Evil Dead - Versus the World [CONTENT WARNING]

[WhiteKnight777]

*Jack twitches as the patterns in the flame seem to call out ancient names from his past.. names for nameless places, places not on any map.. but though they did not, officially, exist, they still burned.. oh yes, they burned. They burned.. and there were screams.. suddenly, the Beast within whispers.. it's time to run.. but too late... the white-hot roaring pressure waves bowls him over.. he twists as he falls so that Jeff is cushioned by his body. but he skids along the pavemen on his back before running up against a fence.. luckily he was wearing his coat, else his back would be nothing more than raw skin.. but still the demonfire dances in the dark, burning with all the mindless cheer of a barbecue in hell. Still, Jack, for some reason, feels suddenly bouyed.. this, after all, is his element. this is what he was trained for.. He stands up, eyes glittering, and throws back his head, laughing loud into the night.. his laughs continue to echo toward the uncaring sky as he looks around suddenly aware that they're probably not alone out here.. but still.. he's alive, he's awake, and, after all, it's just another jungle.. He turns to the boxer and grins, full of good humor*

Sure are warm, Tom my friend.. and I have a feeling things are only going to get warmer. Still, we'll give 'em all hell.

[HellFencer]

Jeff, though probably thought dead by now, begins to stir, though he is not completely aware of himself, nor his surroundings. There is a deep groan of pain and it is obvious he is trying to get onto his back. However, he appears to be having trouble. Jack, whom is the nearest, sees this and feels a slight ebb towards helping him, since he just saved his life. Of course, by now Jack is probably quite fed up with helping a man whom he has recently shot.

[Velvet Elvis]

Well, it was hardly a surprise, the building going off like that. Though he was facing it while dragging the unconscious kid along the soaked pavement, from one pothole to the next, he still saw it as if it were detached, like watching a movie or a special report news flash. Those times when you see the helicopter-taped replay of a big chemical plant going up in that one major pop that defines the entire event. Its violence is there in your face, but you don't feel it. Imagination is a poor excuse for something as visceral as really being there in a disaster situation.

So Skunk looked at the place as the door swung back and forth a few times in the wind then finally shut. It didn't even slam, just kinda swept itself back into place like one of those doors with the springy pistons that keep it under enough tension to close by itself, but slowly, so it doesn't make any noise. Like that. Unnatural.

And then it went, bulging out for an instant before the walls on this side flew apart, flames all too red and all too big shot upwards as Skunk tried to shield himself from the onslaught of debris he expected. But for whatever reason, most of the damaging chunks went off in other directions--a truly unexpected occurance on a night like this where seemingly everything was stacked neatly against them.

But pulling a body by the shoulders, and trying to keep a rifle from slipping from the crook of your neck and one of those shoulders, made it pretty much impossible. He released the kid, letting his shoulders flop to the ground while Skunk twisted and dropped as the sound, the shock and the, fortunately, rain-mitigated heat hit.

Just smacking the ground with the combined effort of force and gravity could have been worse. The end of the barrel of the rifle he carried was right behind his temple as his head lay flat on the ground. When it seemed all over, he rolled and tried to rise, having trouble because one index finger was twisted inside the rifle's trigger housing; the trigger was pulled flat. It was almost as if someone, or something were laughing at all this. Reminding him that it would be all so easy to just snuff him out.

Extricating his bent hand and fingers from the gun, he looked back again at the building. The larger debris had long since settled, and even the smaller debris had, pushed back down by the rain. But the flames seemed to be licking higher than before, more intensely, as if they loved the rain as much as Skunk had grown to hate it. And since when did a gas fire produce black flames?

He stared at it for several moments, flicking droplets from his eyelashes a few times as he did. Almost like the earlier image, he had another flash through his suddenly overactive mind. A recollection of the faked face of the devil in a huge blaze...or was it a mushroom cloud? Didn't matter, the point was the same. It didn't seem so silly at the moment.

Skunk's mental train finally reached its destination and he began to get some life back into his limbs. He looked down at the boy and noticed he still hadn't moved. "I bet this kid's dead." Skunk reached over and pressed two fingers against his carotid to find out and as he did he looked at his face. "Where the hell did you come from, anyway?"

Lost so much in thought, the guy with the limp mohawk didn't even hear Jack's manic laughter. If he had, he'd be chiding him for mocking him.

OOC

Spoiler

Show

Looks like Tom thinks he's got the kid. I stole him from you, he's mine. I insist on perpetuating my bad now that you've acknowledged it. I need him for my post. :)

[Twilight]

(((1d20)[3]+3=6))


Holy spoon! The building actually burst into flames! Jane is so surprised by the hyper-reality of this event that she briefly stops moving.

The wave of air and heat hit her at just that moment and she is unceremoniously thrown to the wet pavement. She lets out a yelp of shock as the adrenaline of fear is replaced by the indignation of falling face first into a cold puddle of rain. Her back is warm but her face is wet...and dirty. She tries very hard not to think of what might lurk on the ground in an alley around this part of town. The insides of her hands will sting once the numbness goes away.

She slowly stands and moves away from the inferno, heading towards the others her muscles bunching and her knees aching from their impact with the asphalt.

[Logain]

Jeff's legs twitch, and he starts slowly moving, as though waking up from a bad dream. A very, VERY bad dream.

[Velvet Elvis]

Catching a weak throb in the kid's neck, Skunk says, "Okay, well this guy's alive but he's probably in shock, and has been for a long time. I think the first order of business is finding some wheels and getting him to a hospital. And Jeff, too."

Skunk rises to his feet standing in the strange glow of the building-bonfire in the near distance. He uses the convenient illumination from the blaze to scan the area for signs of life. All the normal lights were out, on the street and in the windows. It seemed like the entire section of town had been abandoned.

"Okay, which way to your car?" he asks Jane, then immediately asks Tom, "You think we can get it rolling? We better find some wheels soon enough or we might as well forget about this kid."

He looks again up and down the street and adds, "Actually, if we get all the way back there and the car's a wreck, we'll lose a lot of time. Maybe we should just hit a few of these houses and see if someone with a working cellphone can call 911 for us. If not that, I think we can snake a car without too much trouble. Life or death situation, you know, we'd be able to shake any charges, no sweat."

The fates, from their lofty perches, gaze down upon Cuthbert finding it so very quaint that he still considers the mundane to be worthy of consideration....

[GazMania]

Tom

At the question directed at him, Tom looks up from his position. Sighing quietly he slowly drags himself onto his feet, reluctant to get up from his some-what comfortable position. He thinks long and carefully about the quest, rubbing his chin and making quiet 'hmm...'ing sounds as he did so. After a while he seems to come to a conclusion, or lack of one. "I 'aint too sure, it looked quite bad, but I din't get too good a look. Ah know a bit 'bout fixin' up things, worked in a garage for a bit. Mighe be able to get it runnin', but like ya say, might be a good idea to see wat we can find round 'ere."

[WhiteKnight777]

*Jack grins and cracks his fingers a bit at Skunk's comment*

Ayuh, I think I can help a bit in that department too... Hotwiring a car ain't all that hard, after all.. but I agree, we need to find some wheels and get out of here, quick... By the clack-snap cracking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.

[Logain]

Jeff finally stirs enough to roll over, groaning.

When he finally speaks, almost to himself, his voice is a little more raw than the calm it held before.

"What the spoon happened?

[Velvet Elvis]

Skunk

"Hey, Ed, you think you could have a go at a couple of the houses nearby? You seem the least frightening, superficially speaking. Well, at least compared to some of us," suggests Skunk. Looking at him, you understand exactly what he means. On a good, dry day, a certain level of frightening. Now, wet, mohawk splattered across his skull, leather jacket...it's been ramped up a bit.

"If we don't get any good vibes, then I suggest we take matters into our own hands, screw the law, and borrow a car. If someone wants to call the cops, let 'em. Serves us, anyway," he says with something vaguely resembling humor, and adds, "All my warrants have been resolved, so I'm cool."

~~

Skunk looks at Jeff and says, "Dude, you should, like, not move or anything. We're making tracks to get you to a hospital ASAP. We'll fill you in later."

[HellFencer]

As the party of would be heroes reassembles itself, the crackling of the fire and the massive waves of heat persist, almost seeming to grow in strength over time. However, by this point, no one is concerned with the fire much anymore, as they are at a safe distance, merely concerned now with the scratches and bruises recieved in the blast.

As Jane's mind settles from the blast, she remembers now that the whole reason she was stopped, was because she stopped behind a car at a light, and was rearended. Its about this time that the she remembers the pain in her neck as well, the adrenaline beginning to wear off. In fact, now that everyone is calming down, they seem to recall that when they exited the bus, there was a line of cars to the side of the bus. Its most likely what the bus hit, but in order to be sure, someone would have to venture down the block to look.

As you are all brushing yourselves off, and trying to determine what to do, the crackling of the fire gets louder, and causes you to have to yell for whatever reason. Some of you know that heat distorts sound, however, you don't feel any warmer right now than a moment ago. Something that does catch a few of your eyes, is the fact that the fires seem to be spreading awfully fast.

A moment or two later, there is a small explosion as if something small was destroyed, sending a flaming ball about two feet around out into the parking lot. It lands near Jeff, whom is currently bewildered as to what is going on, but not beyond the point where he sees that within the burning confines of the pile is his ancient spellbook, surrounded in a thin blue light. The flames go out, and with them the blue veil, however, the contents of his now smoldering backpack appear to be quite safe.

[Twilight]

Jane slowly rubs her aching neck and tries to think.

"You know...I think we might have some luck if we go back to my car. There were a few in the area. At least one of them is bound to be usable."

The last part of her sentence is yelled as sound waves become distorted by heat.

The ball of flame finally draws her attention to the burning building and to the sprawled Jeff. She looks at the flames licking the night air and frowns, feeling that something is wrong but not understanding what exactly is amiss with the fire. She quickly moves to help Jeff.

"We can't let you just lie in the road...um...there might be more explosions. Do you think you'll be ok to move?"

[Logain]

Jeff's jaw drops at the sight of his forgotten chinese text.

He barely hears Jane's words to him, sitting there in the street.

No realizing that he needs to yell, he looks at her and says "We left the bus behind because it was leaking gasoline... I doubt it's a good idea to go back there..."

And then stares off into the flames... the bus. It seems like a lifetime ago since he was just sitting there...

[Twilight]

Jane glances at the smouldering book and tries to make out what Jeff is saying. She shrugs.

"What?..."

She extends a hand in his direction.

"Come on let's go...no time to waste. Can you carry your things?"

[Velvet Elvis]

Skunk

Skunk prods Ed with a poke to the shoulder. "Hey Ed, snap out of it, dude."

Ed seems far away at the moment and unresponsive, staring at the shattered building. Must be in mental shock or something.

"Y'know what? Screw this law-abiding 'ask for help crap'! It's late, it's night, power's shot, who the hell's gonna show up at the door now? Someone more insane than any of us, that's who, and I don't wanna meet 'em. So, time to pick a car and get rollin' unless someone's gonna lug these two on their backs to the hospital."

Moving to the nearest sedan, Skunk looks inside without touching it. Probably trying to pick one that doesn't appear to have an alarm system.

[GazMania]

Tom

Tom stares in amazement at the flaming ball as it zooms across his field of vision. Soft "ooooh" and "aaaaah" can be heard as he expresses his feelings towards the light. He watches as it lands by Jeff. Jeff, who is now awake! Tom hadn't noticed him wake up, nor had he notice anyone talking to him. Now however he sees it all.

"Jeff!" marks his arrival as he thunders over towards him and Jane. He lands heavily next to them both with a crack to his knees and a large grin on his face. "You all right kid?"

[Logain]

Jeff

Jeff's vision is a little blurred, and the flames throw Jane into harsh highlights, backlightinger her to the point where her features are almost indistinguishable.

Rolling onto his side, he starts to get to his feet when Tom hits the ground near them. Jeff dashes to a crouch, features all feral, lips pulled back in a snarl to reveal his teeth.

As soon as he identifes Tom he drops the snarl, with an apologetic, "Sorry, man, you startled me," and he looks a little ashamed of himself.


He uses Tom as an aid, Jeff gets to his feet, grabbing his backpack and pulling it on over one shoulder. It's then that he notices his other fellow bus-crashers, and the weird guy who used to have a mohawk. He sees Jack, and his eyes narrow, the snarl coming back. "Great, the guy who's managed to shoot almost half of us is still around," he says, but mostly to himself. Either something is wrong with his hearing, or Jeff doesn't realize that he needs to shout over the sounds of the burning house.

Jeff looks over at Jane, with a curious expression on his face, and asks "What happened to your daughter?"

[WhiteKnight777]

*Jack moves along quietly keeping his eyes and ears on the night, making sure to look at the burning building as little as possible, to avoid ruining his night vision.. letting his eyes slowly adapt to the dark, tuning out the others.. barely hearing Jeff's comment.. something tells him that something ELSE is out there.. perhaps it's just biding it's time.. or perhaps it's planning.. but whatever it was, it certainly wasn't burned up back there*

[HellFencer]

Unable to tell whether its just the situation, or whether something has snapped in Jeff's mind, Tom is met with a quite nasty looking maw for a moment. Its quite strange, as Jeff had, up to this point, been rather nice and understanding. Perhaps it is just the tension. At the same time, Jane hears Jeff's words mention something about her daughter. Jane thinks maybe the bullet wound was worse than she thought...

Jack's instincts kick in as just the right moment, as the calm sets in across his spine in such a way to let him know something is wrong. Really really wrong. As much as his eyes attempt to look away from the growing flames, something deep inside him tells him to look directly at it. And for a moment, he stops and turns his head just so, allowing him to see something he never thought possible...

Skunk manages to find a SUV nearby, black, though in need of a good washing. It is in rather good condition, and to his best primary judgements, lacks a car alarm. Its big enough to haul everyone, though someone will have to get in the cargo area in back.

Its at this moment that several of you see the blackened flames grow and now only flicker with dark red edges, tinges of purples showing through as well. To Jack's surprise, the flames take the shape of several people as if their entire body were on fire. The only difference is that they do not appear to be in pain. No, quite the opposite, as they step out of the building they seem to grow in power, standing fully upright, some only four feet high, others twice that. In total, it seems as though six are exiting the building. They slowly walk towards you all, Skunk being the only unaware person of their presence.

[Logain]

Jeff

"Uhhh... perhaps we should leave. Like... right now."
Jeff apparently still hasn't realized that he needs to speak louder over the flames, but his insistence at leaving right now means that he is speaking louder. He starts a kind of shambling run, wincing at every step, but moving toward Skunk and what he hopes is transportation. He has one hand on Tom, both to keep moving and to steady himself in case he stumbles. His other hand is steadying the backpack over one shoulder, but he shouts to Jane, "Come ON!"

[Velvet Elvis]

Skunk

Peering into the window of a rather grimy black SUV, Skunk sees no signs of a car alarm. "Sweet," he says to the window, "Time to break out Fred and Ethel."

Skunk reaches a hand into the lining of his jacket, fishes around a moment, and produces a small object bound in black vinyl. Unfastening a snap, and flipping open the cover, it resolves to be a pair of intricate metal slats with odd hooks and ridges on both ends, each end well different from the others. Removing them from the case, and putting the case in his jacket pocket temporarily, he bends down a bit and begins prodding the door's lock with both simultaneously.

As he wiggles the objects around he hears someone making noise from somewhere behind. He misses the first part, but catches the last bit: "Come ON!"

To this, Skunk rolls his eyes and says, rather loudly to the car door, "Aright, aright, gimmie a break already! I haven't done this in a while." His remark is entirely free of the sort of meaning that would correspond to Jeff's desperation.

[GazMania]

Tom

Tom was shocked by the look of venom on Jeff's face. Had he offended him some how? Tom heard Jeff's mumbled apology but was still completely ready to apologise himself, for whatever it was he had done. He didn't get the chance however as he saw what was stepping out of the fires. Or, stepping out as the fire? Tom wasn't quite sure, but he didn't want to hang around and find out either.

Jeff was already backing away, although slowly, and he was using Tom for support. He slips his arm around Jeff and uses it to hold him up a little, trying to give him some extra support so they could get going faster. As he sees Skunk trying to break into the car all doubts about it as the course of action vanish. "Get that damn car OPEN!" The panic was quite clear in the last word Tom yelled, it was quite clear in his voice that whatever was behind him was scaring him sh*tless, and he would really like to get the hell away from them as quick as they could.

[Velvet Elvis]

Skunk

Having failed to pick the lock, Skunk hears more blaring demands for him to succeed, though this time from Tom...he recognized his voice, and he also recognized more than just frustration at Skunk's failure to pop the lock. Looking back over his shoulder, figuring he'd be on his way to the car with one of the injured, the frustration of the day exciting his voice, he sees more.

"What the **** is that, those...." he exclaims as he stands bolt upright, shoving Fred and Ethel into his outer jacket pocket. "Screw this!"

A moment after his eloquently concise summation of why patient recovery of one's unmaintained talents is a crock of crap in certain cases, he's pulled back a leatherbound elbow and has slammed it into the window....

OOC

Spoiler

Show

Okay, a STR check I suppose, eh? Since the 1 has been used by UT, and it can't possibly roll two 1's back to back, I'll let the internal roller do the honors: (1d20)[14]+1.

[HellFencer]

Skunk's elbow flies into the glass window, shattering it, but also sending a dull pain through his arm. The tiny shards coat the driver's seat as well as some of the passenger's, though Skunk doesn't really have the time to notice. He gets the door open just as Tom and Jeff waddle up, a look of sheer terror on their face.

Back at the building, the fire entities begin to enrcrouch slowly on the remaining people's position in the parking lot. As they come within ten feet, the immense heat coming off of them is enough to shock Ed from his daze and dart towards the SUV. Jack slowly backing, sees the Jane too has taken to moving towards the vehicle. He can see the unnatural fire glint off of her eyes, threatening to burn his eyes.

[Logain]

Jeff

Once Skunk has the window broken out, Jeff will reach through and opens thedriver's side rear door, using his sleeve to sweep glass off the seat, and then sliding in. Once he's in, he'll do a quick count and realize that there's not enough room for thier entire group. Jeff will look at Tom, and say "I think you'll need to open the back so everyone can get in," and then he'll slide across and unlock both doors on the passenger's side.

[GazMania]

Tom

"Open the back, right..." Under the pressure he currently is in Tom didn't fully understand the instruction he had just been given. What did he mean open the back, was he refering to the doors? Tom figured he must mean the cargo area at the back, so he got to work opening it up.

Spoiler

Show

Not really sure what is covering up the back, but Tom will try to open it all the same. If a strength check or anything is needed please say so.

[Velvet Elvis]

Skunk

The glass shatters and Skunk draws back his elbow with a silent grimace upon his face. Jeff pops one door lock, Skunk pops the driver's side and opens the door with the uninjured arm and sweeps the glittering cubes of glass from the seat.

He yells, "Jack! You drive! Jeff, open the front passenger's side for me!" Figuring Jack was a bit behind the rest, though not having actually looked back toward the building since busting out the window, Skunk figured it would be faster for him to run around the other side and let Jack just hop in and go. The other way meant a few extra seconds delay; at least. A few seconds could very well matter right now.

Skunk runs around the front of the SUV, cupping his dented elbow with the free hand. Once at the other side, he waits nervously for Jeff to pop the button to let him in. As he does, he looks straight through the window and out through the open driver's side door...and sees the hellish creatures making their way toward the car.

"Come on come on come on!" he says under his breath as he watches Jeff on the inside twisting himself to reach the locking button....

[Logain]

Jeff

Jeff unlocks the passenger side door, and then rolls his eyes at himself, hitting the button to unlock all the doors. As Skunk gets in, he'll hear Jeff mutter to himself "Geez, that was boneheaded."

[Velvet Elvis]

Skunk

When Jeff pops the lock, Skunk fairly tears the door off and climbs inside, slamming it shut and wincing as his elbow connects dully with the dashboard. Instinctively, he locks the door. It will be some time later, if he's alive some time later, before he realizes how insignificant the measure is. That'd hardly keep out a 13 year old carjacker, much less demons from hell...or wherever.

He leans over and cranes his neck to look out the still open driver's side door. "Hey, Jack! Getcher ass movin' man, we got places to be!" Humor? How quaint. We can all have a hearty laugh while we fry. "COME ON!"

[WhiteKnight777]

Jack

*Jack shakes his head, clearing himself of the reverie he seems to have fallen into. Nodding, running as quickly as he can to the driver's side door, grabbing the keys and jamming them into the ignition, his blood pounding as he thinks of what else might be waiting out in the night*