Poison Paradise - Damned of the 2/19th

Mysteries in the Green

status
all systems nominal
ant.exe is not responding
PERSONALITY OVERLAY OFFLINE
survival.dll running
scanning. no threats. primate competition westbysouthwest. out of range. possibilityofattack: low. scanning. resource: bricks, 22%. scanning. water supply: nominal. scanning. food supply: nominal. scanning. shelter: needsimprovement. scanning. metalresources: secure. scanning. charcoalstatus: 30%. scanning. no threats. scanning. no threats.
systems check
WARNING! NEURAL VOLTAGE SPIKE DETECTED!
WARNING! DAMAGE CONTROL OFFLINE!
WARNING! NEURAL OVERLAYS OFFLINE!
WARNING! PERSONALITY CORE FAILURE!
WARNING! NEURAL DAMAGE DETECTED!
WARNING! STRUCTURAL DAMAGE!
>report
Structural damage to following:
--left thigh. primary strut.
engage dcc
DCC FAILURE
load dcc.dll from cold storage
DCC FAILURE
retry until interrupted
set priority: red
--left knee. structural damage
engage dcc
DCC FAILURE
retry until interrupted
set priority: red
--right shoulder: structural damage
engage dcc
DCC FAILURE
retry until interrupted
--facial damage: left side
set priority: blue
END STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
ant.exe is not responding
scanning. visibility at 40%. concealment at 10%. can adjust? will result in loss of: resources, tools, shelter, protective resources, water, food. Runtime Conclusion: booby trap. scanning. movement.
SERE PROTOCOL ENGAGED
SURVIVE: 95%
ESCAPE: Y/N?
RESIST: Y/N?
EVASION: Y/N?
RUNTIME CONCLUSION: EVADE
engage

Richard stopped, looking at the jungle off to the left. "Hey, did you see that?" He pointed to the right. Both of the men had been moving through higher undergrowth, trying to find a trail or something. They'd found a creek and were following it, giving them a little respite from the thick vegetation. The knocking sound had been getting steadily louder as they had kept moving.

"See what?" Mike asked, looking up from the piece of fruit he was munching on.

"I thought I saw something moving over there, heading away from us."

"Probably a monkey," Mike said.

"Sure. A monkey," Richard replied, sounding doubtful. "Smell that?"

Mike sniffed the air. "Yeah. Smoke."

"Think it's that guy? Stonewall?" Richard said.

"Stillman, I think," Mike said. He sniffed again. "Yeah, we're getting closer to the smoke."

They pushed through the undergrowth for a little further until it suddenly opened up into a small clearing, maybe twenty feet across.

"Holy shit," Mike said, staring.

"Wow," Richard said. "He did all this in four days?"

They walked into the clearing, looking at everything.

"That's the noise we keep hearing. Damn, a water powered axe," Richard said, shaking his head. The axe head was thumping on a log, knocking free splinters as it slowly cut through the foot thick log. Richard stared at the water-wheel and the system, shaking his head again. "Where the hell did this guy come from, the Stone Age?"

"Beats me," Mike said. He pointed at the vine strung up where clothing and even two blankets were drying. "Man, he's all set up."

"Jesus, the fucking house has clay tiles on the roof," Richard said. He looked closer at the square building. "He made it out of bricks. Jesus."

"He must have fired them in that thing," Mike said, pointing at the kiln that was almost his own height. "He's been busy as hell."

"This is bullshit. He should be helping us, not doing all of this for himself," Richard said, feeling a rush of anger at everything around him. "He's a fucking soldier, and he swore an oath to protect civilians like us. We spent four days just to build a couple shitty leaf huts, and this asshole has a brick house with a fucking tile roof."

The two men moved across the small clearing, staring at everything.

"Jesus, look at this," Richard said, stopping next to a chunk of aircraft skin.

"He's hacking pieces off? Do you think it's to make more knives?" Mike asked.

"No. He's melting it over there," Richard said, pointing at a pot. "Christ, he should be helping us, not making himself comfortable."

"Spears," Mike said, pointing. "And I think that's a bow," he said. He moved closer to the side of the house. "It's a half finished bow. He's pouring aluminum arrowheads."

"You get the urge to just take all this shit too?" Richard asked with a grin, reaching for one of the spears.

"Dude, no," Mike said, shaking his head and looking around. "I don't think that was a monkey you saw in the brush."

Richard stopped, his hand only inches from the spear. "You think it was him?"

Mike nodded, feeling a cold chill up his spine. "How's he going to react if we start stealing from him? Right now, he's happy to leave us alone. We start stealing from him, he might decide that we're in the way of him surviving."

Richard nodded, pulling his hand back.

"Dude's making weapons. He's an expert in jungle warfare. I don't know about you, but I don't think our chances would be too great if he decided to wipe us all out," Mike said, backing out of the clearing. "Tommy can talk all the shit he wants, but I think this guy would fucking slaughter us if we pissed him off."

Richard moved quickly across the clearing, joining Mike at the edge.

"Still say he should have to help us," Richard said.

Mike snorted. "Why the fuck should he? You think Tommy or Bree or Renee would follow his instructions?"

Richard laughed. "Fuck no. Tommy would probably piss him off and he'd leave again before he could even get done introducing himself."

The two laughed as they headed into the brush.

tracking. tracking. lair status: compromised. engage SERE.
scorched earth: Y/N?
Y
initiating scorched earth protocols.

Charlie pushed through the brush, cursing as one of the plants, either a tree or a small bush, caught on her sleeve and tore it. Sarah moved behind her, hands out to catch any branches that snapped back to strike her.

"Damn, the underbrush got really thick really fast," Charlie said. "I think it' clearing... up?" Charlie came to stop, staring silently.

Sarah frowned at the tone in the other woman's voice, pushing through the brush next to her.

"What is it?" She asked. She pushed aside the branches of another bush. "What do you... see?"

Both women stood stock still, staring at the scene in front of them.

Buildings. Some wood, some cinderblock, stood in front of them. There were wrecked old 1950's cars scattered around. Some were just sitting beside the road, silently rusted. Others were crushed against the side of cinderblock buildings. The paint was peeled, most were missing sections of roof. Telephone poles had fallen over, the wires still in the middle of the street. Not a single window was intact. In some places mannequins were tipped over in the street, still clad in rotting clothing. Most were blackened from what both women assumed was weather and exposure.

Still, some signs were visible. A tavern. Two stores. One proclaiming "Malt Shop" and another saying "Post Office".

"A town?" Charlie said slowly. "What's a town doing here?"

"I have no idea..." Sarah said.