week 6

[biteys]

WEEK 6

!

home, home on the range

Last week’s events have understandably driven the group off the intended course — so this week will be about righting your little forest-beach-detour.

However, it seems the rain that began at the tail end of last week hasn’t quite let up yet. Mercifully(?), the worst of the storm looks to be over, which means the party will only have to be mildly soggy instead of fighting for their lives against daunting sheets of rain.

Perhaps due to a combination of poor weather, overexertion, and lingering germs in any of the places everyone’s been traveling through, Leontuzzo Bellone and Mark Grayson come down with the flu.

Covering a wide area of land between the lighthouse and the next marked place on the map are a series of abandoned farms and vineyards. Fruit trees and grapevines have all been left to grow (and overgrow) naturally, and with the party passing through at the height of summer, there are plenty of fresh peaches and grapes to be plucked from the foliage on the way. The rain has made the ground muddy and sticky, which may lead to some unfortunate falls…but maybe it’s worth it for a tasty treat.

Also in the abandoned farms are, of course, farmhouses and barns. There are stray farm animals here and there who have happened to survive through sheer luck, though there are no human inhabitants. No living ones, anyway: there are only skeletons, telling the tale that people died here long ago, perhaps of natural causes. One can only hope they did not succumb to the virus as so many others have. There are medicine cabinets inside the houses that have standard things like painkillers, cough syrup, and things of that nature, so it might be a good time to stock up.

As characters linger in the farms, they’ll also notice another side effect of their bracelets: throughout the entire week, they’ll be empathically linked to the other survivors, being able to feel their emotions as strongly as they would feel their own.

city escape

Once the group passes through farm country, you’ve finally made it to the outskirts of your destination, San Francisco. The map seems to suggest that you should travel along the east outskirts of the town along the bay, rather than directly through it — similar to how the party had stayed to the edges of Los Angeles.

Hordes here are similar to the ones in LA, though with the added difficulty that San Francisco is very hilly. Groups of zombies will chase the survivors uphill and downhill: they seem to have limitless stamina, so running up the hills and hoping for the best isn’t the best strategy. Conversely, they run full speed down the steep declines of San Francisco roads, which can lead to them completely wiping and possibly knocking you down with them.

Several zombies are also special: of the zombies that attack downhill, a handful have retained enough intelligence to simply stand or sit on abandoned skateboards and bikes, which increases their speed greatly. Of the zombies that prefer to attack uphill, they’ve learned that throwing anything they can find at their prey may slow them down — pieces of glass, bricks, and even shoes might be thrown at the survivors.

Henry Townshend attracts the attention of zombies in these hilly zones, forcing the need for a City Escape™.

fisherman's wharf + pier 39

Towards the end of the week, as characters continue taking the long way around San Francisco, they’ll eventually end up at the northeastern section of the city. More specifically, Pier 39, and the harbors it borders.

Here, after all the rain and gloom, the weather is a bit clearer, allowing characters to look out into the bay and see some marine wildlife that has kept away from the virus; there are hundreds of sea lions and seagulls here, though because they stay down on the rocks below the pier, the sounds of waves crashing drown out their incessant barking.

There are a number of abandoned shops here, and similar to the mall the group traversed weeks ago, many of the stores seem to be looted, but there are still goodies to be found here and there. With the wide variety of goods, from music boxes to candy to jewelry, there’s sure to be something that tugs on the heartstrings you’re all sharing this week.

Take a look around, find a souvenir, and maybe pick what store you’re going to be camping out in for the night?

This week, Ninety-Nine is infected.

code

Comments

[parttimesoldier]

[The Suzuha of a few months ago would have been much more pragmatic about this. The mission comes first. It always comes first. That had been such an easy mindset to fall into when surrounded by cold, tired, and distant resistance fighters struggling in an endless, losing fight. If anyone hesitated to do what was necessary it could mean the end of whatever last shreds of hope they still clung to.

But she’s learned how much nicer it is to have people she actually cares for at her side. And how much harder too, because this should be such an easy decision and it’s instead anything but.

Their feelings are turning into a roller coaster, each spike in new emotion that much more stark for the way it’s shared between them. She feels that brief flicker of hope; a tiny wisp of guilt stirs from her in response. She feels the distress start pushing its way in, that little spark of panic on his end; sorrow starts welling up in her own chest and she tries her hardest to beat it back. Succeeds, if only in shifting it to be a muted undertone. She needs to be strong for him. Resolute, like he had been the entire walk here.

Mark steps forward and she likewise does the same, closing the gap between them. She places her hand on his arm, feels that warmth, gives it a comforting squeeze. Her gaze hasn’t wavered this whole time, even as he broke from the eye contact, but suddenly it’s feeling a lot harder than it should. She’s quiet for a moment, then she leans forward, presses her forehead against his chest as she closes her eyes.]

I don’t want to do this, Mark. Not unless you are absolutely sure you can’t make it the rest of the way.

[He’s made his case plenty already, she knows that. (I’ve been hungry for weeks…) It’s not that she wants him to belabor the point, but a decision like this? It’s massive, it’s important, and surely this has been weighing on his mind more and more as the weeks have drawn on, she gets that. But she has to hear him say it definitively. She has to know that he is sure, or she can’t be.]

If there’s no other way, then I…

[She’ll do it. She doesn’t want to, but she will.]

[titlecard]

[ His chest feels tight. He'd worked himself up to this, had entertained his final doubts on the way up here, decided he was ready. But as he feels Suzuha fight her way through her emotions to be what he needs her to be, as she squeezes his arm, that resolution becomes painful. Still there, because he can't lose it now — it's just that Mark is beginning to understand that his last moments aren't going to be filled with relief like he'd thought, they're just going to hurt.

Can she feel his heart beat against her forehead? It's a little too quick, but steady enough — and as Mark wonders he leans down, rests his forehead on top of her head, buries his nose in her hair. Reaches out to wrap his arms around her, envelop her in a hug easy enough to break from, but. If this is how they're saying goodbye... ]

I'm sure. [ He says it into her hair at first, turns his head to the side to nuzzle her a little. ] I can't make it the rest of the way. And I want to go knowing I haven't hurt anyone.

[ He moves back to take her upper arms in his hands. Lightly rub them up and down. ]

There's no other way. I'm sorry. But... I can wait until you're ready.

[ What a shitty thing he's asked her to do for him; he'd spent so long psyching himself up to get to this point that he hadn't considered how it would feel for someone else. His pain will be short, though. Suzuha's... All he can do is be sorry, hope she knows that, and hope it makes a difference. ]

[parttimesoldier]

[She wishes she could have unflinchingly accepted his request. The only thing her hesitation will accomplish in the end is making this more painful. Pain like that she can live with—what’s a little more added to the pile to bottle up?—but it’s not fair to him when he’s staring over the precipice of the end. The decision has been made, whether she agrees to grant it to him or not. He said it himself, he came to her because he knew she would be able to do it. And she can, but…

He feels so alive here pressed against her and she knows the clock is ticking down on that. As he pulls her into a hug, she returns it in kind as best as she can, her single hand snaking around to grip at the fabric of his shirt at his back. She had reached for him out of some innate but futile feeling of hope, as if she could anchor him here. If not for good, than at least in her memories. But this just… it makes the hurt almost more potent. Her eyes begin to burn with the threat of tears, but she manages, somehow, to hold them back for the time being.

He says he’s sure, so she has to be ready. Once they go through with this, there’s no turning back. Except… she thinks she’s beginning to understand what had made Okabe put himself through dozens and dozens of timeloops in his desperation to save Mayuri. As the two of them begin to pull away from their bittersweet embrace, Suzuha suddenly feels a new little jolt of something stirring in her chest as that realization dawns on her. “There’s no turning back,” sure, but that’s not entirely true, not for her, is it?]

Maybe this is our only choice right now. [Her gaze had remained lowered, fixed on one of his hands rubbing at her arms, but now her head snaps back up, seeking to meet his eyes once more.] But I can fix it.

[How much of a reach is it when she doesn’t know how the interdimensional angle complicates things, how many attempts it would take, if she even had the fuel to make it work on top of everything else she had to get done, and yet—]

Back home, I… I have a time machine. It’s how I planned to undo the terrible state of my world. [Suzuha had alluded to some of the people here what her home had been like, but she’d very deliberately not mentioned the fact that she was a time traveler. Information like that is simply far too dangerous to disclose. But now, suddenly, it feels incredibly important to share.] So maybe I can go back here too. I could save you, and Kotoha, and— and none of this has to go as badly as it has.

[Is that hope in her voice, or just delusional desperation? Either way… maybe it’s something to cling to.]

[titlecard]

[ That jolt of emotion signals to him that something's off. He doesn't know what Suzuha is thinking, because he's thought this through already. There is no other solution; there are no effective stopgaps; putting an end to him once and for all is the only outcome here that makes any sense. (The only one he'll accept, because he can't fully turn, can't unleash a zombie with his abilities on the world.) I can fix it, Suzuha says, and Mark—

— wasn't expecting her to follow up with the words time machine, and any frustration and agitation that had been beginning to boil up evaporates.

Mark stares at her.

And stares.

And while Suzuha has given herself something to cling to Mark goes for that in the literal sense, leaning back in to hug Suzuha, maybe sweep her off her feet while he's at it thanks to a combination of height and strength. ]

Yes. [ His voice is an awed hush, but there's life swelling from within him. He'd been working to numb himself for days to better accept his fate, and now there's life, present and warm and in full force. ] Oh my god, yes. If you can do that — if that's an option — I mean. [ He laughs. Sets her down, if he'd inadvertently picked her up in the new hug. ] I've got no objections to you using that.

[ And he's sure Kotoha wouldn't, either. Mark beams at her, and there's real happiness present in him now. If he's getting his hopes up it doesn't matter, right? If this is the last thing he ever feels and it never comes to pass, at least he felt it. And if it makes things easier for Suzuha, then there's nothing better. ]

I'm still sorry I had to ask you to begin with, but me being gone improves your chances of making it to the end. And once you make it there, and go back... Maybe I'll see you again soon. [ A beat. ] And if your world still needs help, I'll come help you.

[ He has no idea how time travel is supposed to work; if he's going to remember this conversation, if it's going to be another version of him who doesn't get infected, or what. It's not like it matters right now, anyway.

Mark smiles at her, soft and hopeful. Not hoping that she'll follow through on killing him — he's reasonably confident of that now — but hopeful that this might not actually be goodbye. ]

I'm ready.

[ Even though it might be, but in this moment... not like he's going to know that. ]

[parttimesoldier]

[Oh. That right there, that blossom of happiness, that smile that follows—somehow it’s both such an enormous relief and all the more heart-wrenching for it, but worth it nonetheless. Definitely worth it.

She finds herself laughing as he hugs her again, sweeping her off her feet. It’s an almost breathless thing, nowhere near as full-bodied or cheerful as one typical of her, but it’s there. Surprise and joy that feel oh-so out of place in this particular moment, yet she can’t help but scramble to hold onto it.

Because as he sets her back down, familiar doubts waste no time in trying to snake their way into her thoughts, all the more persistent in such a delicate moment. What if she fails, what if it doesn’t work, what if all she’s doing is getting his hopes up (hers too, but that had always been less important) only to offer disappointment in the end? Would that just be more cruel?]

I’ll…

[She can’t think about it. Focus instead on that renewed sense of life the idea had brought about in him, look at that smile. One of her own is returned in kind, but it’s a little more melancholy.]

I’ll try not to make you wait too long for me to come back, then.

[It would be a worldline shift if it worked, surely, and all of this likely forgotten, but they are here in this moment right now and have no choice but to follow through with it. Live through it. (Die because of it, in his case.) Part of her may still want to argue, even with the nugget of hope she’d suddenly offered them, but she knows it’s a waste of time. This is the smart choice. The logical choice. And he’s ready, so she has to be, too.

She doesn’t like the way her heart starts pounding when she takes a step back, reaching to pull free the gun holstered at her side.]

If you’re sure, then…

[Then she’ll do it. She won’t let him down, won’t back down, even if she’s very suddenly feeling like she’s going to be sick. Just hold onto that hope and don’t let go.]

[titlecard]

[ He's back at peace. Maybe more so than before, when he'd had to swallow down all that trepidation and anxiety that had begun to build up before he'd asked her. Mark had really thought this was going to be it for him, and that was okay, but knowing now that it might not be... knowing now that Suzuha might have a way to fix it, knowing now that she can feel that same hope he does, twin emotions intermingling...

Until that creep of sickness slips back in from her end, her own anxiousness, and it gives him pause. This still isn't something to get excited about. This is still awful, what he's asked her to do for him, even though he knows she can do it. Even if there's the chance of a fix down the line, there's still a lot wrong here. There's still something that needs to be fixed. The smile falls from Mark's face at the same time has he puts his hands back on her shoulders, looks directly at her. ]

I'm sure. [ Leans down to press his forehead to hers, his eyes slipping shut. ] Take as long as you need, okay?

[ For her time machine. For this moment, too.

Mark lets go of her shoulders. Steps back. Opens his eyes, soft little smile he doesn't entirely feel anymore back on his face. Lowers himself to his knees so it'll be easier for her to hit him where she has to, so his own body has less distance to fall. ]

Just... remember to keep shooting until I don't get back up, alright? I'm not sure how many it'll take to kill me. [ One last bout of practicality, one last reminder of why this has to be done now, when he's still in control of himself. It's necessary. It sucks, and neither of them want this to happen, but it's necessary.

And, so that isn't the last thing he says to her, ] Thank you. I'm sorry, but... thank you. I knew I could count on you. This world, and yours... they're in good hands.

[ And he slips his eyes shut one last time, and exhales. ]

[parttimesoldier]

[Think of the mission. Something that has long been a mantra for her, for as long as she’s been fighting for something better. Life had always been cold and lonely and cruel, but it made it so much easier to just do what needed to be done. Fixate on that goal in order to keep pushing forward.

It’s a familiar thought to draw on now, though she never thought it would be this hard. He tells her to take as long as she needs, and all she can think about is how she wants so much more time than they can reasonably spare. That selfish desire is released in a shaky sigh as he reaches out for her again. She lets her eyes likewise drift shut as they stand there for a moment so agonizingly close before they’ll have to part for good. Tilts her head to the side just slightly to brush her cheek against his hand when he finally pulls away.

Think of the mission. They can’t pull it off if he’s a ticking time bomb liable to go off any day now. He’s right about that and she can’t deny it. She’s steeling herself, donning the familiar armor of resolve and determination, and it helps that he reiterates what needs to be done. Her fingers squeeze around the gun’s grip for a moment, painfully tight, then she eases up. Shifts her thumb to flick off the safety.]

Thank you, Mark. For making this whole journey a little less lonely. More bearable, despite everything that's happened.

[A bittersweet smile follows, but it’s gone in a flash; he’s on his knees now, awaiting an execution of his own choosing. She raises the gun and her aim is as steady as ever. Ready to obey as he requested. A slow exhale. It feels like time is stopping around them. It feels like she’s a little numb.]

And I’m sorry we weren’t able to make it to the end together.

[Think of the mission, nothing else. Just think of the mission.

She pulls the trigger. The gun barks in quick succession.

It’s not until it’s over that she allows herself to cry.]