turnout | week 2

week 2

WEEK TWO

After allowing the party some time to rest at the stadium, it’s time to get a move on again. As per your mysterious benefactor’s (?) recommendation, the party will be splitting up into two groups, with one group traveling west to a hospital, and the other traveling east to a mall.

if you chose hospital...

To get to the hospital, characters will need to venture into more densely populated areas of Los Angeles – and that means they’ll be coming into contact with a higher amount of zombies. The hordes that roam here descend upon any living creature that makes too much noise, so you might witness an unlucky squirrel or cat get hunted down by these roaming threats. The bad news is that they’ll sprint full speed at you if they happen to catch sight – the good news is that they’re not very coordinated at pack hunting, and you may be able to outsmart them by weaving through the streets.

In a stroke of bad luck, Shoko Ieiri attracts the attention of a horde, forcing the party off considerably off course. Temporarily, hopefully. Detour!

Thankfully, there are several methods of getting to the front door of the location – parkouring atop or traversing inside connected buildings, for example. The zombies aren't the only thing that can kill you, though, if you're not careful; while traveling to the hospital, Auch Aubrey slips and falls to his death off a building. Remember Dr. Bei's warning, about not getting too far away from each other? The party will realize if they get too far away from his body (specifically the bracelet), it'll start feeling like their own bracelet is burning them at the wrist. Better go back — and either lug his body around, or lop off the bracelet somehow....

The area this group will travel through has many tourist attractions – antique stores, the Natural History Museum, old-school theaters, for example. For our sword wielders, there are some dated ones among the antique stores and museums; they're dusty, but they'll get the job done. There are other cool artifacts to "borrow" at these places, too, not to mention some history of what the world was like before all this happened.

And at the theaters? There's candy, DVDs, and cardboard cutouts from a variety of movies that were out when the fall of society came. Maybe there are minions there.

Once at the hospital, the party will find that there are a massive amount of zombies that have been trapped inside. Many are former patients or hospital staff, so several are wielding things like scalpels or crutches, and they are just smart enough to attack with them. To get around the facility to find the medical supplies you need, you’ll need to find a way to either distract the zombies, stealthily make your way around, or, you know, eliminate all of them.

As for scavenging, the hospital is surprisingly well stocked, as the high zombie count has made it hard to raid. Characters will be able to find bandages, medicine, surgical tools, and more, if they look close enough.

Of this group, Satoru Gojo and Mark Grayson are infected.

if you chose mall...

To get to the mall, characters will need to travel underground through the subway tunnels. None of the trains are in operation anymore, so they won’t be at risk of getting flattened – but the aged husks of the vehicles are still down here, rotting away. In some tunnels, it will be impossible to go around them, and you know the saying: sometimes the only way forward is through. Inside the trains, some doors that connect the cars are operational, while others are too rusted to move, forcing characters to climb atop the train to progress to the next car. It'll be a taxing trial, made worse by the fact that in these train cars, there are both regular corpses as well as zombified ones. The unpredictable nature of the functioning or non-functioning doors will making escaping the zombies difficult — characters will need to either stand their ground, or climb up to safety if they find themselves at a dead end.

Exiting the subways leaves one last test for this group: the stairs are collapsed! The light of outside shines through what is essentially a giant hole in the ceiling leading to street level. There's about a one story gap between the end point of the subways and the upper ground of the street, so characters will have to get creative with getting everyone up — using train cables? Throwing each other? Human pyramid?

Once at the mall just outside, the party will find that while there doesn’t seem to be a massive horde, there’s another problem: the first floor of the mall, which is below street level, is completely flooded. They’ll have to swim across the distance to the escalators, find a way to get across using debris, or some secret third thing. There are waterlogged zombies floating about in the water as well, who will swim violently towards you once they hear ripples in the water — they’re not subtle about going after you, and will thrash and splash and immediately let you know where they are. They're like people sized piranhas. Scary!

At one point, Sigewinne is pulled underwater by a zombie, and comes close to drowning.

As for scavenging, once they’ve scaled the escalator, they’ll find the second floor of the mall has definitely had its fair share of visitors, but there are still many useful things to find. There are electronic stores that have batteries and walkie talkies, clothing stores (like Hot Topic) that have some extra clothes lying about, and of course, the food court, where you’ll find canned and preserved foods from a variety of different cuisines.

Of this group, Suzuha Amane is infected.

rendezvous

After several days apart, characters will be able to meet back up at a spacious park in the northern part of the city. There are park ranger staff cabins that can be converted into temporary shelters with effort — and the area has a lightly wooded trail, which will make camping outside slightly more safe than if you were plain out in the open.

It’d be a good time to treat the wounded with the new medical supplies, and chow down on the food that’s been collected. Is there someone among the group who’s medical advice can be trusted? Is there someone who might be good at rationing or cooking the food? Everyone’s role in the party should start to become clearer.

There are probably a lot of things to discuss: what will you do with the infected? What's the deal with the bracelets? Reality of how dangerous this mission is will be setting in far too quickly.

Most annoyingly… after all that, some characters will find that moving north has caused their bracelets to inexplicably magnetize together at times, perhaps in response to everything that's happened. Due to this, you might need to help feed each other, or sleep next to a stranger. Hopefully you don't get stuck to someone you totally hate.

!
week two objectives

➤ scavenge for your assigned items!
➤ protect and fight for each other
➤ treat each others wounds
➤ eat tasty canned food

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[ Anything helps, and already he does as she suggests, stagnating the flow of cursed energy in his gut and reversing its flow. It doesn't regenerate any of his torn flesh or broken bone like it should, and hell, he's not even sure if it's slowing the infection, but —

Survive. Every second counts.

Between heavy breaths: ] There's — a few of them. Haven't noticed us yet, un — unarmed. Shit — I can take them out.

[ And then they'll be clear. He has enough cursed energy left for a few decisive blasts of Red, and one good arm. As they hurry along, he hisses something like a laugh between his teeth, less mirthful and more hysterical than anything else. ]

Good thing I — simplified my hand signs, huh?

[ It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. They will make it out of this. Even if he has to tear these zombies apart with his finger nails. Shoko is —

Shoko is all he has left now. ]

[ Shoko has half a mind to drop his ass to take out her baseball bat and take care of the zombies herself, but as ever, Gojo is too quick even now, when he must be in unimaginable pain...

She huffs a raspy, tired, sobering laugh. ]

Yeah. You're a genius, Gojo Satoru~

[ Genuinely. For all that he's arrogant and egoistic, there's a reason he's lauded as being the strongest of their era. God-given gifts are one thing, but as far as Shoko can tell - as far as she has seen through their time in school together - it's only because Gojo has worked hard that he's able to wield his gifts to such a terrifying extent.

...Ordinarily, anyway. They wouldn't be in this situation if he was at his full strength, after all...

But that's not what's important right now. They need to get out, survive, and then she can properly make sense of what just happened, of what she needs to do to patch him up, when he's the absolute last person on this earth or theirs that she would have ever thought would need it after all this time. He's the strongest, but he's— god, what a time to be reminded that he's human like the rest of them, and not an infallible pillar.

Despite everything, he's still... Gojo Satoru, her classmate, her friend. ]

There!

[ Reaching the exit now, Shoko kicks the door open, hoping against all odds that the way outside at least is clear of more threats. It feels so goddamn wild to take someone out of a hospital to tend to them, but it's just no good for them to get pinned and trapped there with no way out.

As soon as they are out, however, there's an abandoned, opened ambulance nearby, so that's where she heads. ]

[ Their way isn't entirely clear, a stray pair of zombies rushing from a dumpster they'd been rummaging through, but Gojo remains quick, and a few blasts of Red to their heads makes quick work of them. They're easy pickings when it's just a few of them, but what if they run into another horde? What if, what if —

A strange, unfamiliar sound hits his ears, and it's not until Shoko ushers him into the sterile walls of the abandoned ambulance that he realizes its his own sobbing.

He doesn't hesitate even a moment though, before grabbing her shoulder with his good hand, tight as a vise and trembling along with his breath, to meet her gaze with the brilliant terror and determination in his own. ]

Do it. Whatever you have to do.

[ He can take it, because he has to. ]

[ Has... She ever heard Gojo sound like this before? Has she ever heard Gojo Satoru, the prodigious, strongest sorcerer of their time, her classmate, her friend sob like this, before?

She hasn't. Even when she was sure he might have been, after Geto left, she... hasn't. Sympathy and despair wind their way through Shoko's chest, wringing at her heart, but even so, she carries on because she must. A crisis like this is exactly what she's signing up for, in being a healer, in wanting to become a doctor.

It's just... Gojo, who seems so invincible, even when she's long since learned he's not. He's just a boy, with so much on his shoulders, and where Geto had crumbled beneath that weight and turned his back on them, Gojo is still here. Bearing that weight, now all by his lonesome. She never thought— that she would see him like this.

Her gaze falls to the bite on his arm, horrible and unsightly just as Mark's had been, but there's almost a line she can see, where his flesh hasn't yet been melted or torn, where her hand hovers over, already primed with cursed energy that's been reversed in the way that is simply so second nature to her, as easy as natural as breathing, and yet it feels so fucking difficult right now, when she never thought she would be doing this for Gojo, within an abandoned ambulance, to treat a zombie infection, of all things. A soothing energy flows through the wound, offering just some momentary relief. ]

I'll need— [ her voice leaves her more strained than she's ever allowed herself to sound ever since she became a first year at Jujutsu High. But she swallows that down, and lets her voice settle back into its usual steady tone. ] I'll need to amputate your arm. It's the only way.

[ As far as she can tell, it's the only way to keep him from turning entirely - and they absolutely cannot have that. Shoko springs into action, then, rifling through anything that's been left in this ambulance for anything that may be of use, and through the supplies she's managed to gather. Bit by bit, the pieces fall into place. Torn cloths and towels. Wound dressings. Trauma sheers. A tourniquet. Everything else. ]

...Gojo. It's best if I sedate you for this.

[ Later, much later, when he has only time on his hands to look back on this moment and recount each and every step, how it unfolded, where he went wrong, what he could have done differently, what he should have done better, it will hit him — why it hurt so much. Not because of his wound, but because...for the first time he can remember, he's — afraid. The last time his technique failed him, he was so brutally slaughtered within seconds fear didn't even have a chance to take hold. This time, that uncertainty, that failure lingers, clinging to him like coiling smoke, filling his lungs and burning him up from the inside out. He has always relied on his technique, his cursed energy. Always. Without it —

What's left?

Resolve steels through him, a white-hot flash, as Gojo lowers himself onto the exam table, swallowing against the dry lump in his throat. I'll need to amputate your arm. He's expecting it, preparing himself for it. Yet hearing it from Shoko makes it no easier, even if he knows without a doubt that she's right. It is the only way.

Breathe. Survive. Keep fighting. The mantra to which he has lived his life since the moment he was born. ]

We — have time for that? [ If she thinks so, he trusts her. ] Okay. My life is — in your hands n-now...

[ No pressure, or anything. ]

[ Gently, she presses rolled up fabric into his mouth, for him to bite down on. Yes, it's best if she does—

But the ensuing sounds of the horde and their companions still fighting wherever they may be suggest otherwise, and Shoko's mind races while it cobbles together a plan. No— no time for a sedation, it'll take him too long to come back to, just barely enough time for a local anesthetic that she knows won't be strong enough to dull this, and they'll need him back on his feet so they can get the hell out of here—

Pulling on gloves, Shoko next reaches for the tourniquet, carefully wrapping it around his arm, where it's not yet been affected by the bite. ]

You're right. We don't. Shit. We don't. Just... keep breathing, okay? I'll make it quick. I've got you, Gojo. I've got you...

[ ... ... ...

Gojo has seen Shoko work before. He should know that, while her demeanor may be more animated and spirited in class and outside of it, it can also be incredibly, almost eerily calm, and nowhere does that come through most than when Shoko is in front of a patient. For however singsong her voice may sound, now it is steady, anchored as she talks him through every hurried, horrible step, so he knows what's happening, so he has her voice to use as a tether while she severs a part of his arm. And it remains steady, through every awful sound of his pain, of flesh and bone coming apart, and all else she must contend with after, even if - as a small blessing - she can heal some of the wound shut before cleaning and dressing it.

... ... ...

Shoko can feel the way her body is running entirely on adrenaline. This has taken more out of her than she rightly even realizes in the moment. But she knows, above all else, that no one is in more pain than the two who were bitten. ]

...It's done.

[ She's got him. He knows she does. Even for how recently his heart has been utterly betrayed, Gojo trusts Shoko irretrievably. Has to trust her. She has been his figurative, and now very literal, lifeline, ever since they got here. If she says she's got him, he knows he'll get to the other side of this. He'll survive.

Nothing can prepare him for the agony that follows.

His pain threshold is extremely high — has to be, as a sorcerer. He's been stabbed, burned, suffocated, electrocuted, and time and time again, he fights through the pain, the thrill of battle and jujutsu enough to keep adrenaline coursing through his body. He had to learn how that pain feels, in order to better understand his own cursed energy, how to use Limitless to evade it. But this...

This isn't a battle. He isn't pursuing an opponent who could pierce Limitless with a cursed tool. He can't use his jujutsu to get out of this one, and instead he must simply...bear it. The utter, unreal agony of Shoko's grisly task of separating his infected arm from the rest of his body, his screams muffled by the gag in his mouth, and more than once, it's almost too much. The intensity of it nearly makes him black out, and leaves him dizzy, shivering, the taste of blood and vomit at the back of his throat.

And it doesn't stop. It doesn't stop. It doesn't stop. Until at last, it does.

Limp and shivering on the table, he blinks past the tears that cling to his eyelashes, vision swimming, to glance down and —

It's gone. But he's alive.

A soft whimper moves in his throat, terribly vulnerable, but he doesn't have the wherewithal to do anything else in this moment. He lets his head roll to the side, his eyes falling shut, letting his tears spill free, against his dirty skin and hair that clings to his brow with sweat. ]

[ Shoko slumps against the side of the ambulance, her clothes now covered in blood - Gojo's blood - as she catches her breath following her use of RCT. Yet still, it doesn't feel right to listen to her own body, her own exhaustion, when her patient, her friend is like this in front of her.

A second. She just needs... a second. And a smoke, but that'll have to wait til much, much later.

Soon enough, Shoko brings herself back to her feet properly, carefully pulling the gag out of Gojo's mouth and then grabbing another towel to wipe at Gojo's face as gently as she can manage. Sweat, grime, tears, and all. ]

You're going to be okay. And— I'm sorry.

[ That it came to this. ]

[ Slowly but surely, his swimming mind and vision start to come back to him, coalescing into something more concrete with Shoko's gentle words and ministrations. Everything...hurts. His arm, his head, his heart, it all aches, but he can't linger on it when the pressing threat of very real danger is still hot on their heels. Shit, will he even be able to get up and walk? He'll — he'll have to.

He allows himself another moment, just one more, to let the finality of it settle over him with a heavy, suffocating weight, exhaling a trembling breath. ]

...Not your fault. You — you saved my life.

[ And given what he might have become if he were turned into a zombie...maybe the lives of all of them. ]

We...need to go. H-help me up?

[ He can't do this on his own. He's really never been able to do nearly as much alone as he would like to think. ]

[ Shoko frowns; she'd have him lay down and rest for as long as he needs to regain his bearings, but time is a luxury that they absolutely cannot afford. ]

So impatient. [ a sorry attempt at banter, perhaps. ] Just wait... hold tight for a second.

[ She needs to pack up the things she'd taken out to perform the amputation, and maybe take whatever else is left in this ambulance in the process. She won't get too greedy - a zombie or two stumbling their way in here would be all that's needed to fuck all of this up, after all - but maybe that gives Gojo a chance to breathe for a few more moments.

At length, Shoko slings her pack back on over her bag, and then a First Responder Kit onto her shoulder, too, before she moves to help Gojo back onto his feet, wrapping his remaining arm back over her shoulders so he can lean on her. ]

Alright. Let's— let's meet back up with the others. I think I hear them coming.

[ A deep breath, casting just one last glance behind her at where his ruined arm lays within, before she guides them back out into the rest of this godforsaken world. ]

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week 2

rendezvous

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week two objectives

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week 2

rendezvous

!week two objectives

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!
week two objectives