The Preserve and Then Beyond Into Fandom, Tuesday Morning

[lockestheway]

The infection had had time to spread. The blasted heath had had time to... reproduce. The poor teal deer who first sipped from the water at the campsite had had no idea of what was about to happen - and neither had the alots that had ventured out near the rock.

In the days since the rock had insinuated itself in Fandom, its influence had grown. It had crept up through warm living cells and twisted them. Made them greyer, sharper, tougher.

It was the deer who felt it first. Their bodies twisted. Their legs changed, their faces warped. Their minds went dark, then mad with hunger. It was the hunger that drove them out of the woods in the morning, not walking, shambling or slinking, but stalking quietly onto Fandom's empty streets.

Only an hour or so later, the alots joined them. They looked nothing like they once had.

But they all had the same purpose in mind: feed.

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Comments

[thefearwasreal]

People might think Oz strange for carrying a taser on his morning jog, but they came in real handy when mutant deer tried to eat your face.

He swore and shook his hand before examining the bite-mark. He was going to need a tetanus shot for that.

[thinkbetterofme.livejournal.com]

Some habits proved useful in the hand, like Faramir's to bring his sword and sometimes even his bow with him when he went riding every morning.

The creature that came charging from the brushes should have been either very hungry or very angry (perhaps even afraid) to decide to charge a horse and its rider. Baru spooked and it was all Faramir could do to not get tossed off the horse. The creature was smart enough to avoid Baru's hooves and Faramir had notched an arrow on his bow by the time it charged again.

The shot was true and Faramir slid off his horse to study his kill. It was unlike any of the creatures he'd seen in the preserve before and Faramir wondered if this was perhaps the start of one of those invasions.

[cunningkingfish.livejournal.com]

The 'good' Captain Hook had been intrigued by the sudden evacuation of the campgrounds, and had made his way out to investigate.

The angry, freakish deer that came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground (while disgustingly slobbering all over James' face) was enough to deter his curiosity. Especially after he'd brained the animal with his hook and gotten blood and viscera all down his nice shirt.

He needed a bath. And a lot of wine to get the taste of deer spit and blood out of his mouth. Disgusting.

[withasword.livejournal.com]

Kate liked her runs.

She liked them better when she wasn't being followed. She'd figured that running the park would be a distance enough from the preserve that there wouldn't be any problem with it.

When grey and distorted started creeping, not stealthily and very fast, after her she automatically reached over her shoulder, only to remember that Slayer was back in the dorms, and she growled in frustration. Of all the--

It was a throwing knife from her belt that was flung at the approaching creature, and when she peered down at it after Kate was immediately glad it didn't take more than one. With the look of that, she decided to let the loss of one knife go. That was so not right.

[heromaniac]

Despite orders from Mayor Cable to stay away, Tuesday found Momoko way too worried about this 'rock' that Radio had talked about. She finally gave in and transformed.

"Just a quick look to see," Blossom thought, but her flight to the campgrounds was interrupted by the sight of something moving below her. Something that just didn't look right. She landed, wondering if maybe she was still asleep...

[abominationoffh.livejournal.com]

Once it had been a flamingo, not that it knew the word for it.

Now it was just hunger, stalking, and it skittered into the undergrowth as Blossom passed overhead, waiting to see if the girl would come closer.

[heromaniac]

Blossom was totally confused. It had kind of looked like a... no, it couldn't have been. She rubbed her eyes and floated a bit closer. Whatever it was, it totally didn't belong here. Maybe the rock had been an egg or something?

"Hi? Don't be afraid!" She tried to call out to the... thing, floating closer to where she had last seen it.

[abominationoffh.livejournal.com]

It made a chirping sound and shuffled back another step, seeing if the Bright Thing would follow it and come closer.

Come here, little girl. It would like to get to know you better.

[heromaniac]

"Aww! It's okay! I won't hurt you." Blossom wondered if it would get more scared if she tried to lasso it. She totally wished she had Bubbles' wand right now. Or a net. She stepped forward, reaching slowly to part some of the brush, trying to see what she was hunting.

[abominationoffh.livejournal.com]

It waited. It was hard to wait with the hunger driving it, but it let her come closer. One step, two.

But once Blossom started to part the brush, the hunger would not let it wait any longer. It lunged forward with an unholy shriek, looking to tear her face off or rip out her throat with its beak.

[heromaniac]

"Aaaaah!" SCARYBIRDTHINGINFACE! Blossom immediately reached up and grabbed the thing by the neck and... a wing? and tried to push it away, at least from her face. "Hey! Ah! Quit that! Ow! Calm ah tsch! Down!"

Hopefully she could get it to calm down without hurting it?

[abominationoffh.livejournal.com]

It screeched and slashed at her a few more times in desperation, but Blossom was stronger and it staggered as she pushed it away.

It danced backwards, flaring out its wings to their full span and screaming at her again before taking flight and heading back towards the blasted heath. It would find more prey, perhaps easier, back towards the cabins.

[heromaniac]

"Ow ow ow ow ow OW!" Blossom reached up and felt her face. She had tons of scratches and was actually bleeding! Superhero fail, not even able to rescue a lost bird-thing!

The bleeding had her worried, though, and she decided to put off the campground investigation. Time to head back home and do some clean-up.