First Spark

The bell sounded and woke George from his thoughts, the scant notes he was taking nowhere near his usual volume. He gathered his things with his teacher, Mrs. Humphrey, watching him like she was concerned but unable to ask him about it before he slid out the door. If he was going to be honest with himself he hated this part of the day. His next class was on the other side of the school and, while it wasn't that large of a campus, due to how packed the halls were he'd be lucky if he got there more than 5 seconds before the bell rang. Thankfully it was just gym or he'd probably have been tardy often enough to get detention. Plus Coach Morris liked him and that very much swung things in his favor.

He rounded the corner before the longest stretch to see a circle forming in the hall, as though a bubble was expanding outwards, and practically forcing his path directly against the wall like a cheese grater unless he wanted to push people out of the way. It didn't take him long to realize what happened when the phones started popping out and the jostling started rocking the line. Two idiots were fighting in the hallway. Wonderful. Just what he needed. He hoped Coach would understand.

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"Aww what's wrong pussy?" Randy tossed out, his opponent swaying on his feet with blood beginning to leak down his chin, "I thought you said you could take me? You were definitely talking big earlier."

The lanky boy spat on the floor and snarled, "Shut your trap. One lucky blow won't do me in."

The two boys circled each other, each looking for an opening as the circle undulated around them. A sea of faces, bodies, and phones all crammed against each other just waiting for more blood. Truly, nature's worst animal. Randy dodged a hook and returned with a jab, the knife in his pocket bouncing against his thigh as he did so. He had to push aside the thought to just cut his opponent. If they found out he had a weapon, they'd do worse than just suspend him if they caught him fighting again.

As the two bobbed and weaved, getting in the odd shot here and there, someone yelled "Admin!" and the crowd began to move, attempting to not be caught. The two boys, realizing their odds of getting out were slim, agreed to pick it up later and slid back into the crowd. They'd meet up after school to settle this once and for all. It was about a minute later that Randy remembered he was supposed to do something after school, picked his former opponent out of the crowd, made his way over to him, elbowed him in the face, whacked his head against a locker, and let him be trampled by the tide of students as he went to his next class, arriving just after the bell rang with few obvious signs that he was just in a fight.

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Abe absolutely despised round robin reading time. They are seniors and not too far off from graduating, so why did Ms. Bercowitz insist on doing it? It felt like half of these people could barely read at a 5th grade level, let alone any of the required reading she'd assigned them. He'd been doodling in his notebook this whole time with a bookmark on the section he'd be reading once it got to him, if it got to him before the bell rang that is. He'd be better off sleeping than listening to this.

"It. Was. Then. That. He." The voice of one of the slowest readers in the class broke through his thoughts and a soft groan of frustration escaped his mouth before he could stop it, causing a few kids to glance at him then go back to whatever it was they were doing. This was excruciating. He was so unbelievably bored and listening to this was slowly driving him mad. His only saving grace was that if it happened today then it wasn't happening tomorrow. The doodles in his notebook were almost filling the whole page at this point.

After what felt like an eternity, it finally reached him. Just as the bell rang. With a groan of pure, undignified relief at no longer needing to sit here listening to 16 barely literates sound out multi-syllable words for 30 minutes he stood up, gathered his things, and left for his next class. His hopes rose as he neared his trigonometry class and saw Marie round the corner. The two waved to each other and filed into the classroom with the other kids.

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Jesse didn't know why he even bothered to show up for this class. The teacher was taking attendance and, as usual, no one seemed to even notice except the few overachievers in the classroom.

"Morrison." "Here!"

"Olivine." "Here."

"Pierce." "Present."

"Quincy." "Here."

"Ramone." "Yep." Jesse instantly realized his mistake as the beady eyes of his teacher zeroed in on him.

"Young man," Mr. Henle started, "the only correct ways to respond to your name being called are 'here' and 'present'. If you respond to my role call again as flippantly as you did just now, I will mark you as absent. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Steele." "Here."

Jesse hated Mr. Henle. He was a hard ass for no reason. Calling out the wrong word in role call was treated the same as eating in class or letting off a fire cracker or getting into a fight with another student. The pure white walls, exposed ventilation, gray tile, and caged windows made the teacher feel more like a warden than anything else. This tired and well-run thought once again paced through Jesse's mind purely to keep him from zoning out and attaining a oneness only known to the masters in their monasteries which would serve to make him not notice when he was called on by Jailer Henle. Once was enough, he did not need to be reprimanded again in this classroom today. All that would happen was a one way trip straight to ISS and he had things to do today.

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"And so now we take the square root of the..."

Morgan tuned out her teacher, more focused on the geometric shapes she's doodling in the margins of her paper. Why did math class have to be so boring? When she was doing rituals and divination she found it so interesting to do the measuring, calculations, and weighing, but sitting here and listening to her teacher drone on in a monotone voice for what felt like eternity was literally the opposite. She felt like she would fall asleep if she stopped focusing on the lines she was drawing. Suddenly she became aware her name was being called and saw other students looking at her from the corner of her vision.

"Yes?!" she jolted up straight in her chair.

"I said..." her teacher drawled as he rolled his eyes, "what is the answer to this problem? Solve for X."

She scanned the problem on the board and, unable to quickly parse it, replied "...5?"

Her teacher frowned, "the answer is 9, Morgan. Please pay attention."

She sunk back into her chair, trying to hide from her classmates. Thankfully she was at the back of the class so attention quickly slipped off of her and back to the whiteboard until, finally, the bell rang. Morgan gathered her books and moved swiftly through the halls to her next class, seeing that one nerdy girl that hangs out with the quarterback slipping in before her.

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"Ross Nelson!" Ms. Gurman yelled, and not for the first time, "Take that beanie off of your head while you're in my classroom! This may be your last class of the day but you are still in school, mister!"

Ross rolled his eyes and slipped his beanie off, stuffing it into his bag as she continued squawking. It took her a few minutes before she finally started class but it didn't really matter since half of the class had tuned her out just like usual. He didn't even know why she tried to teach this class. No one took her seriously, not even the other teachers. He'd lost count of the number of times she'd been corrected on basic facts. Honestly, he'd started wondering if she was from another world entirely.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and a second later a note popped over his head to land in his lap. Unfolding it, he smiled and nodded. A repeat customer of his needed some more of his herbal essence, and he was happy to oblige. He jotted down the amount he'd need, the time, and the place before refolding it and tossing it back once Ms. Gurman had turned away. A chorus of laughter sounded out from the back row, causing Ms. Gurman to suddenly spin around and start yelling at the class again.

Ross rolled his eyes. She might be a crappy teacher, but that wasn't called for. He couldn't help but feel bad for her. It wasn't her fault she was where she was.

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"Miss Strong, what was the name of the organization that arose from the ashes of the Third Industrial War?" Mr. Likan asked.

"Um, was..." Morgan trailed off, "was it the NFPK?"

"That is correct, Miss Strong. Now the NFPK was formed as a result of..."

Marie didn't need to know this. Her love was chemistry, not social studies. The soft sciences weren't deserving of the term in her opinion. Who cares about some crappy organization that hasn't done anything for 50 years? Who cares about some kingdom that hasn't existed for 3 centuries? Who cares about-

"Miss Walker, I care." Mr. Likan glanced at her

Oops, looks like those thoughts weren't so much thoughts after all.

"Miss Walker, just because you don't enjoy a subject doesn't mean others won't. Unless you wish to stay after school, I hope you have learned to keep your thoughts to yourself. Now class, as many of you already know, Caratan was a short but skilled..."

Marie nodded absently and felt the blood rush to her face. Mr. Likan continued his speech but she was far too focused on her own racing thoughts to pay attention. She was a model student. She got straight A's and never got in trouble. She could feel herself spiraling. This almost never happened. She could think of maybe twice when it happened outside of her room. She was starting to hyperventilate right when the bell rang and broke her out of her trance. Taking a shaky breath she gathered her notebooks and textbooks into her backpack then left the classroom to find her friends.

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Devon walked out of the side entrance of the school, earbuds blaring the newest single from Corpse Crusade. He'd been waiting for them to drop a new track for almost a year now and this one came out during the last period. He was starting to really feel the music as he felt a pebble ping off his arm. Wheeling around he saw a group of familiar faces approaching him and took out an ear bud.

"There you are!" Randy said, annoyance clear in his voice, "we've been waiting forever. Where the hell were you?"

"Ah yeah, sorry about that. I forgot we were gonna do something tonight." He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Anyways, who's riding with who?"

"I'm riding with Randy," said Jesse, "Ross has to ride with you due to the whole pipe water incident-"

"I said I was sorry!" Ross cut in.

"And I said I didn't care," Randy replied.

"-So that just leaves Morgan as the odd one out," finished Jesse, miffed at getting cut off.

"Eh, I'll take her," Devon said nonchalantly then grinned, "besides someone's gotta be around to translate what beanie-head is talkin' about."

"Very funny" said the stoner as they all moved towards their vehicles.

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Jason tapped his fingers rhythmically to the beat of a song on the radio as George walked over.

"Oh yeah," the quarterback said as he reached the open window, "I'll have to get gas."

Jason just nodded and Abe clicked his seat belt in. Half a minute later, the two trucks were leaving the school parking lot with Jason following George to the gas station. Jason whistled as he parked his car.

"Man, these gas prices suck," he said as Abe looked up from his phone.

"Seriously, why are they so high recently?" Abe asked, his parents were complaining about it too.

"Many factors," Jason started, "supply and demand mostly, though. We get most of our supply from overseas -Kinyu and Delai- so when they raise their prices it affects us. Thankfully our deals with the UMTO get us oil from them too, keeping prices somewhat stable."

"I heard something about a pipe here, what's that got to do with it?"

"Hm? Oh that would be the Hulun-Napir pipeline. It was supposed to be a major cross-continent pipe that would supply fuel but it was recently shut down by the Greens who lobbied over environmental concerns."

Abe rolled his eyes, "the usual?"

"Nah, there were some actual concerns other than just the normal ones. The pipe goes through the Sarna Swamp and could endanger the kulikil living there along with the normal pollution concerns."

"Oh no, the man-eating skitter-slugs will be in danger," the geek said in mock alarm, "and they do realize that they can just plant tanafir trees and completely negate the second argument, right?"

"That assumes the councilors are smart. Besides, would you want to care for one of those things?"

The geek's recoil and his screwed up face told the hunter everything he needed to know. He laughed as he glanced in his rear-view.

"Exactly. Ope, looks like George is ready. Let's go."

Jason took point this time and the two trucks pulled out of the gas station and merged into slow moving traffic.

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Jesse checked his phone. They'd been stuck in this traffic for what felt like ages. The radio was no help, playing what felt like the same 3 songs on repeat. Searching the web, he finally found what he was looking for.

"That's why it's taking forever," he said, getting Randy's attention.

"Hm?"

"Car wreck, looks like a t-bone into a head-on."

Randy whistled in response, "that's not something you hear about everyday."

Jesse nodded and the traffic started moving again. Slowly they made their way towards the highway out of town, the traffic sluggishly shedding as they grew nearer. Finally the jam seemed to break and they moved swiftly towards their destination. As they got on the highway and headed to the outskirts, Jesse noticed two trucks following them. At first it didn't seem like anything, trucks on a highway were as common as fish in the ocean, but when they went to get off the highway and into the back roads, the trucks turned off too.

"Are you kidding me..." Randy muttered under his breath as he glanced in his rear-view.

"Okay so I'm not going crazy then" Jesse said with a sigh.

"Are we actually being tailed right now or is it a coincidence?

"I don't know man, they could be hunters or something."

"You have a point there, we're hitting a couple turns so we should find out soon."

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"Are... we getting tailed?" asked Ross, watching the side-view anxiously.

"Nah, probably just some chickens out for game" Devon replied, glancing nonchalantly at the rear-view

"They've been following us since we hit Holbrook though."

"Wait, seriously?" Morgan asked from the backseat

"There's no way it's the same guys, there's gotta be more people with those trucks in this town," Devon said, now with an anxious tone in his voice.

The cars took a side road and the trucks took the same corner.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Ross says, getting louder with each repetition.

"Fuck! Do you think they know?" Devon asks, gripping the steering wheel.

"Know what?"

"About the..." Devon started, glancing at Ross' jacket, "cave!" he finished, voice louder than he meant.

A light bulb seemed to appear over Morgan's head, "I think that's why they're following us. They're headed there too!"

Both men went silent for a second, Devon being the first to respond.

"Possibly, I mean that truck in front looks like it's been through it so whoever is driving it has probably been around here enough to know about its location."

"Now that you mention it..." Ross piped up, "that does kinda look like Jason McDougal's truck."

Now it was Morgan's turn to be confused, "Jason McDougal? The hunter from school that shot that massive buck last year and wouldn't shut up about it?"

"I was thinking it looked familiar," Devon said while avoiding a pothole.

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"What the fuck?" asked Jason as the cars ahead of him turned off onto the side road he was headed down.

"What?" Abe asked, looking up from his phone.

"These cars have been in my way the whole trip from like... Holbrook or something!"

A smirk crept onto the geek's face at the irritation in the hunter's voice, "Wait seriously?"

"Yeah. It's like these guys know exactly where we're going and are only there to drive slow enough to annoy the fuck out of me!"

"Road rage much?"

"Dude. The moment they got onto the back roads they dropped to like 10 miles below the speed limit."

"Maybe their cars can't handle the roads?"

"Then why the hell are they going into the backwoods!?" Jason yelled in impotent rage, barely restraining himself from speeding up to tap the car in front of him.

"I don't know man, maybe they have some- wait... hhhhhhold the fuck up," Abe said leaning forwards to get a better look at the blur of occupants and some of the decals

"What?" Jason growled through clenched teeth

"That's... That's fucking Devon Boone" the bewildered geek spat out in a strange half-laugh.

All at once the rage leaking out of the driver was replaced with confusion "Hold up, Devon Boone? As in, mosh pit madman 'I saw The Sprightful Saviors in concert' David Boone?"

"Do you know of anyone else in town who would possibly have an Enginebrain or Goat Eater decal on their car?"

After a few seconds Jason responded, "no... no I can't think of anyone but him who'd put that on their car."

About a minute of silence spread out between the two, the sounds of the country road and quiet radio seemingly amplified by the tension. Finally Jason broke it with a simple, if obvious question.

"Why would Devon, of all people, be going down the back roads after school?"

Abe looked back up from his phone in thought and opened his mouth before closing it again, "I... don't... know actually. Maybe there's a... thing happening out here?"

"Hmmm... Well... there's another car in front of him, so maybe he's following that one somewhere?"

"Yeah that'd make sense," Abe said looking back to his phone, "who do you think he's following?"

"Man, I don't know," Jason sighed, the emotion draining from his voice.

"It's not like it'd matter anyways," the hunter thought, "we're practically there as it is."

The caravan of vehicles made their way down the back roads, some more anxious than others, and soon arrived at the location of the cave. The cars pulled off first, the small area just before it capable of holding all of the vehicles with a bit of room to spare, and the trucks followed. Randy and Jason hopped out of their seats and quickly made their way over to each other as the others began to unload.

"Why the hell were you following us?" the thug said, bumping Jason with his chest.

The taller hunter was unfazed and leaned down to get in the shorter man's face while balling his fists, "following you, Caratan? Why the hell are you out here if your shitbox can't handle the road?"

"Oh you think you're so tough, huh?" Randy grabbed the knife in his pocket and flipped it out, "call me that one more time and we'll see how tough you are!"

Ross and Marie glanced at each other and bolted forwards, getting in between the two before they could

come to blows.

"Hold on a minute," Marie said in an attempt to cool things down, "there has to be a good explanation for this."

"Yeah," Ross continued, "why would they just randomly be following us?"

Randy eyed the man in the camo jacket, still wanting to shank him, but instead simply asked, "why were you following us?"

"You heard the legend of the cave?" the hunter replied.

"Yeah, we heard it, that's why we're here."

"Ditto. Looks like we made the same plans on the same day."

"Looks like it."

The two men narrowed their eyes at each other and backed away. The two groups looked at each other, unsure how to continue. After a moment that stretched into eternity, Devon spoke up.

"So... why are you guys here? I wouldn't figure you'd be the type to believe in ghosts or urban legends."

Abe shrugged, "we figured it'd be interesting. We play Crypts and Crawlers every week and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out for ourselves. Even if nothing happened, we'd have a better grasp on how delving really feels."

"Besides," Marie added, "it's not like ghosts are real anyways. It's just abandoned, not haunted."

"Oh? How do you know that?" Morgan asked, annoyed at Marie's surety.

"Oh, of course the little 'witch' is going to say otherwise," she rolled her eyes and did finger quotations on the word witch, "next you'll say that fairies dance on your fingertips and demons obey your edgy commands! Get real."

Morgan was taken aback at the words. Devon, Ross, and George all exchanged looks before the quarterback sighed and shook his head.

"Really, Marie?" he said, glaring tiredly at her for starting this.

"What?" she asked incredulously.

The blond sportsman rubbed his eyes, "you really need to learn how to keep your mouth shut."

Marie stammered, "wha- but I-"

Ross, noting that Morgan seemed to be about 5 seconds from exploding, decided to steer the situation away from the obvious end point.

"We came for the ghost," he stated plainly, "we figured if there was one, this would be the perfect circumstance for it."

"Yeah," Devon added and counted on his fingers, "trauma, imprisonment, strong ties, strong desires... It's textbook so, if there is one, it'd be here."

The anger from Morgan seemed to go from almost over-boiling to a light simmer. The three men glanced at each other, silently thanking the other for helping to diffuse the situation. The two women glared at each other, clearly not going to let this go. Jesse decided that they'd done enough screwing around and motioned to the doorway sitting against the hill.

The two groups looked at the entrance and moved closer. It was set into a concrete wall which itself was set into the side of a hill. The door frame was weathered and rusted, the rubber almost completely rotten away. The remaining metal of the hinges was rusted and pitted, long nights in bad weather had eaten away at it. The door was nowhere to be found, probably taken as salvage by transients. The grass was overgrown and moss had climbed up the wall.

"So who's going in first?" asked Abe.

The question was obvious but the answer was less so.

"I'll go," Randy and George said at the same time.

The two looked at each other and nodded. Randy slipped in first and George followed right behind him. The others, unable to stall any longer, entered behind them.

"Woah"

George Willem

Stats

Strength - 5

Intelligence - 4

Nimbleness - 3

Acumen - 3

Physique - 4

Synchronicity - 4

Empathy - 3

Skills

-Brawl 1, Dodge 3, Climb 2, Driving 2, Swim 3, Weaponry 3, Bluff 2, Diplomacy 2, Knowledge (AP High School) 4, Sense Motive 3, Technology 2

Equipment

-Derbyball Bat, Backpack, Duffel Bag, Phone, Wallet, Keys, Water Bottle, Notebook, Pens, Pencils, Textbooks, Folders, Papers, Protein Bar, Mechanic Kit, Tire Iron, Jumper Cables

Description:

-Tall, Lean, and Strong, top Quarterback material. Handsome Nari guy and the most generic "Jock" you can think of. Fred Jones Physique. Wears Plain t-shirts and jeans with running shoes. Blond hair, ice blue eyes, and fair skin with a few freckles here and there due to his time in the sun.

-Born to a middle class, suburban family who pushed him to succeed at an early age. He played junior league derbyball (similar to baseball) when he was younger but changed to rumble(similar to football) in middle school. Got into C&C through old school RTS and dungeon crawler computer games. Met his group of friends at school and joined up with the C&C club in high school where he officially met the other 3 group members but had seen them in school for years. He's had a few girlfriends through the years, but never made advances on them and is on good terms with his exes.