats and the corpses.]

[scarredglasses]

[Harry was not at home. Harry had followed his brother out, watching him hide. After being told about the memories, he'd given back his wand for his own ones but that didn't mean Henry was no longer his brother.

So he followed, wanting to help.]

[voiceofauthority]

[Jenny has been running the lines and looking for stragglers to round back to the library. What she sees makes her blood boil though. What the hell is Henry doing out? It only takes a few moments before the electricity runs from the wire to condense right in front of the boy and form Jenny, and she's glaring daggers at him.]

Why the hell aren't you at the library with everyone else?

[Her words are a hushed hiss.]

[perfectsymmetry]

[Even Crowe, for as much as he's dealt with and overcome in Mayfield, is at the end of his rope. After being burned alive in the Smith house, lost in the void, ripped back screaming into Mayfield, and now all of this, he can't take it anymore.

After trading in all his worldly possession to get his real memories back, Crowe simply leaves his house with an old hunting rifle he found in the attic of his home. His usual pistol is tucked in a pocket, and he is walking forward with what seems like a lot of determined conviction, but what might be a total loss of self-preservation or sanity. He's picking off hazmats and zombies from a distance, running from the when he needs to. But his ammo won't last forever. Anyone else want to help him out in what might be the final fight?]

[captainofthe10th]

[ Loken drives up in a damn tank, crushing zombies under the treads while firing the pintle-mounted twin bolter from an open hatch. He booms at Crowe. ]

Took you long enough.

[ He sounds almost amused as the bolters explode zombies into geysers of blood and viscera. ]

[atailoftwoworlds]

[And a voice calls] Look out! [And, a zombie is coming Crowe's way. However, several weird symbols suddenly flash around it, followed by a couple of mini-explosions, killing the zombie instantly. A few metres behind the zombie is some guy with a tail who is all furry and glowing.....incredibly pink. Crowe may or may not recognise him as Zidane]

[jaws5sonofjaws]

[While Crowe fires at a gang of hazmats, something settles the score quickly. Namely, a tree flying through the air and smashing into the hazmats. Mart stands triumphantly, a second tree in his grip.]

I got more where that came from, ya dumb fucks!

[tsunmuse]

[Ako had taken the easiest course of action and used the rooftops to get to the Library. So she was sitting at the top of it and looking down at the vast hordes. Her two fairy tones were worried, but she smiled at them.]

Don't worry, we'll be fine.

[And holding up her Cure Module, she proclaimed,] Let's go! Let's Play! Precure Modulation!

[A second later, she went into her attack route.]

Shi Note, Shining Melody! Precure Sparkling Shower!

[With a thunderous detonation, a whole swathe of zombies died. Fortunaetely, she was up on the roof, firing through the barrier so whatever else was looking around stupidly.]

Boom.

[kyrannical]

[Horror of dodging his way through dead bodies (many of whom he recognizes, and a few who look horribly familiar in a way that can only make him duck his head and pray as he tries to clear a way to run) aside, there's the moral issue that's bothering him, once he's (relatively) safely holed up inside the library with the others. Not that he thought the people running Mayfield were particularly moral in the first place, but their complete disregard for respect for the dead wasn't helping much.]

[He sighs, allowing himself a moment of rest and selfishness before he tries to observe the situation. It seems like he's spent half his birthdays fighting; that in itself isn't unusual.]

...I almost fear what they're planning on doing with the church.

[He's not quite naive enough to think it's left alone for a good reason.]

[bleuflag]

Like it matters.

[Sin bites off, bitter, on-edge and jumpy. It's not the first (or even the second) time he's been through this sort of thing in this town, but it was the first time since he'd lost his mother- stuck with Ky now- and he was still far from a forgiving mood about it. He wasn't sure if his mind had been playing cruel tricks on him, out of the side of his peripheral vision thinking he saw the flash of a familiar ice blue wing amongst the writhing zombified bodies as they escaped to the sanctuary of the library, but he wasn't in the mood to entertain Ky's idly pious wonders.]

[commentboxtroll]

[When Caesar isn't out being a generally useless tagalong to Balin, he's holed up behind the barrier at the library along with anyone else who's managed to get there. He's armed, sure, with that sword that he's never quite gotten the hang of and the Mayfield bought gun that had been left behind by Ginny at his sides.

It's weird that he's actually a little better with the gun than the sword, but, well, he actually had a teacher for that one. For a bit, at least.

That aside, he's not out in that fray anyway. Instead he's watching whatever corpses or hazmats end up hitting the barrier from the library doors with growing trepidation.]

[allwehad]

[It's nice to know that after two years, Mayfield is still going to hell. Some things never change.

Standing outside of City Hall, wind whipping her hair and rain pelting into her face, the woman reaches a hand out for Lucas to make sure that he's still there, that he's still safe. He had come to rescue her and she doesn't know what her fate would have been if he hadn't. She owes him her life.

Blue eyes quickly scan through the storm -- the fires, the moving corpses, those damn hazmat men. It takes her back to Westport so many years ago, being chased through the streets, the Netherlands coming to rescue her...

They need shelter, they need safety.]

C'mon. We're gonna try to make it back to my house -- stay close, Lucas. I'll keep us safe.

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas takes Margot's hand in turn as he solemnly gazes out at the chaos raging across the town. A war with the Pigmask Army was like playing hopscotch in comparison to all of this.

He turns up towards her as she speaks and nods slightly.]

We're almost at the end, aren't we? ...We'll make it. All the way.

[ex_seventh238]

[Maybe it's simply her calling. Maybe it's just something so deeply ingrained with her image and self-identification that she can't help but be here. Whatever it is, Ciel is seeing this through at the Church. It's the place where she's spent most of her time in Mayfield during the past year, the place where...

Hm.

It's just important. There's no need to elaborate beyond that, is there? Regardless of what designs the town might have for the reason why the building hasn't been burnt down, she won't let it happen anyhow if she can help it. It doesn't matter if no one can get inside, either. She's perfectly okay with stationing herself on top of the cross mounting the roof, and simply work from there.

So this is going to be what the last few months of magical energy she's saved up during the past few months is going to come down to, hm? ...Fitting enough, if this is truly the finale. ...Heh. Roa did remark that she possessed the power to easily liquefy a town, if she so ever wished. So what's a bunch of scrambling puppets, to that? Stretching out her hand while a massive magic circle expands itself by her feet in midair, she softly begins an incantation with the firepower to turn any of these killer flesh dolls to pure light within the Church's immediate surroundings. Sniping those things from afar won't present any problem at all.]