"Read A Book" ("The Day After Tomorrow" meets "I Am Legend")

[PennySaver]

"Read A Book" ("The Day After Tomorrow" meets "I Am Legend")

"Read A Book"

A role play inspired by 2 movies:
"The Day After Tomorrow"
and
"I Am Legend"

NOTE:
If you are interested in joining,
PM me first, please.​

Day 3

Penny Jackson couldn't believe just how quickly the world had gone to shit.

One day, they were telling the world that cancer had been cured. A vaccine made from a genetically reengineered measles virus had proven to be both highly safe and highly effective against most types of cancer. It had gone through years of testing before it was released worldwide in the most vast immunization event since the COVID Delta Virus treatments of 2024.

Then came the Darkseekers.

Some people called them vampires because they were creatures of the night who -- like many Hollywood blood drinkers -- were so very pale in complexion as to almost be called albinos.

Others thought of them more as rabid cannibals because they did far more than simply run around sucking blood. They chased down the healthy, ripped into their necks with their teeth, then ate every last bit of the dead, including their bones.

That first night and -- in some neighborhoods -- many nights to follow, people could be heard screaming in horror and anguish as they were torn to pieces and eaten, sometimes while not quite dead yet. In the light of day, though, the creatures who would quickly come to called Darkseekers disappeared. The brave survivors often ventured out, looking for food, water, weapons, better places to hide, or the Authorities, who it was thought would somehow eventually save anyone left alive.

Penny hadn't gone outside even once during what could only be called an apocalypse. She was -- or had been maybe -- the Senior Assistant Librarian at the New York Library on 5th Avenue in Manhattan and had been working the evening shift when all this shit began. The Mayor had ordered all non-essential public buildings closed and shuttered, and while most of the staff left to get to their homes and families, the perpetually single and recently orphaned 26 year old Penny had decided that the library building was the safest place in which she could ride out this mess.

She had initially thought that she and two of the Security Guards -- Robert and Katie -- were the only one left in the building when the last security door went shut. She would soon realize that there had been half a dozen stowaways hiding about the library.

Over the days to come, Robert had left to find his family, with which he'd lost contact. Now, at sunrise on Day 3, the population within the Library was 7:

• Penny Greer, 26: Librarian
• Katie Thomas, 24: Security Guard
• Julia Chavez, 34: Unhoused, former healthcare worker
• Christian Chavez, 8: Julia's son.
• Maria Rodriguez, 18: High School Student
• Richard "Ricky" Robinson, 20: Unhoused; juvenile delinquent who is turning over a new leaf?
• (A male yet to be named)

 

[PennySaver]

Introducing Maria Rodriguez

Maria Rodriguez
18 years of age
5'6", petite
Brunette hair reaches her waist
Dark brown eyes


Day 1

Maria hadn't had anywhere to go when the intercom announced that the library was closing. The guy she'd been living with had dumped her just this morning because she wouldn't do the freaky shit he wanted from her in bed, and she couldn't return to her home because her mother's live-in boyfriend had tried to join Maria in the shower, not just once but twice. The latter event had resulted in her kneeing the asshole so hard in his exposed groin that he'd wound up in the Emergency Room with a ruptured testicle.

She knew that the library's more public areas -- including, of course, the bathrooms -- typically remained open 24/7, except for certain holidays. There were always a lot of students desperate for the establishment's resources; there were also a number of homeless people -- Unhoused was the new politically correct term -- who used the library to get out of the elements and get away from the dangers of the streets. The library's policy regarding the Unhoused was that they were welcome to stay here overnight so long as they were quiet, respectful, sober, and not obviously sleeping in the more public areas.

Tonight, though, Security tried to empty the whole place out, as directed by the Mayor's statement. That didn't go over well, though, with a pair of homeless, a woman and a man. They each pitched their own individual fits that seemed so obviously destined for either violence or arrest that the night time librarian decided they could stay.

It turned out that the Unhoused woman -- her name was Julia Chavez -- had her equally homeless 8 year old son with her. Surprised as she was, the Librarian didn't seem to be too concerned with it all. Once the building was shut up and the security barriers put in place, this woman -- her name was Penny -- got on the intercom and invited anyone and everyone who might still be in the library to come to the employee break room in the basement for a meal and discussion about what they were going to do next.

In addition to the fit-pitching homeless guy, another man who'd stayed behind emerged from the shadows of the Stacks. He joined the others for a potluck dinner of sorts: Penny cleaned out the fridge, feeding the group a dinner of leftovers from the cupboards and workers' fridge, supplementing it from items purchased from the vending machines.

No one really knew what to expect of what was happening outside beyond the library. The news was filled with these real life horror stories of people attacking other people in the most awful, animalistic ways. Most of the library occupants didn't believe what they were hearing at first, but then they turned on the television. It was still daylight here in New York City, so the news feed videos were live from other places in the now darkened world: seemingly rabid maniacs running around the city streets, tackling other people, biting into them! It was simply unbelievable.

Maria checked the time and, realizing it was nearly sundown, went to the second floor windows for a first hand look. She had to use a chair to climb up onto a book shelf high enough to see the street below. It didn't really look much different than the Big Apple at rush hour: cars were bumper to bumper, pedestrians rushed about.

But Maria could sense an extra feeling of hurry in both those on their feet or behind the wheel. Many people walked quickly this way and that, but many were jogging or flat out running. And as she watched, Maria saw several cars bump other cars as they fought to get through the deadlocked traffic, and no one was jumping out to engage in road rage, instead just honking their horns and pushing through.

Then, the shadows of the end of the day began to deepen and darken, and suddenly -- as if someone had opened a gate -- the creatures they were calling Darkseekers came rushing out of the doors and windows of buildings up and down 5th Avenue. Maria had been joined by some of the equally curious others, and together they watched the mayhem in horror.

Men, women, and children ran in every direction from the Darkseekers. Men, women, and children were taken down and killed by the monsters. And once the survivors of the attack had vacated the area, all that remained behind were dozens, no, hundreds of Darkseekers down on their hands and knees eating those they had killed.


Day 3

Maria hadn't been able to take any more of what she'd been seeing and had fled from the windows. She hadn't return to them in two days. She'd heard the others talking about what was happening outside, though. Yesterday morning, when the sun rose, the streets were vacant of both the living and the dead. The Darkseekers had eaten their kills, right down to most of the bones as well. With the exception of darkened places of dirtied blood and shredded clothes, there was no sign of anything that had taken place during the night.

The streets came alive again as the sun rose and people tried to flee the city. But as dark fell again last night, the horror returned. And, according to the others, this morning was a repeat of the previous morning, with new darkened spots on the sidewalks and streets but no other signs of people or monsters to be seen.

 

[KyleReevis]

Richard "Ricky" Robinson -- pic
20 years old
5'10", skinny

Day Three:

Ricky would have been called one of the Unhoused. To him, the word was just homeless. He didn't care one lick about political correctness. He only cared about having food in his belly and a warm, dry place for his bedroll.

He'd been on the streets most of his life. Physically and emotionally abused, he'd left home at just 12. He spent a few months in foster care a few times. He'd spent almost a year in Juvie after stabbing and robbing a drug dealer.

Most of the time, though, he'd been squatting in abandoned buildings all about the boroughs of New York City. About a month ago, he'd pawned a stolen mountain bike and gold watch. That had gotten him enough money to keep fed at least. Being homeless and unemployed, he'd been able to get a free transit pass through some aid agency. He divided his time between riding the subways and hanging out in the library.

He was in the Main Branch when this shit shot began. A male security guard had tried to thrown him out. But some lady librarian told him he could stay. Another security guard, a chick, had told him "Be good, be nice, and we'll do the same for you."

Since then, Ricky had done more than that. The security guard, Katie, had come to him yesterday: "If you wanna stay, you hav'ta work."

Ricky was fine with that. He wasn't a lazy bum. He was just homeless. Together, they checked every room for anything of use. They found some emergency blankets for warmth at night. They moved all of the couches to the Hearth Room, which had an abandoned but workable fire place. The power had gone out the second night and it was getting cold.

They collected first aid kits, coats and such from Lost and Found, and raided all of the vending machines. The entirety of the first and second day were spent collecting resources.

The nights, though, were spent being silent and still. A radio report had said that the things called Darkseekers were attracted by sound and movement. They only came out at night. So the work ended before sundown.

There wasn't anything to do. They were in a library. So Katie had told Ricky, "Read a book."

And he had. Still was, actually, as the sun set the third day. He was almost done with "Foundation and Empire, the first book of an Isaac Asimov trilogy. It was fucking hard to read. First, Ricky had about an 8th grade reading level. Second, Asimov had had an amazing vocabulary.

To get through the book, Ricky had a big heavy copy of the American Heritage Dictionary sitting next to him. He learned words he'd never imagined existed. Katie was becoming a friend. He went to her, put his fisted hands on his hips, and said, "What's this?"

She'd only shrugged. Ricky spoke one of his new Asimov-deployed words, "Akimbo. To stand with hands on hips, elbows extending outward. Akimbo. Who the fuck thought that needed a name?"

 

[PennySaver]

Katie Thomas, Security Guard
24 years of age
5'8", average fit body with A-cups
Brunette hair to midback, typically in a pony tail
Dark brown eyes

Day 1[/i]

Katie had wanted nothing more than to leave the library and go home when word came down that the building was being closed for some sort of new plague. She'd lived through COVID-19 and then the Delta Variant follow up, and she had no interest whatsoever of being out in public when this new disease reached New York City.

Of course, Katie couldn't know that it was already here and was just hiding in the shadows, its victims -- the so called Darkseekers -- just waiting for nightfall to explode onto the scene. The Security Office had a police scanner, and when she'd come to work the night before, she and the other Officer on shift had sat there off and on and listened to reports of strange attacks happening inside dark places, such as basements, the subway, and the City's underground tunnels.

It had all sounded like an H. G. Wells radio story to them, and neither of them had believed a world of it. They kept waiting for someone to come on the air laughing and telling everyone it was just a fictional drama.

But then, the Mayor shut down the city and told everyone to return to their homes. Katie had been on her way to work and had very nearly turned back. But this job with the City was the best thing that had ever happened to her, with twice the pay of her previous retail job and one of the best government benefit packages available. She wasn't going to screw that up by not showing up for work.

She and Robert had set about clearing the library of patrons and locking down not just the normal doors but -- where available -- the heavier duty security barriers that had been installed in the decade after 9-11. They found some stragglers and were going to eject them, too, but the most senior staff member still in the building had pulled rank and said the 5 civilians could remain.

When dark fell, the world outside became the most horrible of horror stories for Katie. She'd never in her life personally experienced a violent crime, but what she saw through the 2nd floor windows was just unbelievable. She'd dropped from the top of the bookcase back down to the floor at one -- after seeing a child lifted off her feet to have its neck ripped out by a Darkseeker's teeth -- and fell to her hand and knees to vomit violently into a thankfully nearby garbage can.


Day 2

She'd only finally fallen asleep around 6am, and that was only because there were no more people on the street being attacked and killed in such a tragic manner. The others had known she was up all that time, wandering the halls looking for danger, so they'd let her sleep in until almost noon.

When she donned her boots again and went out to find the others, Katie learned that her Security Officer partner had fled the library and headed for his home in Jersey City. She didn't blame Robert, of course; he had a wife and children and during the night he'd lost contact with them.

"You can take off, too, Katie," Penny had told her. "You're under no obligation to remain here. We might even try to get out of here at some point, too."

But Katie had told the librarian no: "The security of the library and its patrons is my duty. I'll stay here until the Mayor or the Chief of Security dismisses me."

Neither of them could know that both of those men had already perished.

Katie befriended one of the patrons, a slightly younger man named Ricky. Together, they set about making the Hearth Room more comfortable for the group. There were now enough couches to serve as single beds for each of the 7 occupants of the library. They gathered food, drinks and water, blankets -- they needed more -- and clothing, as well as first aid kits, fire extinguishers, and other safety items.

The power had gone off, and as dark fell the second night, books from the Law Library were sacrificed as fuel for the fire place to ward off the night time outside temperature, which was expected to drop to the high 30s.

The noise outside returned as yet more survivors of the previous day got caught outside or were in buildings that were invaded by the Darkseekers. Someone volunteered their iPhone and a set of small Bluetooth speakers were air connected, and music was played through the night to drown out the screams beyond the library's walls.

Day 3

"So, here's where we're at," Katie began after Penny had asked her to perform an inventory of their resources. "If we are careful with the food we gathered from the break rooms, the vending machines, and other sources, we have enough food if rationed to keep fed for maybe three days. After that, we're gonna get hungry.

"We have plenty of batteries for flashlights and the like, but as we have learned, the Darkseekers like the night, and they can hear us and, if the radio reports are right, they can hear us moving about. My solution for that is a ban on any activity between sundown and sunrise in any room that has an outside wall or sky lights."

She laid out four floor maps from the Security Office that had already been marked appropriately. "The areas in green are safe for night time activity. There's a problem, of course, and that is that this room, the Hearth Room, isn't in the green area. However, I recommend that we find a way to block the windows and skylights because this is the only room in which we can build a fire."

"Will the fire attract those things?" someone asked.

Katie shrugged her shoulders, saying, "We don't know."

There was almost another hour of discussion before they'd finally decided to risk staying in the Hearth Room. It was also decided that every window and skylight would be blocked by poster board or paper or whatever worked, just as soon as they figured out how to get up to the highest of windows and the ceiling skylights.

They settled in for a third night, hearing far less activity outside than they had before.

 

[PennySaver]

OOC: We were all set to enjoy this role play, but then -- in PM -- we got to talking about other movies that would make great role plays. To make a long story short, we are abandoning this thread and starting a new one based on the TNT post-apocalyptic television series, The Last Ship. I'll get it started tomorrow.