+ some wonderlands are kind

[ Waking up to the sight of an all-too familiar tent over his head instead of his room's ceiling is enough to spur Simon fully awake with a panic attack practically clawing its way up his throat, terrified thoughts of I'm back, I can't be back! nearly deafening him over the roar of adrenaline that instantly snaps him into the present.

The sight of Jo still stretched out beside him on the narrow army bed, pressed close and slowly waking up in response to his own abrupt jerk upwards, is both baffling and reassuring.

Not back, then. Not the end of the world. She wouldn't be here if it were.

But apparently Wonderland's trying its hand at it all the same. Shit.

After several moments to throw on his clothes and a step outside to get his bearings - and reassure himself that yup, he's really standing in the middle of Abel - Simon flips open a video feed to give the rest of the Network an idea of what they're in for. ]

Good moooorning, Wonderland.

Simon here, and if you're awake already, you've probably noticed that we're not in Kansas anymore. Or anything resembling anywhere you want to be. Yeah, me too. Sorry about that.

Welcome to Abel. If you value your lives, your brains, and your oh-so-pretty faces you'll keep yourself nice and comfy within the walls. Trust me, you really don't want to go out there unless you know what you're doing, and probably not even then. This is the Zombie Apocalypse, folks.

No, I'm not pulling your leg. Yes, I've been here before. So have Sam Yao and Doctor Maxine Myers, who I'm assuming will toss their two cents in presently. So if you have any questions or concerns, seek out one of us - Maxine will be in the clinic - that'll be over on the eastern side of the settlement - and Sam will most likely be in the Comms shack - you can't miss it, it's the tiny building that smells distinctly of marmite and looks like it has a spacecraft collection of radio towers atop it. As for me, you can find me either on the front porch of the Farmhouse to answer questions or keeping an eye on the walls, unless they need me outside for something.

Basic Zombie 101, for those of you who've never watched a horror movie - don't let them get anywhere near you. They've nearly wiped out humanity as we know it and they pass on the Grey Plague from either blood or saliva. Some of them are damned fast and nothing stops them from coming at you unless you destroy the brain or sever its connection to the spinal cord. Blunt trauma works best, so does a bullet, but those are extremely rare these days and gunshots tend to draw the attention of even more of them, so use those sparingly.

If you get bit, infected... [ He pauses, sighs and rakes a hand wearily over his face, because part of him suspects this is going to as bad if not worse than the days of the original outbreak. Some of these people have no idea what it takes to survive in a place like this. ] Don't get bit. There's no known cure. If the infection takes hold - and it almost always certainly will - you have minutes or hours before it kills you. After that, your corpse will get back up and go after the nearest living person, no matter what they meant to you alive. The dead don't recognize anything but food. If you've been infected - bit, scratched, anything - you need to let someone in authority know or you need to get yourself as damned far away from the settlement as you can. Entire cities were destroyed overnight from one infected let inside and within hours that's thousands of new zoms to wash over the next town. I know the term 'mercy killing' isn't something in most people's vocabulary, and that's not a bad thing, but if it's not something you're comfortable with, you find someone who is. That's harsh, but this is Wonderland. Don't forget this is an event. It's going to be over in a few days. Do your best to stay alive and keep as many of the people alive around you as you can.

The town has rations stored up and some meds, but I don't know how much yet, that's going to be something we'll all have to figure out, because I don't know how long Wonderland's going to keep us here. And since there's only the three of us that are familiar with how things work, we're happily going to be taking volunteers to help keep things running and keep the rest of you from dying. If you're interested, seek out one of us and we'll find you something to do. Believe me, there'll be plenty and most of it won't even be gross or dangerous, I promise.

If you have any questions, come find me, or leave me word here. I'll try to keep myself visible and available to anyone that needs me, and I'm sure the others will, too. If anyone does need to venture outside the walls, check in with Sam first. He'll get you set up with headsets and weapons and be your eyes and ears out there. He's got cameras and surveillance hacked in every direction for as far as you can go in a day or so - it's his job to keep people alive, let him do it.

Stay safe, Wonderland.