Apocalypse RP #3: The Vanishing

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Hell if I know." Nix hears Jeff call back. "Aliens, the rapture, the weakening of dimensional walls." He comes into the kitchen and looks sadly at the remains in the oven. "Personally, I think the world got tired of us. All of us, I mean. Thinking, moving, chaotic life. I mean it's not like plants are disappearing, right? We got no shortage of grass."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Tyler's breath became shallow; he'd only considered that first one as an option before.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The internet is down, and it looks mostly like a work computer. Going through the files you see that the man of the house was a prosecutor, and that the last few cases he worked on all dealt with missing persons cases.

Dryad: When you stop running power to it, in the reflection of the screen, you see what looks like a face looking over your shoulder.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Nanami turns around to check who it was. Had she grabbed someone to come up with her? She couldn't remember, but... "Hey, isn't the stuff on this computer interesting?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Nanami speaks to an empty room.

[Philote]

Nix sighs. Nothing the man had just said was pleasant.

"I think I'm beat for the day. I need some time to recollect myself after all that has happened. If no one objects, we'll head out first thing tomorrow morning and try to deal with the dogs or get some answers, but for now I'm going to go crash somewhere in the house."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Yeah..." Tyler seconds, looking around for some place to curl up, "I...I think I need to lie down, too."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Looking at the sun slowly sinking in the horizon, the lot of you opt to wait and try to sort things out in the morning. You make a lovely dinner out of some of the packed supplies upstairs and Jeff volunteers to take watch since he's been sleeping most of the day anyway.

For the first time in a long time you all get to sleep in a place that isn't cramped, and thought the lack of the familiar sounds one would expect to hear on a summer nigh is disheartening it isn't enough to diminish your spirits. You're here. You exists. Your stomachs are full and you know you're not alone.

ZZZZZ

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Nix. Nix, hey, wake up!"

It's Jeff. He's gently shaking you and his voice is a urgent whisper. It's still dark, and in the distance, far in the distance, you can hear howling.

"Wake up man, they're acting weird."

[Philote]

Having gone to bed before the others, Nix had managed to snag the bed in the master bedroom as his place of rest. It was there that Jeff had found him. Having a bed again and a few moments of peace had led Nix to sleep deeper than he was expecting with his insomnia and it took several shakes before he was fully roused from his slumber.

"What is it? Who is acting weird?" Nix grumbles.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"The dogs, man." he says urgently as the howls continue to echo in the empty night. "They're acting weird. They're all over the neighborhood, just howling and..." he pauses, closing his eyes in concentration. "I swear, they're running around all willy nilly. Barking, throwing themselves against stuff. It's weird, man, it's just weird. They've never done this sort of thing before."

Four howls go up at that moment, two deep and load, the other two high pitched. Jeff covers his ears.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Ben's whole body shot straight up at the sound of the howling, his eyes snapping wide open in terror. In a panic he sprinted to the others.

"What are they doing?!?!" he whimpered.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"I don't know, they-"

Jeff stops dead, face paling in the full moon light streaming in through the bedroom window.

"They're distracting me. I only hear four."

The light from the window suddenly changes from a pale white to bright orange, before shattering in an explosion of light and heat that throws Jeff face first onto the floor. Around the blackened edges of the window fire pours itself in like water, leaping onto half the room in waves.

You hear another impact near the front of the house, and anyone looking out the remains of the window can see a ball of flame streak past like a comet across the night sky.

(The house is on fire.)

[Philote]

Nix was fully awake now. "Quick get the others! Start with the smart one" he yells to Jeff.

"Ben, help me pack up as many supplies as we can grab" he orders again as he already begins to rush and pack the supplies stored in the room. "It won't help if we beat them and then starve afterwards."

[Myself]

In our shelter, we have reached a predicament. We have little food and ten hungry mouths to feed. We have decided to find more supplies and are working on a way to be consistently observed. One of us is working on a method to make use of cameras to watch each other, even from within the shelter. I am grateful that my one of my friends is an engineer.

Of all of us, only three of us seem to be developing abilities. I am one of them, but do not fully understand my ability. The other two are rather secretive, although one of them appears to have some kind of extra-sensory ability, which could be helpful in a raiding party.

(Sorry for joining this RP late; did not know about it. My ability will be revealed later on; I have modified an existing list ability; but not to make it stronger. On another note, I am honored by the final sentence of the original topic).

(EDIT: Didn't realize you guys were working together. Consider me in an independent shelter, which, given my location in the world, isn't too unlikely. I may seek you all out soon. I doubt BruiseViolet will be participating in this as she has no access to internet outside her phone and TheManiak is restricted by time, at least until next year.)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(It doesn't work like that, Myself. Everyone gets powers, you only control yourself, I need to know your power, and please come up with a reason to be where the party is.)

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Ben choked down his fear and scrambled to the supplies, stuffing them as quickly he could into his bag. His eyes darted nervously to the rapidly approaching waves of fire that licked at the walls and ceiling. He could feel their heat claw at his arms and neck.

Finally, the heat was to great and Ben leapt back from the flames, screaming to Nix, " The Fire is spreading w-we have to Leave NOW!"

[Philote]

Nix shoves one last can into the makeshift bed sheet bag he was holding before abandoning the rest of the supplies and fleeing with Ben.

"Ok, Ok, so we're being attacked. Most likely by dogs." Nix says frantically as they move out into the hall and towards the stairs "Smart dogs. Do we flee out the back? Fight them in the front? Would dogs expect that? How do we protect the supplies?"

Nix stops on the first steps of the stairs and looks over the upstairs floor of the house. Between the fire and the noise they had just made, the others were already getting up and doing what they could.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Jeff follows after Ben and Nix, collapsing onto the arm rail of the stairs. "He's out front. He's out front." He stammers. "He's so excited."

Then there's a horrible crack. Cracks form in the roof, little licks of fire slinking in and out. There a strained sound, a snap, and the roof collapses in the middle of the hall, cutting Nix, Ben, and Jeff from the rest of the group. The hole left behind looks like the mouth of Hell, fire completely engulfing the houses attic. There are more cracks as the roof continues to crack and fall around you.

[Philote]

The collapsing roof causes Nix to stumble back in fear, sending him tumbling down from where he was at the top of the steps. Nix's sack spills out at the bottom of the stairs and Nix lays on his back next to it without having suffered serious injury from the fall. He sits up with a groan and puts what items that are within arm's reach back in the sack.

(@Vault: Is there a doorway or window or something that I can see outside of easily from the bottom of the stairs?)