Stoke is Full of Mutants

The Last Train to Stafford

A different route home was chosen. Sock On Tree was completely deserted, save for wandering dogs that took one look at the giant Rubo and thought better of harassing the party for scraps of food. The party ran hard through the ruins and made record time wading through the marshlands that separated Sock On Tree with Fens Town. Progress through Fens Town was swift as the area was also strangely dead. As they neared the Ark they half-expected the rat king to make an appearance, but they managed to reach the Ark's entrance without any combat whatsoever.

Only the Elder was there to greet them, with seldom few now untouched by the red pox. The Elder, forlorn and close to madness with worry as he questioned the party on what they had found. The relief on his face was palpable as Rubo opened his cement mixer stomach to reveal the antidotes inside. Work began immediately on injecting the sick with the liquid found in the vials. There was no time to see if there were any ill effects. If the antidote did not work then they were doomed regardless and death would be a sweet release from the suffering of the disease.

Recover was rapid in the patients, as the ugly red blotches quickly disappeared from their skin. It seemed as if the party had saved the Ark once again. However, the side effects were soon apparent. Elon was the first to fall asleep after being cured. Others soon followed him into unconsciousness. It was decided to let them rest after their ordeal. Those that did not fall asleep became quickly irritable. Craig held Flora in his arms and saw the crimson blotches fade away, only from the red mist of anger to form across her feminine features. She initially was eager to learn what they had seen whilst she was in quarantine, but began to grow impatient as Craig told her of the water supply issue and the journey to the hospital. He went to excuse himself for a toilet break after the third time she slapped him across the face.

By the time Craig had returned from the toilet, all hell had broken loose in the quarantine room. Violence had erupted as formerly sickly patients raged and turned to blows in their anger. It was apparent that the antidote came with a side effect. Craig rushed to meet Steve and Apolo, and the trio ran to the Elder's room. Seeing Rubo, Craig ordered he robot not to attack any Ark residents no matter the provocation. The three humans rushed into the Elder's room and bolted the door shut. It was then that Craig noticed the Elder laying on his bed, completely undisturbed by the commotion. Craig noticed he was not breathing and checked for a pulse. The Elder was dead, his tired face looked peaceful. With no signs of struggle, it seemed he had simply died in his sleep. Seldom few died of old age in the Ark, but for the Ark's leader it was the end.

All the Elder's possessions were placed against the door to keep out the unruly mob that were hammering away, trying to get inside. Apolo suggested they fight their way out, but Craig and Steve insisted that they would be killed in seconds and insisted that staying shut in the room  and waiting to see if the resident's anger subsided was the only course of action available to them. Craig, Steve and Apolo sat in the small room for several hours as the mob screamed and shouted outside. With the Elder's corpse lying quietly in the corner, it was not a night that any of them cared to endure again.

Luckily by the time morning came the anger of the residents had completely subsided. With only silence heard form outside the room, Apolo tentatively edged open the door after shifting the barricade aside. The residents were standing around looking rather worse for wear. Many of them were bruised and bleeding, though all were apologetic for their behaviour. It was apparent that the side effect of the antidote had worn off. Flora rushed to hug Craig and started to blub, "I'm sorry I was such a jerk, I don't know what came over me, for all that time I just felt a compelling urge to be a complete dick for no apparent reason. Can you ever forgive me?" Craig just grunted and went to check on the quarantine room. Unfortunately, Elon and dozens of other residents were still sound asleep. No amount of waking could get them up. This side effect was not temporary, half of the Ark were in comas.

After the shock of the Elder's death had sunk in, argument broke out as to what to do next. A cure had to be found for the comatose people, and the hospital was unlikely to provide it as Apolo had reasoned that it was the hospital that had caused them to get into such a state. Serena's squeaky voice was heard over the crowd, she demanded that the Ark leave the cursed lands of Stoke and look for Eden in Stafford. Steve disagreed, he was still sure that Eden was in space. With no elder left alive, Craig decisively stood into the leadership role, "We're all going to Stafford!" he shouted. The crowd cheered.

It seemed a radical and impossibly notion, how to relocate the Ark to Stafford. All had been tasked with figuring out how it was to be done. Apolo looked outside and saw the large truck parked outside. The solution seemed obvious to such a sharp mind as Apolo. They asked Craig how the truck arrived there and thoughts immediately turned back to the food warehouse. It was filled with trucks, not to mention supplies. Craig looked to Rubo, and now they had the perfect person to convince the robots of the warehouse to help them.

Apolo got into the back of the truck whilst Rubo sat shotgun next to Craig and Steve in the cab of the truck. It would have been more natural for the robot to get into the back of the truck, but Apolo was very sullen and insistent on sitting in the back, "I always sit in the back when I get into a vehicle", they lied. Unphased by such bullshittery, Craig drove the party west to the food warehouse, as the robots had ensured that the truck had enough fuel to reach its destination and back again. Rubo got out of the truck and marched straight up to the mainframe of the warehouse control room. He removed the tip of one finger and inserted his hand into the computer. The robots immediately got to work filling all the trucks with fuel and supplies, then stood idle as the trucks self-driving mechanism kicked in. A huge convoy of trucks was soon making it's way toward the Ark, with Craig, Rubo, Steve and Apolo leading the way.

The journey back to the Ark took the convoy past a large minefield. A 'beep boop' indicated a robot presence, "Greetings, I am Minesweeper Bob" said a voice. A rocket fired out from Rubo and obliterated the source of the voice. "Target eliminated", said Rubo. The residents of the Ark were ready for the trucks return, and the sleeping patients were quickly loaded into the trucks, stacked side by side and one atop the other. All the artefacts and supplies were loaded onto the Ark. One truck at the back was fitted with the Ark's generator and waterwheel and sundial, whilst the statue of Flora was towed behind, dragging along the ground.

Everyone and everything had been packed onto the trucks. With one exception. Apolo was sitting atop the stairs inside the Ark whilst everyone else had been working in getting the convoy ready. Apolo thought of Flora's statue being ruined by the upcoming journey and gurned as they said to themselves, "ooh that's made my day that 'as." They looked up from the game of tik-tok-toe they were playing and saw that the convoy was slowly driving away. Apolo rushed out of the Ark and sprinted after the trucks shouting "Oi! Wait for me!" Sitting on the back of the final truck, ensuring the precious statue was undamaged, were Flora and Craig. They looked at Apolo running in a vein attempt to catch them and let out a hearty laugh, before embracing in a kiss. Apolo stopped running and began to shake their fist at the fleeing trucks and shouted, "I 'ate you Flora, I 'ate ya!"