— Day 1 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park
The Compound
No one spoke during the walk to Lui's cabin. The silence, the smoke, was unnerving. No one seemed to know what to say to the other, and Loretta seemed to have lost the ability to speak at all. Terra could only hope that it was because of the shock, but could not shake the feeling that something far stranger was underfoot.

Once inside the cabin, Terra dropped on the rug and began yanking her hiking boots off of her feet. They were not intended for distance running; several holes had been rubbed through her socks, and several blisters were glowing an angry red on her skin.

Terra glanced at the shotgun, and nodded at Lui. She was glad her cousin had taught her how to shoot two years ago. Terra wasn't bad with a bow, not great, but her archery equipment was at her aunt and uncle's house regardless. And might be burned to bits by now for all she knew.

Trying to shake unpleasant thoughts out of her uncooperating brain, Terra turned to Lui, and stared at her.

"Lui," she said slowly, "What happened? Am I crazy? Because there is no way you could have reached the Compound before I did. And you weren't winded at all. The jeep's still where we left it on the road; I saw it when we were going up the hill. Something isn't adding up."

Terra peered closer at her cousin.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Terra suddenly gasped, drawing back. Her cousin's eyes had always been brown. . . yet in the dim light of the cabin's overhead lamp, they gleamed an unnatural greenish yellow. As unnatural as her own, brighter-than-life green eyes were now.

"And, uh, what's the matter with your mouth?" Terra asked, suddenly finding it rather hard to breathe as Lui opened her mouth to speak, and a set of chillingly long canine teeth flashed in the light.

— Day 1 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park
The Compound

Lui avoided answering the questions for a few minutes. She dug in a drawer, found a pad of paper and a pencil and dropped them on the coffee table in front of Loretta.

With an exhausted sigh, she sank into recliner and leaned her head back, keeping her eyes focused on anything but the two girls and her mouth shut. Terra had noticed her teeth and eyes. Lui knew she would at some point.

Leaning forward, she placed her elbows on her knees and cradled her chin in her hands. "I don't know how I got to the compound. I remember passing out and then waking up on the back porch. Everything in between is a blur." She motioned to her singed jeans and shoes. "At some point, I must have been close to fire. I don't remember it, but the signs are there."

Lui reached up and touched one of the canine teeth. "As for my eyes and teeth, I really wish I could tell you what I know about them, but I can't because I know nothing. They were there when I woke up. That's it."

"I was passed out. I woke up, stumbled to the medical room to fix my wrist up as best as I could under the circumstances and then I found you two." Lui stood and went to the kitchen sink. An opening in the wall that opened to the living room kept her in view as she poured herself and the two girls a glass of water. She handed them the water and then sat back down. Taking a sip proved to be a bit odd as she felt her sharp teeth clink on the rim of the glass.

"I wish I could tell you more, but that's all I know." Luisana rubbed her forehead, looking tired and confused. "I have no idea what's going on, but I don't like it."

Lui shifted in her chair. "Tell me what happened with you two..."

Day 1
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University

Laramie stared at Dr. Dreyman as he announced that all of Azurema's technology and power could potentially be lost forever. Surely it wouldn't be that bad...surely the government had an emergency plan. Someone somewhere must have prepared for this. But with one glance at Dr. Dreyman, she decided to keep her thoughts to herself. After all, if she couldn't even manage to keep her own hands normal, she was in no shape to debate with anyone as persuasive as the Doctor.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but I really need to go. I have a mother and siblings at home." She stepped towards her backpack, left lying on the floor. "And I don't even know if my brother's safe--" her voice cracked, and she bent to grab the straps of the backpack. Liam bent and lifted the backpack at the same time, so that they both ended up holding the backpack as if they were going to play tug-of-war.

Laramie thanked Liam with a small smile and was about to take the backpack, when a shivering tingle zinged up her arm. Laramie tried to pull her hand away from the scratchy denim of the backpack, but it was stuck fast. NonoNO. Please, not again! She shot a pleading glance at Liam and tugged at her hands as stealthily as she could. They refused to budge.

-Day 1-
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University

Liam nodded when Laramie said she needed to go. "That's fine. Let me help you with that," he said, leaning to grab her backpack out of habit. He lifted it with ease, and waited until she had a secure grip on it before withdrawing his hand.

Except... withdrawing his hand was easier said than done. What was it with his hands today?

He frowned down at the backpack. His hand was stuck, as if it had melded itself into the backpack. And his hand wouldn't budge.

He didn't know which was worse for his hands and his ego: inheriting Laramie's pink nail polish, or having his hand eaten by a backpack. Somehow, this was not turning out to be the greatest day.

"I just thought I'd hold your backpack for you, Laramie," he laughed nervously. "You know... until you're ready to leave." He shot her a look that begged her to play along. It was the only way they could get out of this.

Day 1
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University

Laramie fought the urge to smack her head repeatedly against a nearby wall. First I grow a man hand, and now I'm standing here, stuck to a backpack. Which is stuck to Liam who is stuck to the backpack. Did it qualify as insanity when you suddenly found yourself in ridiculously, impossibly absurd situations?

She returned Liam's look and laughed a laugh that sounded high-pitched and tinny even to her own ears. "Thanks, Liam." Forcing herself not to glance nervously over at Dr. Dreyman, Laramie said as calmly as she could, "Careful, you don't want to hurt your hands any more than they already are. I can take it."

-Day 1-
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University

Liam shot a frown at Laramie. Her comment was not exactly what he had in mind. It wasn't like he could let go of the backpack, so why had she asked him to? The fact that he couldn't just drop the backpack at will was bound to make Dr. Dreyman and Leon suspicious. And it made him even more agitated. He was used to having everything under control, and the fact that he couldn't fix the situation was driving him crazy. So, he did the next best thing. He decided to put her in an awkward situation.

"You know what, Laramie, I'm just going to hold it for a while. Why don't you go ahead and let go?" He shot a daring look in her direction, leaning his shoulder nonchalantly against the wall. He shrugged and looked at her, his hand still stuck on the backpack. "I got this."

Day 1
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University

Laramie fumbled in her pocket. If she could find anything, even a piece of paper, to pretend she "needed" to hand to Liam, it might buy them more time. Her fingers froze, however, when Liam spoke and she realized he hadn't taken too kindly to her comment about handing over the backpack.

He leaned casually against the wall, his expression a defiant, careless challenge. Laramie shut her eyes in annoyance. If he had just waited a moment, she could have helped both of them out. Exasperation rose up in her, and impulsively, she let her fragile grip on composure slip. If he wanted to make this difficult, that was fine with her.

She lifted her chin, raised an eyebrow, and gave Liam a cool glance. "That's so kind of you, Liam. I wasn't aware you'd developed such a liking for my backpack." She echoed his shrug. "I wouldn't want to bother you with the burden, though, so why don't you let go?"

Day 1
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University

Dreyman watched the exchange with interest. Something was happening that was significant. Neither seemed to be able to let go of the bag, but they were hiding it. Lewis sensed that something of this sort had happened before, but it was still new to them.

"Are you two all right?" He asked cautiously.

— Day 2, Dawn —
Palisade National Park
Near Parksville, Erbaine
Previous Post

Dan Baxter gradually became aware of a tickling on his face. It touched his nose, and he snapped awake and sneezed, startled to find his daughter’s smiling face inches away. She’d used her long hair to wake him up. “Hi Daddy!” the little girl chirped cheerfully.

Morning people, he grunted good-naturedly to himself, then drew Grace into a hug. “Morning, sweetheart.” He quickly noticed they were alone in the tent. “Where is Mommy?”

“She’s walking Candy. She told me to wait a little bit and wake you up.”

“It’s a great way to wake up, honey,” he smiled. “Let’s go get breakfast ready for Mommy, okay?”

She was thrilled to help him dig out the stove and the pancake batter. “I’m a big girl now!” she exclaimed as Angela and Candy appeared on the road leading into the campsite. “I’m helping make pancakes!”

“And doing a great job too,” Dan added.

Breakfast was light-hearted, though both parents couldn’t help wondering to themselves what the day might bring. And they faced a big decision about when, and even how, they should try to return to their Parksville home. But for the moment they enjoyed a quiet meal with their daughter.

“Play with me, Daddy,” Grace said after they had all eaten their fill of blueberry pancakes and bacon. She held out the little cloth bag Dan had seen the previous day, and dumped out its contents onto the picnic table. “Pleeaaase,” she added, turning puppy-dog eyes to him

He glanced at his wife. “Go ahead. I’ll clean up here, since you two were so kind as to make breakfast.”

“Okay, honey. How does it work?”

It was a child’s game, and it took only a few moments for Grace to explain the rules. Dan decided it was very similar to games for adults except these dice had no numbers, just different, bright colors.

Fifteen minutes later, Angela joined her family at the table. “Having fun?”

“Yes, Mama!”

“I’ve never seen a series of rolls like this,” Dan groused, though the smile on his face indicated he was teasing. “She’s won every round. So much for probability.”

“She’s our lucky little girl,” Angela grinned, hugging her daughter close.

OOC: Yeah, I know I haven't posted yet, I was a little tied up when the RPG started, and I just now got around to posting.

- Day 2 -
Government Building in downtown

Harry poked his head around the corner, and saw what he was looking for, a door with a sign that said “Exit” above it. He surveyed the room, it was filled with Government agents, and in a few minutes they would all have a printed copy of his face, and a gun aimed at anything that looked like him. He glanced at the digital clock that hung above the room. It cycled through different Time zones every ten seconds. Harry watched it with agony as it switched, waiting till it got to his time zone, that’s when he would make his move.
It happened, the clock switched to the right time zone, and he made a casual dash to the exit door. As he walked, Harry felt as though he could hear every sound; the drop of a pencil, the ring of a phone, bubbles in the water cooler, the laughs from the people having a conversation by the water cooler, the sound of a fax machine printing—A fax machine? Harry’s eyes opened wide as he realized what was coming through the fax machine, a wanted paper. Harry quickened his pace, but it was too late, the agents were already on him. He went for another door instead, ran through a hallway, and then walked through the door to find an army of men with M16s trained on him.
Harry threw his hands up, and smiled. A man walked through the group of men; he was wearing a standard black government suit.
“Harry Cross.” The man said, and then he held up the paper from the fax machine. “I didn’t need this paper to recognize a piece of scum like you.”
Harry examined the paper, “Ooh, the pictures looking a little off, I think you’re running low on ink.”
The man gave Harry a back handed slap, and Harry staggered back into the man who was behind him, putting handcuffs on.
For the second time in that hour, Harry heard a sound that changed his life in a big way. The sound of handcuffs clicking into place.
Harry closed his eyes, grinned, then opened his eyes again, “You’ve got nothin’ on me. Besides, what about all those times I’ve helped you out, and you promised you’d free me of my charges.”
“You were a great asset to us on some occasions, but I never cleared your charges.” The agent said, “We just told you we would lighten your time in jail.”
“Oh is that what you said?” Harry asked, “Then why am I not in jail?”
“Because you escaped!” the agent said, “which is something that will never happen again!”
Suddenly the entire building began to shake, and everyone began to fall over, and then an explosion of fire broke through the wall, and consumed most of the men. The blast sent Harry and the agent flying out of the window. Harry fought for his life as he free fell from the tall skyscraper. He had been in a similar situation once before, but never with handcuffs. Things began to look grim and then he hit something, and his world went black.

-Day 1-
Judicia, Erbaine
Capitol University

Liam's eyes widened at Laramie's further challenge. Ha! Let go of the backpack... wow, she thinks that it's so easy...

Add to it Dr. Dreyman's question, and Liam was getting more irritated by the minute. Oy vey, this is just wonderful.

"Yes, we're totally okay. Why wouldn't we be okay?" Liam asked, frowning. He shrugged, shoving his hand into his pocket for the sake of looking casual.

A split second later, the backpack slammed to the ground, catching Liam totally by surprise. Whatever had happened just now had apparently ended, leaving him more confused than ever. And... Laramie, Leon, and Dr. Dreyman were all staring at him.

He laughed nervously. "Uh... oops, I guess I dropped the backpack. I am so clumsy today!"

He desperately hoped he sounded convincing. Meanwhile, he wanted to go crawl in a hole and hide. Either that, or change his name and move far, far away once all of this was over. What else could possibly go wrong?

Nari awoke suddenly. Was i sleeping? she wondered to herself. Her mind felt jumbled and confused. She looked over and spotted her guard napping on the job. Frantically Nari looked around she saw the door and the keys next to it but her hand were tied to the wall. OH of all blasted situations! She exploded to herself. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she saw the keys jingle on their hook. "Absalutely impossible" she muttered to herself. yet she still had to find a way to escape, and that, was going to be a difficult task.

Palisade National Park, Camp Watzmilion, Day 2, Dawn

Jenny and Volt woke to the sound of a bugle announcing the start of a new day.

"Does it have to be so early?" Volt murmured.

"Hush," Jenny whispered. Then Volt remembered yesterday's events and kept quiet. Fortunately no one seemed to have heard him speak. Everyone got up and headed outside for the morning meeting right before breakfast. As the children gathered round the outdoor stage, Jenny saw Miss Gray, the leader of the camp, step up and face the campers. She raised her hand and the crowd hushed.

"Actors and actresses in training, I have an important announcement," she said. "It is not good news unfortunately." She signaled for quiet again as a murmuring passed through. "Most of you probably saw the supernova yesterday. Last night this man," she said as she gestured to a soldier at the side of the stage," came and informed us that it has had some side effects. It created an electromagnetic pulse that has severely damaged most of the worlds electronics. All communications and transportation to the outside world have been knocked out." This time the buzzing of the crowd took a whole minute to silence. "Rest assured that we are taking steps to ensure that when camp is over you will all get back home. In the meantime everyone please remain calm and enjoy the remainder of your stay."

The crowd began to disperse. "One more thing," Miss Gray said quickly. Everyone turned back. "Another side effect is that a certain portion of the population has been contaminated with radiation poisoning. If you see anyone displaying strange side effects, please report them to a counselor so we can get them treated. That is all."

As Jenny and Volt started towards the mess hall, they were stopped by Henry Wile. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To breakfast," responded Jenny.

"Not until you take out all the trash like I told you to yesterday." Volt growled at the man. "Keep that dog of yours quiet."

"That's just his stomach sir, we'll get to work so afterwords we can get him something to eat," she said hurriedly as she nudged Volt towards the nearest trash can. "Behave yourself, the last thing we want is people to start paying attention to you. In fact, we may just have to find a way to leave early."

"Why's that?" Volt whispered.

"We can't risk people finding out about you, and the longer we stay in one place the harder that will be. But for now, let's just get the trash."

Burg
--Day 2--

After making the bold decision that he was going to find more super-humans, Kyle realized he had no idea where to start, and with the electricity being out, he now had no resources either.

So he decided to go for a walk, ideas always came to him when he walked.

The weather outside was quite peaceful for all the destruction that was around. A nice snowfall fluttered down from the sky. He walked past the coffee shop, which was now a pile of ash, past more buildings, when he heard something. A man was screaming; "Just take it! There's at least thirty bucks in there!"

Kyle crept a little closer to see in an alleyway, two men waving guns in the direction of another man who looked scared out of his wits.

Kyle's conscience grabbed ahold of him, "Use your powers!" it said.

He tried to resist, he didn't want to be some kind of super-hero. But as the mans cries grew louder, Kyle had already made his decision.

He lifted his scarf over his nose and pulled out his lighter.

"Hey, buddy! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size!?" He hated when super-heroes said that, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

The mugger chuckled and without saying a word, fired off his gun. Kyle raised his hand and the speeding bullet melted in mid-air.

The now frightened mugger took off at a dead run, but his friend wasn't as easily scared. He walked closer, his stone cold eyes unchanging. He lifted his own gun and let off six rounds without blinking.

Kyle, with surprising speed lifted up both fists, a giant wall of fire appeared in front of him and disintegrated all six bullets.

The mugger was angered by this, he began to charge, but nothing happened, he jerked his feet trying to run. He looked down in almost disappointment...his shoes were melted to the concrete.

Kyle gave a smirk, and walked over to the mugger, plucked the wallet out of his pocket, and threw it down at the victims feet. He then casually walked out of the alleyway

Maybe this hero thing was not as bad as he thought.

~~~~~~~~*******~~~~~~~~~

Lieutenant Greg Fulton blasted the horn loudly, but he knew it would do no good. The streets of Burg were in a state of panic and there was no getting through. But Fulton knew this city to well, he knew that during this moment of extreme chaos was a criminals most opportune moment to strike...no matter how disgusting it was.

Fulton was the good cop, no matter what was happening he was always on top of things...the many service awards on his shelf showed that. But one thing he knew kept him from being at the top...was fear.

Fear that if he were to make the wrong arrests, or cross the wrong people, his family would be the first to suffer for it. So for the last 20 years of his career he hung back in the shadows, never reaching his fullest potential.

Though being on the force for so long did not come without its benefits, he had some friends in quite high places, he was never without money, and his family was well provided for. But sometimes he wondered if that fear would someday trickle over into the life of his own son, and he too would never be all that he could be.

But these thoughts were pushed aside as the streets grew more crowded. Fulton banged his head on the steering wheel, wondering if this would ever end.

— Day 2, Dawn —
Palisade National Park
Near Parksville, Erbaine

After the breakfast dishes were washed and put away, Grace and Candy frolicked in the large play structure across the road from their campsite. The availability of this children’s diversion had played a big part in their selection of this specific camping location.

While the girl and her dog played, the adults sat at the table and discussed their options, which ultimately boiled down to two choices: remain in the campground and hope for more human contact, and with it, information about how the supernova might have affected the country, or begin walking back to Parksville. The latter option held more risks for a family traveling with a young child, but both Dan and Angie knew in their hearts that eventually it would be their only real choice.

Angie flipped open her mobile phone once more, not surprised to see the dark display. “I don’t even know what time it is.”

Dan chuckled. “Between my stomach and the sun, I think we’ll always have a pretty good idea of the time.”

Angie laughed along with him and looked back at the Palisade National Park map spread out on the table. “This Camp Watzmilion is just a few miles down the road.” She pointed at a location on the map. “It’s on the way back to town and should be easy to walk to in a few hours, even with Grace and Candy.”

“I like that idea. Our ice will be gone soon, along with our perishable food. In a few days we’ll have to move on, in any case. Might as well head toward that camp; maybe there will be other people there who can tell us what’s going on in the world.”

He walked over to their car, opened the hood, and tinkered a little more with the engine. He’d hoped against hope that his mechanical aptitude might allow him to jury-rig some arrangement that might bypass the fried electronics so the engine could run without them, but without any success so far.

Dan sighed and muttered to himself, “Right now I wish we’d kept that old clunker. I had to work on it all the time, but I bet it would run now.” That previous car had been too old to have most of the electronics newer cars depended on, so the electromagnetic pulse may not have affected it much. But on the other hand, safety and reliability had been chief concerns, so they’d traded it in for this newer vehicle.

“Whatcha doin’, Daddy?” came a small voice at his side.

“I’m trying to fix the car so we can go home.”

“Goodie. I miss Holly and Ivy.” That Grace was homesick didn’t surprise her father much; while they’d camped frequently, this was the longest trip they’d attempted. She went on, “What’s wrong with it?”

Dan was silent a moment. How much to tell her? She was old enough to understand some things, but still he didn’t want her to worry about things they had no control over.

“Remember the extra sun in the sky yesterday?” he began. She nodded; it was a sight none of them would soon forget. “It broke some of our electronics, so the car won’t start.”

“But you can fix anything.” There was that familiar refrain again.

“Not always, honey, but I’m trying.”

“I wanna help.” Her impassioned plea touched him, and he picked her up so she could see into the engine compartment.

He turned his attention back to the car, and sudden inspiration hit him. “Aha! Maybe if I try this!”

He tinkered with a few wires, then to his surprised delight the engine sputtered hesitantly to life. Grace clapped her hands excitedly. With a grin Dan turned to his equally-astonished wife. “Let’s pack up, Ang; we’re going home!”