EVENTS:

Curie raises an eyebrow, wiping the bile from her lips with the back of her hand.

Curie: "Unit will be plain: You will not gain my trust so easily. However, the group's current situation requires us to work together. If you will cooperate, I will not oppose your presence."


Peggy cackles a bit madly, slapping her knee then yelling in pain as the glass embedded in her hand cuts her thigh.

Peggy: "No, you idiot! Pfffhahahha. Had you never heard the tales, from the last war? It's the rain. The water, it makes you all confused, and vulnerable, and then that thing- It sucks your mind out! That's why, why it brings the storm with it. Hell, if the truck had turned over, or fallen into the water... We'd be dead! Not undead, not anymore! Just, raw flesh for the taking! Forever! Heeeeeheeehahahahaa...

Emilia, I think - Her brain's just, always open. Always listening. Why, I can't say why she hasn't gone mad! Bonkers! As crazy as I have! Hahaha!

...Oh God. We're okay. I, I can't get over it. I, we saw the end. The impossible. We, we... Hic. Sniffle. Hic-"

She begins crying, resting her head onto the steering wheel as her tears mix with the blood running from her eyes.

EVENTS:


Rosa checks the wreckage one final time. Nothing of use remains, but digging through the mutated, formless mass that covers the inner surfaces of the cockpit reveals a flight license, along with the faded-out photo of a rather striking, serious-looking blonde with a large french braid.

Must've been the pilot. She, was really pretty. Not so much now, though.

The sharkgirl then examines her newfound body parts. The jaw seems to not have changed much, only having acquired sharper teeth and a bit of grey sharkskin. The shoulder guns, though- well, they're certainly quite unique.
A sort of bony, vein-covered ball joint protrudes from the back of each shoulder, giving the oversized gun barrels quite a range of movement. Their report also seems a bit quieter, considering how most of the mechanism is now encased by Flesh.
It doesn't take much conscious effort to operate the guns - She just imagines aiming at someone, and it happens almost of its own accord. Flexing her neck causes the cartridge holders along her spine to detach, allowing more ammo to be inserted, and the empty shells are ejected by a series of bony tubes and vents, almost like long hollow spikes.



Klimt allows Malia to tend to his wounds. She seems extremely proficient at it, using a small spool of red thread to suture wounds that would otherwise require lots of Flesh to repair, and expertly manipulating the many surgical instruments in her first aid kit.

He then visits Peggy, trying to get the blonde to stop freaking out as he gently removes as much shrapnel from her body as possible.

Klimt: "Peggy! Hold it together, we will get out of that thing's radius, and everything will be okay! If it's having an effect on us, the meat demon is surely a larger target. If it detects that thing, there will be a fight, and I bet the pillar monster will win. Then we get as far away as possible. We can put one force of nature against another.

We slipped under its radar. We have mobility on our side, provided we can restore the truck. It doesn't... know about us.

Our mission doesn't end here! Not today!

Let's get you into a better condition..."

Peggy sniffles for a long time, shivering and clenching her teeth, but eventually seems to calm down.

Peggy: "...I know. I know... It's just, I gave up hope there. I really did. When I saw that thing, I- I didn't even want to TRY to escape, it was like I instantly knew it was the end.

Could it be - Its influence, maybe? I, I don't know. I don't know how we're still here. How you, are still with me. But I'm glad.

Also, careful with my eye, I think it's-"

Oh whoops you've pulled out her eye. Not that it was doing much good, with a long metal spike embedded into it. The hole quickly fills up with blood, and a new ocular globe reforms itself in no more than seconds. Most of her cuts have already closed, as well, leaving no visible scars.

Peggy: "...Hnnnnng. I love this body. So much.

Though, uh, now my coat is all ragged and drenched in blood. And it was so nice, too. Sigh."

She eventually steps out of the cabin to examine the state of the truck, as the night falls and the rain slowly dies down.

Peggy: "...Well. The engine SHOULD run, it wasn't damaged too badly. We're leaking coolant, though, so we might have to stop every dozen miles to refill. Oh, and the brakes are completely shot, so no more risky maneuvering for us. Rosa, you might want to like, walk beside us or swim in that ditch, because I don't think the suspension can bear your weight anymore, not without bottoming out."

EVENTS:

Peggy grimaces sadly, then begins walking toward the edge of the road.

Peggy: " Water. Seawater, if we need to. Engine is gonna hate it, but at least it's gonna run, for a while. Shouldn't be too hard to drop a bucket-"

She peers over the railing, then makes a surprised face.

Peggy: "...Yeah, okay. You, uh, might want to stay on the road, Rosa. We'll have to use our drinking water, or filter out some rain. I really hope this Rig you all wanna get to is not too far North."


Meanwhile, Eigla checks their remaining supplies amid the jostled mess that the cargo bay has become. There's still enough raincoats for everyone, with a couple spare. Polyethylene duct tape would be nigh impossible to come about without a proper chemical plant, but you have several rolls of rubber-impregnated cloth, probably used to repair tents and the engineer zombies' bodysuits.

EVENTS:

Rosa peers down at the water again. The drowned dead are still there, protected from the fury of the storm by the water above, though they're moving much slower and more sporadically, only spasming and twitching instead of reaching for the surface. Only a few tentacles remain exposed, moving shyly along the bottom.

Having found a simple oil lighter amid the survival tools, Eigla brings her loot to the cabin.
Peggy looks at the materials for a while, then scratches her chin.

Peggy: "...I mean, it can't hurt to try. Unless, we clog the whole system, that would be bad. But, it'd make us last a little while longer."

She crouches in front of the engine compartment, popping open the protective grille. There's a nasty crack at the base of the radiator, slowly seeping greenish antifreeze.

With Eigla's help, Peggy wipes away the thick crust of oil and rust stuck to the steel part, then fills the crack with waterproof material from the raincoat, covering it with several layers of rubberized cloth. Using an improvised torch, they melt the materials together to try and get them to stick, then wrap them up using more cloth.

After half-filling the radiator with drinking water, Peggy tries to start the engine. The patch inflates out under the pressure, making you all hold your breath, but thankfully does not leak.

Peggy: "Huh, that actually worked! I'll try not to push the engine too hard though, the heat might make the rubber peel out. Oh, and since there's no antifreeze, we'll have to empty out the system if we ever stop, or risk it bursting altogether. But hey, it's better than nothing.

You're a better handywoman than you're a driver, goo girl."