[IC] Empty City part II

[RumikoOhara]

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Martha

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Martha woke as she always did after a victory party and was surprised to see she was alone. Pausing in thought she tried to remember if she did or didn't come home with someone and because the other side of the bed wasn't mussed up decided that she hadn't so she hopped out and grabbed a shower.

Dressed in running tights, sports crop, and shoes Mar headed out for her morning run. It was her normal route and 10k because she was getting ready for a football game next week.

Her music played in her ears and as normal she had tuned all but traffic out of her mind; "Where's the Cars?" she was thinking 8 minutes into her run. There were none on the road, none in the parking spots or even a bicycle.

Then she came to a halt before a 7/11 that wasn't there the previous day and at first thought she'd taken a wrong turn till she reminded herself that there were no 7/11s in 3 kilometers of her apartment.

Standing there she felt a tingle up her spine; "Where are the people?"

---

Yumi

---

Waking and then performing her morning prayers Yumi was disappointed that the sky was cloudy so she wouldn't be allowed to properly greet the sun in her rituals.

Later after a light breakfast she was sweeping the grounds around the small shrine when she looked at the sky getting a strange feeling something was wrong with the clouds.

---

Venus

---

Venus woke and got dressed then gathered her books before heading down to the cafeteria oblivious to the fact that the halls were empty at a time when all the girls she attended school with should be like her headed for breakfast. It wasn't till she grabbed a tray and slid it down the counter that she noticed Ms Arakawa wasn't sitting on her stool at the cash register so she called out "Hi hi, Hi hi"

For 5 minutes she called out and no one came so she left her tray there and walked around the counter and pushed the kitchen doors open and saw even back there there was no one and she got scared.

[Jasper19]

Landon

Landon woke up slumped over his drum kit " Huh mmust've fell asleep " he said to himself as he lazily spun his drumsticks in between his fingers. He got up and swung on his jacket then looked throughout his house. "Hmm why isn't anyone here?" he said out loud as he looked in his garage. Usually his bandmates came around this time which was, he went and checked the time 12:00pm but they weren't here. Landon decided he would go knock on his friends door and grabbed his skateboard then began to skate down the street. After a couple of minutes he arrived at his friends house and knocked after waiting for about ten minutes he frowned " where is everybody? " he said getting frustrated and began to skate around his neighborhood looking for his friends. " damn everybody seemes to be gone" he said and frowned then went back home. It was weird but Landon had a feeling that he couldn't shake shrugging it off he decided to grab a soda Pepsi specifically crack it open take a drink then set it on his nightstand. " Might as well practice " he said to himself and spun his drumsticks before playing the drums for the song he and his band had been working on.

[Azure Flame]

James

James woke up in front of his TV, his game still running as he yawned and stretched. "Huh, must have passed out in the middle of my game." he said to himself, saving and shutting it off. He checked the time and got some breakfast heating up while he took a shower. Once he was out, he ate and dressed in his usual attire, grabbing his laptop case and heading out of the small apartment he lived in. As he headed out the door of the complex, he called out "Have a good day Mrs. Fink!" like he always did, however this time he got no response. He stopped, halfway out the door and doubled back, looking into the little office at the entrance where the landlady, Mrs. Fink, always sat at this time working on her computer. However, there was no Mrs. Fink. "That's odd, she's always there at this time, I don't think I've ever seen her take a morning off.

He shrugged it off and headed out the door again, looking out at what a nice day it was and deciding to take his motorcycle today. It was a custom bike made to look exactly like Shotaro Kaneda's bike from Akira, which cost him a lot to have made for him, and he loved it. Putting his helmet on, he got on the bike and started it, pulling out of the parking lot for tenants and heading onto the road. This was when he noticed the second oddity of the day, the roads were completely clear when there should have been a bunch of people heading into work or school. He parked at his university's parking lot and locked up his bike, noticing again the lack of vehicles. He walked into the building, noting a lack of anyone in the front office, and made his way to his programming class, setting up his laptop and looking around to find he was the first one there, even before the teacher. He was NEVER the first one there. He decided to spend some time finishing up the homework he still had to do, and looked up to find nobody else had come in yet. When he checked the time, it was well past time for the class to have started. "What the hell is going on here!?" he said out loud.

[Sharidi37495]

Elle

Elle woke early, notes on her jobs today in her hands, just like any other day. “Mm.. I fell asleep,” she grunted as she looked the pages over and set them aside. She got up and made herself some breakfast, glancing out the window, just as usual. She turned to her mini fridge, when she paused. No yelling, no honking.. she looked out the window again. No couple fighting, no kids playing in the streets. Even this early, that was the usual. “What the hell?” she muttered, but she shrugged off the creeping feeling, deciding that maybe they finally had the money to get out of the shithole they’d lived in together. She yanked the waffles out of the toaster and munched on them as she walked out the door and shrugged on her leather jacket. Once her breakfast had been devoured, she pulled on her helmet and got on her motorcycle. It was nothing special, an old fixer upper she’d fallen in love with. As she edged out of her garage, she peered down the streets to the left... nothing. To the right.. also nothing. “This has got to be some kind of lameass prank.” That was the only explanation. There was no way the entire block suddenly got enough money to move out.

Getting very irritated, Elle set out for her first job. Her jobs had been her constant, so if everything else was wrong, this, at least, would go right. She sped down the dirt road and into a driveway, shuddering. She tried to convince herself it was just the biting wind. She parks her bike and started to work on a rundown car that the owner insisted on reviving for the umpteenth time. She began to work, uneasy that the owner wasn’t here. Not even a rep, no son or daughter or nephew or kid down the street. She sighed and winced a little before pocketing the cash on the toolbox to pay for the fee. The man had early onset dementia, and had insisted that should he ever forget she was coming and was out or asleep, then she should help herself to the dough. She made a small uncomfortable noise, then got back on her bike and headed into town. It was a much nicer area, so who would want to leave, right? And yet... she glanced at the empty parking areas, dark windows, and still streets. She sped 50 miles past the speed limit to see what would happen.. five minutes, no police. Ten minutes, no police. She runs a stop sign and accelerates past an intersection known for police. She parked to the side, now pissed and confused. “The fuck?!

[Bria The Human]

Mari

"Mari, you are the love of my life. Will you marry me?" Prince Yuki got down on one knee and presented Mari with a beautiful diamond ring.

Mari clicked "A" accepting his marriage proposal. "You've made me the happiest man alive <3." A marriage scene rolled for about 2 minutes before end credits started scrolling on the screen. Mari smiled weakly, having pulled yet another all nighter playing her newest dating sim "For the Love of a Prince."

"Finally... finally, I've got the ending that I wanted." She had already played through this game three times trying to unlock all the endings. In one ending she married the Prince's brother. In another she was discovered fooling around with the prince's servant and wound up in heartbreak. Finally she was the prince's bride though. She raised her hand up above her head in victory, tearing up a little. This was probably just due to the fact that she'd been staring at her computer screen for the past 12 hours straight. In a dark room. Alone.

Mari's stomach grumbled. She had ordered food at 10:30, so it should be arriving any second now. She checked her watch for the time. Wait... what? That couldn't be right. According to her watch it was 2:00 in the afternoon. She scratched her head in confusion. It usually never took them this long to deliver her food. Maybe they forgot her order? Mari picked up her cell phone and began dialing Happy Burger. The phone rang about 6 times before leaving an error message. Her stomach growled again.

"GrrrrrrrrUGHHH I'm HUNGRY DAMMIT!"

She checked her phone to see if they had already taken the money out of her account. Maybe she had forgotten to pay online. She opened her mobile banking app. Nope. She definitely paid. Sighing in frustration Mari slowly stood up from her blanket cocoon on the floor of her apartment. "Guess I better go find somewhere else to eat..."

Mari trudged through the cluttered mess that was her apartment until she reached her clean clothes basket. She quickly grabbed a shirt off the top that said "Straight out of dimension C-137" and some blue mom jeans. She walked towards the door grabbing her car keys and stepping into the same pair of slip on shoes she'd had for the past two years now. She cracked the door, opening it very slowly as her eyes needed time to adjust to the brightness outside. Squinting uncomfortably, she walked outside. Luckily her apartment was located on the first floor so it made getting to her car that much easier. She had a cute, yellow 2010 bug. A lot of people wondered why she didn't buy herself a sports car now that she had so much money, but honestly her old car works and that's all that counts to her. She hopped inside, starting the car and immediately reaching for the red bull she had left in her cup holder yesterday.

Or at least she thought she left it? Her hands grasped at nothing but air and she looked down to see that there was nothing in her cupholder. Not even her old drive thru napkins or straw wrappers. "Well, that's weird..." Luckily she kept an emergency stash in her back seat. She turned around, once again reaching for nothing but air. Her confusion only continued to grow as she realized that not only did she not have any Red Bull in her car, she didn't have ANYTHING in her car. All of the trash was gone from the seat floors, the seats didn't have any stains or tears on them... what exactly was going on here? Mari's stomach grumbled yet again. "I'm too hungry to think about this right now." Mari sat up, throwing her car in reverse as she prepared to exit her apartment's parking lot. That's when she noticed something even weirder. Her bug was the only car in the entire lot.

Maybe everyone was at work? No... because there should at least be a few cars from the people who work in the building. She shook her head, convincing herself that there had to be a reasonable explanation for the uber clean car and the astonishingly empty lot. She was probably just so sleep deprived that her brain was coming up with all this craziness. She laughed at how ridiculous the whole situation seemed. Who ever complained about a clean car right?

Mari pulled out of the parking lot. She's probably just been cooped up too long. Maybe a trip to the mall would help? It'd been a while since she'd talked to people who weren't characters in a game. She pulled out her phone and plugged the mall's address into her maps.

[Azure Flame]

James

After a while, James decided that it seemed like nobody was coming, and his stomach was rumbling. He packed up his laptop and left the uni, getting his bike and driving to the nearby mall, the streets still completely empty. He arrived at the mall, finding the parking lot empty just like everything else. He sighed and locked up his bike out of habit and went into the mall, heading for the food court, craving a hot juicy burger.

[Bria The Human]

Mari

As Mari was headed towards the mall she noticed that there weren't any other cars on the street with her. That and what should have been a 15 minute drive wound up only being 5. It's probably just because there's so little traffic. Made the trip faster. She looked at her speedometer. Maybe she had been speeding?

Mari pulled into the mall's parking lot, parking near the food court entrance and locking up her car. Whatever was going on, it could wait until she's got something in her belly. She walked through the double sliding doors leading into the food court and started speed walking towards her favorite burger joint. As she made her way through the food court she noticed a very distinct lack of noise. She couldn't hear the bustling of people enjoying their food and talking to each other, the sizzling noise of fryers, the occasional child having a full blown meltdown: there was nothing. She stopped in front of Burger Paradise. "This is way too weird." It was 2:00 in the afternoon shouldn't there be a lunch rush right about now? If the mall is closed then why aren't the doors locked? Way too many questions...

[Azure Flame]

"Oh thank kami-sama." James said, seeing someone standing there. "I was beginning to think that I was the only one left." He approached the girl and saw the burger joint. There was nobody there, but he saw two trays with burgers, fries, and drinks sitting there, as if someone knew they were coming and prepared the meals, even though there wasn't anyone there.

[Bria The Human]

Mari jumped at the sudden voice from behind her. "Eep! Or, oh, I mean--" She coughed awkwardly trying to gather her words. It'd been a while since she left her apartment. "I feel that, this place is like something out of a zombie film right now." She noticed the guy she was talking to staring at something ahead of her. She turned back around and noticed that there were two trays, already full of food, just sitting there ready to be eaten. She gulped, trying not to show how badly she was ready to go devour one of those burger trays. Her stomach gave her away again however, as she let out a long embarrassing, grumble.

She smiled awkwardly her cheeks flushing. "Uh, sorry about that I'm just pretty hungry is all." She walked up to the trays to inspect them further. "They probably just left these out on accident...orrrr not?" She noticed that both trays had steaming fresh burgers, full drinks, and hot fries. They looked like they had just been made. "I mean it wouldn't hurt if we took these would it, you think?" She looked back at the blonde haired stranger, longing for some kind of approval to dig in.

[Azure Flame]

"I wouldn't see why not. It'd be a waste not to." he said. He took one of the trays and inspected the burger. It was a double, extra cheese, bacon, and ketchup only, just how he liked it. Sipping the soda, it was his favorite brand. "This is too weird, it's perfect as if I had ordered it." he said. He took a seat at one of the empty tables. He looked at the girl and said "Your voice sounds familiar, have we met before?"

[RumikoOhara]

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Martha

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Martha eventually came to the end of her morning run and headed into her favorite store Ami Market. three steps in she was catching the scent of fresh baked goods in the air and already arguing with herself what she was going to eat when again she noticed she was alone. "Kuso!; this is getting creepy I feel like I'm in that show Last Man Standing."

With that thought she became aware of every sound around her and that made things even more creepy because she began thinking.

Her mind was fertile ground and all sorts of scenario began flooding in the worst was the Walking Dead and how she'd had so many debates with her roleplayer friends what and how she'd react so when she saw push brooms she was glad to have the feel of the thick wooden handle in her hand and feeling like she might get in trouble she still unscrewed the sweeping part from the handle giving her a makeshift boken.

The atmosphere felt closer now as she tried to convince herself she was just paranoid but that argument went out the window when she saw the bakery shelves covered in fresh and wonderful things to eat; her stomach won.

Feeling guilty she still went behind the counter and checked the bakery area for the possible chance she was not alone and felt deflated when she still couldn't find even a trace of life outside her own. That was when she also noticed that the kitchen area she was in was spotless and looked never used.

"WTF?"

So falling back on her what if scenarios Mar made up three bags of baked goods ranked by junk she wanted, stuff that had a longer shelf life, and nutritious.

Then she grabbed a cart and began moving through the isles loading it with staples canned and dry goods.

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Yumi

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Her chores finished Yumi gripped the 2 meter long hammer (Long smooth log suspended by 4 ropes) and pulled it back then pushed it with all her weight into the ōgane (3 meter tall bronze bell). The hammer and bell met as they had since the Edo period. As it had for over 400 years the deep sound rang out 9 times in tribute to Inari protector of the rice it's tone also cleansing all areas it could be heard of any miasma.

Her duty done for a bit she made tea made tea then sat on the platform near the Tori that was at the top of the stairs sipping as she enjoyed the breeze.

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Venus

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Her meal finished Venus headed to class and was once more stunned at the silence of it all so she began checking the others on the floor then random ones on other floors; all empty. Next she went into the administration offices and found no one.

Freaked out she decided to get off the school grounds so she grabbed her Bicycle which again made her scared because it was the only one in the rack. She rode as if being chased sure that she'd find people in the shopping district

[Bria The Human]

Mari grabbed the tray that was left behind and followed the stranger to his table. She gave him kind of an awkward smile before sitting at the empty chair in front of him. Since they were the only two people in the mall it made sense that they would sit together. After hearing him talk about his order being perfect to his usual she took a moment to further inspect her own. Just like his she had the same exact thing she got every time. A large fry, quarter pounder, and a Dr. Pepper. "Uncanny..." She scratched her head in confusion. "But hey, I'm just happy that there was food here."

Ready to bite into her burger, Mari realized that she hadn't answered his question. "You know, I was actually kind of thinking the same thing about you. I've definitely never seen you before, but your voice is very familiar." She searched through her memory trying to figure out where she'd heard him... "OH! Do you like video games by chance? I don't really talk to anyone outside of playing online."

[Azure Flame]

"I absolutely love Video Games!" James said, having taken a bite out of his burger. "I play them all the time, at least when I'm not watching anime or reading manga. I'm actually going to school from programming so I can make my own." He thought for a minute, then hit the palm of his hand with his fist. "MariO!" he said. "That's who you sound like!"

[Bria The Human]

"Oh snap! Yeah that's my Gamer tag!" She smiled excitedly. "That must mean you're 1WingedAngel! What a coincide-" She paused, the faint sound of a distant ringing bell reaching her ears. She didn't know what direction it was coming from, but something about it sent a chill down her spine. She gulped, looking at Angel "Did you hear that? Or am I just going crazy?"

[Azure Flame]

"Yeah, that's me!" he said. Then he heard the ringing and said "If you're going crazy, then so am I, because I heard it too."

[Sharidi37495]

Elle

Elle snarled softly and proceeded to her next job, determined to work through whatever the hell was going on. She kicked off her bike towards the next job. Still no owner, or anyone in a family of eight. The only vehicle that was there for the large family was the station wagon she was meant to fix. Again, the money was left out for her. As if that wasn't enough, a strange force seemed to demand her to make her way to a nearby strip mall. She obliged when her stomach declared that a toaster waffle wasn't enough, the streets still silent enough for her to feel that she was the last human on earth. She parks her bike near a locked bike, in a mostly empty parking lot, despite this mall being one of the most popular in town. Not to mention that the entirety of her jobs and travel was a quarter shorter than it was supposed to be, according to her phone. On top of even that, as Elle went inside to get food, an eerie bell seemed to echo across the space, as well as in her head.

[Jasper19]

Landon

Landon sighed as his drumsticks broke " Damn it" he said and got up. He then checked the fridge and found that they had zero food. Sighing more he grabbed his jacket and threw it on then grabbed his skateboard and began to skate to the mall. As he was skating to the mall Landon frowned , the horizon looked....different but he couldn't place his finger on it as it was covered by clouds. Shrugging Landon made his way to the mall and got chills as he heard an eerie bell noise. " Well that's totally not creepy at all mall" he said to the building believing it to be from the mall. Picking up his skateboard Landon walked in and began to walk around. After grabbing his drumsticks without paying since there didn't seem to be anybody else here he began to skate around on the malls smooth floor when he heard strangely familiar voices. Skating over he was two kids in a booth " hey what's up? " he asked as he saw them relieved to have human contact.

[Bria The Human]

Mari felt a wash of relief at first that she wasn't the only one who heard the noise, but then was just left with a very creeped out vibe. She shrugged it off and decided to go ahead and dig into her burger. As she began to take a bite she heard a familiar voice approaching them. She looked up, her mouth filled with burger, happily surprised to see yet another person in this empty mall. "Mmrm...hm...Hi!" Mari quickly swallowed her food and flashed him a smile. "Nothing much, just hanging in a creepy zombie mall what about you?"

[Sharidi37495]

Elle

Elle makes her way to the food court, frowning when she sees a red headed girl stuffing food into a bag. ”And who the hell might you be?” Elle’s voice seems friendly, but she discreetly slides a hand into her jacket, suspicious of the first person she’d seen all day. This person seems to have an idea of what might be going on.. she’s packing food. Preparation, right?

[Azure Flame]

"Hey." James said, relieved that there was yet another person there. That and he was feeling awkward being alone with MariO, since he'd flirted with her so much in the past. He noticed this new person also had a familiar voice, but couldn't place it yet. He shrugged it off and started eating his food.