Ash - Cael

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah looks terrified at the prospect. "You want to go back there?" she asks, color draining from her face. "We barely got out of there in one piece. I don't know if I could ever go back after everything that happened there. I feel terrible about all the people we left behind, but we should probably leave the rescuing to the professionals. I can draw a map of the hospital and fill everyone in on what can be found where, and the last places I saw the others, though."

[trixie]

Dahlia looks from one person to the next. No matter what's happening...I just know they're gonna leave me behind....

"Leave the rescuing for the professionals? Isn't that what he is?" she asks, pointing to Blackworth. "I say you should go try to get more people out from the hospital. And maybe you can convince your dad to drive to the hospital and get up on the roof." she adds, looking at Sarah cautiously.

Dahlia looks from one to the other, and then hangs her head. "But you're gonna need lotsa room in the chopper, so where am I gonna go?" she asks, then looks back to Blackworth timidly.

[Mr. Handy]

"You should stick with me, Dahlia," says Sarah, offering her hand. "I'll look after you, and I'm sure Cael and Aidan will come with us too. These soldiers are the professionals, yes. You're right that they'll need as much room in the chopper as possible to fit everyone they're rescuing, so they can't bring a lot of people. I wish it were that easy for my dad to drive to the hospital, but it's so dangerous to even set foot outside. One woman at the cinemaplex didn't even make it ten feet before...My dad warned her not to go out, but she didn't listen. Plus, you'd never fit fifty people in anything smaller than a bus, and I don't think they've got one. It's also hard to see through the ash. As for me going back to the hospital with them..." Sarah shudders. "I'd hope the soldiers have a medic who could take care of anyone who's hurt and who is also trained as a soldier. If they don't..." She swallows. "I guess I'd have to go with them, in spite of the risk."

[Andrew]

Cael listened to the conversation exchange and remained quiet throughout, he had nothing to put in except maybe a boast about his flying skill, he could easily hover a chopper a foot off the top of a roof for a evac rescue, no need to actually land the bird.

Cael looked to the captain and said, "I'm a damn good pilot and even on a rooftop that can't support the weight of my baby, I can do a evac easily, with my eyes closed and half asleep. My bird isn't big enough to carry a lot of people as we know, do you have anything larger, a UH-60 or maybe even an old UH-1Y? If not we might be able to modify my chopper to fit in a few extra people."

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah brightens considerably at Cael's words. "That's a great idea!" she says, looking expectantly at Blackworth and trying to size him up. He knows the innermost secrets of my heart, she thinks, but I can't tell what's in his.

[Andrew]

Cael smiled as Sarah brightened at his idea but it wasn't a smile that lasted, "Captain, you realize you look an awful lot like the prince right?" Cael stated still with a smile on his face and then it faded into a more serious expression. "How many men strong is your facility here? What type of equipment do you have available to you and if the shit hits the fan could you expect backup in a reasonable amount of time? What kind of defenses do you have in place that can protect the innocent and enfeeble when the shit goes down? I've heard about your wonderful stash of ingredients but when it gets heavy, throwing a tin of raspberry jam at someone might not be the best defense there is. Cael stated not moving from the door of his chopper, one hand on Flower's shoulder. "I'm sorry to get so inquisitive on you but I have to know whether I can trust this facility with the lives of these people, especially Dahlia's."

Then he squatted down so that he was at Dahlia's level and said, "I honestly don't know right now where you'll go when I leave again. A part of me wants to make sure you stay with me, another part wants to make sure you're no where near me since I know I'll be headed into a combat zone, I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt. However we'll cross that bridge when we come to it... okay?"

[trixie]

"If there's room for me, Cael, I wanna come help." Dahlia says bravely. "I can stay and help the people you rescue into the helicopter maybe..." she says uncertainly. "And trust me....I've seen weird stuff already and I think I'm good at helping. But if you need me out of the way, then I guess there might be something for me to do here too..." she looks at Blackworth again, and feels like the insides of her are melting out and running down. Inside she feels empty, hopelessly worried about what she might find inside this strange place, without anyone familiar to be with her.

"Maybe I should call my mum...." she says, the thought of her family making her feel sick. What if they're dead....what if they can't come get me when I ask them to....what if there's strange things at home too....

[Mr. Handy]

"You can borrow my mobile to call your mum once I finish talking to my dad, Dahlia" says Sarah. "I don't want you to get hurt either. If we do both end up staying here, maybe you could help me look after people who are hurt."

[Andrew]

Cael looked a bit surprised as if he just remembered something and reached into a pocket on his flight suit and withdrew his cell phone which he handed to Dahlia, "There ya go, giv'em a call, I bet they're worried sick." Then he looked to Sarah and said, "Good idea, I think she'd be a great helper, to smart not to be."

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah nods, her eyes sparkling. "Would you like to learn how to be a nurse, Dahlia?" she asks.

[Andrew]

Cael smiled again, he didn't know these people long but he felt a certain connection to them, like soldiers in a battlefield, then he looked to the Captain for answers.

[trixie]

Dahlia beams at Sarah and nods, "Yup, I'd like to be a nurse someday. I don't even get grossed out by blood or anything!" She smiles at her. "Did you know I already know some science stuff?" she says proudly, straightening herself to look as tall and grown up as possible.

"Thank you," she says as she takes the phone from Cael, and starts dialing her family's phone number, listening into the receiver.

[Mr. Handy]

"That's wonderful, Dahlia," says Sarah. "I'm certain you're going to be a great helper!"

[trixie]

While the phone is still ringing, Dahlia adds, "Except that...um.....I'd really rather be a doctor." She wrinkles her nose up as she said it, as though she'd told Sarah she wanted to be a nurse simply to spare her feelings.

Do I sound mean? No....I don't do I? Girls can be whatever they want.....

[Mr. Handy]

"I should have been a doctor," says Sarah, half to herself. "Daddy always said I have the hands of a surgeon. I guess I was always afraid I'd do something wrong and patients would die. I've been thinking lately about going to medical school. Guess it's too late now."

[Laraqua]

"We've got ourselves a good quality field surgeon hunkered down in a basement somewhere," says the Sergeant ruefully. "Need to get him back." Then he frowns and turns to Cael. "What prince?" His gaze flutters down to Dahlia's and he tilts his head to one side and takes a little step back. "Hey, whatever the little girl wants to do. I get the feeling that we have Newt right here. She'll probably out-live us all and not just because she's younger." Then he turns back to Cael. "If you can hover, then I suppose you can pick them up from the front doors even. Never thought of that. Helicopters were never my style."

"As to the question of defences, some of that lawn out there is mined and the three-foot thick, twelve-feet-tall concrete walls are topped with electricified barbed wire. Inside we got a whole bunch of our own monsters in lock-up along with some of the more inhuman kind. We're encircled and we're rotten at the core but this place has plenty of supplies, including medical supplies - just not enough to hold fifty people indefinitely. Fortunately, there's a lab downstairs - hydroponics - that can provide a little more food. It's a terrible place but it's the only place we got. I challenge you to find better."

[Mr. Handy]

"I wouldn't risk the front doors if the survivors can get to the roof," says Sarah. "The area outside the cinemaplex is crawling with those parasites." She looks closely at Blackworth. "I think Cael means you look like Prince Harry. I see the resemblance now." She shivers at the mention of monsters. "You already know about the monsters we ran into at the hospital. Do you have any of those here, and what other kinds are there? Are you sure they can't get out? This field surgeon of yours, is he suffering from post-traumatic stress by any chance? Maybe I can get through to him. I've got a touch of it myself, so I can identify, plus I've had some psych training. First I'd better call my dad back and tell him not to leave for the superstore if he hasn't already." She dials his number on her mobile.

[Laraqua]

One of the soldiers lets loose a barrage of machinegunfire. The noise is loud enough to make non-combat types flinch.



"Let's go inside," says Sergeant Blackworth. "Lock up the chopper and we'll talk in there. Anything's safer than on the roof." He leans in to mutter to Nurse Sarah, his hot breath a moment of warmth against her cheek. "Prince Harry? Is that a good thing?"

If anyone starts to move off, or talks to Dahlia, they notice a glazed expression in her eye and her face is somewhat slack. OOC: This will wear off the moment Trixie posts, and is a stop-gap measure and a clue for now. So, until Trixie arrives, do with her character as you wish!

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, yeah, I think so," says Sarah, nearly jumping when she hears the gunfire. "He is rather cute. I...uh...I mean..." She blushes and looks away, then notices Dahlia's slack expression. "Come on, sweetie, we'd best get indoors!" She takes Dahlia's hand and follows Blackworth.

[Laraqua]

Sergeant Blackworth gives a grim smile before heading off toward the door. Something dark and rubbery, a winged insect of mammoth proportions, swoops down to the sound of gunfire and the Sergeant ducks out of the way before unslinging his flamethrower. "Civvies first," he said with a wry smile.

Steven, the helicopter pilot, locks up his bird. "Don't you fire that at my baby!"

"Sure will!" says Sergeant Blackworth, as one of the soldiers lets loose a burst of submachinegun fire. Something inhuman screams above.

"Whatever," says Steven, grinning. He comes up behind Dahlia and Nurse Sarah, a hand on each shoulder, hustling them indoors.

The door leads into a corridor guarded on the inside by a sweating, balding private clutching a rifle. Behind him sits a gaunt man in pale blue slacks and a long-sleeved shirt. He gives them a lazy smile and rises. "There's a lounge room this way. Fridge, too. Don't got beer, though."