Senseless

The butterfly glided over the remnants of grass and flowers, over the burned out meadow, searching for a petal to land on. This was once a park, lush and green. Five years ago, Iceland lost contact with the world. Several investigations turned up no evidence to what happened there, or where the citizens went. The entire country was abandoned, and occasional fires had spread over some of the houses. A single body was found, bruised and missing an arm. He was holding a rifle, and shells littered the ground around him. The final investigation concluded that due to deep incisions, and the disappearance of the man's right arm, he was killed by wolves or a pack of rabid dogs. The appearance of wild dogs several days into the investigation confirmed that, and it prompted televised attention. Some form of life on the continent had been found. The footage of the science team and marines being slaughtered by dark dog-like animals filled every household television set.

There was a patch of flowers still there. Gliding down, the butterfly landed graciously on the flower. Several days later, a body was found by the French ship 'Vivian'. The body lay limp, having drowned in the ocean. It was a high school student, they confirmed that much. The body was bloated and blue, and held similar marks to the body found in Iceland. When Vivian docked in France, the crew was gone on it too. A blood stained diary was found, written by a frantic woman, her last journal entries reading;

October fifth,
We found a body today, and he wore the shirt that one neighbor boy wore....what was his name....Michael? Michael wore that when he went to that private school in Iceland. I mentioned this to the captain, and he said he'd report it. I don't think he did. Thinking back on this morning, I can't help my pen trembling. He was holding something, a bottle with paper in it. It was a note explaining, in detail, what he saw. Some form of...dog...or something. I wish I had brought this with me, I could have gotten more details. The Iceland thing was a week ago...is this really what happened? I remember this though, he had written it hundreds of times on his paper. 'Need batteries, running low'. What did that mean?

October seventh,
I spent yesterday in my room. I couldn't stop thinking of what happened on the fifth. I tried going outside earlier to get some air, but a man with a harpoon gun stopped me. He told me that God had forsaken us. What did he mean? I noticed that he was bloody, and I didn't ask any more questions. There was a window, and he said I could amuse myself with that. It looked out onto the deck. According to the harpoon man, it was reinforced and could not be broken. I saw....men...and women....they were covered in.....blood. Some were hanging, some were...s..spread...across the floor. We were safe in the deck, noone but us were in here. There was about fifteen people inside the rooms, he told me. That's more than enough to stop anything from coming in, he said. I'm scared. I wish Jack was here. He'd keep me safe.

October eighth,
I hear them banging, I hear them coming. They're outside my room. I can't write much longer, I love you Jack, I love you Amy, I'm sorry I won't be able to be at your tenth birthday party. They're coming in!

Within two years, the...things...spread over Europe. Reports of people dead in the streets started coming in, but transmissions ceased before any concrete details of the creatures that are responsible. The only image anyone knows of is that of a large black dog.

Last year, the singular entrance to Spring Meadows was closed off. The federal government locked down every major city, and provided aid to small towns with a population greater than a thousand. Populations smaller than that were asked to evacuate to a larger city, but the calls were never returned. Sheriff Jack Dempsey, a soft spoken man completely against violence, stumbled into Broken Mercy Hospital and requested medical care for a young man he rescued from a 'demon from the pits of hell'. Jack's truck was a three and a half ton pickup truck, but parts of the truck were peeled away like an aluminum can. The boy sat unconscious in the passenger seat, a monster lay dead in the back.

More attacks occurred near the border, but never within. Forty foot flood lights and an inch thick steel fence surrounded the town, but there is only so many patrols that can go on, and so much power a city can generate.

(pest i don't know if you wanted to post something else, or if you were waiting for us to pick it up, just move my post if you planed to post)

Zak stood leaning on the railing of his guard tower, starring off into the forest that was about a hundred yards from the fence and his partner next to him. He grabbed at the radio in his ears and ripped it out as it hissed static. After it stopped spewing static, he put it back in his ear.

"Command please repeat that, over."

He paused for a second thinking that there would be nothing but another burst of static but then a clear voice broke through

"Zak, this is command are you there"

Zak laughed with relief, the radios had been out for almost 3 hours, they where next to blind with out radio support to report breeches, though there hadn't been any yet.

"Yeah command i read you, what do you need"
"Nothing, just reestablishing communications, you know to make sure your not dead"
"Well i think i am not dead."

Then after a pause of almost 5 minutes he turned around and faced the town.

"Command come in"
"yes"? came the voice over the raido.
"Is there any one, you know..."
"Dead" Came the voice, scary too note.
"Yeah, dead"
"Nope" came the voice over the radio, "every one checked in A-OK" the voice let out with a laugh.

Zak sighed

"That's good, i was just worri..."

Zak turned around to face the forest again as he said these words.

"Oh shit"

He then grabbed the double barrel next to him.

"What Zak" the voice was a scream in his ears. "Do you have contacts"

Zak swiped his gun from left to right. "No, i don't thing so..."

"Then what is it" the voice was a little calmer, but only a little.
"There's a body, impaled on a tree branch that's been sharpened, geese i only turned around for a minute"

"That's three deaths this week.", Jack told his partner. Walking was the primary means of transportation now. Gasoline was a commodity, and it was needed for emergency vehicles only.

"We won't be able to hold the town forever, why don't they just attack, whatever it is?", Tom replied as they passed the Library. "There is also the eighteen that killed themselves. Do you want to count them too?"

"No. They were not directly killed....", Jack said, looking down towards the school. "I would give anything for this not to have happened to those kids. Some of them lost their parents."

"Who's that?", Tom asked. Someone was just down the street. It was an hour past curfew, and was walking towards the school.

"Think it's a student?", Tom asked.

"Kids don't like the school in the day, why would they go at night?", Jack replied. He pulled his revolver out of his holster. "This is Sheriff Dempsey, put your hands in the air!"

"I am Sheriff Dempsey.", Jack repeated again, aiming his gun. "Come towards me with your hands in the air."

The figure twitched a bit at this remark. It started moving towards Jack, but its legs did not seem to work for it. It stood perfectly still, and moved twenty feet in a second. Jack didn't have time to react.

"Hahaha, nice one!" Eric shouted, from behind the wheel of his 2001 Jeep Wrangler. Yet another mailbox had fallen victim to Tommy Lee, and his baseball bat. Pulling his upper body back inside the vehicle, Tom tapped Eric on the shoulder and said, "Let's get that Tennyson kid's mailbox." From the passenger seat, Brandon Holloway took another swig of his beer and said, "Yeah, he's a fag." Nathan Gavyn, who sat in the backseat behind Eric, had been disengaged from his friends, too busy getting fussed at by his girlfriend over the cellphone. "Dude, cut that bitch off and get with the program!" Eric shouted, doing a U-turn. He had a vague idea of where the Tennyson boy lived. Nathan laughed, and snapped his phone shut, effectively ending the high-pitched babble that had been emanating from the device.

It had been quite a long time since Spring Meadows High had had it's last football game, and the members of said team where growing restless. Eric and Tom had been linebackers, while Gavyn had been the quarterback, and Brandon had been a defensive lineman. all four where known as the bullies in school that perpetually wore their letterman jackets. In truth, the football team had long since been disbanded due to the fact that there was no one left to play.

But for Eric, Brandon, Tom, and Nathan, football had been their whole lives, and it was something they were loathe to leave behind. Although none of them had touched a football in nearly four months, they still considered themselves the cream of the crop : Better than everyone else just because they were members of the varsity team, and were strong enough to silence whoever spoke out against them.

And so, the jeep sped along, on it's mission to make life difficult for anyone they deemed to be less important than them. And unfortunately for Spring Meadows, that was everyone.

"Checkmate!" Screamed Syn Tennyson. He had just beaten some guy with a ranking of 2637 over the internet. The guy lived in Silent Springs, a town nearby. The guy was an official grandmaster before the quarantines. Now chess rankings were obsolete, though a select few people still clung to the ancient game.

"Good game" typed Syn. No reply came. Syn figured that the guy was upset over losing so terribly. Syn stood up and walked to his kitchen. His mom was there, cooking dinner. They both lived alone together. Syn's dad had died 2 years ago. Syn also had a little sister, but she had been seperated from Syn and her mom during the madness of the quarantines.

"Whatcha cooking?" Syn asked his mother. "Baked Ravioli," she replied. Syn gagged a bit. He ripped open his freezer and grabbed a popsicle. "Don't eat that before dinner" warned his mother in her warning tone. "It's not for me," he told her. "I'm going to go give Buddy a treat."

He started to walk outside, where his dog Buddy was currently. "Get the mail while you're out there!" yelled his mom as he walked outside. He shut the door and walked to where his dog was lazing on the grass, ripping open the popsicle wrapper as he walked. "Hey Buddy," said Syn, as he flopped onto the grass beside his dog. He laid back and looked at the sun, , beginning to set in the distance, as Buddy ate the orange popsicle Syn had laid in front of him. Syn didn't like the orange kind, so he'd pawn them off on Buddy. He was sure Buddy didn't mind.

After about 10 minutes of laying on the grass Syn stood up and grabbed the popsicle stick, completely cleaned off of any juice that originally stuck to it. He was about to walk back inside his house when he remembered what his mom had asked.

"You wanna come get the mail with me Buddy?" Asked Syn. Buddy rolled up onto his feet and walked alongside Syn towards the street, where the mailbox stood. The mailbox had "TENNYSON" stamped across it in those yellow reflective letters, just in case the mail person had to deliver their mail in the dark and was confused about whose mailbox was whose.

Syn opened the mailbox and pulled out a stack of paper, vaguely aware of a vehicle approaching. He looked up and saw a jeep roaring down the street in the distance. Syn looked back inside the mailbox to see if he missed anything, and saw a brown box in the back. Syn pulled out the package. It was unmarked, and Syn wondered how the mail person knew the package belonged here.

The jeep was still roaring down the road in his direction. He looked up and recognized it immediately. It belonged to some school jocks that though they were all that and a bag of chips. They picked on Syn a lot, but Syn was faster and smarter than any of them. They brawns couldn't do anything to him.

He figured they were coming to have him do their homework again. Of course, Syn would refuse, and they would get angry and try to beat Syn up. After which Syn would run around in circles, evade them, take off down the street, have them chase him in their jeep, then he'd jump off an overpass or something and head back home. Which is what usually would happen.

Syn stood there, letters and package in hand, and waited for them to stop. They didn't show any sign of stopping, though. Then Syn saw one the brutes, named Tommy lean out the window with a baseball bat, and knew what they planned to do. Syn easily leapt out of the way, losing his grip on the letters and the package as he did so. He stood back and watched as the bat collided with the TENNYSON mailbox. Syn didn't really care, he didn't like it very much anyway. The jeep put on it's brakes, and it skidded down the road about 20 feet. Syn walked back to where he was standing to pick up his letters and package. The letters were lyign on the pavement, but the package was still in his hand without him even realizing it. Didn't he drop this?

He didn't have time to think about it more. The 4 jocks piled out of the jeep and began walking towards Syn. "Hey there Tennyson" said Eric as he approached Syn. "I think your mailbox is broken." The other 3 started laughing.

Syn bent down and picked up the lightweight tin mailbox, still completely in one piece. "You thought wrong, Eric. It's just uprooted." Syn dropped the mailbox back into the hole it used to sit in, where it stood upright perfectly again. The jocks immediately stopped laughing.

"You think you're funny, little boy?" Asked Nathan Gavyn, the quarterback. "No" replied Syn. "I think I'm smart. There is a difference between "broken" and "uprooted." I don't expect you to know the difference though.

Syn laughed quietly inside. He was making these guys angrier than usual. Syn knew he could avoid anything they threw at him though. Syn ducked as soon as he thought that, because Nathan had thrown a punch just at that moment. Syn watched the fist go through the air where his face used to be 2 seconds ago. Syn laughed at the incredibly slow punch and stood back up.

Nathan threw another punch, this one Syn neatly avoided with a sidestep. Nathan threw another punch. Syn moved his neck just enough to not be hit by the punch. Syn felt the air displacement of the punch as it sailed next to his ear. Syn smiled and turned around and bounded up the only tree on his lawn, a very large oak. He settled in a branch 10 feet above the head of Nathan.

"Get down here, Tennyson!" Screamed Nathan. Syn laid back and waited for them to go away, hoping they would leave before too long. It was already getting dark, and Syn didn't want to be up here all night. He could probably make the jump from the tree to his roof if he wanted to, though.

"Uh, Tom... You shouldn't do that..." Came a hesitant voice from below. Syn recognized it as Eric, the one driving the vehicle. Syn peered down from his branch just in time to see Tommy's bat collide with Buddy's head. Syn gaped in horror as Buddy fell over whimpering. Syn couldn't fight them off even the slightest. He could just watch as the bat made thunk after sickening thunk as it hit Buddy over and over.....

(Trigger, feel free to stop Tom, encourage him to continue killing Buddy, or even go inside and kill my mom too. Just leave me in the tree, I don't come down for any reason.)

"Ahh get off me!!! BOOM another shell rotated into the chamber as the hammer cocked back getting ready for the next shot BOOM another shot rang out into the night."well thats the third one this week" kadin bent down and ripped the largest tooth loose from the beast","ha this will go nicley on my neck" kadin added the tooth to the four hanging around his neck

Kadin was head ing back to the nearest town to unload and sell his commodities. kadin stepped back in his car and began driving soon after he arive at the gate of the town. "what do you want here" sad a voice from up high somewhere. "i want to sell and thats it no trouble" said kadin. the gate began to hiss as it opened up slowley kadin slowly.

As kadin came slowley down the streets he noticed a couple of teens standing around and yelling at a tree. just as they came into view clearly he saw one of them swing a bat landing right into a dogs head. kadin quickly pulled the car over and got out."hey put it down" screamed kadin but they didnt even seem phased. kadin drew his shotgun and fired a round into the air. the teens quickly ran away all piling into thier jeep and roaring off down the road (i can change my story if you guys want because i know i didnt have permission to do this). kadin slowly approached the animal as it whimpered and whined. just as kadin was about to put it out of its miserey someone yelled " hey leave him alone" yelled a kid from up in the tree. " this your dog" said kaddin puzzled. "yea" said the kid. kadin said no more but walked back to his car got some supplies and laid them down by the dog. " anti septic spray, bandages, and some pain killers" said kadin as he walked back to his car leaving the supplies there.

in the morning kadin woke up to a teen and what appeered to be a cop knocking on his window. " hey , hey boy, wake up " sad the cop. "what" said kadin half asleep. "this boy said you fired at him last night is this true?" sad the cop in a firm voice. "what" said kadin again. " step out of the vehicle" sad the cop in a even angrier voice. " yep thats him he shot at me and my buddies last night" said the teen. "you got a gun on you" asked the cop. "umm yea" said Kadin recalling the events of last night." you shoot at this boy?" asked the cop. " no i fired a shot into the air he was killing a poor defensles animal" said kadin. " well your coming with me to the holding cells we'll put youre stuff in storage for now " said the cop.

"Mr. Dempsey.....Jack.....Wake up!"

Jack flicked open his eyes, taking in all around him. Blood was splattered all over the library, but he felt sort of ok. He didn't want to know, though. It's always when you see the wound that you feel it the worst.

"Bill, where am I", Jack asked groggily.

"You're in the library. Jack, I think you're fine..but Tommy Henson is...my brother is...."

"..dead..", Jack finished his sentence for him, the feeling slowly sinking in. "Have you told the rest of your family yet?"

Bill the janitor helped Jack stand up, although dizzy Jack was relatively fine.

"No. I canceled school, so Tom and his buddies must be terrorizing some of the neighborhood kids. Your radio said something about mailboxes being knocked down over in Layfield, and a man with a gun. One of the guards got him this morning, so you may want to straighten things out."

"Can you get someone to drive me to the station?", Jack asked.

"Helen is outside. I...couldn't tell her myself. I thought you'd be better at it, you knew him better than I did."

"Tell me what?", Helen asked, entering the library. She didn't have to get an answer to her question, the blood around the library was enough. She fainted, Bill and Jack carried her to the car.

"Bill, drop her off at the hospital, I'll hitch a ride on someone else.", Jack said. It was easy, there were some parents concerned why their children couldn't come to school. They saw Jack, and didn't ask any questions when he asked to be driven to the station. The school was orange taped as Jack left the scene.

"I was only trying to help, you've got to believe me.", Kadin shouted through the holding cell.

"He could have killed us, if we had stayed any longer, we would have been murdered in cold blood!", young Tom replied.

The guard couldn't decide which person was truthful, and was having a hard enough time trying to not pick the resident's side.

"Timothy, you may want to come with me.", Jack said as he entered the station. "Your uncle Bill is at the hospital with your mother, and your father is...."

It's 8:15 p.m.

Twitch

The corpse lay still on the tree, just beyond the fence. The forest was dark, as usual. The searchlights could barely penetrate the deep forest that surrounded the small town.

Twitch

His eyes sprang open. They were a deep blue, like the ocean. A dark liquid seeped inward from the corners of his eyes, blackening them. He was alive again, fueled by the liquid, by the darkness.

Twitch

He grabbed the limb below him and snapped it. Falling down, he made his way towards the town.
-----------

First, the lights only flickered on and off a few times, and then total darkness engulfed the city.

"Tom, grab my shotgun. It's back there somewhere.", Jack ordered. The car had stopped working, and they slowly rolled to a stop. All the cars on the street stopped working.

"Come on.", Jack ordered the driver and Tom. He yelled out, "Clear the street, move the cars to the side of the road!"

Jack waved his hand in front of his face, and couldn't see it only several inches from him. He clicked on his light, and saw other smart drivers who brought them flick on theirs. A scream pierced the air, followed by several others. Flashlights swung wildly, searching for some unknown attacker.

They ducked behind some cars for shelter. Whatever it was was coming down the stretch formed by the car barrier.

"Sheriff, we should go.", the driver said, grabbing onto Jack's shoulder.

"If we leave, we'll be seen. Let's stay here a minute.", Jack replied, looking over at the severed arm now gripping his shoulder. He jumped out from behind the vehicle. "Run Tom!"

Tom, a natural athlete and a member of the football team, quickly left Jack in the dust. Something grabbed his leg, and Jack fell. Jack's revolver was thrown in the fall, but his flashlight stayed in his hand. He lifted it up, and felt the pressure on his foot subside. He stood up.

The lights were back on. Blood puddles marked where people had been, and all the trails led to the same general place. Under a car, or into the ditch.

"Is anyone OK?", Jack asked. Silence returned his question. Clicking off his flashlight, he got into someone's car and drove towards the hospital, stopping once to pick up his gun.

It's 8:19 p.m.

Aaron noticed the library lights flicker. The electricity had shut off momentarily, and he had lost all of the data he had been working on. Nothing vital to his life, just library book returns and things like that, but it still would take some time to get it done again.

He began to wonder what the janitor was doing down there. Probably sleeping on the job again. Aaron sat up and started moving towards the basement, where the fusebox and various rooms were, When he noticed a scream from downstairs.

"Matt! You okay down there?" He yelled.

Nobody answered.

He turned on the lights and descended into the basement, where he immediately noticed small droplets of blood. Eyes trained on the blood, He began to walk down the hallway, taking his pistol out of its holster.

The droplets eventually grew into what almost seemed like a puddle, and then stopped abruptly. He looked up, and there was Matt... Dangling by his legs, which were tied like a pretzel, from a pipe. His body ha apparently been drained of all blood, but Aaron didn't take the time to check over every detail of the body.

"Oh shit.." Was the first thought that came into Aaron's mind, Quickly followed by "Get the F&#% OUT of here!" He began to walk, but then broke into a run once he heard a door creak open. He quickly ascended the stairs, And shut the door behind him.

Aaron ran out into the main area, and through the front door. He quickly got into his car, and started fumbling for his keys. He noticed something black come out the front door of the now-totally-dark library, Found his keys, and drove off at what was most certainly an illegal speed.

The hospital was a mess. Papers were scattered everywhere, cracks in the wall indicated something went through them. The lights were on, but most were flickering. Jack kept his flashlight ready, and his revolver close.

"Sir....are they gone?", Ann asked as she leaned up from behind a help desk.

"What is gone?", the Sheriff asked.

"Don't you see the...blood? Don't you see the cracks they were pulled into?"

"Did you happen to get a good look at one of them? What did they look like?", the Sheriff pressed.

"They...they were shadows... One looked around the corner at me. It had no color...at all!", Ann spilled.

She say shuddering in her desk, while he Sheriff stood near her window.

Leaning against the cold glass, Jack fiddled with his gun until he heard the front door slam. Raising it, he came across a young family. The man tried to stand firm, but his knees were trembling. The wife and daughter looked terrified, as they should.

"Officer, we were out in the street, we were attacked...."

"So was I. Have you seen a football player out there? He has my shotgun."

They looked at each other for a moment, then shook their heads no.

The five sat in silence, until a shuffling was heard in the hallway towards the inner part of the hospital.

"Hello?", Jack shouted.

*twitch*

Aaron got to the hospital after a short time traveling at a high speed. He noticed the town Sheriff's car parked outside, and started to enter through the front door of the hospital. What he saw was somewhat of a relief; Two people that were alive. He ran up to them, and began to ask a question when he noticed that one of them was the Sheriff. He holstered his gun, because he didn't much want to be arrested.

This was the least of his worries, However. "How is the patient in room 57?" He asked the other person, who was halfway out from behind the help desk.

"Sir, we've lost contact with everyone outside of this room.", Ann replied. "I can't turn on any more lights than are already on, and these things....."

"Quiet you two, I see something.", Jack ordered. Something was moving in the darkness.

Aaron decided he would make his way to room 57. He knew that in order to do that, he would need help. These "Things" had already compromised the hospital perimeter.

Aaron drew his gun. He understood the situation called for firepower, But still, he whispered an apology to the sheriff.

He turned on the laser sight on his Beretta 92G Elite II, and took cover, pointing the laser sight into the darkness opposite him.

Raising his gun, the new kid hastily moved to the side and pulled his out too. The kid whispered something, but Jack was preoccupied.

"Don't shoot!", a man said as he came into the light. He had spiky purple hair, and was very reflective in the light. He wore several glow sticks, and had glitter sprinkled on his clothing so it caught the most light possible. He had a large knife, maybe a sword tied around his belt. It was a collectors item, at best.

Jack didn't remove his aim from the punks chest. This person was not from town. He was new, and Jack personally saw new people into town. He had come in from somewhere else.

"I don't mean any harm, I just wanted to help."

"Who are you?", Jack asked.

"My name is.........Parthos", he said. "I'll be seeing you."

The man ducked back into the darkness of the hospital. The room suddenly got brighter. Two headlights filled the room and hallway with light.

Aaron pushed Jack down, and jumped to the side as a car crashed through the front doors of the hospital.

"Are you two alright?", Ann shouted.

Aaron was already up, and was searching the car for anything.

Jack took longer to get up. He got up, then sat down in a chair to the side.

"Sheriff? I think you should stay here and rest. I'll go with him.", Ann said. "You ready?"

Zak had had enough for the day.

"Command i going back into town, get someone out here to cover tower 5"

Zak paused waiting for a response but only got static

Dam, probably means radios down again

As he made his way down the road, he saw cars emptied in the streets and blood every where.

Holy, WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE, fuck the hospital must be swamped right now, i better get there

"Ready as I'll ever be..." Aaron said, Finishing up his search of the car. He had found a flashlight, but strangely enough, nobody was in the vehicle..

Aaron gave the flashlight to the hospital employee, and requested that she show him to room 57.

In the back of his mind, he knew that the patient in that room wasn't going to be alright, but he had forced himself to believe that everything was fine.

He sighed and followed her down the hall.

"It's just down here....", Ann said, slowly holding the spare flashlight Aaron gave her.

She stood on the door handle side.

"It's locked.", Ann said before even trying the handle.

"Are you sure?"

"Security locks. You won't be able to kick it open.", Ann said. "Try shooting the handle."

*BLAM*..*BLAM*........*BLAM*

The door swung open, and revealed.....

Nothing. The room was empty except for a backpack on the bed. Ann, being the nosy person she was, went through it.

"Glowsticks?", Ann asked, looking around the stark white room.

(Nerco post, really wanted to know what was happening in this one)

Zak moved towards the hospital, double barrel stuck to his shoulder.

As he neared the hospital he heard people talking and went inside to investigate.

"Hello, any one there"

OOC: Yeah, I dunno what happened with this RP. It just... Stopped.

Too bad, too, cause I liked it.

Jen deleted all of my info for the rp. I couldn't continue with no info. D: