Zombiedude101

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Hillview High - Mason Square
_{@Surtr Inc@Mike73@Atrophy@Majoras End@Fernstone}

---

Shadows. A blade. More fighting that moved at a blur, too fast for Nate to follow, or perhaps it was the incomprehensible sight which followed that left him with a sense of disorientation. We should leave. It was a sentiment a few of them shared for real, with good reason - the shifting mass which had seeped out of the orb was taking on a form which seemed more human, in spite of it being anything but. That Rita got a lucky break when Kimberly brought her down was one thing, Claire's open challenge to it with the knife that had belonged to Reece pushed their luck too far and began forcing through the environment.

"Ancient bullshi-" he almost remarked, but in the heat of the moment quickly shut up and began focusing on walking out of this one alive, backing away from the fiasco as the writhing mass of shadows and oily black substance closed the distance between them. Nate felt the sensation of water and found the colour bleeding out of his vision for a just a few seconds, something sweeping at him from behind. One glance, one brief view of that shadow-tendril trailing after him was enough motivation to keep moving. Even though he was supposed to be untouchable, he knew that he'd felt something when it brushed clean through him, moreso noticable than the time he'd nearly got brained hiding behind the dumpster at Grand Ridge. Was this it? Was he fucked now?

Could he outrun it? He wasn't a runner - he wasn't a fighter, either, assuming any of them were even able to fight this thing. No, he rationalised, he'd have to take a shortcut. But where? What about the others? An almost suicidal thought came to mind - maybe it would work, but at the same time perhaps not. Right now, it seemed worth the risk. "Grab my fucking hand!" He blurted it out, gaze searching for the imminent exit route that hadn't been decided upon yet. Anywhere that didn't lead him towards this eldritch horror.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

I apologise for the radio silence, I'm in the process of moving addresses at the moment and haven't had the head for writing as before. Will be good soon.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Hillview High - Mason Square
_{@Surtr Inc@Mike73@Atrophy@Majoras End@Fernstone}

---

There was a lot to take in, cult-shit or not - and if Britney was telling the truth, which in this case it really looked like it was, he had a whole lot more than hillbillies and writing on the wall to worry about. Someone - no, something? Some group? The Watchers, the League, wanted him dead, just because he was awakened? Because he had an abstraction? That he didn't even ask for, at that, even though he wasn't complaining about having one at this stage.

No time to process it came before Paige alerted them to the horror scene going on in the hallway.

Nate had been caught like a deer in headlights, paralysed by indecision until the reality settled in a few seconds later. Reese had killed someone else and was about to kill more of them - but what would running do? He'd just come after them again and more would die. But what kind of a fight could his fat-ass give him? He wasn't like Lynn or Penny or the others, he didn't have anything he could shoot or throw at them.

What he did have, though... Nate took a deep breath, set himself towards the right frame of mind, then stepped into the wall, colour and surroundings bleeding out of his vision as his hooded frame disappeared into the architecture. Like wading through water, he had to actively push against his environment - there had to be another room he'd hit soon, right? It didn't take long before colour started seeping back into place - his torch beam, no longer covered, revealed yet another empty classroom, a few desk still left standing but little else of use. He was sure they'd passed a janitor's closet on the way in here. Pivoting towards the door, he came at it running this time and slipped through like a curtain, this time back into the empty hallways. Further down, he could hear voices and the ongoing commotion - and picked up the pace, feeling his own heart slamming against his chest and his temple throbbing.

There was the sign! CUSTODIAL Testing the door revealed it was still locked, but with a renewed vigor, he rendered himself intangiable against the sealed entrance and passed through to the other side, his torchlight hastily dancing across the dusty interior the moment he had the opportunity to look around. Mostly empty again, but a few things - cleaning solutions, a half-rusted toolbox, a mop... and a janitorial cart. A stupid idea came to mind - Nate checked over his shoulder for a moment to check if he could unlock the door from within and found, to his luck, there was indeed a catch. Thank you anti-molestation features.

Rattling came from within the custodial closet, then the door burst open as Nate wheeled the cart out, now laden with all manner of tools and junk that had been haphazardly thrown on top. With all the strength in his legs, he pushed hard against the floor as he got a running start towards where the fighting was - where Reese was - which soon turned into a charge.

"Move, move!" He rasped, then at the top of his lungs found another sentence roaring from his mouth, "Tenno heika, banzai!"

A butchered pronuncination of the Imperial Japanese warcry learned from countless Rising Storm sessions - but one that was surely going to catch Reese's attention and buy the others some time, maybe. Nate kept on going, damned-well intent on ramming this thing into that asshole whilst he was still in one place. Just don't die.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Hillview High - Mason Square

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'Pandora's Box' had turned out to contain a collection of books from some place called... Glint? Taking a glance at the contents as a few of the others approached to inspect the discovery, he found the text was in a foreign language which could have been just as much a mess as Chinese for all he knew. Then, it occured to him - some it looked like it was Mandarin, yet the same time other languages had been thrown into the mix - letters and symbols which reminded him of Arabic, Hindi and whatever else came from that side of the world.

Further perplexing him, it became clear that Britney and Sharon knew way more than what they'd let on, especially in the former's case. She'd known about their abstractions and about all the other crazy shit that had happened so far, now Sharon had spilled both their guts out with more of the cryptic cult-talk. "Who's they?" Nate blurted aloud, "The voices in your head?" For a chance, he felt less like joking around on this one. "Seriously, what the fuck. You've been leading us along and telling us little pieces at a time, what are the Watchers and League that bug-girl here just let slip about?"

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Hillview High - Mason Square
_{@Surtr Inc@FernStone@Atrophy}

---

“I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that we shouldn’t investigate.” Nate felt Billy's nervous palm clapping him on the shoulder, the beam from their flashlight casting the derelict corridors in new shadows. “What did you see?” he heard another voice ask him, drawing his gaze from where the shadow had been to where Rita was standing.

"I saw-" Nate cut himself off, halfway along. None of the others had seen it? He wasn't going to finish that line with nothing, because it sure wasn't nothing that he'd seen turning back and disappearing out of sight. "I saw someone walking down there. Probably Freddy Krueger, deciding which of us goes first," he shot Billy a brief grin, "Anyone else feeling sleepy?" For emphasis, he loosed off a long, drawn-out yawn, just pitched enough that it echoed down the corridors, accidentally unsettling himself in the process.

It was enough that he almost lost track of some the conversation that was going on with the group again - he recalledthe tail end of Kimberly's musings, "-know all know the mountain, right? There's a rumor - no, an urban-legend - surrounding it - that it's cursed... that anyone who goes near it disappears, and anyone who comes back... comes back wrong."

"What kinda wrong we talkin' about here?" Hagan had asked a question that was rhetorical for most of them, only for Claire to jab at the mural and state the obvious, "This kinda wrong, dumbass." Maybe he had a point, though - mountains didn't just make you disappear unless you were talking about climbing accidents. He'd seen enough of them back in Bellevue whenever he got a good view of the skyline, imposing structures standing vigil over the city that they weren't exactly alien to him, but here, thinking of ut as some kind of omen - it reminded him of the night of the massacre as he'd been making his way to the camp, when he'd seen it in the without any daylight to frame it.

Sharon led them further into the building, more cult graffiti decorating the otherwise barren walls. In hindsight, it was definitely a factor adding to the 'this town is crazy' vibe, allowing him to feel some measure of understanding as to why the old man had moved out early on. Why had Aunt Viv come back here, though? Perhaps he was thinking too much on it - maybe they all had a filter on this kind of shit and maybe they'd just never run into any of the crazy shit he had since the massacre.

Back on track.

The 'Room 108' sign met the light as fast as their guide stopped outside, though her reluctance to enter was obvious. Claire seemed to be in that take-no-shit mood again though, shoving her inside. Everyone else started filing in, varied expressions contorting their faces - Nate followed suit and found himself cringing as he saw the checkerboard of photos adorning the walls wherever there had been space to place them up.

Faces on the photos weren't exactly unfamiliar, either - some he actually recognised, if only from brief glances in classes or because the others seemed to be recognising them. Curiosity seized him, more than the sense of dread at the pit of his stomach, so he followed it along, even taking time to look at the 'eliminated' faces. But something else that he caught, just off the edge of his torchbeam, managed to make his stomach lurch.

It was a yearbook photo, taken long before Nate had been a crude look in his parents' eyes. But it was a face he knew very well.

KENNY WARD - LOW - LOW

It wasn't the only one he recognised. There was another yearbook photo, this time of a girl with a few features that he instantly recognised.

VIVIAN WARD TAYLOR - LOW - LOW

Nate kept on following the trail, looking to confirm his fears. It had to be here, the third photo - he just needed to find it.

Oh.

QUENTIN TAYLOR - LOW - MEDIUM

Naturally, it wasn't a yearbook photo. It wasn't even a personal one that had been stolen off Facebook or anything like that - it was a close up from a PR photo of the whole Sheriff's Department from about a year back, at most. Why was he marked as a threat at all? Because he was a cop? Something deep within him felt a surge of frustration, maybe just a little anger. Without wasting time, Natetore down the three photos that he did recognise, scrunching them up and shoving them into his pockets. Was there anything else? A photo of himself, maybe? He glanced around, searching for one, but he found nothing - it was impossible to tell with the mass of photos spread around.

"What the fuck is this?" He found himself directing his question towards Sharon, in spite of the onslaught she was facing from Penny. "Why- why would your dad be out to kill everyone? Some of these guys - some of them are guys that I know haven't even been around for all this crazy shit. How's that being a Guardian of... shit, anything?" Engrossed in the moment, he almost missed Penny reaching over a couple of moments too late to stop her from cracking open an ancient pandora's box. Well, it looked ancient.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

For the sake of avoiding confusion the silhouettes/shadows referenced in my post are and have been visible only to Nate.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Hillview High - Mason Square

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Black skies? Check. Full moon? Check. Dead trees? Check. The place even had boards and fences cordoning it off, which made it the kind of cliched backdrop for a slasher film, a little like how Hulk!Reese had engaged in the massacre at the camp. If they were going to get caught out here, well - it was their own fault, right? His included, for going along with their plans and coming with them - not that he was any worse off than they were, given what he'd figured out how to do so far. And that wasn't even getting into the legal side of things.

Nothing to bring me closer to Uncle Quent like 'breaking and entering' - Nate didn't voice that sentiment, naturally - but it stuck in his mind. It wasn't lost on him either that ever since he'd come to this town, since moving in with Viv and Quent (both law-abiding and in the latter's case, law-enforcing citizens) he'd probably broken more laws in the span of a week than he'd had for the rest of us life, even accounting for all the wonderful content he'd streamed or torrented like the freeloader he was. And he was glad to freeload again when Britney shared out flashlights for those who hadn't prepared for walking through the dark, which in hindsight was a pretty stupid thing to do. Claire so kindly tore the fence a new asshole so they could get onto the school grounds and up towards the entrance, where someone had already been poking around.

Someone had already paid this place a visit, if the open door was anything to go by - which of course instilled more second thoughts at the back of Nate's mind. Cementing those thoughts were the words he found, scrawled across the wall as part of some form of mural.

HE WILL REDEEM US

SAVE US

I WANT TO FEEL YOUR GLOW, I WANT TO FEEL YOUR WARMTH

What the fuck. It was a blunt thought, but the only other way to describe it would have been 'WHAT IS THIS, I DON'T EVEN' which given how serious all this shit was, he did not want to climb aboard that train of thought. Claire's reaction about summed up his own. "... Okay."

Finally, one of them found the words to speak up over this terrifying discovery, "What's all this mean? Seems like some cult logic shit."

"It means," Nate answered, deadly serious, "We're going to turn up on liveleak or something like that when they find our bodies hung from the rooftops and our names written in blood on the wall." He looked at the others, trying to gauge their thoughts, "Really. This is reading like the other stuff, that 'the past is dead and so are they' crap we found in those photos." A chill ran down his spine, causing tiny dots to form along his skin - and he became acutely aware of not just the group, but other figures, distant but definitely there as far as his eyes could tell him. He blinked, rubbing at his eyes to ensure it wasn't a trick.

It wasn't. "Shit, look!"

Shining his torch beam into the open maw that was the school hallway, he saw one distinct silhouette stood there, facing towards him like a shadow that had taken physical form - then turning back and disappearing from view behind a corner he couldn't see.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

The Reid Farmhouse - Garage
_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@FernStone@Prosaic@Mike73}

---

"I won't detonate it while you're in there," Lynette had flatly noted as Rien worked his own abstraction, "Besides, worst comes to worst, I have the tools to save you." Contrary to reassuring him, Nate couldn't help but shoot back a jab of his own. "Right, does that include my hand or will I be lucky to come back with anything past..." He waggled a few fingers over his elbow, the implication clear, but he never got anything back from her and soon figured out why.

Sounds of a thousand flies, wasps, bees - whatever else was floating out there - had rapidly quieted until there was nothing left. Hagan, no big surprise there, took Billy's cue that the coast was clear and practically threw the doors open, letting light spill into the confined space again. Nate squinted for a moment, blinded by the sudden return of the sun's glares, before realising that figure stood in the opening wasn't just his eyes screwing with him. Britney and the others were there, along with the redhead who'd had her arm broken by that tentacled entity.

So they were alive, at least... though he soon found out that one of the others he hadn't really known, Andrea had gotten caught up in that mess. How they'd make any sense of that, explain it to the cops - how he'd put that to Quent - was something he didn't want to face up to right now, but he felt a sickening lurch in his stomach when the reality of it set in. Dead.

As the others cleaned up, so did he with a couple of things, shifting furniture and detritus aside to draw some of his worse thoughts from the situation at hand. Before long they were resting on the porch, nursing their non-existent wounds whilst the redhead (Sharon, he found out) rested her actual injury, which turned out not to be all that much of a big deal when it came to being treated by Isabella. Not that it did the dead ones any good, try fixing that.

Something kept tugging at him from the corner of his eye - Nate shifted his gaze just a couple degrees over towards the edge of the property. For just a second, colour bled from sight as the world shifted towards a monochrome - in the field stood a silhouette. It was too distant to make out with any sense of clarity, but... he blinked and it was there still. And closer to them, another silhouette - just in the yard outside the house, though that one disappeared quick. His attention was on the field, when the colour seeped back into view. "Did you guys see that?"

Whatever it was, he'd been distracted from the conversation now that Sharon was up and about. Like the rest, Nate listened, trying to push the silhouette to the back of his mind for now.

"We got attacked by William Birkin just for coming here, but I'm sure it won't happen again - just see how excited we are to go!" Sarcasm oozed from his every word, "But, what do I know, I'm just the guy who keeps getting shit phasing through me. Sure, let's go, it's nothing touching me."

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

The Reid Farmhouse - Garage
_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@FernStone@Prosaic@Mike73}

---

More had filed in to help haul the truck in front of the door and keep it from opening back up to unleash the swarm upon them, but Nate all the same kept his body pressed against it just in case that tiny little gap he'd sworn he could make in the door wasn't tiny enough to keep out a dozen or so bees, wasps or whatever from stinging or biting them until their throats closed up and they all died a horrible, painful death. Nope was his answer to that.

Most of those who'd been helping secure the door melted away when a commotion arise from the back of the garage - voices? Nate gave thought to it, wondering just where the hell they'd come from and if that meant there was another way in for the bugs. Assorted junk was pushed or otherwise kicked aside, allowing the voices coming from beneath to pop open a hatch and emerge - Hagan came first, followed soon after by Paige, Calea and Lynn - the latter of whom he at least somewhat knew from their past encounter in which her flying chunk of rock had been ready to cave his skull in. That was at least somewhat relieving, given the kind of stunts he knew she could pull - but that relief had almost entirely drained away once he realised a swarm of bugs had managed to follow them up.

Nate glanced between the truck and the stricken group, ready to intervene just as Jordan tripped over - he realised that the bugs had frozen. Not as in ice-cold frozen but literally frozen in place, which in turn gave the others (props to Hagan and Lynn) time to deal with them. Another abstraction? These people were full of surprises.

"Okay, we need a plan, and we need a good one." Lynette had already started cutting into the thick of it, "What's everyone's abstractions, and does anyone have anything useful they'd like to let the group know?"

"You should know since you almost missed me," Nate impulsively remarked, "Dunno if that means I can walk through the bugs or anything." Part of him wasn't exactly eager to test that out, either - but she kept on going with her ideas. She gave Rien a look, "I got all the fire we need... but, what you could draw was something to burn. Something like cloth or wood. Then that brings me to you..."

Nate felt her grinning face staring at him, "You can phase it through the floor, and then I ignite it. That'll produce enough smoke to clear the tunnels. Or burn enough of them alive. When we were in the tunnel, I heard the insects coming down a separate path - so that must mean there's a way out of here."

"Shit, can't you make some kind of bug spray spell?" Nate asked, already aware of the kind of answer to expect - none of this would be easy, "I mean, I'll do it - just don't want to go up in smoke." His abstraction would let him do that at least, right? It beat dying trapped in here and so, reluctantly, he volunteered for the job.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

@FernStone I posted just after you did last night and only just saw, so I've edited my post.