Ash - Cael

[Andrew]

Cael nods his head, thanks the person and heads down for a landing.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah rolls over on her side. Faint sunlight touches her eyelids and they open. She finds herself lying in her own bed, safe and sound, though drenched in a cold sweat. "It was just a nightmare!" she says to herself. "Oh, thank God!" She climbs out of bed and rushes to the window, basking in the light of the newly risen sun. "Boy, do I need a shower."

Sarah walks into her bathroom, her bare feet padding on the tile floor. She shuts the door and turns on the water in her shower, making sure it is nice and hot. She looks at herself in the bathroom mirror while she waits for the water to heat up. She can still see the fear on her face, and her hair is a mess, but she looks none the worse for the wear. She slips off her nightgown and her underwear, then hangs them from a hook on the bathroom door, then tests the water with her hand. Good, just the way I like it, she thinks.

Sarah steps into the shower and closes the glass door. The hot water cascades over her body, and steam begins to build up on the glass. She leans back, letting the water soothe her aching muscles and plaster her hair to her head and shoulders. Sighing, she shuts her eyes and loses herself in the moment.

"Sarah..." whispers a voice. Her eyes fly open, and she looks around with fright. That sounded like...Lyle, she thinks. She shakes her head. No, it couldn't be! I must be imagining things. That horrid dream...

"I missed you, Sarah..." says the voice again, a little louder. Sarah backs into the rear wall of the shower, her eyes bulging in terror. She crosses her arms over her chest and starts to hyperventilate. The glass door is covered with steam, and she can't see through it. For a few seconds she stands there, stock still. Then she finally works up the courage to open the door and peek outside.

The bathroom is empty. Sarah steps out of the shower, grabs a towel, and wraps it around herself, shivering despite the warmth. She glances at the steam-coated mirror, and is shocked to see that someone has written on it by wiping the steam away with a finger. The message says: "SARAH YOU BELONG TO ME FOREVER" in large letters.

Sarah yelps, stepping back. Then she shrieks in alarm when she glimpses the reflection of Lyle standing behind her in the mirror. She spins on her heel, ready to defend herself - but nobody is there.

"I've got to get out of here!" she says, pulling open the bathroom door. No sooner has it opened a few inches than an invisible force wrenches it from her hands and slams it shut. No matter how much she pulls on the knob, it will not budge. Terrified, she backs away until she steps into the shower again, steamy water falling all around her. Blood is pounding in her ears, and her heart is beating a mile a minute. Then the shower door slams shut, sealing her inside. She wrestles with it, but it's just as unmovable as the bathroom door had been.

Sarah turns around and grasps the faucets to shut off the water, but they won't move either. When she turns back to the door, Lyle is standing between it and her. She screams, again and again.

"Hello again, Sarah," says Lyle.

"No, it can't be!" cries Sarah. She flattens herself against the back wall of the shower. "You're dead!"

"That is not dead which can eternal lie." Lyle presses up against Sarah, pinning her to the wall. She struggles, but he's too strong for her. He moves his face right up to hers and opens his mouth. She screeches when she sees that it is full of horrid, fleshy mushrooms. He clamps his mouth around hers, and her muscles freeze up. He thrusts against her repeatedly, slamming her into the wall, and she can feel one of the mushrooms enter her mouth and slide down her throat...

Sarah awakens with a start at the sound of Cael's voice. She is once again seated in the helicopter. She takes several deep breaths, slowly recovering from her nightmare as the chopper sets down.

[Andrew]

As the chopper touches down Cael relaxes and lets out a deep sigh, he unbuckles from his safety restraints and removes the helmet. He reaches into a pocket and draws out a cigarette and lights it, leaning back in his seat heavily he inhales and seems to melt a little more. "Ah shit, that was an experience."Turning around in his seat he looks at his passengers, Dahlia especially, "You ok Flower, thought I heard someone getting sick back there." Then looking to Sarah and Aidan he says, "What about you two? Any of the blood on you yours?"

[trixie]

Dahlia smiles weakly at Cael, then notices him light his cigarette.

"I'm ok I think. I just...." she pauses, looking at him take a drag of his cigarette, then continues, "You shouldn't really smoke, Cael. Dontcha know it's bad for you?"

[Andrew]

Cael looks at the cigarette, "You're right you know. I think it's about time I quit anyway." He said and then crushed it out. "Flower... do you know where your family is at? I'm sure they're worried about you something fierce."

[TheKingInYellow]

Aidan gives himself a quick once over. All things considered, he is in fact alive and well. His legs ache and chest ache from fatigue, but save for a few incidental scratches he's okay.

"I'm, actually, good." He says, sounding quite surprised by it himself. "So then, where are we, exactly?" He asks, unbuckling.

[Andrew]

"We are at a refugee outpost my copilot Stephen here found on the radio. Glad he did to because only place I knew to go was the police station and it's crammed." Cael stated. Looking out his window he sees the armed escort moving in on their position. "Soldiers are running up to us, everyone remain calm, I'm sure this has become standard procedure." Cael stated as he loosened his Glock in it's holster.

[TheKingInYellow]

"I ... See..."

Aidan folds his hands into his lap and tries to be calm, but the situation makes him feel like he's gone from one peril to another.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm okay too...now," says Sarah, gradually coming to her senses. She's had nightmares about Lyle before. They had greatly decreased in frequency after his death, but her recent experiences had brought it all back to the forefront of her mind. She is relieved that Cael has extinguished his cigarette, but then she sees his hand move to his holster and her worry returns.

Sarah recalls having seen 28 Days Later, when survivors had reached what they had thought was a safe haven run by the military in eerily similar circumstances. To their horror, they discovered that it was in fact a trap, and the soldiers abducted the women. A tingle of fear returns, as she knows all too well that sometimes the worst monsters are the human ones. They'd better not try anything with me! she thinks. Oh, who am I kidding? These guys have the numbers and the firepower. If they want to have their way with me, there isn't anything I - or any of us - can do to stop them. She rests her hands on her lap, appearing calm but fully alert and ready to reach for her weapons should the worst happen. I'm probably just being paranoid again. These are British soldiers, and the collapse of civilization isn't that far along. They wouldn't do anything like that...I hope...

[trixie]

Cael looks at the cigarette, "You're right you know. I think it's about time I quit anyway." He said and then crushed it out. "Flower... do you know where your family is at? I'm sure they're worried about you something fierce."

"I don't know where my family is, but I think if they have a phone I could try phoning them. I wonder if they're ok too," she says, as she looks out the window.

Dahlia turns to look back at Cael, and beams as he puts out the cigarette. "You know what Cael? I think," she says, stressing the two syllables as though her opinion were of utmost importance at this point, "that you're gonna be MY hero!" She smiles widely at him again, practicing her eyelash batting that she'd practiced dozens of times before in the bathroom mirror, and grins at him happily.

[Mr. Handy]

"Mine too," says Sarah, grinning. She looks over to Dahlia. "You can borrow my mobile to try to call your family if you like. Do you know the number?"

[TheKingInYellow]

"You may just very well be mine, too." Aidan remarks, though it's clear his attention is directed on the armed men.

Seeing the others calling their loved ones, he can't help but feel like he should call his father. But right now he doesn't know if he could handle any more bad news than's already on his plate.

[Laraqua]

A Captain comes leisurely strolling passed the other armed and ready soldiers. He grins at the contents of the helicopter before turning and giving the pilot an awkward salute that he somehow found quite funny. He didn't have the demeanor of a Captain. He had the demeanor of a private or a sergeant, knee deep in the war and having had it with rituals and regulations. In fact, the nine soldiers who had crowded the helipad didn't have perfectly clean and arranged uniforms.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah watches the captain and the soldiers nervously, waiting for the pilots to speak first. Is this lot for real? she wonders, her earlier fears bubbling to the surface. After what's happened, anyone could put on a uniform. Still, they do seem to carry themselves like soldiers, and I wouldn't expect their uniforms to be clean. I know I must look a sight.

[trixie]

Dahlia's watched enough movies to know that these soldiers were very strange.

"Umm.......does anyone know these guys already? Cause they don't look much like real soldiers."

[Andrew]

Cael tips his head to his three passengers and says, "Not at all a problem, I'm just thrilled that we got you guys out." He smiled and added, "I never been anyone's hero before." He then get's out of his seat and says, "Wait here, I'm going out to talk to this guy. Stephen be ready to take off if anything strange should happen."

[Laraqua]

The Captain leans back on his heels, hands clasped behind his back, as Cael gets out of the helicopter. "Don't worry, I'm a real soldier. I was only a Sergeant till an hour ago when the Captain and all other higher ups got taken by the things in the cages. We got the other higher-ups locked up in a few rooms in the base. It's been a long night." He peers up into the ashen sky and then gives Sarah a knowing look. "By the law of 28 Days Later and many others movies, any evil things I plan to do will be foiled by these pilots, so I should probably shoot all of the men dead."

"But then I really can't be bothered doing all those evil sorts of things." He frowns. "Policemen, eh? We could use a few inspectors around these parts." He then motions towards the mansion. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the most bizarre castle in hell."

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah can't help but laugh awkwardly. "It's like you're reading my mind," she says. "I'm sorry, I...have trust issues. I'm Sarah Carpenter, a nurse from Mercy Cross Hospital, and I'm very very very lucky to still be alive. I daresay I could be useful as well. Things in cages, you say? I haven't run into any of those, but I've seen a lot of things you lot need to know about. There are also a lot of other survivors out there that need rescuing. How many more people can this place support, and do you have any fuel for the helicopter?"

[Laraqua]

[img]http://aussie_news_views.typepad.com/aussie_news_views/images/2007/04/28/29_4_07_well_grab_harry_and_make_br.jpg[/img]

OOC: Best I could do for a piccie, sorry if it's wrong.

"The mansion's population got reduced considerably when the military's playthings got loose ... though don't worry, I really doubt they had anything to do with what's happened here." He smiles. "At least, this base didn't. To be honest, I think we could probably survive a couple months with what we have here if it's just us lot - though the meat and fruit will need to be eaten first. With additional food and medical supplies, we could probably last much longer with more people. There are sixty bedrooms here, in all." His grin broadens. "Good to see a regular nurse, too, that way we don't need to deal with medical workers here. Don't suppose that kid over there is a doctor?" He smiles at Brianna.

[trixie]

[O.C. Piccie works for me , and I think you mean Dahlia]

Dahlia giggles shyly and follows the group.

It's really weird that he knew what we were talking about in the chopper.....I'm not sure I really trust this guy......