Final Investigation

[petoskeymods]

FINAL INVESTIGATION

Friday starts as usual, with everyone waking up and starting to move about. The morning is cool, with the last bits of the night's dew starting to evaporate in the early sunlight. But as the living campers start to move about, they will notice two important details:

One: the zombie campers are nowhere to be found.

Two: there is a note pinned to the front door of the lodge that reads "It's time. Investigate the camp, find out the truth. Why are you here, and what do you need to do to leave? We will be at the campfire tomorrow at noon."

Well then. It's time to get to work.

BASE EVIDENCE: ???
CAMPERS REMAINING: 7


REMEMBER: every living camper needs 15 comments minimum in this post to qualify for 'good end'!

Comments

[le_mat]

[Thankfully Nine is still hugging Ren, because as soon as the door opens he kinda... starts trying to walk forward]

[homeecspacecop]

[Chuuta's got his space cop uniform and his coke and his pocket full of drugs and his alien chestburster. He's READY for this, and he'll head down those stairs.]

[killtheanimals]

[...Interesting. Mitsuru will actually head towards it too, though less in a hypnotized way and more just out of pure curiosity.]

I guess it's finally time for us to see what's inside.

[...He's letting Chuuta go first though.]

[fallbymyhands]

[. . . . . . . okay well. LET'S START A CONGA-LINE OF PEOPLE GOING DOWN THE STAIRS]

[linearcrash]

[ Okay so let's get the raccoon free first and then he'll keep a hold of Ren while heading down the stairs. doot doot doot ]

[lovecolored]

[ She's coming, too.

...although to de-clog the stairs, she just floats above everyone. ]

[soylentprotag]

Ah, Chuuta...

[Lenka was about to offer to go first, but the bitties are much too quick. He’ll bring up the rear here for now, a little apprehensively. He’s still holding on to Saunter and all the loot he got from Red’s place, though he’s willing to let go if Saunter reminds him that cats maybe don’t like creepy murder basements.]

[petoskeymods]

[EVERYONE GOES DOWN, Spice block frantically clawing at Ren to be let go and Saunter specifically staying in the lodge. Neither of the animals want to go down the staircase, but as they begin to descend....they feel a pull. For most, it's gentle - like a soft tug on their sleeve, though Ren's definitely attempting to go at a faster rate down.

Finally, they hit the ground floor. Everything is quiet, but it feels like the space around them is breathing - it's soothing, like being next to a slumbering creature at peace. There's almost the urge to walk forward, to keep going into the gloom -

And then the lights turn on with the motion of the group as they hit the final step, and the horror is revealed.

The entire foundation is Petoskey stone. Every single bit, throbbing and pulsing, clearly alive. There's a small bit that's plastic tarp, which is where they're all standing - but around them are...bodies.

The zombies, half out in the rock, being slowly absorbed into the rest of the rock, peaceful smiles on their faces as they turn to look at everyone.

And ah, staring at them like this...

Wouldn't it be nice to join them? It'd be so easy. Just....

Walk off the plastic.

(But you can leave. You can resist.

Leave, before the urge becomes too great.)]

[le_mat]

[And Ren tries to jerk out of Nine's grasp right then and there]

[killtheanimals]

[He sees them among the stone, becoming one with it, feels a tug- he could be with them too, wouldn't have to worry about any of this anymore--

He could see Boa again.

He shakes his head violently, shaking the thoughts away just as he did the hallucinations from before, dragging his brain to an incantation that used to flow so easily off his lips. It feels like it's a slow slog this time, but by now the others may recognize the words to create a barrier, terser than the usual beautiful melody.

He aims to put it around the plastic tarp, allowing none to step off of it.]

[soylentprotag]

[For a long moment, he’s just transfixed, the sudden feeling of being inside something’s maw or throat or guts too strong to shake off, the instinctual and lifelong wrongness of it colliding with the peacefulness of the scene.

The promise to the hollow parts at the deepest parts of him, that this could be the end, if he wanted to let it be, if what he’ll become (the things he was always meant to become, the ending that has always followed him) is too much. He won’t. But he’ll listen, for a little while, shuddering through it and the smiles of the dead.

The familiar sight and sound of Mitsuru’s barrier going up rouses him a little, and he manages to turn his head — almost creakily, like movement is something to remember in this still life — to acknowledge it.]

Thanks.

[Soft, absorbed in the horrible walls around them, but it’s something out of the silence of this place.]

[killtheanimals]

[He leans heavily on his staff. Spells never seemed to tire him before, but in this moment he's exhausted, like he's just pulled himself from choppy waters, like he's still dragging himself away.

There's a compulsion, the knowledge he can still drop the barrier, he can still walk to them. And it's still so, so tempting.]

We need to go.

[His voice comes out choked and strained.]

[fallbymyhands]

[ah]

[there's only one word she can use to describe a scene like this one]

[. . . horrifying]

[Mitsuru jerks back as soon as the zombies turn to face them, smiles twisted and broken and completely wrong. both of her hands fly to her mouth, eyes wide. she says nothing. she makes no noise]

[she can only stand there as her heart seizes in her chest, as her blood runs cold]

[linearcrash]

[ It's horrifiying and there's almost a part of him that wants to just give up.

But Ren jerking actually brings him back. Just grabbing harder before trying to pick him up to throw him over a shoulder.

And there's Mitsuru putting up a barrier. He could hug him right now... but he has his hands full. ]

Shit. Let's get the hell out of here! Move!

[ Yeah, he's trying to motivate everyone to get going. ]

[le_mat]

[Ren yells when Nine has a hold of him, fighting back. He's not as strong as Nine, but he's no waif. It probably hurts.

Thankfully he's too confused to even try and use his Personas]

[linearcrash]

[ He's holding on tight, gritting his teeth as Ren fights. ]

Ren! I'm not losing you!

[ Just going to try to go back to the stairs. ]

[homeecspacecop]

[It's strong. It pulls at him, pulls and pulses and it would be so easy to just step off. Step off and just... it would be quiet, it would be nice and he could just...]

[Chuuta!]

Huh? [He just wants to rest. He could fight against it if he didn't want it so much, if the feeling of being so close to something big and restful didn't appeal so strongly to the part of him that always just wants to curl up and hide forever.]

[Chuuta!!] [Drew yells, sharp and harsh and-- it's always been Drew's fault. Everything wrong in his life has to do with this thing stuck to him.

But Drew shakes him out of the weird feeling, and Chuuta shakes his head to try and clear it away as Mitsuru works on putting up a barrier and Ren struggles.]

What do we do now?

[lovecolored]

[ Ah, fuck. She hates being right, about now. The whole goddamn foundation is coral, coral, coral, and someone's holding Ren back because this may as well be zombie catnip.

Marisa reaches a hand out, hitting the barrier before she can move away from the tarp, but she doesn't back up, just floats there with her palms pressed to it as she stares at the floor pulsating. ]

[petoskeymods]

[As the barrier happens - and they all freeze, get lost in the pull, in the tug, the urge to just give up and let go -

The zombies begin to move.

slowly, ever so slowly - like they are crawling through mud - the remnants of what was once their friends comes closer, faces half melted, strings of petoskey stone pulsating and clinging to them as they approach.

A liliting hum comes forward, from all of them, at once, even as they plaster themselves on the barrier -]

Dooooon't wooooorrrrrry, be haaaaaaaaapppppyyyyy.....~ Dooooooooon't worrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy, be haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

[They're screaming.

They're screaming and it's so loud.

They're screaming because they miss you. because they want to be back together. They want to be one again why won't you let them be one again why are you keeping them apart come here come here come here COME HERE-

The Zombies begin to pound at the barrier.

It's time to stay go.]

[killtheanimals]

[He can't stay, he can't stay, he has to keep the barrier up, he can't let it break.

His expression is tight with fear and panic, eyes shut as he focuses on keeping the barrier in place against the screaming. Someone may want to tug him along, because the mental strain of battling the compulsion to form that barrier instead of allowing it to shatter, instead of walking to their friends is proving too much even for him.]

[fallbymyhands]

[a hand comes to rest against his upper arm]

[it's a steady hand. a firm hand. Mitsuru is pale and she looks shaky, but somehow, that hand holding onto Mitsuru is even and level. likely because she's attempting to ground someone else]

[with a nod, she pulls against his arm, and attempts to guide him back up the stairwell]

[homeecspacecop]

[They're screaming. They're screaming and it slams into his head and Chuuta has no idea what he's feeling right now.]

[Chuuta we have to go!]

[But there's no sympathy, there's no burst of wings or light or anything because Chuuta doesn't want it. He can't pin down what he wants well enough to match it to what Drew wants, and he just stands there instead, transfixed.]

It's already in us. [It's already in him and he wants to go to them even though he knows he should be running in terror by now.]

[soylentprotag]

Chuuta!

[Lenka’s at the point of yelling by now, spurred into action — oddly — by the movement and the screaming. There’s something deeply and needlessly familiar about all of it, the faces of the dead and their attempts to reach and reach and reach.

To be remembered and seen, the way they never were in life and never had the chance to demand.

Since Chuuta isn’t talking to anyone but Drew and isn’t moving he’s going to reach out and take his arm, looking around frantically to make sure everyone is still inside the barrier and hopefully moving.]

We’re going. Enough.

[linearcrash]

[ He's still yelling for them to move, trying to ignore the bounding on the barrier, while he has Ren fighting him hard over his shoulders. Heading to the stairs and nudging anyone who needs a physical touch to get their asses going as he heads up them. ]

1/2

[petoskeymods]

[Somehow, they're all able to force themselves upstairs, even as the pull gets worse and worse as they go up, and the screaming turns to wailing behind them.

But

They make it, shutting the door behind them as the last one comes through and it automatically locks. There's nothing but silence and the beating of their hearts loud in their ears as they -

as they -

wait.

Who's clapping?]