Mission #011 [Action/Video]

[voiceinthedark]

Sam wakes up on the beach and stares up at the sky. Clear endless blue. The last time he’d been at the beach, everyone had nearly drowned and the Minister had taken over Abel. It had not been the best day. This beach though, this is not some dreary English beach complete with creepy Viking zombies. It’s soft sand and clear sky and… he frowns and rolls over and squints into the distance.

The mansion is there and suddenly it all comes flooding back.

It’s weird to be back in Wonderland again. After everything that has happened at home, it’s been a long time, but at the same time, not very long at all. Suddenly he feels incredibly out of place. He remembers talking to Billy about being a different person to the one he’d been at home, but now it’s different, the other way around. He’s not the same person he had been when he’d last been in Wonderland. That had been, what? A year ago? Longer even.

He pushes himself up to his feet. It’s a painful movement. Everything is painful right now. He’s covered in blood and bruises and cuts where Ian had hurt him. He stares at the mansion for a moment before heading towards it, stopping every few moments to rest. The Ministry had not been kind to him. Ian had been worse.

Figures that Wonderland would dump him there instead of in his bed.

Oh god, he can sleep on a real bed again!

--------

[Sam appears on the screen. He is, to put it honestly, a mess, covered in bruises and cuts and burns that look too neat to be accidental. He gives the screen a somewhat wry look.]

This is getting to be a bit of a habit isn’t it? I vanish and come back a week or two later looking a right mess. Why can I never return after a restful night’s sleep and a calm day?

Oh wait. Apocalypse, yeah. That’s a thing that’s still going on.

So uh… Hi. [He gives a little wave, looking a bit awkward.] Sorry for vanishing again. Not like I get much choice in the matter but uh… Sorry anyway. Don’t like to worry people.

I’m fine. Mostly. It’s good to be back. What's trying to kill us this week?

Comments

Private Video;

[actualwizard]

[ Billy's reaction is almost immediate. It would have been faster if he had been paying attention to the network but this latest event was taking its toll on him. Nevertheless he's contacting Sam as soon as he sees it. ]

Are you ok? Do you need healing? What the hell happened?

Re: Private Video;

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam manages a small smile. He's exhausted but oh, it's so good to see Billy again.]

Um... kind of got a bit tortured. Thankfully he wasn't very creative.

Private Video;

[actualwizard]

[ Tortured. Billy knows a bit about that, though he didn't look this bad at the end of it. Still he raises an eyebrow at Sam's response.]

Where are you? Your room? I can probably heal the worst of it, if you want me to.

[ And talk to him in person and not just over a video chat. ]

Re: Private Video;

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam catches the look and gives him a wry look.]

It's a long story. And yeah, I'm in my room. I wouldn't mind healing if you can. I'm also going to eat my own bodyweight in snacks if I'm not careful. Funny, prison didn't feed me that well. Or at all.

Private Video;

[actualwizard]

[ All of this just makes him worry more. ]

I'll be right over. I'll also bring something more substansial than just snacks.

[ And maybe something alcoholic. ]

video;

[noble_son]

Bad dreams, mostly, though I wouldn't call it fatal so much as entirely unsettling.

[And exhausting. Nathaniel doesn't feel like he's slept well in days despite the disturbed sleep being entirely normal in its functionality. Not wanting to sleep probably has something to do with that.

Question answered, he can turn towards what actually seems important at this juncture.]

Do you.. need any help?

video;

[voiceinthedark]

Oh, not too bad then. Not like I've been sleeping much recently anyway.

[Not since he'd been captured at least, and even before that, Finland had been exhausting.],/small>

I could probably do with cleaning up.

video;

[noble_son]

[He smiles faintly in sympathy. Though he sleeps better in this place than he did anywhere he could hear the song of the Blight whenever he tried to shut his eyes, he can empathise entirely with the experience.]

Well.. unless you're having trouble walking, I imagine that's a thing you can manage without aid.

[Right? Nathaniel looks amused.]

Re: video;

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam manages a small smile.]

I can walk. Not that far gone. I mainly want to get something to eat and also to not be covered in blood.

video;

[noble_son]

Reasonable priorities.

[He's had them himself, many times, and not been so lucky to be in a situation where he could see to them.]

I would attend to the latter before the former, though.

[Video]

[lightgunhustler]

[Jo makes an effort to keep the instinct to panic well under control when she responds, but it's pretty obvious that's she's set herself in motion, planning to head out to locate and meet him.]

Sam, you've really got to stop making this a regular thing. Had me worried sick. What the hell happened to you?

[Things that will need patching and stitching up, clearly.]

[Video]

[voiceinthedark]

Jo!

[He gives her a small, exhausted smile.]

Hey. I uh... I got tortured. On the upside, I didn't actually die of zombie bites last time.

[Video]

[lightgunhustler]

[She can't believe she's hearing that come out of his mouth so casually, but at this point, she probably shouldn't be surprised.]

Well, I'm glad for that much. Last time you went-- feels like we just barely got you back, that kind of shape you showed up in. Not that torture is much better. Meet me in the clinic, I'll use some of their stuff to help patch you up.

Re: [Video]

[voiceinthedark]

[Oh, he\s going to freak out about it later, he can tell that. But it's too fresh right now, he can't really wrap his head around everything that had happened.]

Yeah. It's been... months for me. A lot has changed since then Jo and- Oh god, I need to talk to Pete- to Simon too. He needs to- he needs to know some things.

I'll meet you there.

[He shows up a little while later, brought a change of clothes because he doesn't want to wear these anymore.]

Hey.

[Video]

[lightgunhustler]

Pete?

[She has to question that slip, but she trusts he'll expand upon it when she sees him.]

Right. See you in a few.

[She shuts her phone off for the time being, making her way to the clinic and beginning to pull out some of the most basic first aid supplies while she waits for Sam. He shows up before long, and she grimaces-- he looks even worse in person than he had over the network.]

Damn, Yao.

video;

[choosetruth]

[Georgia's only visible reaction is a slight raise of her eyebrows behind her sunglasses. Past that, she's as stone faced as ever.]

So. Rumors of your demise. Exaggerated?

Re: video;

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam gives a little wave.]

Hey. And yeah, just a bit exaggerated. Not for lack of people bloody trying.

[choosetruth]

Well, life would be so boring if no one wanted you dead. Still, good to see you in one piece.

[voiceinthedark]

I think there's a curse like that. A Chinese one. 'May you live in interesting times'.

It's good to be in one pieces. That wasn't a certain thing for a while there.

[choosetruth]

[And yet, Georgia threw herself into interesting situations without hesitation all the time. Maybe she deserved the curses she brought on herself.]

So what happened? I thought you'd been bit.

video;

[thesamurai]

[ The last time he left and came back, things didn't seem...good with him, so she replies as soon as she can unlike the player with concern etched on her face. ]

This place likes doing this to you.

What happened?

video;

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam gives Michonne a lopsided smile.]

Yeah. It likes seeing me injured apparently.

...it's a long story. I got tortured. And imprisoned.

video;

[thesamurai]

What the fuck is it with the end of the world and people losing their damn minds?

[ Like, shit, really, were you all just waiting to be able to torture people? But then she pauses. ]

...I thought you got bit?

video;

[voiceinthedark]

The guy who did it... he was some sleazy tabloid journalist before the apocalypse, all boobs and celebrity gossip. And he hated me because people like me. It was just... pathetic.

[He takes a breath and then goes still when Michonne asks.]

I did. A lot. Got the scars to prove it. But... turns out I'm sort of immune. To zombies.

video;

[thesamurai]

[ Well what the fuck. If she wasn't already sitting, she would be now, and she lets that process. ]

It makes sense. Out of seven billion people, someone has to be immune. Maybe even a few someone's. World's just so big, you never expect to know that person. Or be that person. Damn, Sam.

[ And not only does she now know one person, she knows two, because Ellie never turned, either. Granted, they're all three from different types of zombie worlds. Maybe hers really is well and truely fucked with no glimmer of hope like this. ]