OOC: Looks interesting! I'm definitely up for this. ^^

Name: Alex Hood
Species: Cream coloured rabbit
Age: Around about 13, he isnt sure.
Physical: 4 7, Alex has a very thin build and doesnt seem to have much muscle at all, if anything. He has large ears which do not stick up, but simply flop down across his face, although they can perk up when needed to. He seems very wiry and at the moment has distinctive bags under his eyes, as he hasnt had much sleep. Eyes are hazel coloured.
Personality: Unusually quiet and shy, he rarely talks and is often seen mainly shivering, even in a good temperature. He can often be seen answering questions with simply small nods or shrugs. To others it looks as though he is traumatised and it is not really unexpected considering the things that had happen to him.
History: A poor upbringing, unfortunately. He took out to living on the streets after his parents had divorced and split up, and often found himself brought in by other gangs and having work alongside them, although the events that he has experienced alongside them have only help to add to his traumatised condition. He fled the city that all that occurred in for a chance of a new life somewhere, but was unable to make it and continued living badly. His experiences in the outside world has not led him to develop brilliant survival skills unfortunately. He doesnt know why he was taken to the facility either.

IC: Alex sat down, huddled with his feet in close and his arms upon his knees, shivering rapidly in an effort to find warmth, yet no matter how much he found himself doing so it never came. He never spoke, instead just continuing to shiver and look around the rest of the group, unspeaking. Although he was watching and listening to the others, none of what they were saying were sinking into him. He just continued shivering

OOC:

Cool, good to have you aboard Pach

IC:

Next to me in the chain line was...a kid. Those sick people had kept a kid as well. Poor little rabbit kit, he looked scared out of his fur. Not suprising really.

I thought I should try and spark up some conversation with him, see if I could, you know, take his mind off things. At least untill everone had got to know the situation.

"Hey kid? You alright? You seem a little shook up..."

Alex heard the stranger's speaking, but he didn't register it. Instead, he continued to stare forward and continually shiver. Eroll continued to ask the same question, but got no response. He eventually nudged Alex in order to obtain his attention, and this shocked him out of his own world. Alex turned to look up to the taller squirrel, shaking continually, his eyes wide.

Eroll repeated it again.

"Hey kid? You alright? You seem a little shook up..."

Alex slowly nodded, all the while still shaking and shivering. Whether he actually understood what was being asked of him or whether he simply reacted to make him not worry about Alex was unknown, the impression was still that he was incredibly traumatised.

Name: Doctor Marcus Deranineus
Species: Fox
Age: 80s
Physical: 5'0, Marc is a genuine old man who has seen quite the rough times. He has a mid-to average build and has dark orange fur with black tipped ears. He has a pair orf glasses and a fluffy white mustache. His feet are black furred aswell and his eyes are navy blue.
Personality: As a doctor he genuinely cares for the others but tends to keep his mouth shut when given orders. His days are limited and he'd rather not be a upstart in doing such. He tends to keep most of his past secret but it is widely known that he was/is a doctor.
History: He had a practical and good life really and good parents and eventually a great career as a crack doctor in many fields of medicine. He even has a psycology degree...or well he had one. He had two children and he had a great life. He was taken on his 80th for some unknown reason.

IC:
Name: Amber
Species: Domestic Tabby cat
Age: Around 13 she thinks
Physical: She's fairly muscular and is a skilled acrobat and very athletic but she's very thin. Her eyes are a goldy colour and her hair is long and a dark brown wih several other strips of colour of varying browns and a few blonde hairs. She doesn't know her height but she's medium sized. She doesn't know her weight. Her fur is made up of the usual browns but she has white on her hands and feet, her ears have black tips and she has a white muzzle and chest fur. She wears average looking clothes in mainly black and grey but she wears tight fitting trousers and long sleeved shirt, but wears a baggy jacket ontop. With her claws and thin fingers as well as keen eyesight she can pick several locks.
Personality: Keeps to herself but tries to be social and likes to help people. She's extremely loyal to herfriends, and doesn't care really what happens to her aslong as she doesn't help the "enemy" and can protect her friends or companions.
History: She doesn't know why she was at the institute and how she got there, she knows she suffers from amnesia and gets a few flash backs now and then, mostly in dreams though.

Amber looked over to the shivering rabbit, she shuffled clumsily closer to him. And tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face her looking startled and she removed her jacket with some trouble and offered it to him.

IC:
Name: Tarka
Species: Otter
Age:12
Physical: He doesn't know how tall he is, but he is relatively tall, neither does he know his weight. Tarka has sea blue yes and brown fur but with a white tummy, he has black hair down to his shoulders in dreadlocks. He is fairly strong and loves swimming, is also fairly fast but is fastest in water. He wears avergae stuff, mainly a baggy short sleeved top and baggy trousers.
Personality: Fairly brave, creative and likes to joke around abit, but is loyal and true though he can have a bit of a temper at times, a natural; street fighter he can pummel the average person. But Tarka is mostly peaceful unless provoked, he can be very sneaky when he wants to and tends to look at things from a different angle. He also is very determinned and doesn't give up too easily. Not that afraid of embarassment
History: His parents were partly cruel by naming him after an otter from a movie. He did okay in school but was best at sports, like swimming best but was also good at football a bit. Though he didn't know most of the rules. He doesn't know why he was sent to the institute. Some people came to the house and took him away.

Tarka poked his chains and contemplated the possibility of gnawing it off. Testing it he gave it a try, but after a few furious attempts gave up, his teeth were sore now.
He looked around and asked,
"Can anyone see a key anywhere?"

For Alex it took a few moments to recognise what was going on, but he finally understood that he was being offered a jacket by a tabby cat who looked no older then him. Throughout him shaking though, Alex shook his head and put his hand in the way to indicate that he didnt want it, as he didnt want to burden somebody else like that. After he had done this he quickly looked back to the ground and seemingly spaced out.

Feel free to slap me silly if it doesnt work, but here goes nothing.

IC:

"You know what you're doing then?" he was aksed roughly as the small van stopped a short distance away from where the tracks dissappeared around a corner
"I know..." he replied quietly, his head bowed low
"Something wrong "Zero-Five"?"
"I have a name!" he replied a little more forcebly
"HAD a name!" the gruff reply shot back, making him step backward a pace or two. "Remember, you swore your loyalty to us the day we rescued you. You work for us, got it?"
"Uh huh..."
"Good, now get going "Zero-Five". We'll be waiting for you"

He turned and shuffled off quickly, his heart beating rapidly, pounding in his ears but then he turned, a question coming to his head

"But what about the other place? You know...the one-"
"They are irrelavant. Concentrate on your task "Zero-Five""

With that said, he moved off into the darkness...in the direction of the vans tracks...

OOC: I think I'll try this out... ^^

Name: Ruby Foster
Species: Red fox
Age: About 14
Physical: 4"12, Ruby is a bright red with a white muzzle and white-tipped tails. (yes, she has two tails) The tip of her ears are black, as well as the very tip of her tail. (white, then black on top). She wears a black, long sleeved button-up blouse with a yellow star in the middle, as well as black jeans with blue stripes and blue boots with yellow tips. Ruby's eyes are an unusual silvery color, while her purple hair is so long, she has it tied in a braid. On her fingers are black, fingerless gloves; and to top it all off, she wears a sleeveless vest of dark blue and light blue.
Personality: Ruby tends to prefer being alone and is always afraid of big crowds; which means she'll do ANYTHING to avoid them. When she gets angry or annoyed, she can react aggresively and tends to have a short temper. Sarcasm is also one of her favorite traits.
History: Ruby was always considered the insane geek, because of her interests and her status at school. She was trained by her father, who was a retired general, in some methods of combat "for her safety". Her older brother Kento was always at college, making excuses instead of coming back home. Ruby remembers little of how she came to be in the facility or what they had done to her there, but as a result she is subject to having small seizures if amidst a large crowd.

IC:

She bit her lip, pulling her knees close to her chest and burying her head where no one could see. Her two tails wrapped themselves around her ankles. She had been like this ever since the van started moving, too terrified to look up or calm herself and look around. She had chosen the farthest, darkest corner in the van, shivering not with cold, but because she was upset.

Ruby then began to take deep breaths, and slowly she lifted her head, revealing two silver eyes, frowning.

Tarka recieving no reply sighed and thumped back down against the wall, he noticed a fox in the corner looking up with silver eyes.
"Hi." he said idly.
"I'm Tarka, do you know where they might keep keys in this place?"
He was the closest in the van to her and not that far away either.

OOC: Before I post I am eyebrowing a lot of peoples posts here. I believe Crimson said we escaped and now are in the middle of a field in the English countryside. I assuming we abandoned the van or something of that nature because I don't see a van in Crimson's last intro paragraph. I'll wiat for Crimson to return - and post here until I post IC.

OOC:

*rubs paws together* Excellent, looks to be fine on everyone's behalf, and Ceej, if your planning what I suspect you are planning, this could get very interesting >=D

And Mike's right, I didn't specify any location. However, there has been no location specific posts really, so that's no problem. Even if there had, it wouldn't have mattered.

Anyway, now, I'll set up the location to start with, and see how our not-so-merry band progresses...

IC:

It seemed like the young rabbit kid was shaken up worse than I thought. Still that cat girl seemed to be looking out for him now, even if he didn't want her to. I guessed I should take a look at the others.

To the...well, I didn't know which was WAS north, but I guess the base was as good as any for it, was the road leading back to that "facility". East seemed to have some grassy plains, fairly open ground, it looked easy to travel over, same to the West. The horizon to the south seemed to cut short, the glinting blue of water just visable on the edge of sight.

"Okay guys...I don't know who any of you are, but we can't really stay here to long. No doubt somebody will be after us, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to go back there. Ever." I took a glance at the van, maybe the guard had a key for the shackles on him? "I think we should check the van for anything we can use, and get out of here, and we can make introductions later, okay?"

"Escaped you say? Well, I was not expecting that quite so soon, but, it makes no difference." The figure in the darkness turned to face the hapless private assigned to relay the message of the chain-gang's escape. The grey light from multiple computer monitors flashed across the gangling silloette's glasses as he adjusted them on his face.

The figure turned back to face the main monitor. "Dispatch a search team. Make sure they are instructed to be loud, and incompetent. I want the subjects to know that they are being tracked."

IC:

Ruby glanced at Tarka uncertainly, a blank expression on her face. The vixen's face then relaxed into a partially gloomy one, and a pathetic sigh escaped her lips. She shook her head, "No...'fraid I don't." Ruby closed her eyes and stood, shaking herself a little before observing the unconcious guards. She turned the the squirrel and nodded, before going to rummage through the truck's glove compartment.

Ruby pulled out a ring of keys and tossed them to the squirrel. "Those should work...right?"

IC:
Amber was still worrying about the young rabbit, he seemed to be suffering from some kind of trauma related thing. But she was no doctor. The tabby looked over to the squiirel and looked at the keys aware there was some kind of desperate glint in her eye, she seemed to get that now whenever she saw 'the key'. The one that would set herself and everyone else free.
Taring her gaze away from the glinting metal she looked around at the rest of the group.
There were two foxes, one old and the other young, then an otter, there was the shaking rabbit and another young fox who'd intelligently rummaged through some stuff and found 'the key'. They didn't exactly look like the kind of people who'd last long in any kind of surviver type thing.
Turning back to the squirrel she looked at the keys expectantly.
TBC

I caught the keys hungrily out of the air glad to be free of these painful shackles. Thank goodness for small mercies.

"Nice work kid!" I smiled at the red fox, taking a good look at her. She seemed a little older than the others, but not by much. Such an unusual fur colour though, I had never seen a fox so...red. And her eyes caught me off balance as well. Still, whatever I guess.

Sighing, I looked up to the unusual fox, in order to tell her the bad news, still no keys, when I spotted another wierd thing about her, and gave a little yelp of suprise, accompanied by a shout of "What the-!"

The fox had two tails.

It was funny, I guess. We, a group of kids, and two adults were tied together and even after someone had found keys it made my smile become wiped from my face when the key's didn't work! I brushed a finger through my white mustache and sighed. I soon heard a yelp, did someone fall and hurt themselves? If they did I'd be able to help with injury treating and tghe whatnot seeing as I was a doctor before, before this happened. This imprisonment. I spat at the ground as I looked to the yelp, a voice is then what I heard.
"What the-"
I blinked as I went to the van to only see the other adult and the kid with two tails. The adult in a form of shock, I could tell. I had training in this as well.

"So, she has two - big deal." I smugly remarked.

"I should think it is a big deal, I've never seen anyone with two tails before!" Needless to say, I was a little shocked by this. I guess I could have handled the matter a little better, but, I was a little highly strung.

"It may be rare, but I've seen others - and please don't stare. I think it'd make 'er nervous." I said as I looked at him. "Anyway, I don't assume they got flak operated weapons we can shoot ourselves free with, eh?" I suggested and asked at the same time.

I blinked waiting for a responce.

I looked away from the tails, a little embarased at my own reaction, and turned to the venerable fox.

"I guess so...Flak weapons? No, such luck. Looks like we may be stuck for now unless you have any ideas?"

I bit my lip before I replied unsure if this would be helpful either, eh - guess its worth a shot I'd think. "Got a saw or somesort of sharp metal object to cut the chains?" I asked, yet suggested. But I didn't finish speaking there. "Or can you make or find one?"

I shook my head again. They were goo ideas, but unfortunatly, useless. "There's nothing else in here. We might find something elsewhere, but for now, I think we are stuck together. Any ideas as to which way we should head?"

He made his way quietly over the top of the small hill, making sure to keep low so as to avoid being seen.

His eyesight was top notch and he easily located the band of escapees.

His mind went over what he had been told to do and with a deep breath, he stepped forward.

"Can I be of assistance?"

Before the fox could respond, I heard a new voice from outside. Without waiting for the old vulpine's responce, I stuck my head out of the van to see what the problem was. I should do something about that short attention span one day, but now wasn't the time.

"Who are you?"I asked abruptly "And what are you doing here?"

Alex had no longer paid anymore attention to those that accompanied him in this cold and frightening field. In fact, although the rabbit shook viciously, he could not feel the cold or even paid attention to it. The cause of his shivering was something else, something that chilled him far worse then the bitter night wind could ever do. Painful flashes; memories. Of hurt, worst of all.

He was in his own world now so much that he didnt notice the exchange between the squirrel or older fox, or even the introduction of another.

"I'm Ze-" he stopped abruptly, his training and leassons coming back to him.

"I'm Zak...Zak Durden" the figure explained, stepping forward and into some brighter light, revealing him to be a dark grey furred raccoon. He looked to be well dressed, well fed and generally in good condition.

I could just feel my fur bristle when the squirrel realized I had an extra appendage. For a brief moment, as he and the old one exchanged words, I felt like a freak again. Something to be laughed at for my fur color and my hauntingly silver eyes. For my tails that always seemed to be curled around my feet. Then I let the man's words sink in, and I felt grateful to him. To me, living like I was was no big deal. My family had been used to my appearance, as well as the people in my neighborhood and at school. So it was no wonder that anyone amazed by my tails instantly made me crabby.

I glared at Zak, my tails twitching in a paranoid fashion. "How could you help us?" I asked, trying to keep the venom from my voice. "Such a nice looking stranger like yourself shouldn't be this close to the facility. They do nasty things." I turned my back on him, heading back into the cab of the vehicle. Maybe those dorks had hidden the keys between the seats....

"The facility?" Zak continued, flinching a little at the response he had recieved.

He'd been trained in how deal with these kind of replies, but either way, they still hurt.

"Y-You wont find a key inside the van" he regained his composure, before he fished around in his pocket with a paw.

"But...you can try this if you want...?" he finished, pulling out a somewhat battered and obviously used key.

I stared ahead, halfway to the van, before slowly turning around. My eyes narrowed as I sidled closer to the black squirrel that had helped us escape. I leaned in closer and whispered to him, "I don't trust 'em..."

Then, as quickly as I had spoken, I straightened up and aimed my icy, eerie glare at Zak. "Where did you get those?"

"We dont have time for questions" Zak quickly responded, knowing full well what to do in these conditions.

He had been given his instructions, it was up to him to follow them out to the letter.

God forbid what would happen if he didnt

"I'm here to help you escape, there'll be time for questions later!"

He looked worried, unsure, but fear kept him going on.

OOC: I'm going to assume people can still join, and that badgers live in the England area.

Name: John (forgot his last name)
Species: Badger
Age: Late 20's

Physical: Standing at a little more than 5 feet, he is well-built. While his pot belly belies his physical fitness, it isn't speed that he's good at, but strength.

Personality: Quiet and calculating. He doesn't try to bring attention to himself if at all possible, until he has assessed the situation. Can be very outspoken, but tries to go for as few words as possible.

History: When he was at the age of 20, he moved out of his parent's home to go to college. There, he met a girl, and they fell in love. They courted through their years as students. On the night before he was going to propose to her, he was taken to the facility.

IC:

A badger spoke up, the rattling of his chains accentuating his words as he stood. "He's right. One way or another, we don't have time. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm inclined to trust him if that key works. Zak, was it? Thank you for your kindness."

OOC: Sure you can come abord Wayfarer. The rest of you, sorry I didn't update this earlier...been feeling kinda off recently =S

Tally ho!

IC:

I was in agreement with the Badger. Man was that guy quiet, I hadn't noticed him before, still, it was nice to have someone else around that wasn't a kid, other than the old guy. Who seemed nice enough in his way, don't get me wrong. If the newcomer had keys, we might as well trust him. After all, he'd never done anything to us before, and he wasn't wearing a facility uniform. I nodded my agrement for to go with him.

"I say we trust him. He dosn't look dangerous to me, and he does have that whole, "I've got a key to your shackles thing going. Lets give him a chance."

Zak nodded and stepped forward, a paw grabbing hold of the padlock which held the entire set of chains together. He looked it over

"Standard facility chains, exactly as I was told to expect. Just remove the chains and the clips come off too..."

He put the key to the padlock but stopped, hesitating slightly...

I just grunted, defeated. Though there was no designated leader and/or council, I felt it wasn't my place to argue any more. Plus, I was beginning to get tired of the shackles that were rubbing my wrist-fur raw. I began to get anxious, ready to be able to move more freely, when I noticed Zak's moment of hesitation.

"What's the matter?" I asked. Surely it works, I longed to say. But this time I kept my mouth shut, waiting for a response of any kind.

"But why should I need to do this...I mean, they're like me right?"
"Wrong, they are not like you. You belong to us, you work for us. Carry out your orders Zero Five, 'lest we have to go through with Operation X-55..."

"What's the matter?" he heard the voice call out to him and he blinked twice looking over at the speaker

The problem is...the second I put this key in the lock, the switch is tripped...I know I have to do this...but I dont want to...It doesnt feel right...

"...'lest we have to go through with Operation X-55..."

"S-sorry" Zak replied "I just cant believe that this would still happen to people nowadays..." he indicated the chains that bound the others before with a deep breath he thrust the key into the lock.

Metal clicked as inside the small key, a metal plate pushed a small battery onto a cable. From this power charge, a small homing locator was activated on Zaks current position.

"Zero-Five has completed part one"
"What now?"
"Now we leave..."

IC:
Tarka pulled his chain as hard as possible as soon as he heard the click, there was a small amount of chaos as the chains came free and the Otter bounded up and flet such a burst of energy and happiness he punched the air with his fist in jubilation, then he abruptly tripped on the chain and landed flat on his face.
"I hate it when I do that."
Picking himself back up the Otter looked at the new comer and then at the key in his hand.
"Ur...just a few questions. Why are you here in the middle of the countryside in the first place and why do you have the keys to our chains?"
TBC

John spent a moment rubbing his sore wrists. Then, he turned back to the group. "That's a good question, among others we should ask, but our first priority should be to get moving. Does anyone recognize this region of countryside? If so, then speak up. If not, then we should pick a direction and go. I'll carry the little rabbit. Zak, you should come along and answer our questions. Hmm...Zak, do you know where we are, or where the nearest town is?"

Ruby rubbed her wrists, gazing steadily at the chains on the ground before bending down to stretch, pleased she could move more freely. Her ears twitched as Tarka danced around happily, and she couldn't help it when she adopted a kind of amused smile. How she would've loved to dace as well, though the vixen knew she'd embarrass herself if she did.

Ruby turned her head to look at the badger, not willing to argue with his 'orders'. As far as she could tell, anything and just about everyone that got her away from this place were not worth arguing with.

"I say we have two options." I say, not having spoken in a while, since before the newcomer arrived and the badger spoke up. I smirk lightly, my old face full of curiousity and that idle paranoia. I speak again, "Those options are A) Split Up, and go our seperate ways or B) Stick together and get to somesort of haven." I say.

Though I think option A is the best option for survival, I think I'd rather help out anyone I can. I mean, I'm a doctor after all.

"We shouldnt split up" Zak quickly intervened, trying to quell the idea of the group going their own ways "Afterall, if we split up, theres more than likely the chance that we'd be found and then you'd all end up back in the facility..."

He paused, not enjoying what he was doing

"I know of a small camp...it has friends there...we'll be safe there"

I stared at Zak once again, that old familiar doubt replacing my smile with a frown. How would we happen to be so lucky? So lucky as to have a well dressed, well fed stranger come up and free us, and happen to know a safe haven to go to? We wouldn't. My fur began to bristle, and I once again glared at the raccoon before us.

"Okay, so you freed us...what proof do you have that you're telling the truth?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Zak sighed and hug his head "Truth be told, I dont have any physical proof" he admitted "But look at it this way and what you do know"

He paused before speaking clearly, attempting to make what he was going to say next seem all the more dramatic.

"You know where you've come from and theres a pretty good chance you're being followed. You can stay here and possibly get caught. Split up and perhaps survive, or starve or get caught, or follow me and have a fairly high chance of living...its up to you really"

Zak felt sick inside...

IC:
"Look, this is far too convenient, freedom and safety in one easy package from a kind welcoming stranger. How the heck would you have keys to our chains unless you got them from the institution." Amber hissed, her eyes forming into slits, glaring at the raccoon. Already tensing to run.
TBC

Despite the hardships and distrust he faced, Zak had been trained well. He faced the disbelievers and spoke out.

"Well, would you rather me leaving you tied up and simply drag you away? Would you rather me rude, abrupt and uncaring? Im trying to help you here"

He turned and began to walk off "Maybe I did get the keys from the facility, I mean, where else can you get keys to unlock chains made by those in the facility? You dont just find them lying around the floor!"

"Have you considered I am the way I am because of what I say is true? I give you a choice. Either come with me to freedom and some safety or stay here or flee. The choice is yours"

The raccoon stalked off back over the hill. When he was out of sight he fell to his knees on the floor...

John waited for a moment, watching Zak move away. Once he was out of sight, John turned back to the group. "We need to make a decision, hopefully as a group. But whatever we do, we had better do it fast; I doubt the people at the facility will take long to figure out what has happened. I trusted the racoon enough to have the proper key, but I have to agree with the cat and fox," referring to Amber and Ruby, "this is too suspicious for my liking."

He shook his head, the full weight of their situation settling in. "We don't have time for questions, or arguments. We need to choose. I...I would just split off, but...I feel responsible for these kids."

Turning to the black squirrel, he said, "I don't want to make the decision for all of us. We probably should have a vote...but I won't make that decision." Pointing a finger at Errol, he added, "I will follow your lead. You started us on this course. I expect you to finish it. Don't get me wrong, I'll be forever grateful for your actions, but if we get caught, this was all your idea."

"Now, I am thinking...," he suggested, "I could go with our 'friend', to see if the situation is okay, and the rest of you could start moving in another direction, in case we are being followed. What do you think of that?"

IC:
Amber shook her head.
"No, what if it was a trap, on your won you wouldn't stand a chance.
TBC

John turned to Amber. "That's exactly why I would do it. That way, only one of us would be in a trap, and not all of us. The rest of you could make a break for it. It is a risk I am willing to take."

OoC:
Is it too late for me to join? This looks cool. I'll be Breech. Most of you know Breech, right? And Crash is with her. See Character Profiles.

BiC:
"I say we all follow him, together," a feline spoke up for the first time. She was accompanied by a large dog, almost seven feet tall. He was an alsatian.

"Are you crazy?" asked Amber, "We can't trust him!"

"I don't trust anybody," the cat replied, her voice low.

Throughout the entire discussion, he had still not been paying attention, lost in his own mind and his own deep thoughts. The chains had come off of him and he was free, but the realization of that, the return to reality was short. For Alex, he continued to shiver, hunched into a fetal type position with his arms over his shuddering knees, his head buried into his lap. He didn't know who Zak was, nor was he paying attention to what he had done, or what the others were discussing.

The alsatian looked at Alex, obvious puzzlement on his large, open face. He shook the rabbit carefully.

"What's wrong, bunny rabbit?" he asked.