Azseth

The Evolution of Aggression (apoc world / Mutants and Aliens and Us) - Dovesong13 and Azseth

I am not sure why it's so difficult, but I blame you, haha.

I don't mind either way about the gender make up. A guy's gotta have choices, right?

Also, I've been "busy" too, and if you think it has anything to do with World Of Warcraft: Legion coming out, you may be on to something. Between today and tomorrow, I'll have something up, probably in the IC part.

Az

Surviving: The End.

For near five minutes after Boggs left to wake the camp, Will did nothing but stare at Jon. It was clear that his mind was racing, trying to think of some way out, some way to clean his hands of this mess that others had made. But, as the minutes passed- That intense, gray stare practically as sharp as the arrows at his waist- he seemed to settle on a decision. Just moments before Daniel burst into the nearby clearing to alert the others of the group, Will gave an irritated snap of his teeth, just inches from Jon's face. A growl rumbled in his throat, edging his words with begrudging acceptance.

"Don't like this. People are -stupid-. Bring rotten ones and violent ones and can't function! But -you-." He reached up to poke Jon firmly in the chest. He was obviously not threatening the older man anymore- Simply venting frustration. "-You- are smart. Makes you dangerous. Might leave the innocent behind to survive. Will knows this place- Knows of a safe place nearby. One day, if they keep up. No breaks. Will show the pack the way, will help with the hurt ones. But Jon will pay for every life lost on the way- Will doesn't even have to do a thing."

He tapped the side of his head, glaring at Jon.

"The Jon will do it to himself. Maybe then, he could be trusted. People who smell like you are never good people. Never. Guilt will fix you."

Despite making next to zero sense in pretty much everything he said, the kid put out a disturbing amount of confidence in his words- As if he were absolutely certain that every last one of them was the truth.

For the first time in days, weeks--well, months actually, Jon was amused. Well, not amused, interested. He could tell that this kid, Will, he could potentially be an asset. Jon was not a fool though, and realized that he was equally likely to run off into the night at any moment. In those same few moments that Will was thinking whatever he was thinking, Jon too was thinking.

He could hear activity behind him as the group was roused and decided that very soon, they'd have to move. In his mind, they still had an hour or so before they needed to move and stay a fair distance ahead of the horde. That idea was shattered when the sentry burst into the group's clearing and broke the bad news.

He hadn't heard Will even talking until the finger to his chest snapped him back to reality. When the boy finished his feral tirade, Jon stared back at him, his face flat and showing no emotion. "Guilt won't fix a guy like me. And, if I wasn't dangerous and didn't already know people would be lost along the way...Will, none of them would be alive, none would have made it this far."

Jon mulled over the thought of guilt for a moment. Be it his training, his life, his intelligence, or a cominbation of all those and more, guilt was something he understood but did not really feel. It was like teaching a young child that 2 plus 2 equals for. You could ask them what 2 plus 2 was, and they'd say four, but they weren't grasping at what it meant, as simple as it was. Not until later did they understand about two objects being added to another two objects made a group of four objects.

Jon didn't feel guilt, but he did feel need. He knew they needed to move, and move fast. "Figure out where we need to go, I'm gunna help them get ready." Jon turned his back to Will and made his way back towards the group, seeing that Austin had already started to help the group get ready to move.

By the time Jon spoke up to tell Will to find the way, the boy was already moving. He slung his bow over his shoulders with a deft motion, looking up towards the trees. Crouching down, he picked a branch and sprung upwards, rapidly vanishing into the branches- With only the occasional scrape of a shoe on bark or the rustle of leaves to let Jon know he was still climbing. He obviously wasn't abandoning them- Not after the tyrade he'd just gone through. But, he probably sought to scout out a path from higher ground- Or at least judge how far the encroaching horde really was.

Once out of sight and high in the branches, Will shuffled towards the end of a particularly sturdy branch just above the general treeline, leaning out to peer first to the south. He narrowed his eyes, frowning and shaking his head. The foliage made it impossible to count them body by body, but it was clear to see movement, early morning light offering just enough to see the shambling, shifting shapes beneath the trees. There were so many... Horde was definitely the proper word. And all drawn by that damn crash, the smell of blood and fear that these people left behind them. He was about to turn to the North, to find an acceptable path for the less fit of the group, when he caught it out of the corner of his eyes. A much smaller group- No more than five or six, and they moved -fast-. Faster than the average rotten one by far, and with more drive. An animal intelligence. Irritably, Will snapped his teeth and looked North, gaze flicking rapidly from place to place. They had to hurry... He'd seen these ones before- The screeching, clawing, running rotten ones. Like wolves, they hunted in small packs, and they hunted their prey far outside of reason, driven by the primal need to feed. His legs ached just thinking about it... Still, they weren't exactly dexterous. They couldn't climb, couldn't jump very well or far... And with no recent rainfall, the streams would be low in their ravines. If they moved quickly, they could leave behind the sprinting corpses in a steep gorge just a short ways to the east, before turning North for the "Winona" place. A cluster of shelters.... Homes.

With a definitive nod, he dropped down from branch to branch until he landed lightly on the forest floor, running towards the clearing.

Surviving: The End.

I'm still here. I'll be active either tonight or tomorrow.

Az

Surviving: The End.

Late October. Missouri.

The group started to rise and this included Rodney and Harris. They both silently got their things together and chewed on some bits of food to get themselves going. They finished and looked around at the camp, making eye contact and nodding to one another. Harris walked up and heard Lucy and Boggs talking.

“Another beautiful day huh Harris?” Rodney leaned against a tree and looked at the younger kid. The group was not made up of what would be ideal candidates for surviving on a zombie ridden world, himself included, but the group was holding together well enough--mainly due to Jon and Austin. Those two had experience and training in things that mattered here and the group had that to thank for allowing them to be here today. While Rodney himself was thankful for this, he was also on edge. He, Harris, Lucy and a few others were on edge about Jon, especially after the incident with the three men in the clearing.

Even before that, Jon displayed a harsh willingness to do things that would cause others pause, hesitation, or flat out denial. He left people at the CDC center, he even left people on the roof instead of waiting to help them.

Now Rodney himself understood the actions at the CDC center, at least to a degree. He may have done the same given the information Jon had talked about after, citing that the helicopter could not hold that much weight, they were out of time and fuel, and a few of the people appeared to be bitten. The difference is that Rodney didn’t see any of the remorse or compassion in Jon before, during or after, that most people would exhibit.

Simply put, he seemed to make the decision and not think twice about it or regret it.

Where Rodney was different from the majority of the group was that, he acknowledged that this was both a bad thing, something to be fears and questions but it was also a good thing, and the reason they were all alive. Lucy, and Harris especially could not bring themselves or were just incapable of seeing this. Either that, or they simply let their emotional view of things cloud their perspective.

Rodney would rather be sad and alive than having attempted to do good, and be dead.

“As wonderful as the last,” Harris said back flatly. “But at least it’s a bit warmer.”

“Warmer indeed.” Rodney was just about to say something when one of the group, Daniel, burst through the treeline. “Get up, get up now. We only have about 10 minutes.”

This didn’t make sense. The 2 rear scouts were supposed to stay at a far enough distance so that, if the zombie horde got close, the scouts would still have ample time to retreat, get the group up, and give them plenty of time to successfully move on ahead. Then something else occurred to Rodney. “Where is--“

“Just get up now, everyone, we need to go. They got him. I haven’t seen it before, them move like they did, but they were like...they weren’t walking around so stupidly. We have to go now.”

Surviving: The End.

Western Missouri. November.

Fuad sat away from the fire where a Terry was laying on the floor. The hastily built shelter was exceptional compared to most. They’d found a few large pieces of plywood nearby and dragged them back into the forest. They stacked them, threw some foliage around them, and were very well hidden and also very well insulated. The fire heated the place fairly well and the 2 pieces of wood did a good job at reflecting the heat, so all in all, it was a comfortable enough night.

He yawned stared at the fire blankly. His ears were perked up as on a dark and snowy night like this, you could see almost nothing but hear a good amount. There was enough snow to crunch under foot, but also not enough to cover branches that could be stepped on and snapped. So he stared into the fire in silence, shotgun rested at his knee, pointed at the entrance to the shelter, conveniently, and his thoughts started to drift.

For some people it was dangerous to do so. Many people would drift into their thoughts and lose track of NOW, but Fuad never had that problem, luckily. He could be immersed in his thoughts but was always aware. Always listening. Always looking. It seemed Terry was the opposite. Sometimes, just talking to Fuad was enough to have him lumbering into things, or raising his voice, or walking around a corner into a zombie.

They were an interesting duo, opposites in many ways. Fuad was smaller of stature and young whereas Terry was an older man, and also wide and burley. Fuad was generally cautious and aware. He used patience and was willing to wait and see things out. Terry was angry and headstrong and if he saw a zombie, he more often than not would simply charge forward to smash it.

They both were survivors though, and both were a lot more hesitant around people. People were different. They were savage animals, but with cunning and intelligence. You could walk away from zombies, you could hide from them, trick them.

Humans were the real danger.

He sighed mentally and leaned back. As he looked into the fire, his thoughts went to the night of the bombing. He could hear the jets, see them streaking across the night sky. He could feel the concussive force as he watched. Then, he remembered the night sky lighting up.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts and reached for his toothbrush.

Surviving: The End.

Late October. Missouri.

Austin nodded, letting out a sigh as the strange boy yammered on strangely. He looked to the trees, keeping his eyes peeled for movement in case this wackjob wasn't alone. The grip on his rifle didn't loosen in the slightest, but he looked Will over. Finally, as the boy put away his arrow, Jon was able to explain the situation.

"None of us like it, but he's right. This foreset is crawlin' with 'em... We haven't had to get too close yet, but let me tell you, from what I've seen already, I woudln't doubt they're coming from several directions. We need to find us a path of least resistance and get out." The pilot shrugged his shoulders, taking a step in close to Jon and muttering quietly, "Look, I'm gonna go wake up the others, alright? This kid can do what he wants." There was no doubt Will heard it, but Austin had clearly made it so that the message was not toward him.

With that, the vet walked back to their encampment and quietly started to rouse everybody. He shook one person awake and like clockwork they moved on to the next and within only a couple of minutes you had a camp of groggy survivors rubbing their eyes and climbing to their feet. Some were shivering, others were clearly just pissed off, but they knew better than to pick a fight and start shouting. Some asked for just a few more minutes, but the requests were all denied. Austin had only been on watch about two hours - he could function despite the fact that he got less sleep than the others and it was likely he would still operate better than most of them. He'd be carrying the rifle today.

Rodney sat up when Austin moved over to wake him and saw that Lucy was already getting her stuff sorted out while Harris was still rolling around in his sleeping back, muttering and groaning. He was not in pain, he was actually one of the least injured of the group. He was just always complaining about the cold, or hunger or just having to move.

Lucy finished getting her gear together and moved over to Austin, "anything new today, or just another day of walking, keeping ahead of the horde?" She looked over at Harris who, to his credit, was actually moving today instead of having to be dragged out of his bag or threatened with violence as it was the first few days. She felt somewhat bad for him. He was beat up pretty bad, he was going through an entirely world changing experience, and he simply wasn't built for this. She moved over to help Harris while waiting for Boggs to reply.

The Evolution of Aggression (apoc world / Mutants and Aliens and Us) - Dovesong13 and Azseth

Name: Lonnie Tyler.
Nickname: LT.
Age: 23.
Height: 5’11”.
Weight: 190lbs.
Hair: Black.
Eyes: Brown.

Status: Mutant.
Abilities: Lonnie can control the mind of sentient beings. Up to the war, he could only control one human mind at a time. Upon the alien invasion however, things changed slightly. Since the majority of the aliens have some form of telepathic link with one another, he can view a group of aliens almost as a “network” in his mind and choose which to control. This is also valuable for getting positions of enemies as he can get approximate locations and get a good estimate of enemies.

The more powerful a target is mentally, the more they are likely to resist. Additionally, when entering the mind of another, he essentially becomes 100% vulnerable and has zero awareness of what’s around him and no ability to react until fully withdrawing from the mind of the target. He wouldn’t know if his own arm was being sawn off while in the mind of another.

Birth place: Michigan.

History: Lonnie was born and raised in a relatively unstable environment. His mother and father were together, but his father was very mean and cruel, and his mother only acted as an occasional buffer. It didn’t work however, it only made it worse because he had to see his mother as the target of his father.

He played football and did what he could to stay out of the home through high school. One day, during an altercation, he discovered his mutant power when he entered the mind of his father out while reacting angrily. He essentially made his father run outside and get hit by a car. At the time, he thought it was a weird dream, but he woke up and saw his father in the street. His dad survived, but it was after that that Lonnie started exploring his powers. He left his house to as he went to college and worked, maintaining a relatively normal life, even amidst the mutant panic as he could hide his power very well.

He was lucky to live through the initial alien attacks and started fighting back immediately, joining whatever group he could find, discovering that his powers were a lot more useful with the aliens than with humans.

Personality: Lonnie is on the middle ground in terms of being outgoing and insulated. He is very talkative in a social manner, especially around people he knows. He tends to be a bit more tight lipped around new people, or around conversations that are deep. When it comes to people he trusts and cares about, he is willing to go to great lengths to make things good and right, or help them out.

The Evolution of Aggression (apoc world / Mutants and Aliens and Us) - Dovesong13 and Azseth

Name: Lazlo Bragimov.
Nickname: The Ukrainian. Yook.
Age: 27.
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 210.
Hair: Blue.
Eyes: Black.

Status: Mutant.
Abilities: Lazlo’s first ability is heightened sense. He can hear, see, sense things at higher level than normal humans. His vision is extremely acute and he can see very long distances. His other ability is that once he is completely still and focused, he can essentially become indestructible. He must concentrate extremely hard and it must remain unbroken for the entire time. This also physically exhausts him the longer he utilizes it.

Birth place: Rolov, Ukraine.

History: Lazlo was born and raised in the Ukraine. He worked at a young age in the rural area as his family owned a farm and raised livestock and crops. On his off time, he worked in the village with a cobbler to make money to go to school, also in his off time. He learned English and a variety of other subjects that made him more than just a farmboy.

When the tensions of the world started building up, Russia and its satellites went into a state of military frenzy, similar to the cold war days. Armies were made, territories redrawn and eventually Lazlo’s family lost their farm. His mother and father put together enough money to send him to America to work and get enough money to bring them over, but that was never to happen as the world began to spiral lower and lower. And then the aliens came.

Eventually after the smoke cleared and various degrees of conflict started, Lazlo started joining whatever resistance movement he could.

Personality: Lazlo is loud, talkative, and social. In spite of the world’s state, he doesn’t seem too negatively affected by it. He drinks when he can and enjoys down time almost as much as he enjoys killing aliens. He has a noticeable Ukrainian accent when he speaks English.

The Evolution of Aggression (apoc world / Mutants and Aliens and Us) - Dovesong13 and Azseth

Name: Steve Spears.
Age: 24.
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 190
Hair: brown
Eyes: brown

Status: Formerly crowned human.
Abilities: Crowned abilities: increased strength, senses, agility, durability, healing, etc.
Birth place: Northern Michigan.

History: Steve was born in Northern Michigan and had the envious childhood that entailed being raised on a compound with a family of dooms day preppers. The majority of his life, he was only around family and hadn’t seen anyone outside of those on the compound until he was about 16. His family “went into town” to stock up on some supplies.

He ended up talking with two other kids around his age and after that, something just didn’t sit right with him being as isolated as he was. Part of that was the fact that he had developed a crush on the girl he’d met, but another arguably larger part of it was simply the fact that there were other people out there and other things.

Eventually, he started sneaking out and off of the compound, using this time to socialize with people outside of what had recently been his entire life. He enjoyed it more and more, did it more and more, until it started causing friction with his family. When things reached their boiling point with the family, he was 19 and given the option of moving out or ceasing his activities. He opted to part ways with his family and they haven’t made contact to this day.

He eventually made his way out to southeast Michigan where he worked at menial jobs. He was somewhat socially awkward, but it was easy for him to find jobs because he was very mechanically inclined and capable. He had all kinds of skills that had him be able to work at places that needed odd jobs.

Around the time that the mutations began, he was working at a bowling alley as a mechanic and grounds keeper. Truth be told, if he was anything he was curious. Upon leaving the compound, everything and everyone not survival related was new to him and he accepted many new things into his life. Mutants couldn’t be much different. While this was his opinion, it was not the opinion shared by many people, and because of this, he began to seclude himself from people, keeping to himself because the world seemed to be going into a frenzy of sorts.

Things were tense and only seemed to be building and then the unthinkable happened: alien ships filled the skies. He was 22 when he was taken and crowned as aliens started to touch down outside of Detroit (which was heavily attacked leaving most of the city in complete ruins).

Almost two years later, he was freed from his crown and joined a resistance group.

Personality: Prior to being crowned, Steve was quite but curious and enjoyed people. Once he was familiar with settings and people, he was very outgoing. The crowning and removal changed him however. Where he was quiet before, he is now withdrawn and distant. He didn’t get too close to people out of a degree of self-loathing and the fact that lots of people were lost in the fight against the aliens. There’s also a degree of having been violated that most people do not understand or even think he would be going through. Most just assume he’s happy to be free and do not consider the damages he accrued. There are a lot of people who do not trust him, or look at him differently now too, so between his own distance and the hostile actions of others, it seems a good thing more often than not.

There are 2 distinct marks, one on each temple of his head, that make it obvious to anyone who knows about crown removal what has happened to him.

Where he was curious before, he’s now insulated. He doesn’t talk much, especially about anything personal.

The Evolution of Aggression (apoc world / Mutants and Aliens and Us) - Dovesong13 and Azseth

Earth. Many things were just as they are now and have been for a long time. Wars came and went, political and economic situations arose. There was much tension between the alliance of the U.S. and the European Alliance, and Russia, China, and the Middle East as each vied for power and influence, and each worked to stop the other as indirectly as possible.

Tensions rose and fell but another catalyst soon came about. This one pushed things to a point just as volatile as the global posturing: humans mutated. It started subtly but quickly and many people tried to hide these mutations initially. Some were easily hidden while others were not. After a variety of incidents all over the world, some that involved humans lashing out at mutants who responded, or simply mutants using their powers blatantly, the world responded.

In 2020 different nations and governments reacted in different ways, but all over the world, things were violent and tumultuous. About this time, the world Powers began to mobilize and some seemed willing to take this situation and use it to press others for more land, power, or resources. Things began to heat up to a multi-directional cold war when in 2022, something unthinkable happened: spaceships began to orbit the Earth.

For the first few days, the massive ships hovered in space but after several days, a handful moved down and hovered over land masses. One day, several fragments of the ships were launched at the Earth and each country. Finally finding a reason to focus on something that wasn’t human, the military powers banded together and launched nuclear arsenals at the ships.

None of them reached their targets or detonated.

Hours later, the ships launched energy weapons that destroyed most large cities and other populous areas. Not long after, the invasion began as aliens transports poured out of the main ships, swarming the Earth with alien lifeforms.

The invasion had begun.