====== Burning Up ======

[CW: burning alive]

You can feel the seams of the Bastion close to bursting, tensions and voices rising with each minute. Perhaps this is the form that Shapeless Death will take -- arguments and hot-heads all the way to a bubbling, bristling boiling point.

That ugly shield lies before you. It wouldn’t be so bad if it had at least been used, but now when you look at it all you see is your failure. No, not your failure -- //their// failure. //Their// lack of precautions which led to the wholly unnecessary endangerment of that entire foolish expedition.

While it may not be the most helpful reminder, it would be a waste for it to stagnate ignobly here. Raindrop is a willing recipient; not one you wholly trust, but there is little choice now. You hope that this time she does not sabotage the operation. Not when this much is on the line.

You take a less passive approach. Your preparation comes into practice here, as the plans spring quick to your mind. You begin work as soon as you can, aided by the Relic Seeker and Eddy. It takes several attempts before you give up on explaining the technicalities to the Relic Seeker, instead giving her a couple of the more straightforward tasks while you work on setting up switches and isolating a section of the fence for testing.

With two hands and a sense of urgency, the work takes the best part of only one day (it would’ve been quicker but the Relic Seeker seemed to struggle with a rather persistent headache). While the generator doesn’t carry the full weight of the substation’s former power, you think it should be enough to take care of any issues -- or at least long enough to allow a couple bullets to do so.

After a round of final checks, you send the Relic Seeker in to divert some power to the test area. They emerge after a minute with a nod, and you throw the lever. The hum, when it begins, is barely perceptible, but you see the grass begin to smoke at the base of the fence. You toss a stick, which steams but does not burn as it bounces to the ground. A little disappointing, but with all the power leakage from these old wires and the fencing, not to mention how little power the ineffecient little Bastion generator provides, not exactly surprising.

You head back into the substation, leaving the Relic Seeker to keep an eye. She has set the generator up to divert around half the power to the fence, with the other half still going to comms. Though there’s not much use in talking if the zombies are at the door… Carefully donning a pair of welder’s gloves (borrowed from Eddy), you ramp up the fence power to full.

A scream from outside. You shut it off.

You run out to find the Relic Seeker on the floor, hand gently smoking. If the current grounded itself through their heart-- but no, an eye opens to peer up at you, as if she had just taken a nap.

She nods along to your stern words, before looking down to her hand. Your gaze follows. It can’t have been more than half a second that the power was one, but it was enough to produce a rather nasty burn. You send them off to the infirmary, but it’s a good sign for how it’ll handle zombies.

And not a moment too soon.

The cry of “zombie!” goes out, and you scramble to connect the rest of the fence back into the circuit before sprinting to the generator. It hums into life, and as you run back out, you can swear you hear a thud and crackle on the other side of the Bastion… the side of the Bastion with that damn hole!

You hope as hard as you’ve ever hoped that someone in this place has managed have enough self-preservation to fix it. In vain, as those ragged edges are just as visible, with a zombie fast approaching, red eyes inflamed with purpose. You see Nio, corrugated metal in hand, diving to block. You try to shout a warning, but before the words can leave your mouth, Eddy is surging across, knocking her out the way. And plugging the hole himself.

You’re not sure what will kill him first; the fence, or the zombie dragging him through it. In either case, it won’t be quick. And they’re effectively dead already. You unholster your handgun, take aim -- and hold one last look at them as they scream. You fire. There is a splatter of red and pink and grey. And Eddy lies still.

The smell of smouldering flesh makes you cough, forcing you back, gun held up as more bodies slam into the fence. But you spend no more bullets. The fence holds.

The Bastion holds.


{[]}{{tag>writeup3 gm_ben complete}}