Players:
Summary: Something is awoken under the earth.
Date: October 12, 2010
Log Title: Rolling In Her Grave
Rating: PG-13
Tegu-Haaz - Xavier's Insane Asylum for Adolescents (Graveyard)
Crosses, angels, simple rectangles, monuments and more make up the various graves in this once sacred ground. In the center is a mausoleum that reads 'Summers' with plenty of familiar names. Frost, McCoy, Drake, Monroe, Worthington and Pryde are another one of the large monuments along with several other familiar names from McMillan, Fegenbush , Vallon, Brown, Blake, VonReginleif, Danvers, Larkin, Pervinca and Palmer and more on the smaller graves. An 'X' with a circle surrounding it can be seen at the top of several of the graves. There are no first names or dates on the grave stones, just last names. Flowers long since dried and wilted sit on top of the graves. All around the grave yard is a three foot tall wrought iron fence with pointed tops along with a small gate that serves as it's only entrance. At the end of the graveyard the burned remains of a chapel can be seen.
Robyn has been restless and quiet for the last few days here. He's been avoiding people as much as possible, only going to the Farmhouse to eat and talk to Emma quickly before disappearing again. He did hear though about some activity at the Aslyum and decided to head up there. Though he did mind the rule about not going alone and asked Star to go for a walk with him. He's been quiet though, not saying much and walking with his hands shoved in his pockets. Finally when they cross into the graveyard he speaks up, if in a quiet voice. "There's some really weird stuff going on Star, I can't explain it."
Star has been being good and not going anywhere since she first made her way to the Farmhouse, but she's become restless the last couple of days and jumped at the invitation to get away from all of the tension that she can't seem to escape with everyone else. She folds her arms over her chest as she walks, content enough to let the silence reign until Robyn chooses to break it. She tries to avoid looking at the headstones and the names on them, jumping slightly when Robyn finally speaks and looks over at him almost sharply, "Well, yeah, it's weird stuff… This whole place is weird!" Unease hangs around the empath, "I still don't understand any of it." And she isn't sure she wants to.
Chloe didn't quite intend to set off alone. But what started out as going on ahead to scout rapidly turned into Chloe wandering off by herself. "Another day and I'm back in the graveyard… God if I'm here one more time I'll need to mix up some kind of black eyeliner," she proclaims, filling in her own empty grave by kicking in clods of soil. "I wonder if it'd be inappropriate to sing Thriller."
Robyn looks at Chloe and sighs, not answering or really in the mood for jokes. "So, is it true, that you guys dug up some of the graves here?" He does ask as that's part of the reason he wanted to come up here and also the disturbing of the graves seemed to rattle him inside for some reason. "I'm starting to feel like I belong but don't belong, if that makes senese." He doesn't shed much more light on it than that.
Star wrinkles her nose, "Ew… Who'd want to dig up graves? What if you'd found a body?" She shudders and wraps her arms a little more tightly around her and moves over to where she can look into the grave Chloe is filling in, but looks back at Robyn when he says he feels like he doesn't belong, her eyes slate gray at the moment, "What do you mean? None of us belong here…"
Chloe whistles as she kicks another clod of earth back. "Maaybe? Only me and Heathers. And they were /our/ graves so it's perfectly okay," she informs. "Besides I wasn't even buried there! There was a note with a riddle. Heathers had some bones in but she hasn't got them checked to confirm if they're hers or not." She shrugs. "It's not like this is a real place. It's too much like something stole our collective knowledge of horror movies. So if there was a body it wouldn't have been a real one."
"I feel it though Star, it's weird." Says the fellow Alpha Squadron member ass he looks about the graves. "Well I see one here with my last name…and two over there that say Rosen." Robyn remarks looking around the graveyard getting chills at all the familar names. "Chloe, you don't know. I saw Kisha get eatten by a Pumpkin, I know that when you get hurt here you bleed and and it does hurt and…" But before he can finish he sentance there's a rumble of the earth that vibrates and shakes under the feet of all three.
"There are?" Star has done her best to avoid looking for headstones that could belong to her and her brother. Her voice has a mild panicked note to it and she automatically looks over in the direction Robyn pointed, shaking her head, "They don't belong to me and Cloud, though, because we're both alive!" Right? She shakes her head again, "They aren't us." She sounds like she's trying to convince herself of that more than anything else. She opens her mouth to speak again, but then the ground shakes and all that comes out is a little squeak. Her eyes widen, faint violet joining the slate color they've been pretty much consistantly since she first woke up here, "What in hell was that?!"
As the ground begins to shake Chloe instinctively springs back away from the open grave. "Just because something isn't real doesn't mean it's not dangerous," she says to Robyn, sticking her tongue out. "Either of you two got any weapons? Because I was travelling pretty light today. Only got a knife to hand.." Better safe than sorry she turns her cybernetic hand on for the second time since waking up in wherever she happens to be. "The Fault Lies with the one who isn't mean anything to either of you? Because if so now might be a good time for us to solve it and get home.." Hand booting up she flicks her head from side to side, alert for trouble of the earth shakingly large kind.
As the ground shakes, Robyn reaches out a hand to grab onto the the gravestone that reads 'Larkin' to keep keep his balance. "I..I have an axe." Robyn says as it's something he's been carrying around with him. He shakes his head at Chloe as he goes to hold the axe in both hands. "I have no clue Chloe."
The ground infront of one of the grave stones that just reads 'Rosen' cracks with a spray of dirt in the area as a gust of wind starts to blow across the graveyard keeping the dirt in the air as it blows around. The violent gusts of wind don't stop as the ground starts to open releasing a pungent smell of death and decay. A single hand composted of rotted greenish flesh and bone grips the Earth at the lip of the opening.
"I…" Star grimaces, "I've got a knife, but that's it…" Not that she's ever really fought with a knife before, or anything. She shakes her head, "No, I don't have any idea what that could mean." Then the ground's opening up and that horrible smell washes over them, making the empath gag in responce. She backs up a step, her eyes wide and focused on that disgusting hand rising from the ground in front of one of the graves labeled Rosen, "Holy crap…" Her voice is a low whisper, "What in hell is that?"
"I can assure you /our/ graves weren't nearly as gross," Chloe states flatly, glancing around for a more suitable weapon. Given the choice between some dry flowers, grass and a nearby rock she grabs the rock. "Fighting retreat towards the gate anyone?" With her other hand she draws a dagger, the edge sharpened like a razor thanks to a lot of superspeed time and effort. "I'll take rearguard duty. Easier for me to retreat and fight."
Ducking his head down from the wind and to keep the airborne dirt from getting in his eyes, Robyn takes a few steps towards Star and stands in front of her with the axe. "Chloe, we can try." He says as it's a suggestion but he's definately freaked out by all of this.
The wind continues to blow picking up more dirt, dried grass and leaves in the air that seem to linger there. As the zombie pulls it self up out the dirt it's the form of a rotting female woman. She stands about 5'4" and has long stringy hair that's missing in patches. Her eyes are sunking in and half the the green flesh is rotted off her body showing bone underneath, a long black tattered dress hangs on her form. She opens her mouth to speak but just a gurgling growl comes out as she lunges towards Star.
Star makes another little squeak as the zombie comes into full view, fear spiking around her, "Oh shit… I hate zombies." Her least favorite horror movie. She reaches for her own knife, shaking her head in denial, "Oh, God… I really wish we could all just wake up now." So, apparently, she's hoping that this is all just a big nightmare, or something. Then the zombie lunges for her and there's a little shriek of terror as the empath stumbles backwards, dull blade held before her defensively.
"I wonder if Heather was bones because of her power," Chloe blurts in a sudden flash of insight. "Run for it!" And with that inspirational bit of advice she springs forward, whipping the arm holding the rock and launching the piece of stone with all her might at the zombie.
Robyn goes to get between Star and the Zombie with his axe but it seems like he drops the axe as at falls to the ground and the blade sticks in the dirt. The Zombie goes through Robyn as if he wasn't there and goes to take a chomp right out of Star's arm. The rock hits the Zombie in the head knocking her off her target for a bit as her arms reach out to grab onto Star. The wind doesn't die down and keeps on kicking up more and more debree and there's a few more shakes and vibrations in the ground.
Running sounds like a really good idea and Star starts to do so, but then Robyn steps between her and the monster and the axe is dropped, "Robyn!" Oh shit. When the zombie tries to take a bite out of her, the empath quite suddenly gets angry and tries to slash the knife across her face, "Leave me the hell alone!" Anger is better than being afraid, right? She narrows her eyes against the wind born debris and coughs, "Note to self: See about getting some goggles when we get home."
Lucky for Chloe her eyes are designed to deal with dust and high wind speeds. "I wish I'd read that book on how to survive zombie attacks," she mutters as she darts round behind the zombie. "Do /not/ let it bite you! The last thing we need is more zombies." Ducking in close she slashes her knife at the back of the zombies legs, trying to hamstring it and with luck slow the thing down.
Robyn goes to grab the zombie but his arms go right through it and he can't get a hold of the rotting girl to pull her away from Star. "Star…Chloe…The Axe!" He yells as it's still in the ground.
The zombie girl doesn't let up on trying to attack Star and the knife slice to the face doesn't do much to slow her down. Instead once the cut is opend a few maggots seem fall out of the cut on her face, and same with the hamstringed cut on her leg. She lunges again at star and her long, clawed finger nails dig and slice into Star's skin as she grabs the girl by her arm to pull her close for a bite.
"Oh yeah, no problem there…" Star doesn't have any desire to let the Zombie bite her, that's for sure. "Ew…" The word is almost sobbed when the maggots fall out of the cut she managed to inflict on the creature, but it's followed by a scream when the zombie's nails draw blood, "Let me GO!" She's unable to make any move to actually grab for the axe, instead stabbing for her attacker's neck, the air around her a blend of terror and anger as she tries to pull her arm from the monster's grasp.
"What the hell is happening to you Robyn?" Chloe yells, her knife blurring as she slashes at the back of the zombie. "It's like you're a ghost or something!" With the zombie busy clawing Star the speedster decides to make a grab for the axe, lashing out with a brutal savate kick to try drive it away and then snatching at it with her cybernetic hand.
Robyn backs away realizing there isn't much he can do, walking through the dirt and grave stones as if, like Chloe said, he's a ghost. "I don't know!" He says to her sounding scared. "Just…get Star out of here!" He says as Chloe is the fast one.
The knife stabs into the neck of the zombie girl girl and she makes a raspy airy hiss of a 'scream' as it seems like it had a bit of an effect. More maggots pour from the open wound. Before the zombie gets a chance to lunge at Star again, she's kicked and driven to the ground in a stumbling fall.
As soon as she's free, Star turns and tries to run, "Robyn, come on!" She's not about to leave a teammate behind, but she doesn't want to stay within range of the zombie, either, "You can't stay here." Not with a zombie attacking, especially. She looks back at Chloe, grabbing for the axe, still obviously afraid, but not wanting to leave a fellow student behind, either.
"It's almost a relief having something to actually fight," Chloe says as she scoops up the axe, wide eyed after triggering an endorphine and adrenaline buzz. Radiating unnatural calm she rolls her shoulders and hefts the axe in one hand. "Robyn try manifest yourself as if you were one big psi-blade and Star get to the gate. I'm going to make sure this thing can't follow us." Cautiously she begins to move closer, ready to chop down with the axe at the first zombie limb to come close.
Robyn nods to Star and starts to run after her, this time tripping over one of the gravestones as it seems he's gone coporeal again. "Chloe, remember the zombie movies, go for the head!" He yells as he finally reaches down to grab Star's hand, this time able to touch her, as he runs with her through the wind and dirt to safety.
The zombie doesn't let up though, her attention is on Star and she seems to follow the pair as they make their way out of the graveyard. The saving grace is that she's shuffling and not moving very fast. There's another shake and vibration of the earth as the zombie shuffles by Chloe, close enough to get an axe blade in the shoulder, which causes her arm to fall to the ground, still twitching and a stream of maggots to start pouring from her wound.
Star grabs Robyn's hand, running and tripping over the uneven ground, but managing to keep her feet. She shakes her head, "I'm so ready to go back to school…" And who ever thought they'd hear that from her?
Chloe finds herself humming a superspeed rendition of Thriller anyway and good taste be damned! Rather than going directly for a head strike she starts off with a sweeping kick to knock the zombie over. Then, if it falls, she makes to hack down and bury the axe in it's head. Or maybe the neck.
Tripping along with Star, Robyn does his best to not slow her down though, risking looking over his shoulder. "It looks like Chloe's slowed her down. Sorry I dragged you out Star." Robyn says as he just wants to get out of this graveyard.
The wind seems to be going in a circular direction around the graveyard making it difficult to get out as it seems to pick up the close they are to the exit. As for Chloe, the zombie does stumble at the kick and falls over to the ground in which the axe is buried deep into her head and a few maggots fall out of her head and die on the ground. There's a few twitches to the zombies body before there is violent rumble of the earth that might knock those standing in the area down. Once the rumble stops, so does the wind and all seems quiet.
Star shakes her head, "Not your fault." She pauses for breath, holding one arm up to shield her face from the blowing wind and debris, "I was going stir crazy just hanging out with everyone else." She's got a hard time just staying at school for days on end without at least going to the mall. When the wind dies, the empath glances back over her shoulder at where the zombie and Chloe do battle, or where Chloe butchers the zombie, rather. She shakes her head, making a face at the sight of the mess that was their foe, "Ew…" Beat, "I never thought I'd say it, but school is better than this…"
Chloe pulls the axe out, then hits it again just to be sure. "I'm not sure what worries me more," she says wiping the axe on the grass. "What happened to Robyn or that zombie bite… Star if you start feeling even a little weird you better speak up okay? I think maybe we should head back, get whatever passes for a 'medical expert' to take a look at you both."
Chloe pulls the axe out, then hits it again just to be sure. "I'm not sure what worries me more," she says wiping the axe on the grass. "What happened to Robyn or that zombie wound… Star if you start feeling even a little weird you better speak up okay? I think maybe we should head back, get whatever passes for a 'medical expert' to take a look at you both."
Robyn stops running as the wind stops and everything dies down. "Star…are you okay?" He asks out of breath as he looks around. "Thanks Chloe." He says as he leans down with his hands on his knees. "Chloe, whatever you do don't say that riddle again. It might not be a riddle, it might be something else." Since it seemed the attack started after she asked.
The zombie girl rapidly decays to rotting bone then further down to dust until there is nothing left but the old, tattered black dress she was wearing. The earth shifts and closes back up over the 'Rosen' grave leaving the Graveyard looking like when they first steped in.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hopefully, anyway. Star looks down at the scratches on her arm and winces, "I'm freaked out and it hurts like hell, but I'll be alright." Or so she says. The scratches are bleeding, though, and she winces faintly as she brushes the fingers of her other hand over the wounds. Suddenly, she groans and makes a face, "Cloud is going to freak out when he sees this, though…" And might not let her out of his sight again. Not until they get back to the real world, anyway.
Chloe frowns, then heads towards the gate. "I'm pretty sure the rumbling came first. Although… Robyn you kinda became someone who isn't, if that makes sense? Maybe it's a trick designed to turn us against each other," she lets out a long sigh as the adrenaline rush dies down. "This is going to give me a killer headache. We better rush back just in case those words can do stuff, Heather could have said them a million times by now."
"We can get you to the Tavern Star, it's the closest and Mr. Gilpatrik has a few things set up there. That's who bandaged my leg after Kisha…" Robyn doesn't finish the sentenace but he tears off a piece of his shirt to temporarily bandage Star's arm as they head down. He does ignore Chloe though when she says he became someone who isn't.
Star nods, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea…" She shakes her head, "It's not that bad though… And if you keep tearing your clothes up for bandages, you're going to end up totally naked before long." Let's just not think about the fact that the one that inflicted the wound was rotting and full of maggots. That might make her lose her lunch.
Chloe rolls her eyes at the obvious blanking of her theory. "Want your axe back Robyn? Once you're both in sight of the town I'll head out the farmhouse way, let them know the news. I /had/ planned on hunting down some food too but I'm not really that hungry after this whole incident."
Robyn nods to Chloe and takes his axe back, tucking it away. "Well that's why I'll look for a new shirt." Robyn says with a shrug as he is in period clothing. "Thanks Chloe, I'm glad you showed up when you did." Since she helped save them after all. "And tell Ms. Frost what happened and where we are. This place is….too weird."
