[ Steph doesn’t have a friendly smile for the camera today, but there’s friendliness in her voice to make up for it. Mostly she seems tired. ]

Heya, Norfinbury. Steph here.

I’ve got a map, a survey, and a suggestion. I know a lot of you are new since the last time I posted this survey. The results are in the attached post, which I keep updated when I learn new things. The map’s on the same page, linked up at the top. I’d appreciate any contributions. We’ve got most of the place mapped out by now.

One thing we don’t have yet is a home base. We need to set one up, near the supply points and, uh… revival points? Where people wake up after they’ve, you know, died, or whatever? [ She’s still unsure about that, whether people are actually dying, whether it’s something that she ought to be mentioning so casually. But it’s also a fair point. ]

I don’t think it’s possible to spend the night in any of those places, so we need a house nearby. And we have no way of knowing that supply caches of our own won’t be messed with, so we’ll need to have at least one person watching over it at any given time, preferably two. We’ve talked about it, but nobody’s made a decision that I know of. I suggest the building we’ve labelled 99, the first house directly south of the eastern-more convenience store. There’s running water in the gas station to the south, and the chapel is just past the pond to the east. 98 is good too, and I’ve been there. It’s just a bit to the west.

I’m still looking for my friend Alvin, so I’m far to the west, but unless anyone has a problem with it I’m going to declare 99 our home base, with 98 as a backup. If you can, please head in that direction. We can set up supply caches, start hording blankets and things, and come up with a long term plan. Anyone still feeling paranoid: We maximize our chances of survival if we stick together.

That’s my contribution for the day. Here’s the survey.

[ Text ]

Name:
Age:
Place of origin:
Place of kidnapping:
Year of kidnapping:
Occupation:

[ Attached: Infodump.doc ]

afternoon - video

[The camera comes on to the dim interior of the abandoned school, focused on a nearby spot on the floor. There's nothing there, but there's plenty of other things to notice. Primarily, the heavy distortion of the film itself; it's stretched almost to the point that it's unrecognizable and frequently flickers in and out of focus. At the points where things seem to align and the video is reasonably coherent, Clayton's panicked, gasping breaths come through in the background. It sounds like he's trying to calm down. He's not doing a good job of calming down.]

[The tablet is given a firm shake, as if attempting to resolve the apparent camera abnormalities, then Clayton gives up and shuts it off.]

afternoon - text

[Thankfully, Clayton doesn't let this video stand alone for too long after he posts it.]

Sorry about that--thought I saw something. The air isn't right here.

[And that's putting it lightly. A hallucination that vivid and alarming isn't something Clayton can brush off so easily, especially after experiencing something similar the day before in the school's kitchens. It's recurring. That's a problem.]

[He would think it's a personal problem, if Enoch wasn't experiencing the same sorts of things.]

Who else has been to the school? What have you seen or heard while there that you would consider "abnormal," if anything?

slightly before lockdown - video

[It's much later in the day when Clayton turns on the camera again, and in significantly more dire circumstances. The video is trained on his face this time--he looks flushed and exhausted, like he just ran a marathon, and he's only now letting himself relax and slide the rest of the way down the wall of the sports shed. Other feet and voices murmur and shuffle in the background as three other people position themselves in the tight quarters. Clayton's eyes flicker to them with a look of immense relief.]

[There's a loud thump at the door, followed by distinctive scratching noises. Clayton's expression sobers.]

Alright... [Pant, pant. He quickly swipes a hand over his brow.] ...I got good news and I got bad news.

Bad news is, we ain't lost them shadows yet. [There's another round of clawing at the shed's door to verify this.] If any a y'all 're in the school, run. Don't you come to the shed t' the west. It ain't safe out there. Pack up what yer doin' an' head north 'r south. You ain't got much time.

[He lets that hang in the air for a few moments.]

...Good news! [Clayton chuckles giddily and his mouth twitches into a tired smile.] They ain't that smart. Enoch 'n I just gave one the runaround outside. If you get one of ya to lead 'em, the other can head in an' get the door--trick 'em 'fore they know what's happenin'.

Anybody else runnin' into these things out there? If they're gettin' bolder, we oughta start travelin' 'n pairs. Safer that way.

[He pauses again to finish catching his breath and adds a couple more airy laughs for good measure. The monster continues thumping against the door. Clayton is clearly too relieved to notice.]

Y'all be careful out there. Keep in touch.

[And the feed ends.]

[Until now, Clementine has mostly kept to text. Not necessarily for speed, since she stopped going to school at age 8 and isn't the best typer (though not bad for her age), but more for hiding the fact that she's an 11 year old girl. People don't usually take kids seriously, which can have its advantages - but not so much here.

In any case, now she feels like she'll do better to show what she needs to, and to explain it properly.]

Please listen, okay? I think... this might be important. I found something. Me and Lea - we were exploring in the tunnels, south of that giant wall. We found this door in the snow, but it's locked. It needs a key card, look -

[The video pans to the door of building 131, which does indeed need a key card to enter. There's a lot of ice and snow around it.] I'm gonna head back out the tunnels... I don't have much food left. Lea isn't with me anymore, he's - gone.

[He's dead; she knows that, and the despondent way she said that probably says as much. She's lost people, here in Norfinbury and many, many more back home. It's just something you have to live with. But it's still not something she likes admitting. At least she knows the threat of walkers here seems low.]

I thought it was important to let people know. Especially if someone out there found a card that could fit. I could show you where to go if you want.

Characters: Stiles and Draco, Stiles and Klaus
Location G3 (21), somewhere between H3 and I3
Date: evening of day 19, morning of day 20
Summary: Stiles thought day 19 was bad. Day 20 gets worse.
Warnings: Boys not getting along, probably.

( The wizard, the vampire and the werewolf-friend walk into a bar... )

[ when Draco's voice comes over the network, it's clear that he's doing his best to keep his emotions reined in; there's a waver to his tone, a sort of high pitchiness that suggests he's more than a little on edge here. And really, why shouldn't he be? But if he was ever anywhere near tears in this place, he's not going to admit it to people. Especially not people he doesn't know. ]

Will someone tell me what in the hell is going on here?

[ Draco's never been that good with things he doesn't understand. It's why it's taken him something like three days before he's actually bothered to take to the tablet and the network. That and the weird goings-on this last little while.

[ He doesn't know where he is, and he doesn't know why he's here, and he's getting the gist that neither does anyone else, but they're all helping each other. And that means someone's got answers, if nothing else. He's got little to no motivation to really get to know any of them, or to help any of them in return, but if they can even give a little insight...

[ He's slowly but surely been poking around, searching things and trying to find some clue, but 2x4s and red pens don't give him much to go off of. Draco's about ready to tear his hair out. He's never really been that good at not having answers. ]