Earth-like

Location: Redburg City | Start Time: 7:00 PM | Weather: Comfortable, open-skies. | Break-out: 8:20 PM
Survivors:

• Emma Wolf
• Connor Heywood
• Vincent Warner
• Erwin Haas
• Jarod Doyle
• Alex King
• Katharine Ryan

Characters' Location during Break-out: Tram station, stuck inside.

A glance at his wristwatch justified his panic. Fifteen minutes had already gone by, and Erwin's foot habitually tapped the cold floor of the tram. The vehicle moved with swiftness and ease through the city, but seemed to antagonise further his sense of urgency.

"Now approaching: Redburg City Tram Station." His head was in his hands. He hadn't let himself fall this late before; punctuality was an esteemed facet of his personality. With the passing of every few moments, Erwin damned himself for his poor organisation while glancing at his watch.

His disappointment in himself was furthered by an expectation that he would be off the train sooner, possibly before it ground to a halt. Erwin struggled to negotiate with the crowd's flow - not everyone, infuriatingly, was moving at the same speed or to the same place he was. A disheartening glance at his watch revealed that it was 7:05pm. Surely they'd be gone by now.

Katharine spun the knife between her fingers, watching the blade dance around her hand. It was a trick she had watched her father do a hundred times before when she was younger. After years of practice she was finally able to do it without slicing a finger. Her music pumped Lorde into her ear, calming her thoughts.

She looked up at the others on the bus, she had seen them a few times in the city. Never before had she seen them outside the walls, or had even spoken to them on a regular basis.

Vincent, the soldier. He was brave and strong willed, a man who showed clear signs of war. He would make a good protector, but she had never seen him once at the headquarters or the academy. She watched him as he clenched his tags, staring into nothing as if the memory of battle was right there before him. She had seen it before, the look her brother had when he was killed.

Erwin, she knew little about him save that he was some what of a philosopher some could say. He was always neat, and punctual, like the outbreak had done nothing to change who he was. Other than that she had not dealt with his type much.

Emma, she Kathrine knew more than the others. Being with the guard, Kathrine had been tended to by Emma for cuts and small injuries. Though she doubted the young girl would recognize her. She reminded her of her sister, Amber. Always willing to lend a hand, and a skill for healing. She wished she could get back to her family, let them know of her brothers death.

Jarod, like Erwin she knew little of him. He was a twitchy fellow and made her feel uneasy.

*Now approaching: Redburg City Tram Station* the intercom spat

Kathrine flipped the knife and brought it back into her boot. She stood up and adjusted her jacket as the tram came to a stop. She pulled out her ID Pass from her shirt and let it hand in front of her. As soon as the others had gotten off, she would make her way to the headquarters building to meet up for watch.

"Another fucking beautiful day" Kathrine said stepping off the tram.

Major General Brandon Thomas glared out the window as they approached Redburg City. He glanced at his watch every 10 seconds or so, frustrated with how slow the tram seemed to be moving. "More efficient my ass." He thought to himself. From his shirt pocket he produced a small notebook. He flipped through to the page he was looking for. It was a brief of what he would be doing today, and he wasn't looking forward to it. He'd wanted to phone in sick. Maybe a family crisis. Something to get him out of this. He was going to be at the helm of the court martial of a 14-year old girl, charged with espionage. He had hoped that after getting off the battlefield he wouldn't be killing anyone anymore. But it seemed he still sent many people to die. He was more or less oblidged to do so. "Guilty until proven innocent" was quite literally the motto that sat above his desk in the hearing room. How could that be fair? It was the complete antithesis of the justice system. But he would lose his job if he started let the accused go free, even if that's how it seemed to him. Then he might end up back on the front line, and nothing was worse than that. At least he commanded some authority in his current position. As terrible as it sounded, Brandon could sleep more easily if it wasn't him who gave the orders. That's why he'd wanted to call in sick. Out of sight, out of mind. But finally, after what seemed like forever, the tram pulled into the Redburg Station. Brandon took a deep breath before stepping out onto the platform.

Connor shuffled uneasily in the uncomfortable seat in a far corner of the tram as it rattled down the track at a slow speed. He checked one of the Browning hi-powers under his leather jacket that was pulled up to cover up as much of his face as possible, playing with the safety of the pistol he thought back on the chaos of the last 4 days. He had been working the doors on a bar in flint Michigan when a patron had started a fight with him. Connor ended the fight pretty quickly and called an ambulance for the guy before going home, the next day six armed men had come to his apartment, after a small firefight two were dead and Connor was on the run.

Connor eyed the other passengers warily, a few looked like they could handle themselves but the rest looked like normal city workers on there daily commute. Connor checked the straps on the bug out bag he had taken out of the boot of his 1972 Chevy nova before he had petrol bombed the day before. pulling the straps tighter around his shoulders he stared out the window as the tram pulled into the station. Pulling himself up he quickly exited the tram behind a young blond woman wearing a white dress who had a flustered look on her face. Connor made his way through the station cautiously checking out the surprisingly large number of heavily armed police that were patrolling. All of the TV's in the station played the same story about riots, violence and general civil unrest all around the world. Connor pulled out his cheap pre-pay phone and tried calling his dad in London, after a few minutes of nothing Connor hung up "Shit" he muttered to himself, Connor stared at the TV for a few moments wondering if his family was alright before dropping the phone into a bin and making his way towards a nearby vending machine.

Time: 7:10

Vincent continued to sit on the bench, and let out a small breath as he stood, leaving his bag on the bench where he had sat. After that, he walked to a newspaper stand, and took a town map, and opened it, looking for a motel, or somewhere he could sleep and be safe from the elements. He eventually closed it, and put it in one of the many pockets his overcoat had. He then walked over to a vending machine and bought himself a granola bar, which he opened and started to eat on his way back to the bench he was sitting at.

When his bag was in sight, he visibly relaxed somewhat. That is, until, some punk ran up and took it. However, not knowing that Vincent was there, ran towards him. Vincent gritted his teeth, and grabbed the man by the collar, stopping him and then swinging him around and into the wall.

"Put the bag back." Vincent barked. The would-be thief tossed the bag back onto the bench, and Vincent let him go, swinging him back around. "Now move along, and don't let me catch you stealing anything else." The marine growled, pushing the thief backwards. The would-be thief turned and ran away, half scared to death from the man who practically towered over everyone else and was able to pick him up by the collar without too much of a problem.

With a tired grunt, Vincent sat back on the bench.

Time: 7:25

Vincent's eyes snapped open; he'd fallen asleep, but from his ten minute doze, he was alert again. He then looked around, and noticed a few other people who looked like they were at one point soldiers, or could handle themselves. Katharine in particular caught his eye, what with the reinforced padding and guards on her shoes and pants, she looked like she was ready to brawl. However the exposed midriff also said otherwise, most likely drawing the attention of less observant men.

The next person to catch his eye was Jarod, who looked more tired than Vincent was. He blinked a few times and opened his pack, taking out one of his water bottles and standing, walking over to Jarod. "Hey, buddy. Here, you look like you could use this." he said, handing him the water bottle. "It ain't cold, but it'll have to do." he said. While Vincent waited for Jarod to take the water bottle, he looked around and noticed other people that stood out amongst the crowd.

After navigating his way through the crowd in the station, he hurriedly made his way to the outdoor plaza facing the station. A neatly folded note in his pocket read the details, "Redburg Station - 6:30. Parker Memorial." The ornate monument honouring the Parker character stood in the centre of the square as nondescript passers-by carried on, only to allow Erwin to damn himself once again.

At 7:45, he was sitting in one of Redburg Station's coffee-houses, reading the metro newspaper. A lamentful mug of lukewarm decaf coffee sat on his table. Just as his attention began to fade with the small-scale local events in the paper, his peripheral vision caught the sight of a young woman collapsing amidst the station's crowd while others gave her a wide birth, allowing her face to connect fluidly with the floor.

"It was a really rough night," Emma chuckled through the cell phone she held to her head. "Do you think you could get Martha to cover for me while I get my act together?" She'd been working at the animal clinic for a couple years now, ever since she'd graduated. In this lengthy strand of her life she'd become close friends to her co-workers, so such a request wasn't so big. At least she hoped so.
"Actually, that's what I needed to talk to you about." a familiar voice admitted, a woman at Emma's work named Lara. "Spot-" a dalmation currently in rehab after a grizzly attack by an unknown wild animal- "has been acting strangely. He bit Martha and so we had to take him to time-out and check Martha out for the day... it was bad." Emma's brow creased, a couple of men sharing a bottle of water and another tossing their phone into the bin. She bit her lower lip.

"Spot's never bitten anyone before- he's the shiest of all the dogs..."
"That's exactly why we had to check Martha out. We think he might have contacted a disease from that attack a few weeks back-- but he hasn't shown any symptoms of rabies so we don't know what got into-" she was interrupted by a series of nasty, saliva-choked barks that sent chills down Emma's spine. That was Spot, she knew that whiny bark. Why did he sound so... angry?
"The blood sample came back with something strange, though." Lara added, obviously concerned. "Doctors at the hospital have been seeing the same thing ever since the cold vaccine came out."
"Who gives their dogs this vaccine?" Emma scoffed. "Its not permitted to any animal but ferrets- and even that is high-risk."
"That's just it," Lara replied, stress tugging at her tone. "Look, get here when you can, alright?"

7:20

- - -

Emma sat on that bench for ten minutes before she even put down her phone. This was troubling... very much so. She pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers, stressing at the unusual behavior. They'd have to put Spot down if he continued like this. And if people are also acting the same way... this was strange. She herself hadn't yet gotten the vaccine simply because her work was too over-cumbering. She hadn't the time to schedule an appointment. She looked down at her watch.
7:30.
Emma took a look around her surroundings, taking in the different people and their attire. The city was very diverse, she gave it that. Her gaze swapped between a number of people who had this look about them- as if they'd seen too much for their lifetime. She suspected military or police, but you never knew. It was, in general, a strange day. She'd already broken her routine, why not grab a bite?
She walked down the isle before pushing a hand into the Redburg Station's coffee-house, but was stopped when a woman just off to her left collapsed. She tore herself from the cracked door and watched for a moment, seeing as many others simply passed by. Finally, with a forced step she pushed her way through the crowed to the fallen woman who's face currently met the cement. "s'cuse me, miss?" Emma approached, attempting to get a better look. "Are you alright?"

"Hey, buddy. Here, you look like you could use this." Vincent said, handing him the water bottle. "It ain't cold, but it'll have to do." Vincent said. Jarod quickly looked up surprise by the random act of kindness. He hadn’t had anything to drink for some time and quickly accepted the water. Jarod stood up and drank a gulp. “Thanks, you’re a live saver.” said Jarod while he extended his hand for a handshake, “Nice to meet you, I am Jarod Doyle.”

Conner pushed his way through the crowds into an open air area of the tram station, planing himself on the ground next to wall of the coffee shop. pulling out a cigarette he light it skillfully twirling his zippo between his fingers as he did so before placing it back in his breast pocket. taking a long drag Conner exhaled feeling the nicotine hitting his bloodstream quickly, dozily Conner looked around at the people around the tram station most were running around with worried looks on there face as they past a young woman wearing a smart suit who was lying face first on the hard cement floor. Conner watched as a blonde girl pushed her way over to check on her. Taking another drag of the cigarette Conner pulled himself up and slung his back pack over his shoulder and made his way towards the pair.

"You see what happened to her?" Conner asked the woman kneeling next to the brunette who was still face first on the floor, around them a number of other people in the station starting falling or erupting in sudden coughing fits. Conner watched as a smartly dressed man fell over a bin spraying hot coffee over a man sitting on a bench "What the fuck dude" the man yelled at the man who now lay on the floor. Conner stood up getting an unsettling feeling in his stomach as he took one more long drag of the cigarette before stubbing it out under his boot. A scream in the coffee shop made his head swing towards the sound, one of the bodies on the floor had started violently twitching as if an electric current had been passed through the body. All around the station the bodies mimicked the first before the woman in between Conner and the blonde started doing the same, reaching into his jacket Conner took the safety of one of his pistols and cocked the hammer back "We gotta get out of here" Conner said quickly putting a hand on the blondes shoulder.

The whole situation was puzzling. There Emma stood beside the fallen woman, having received no response from her. This wasn't right... was it a seizure? Her whole world began to spin, knowing so much more about animal fits rather than actual human catastrophes. The crowed bustled by, a couple lurching toward the garbage bins with such force they might as well have been punched in the gut.

"You see what happened to her?" A taller man- or at least tall to Emma's perception- approached. She'd just pulled out her phone to call in an emergence when the man's voice interrupted her thoughts. She managed to look up at him before a rather rude "what the fuck dude" also startled her. "No... she just collapsed-" What was he staring at? His eyes wandered about the crowed, a worried look flooding through his gaze. She tensed when she realized that nearly everyone was falling down and/or convulsing. There were, however, those few who seemed just as shocked as they were. Emma even caught a mother rushing her toddler son to their car while another man seemed to be calling the police.
"We gotta get out of here." The stranger quickly moved his free hand to Emma's shoulder, the gun in his hand shocking her half-to-death. In that split second, however, she ran through all the possibilities. A mugging? Kidnapping? She shoved the thoughts away when she realized the anxiety in his voice and how professionally he held the hand-gun.... No. This was protection.

Emma stood so quickly that black began to creep across her eyes- pigheadedness, no doubt. This man was armed, and professionally so. She turned to him, blue eyes flashing. "O-okay." She exhaled. "Lead the way..."

((My life's taken a bit of a spiral the last month xD I'm so sorry guys! I don't know how active I'll be, but I encourage you all to keep going even if I don't seem active at the time ^^))