Prospero (TWI ONLY | IC)

[Atnaia]

OOC

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LAB BLOCK 21
0300 Hours
4 Hours since facility takeover

The Lab Block was dark, the air cloying. With the ventilation system down, the air was growing stagnant, stuffy, humid. The flat scent of antiseptic and metal filled the air. The dull red glow of the emergency lights lit the edges of the floor, the frames of the doors. Computer monitors formed shifting silhouettes in the creeping blackness.

"You have been selected for Experiment 22-12," the voice on the emergency speakers had spoken moments before. "You will be acting as subjects in a survival scenario with no access to outside help. You have 24 hours to escape this facility alive before you are exposed to GIS. Only one test group may escape. The experiment begins now. Thank you for your cooperation."

For hours, the occupants of Lab Block 21 had listened as the speakers had played out the sounds of disaster, the screams of the dying and the rasping roars of the beasts in the halls. And then the voice. High pitched, distorted, oddly stilted in its intonation, as though the man were reading from a script he had only just been handed and couldn't afford to make mistakes with. The doors had unlocked, the sounds of the automatic locks snapping open nearly deafening in the silent space of the central room of the block. There were a half dozen independent labs off of this main space, and none of the occupants of the block knew how many other people might be with them just here, let alone the rest of the facility.

The voice returned. "The occupants of each selected Lab Block will operate in tandem with the other occupants of that Block. You have ten minutes to convene before the blocks are flooded with carbon monoxide runoff from the air filters and you are all suffocated."

[Ventlimer]

For hours, Vilna had sat silently against the wall as she listened to the screams of the people just outside her door. As the air grew heavier, the screams slowly abated to silence. Then, the voice had come. It had been a couple minutes, but Vilna was frozen in fear. All those animals, diseases, the GIS.... How was she going to make it through. She carefully weighed her options while staring at the now unfastened door.

Just beyond it, she knew her death awaited her. There could be no question of it. She had never learned to deal with this. She could never have prepared for it or foresaw it. She sunk her head into her folded knees once more. Yet, here she was. And she had no choice. It was either die out here or die in here. She had to.

Slowly, she stood and moved her black hair away from her face before looking about the other frightened faces. She glanced at her watch and grimaced at the speed of the hands.

"So," she said in a whisper. "What now?"

[Athara Magarat]

An eerie laughter was heard in the lab block that made everyone uneasy. But rather than coming from the speakers, it was from among the people gathered inside. They saw an Athara Magarati woman standing and laughing like a maniac.

Lasemi clapped her hands loudly. "Nice, nice. What a terrible joke! Carbon monoxide released from the air filters? We will suffocate? Maybe we will but what a cliched way to say that. You could have said that it accumulates in our blood and causes headache, fatigue, nausea, confusion and irritability..."

The woman suddenly stopped laughing and clapping and was as stoic as a stone the next moment. She bowed her head like a typical Athara Magarati does when apologizing. "I am sorry about whatever I just said now. I think I panicked and said all that. We must get out of here before the time runs out."

[Ventlimer]

Vilna looked at her with a cocked eyebrow, her forehead wrinkling as she looked over the woman. "If you would please not do that, it would be much appreciated." She looked around the room and motioned. "Well, she's right. Let's go."

With that, she walked out of the lab and watched as coworkers and strangers alike stepped out of the other labs in the block. She checked her watch again.

"Only a few minutes now," she thought.

[Lardingo]

Misty Lewis emerged, hands clasped tightly around a cold cup of coffee. Her eyes darted around the block, taking in everything. She could tell that her usual laid back demeanor was falling apart. Although she was doing her best to keep it under control, Misty's breath came in short quick gasps and her head was already spinning. This shouldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. It was so illogical and unbelievable that Misty wanted to grab her head and wail. Soon however, Misty's breath slowed, her mind cleared, and she was much calmer. She glanced at her companions and nodded a silent, tense greeting.

[Noronica]

Marcas growled deeply from the back of his throat, a feral noise reserved only for when he was really pissed. This whole situation seemed so out-of-place that he wondered whether he was actually awake or not, he had been known to have strange dreams. Despite his confusion, his mind was more focused on anger as he had been woken up at the worst time and the whole situation was turning swiftly into a massive shitshow. He had listened intently to the screams and sounds of violent mayhem outside the doors, his mind trailing back to his military days, the sounds of battlefield chaos.

He had made his way towards the main room of the block where others had gathered, noticing the other lab workers. He didn't have a very cordial relationship with them due to their constant mockery, so a small smile formed on his lips when he saw the fear in their eyes instead of the usual pompous glances displaying their so-called intellect. The humour brought a bit of calm to his senses, his mind resigning itself to the situation at hand rather than focusing on fear. He entered the group, only being acknowledged for a split second as everyone's minds were too focused on the fear of what was yet to come.

[Ventlimer]

Vilna looked over Marcas and sighed. Seemed like she was getting all the crazies today. She spied Misty, though, and was glad she had lived.

"We need to leave." She began to walk to the door of the Block as she did. "We have less than a minute or so."

She made it to the door then looked back down the row of labs and offices towards the others. "Anyone coming?"

[Travencia]

The constant beeping of an alarm was the sound that snapped him out of it. He took a deep breathe of air, gasping. There was a voice talking but the sound was to scramble, an indecipherable echo that he couldn't focus on. It was dim, the light was blocked by something. Mal was starting to become aware of his surroundings. The pod was opened slightly, smoke was coming in from the outside. He pushed with what strength he could muster, drowsy from what seemed like a sleep of forever. Mal had no memory of anything before what just happened right now. He couldn't remember his name even. Something instinctual told him to push as hard as he could.

The pod opened, There were a few more, all empty in the room he was in. The door was opened, a dim emergency light flickering. He heard voices, different than the one of the loud speaker. They sounded farther away, too far to make out much beyond the fact that there were a few distinctly different sounds. He walked with a stagger reminiscent of a drunk, his legs felt like half asleep jello.

[Lardingo]

Misty stood on her toes, doing her best to count the people already assembled. Setting aside her coffee cup she wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans. "Is everyone here?"
Misty was terrified about leaving someone behind, but she knew that time was running short. According to Vilna they would be surrounded by carbon monoxide in seconds.

[Ostehaar]

"Is anyone here?" The geneticist with the coffee cup asked, in a manner which felt like a school teacher to Joh. He saw that Marcas was there, as well as Prasansa and Vilna - the people he had already met prior to this... whatever this is. Who was missing? The paleobiologist, he thought.

"Aceline was in the room," Joh said dryly, hoping that someone else would pick up the gauntlet and go look for him or ask him to come. "I didn't see him come out yet." All the while, he tried to locate a corner to stand by.

[Travencia]

Mal followed the sounds of the voices, walking towards them in a stupor. The light was getting brighter, blinding his vision..

"Hello?!"

"Is anybody out there?!"

[Atnaia]

A security camera swiveled audibly on it's tiny motor, a blinking green light like a hunter's eye indicating the direction of its gaze as it shifted from occupant to occupant of Lab Block 21.

"Five minutes until carbon monoxide flood," came the voice.

[Corindia]

Dr. Mata emerged from the storeroom she was rummaging through when she heard the sounds of her colleagues' voices. She was hoping she could find something useful, more to calm herself and keep her hands busy than to do any help. Unfortunately the roon contained only chemicals and some basic safety gear, although nothing so useful as a gas-mask like she had hoped. Not that a gas-mask would be a long term solution to the problem anyway. After such a fruitless search, seeing friendly, albeit stressed faces made her feel better than rifling through shelves of bottles and glass-ware.

[Lardingo]

Misty smiled at Dr. Mata, relieved, then started to walk out the door. Then Misty paused. "Hold on, there are glass bottles in that storeroom, right? We should grab as many of 'em as possible." She was already pouring the cold contents of her coffee cup onto the floor, and slipping it into her work bag.

[Corindia]

Dr. Mata glanced at the coffee as it splashed to the ground before answering the question.
"There's plenty in there, although I'm not sure you'd want to be walking around with a bag full of glass. If it's water you're after, there's more than enough jugs of distilled water I suppose. I'm not sure hydration is our most pressing concern, however."

[Lardingo]

"It wouldn't have to be made of glass. You'd just have to be able to throw it." Misty walked quickly to the storage room and started rummaging throw it rather loudly. She selected a tiny cutting knife, and a plastic test tube. "I heard those screams, and I don't want to go out there without something to defend myself."

[Athara Magarat]

Prasansa neared the storeroom as well. After her initial outburst, she was now a silent figure and had not spoken a word since then.

"What else do we have here?" she asked Misty and Dr Mata. "I suppose carrying explosive chemicals is out of question."

[Vancouvia]

Lemuel had stuck to the back of his lab room, earnestly calculating whether he should venture out to the hallway and figure out who the other voices were. He decided he might as well; although he didn't know any names, he figured he may recognize a face or two. The voice announcing the carbon dioxide was the final push he needed to head out.

He walked out to find most of the others, their dispositions ranging from panic to calm, with himself not quite sure what to feel. His pulse was accelerating - he took note of that - but he didn't feel scared or anxious. No, Lemuel was curious. Curious who the man behind the voice was. Curious whether chance or some higher power had transferred him here to bear witness to this. Lemuel wanted answers, but first he needed to figure out a way to be alive to get them. He stood silently and listened in to the others' ideas.

[Corindia]

Dr. Mata recoiled slightly at Prahansa's remarks. To play with chemicals at a time like this was, at best, unwise.
"Not much of note except for vessels and lab knives. And don't get too excited about those "knives", they're hardly more knife than paint scraper. Regardless, feel free to loot, there's not much else to do at the moment."
With that, Dr. Mata turned away and walked towards the small conglomeration of her peers that was forming.

[Athara Magarat]

Prasansa took th lab knife. "Something is better than nothing. Now I wish they did allow me to bring my big knife. An Athara Magarati without a kukri in this survival scenario is like a fish out if water."

"But a knife is a knife." She sighed and placed the small thingin her pocket.

[Travencia]

"Can anybody find the door?!" Mal slurred, shuffling like a zombie towards the gathering of people. Even if they did find it, the question remained how they would get through it.

[Lardingo]

Misty pointed to the door with the slightly useless knife. "It's over there. And are you alright?" She wondered if the carbon monoxide was already taking effect.

[Atnaia]

"One minute remaining until carbon monoxide flood," said the voice. "Please vacate your lab blocks and begin the experiment."

A hiss began to issue from the vents.

[Noronica]

Marcas was beginning to get anxious, time wasn't on their side and yet the group was split conducting a search for supplies. He rummaged through his janitor outfit's pockets, hoping to find something of use, instead finding half a packet of gum, a dusting cloth, a small weathered picture of his old dog, an identification card, a couple of Atnaian coins and a set of master keys which he suspected only unlocked the doors of this lab block exclusively. Well, if the worst comes to the worst I can use my keys as a weapon, he thought sarcastically.

Turning to the rest of the group, he noticed that a few people were returning from their mostly fruitless search which meant that they would be getting out the doors soon. He pressed his hands on the doors lightly, "Hurry up people! We need to move!" His voice betrayed both his fear and his anger, his usual uncaring demeanour replaced with an anxious frown.

[Travencia]

"You there!" Mal shouted at Marcas.

"Let's pry open the door!"