You know what? You're tired.

More over, you're bitter. You just bombed that test. There's no way in hell you're going to past Anatomy this semester. It's just a laughable thought. Why even study for the final? Janice and Ted just arrived in Manhattan for the weekend. Their uncle is letting them use his penthouse over Central Park without limits. Do you want to waste the rest of your life worrying about if you're ever going to become a doctor or are you going to board the Metro North Train and live it up for once in your life?

This is the third time you've told yourself this. The conductor is looking at you very annoyed. He's held the door open for you out of kindness, but now it seems he is still doing it to hit you on the head when you enter.

_God, this is stupid. I can probably make up with a passing grade if I just Ace the final. I should get back ho..._

Your internal monologue is cut off as a very handsome guy and his hot girlfriend ram you into the train, trying to get in it themselves. You find yourself on the floor of the train car, looking up to see the Conductor helping the couple up and telling them their tickets are no good here. He gives you an eye and a little smirk and asks for your ticket without helping you up.

_That little ass... who pissed in his cheerios?_

The 30 minute ride into the city is uneventful for the most part. Idle chit chat that you're trying to focus in and drown out, anything to get your mind off your future. A lot of planning on getting really drunk and partying of asses in the attempt to shake them off. Nothing you were ever into. You silently wonder how people can be happy like that? There seems to be little basis on...

_God... Christ, what is that?_

It's beyond anything you ever felt before. It's... it's pressure, that's for sure. But it's no where on you. But you can't help but to feel oppressed, pushed down upon as the world watches casually. Your mind cycles off medical conditions quickly, worrying that this might be a stroke or even something worse. You check your motor control. Everything is moving just as you'd like. You don't taste or smell anything odd. Your vision is normal... it simply feels if you take another five seconds of this, you're going to implode.

_And what the hell is with all the what's?! I can't focus!_

You look around the car. People are asking each other constantly what did they mean by that or what did they say or something of the life. Others, even weirder still, look off into space and are answering things that aren't there. Even the Conductor seemed to be affected, looking out the window on the door and rocking himself gently back and forth. The elderly lady sitting next to you looks at you and starts to giggle. Which leads to chuckling. With leads to the boldest laughter you ever heard on your life.

But it doesn't stop there. This lady is laughing at you so hard that her face twists into hysteria. Reason is gone. Compassion. It's like her whole existence is just based on laughing at you. So much so that her body can't handle it. Drool starts coming out from her mouth. Her body fights for her to stop so it can relax, but she doesn't. Her muscle tense and seize, but she continues. The pain is obvious in her eyes, but she can't help herself.

You quickly stand up on the still moving train car, minutes before you go into the underground second of Metro North, which means the next stop is Grand Central. If you can get the Conductor to radio for help, maybe help can meet her when they dock.

The rest of the train isn't fairing any better.

That attractive couple that knocked you on the train... the woman is savagely beating on her boyfriend's chest after clawing at his eyes. Blood dribbles down his face as he mumbles something about "we're arriving, they're arriving, it's arriving".

What you can only assume were those party girls who were only interested in getting wasted now stand in the aisle, their foreheads pressed upon one another and seemingly chanting... What, you can't tell over the din of the rest of the train.

You run to the Conductor and grab at his arm to turn him around, to face what the hell is happening on this train... but you can't. There shouldn't be any reason for it. He's not that bigger than you. On the slight side. But even bracing yourself does nothing in moving this man. The Conductor just stands there, with is forehead at the window, swaying side to side.

That's when you feel a hand at your shoulder.

With all that's happening, you don't take any chances. You turn and you knock your fist, ready to knock out any psycho approaching you. What you see, however, is a very frightened woman about your age who shields herself from your threat. She seems to have reasoning.

"PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T! I'M SORRY!!"

You drop your fist and grab her by her arms. "Are you ok?! Are you normal?!" Your latest threat on her safety has proven a bit too much for her to bare. And you can't blame her. However, you just don't have time. "ARE YOU NORMAL?!"

"YES," she screams through sobs. "I AM NORMAL! JUST... just please don't hurt me..."

You bring her into your arms and you hold her. You feel like you're about to cry too. Suddenly, your test seems to be really insignificant.

"I'm not going to hurt you," You try in your most even tone. " It's just.. what's happening on this train..."

"A MOTHER TRIED TO FORCE HER LITTLE BOY INTO AN OVERHEAD COMPARTMENT! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!"

You fight every urge to see what she's talking about. You just don't think you have it in you to try to reason that out just now. You don't even know if you should still be holding you, but you are. And she's holding on to your tight also.

"I... I don't know what's going on."

"And you don't want to."

You and the girl you were holding turn to the first normal voice you've heard in a while. It's the conductor, his head bloodied from grinding it into the window. The window is cracked behind him. Calling his appearance disheveled would be a compliment. However, he doesn't seem to notice. In fact, judging by his face, he's having a good time with life as a whole.

"I have to go now, kids. Trust me. It will be terrible."

Without a beat passing, the Conductor is sucked threw the Quarter-sized hole he created in the window in the door. Little bits of him and most of his clothes still remained in the car.

You instinctively backed up, keeping the girl behind you. She is shrieking louder than anything on the train.. which seems to gotten everyone's attention. They stand up and form a crowd around you. Those who can't get near you, you can see looking at you between legs or over shoulders. You two are the hot ticket. And everyone can't wait to get a piece of you.

It's silent now, other than the train rocketing down the tracks and the constant sobbing of the girl behind you. Except.... Except for the laughter. it's coming from behind the crowd and moving closer. The Elderly lady sitting next to you before pushes her way out of the crowd.She's still pointing, she's still laughing, and somehow, she's convinced the entire population of the train car to do the same. The crowd of people go to fits of hysterics over you two. You close your eyes and await the worse.

And that's when you smell smoke.

You open your eyes, and the Elderly woman beings to ash. From her outstretched fingertip up toward her body, she burns up like a cigarette. It doesn't stop her laughing. Nor does it stop the rest of the crowd when it happens to them. They are being reduced to ash and they don't have a care in the world. There's no fire, there is no medical condition that does this... These people are burning up in the most severe way possible without any reason why.

After a minute, the laughter stops. There's no one left to laugh. Everyone is now an ash statue of themselves. The train finally docks into the station. After the normal few seconds, the doors open, creating a breeze that collapses the Ash Statues. The Girl behind you has fainted, who knows how long ago.

You hear yelling and screaming outside. It sounds intelligible, and it sounds to be only a few distinct voices. You clean your eyes and look out the door. It's dark. Completely dark. The station has no lights. There are lights in the car, spilling out to the black void of the Manhattan station, but that just makes it even more creepy. You'd made it a point to always come into Manhattan with a bookbag that contains a flashlight and a swiss army knife ever since getting stuck in the black out, so you could navigate your way out into the street... but do you want to risk those voices being more insane people?

Option 1.) Stay in the car and hide, bringing the girl with you. Hopefully, you can find a good place to see if these people are normal
Option 2.) Stay in the car and hide, but leave the girl where she is. See how they react to her if they spot her
Option 3.) Try to sneak out into the darkness and make your way to safety alone. You can't risk her tipping them off to you two by making noise when she wakes up
Option 4.) Try to sneak out into the darkness with her. She seems light and you just can't leave her to fend for herself
Option 5.) Try to see if those voices are sane or not
Option 6.) Try to wake her up and get her input

_Think, think, what's a way to wake her up that she won't freak out? I mean, how could she freak out? We're just covered in the ashes of everyone in the car, she doesn't know me, and I'm going to be above her frantic._

All that time you spend trying to think up a way to wake her up, you begin to notice that the yelling is starting to calm itself down. There's still yelling, to be sure, but it's controlled. The tones are worried. To you, that sounds like someone who's sane enough to understand this is a worrisome situation.

_To Hell with it._

You shake her. No use. Harder. Nothing. Finally, you remember what your brother used to do to you when you were trying to sleep. You lean close into her ear and you make really disgusting noises. You can see her being affected by it. Not taking a moment to be surprised that it worked, you continue. She stirs and her eyes open. You recognize the face she's making. It's the 'I'm going to yell really loudly" face. It's not something you want to see.

You clamp your hand over her mouth and hope she understands this is for the best. She promptly does not. She thrashes and looks around. Ash, the blood stains behind you, the empty suits and dresses on the floor, slightly burned. After she takes this all in, she thrashes much more and starts to add claws into the mix.

"No, please, please remember! All the crazy people in the train, remember?! We were the only two who weren't affected?! I was trying to get the Conductor to... God, I don't even remember what. But please, please. There are voices outside and they could be more of them!"

"We aren't."

You both turn around to the door way where four people now stand, also covered in ash. Probably wasn't the best of ideas to take your eyes off of the girl, since her new scream almost makes you go in your pants.

"Not handling this well, is she."

You slump back against the wall and look at guy who said that. "She's not the only one, buddy."

"You know what," begins another one of the guys in the group. "I think you're both handling it like fucking champions. But me and the girls aren't. It's dark, people exploded on me, and my cell is done. And what the fuck is that clinking noise?!"

Stupidly, you didn't even think about calling for help on your cell phone. You bring it up and the black guy, who's been holding on to a piece of pipe and looking at you and out into the darkness off and on, shakes his head. "There's nothing out there. We've been trying. Not a dial tone. Just... God, it sounds an long drawn out... death rattle."

"Damnit," The Nervous guy peering into the darkness whispers angrily "Do you seriously have to say shit like that? It's a weird sound. Great. Let's not make it sound any worse than it is..."

The Black guy turns to face the Nervous guy, letting the pipe drop to his side. "What does that help? I'm just trying to tell h..." It's at this time do you notice the large red blot on the underside of the pipe he's holding.

"Tell a story at a bar for all I care! You and your new best friend can get drunk on me, I'll keep them coming. But you know, I'm not going to stand here with my thumb up my ass listening to shit like that when all I want to do is get out of here!"

"S-s-stop it! just s-stop it!" That was the first time you heard the girl speak. She seemed... numb at first, but she began breaking down when the two started their discord. "Can we p-p-please just go?!"

The first guy, the one doing his best to try to keep a level head, places a hand on her shoulder and looks at her with soft eyes and the most reassuring smile he could put on at this moment. He then turns back to you and says: "We're going to try to find some help. I never seen this place so d... abandoned. You're welcome to come too. Your friend seems to have calmed down a bit. Is she hurt? Do we need to help you with her?"

Option 1.) They seem normal enough, and you don't have any better ideas... try to find help together.
Option 2.) Don't move until you question them and see what they know about the situation
Option 3.) People who ash for no reason, Conductors sucked out of window holes with nothing doing the sucking? You can only trust the girl and yourself.
Option 4.) Bleh, you can't even trust the Girl. Leave them be, find some help for yourself, and hope that you'll never have to think about this again
Option 5.) You know what? it's been a hard day. Let's try to have a little. Start laughing uncontrollably and see how they act

Damn it, Maj, don't make them pipe us. I feel like no one is trustworthy, but going off alone = certain death (no exceptions).

So... for the moment, let's do option 1. For the moment. Hopefully Pipe Guy got that shit on his pipe from bashing scary guys heads in.

Option 1. Staying put is for pussies and never works. The people that stay put always wind up dead half way through the movie in an inconsequential cutaway, or the others come back to find them all dead.

PASS,FAIL

Jesus Christ, what are you, stupid?! You're on the other side of the door, all you need to do is push it closed now. You don't need to push the File Cabinets with the door! You run over to the door and slam it shut. "Nicolette! Brent! Move these Cabinets back against the door!" Not another thought goes to it as you see them moving to your order. You need to get that Axe and help Lincoln.

You whip open the glass door and pull out the fire axe. You never held one before. The weight of such a small looking thing is deceptive. You want to rethink if this is a good idea, you never used one of these things before... But Lincoln's screams are getting louder. Where those arms are digging, if you don't get some medical attention there soon, there will probably be nothing you can do medically without a hospital... He'll bleed out.

Racing over there, yelling for Raph to get out of the way, you raise your axe high and swing it down with a sickening 'goosh'ing sound when you make contact. You could feel the slice of bone, muscles and ligaments, creeping you out to your core. _Ok, definitely not going to be a Surgeon..._

Although, Paul Bunyan, you have a problem. The swing from your mighty axe did sever two of their arms, but you managed to actually get the blade wedged into the wood. You're not to busy being impressed with the might of your swing, but more preoccupied trying to pry it loose.

Lincoln took his new freedom to his advantage, and twisted his body to give him more leverage to pry himself loose. But the remaining hand just dug in further, making his new position ever more painful to him. In a desperate bid for relief, he ran back to his original position quickly, banging his body at the counter.

If what happened next would have been funny, it would have been called a comedy of errors. Lincoln's zeal to stop the pain made him hurry towards the counter again. Kinetic force doesn't just bleed off once you stop, you'll still have to move a bit, which his head did, towards the ticket window and where the remaining hand were located. You just happened to pry loose the axe. The good news is that Lincoln's recoil saved himself from having the pick part of the axe buried into his face. Bad news is the the blunt part did make contact, knocking him out with the force of your blow, making him fall to the ground. You look stunned. Raph just acts. He plunged the end of the pipe into the last hand, making it release and withdraw.

You hear running away, but the unnatural darkness prevents you from seeing anything. Not something to focus on, Lincoln is losing a lot of blood. Looking around, you see some med kit supplies under the counter. You take them out, get down on your knees, and hope to anything Holy that your studying has paid off.

-Saving throw. Bandage Lincoln's arm well. If fail, he bleeds out and dies. (1-10 Evens/Odd)

PASS

If Tight Ass Henderson could see you now, he's probably wouldn't give you any grief for showing up as late as you did all semester. Hey, you needed the class beforehand and there were no other options to transfer into. Isn't your fault you had to race across the city for his stupid class.

But you're putting your knowledge to good use. You admit taking a little too much happiness in cleaning the wound. It hurts so bad that he's gritting his teeth even while he's out cold. You tell yourself that it's because he made a cute pain face, but in reality you know it was because he was getting on your nerves this whole time.

Taking your time pays off. The dressing is nice, but it will have to be changed very soon. The top of it is already a bloody mess. He should still get serious medical attention. You're just a student after all. You collapse on your ass, not sure where the energy will come from to handle any more of this crap.

A hand is put in front of your face. It's Raph, who's smiling down at you. You take it and he lifts you up. "What are you, a doctor or something?"

"Getting there. Slowly but surely."

"Don't know about the slowly, but I can get behind the surely." You can't help but to smile at his comment. It's nice to feel useful, but it's even better to be good at what you do. "I got your back any time if you got mine."

"Then consider your back got, Raph."

You turn to see what everyone else is doing. Bobby doesn't seem to be fairing well. She's biting her nails and looking at Lincoln and the severed hands on the floor. Nicolette is doing to comfort her, but you can also tell she's doing her best not to look over also, busying herself with being there for Bobby.

Brent is actually at the hands, studying them from a far with a towel or something over his face, poking at them with a ruler. He doesn't look that happy. He looks over at you three, and then nods to Lincoln. IT's understood what he meant.

"I'm going to have to clean it and change it again pretty soon, I'm just worried if he sustained a con..." People keep cutting you off today. This time, it's Lincoln, who comes to and is groaning at the pain. Raph goes down on one knee and tries to steady him. He's asking Lincoln a couple of questions, trying to gauge his mind and his wits by his answers. Huh. Well, at least you don't have to. You look over at Brent with an amused "Who knew?" face, but he doesn't return the amusement at all. What he does is wave you over.

You meet at the corner of the room where he gives you an extra towel, telling you to put it on your face. This is not comforting you. "Ok, long story short, I'm somewhat of a scientist. With the advanced decomp of these hands yet they are still moving, I'm more likely to believe Lincoln's rantings. The only way I can explain this is a chemical weapon. Not the likes of one I ever seen. From what Lincoln told me, he was in the same Train car as Raph. And those people who didn't... Ash, started to boil over. And started to attack those few who didn't go crazy or boil over like everyone else. Raph ripped off one of those support pipes that they use to frame the posters next to the entry doors and beat them back. If the chemical agent has two properities, one of..." he has trouble even forming this thought. "Actual spontaneous combustion and this... near madness with the boil side effect.... well, I don't have to tell you what troubles we might be in."

It dawns on you. You're in New York City on a Saturday night. There's about 10 million people in the city at any given time. And if the numbers of who were affected and who ashed is anything like the ratio of the train ride in.... You're probably up shit's creek.

"Brent, this doesn't make sense... I mean, why would anyone..."

"Hey, you're studying medicine, does that," He points to the arms. "...happen in nature?"

You have to shake your head no.

"And I know for a fact that certain... powers on the world are trying to make a chemical weapon that gets rid of the populous, but leaves the city and its resources intact. Not only trying, but were close. Look, I really don't have time to convince you, I need to find Molly, but I need you guys with me. I can't do this alone. However... if we did have some natural immunity to this, we can't discount the fact that maybe, for some reason or the other we just didn't get a high enough dosage. Those hands leaked fluids into Lincoln. And he might turn into a danger to us."

You look at Lincoln. From how he's reacting to Raph's questioning, he seems to have his wits about him. You still haven't checked for a concussion.

"Whatever we decide," Brent says. "We have to decide it now. We don't know if we scared those people off, or if they are regrouping."

Option 1.) Stay and observe Lincoln. You're barricaded in, you have weapons and you fought them off before.
Option 2.) Give the marching orders. This place is a death trap, and Brent's right, you don't know if they are coming back with reinforcements.
Option 3.) Bring these fears up with the group and have an open discussion about it.
Option 4.) Leave Lincoln here. You can't risk it...
Option 5.) Take your axe, take your flashlight, and hoof it out by yourself. Brent's not the only one who has to find people.

It's very strange. Brent, a man of science, is so ready to make a huge leap. Infected crazy people as a biological weapon? He's said he's seen or at least heard of weaponized viruses, but that's not something you can validate with a simple 'Can I see proof of Scientist Status Badge', now can you? But he's earnest. And what's more unnerving is that he's not even really frightened. He is in his total senses.

You look him once over. A little shorter than you, but an Inch or so. Stocky build, but with these intense blue eyes like he can convince you of anything if you just looked into them long enough. But you never heard of a Scientist with a Mohawk, have you?

Damn society. Teaching you to trust attractive people, regardless of gender. The words take hold... but you just can't leave Lincoln there to die, even if he's a pain in the ass.

"This is something to think about, and at most we can keep an eye on him in case... something.. happens.  But will you be able to sleep for the rest of you life knowing that we left him to die if these people are crazed and going to tear him apart on the spot?"

"Are we going to live at all if I'm right?"

You want to make a come back, but you just can't. Instead you turn to Lincoln. "Can you walk?"

"Jesus Christ, this hurts so bad. I can fucking walk, but damn..."

"Alright," you say. "Arm yourself with what you can. I think we're leaving. We don't know if those people left to get away from us or get help."

Raph has dropped his ever present pipe for a long wooden pole as tall as he is. Six foot if not a few inches  more. He leans it on his lean and muscular frame, keeping an eye out by the windows, but not in front. He's not dumb. His features are chiseled, brought out more when he's sitting there pondering... possibly even fearing what's outside. Poor guy. If tonight wasn't so crazy, he brought could have gotten someone to hook up with him easily.

Bobby and Nicolette seemed at opposite ends of the spectrum. Bobby was tall and slender, an attractive glasses-wearer with a very intelligent look on her face. It was an odd choice that she grabbed a fire extinguisher until she noticed your look. She picked it up in both hands and thrust it forward at heavy level. A good blunt weapon.

Nicolette, small and cute, moved with a grace of a ballerina as she searched through the place for something to arm herself with. It was very obvious this isn't her cup of tea. It also looked like she was going through this in a haze, like the situation was sinking in, but not really. You are almost convinced she followed orders in a machine-like trance as her mind was trying to distance herself from the situation, lest she crumble about.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Raph bend down to pick up the pipe and walk it over to the water cooler. He turns it on, trying his best to clean off the red stuff and then dry it off when it looks like he's done all he can do. He walks it over to Nicolette wth a smile. "It'll be a shame to leave her behind. She's a sturdy ole gal." It was the first time you saw Nicolette smile. People would take on incredible odds to see a smile like that again.

A wiry skinny guy, Lincoln didn't look like he would be type to do much damage with a melee weapon if he had one. Add that along with the fact that he's injured and lost a bit of blood made his choice of the kitchen knife a very good one. It's a serious cutting knife, which you just have to assume someone brought in with their lunch. Besides, he has that now popular nerdcore look that's been driving the indie girls wild lately. He's probably more of a lover than a fighter.

There's a display honoring what you assume was the ticket worker's victory over the conductors in a baseball game. Along with the trophy, they put up a glove, a baseball and a bat. Brent decides to put that bat to good use.

"Ok, everyone got something?"

The group lifts up and shows their various armaments.

"Good. I don't know about the rest of you," Brent states. "..but I need to get over to Molly. Our friends' apartment is just in the 60's. It's not far from here. Damn the knowledge, I just need to see her safe."

"Don't you think that's kind of far, Dude? I don't want to sound like a wuss, but I did lose a bit of blood. What we can do is go to that Verizon building just down the street. It's a hub, so it always has the ability to communicate... or so I've heard." Lincoln actually reasons. No cursing. Just an honest to goodness idea.

Raph chimes in. "If we're going to go that far, we might as well go to that police station in Times Square. Even if there's no one there, there might be better things to arm ourselves with."

"Times Square, huh," Bobby muses out loud. Are there news stations and the like there? There might be some information about what's going on. Or, at least what they thought was happening before it happened."

Nicolette looks at you. You don't know why. Perhaps it's because you semi saved her. "Do you need to be some place?"

"Yeah, I came here to go to my friend's uncle's condo at Central Park West. Thing is a fortress and it's on the 14th floor... but it's in the 100's. 60 blocks from here."

Nicolette looks at each of your group. "So, what sounds best?"

---

Ensemble your Squad.

Two groups of three. One group on point, one group to cover the rear

Option 1.) The Verizon Communications. About a five minute walk from here.
Option 2.) Nearest Police Station in Times Square. About a ten minute walk from where you are.
Option 3.) The news stations in Time Square. About a fifteen minute walk from here.
Option 4.) Molly and Brent's friends place in the 60's. About an hour away
Option 5.) Your friend's condo. A few hours walking

Probably best to try the comm center to find out what's going on.  From there go to the police station to rearm and then start the trek uptown (or whichever direction) to get Molly and then to the Condo.