Turn 4

[Pale Rider]

Dirk walked quickly over to the Pvt and placed his hand on her shoulder, steadying the young Marine. "Slowly Corderio, slowly. Get your bearings. Now. What happened here? Where hit you?"
<Tag Pvt Corderio>

Corderio's swaying stopped as suddenly as it had started. Her moan suddenly elevated into an ear splitting scream. She lashed out at Dirk, her movement lightening fast. The force of the blow slammed him into Morse who was just settling into formation. She reached out and grabbed Pvt. Terrence slinging him across the room.

Still screaming she turned and races off out of the bay and into the maze of tunnels.
<Tag Eights>

[Corporal Hicks]

Roberts clenched his teeth and squinted with pain as the shriek tore his ears. His eyes jumped to Zita instantly but he didn't raise his smart-gun. When she struck Dirk and Terrence he raised his smart-gun but didn't know how to react. A chill ran up his spine as she ran away.

"What the fuck was that?" he said loudly and to no-one in particular. Then he looked around at the other marines still laying there. "Sergeant," Roberts turned to Sergeant Abdulov, "Can we zip tie them or something? They could all be infected. And everyone needs to get respirators on right now." Roberts was calm because the situation required it. His experience with difficult situations was showing.

The Sergeant nodded yes and Roberts rushed onto the APC to grab a box of zip-ties. He came back out and handed them out to the others. He knelt down and tied up the hands and feet of some newbie with the name 'Mercy' on his uniform.

(OOC: Sergeant's response approved by Pale Rider)

[Morse]

Morse had not seen Dirk coming when he was thrown into him. Like all Smartgunners he was not the most terribly balanced when it came to getting hit from foreign objects he didn’t see coming. So when Dirk slammed into him, Morse was immediately forced to try to catch his balance, which he failed at.

He hit the ground, the combination of his Smartgun and cybernetic leg making heavy clunks as they hit the floor, as though someone had spilled over a cart loaded with plastic and metal parts.

”The fuck!” Morse yelled as the scream persisted and he got onto his knees. He watched as their new guy was thrown across the room, and realized that the source of this had been the female marine.

Morse quickly got to his feet, his Smartgun back at the ready, though he was not sure whether to completely tear her to pieces or give chase.

He was utterly ignorant of Roberts reaction, deeming it to be the other squads job. In his mind 2nd was already made up for pursuit of a signal, and they’d need to move fast to keep that one.

”Infection my ass!” Morse spat off at Roberts. ”She’s just gone fuckin’ crazy.” Morse deduced.

<Tag Roberts

He looked over at Giosso. ”Giosso! Widen that feed. We gotta stay on her.” Morse called out, hoping the com tech was still keeping an eye on his motion tracker.

< Tag Giosso

”Come on, Dirk. Lets go!” Morse said, wanting to lose as little ground as possible in their pursuit, but waiting until Dirk had given a full go ahead to move.

< Tag Dirk

[Dirk Pitt]

Fast. So damn fast Dirk thought as he left his feet and slammed into Morse. The scream had shocked him. Not because he had never heard a scream before, but this was different. Rage mixed with he didn't know what. When she lashed out he knew he didn't stand a chance to block her attack. Flying through the air until Morse's body stopped him.

"What the hell was that?" He said as he scrambled to his feet in time to see the private run off full speed into the tunnels.

He didn't have time to wait for orders, he had to act fast before any of the others got up and attacked. If she was any indication of their capabilities, they might not win a hand to hand fight. Hearing Roberts he knew that was the course of action they needed to take.

"Sam, get those others secured. Zip cords or rope. I don't give a shit, just make sure you lock them the fuck down. I don't want anyone, including them hurt." He hated to give Sam orders now that they were the same rank and both squad leaders, but he had to get things moving, fast.
<Tag Sam>

"Command this is Pitt. Do not, I say again. Do not sent anyone else in here. One of the Marines in the landing bay just lost it and attacked us. The infection could be already affecting them. I am taking second in pursuit of the Marine. I suggest that Sam and first go after a signal we picked up moving away from out position. I don't know how long this thing takes to affect us so we'll keep in contact. Moving out now."
<Tag command>

"Ya, lets go get her. Hold fire as long as you can. I want her alive. Saddle up second. Lets go on the double."
<Tag Morse and second squad>

Moving out on the run Dirk followed the young Marine, intent on securing the private and bringing her back. But knowing that he would do whatever he had to do to protect his people.

<Roll awareness and scouting>

[Pale Rider]

Moving out on the run Dirk followed the young Marine, intent on securing the private and bringing her back. But knowing that he would do whatever he had to do to protect his people.

Try as they might the retreating form quickly put distances the range of the Marines on foot and their electronics.

[Medic Guy]

Clint pulled out a pack of handcuff ties keeping three sets for himself and starts passing them around to his squad leader and the members of 3rd squad. “This thing doesn’t appear to be spread by water, direct contact, or pests as far as we know. It seems like it is either airborne or can stay alive until picked up indirectly. Either that or the vector borne transmitter, like a mosquito or mouse, is too small for us to see like nanobots.” Clint looked around at several faces staring at him like he was that guy in Rain Man.

He figured he’d better explain before they thought he was next, “When I grew up my parents kept a stash of old board games that had been passed down several generations. One of those games was called pandemic and you had to play as either some scientists trying to kill the disease or as the disease itself and try to kill off as much of the Earth’s population as possible.” Some of the faces looked like they were getting what he was saying.

<Tag remaining Eights>

Turning towards Mark he queried, “Giosso, was there anything weird from the APC sensors or from the drop ship? How small a signature can the motion trackers pick up?” He turned looking at the rest of the platoon still here, “Corderrio was acting weird before she flipped and went crazy…… maybe we aren’t all infected. If we all start hogtieing one another, are we gonna be at a loss if everyone in the base shows back up?”

I hope I’m making sense and not sounding paranoid Clint thought to himself as he looked around the landing bay. Great finally get away on a mission, and I might get the killer space flu Clint pondered as he waited before to see what the consensus was before he would start to place handcuff ties around his ankles and wrists. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to restrain people who weren’t showing symptoms like the others had been. How had the squads that went further into the facility not been affected yet? Maybe it’s more concentrated here in the landing bay than the rest of the facility.

“We need to keep a good watch of each other to make sure that nobody else runs off like a loon,” he said as he placed the cuff ties back in the pouch he’d retrieved them from.

<Tag Giosso and rest of the platoon>

[Whisky]

The scream made Colson jump out of his skin. It all happened quicker then he could act. Morse and Dirk were already picking themselves up by the time he turned round and moved to help them.

Where was the new guy? Looking round he spotted him on the floor a little ways away. How on earth did he get there Colson wondered? Moving quickly he reached down to Terrence. The marine had merely been knocked down, nothing serious.

Reaching down Colson helped Terrence to his feet. "OK marine, up you get. Boss will have your hide if he catches you napping."

"Ya, lets go get her. Hold fire as long as you can. I want her alive. Saddle up second. Lets go on the double."

"Got your six Dirk." Replied Colson, turning to Terrence. "Looks like we are jumping into the thick of it. You'll get used to it. I hope." the last being under his breath. While he had adopted the seconds shoot first attitude as it had kept him alive a number of times he wasn't quite as hoora as his other squadmates. Still, he didn't hesitate to start after them and soon caught up.

<Tag Terrence
<Tag Second Squad

[maxvale76]

Sam's head spun with the insanity of what was going on all around her. Hearing Dirk's orders and watching his squad taking off after the 'crazed' marine; she shook her head clear and turned to the marines all around her.

Her Carribbean accent got a little thick as she snapped out to anyone and everyone in the area; "Okay people; anybody feeling the SLIGHTEST bit out of the ordinary, put your weapons down and lay down mon! We don't need any 'friendly fire' incidents to go with whatever voo-doo is going on here, right?"

Turning to Roberts and Boothe, she said; "Okay, stay frosty and gather up everyone acting wierd and get them zip-tied up quick." She then turned to Mark and said; "Giosso, keep givin' that tracker info to Dirk and let us know as well whatever you see".

Suddenly remembering that the Platoon SGT and LT were in the same area; she moved over to them and said; "Sorry El-tee, I kinda forgot where I was. Any orders?"

<Tag Everyone>

[Quicksilver]

"Ma'am." Mark replied in the affirmative as he pressed the access button for the APC and climbed in. Wedging the hand-held motion tracker in the space between the monitors, the tech continued to read off signals to the teams as he waited for the vehicle's systems to come completely online. The second they were, he logged himself in and kicked up the APC's motion tracking system, which had much better range and resolution than the little handheld versions. Once that was up and running, he gave a quick update, then started logging through the APC's internal system to see if this model had any biowarfare systems.

<Motion Tracker Use>
<Security Systems>

[pants]

Looking up at the roof of the bay from where he had finished his tumble, Terrence wondered what the frag had just happened. He didn't feel like he was badly injured but on the other hand he had somehow ended up on the floor several feet away from where he was previously and it was taking him a while to figure out what sequence of events had led to this predicament.

It must have had something to do with that god awful scream and that messed up Private.

Reaching down Colson helped Terrence to his feet. "OK marine, up you get. Boss will have your hide if he catches you napping."

Accepting the hand up Terrence held out his fist for a fist bump from Colson.

"Hoorah!" responds Terrence after Colson brofists him.

"You didn't catch the number of the bus that hit me just now did you?" he asks under his breath as he hustles after the rest of his squad.

<Tag Second Squad>
<Tag Everybody>

[Quicksilver]

"Two more contacts." Mark called out as the APC's motion tracker started ticking. "All three appear to be converging… about half a klick from here." The tech's fingers danced across the keyboard as he ran through the machine's map log, looking for the Pluto section. "Um… Somewhere around 37.93, -155.75."

[Pale Rider]

Suddenly remembering that the Platoon SGT and LT were in the same area; she moved over to them and said; "Sorry El-tee, I kinda forgot where I was. Any orders?"

<Tag Everyone>

LT. Gruber smiled at her subordinate. She remembered her early days.
"All is well Corporal," she turned to her Sergeant, "Sergeant Abdulov, make certain that the soldiers who are unconscious are monitored closely."
<Tag Max>

[Corporal Hicks]

Eric's temporary moment of clarity had passed. He now felt as if he were being watched again. He spun around, scanning the walls, the ceiling, the other marines. Sweat ran down his forehead and he bit his cheek.

"Aw shit," he said quietly to himself. Something was horribly wrong and he didn't know what. "We've gotta get outta here. We're in trouble."
<Tag anyone>

[Dirk Pitt]

Eric's temporary moment of clarity had passed. He now felt as if he were being watched again. He spun around, scanning the walls, the ceiling, the other marines. Sweat ran down his forehead and he bit his cheek.

"Aw shit," he said quietly to himself. Something was horribly wrong and he didn't know what. "We've gotta get outta here. We're in trouble."
<Tag anyone>

Hearing Roberts voice over the comm gave Dirk a momentary pause as he ran forward leading second squad on a futile pursuit of the much faster Marine. Roberts was a vet and had faced the Xenos more than once. If he was scared, maybe he should be more cautious than his normal shoot first and ask questions later style. Holding up his hand for second squad to slow up he looked around the tunnel.

"Talk to me Roberts. What are you feeling?" He asked, trusting his friends gut,
<Tag Roberts>

[Pale Rider]

Silence fills the caverns, the only sound that can be heard is the heavy breathing of the members of the Eights stripped tied. One of the Marines, Lance Corporal Rosario Orlando, suddenly begins panting heavier as her blood pressure drops and her heart rate accelerates. She begins to moan as her body undergoes some form of metamorphisis. Her skin grows sallow, and her joints begin to pop as her bone and muscles begin to stretch like taffy. Her eyes suddenly pop open and the once black eyes are now an ice blue in nature. Her lips part and she begins to utter the piercing wail that two others had made. With a flick of her wrists, she snaps the zip ties and run screaming down the tunnel following the pathway of the Deadahots. She moves so quickly and rapidly they didn't stand a chance and were scattered like bowling pins.

<Action>