OUTBREAK: ZERO is a semi post-apocalyptic pandemic roleplay set in the fictional city of Lethford, USA. Current season: Winter, 20/21.
March 2020. The world is in pandemonium as one month ago, GHNv-20 was confirmed, five months after the beginning of norovirus season. The number of the infected are in the higher hundred thousands, and the death toll is at an estimated 250,000, with about seventy percent of the rest of the population experiencing mild to moderate illnesses connected to the S. pyogenes bacteria.
The fear of the unknown has caused mass hysteria and panic.
In an attempt to provide a semblance of safety and control, military personnel patrol the streets, even here in Lethford City, and the police force is trying to keep up with the rising street violence, assault, and theft.
Welcome to OUTBREAK: zero. Will you survive?
HAYANA
SITE OWNER + HEAD ADMINISTRATOR
Hi! I'm Haya. I'm pretty much your girl for everything! If you have any questions regarding our plot, membergroups, etc. don't hesitate to ask me. I'm also in charge of coding, graphics, anything skin related, and advertising/affiliates.
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ADDI
ADMINISTRATOR
Hey! I'm Addi. Hit me up if you need help with anything. I'm always for plotting so don't be shy. I like coffee, booze, and working out. I'm back from a long hiatus the dead so if you need anything, best ask the others until I get back into the groove of things!
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FINNLEY
GLOBAL MODERATOR
Hi hello! My name is Finnley, or Finn, call whichever and I'll be there for you (yes like the FRIENDS theme song). I am in charge of the claims and helping with miscellaneous things. Let me know if you have any questions!
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OPEN MODERATOR POSITION
outbreak
/ˈaʊtbreɪk/ zero /ˈzɪərəʊ/
a sudden occurrence of something unwelcome, such as war or disease. number, no quantity or number; nought; the figure 0.
Jax wasn't normally a nervous guy. There wasn't much in this world that could rattle him. He had always been that way, even when he was kid. It hadn't been a particularly nice trait in school, he had always been bored while his classmates were keyed up, which caused him to act out. In his profession, however, it was a necessary skill. There was no room for nervousness when it came to holding someone's life in your hands. When it came down to you holding crosshairs on someone with only your coolness under pressure to keep things in check.
Sitting on top of the cold, plastic hospital bed, he couldn’t deny that he was as nervous as he had ever been in his entire life. His hands were fidgeting with his phone and then when it was clear that there wasn't anything on there that could take his mind off of where he was, he grabbed the nearest item on the counter near him. Jax tossed the model replica of a heart up and down in the air, catching it and tossing it up again. This needed to go well. This had to go well.
He had been tested months ago and told that he had traces of the virus detected in him, despite never having been sick or having any symptoms. That one letter had gotten him kicked off the forced and singlehandedly had thrown his entire life in a tailspin. His commander had said he'd be re-tested, and that it could have been a mistake, so here he was. Sitting on a bed in the restricted section of the hospital, waiting for his blood to be re-drawn and tested.
His feet tapped nervously as he tossed the plastic parts. Up and down and up and down again. He didn't glance at the clock on the wall. It didn't matter. The hospital was swamped daily, he knew it was going to be a long day. Even if it did go quickly, there wasn't much that he could do outside these walls anyway.
The hospital was in a state of barely controlled chaos, but that had come to be more or less the usual over the past few months, and by now, Lucy was well used to it; so used to it, in fact, that it didn't even inspire in her the sentiments of vague frustration which she had spent much of the initial few weeks in trying to control. She had risen to her present position by demonstrating not only her medical capabilities, which she didn't think she was being arrogant in judging as being considerable, but also her management skills, and she had, during the years which she had spent working in this hospital, taken great pride in being able to keep the emergency room running as smoothly as it was possible for any such department to function; naturally it wasn't perfect, because that was the very nature of the work that they did, but she'd always been determined that it was going to be as close as she could make it.
Still, as she had always maintained, there was no point in complaining or in wishing for things that you couldn't have; you had to work with what you did have and make the best of it that you could.
Even with such a philosophy, though, it was a frustrating time to be working. All that she could really afford to do was firefighting; rushing around from one patient to the next, giving them the best that she could, keeping them from slipping over the edge into the dark abyss, and then moving onto the next. It was not the job that she had trained for, but she did what she had to do in order to preserve lives wherever possible. When it wasn't possible... well, those were the cases that were keeping her up at night, on the rare occasions that she wasn't up anyway.
Possibly the last thing that she needed was to be taking blood samples, a job which she would normally leave to a nurse in any case, but these were strange times and they all had to do what they could. Pushing back the curtain, the blonde offered a nod to the man waiting on the other side. "Mr Etter?" she asked, her voice muffled by mask and visor.
Up and down. Up and down. The model heart falling and rinsing in sync as he juggled the little part. His mind went to Arlo, a place where he was finding he kept returning to more and more often. His entire world seemed to hinge on this appointment going well. He could go back to the force. He could begin to see where he and Arlo's relationship could go. He could actually leave his apartment and grab a coffee in the park. A million little things that he had taken for granted before he had been mandatorily quarantined like a rabid animal.
Jax tossed the heart into the air, misjudging the angle and had to lean back farther than he could, trying to grasp it. The model hit his outreached fingertips and fell behind the bed where Jax was sitting, the sound of pieces scattering filling up the room. Jax made an oops face as he tried to lean back to see the damage. Before he could check it out though, the door opened and a blonde woman came in, asking his name. He cleared his throat, sitting up before nodding, "Yep. That's me." He sat up and nervously tapped his fingers on the table as he waited. He had done this before, but never with this level of importance on the line.
The last time he had gotten the test done he had been eating a slice of pizza and shooting rubber bands at one of his buddies across the room. Now he felt like his entire being was a bundle of nerves just waiting to get this over with. "So when will I hear back from this? I know you guys are busy but it's for the Lethford PD so I wasn't sure if they fast-tracked those or something." He rolled up his sleeves as he waited, his feet tapping nervously now that his hands had something to do. He didn't look up as he continued speaking, his nerves causing the words to keep coming out of his mouth, "Have you had a lot of these cases? I mean, are mistakes common? Not that you guys mess up a lot, but.." He sighed, trying to give a relaxed smile that he was sure looked nothing of the sort, "I'm kind of hoping it was a screw up if I'm being honest with you."
He wished Arlo was here. She had a way of calming him down, of making chaotic things like this manageable. If it was an active shooter he had no problem. Hostages? Day in the park. Small talk with someone about being possibly a walking contagion factory? He'd rather die thanks.
Lucy nodded briskly, closing the curtain behind her and crossing the cubicle to the set of drawers which stood at the side of the bed. "Pleasure." It wasn't, not really; usually, she tried to give every patient the time necessary to ensure that they felt she was actually paying attention to them and not simply rushing through one after another, working her way to the end of the list in the shortest possible time- but these days, she didn't have the time necessary to do that sort of thing. It wasn't a question of working her way to the end of the list, because there seemed to be no end in sight other than the end of the shift, and even that was a moving value more often than not. It was just a question of staying on top of things, not letting the pot boil over, trying to keep her whole department from tipping over the edge of that cliff from which there was no way back. Get any further behind, she knew, and they might not catch up the difference in time to... well, she didn't know what, but there was no question that many lives would hang in the balance.
"Sorry, no idea. Depends on the lab." Certainly, Lucy didn't have the time to spend peering down a microscope, looking for the tell-tale little blobs... or whatever they were; it had been a long time indeed since she'd covered that sort of content, and the microscopes were probably completely different these days in any case. You probably didn't have to look down them, you just slotted in the slide and the thing beeped or flashed or sent you a bloody email to tell you the results. Her hands were busy as she spoke, tugging open the top drawer and extracting the few things necessary for the procedure she was going to undertake. "Mistakes are as common as they are anywhere where too few people are trying to do too much work in too little time... But if you're with the police, you'll know all about that." This system was a long way from being perfect, and Lucy wasn't about to pretend otherwise. They did the best that they could under the circumstances, but that would never be enough.
"You've had this done before, of course. Same process. Roll your sleeve up, please. You right handed?"
Jax was thankful that she either hadn't noticed or hadn't cared that the replica of a human body in the corner was missing the heart piece. And that the said piece was more than likely shattered into a few hundred other little pieces. He dryly thought it was a fitting metaphor for his current life situation.
No, she was all business as she walked into the room and he found himself sitting up a little straighter. He knew the type. The kind of person who instantly controlled a room when they walked in. All order and all business with zero room for non-sense. He was in many ways the opposite of that. At least when it came to the everyday kind of stuff. He was the worst about pushing his commander's patience and rules. When it was time to take a shot though, he tended to get in that same frame of mind. That sweet spot where he shut everything out and focused only on doing his job.
He tried to hide the disappointment as she told him she had no idea about when he could be getting results. Jax ran a hand through his hair and only nodded in response. More waiting most likely. Waiting with time that could quite literally be life and death when it came to Arlo. He tried pushing all of those thoughts out the window and instead focus on the task he needed to do.
His mood soured even more however when she couldn't give him an answer on the probability of it being a mistake or not. He knew it wasn't her job to know that, nor was it something she should have even cared about, but his mood was quickly plummeting and he let the words slip before he could catch himself, "Great. Another test and no answers in sight. Awesome." The sarcasm and annoyance was clear in his voice as he did what she asked and rolled his sleeves up.
She asked whether he was right handed and he nodded, "Yep, right handed." He waited for her to give him further orders and while he did, he focused his attention to her. Her badge said ER despite her being in the quarantined rooms and he nodded in reference to it, "Did you pull the short-straw today or something?"
Taking out a sterile package containing a syringe and another containing a needle, she set the two of them down at her patient's elbow and turned away briefly to pull on a new pair of latex gloves. Already, the box was verging on needing replacement, but Lucy didn't doubt that the stocks in storage were low enough to warrant fresh deliveries- which wouldn't be a problem in normal times, but at the moment, she knew from bitter experience that it would take hours of wrangling on the phone to someone or other before even the vague promise of a new supply could be extracted, and with how things were, she didn't have that amount of time to spend on anything at all, much less something that wasn't directly concerned with patient care.
Of course, it wasn't her job to begin with, but distinctions such as that had long since gone out of the window.
"Yes, well, join the club." There were few things that Lucy would have liked more than to get some answers. The questions were myriad and multiplying; she didn't particularly care what she got answers to- anything would be better than nothing, after all. How they'd got here was a good one; perhaps not nearly so important as what the hell they were heading towards, she would grant, but... any port in a storm. "This is how a system works, Mr Etter. I do my bit, other people do theirs, they don't interfere with me and I don't interfere with them, which is why I'm taking this blood and the lab techs will be analysing it. Doesn't work so well the other way round." Taking the man's wrist, she manoeuvred his arm into a properly extended position, fastened the tourniquet around his upper arm, spent a moment in checking her work, and then went back to the workstation, tearing open the sterile packaging.
"Every day," she murmured wryly as she fitted the needle to the syringe. "Privilege of rank." Those at the top of any metaphorical totem pole had in common with those at the bottom the fact that any task which could not be fitted neatly into the job descriptions of those in between would most likely fall into their laps.
Jax watched as she got out all of the pointy things that she'd be needing for his little visit. He didn't particularly care. He didn't mind being poked and prodded with needles. In fact, it was almost a shock that he hadn't ended up with a few tattoos by now. He did, however, wish that he was back at the station with his SWAT buddies for this. He would have paid money to see Williams get his blood drawn again. He and the entire floor of SWAT had a field day making fun of the poor needle-fearing guy.
Jax was relieved when she didn't get offended by what he said and instead made a quip about it. The edges of his mouth pulling up at the corners. "Point taken. I didn't mean to sound like an ass. I appreciate you guys taking the time to do this all over again." He took in a steadying breath, running his hands through his hair before his eyes moved to the clock. Focusing on anything that wasn't meeting another person's gaze.
"It's been a stressful few weeks. I have a roommate and out of the blue I got hit with a letter saying I may have endangered her life." He shook his head, forcing himself to return to the here and now. The woman had probably heard enough sob stories to write a book. He was sure his wasn't anything she hadn't heard before. People were dying every day. At the end of it all, he wasn't any more special than them.
She mentioned that her lack of luck was due to rank and Jax gave a small smile. "How long have you been here? In Lethford I mean." He had never had to deal much with the medical field so she could have been here for her entire life for all he knew. Work kept him busy but also since Emma had past he had fallen into a deep hole that mainly had consisted of himself and darkness. Then Arlo came in. Like a damn ray of sunshine, pulling him out of that dark hole and reminding him life was worth living again.
"Known her long?" Quite frankly, Lucy didn't particularly care; she had reached that stage of exhaustion at which the vast majority of her body's processes were operating entirely autonomously of her brain, and that apparently included the small talk function, for which she was profoundly thankful. Glancing down at her watch, she checked the seal between needle and syringe, pronounced herself satisfied and gently ran a finger along the course of the vein from which she intended to take the blood. "Must be good to have someone else to talk to. Stops you going insane." She hadn't shared a flat in a very long time; when she'd first arrived in the city, she had taken a flat on her own because she had known no one, with the vague intention of finding someone to occupy the other bedroom once she'd established herself in the place and had the chance to find someone whom she felt she might get along with, and, more importantly, who would be able to get along with her- but it had never happened, somehow, and she suspected that she was rather too old these days to start making those kinds of changes to her style of living.
Things were looking as good as they were going to get, and she didn't want to leave the tourniquet in place for too long; apart from the fact that it was generally contraindicated, there were plenty of other patients whom she could be seeing, and the sooner the better. But Lucy couldn't deny it was a relief to be doing something as routine and undemanding as a blood draw, even if the circumstances under which she was doing it were a long way from being normal. "You'll feel a sharp scratch," she murmured as she pushed the needle through the skin and into the vessel. Got it first time. Perhaps it was like riding a bicycle; something that you couldn't forget, even if you went years without having to do it.
"I've been here..." She pursed her lips as she thought, watching the syringe filling under her fingers. "Twenty years plus. Twenty five... thirty... I lose track." The days all seemed to blend together, somehow. "How about you, you a native?"
The question was a normal one, he supposed. But it was one that made him pause. He hadn't actually known Arlo for an incredible amount of time. At least nothing compared to Emma. He and Emma had known each other their whole lives and yet, in many ways, he had never felt what he now had with Arlo. "Actually, only about seven months. We work together. She's in dispatch, I'm on SWAT. But have you ever met someone who just kind of…made you whole?" He knew he should probably stop talking, but Jax had never been the kind of guy who was good with personal boundaries and keeping things to himself. "Like meeting this other part of you that you didn't know was even missing…you know?"
He looked over at her, a little curious to see her reaction. She didn’t have a ring on her finger but she was also working in the medical field. He knew plenty of married cops, doctors, and EMTs that were married but never wore their ring on the job. Especially in fields that were prone to get particularly messy or violent. It just wasn't always practical to wear it.
He gave a small chuckle when she mentioned someone to talk to. "That it does. It's nice having someone who gets it. What about you? You guys should have your own bar with how crazy everyone's having to work. Maybe a little speakeasy behind some surgery wing or something?" He grinned. There used to be a cop-centric bar that consisted mostly of those in the PD department or surrounding profession. The virus closed it down along with all of the others though. He had never thought to wonder if the medical field had something similar.
He nodded when she mentioned the needle prick and he made sure to sit as still as possible for her. He tilted his head up and angled it so he could see her face when she began talking. As she laughed away the too many years to count joke he nodded, "I can understand that. I've lived here most of my life." He thought in silence a moment before continuing the thought. "You know, I never thought this place would be ground zero for anything. Well, maybe drunk and disorderly bookings after a team loses, but nothing like this." It was still hard to fathom their little town being overrun with military, being looked at under a microscope with the eyes of the nation upon them.
Lucy paused in her work a moment. "Can't say I have. Never really been time." Love had never featured at the top of her personal priority list, to be honest; she knew that people fell in love all the time, and that was all well and good, part of the circle of life and all that- although perhaps if they did it a bit less often, they wouldn't have a problem with overpopulation, but that was another story and one which was well above her pay grade. Anyway, she'd never really felt as if she was missing out. Some had accused her of being married to her job, and she supposed that they were right at that in that although she frequently fell out with it, she just kept on going back because she had invested too much time and money to give it up.
Even if she tried, though, she could never deny that she still loved it; it was, she suspected, what she was destined to do, which was saying something considering that she didn't believe in destiny. Whether it was a perfect marriage, she couldn't say; she'd never experienced another one, but it was at least good enough for her, and since she was the only person being materially affected, that was probably all that mattered.
"We usually go to a place around the corner." At the end of a busy shift, you could scarcely see the bar for the number of doctors, nurses, and various associated members of staff clustered around it. Talking shop. It was one of the only ways that they had to destress, talking things through with each other, and it was a very valuable exercise; particularly in her own department, they saw some horrific things and went through some traumatic experiences, and it was a kind of informal group counselling section. Someone had suggested once that they might get the hospital to buy them all a few rounds on the strength of that fact, but she didn't think anything had ever come of it, to no one's surprise.
Ground Zero. Now that was a strange situation. Since all this had begun, she hadn't really had the time to stop and think, to categorise what was happening and try to put it into some sort of proportion. She wouldn't have such time for some months to come, at the least. "It's an odd time for everyone." Withdrawing the needle, Lucy tossed it into the clinical waste bin and held up the phial of blood to the light.
Jax nodded as she mentioned she had never had time to fall in love. He couldn't relate to that. Before he had even graduated high school he had been in love. Or at least, a kind of love that he had thought was an end-all and be-all love. He wouldn't say that he went around looking for it though, it just seemed to find him. He knew he was one of the lucky ones. "Sorry." And he meant it. He couldn’t imagine what that felt like. To not have someone waiting at home for him. He had gotten a taste of that for eight months and it had almost killed him.
He found himself nodding when the conversation turned to booze. He wasn't entirely sure which bar she was referring to, not that it mattered. Nothing was open anymore. No matter if she had invited him personally out for a drink, there wasn't any downtime for anyone and there surely wasn't anyone lounging casually in a bar throwing a few back. Sure there were a few underground places, but they rarely lasted a night. He had broken up two when he was still on the force. They popped up and got shut down just as quick.
"Yeah, you're not kidding." He replied to her mention of it being an odd time for everyone. She held up the vial of his blood and he smirked, "See any traces of a zombie mutation in there? I have a bet with my roomie." He and Arlo had joked a little about the virus turning everyone into zombies. Of course, that joke had turned a little sour when he had gotten the papers that he had tested positive for the thing.
Jax wondered how Arlo would react to him pretending to be a zombie in the middle of the night. He figured one of two things would happen. One, she would laugh into hysterics until she threw something at him and told him to stop being ridiculous or two, she would throw something at him for being an ass. He made a mental note to wait until he got the results before testing his theory. "Well, thanks for fitting me in. Maybe they'll get you out of these boring rounds quick?"
