The wasteland greets the onset of spring for the first time since the fall of the bombs and the day the world burned. Trees sprout from the once cracked and arrid land, rain falls feeding the growth of struggleing new plants and washing the dust from the towering sunbaked wasteland ruins. Life seems to return somewhat to the once desimated land.

The new life and rain in the wasteland also serves to cool the smouldering furnaces of anger and hatred between the once warring factions vyeing for control of the wastes, the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave signing a temporary cease fire driven by thier visonary new leaders Elder Dameclies and
President Thomas. The two men able to see past the partisan nature of thier predecessors to preserve the delicate new life slowly reclaiming the wasteland.

The rain also served to expose a terrible weakness in the FEV virus that corses through the blood of the fearsome Super Mutants as thier otherwise near impenatrable hide becomes cumbersome, bloated and soft with the falling water, leaving deep gashes and lasserations at the slightest contact. The mutnats fell into retreat running back thier dry vaults and mountain cabins in an attempt to avoid the rain.

Though all is not well in the wastes as a new threat has risen to take the place of war, famine, irradiated water and hulking predetors, a threat invisible to man and impossible to defend against. A disease flourishes in the new environment, a disease unlike any before or after the fall of man, moving from person to person in an unstoppable tide of death and sorrow. The disease lies dormant in the host for a week before begining its attack on the hapless wastelander. The decent into death is neither quick, painless or dignified as the disease graduly shuts down the the functions of the limbs and senses before huge welts develope on the victim as a gruesome prelude to the eventual strike of massive hemoraghing and death. No-one is immune from this threat from the richest tyrnat to the filthiets brahmin farmer.

You are the most brilliant minds in the waste, drawn from all cultures and areas in this scorched earth you are the land's only hope of stopping this virus before it demolishes all life.

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Dr Aston's holotape diary


My team arrives today, the only people with a hope to stave off this quite intolerable disease that plagues this already accursed land and its wretched citizens. I have worked in the wastes and strove to heal and uphold the oaths of old for longer than most and have risen to recognition as the greatest medical mind of the day for whatever that's worth, I care not for titles and acclaim. Outbreaks have come and gone over time, influenza, scarlet fever, west nile virus even an unfortunate brush with Ebola and all have fallen to the might of my ingenuity and medical expertise but this MAD virus as it has become known, it is different. It lurks in the body causing no hindrance or discomfort to to its unfortunate host until suddenly it strikes mercylessly and graphically, an apt challenge for my abilities to say the least.

Unfortunately the powers that be have decided that I alone am not equal to the challenges posed by this troublesome illness, they advised (or moreover ordered to expose the truth in this wearysome pleasantry) that I assemble a team of other doctors to tackle this problem. In theory the logic in this decision is understandable but whether my colleagues and i can agree on theories and methods remains to be seen. On top of their demands for a medical team they also made the much more sensible suggestion of a group of guards should I need to find various medical supplies in unfriendly territories, four of which from their own ranks.

I have assembled my team from all ethnicities (and stages of decomposition amongst the ghoul recruits) This will help in many ways that they will not know, can not know. the road to victory is a long one paved in suffering and painted in blood but we must traverse it for the good of the wastes.

I hear the the first of the party approaching I must go make conversation, I will update this diary when possible, a permanent record? a confession? who knows. Let it be known what ever takes place, I had the greater good in my mind.

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Most of my posts will be in present time, I just feel this sets the scene well.

Lan Cheffe

Moving towards the area that we were directed to go to I took a few shallow breaths in preperation. I hardly ever stayed around people any more, although it was nice to see a few ghouls here and there on the trip. Looking a little behind me I noticed a man in power armor, he seemed to be a part of the Enclave by the looks of the armor. As he quickly caught up to my step, I waited for him to talk but after a few seconds I quietly said to him; "You heading to figure out stuff about the disease as well?"

With a small nod of the head I heard his voice say, "I'm going to be there to make sure no one tries and takes you egg-heads out." With a start I realised the man was a ghoul, an Enclave Ghoul soldier... That was very rare, unheard of really. The Enclave were extremists... Or they were at least, back when President Eden had been in charge. Shaking my head and smiled, extending my hand to the ghoul, "The name's Lan... Lan Cheffe, your name is?"

Freddy Flame

As the doctor talked to me I just said what I had to, but when he extended a bit of pure friendship I leapt at the chance. Extending my hand to him I shook his warmly and smiled underneath my helmet, "My name's Freddy, Freddy Flame. Nice to meet you Lan, I hope you figure out what's going on with this bloody disease, I'm not in the mood to die really, you know?" Shaking my head I smiled at the man, quickly enough we came up upon what seemed to be a building or perhaps tents.

Due to my poor eyesight from an eye infection I couldn't tell whether it WAS buildings or tents, looking over at Lan I quietly said, "Umm... Are those buildings? Or tents?"

Kasandra tossed the bag of guns into the back seat of her jeep as she slapped on her helmet, she loaded up some tunes and slammed down on the pedal. Tearing through the waste in a unstoppable jeep was one of the things she really enjoyed. She swirved and smashed into a sleeping mole rat, blood spattered all over the front of her jeep, she started to laugh harder as she swirved out of the way of a rocky outcrop. About 20 miniutes into her sunday drive around the wasteland the sound of her radio crackled to life.

She immediately shut off her music and slammed on the brakes.

"Hey, Kas?" The voice sounded over her radio.
"Yea, Whatta you want Aston?" She said quickly swirving her car back in the way she had came from.
"Yea well, first arrivals, you might want to get back here to meet and greet some of the people we will be living with for the next few months." He said over the radio, his voice sounded calm.
"Of course, Ill be back in a few miniutes." She said shutting off her radio.

She removed her helmet, she let her hair out, it waved in the breeze as she started to breath slower. In an instant she changed gear and slammed down on the acceleration, surpassing speeds of 70mp/h she zoomed across the wasteland, pushing the car to its absolute max. A little over 5 minutes later she came across the bunker she was ment to meet the good doctor at. She had worked with him before, and ever since "The Alliance" of brotherhood and enclave had been around, and the doctor had been contacted she had been supposed to protect him.

Now that they had to start doing field work, with guards and other doctors she figured they had to atleast be close to figuring out the cure.

"No Matter The Cost." She whispered to herself as she hopped out of her jeep. She reached into the back of her truck and grabbed her bag of guns and ammo. She figured she had to arm some of the doctors. The eggheads usually didnt pack any heat. As she walked through the small tent city set up for the new members of the group who were going to start showing up soon she came to the center, a small bunker lab set up for Aston and everyone else doing fieldwork with them. She walked past two guys talking to eachother, she simply ignored them, they would have time to talk later.

"Aston, Im here" she said as she dropped the bag of guns on the ground.
"Ah good, take a seat." He said from across the lab.

She took a seat, thinking about astons record, it would take him a while to get to her so she slapped her helmet on and set the visor to sleep mode. All light was blocked out, light music filled her helmet as she started to drift off into a deep sleep.

"Aston, Wake me when you need me!" she yelled out before she drifted off to her deep sleep.

I'm turning in for the night, don't get impatient. I am Australian and we will be working on Australian time zones.

Dr. Taya Harrison stumbled over a rock behind the two men while fumbling through a few clipboards that she managed to accidently drop on the ground.
"Sorry if Im late....didnt want to....you know, be here to early." Taya said in a raspy ghoulish but feminine voice. Taya bent down to pick up her clipbords and glanced up to the two men. One was a smoothskin who wore a long coat similar to her own and the other one quite amazed her. She'd never seen power armor before, it intimidated her. Taya stood up and walked over closer to the men.
"So..."Taya rasped. "are we to go in?"

(ooc: sorry short post)

Okay trooper! Once you have the corpse of the infected individual safely layed out in your back yard, its time to burn! Apply gasoline, or anyother availible things that burn well, all over the body. Make sure the fire burns it down to the ashes. Great Job! You just safely disposed of your first infected corpse! Do this with all future bodies, and you'll be sure to slow down the spread of the disease. But thats just one way to deal with Mr. Virus. In our next chapter...

"Do you have to read that [censored] outloud!", screamed one of Ru's companions.

"Geez. I'm just studying before we get to the bunker. This could save your life.", responded Ru defensivly.

"Okay, but again, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO READ IT OUTLOUD!!!!! ITS [censored] ANNOYYING!!!!!"

Ru sorta backed off after that. He wasn't used to everyone being on edge like this. He just wanted t get to Aston soon. Aston was always calm, at least around Ru. And he always found a way for him to feel useful.

The site was less than an hour's walk away, and they had a lot of work to do. Guards like them would have less than glamorius jobs. Mostly setting up fences and turrets, and essentially being errand boys while the elite guards stayed close to the scientists and the action. Personally, Ru was hoping they were wrong when they informed him of that in Rivet City.

It had been quite the trek form Megaton, but John could finally see his destination up ahead. He had travelled most of the way with a caravan, but had been on his own for the last hour or so. He was feeling a little fatigued from the journey, and was looking forward to getting some rest. Something he was sure would not be happening anytime soon. There was a lot of work to do, and no doubt Doctor Aston would want to get started right away.

John walked up to the site and could see the tents as well as a few other people. He scanned the area briefly, taking in as much information he could. He felt no small amount of concern for the man in power armour. John knew all too well what happened when the Enclave were involved in situations. Even knowing about the ceasefire, he was still worried. It just seemed that when the Enclave were involved, things usually turned out badly. The other two people were obviously doctors. It was their attire which gave them away. He walked to the largest of the tents, which he assumed must be the lab, and entered.

Immediately his eyes were drawn to the person in the power armour, who was sitting in a chair. His uneasy feeling started to grow at the sight of the soldier. He then turned his attention to the man wearing the lab coat. Extending his hand, John stepped forward.

"Doctor Turrel I presume? I'm, Doctor Clark. But please call me John. Now what can I do to help?" John smiled.

Aston gripped the new arrivals hand and shook it vigorously yet politely, Dr Clark's skill and dedication were well known to him. Aston had been following the Ghoul since the start of his career, Clark had been an inspiration on a younger more vulnerable Aston. " And you may call me Aston, I look forward to working with you John however I visualized less pressing circumstance." Clark was a linchpin in Aston's plan, not just for his medical skill.

Aston gave his excuses and walked over to his sleeping enforcer, he pushed back the chair she was leaning on causing it and the reclining Enclave captain to tumble backwards waking her instantly. " Wake up Kas, you set a bad example to our team, you need to get to know these people, earn their trust for now you are embarrassing yourself and much more importantly me." Aston walked away, no-one on this earth would get away with what he just did but himself.

More of the team had still to arrive but for now he strove to get to know the men and women who stood defiant against the MAD. They were a motley looking bunch, the doctors looked thin and malnourished obviously devoting what limited resources they had to thier trade. The guard looked intimidating, Strong, self assured, Aston had know doubt that Kas would have them under heel, she always did.

Aston sat and waited for others to arrive, shooting a quick glance at at Kas as a silent call to his side. The two had much to discuss about the plans for the coming month's.

____________________________________________________

not my best post but I want to keep the ball rolling, I'll pad it out with some details when I'm more awake.

Gavin McCall

Gavin approached the tents slowly, relishing the mild weather. It was never this cool before the first rains. He held his gun across his chest, slant-wise, muzzle pointed down. His boots crunched the gravel as he walked up to the first tents of the encampment. Gavin intercepted an orderly, "I'm here to see Doctor Aston?" The orderly gave him directions and Gavin nodded his thanks.

The white canvas tents ruffled in the gentle wind, there was a low bunker set into the earth around which the tents had been placed. The bunker served as a hub for the little community. Gavin slipped into the shade of the building and dropped his canvas pack. He repositioned his AK so it rested diagonally across his back. There were a few others here already. Gavin stuck his chest out. He approached the head doctor, "Doctor Aston?" he extended his hand, "I'm Gavin McCall and I'm a guard with your company."

"Gah, i said wake me up not give a friggin concussion" she said pulling off her helmet, the pressurized oxygen hissed out, she looked around and saw aston walk off.

"Screw examples, if i find any of them sleepin they wont soon forget it." she yelled as he walked off to meet the other scientists. She walked outside of her former peacefull resting place and looked around, a few of the conscripts had shown up, not all of them but she was honestly expecting more guards.

As she walked out she looked over the waste, it seemed more desperate than usual, in the grasps of something that was near impossible to fight was something that would hopefully be dealt with soon enough. Aston, though self confident and sometimes headstrong, he was the only chance the wasteland had and no matter the cost, no matter the body count she would fight to bring an end to this horrible virus.

She snapped out of her day dreaming as some of the guards started talking to eachother looking at her.

"All guards, fall in!" she said
"All Egg Heads, In here!" she said opening the entrance to Astons lab.

Some of the scientists gave her a look of disdain as she smiled at them. All of the guards started to come closer and gather around her. Some smiled at her some just looked at her for their orders.

"I am Elite Guard Captain Kasandra Maxwell, and let me make it clear, i dont care who you are or where you come from, all i care about is stopping this god damned virus." The guards all cheered when she said this.

"No matter the cost i will do everything i can do to stop it. And i expect the same for you, get in my way and i will take you down with all the force i have in me." The cheering stopped when she said that.

"From this point on you shall call me team leader untill i say otherwise, untill that date, you call me anything else, well you dont want to know what will happen." Her gaze turned around the group.

"Like i said before, i dont care who you are, ghoul or smoothskin, black or white, enclave or BoS, wastelander or [censored] super mutant, we are a team and i am your leader! Together we shall stop this virus." She said raising her fist to the sky.

A light drizzle started to come over the camp as she finished up her speech. She slammed her helmet back on her head, she pulled down the visor and walked over to the tent adjacent to Astons Lab. The temporary barracks had cots for all of the troops. Gun and Armour racks. Some of the guards followed her, others stayed outside. She slung the bag off her shoulder and walked to the very end of the tent. She emptied the sack of guns onto the table, ammo clips, pistols and rifles all fell out.

"Grab what you need, any questions ask here." she said sitting in a chair, leaning back against the table.

Freddy Flame

Smiling as I listened to our 'Team Leaders' speech I started to feel a few laughs rising in my chest. Pushing them down I looked around the tent where she'd ended up leading us to, I realised that half of us were standing outside while half of us were in the tent. Yawning a little I leant against the canvas and surveyed all the others among us. Not many of them looked like terrible soldiers, a few of them seemed a bit iffy; but most seemed to look as though they knew how to handle themselves.

Stifling the urge to sigh I looked at Kassandra and cocked my head to the side, there was something else in that voice of hers. Shrugging mentally I said loud enough for everyone to hear, "You know, I have a feeling that their's more to this than we're being led on. Who would seriously need to protect people who were trying to help everyone in the Wastes? It makes no sense to me, but I'm happy to be here anyway, it's an honour to know I'm helping in my own way.

As such, Team Leader, I'd like to ask you a question, do you believe we have enough men here to hold off all sides of this camp? When I came in it looked a bit like defending all the sides would be difficult, even for every one of us here."

Lan Cheffe

As we walked into Aston's lab I felt amazed, the amount of equipment in here was a complete wonder to my eyes. There seemed to be areas that were a little more clear than others, I guessed this was for where we would be working, I rubbed my hands together in antcipation. I hadn't been in a true lab for a long time, I'd been living off using out-dated technology that barely worked, it had given me a sense of how to use things in an intelligent manner.

Looking over at Aston I cleared my throat and said, "So, Aston? I wish to ask you something, will we each be given the same thing to work on or will we be given different parts of the disease to anolyse? Will their be living test subjects that we'll have to test upon, dead ones or no subjects at all? I only ask as to know whether or not we'll have to protect ourselves from airborne threats that are more frequent or not. As we are here, I think we're fine, but if their's a living test subject with the disease..."

Aston Turrell

Aston looked at the doctors assembled before him, a good group worthy of working with him to combat the disease. They all seemed fit and ready to begin their work. One doctor seemed especially focused on the task and spoke with barely controlled enthusiasm asking about how they would go about fighting the disease. Aston listened to what the doctor had to say and carefully measured his tone before responding and as calm and inviting a voice as he could, usually a voice reserved for newly acquired apprentices to calm their nerves.

"A good question my friend, Lan was it? We are required to Annalise separate stages of infection, whether it be the incubation period, the first warning signs or the fatal breakdown and failure of the organs leading to hemorrhaging. This though will come only after the most pressing questions about the virus are answered. What is the source or carrier? How is MAD transmitted from one to another and who has the best chance of surviving. I will be overseeing the investigation and directing the guards in their duties as well as conducting my own highly classified research into the disease. Let it be known that encroachment on this private research is an act of treason against the unified government of the wastes and will treated as such." Aston stopped and drew his breath before calmly finishing "Any questions? "

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Francis Griffith

Francis had arrived early but hadn't spoken or really been recognized in anything but a physical sense, he towered over the other guards and was self confident in his ability to outmatch any of them, except the captain she gave of bad waves of authority and even madness, Francis would be wary of her. Francis' head snapped towards the voice of discontent amongst the crowd of guards. The voice was coming from a ghoul on the other side of the room, the only one who came close to matching Francis physically. The voice would make the captain angry, worse it would make the doctor angry, bad things happened when that doctor was angry.

Francis stood up and thrust a powerfist coated finger at the ghoul " You need to shut your mouth man, don't say things you might regret later! we got told to guard these doctors and we need to do it, or are you to chicken to follow orders? Maybe you need to go get sent to Doctor Turrell I'm sure he could sort you out, yeh he'd stop you complaining." Francis trailed off in a disjointed laughter.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ru took a long drag from a newly lit cigarette as he stared at the corpse that was face down in a puddle in front of him. The water was tainted with the blood of the body. The blood of an infected.

"Last stage of the disease. You poor woman. But why are you so [censored] close to the camp. I haven't even started Day 1 yet." Ru waved to his companion who was standing quite a ways from the body. "Get the gloves, vials, and turpentine. We're doing this by the book."

When all the materials were gathered Ru quickly went to work. With the latex gloves safely on, he collected samples of the water, and blood from the victim, carefully sealing each sample in its own vial and sterilzing everything that came in contact with the pathogen.

Just as he was putting the samples away, a thought occurred to him. He grabbed a scalpel and gently cut open one of the larger welts on the woman's face. It oozed out the most disgusting puss he could ever imagine, giving off such an awful odor. In Ru's experience, blood samples seemed the standard thing to obtain, but he wondered if these welts had any significance. They reminded him of the ancient disease The Bubonic Plauge. It was one of the many diseases mentioned in the medical textbooks he's read. Maybe there would be something interesting in the puss.

After setting fire to the body and covering every inch of his hands with iodine, Ru and his companion made the last streach to the camp.

"What are you going to do with those samples?", said the now somewhat respectful companion.

"Me. Jack [censored]. But Dr. Aston might find them interesting, but then again maybe not. My expertise ends at dealing with infected people. When it comes to actually fighting whatever the hell this is, I dont even know the first step. Still...I trust the doctor. As long as I am careful, I should be able to avoid infection long enough for the Doc to find a cure. Thats all normal folks like us can do. Do our part in stopping the spread of this disease, and give our doctors and scientist every bit of time we can."

The camp was now in view, and it appeared they were rather late. Most everyone else were already settling in. Still, Ru went off to find Aston and let him know that he's here, and to turn in these samples.

John listened intently to everything that Aston had to say regarding the task at hand. He couldn't help feeling that something was wrong with this whole scenario. It wasn't the presence of the Enclave that worried him now, but the so called classified research that Aston was conducting. He couldn't help thinking that there was more to this than just curing the disease. Usually when classified research was involved, it quite often meant that there was something more sinister going on. It wasn't that John was paranoid. He had been travelling the wasteland formerly known as the United Sates for over two centuries. He was there when the bombs fell. And he had seen firsthand the cruelty of mankind. Still, it wouldn't deter him form the task at hand. There was work to be done.

"I have a question if you don't mind. Where would you like us to begin? I have to assume that you have samples of the disease to work with, but I am curious as to whether or not there is anyone nearby that is currently infected. You must agree that being able to perform tests on a living subject would have much better results than simply staring at DNA samples under a microscope." John had not yet removed his sunglasses and he stared at the Aston with cold eyes. He was finding it very difficult to trust Aston right now. John didn't like secrets, not when lives were at stake. He walked a little closer to Aston and spoke low enough for only him to hear.

"At your earliest convenience, I think we need to have a little talk" John Smiled at Aston and waited to be told where to begin.

ooc: have to drop out, sorry, someone can take over my character if you want. I wont be on much and have finals and other stuff i have to take care of

fair enough mate, real life has to come first. It will be a shame to have to carry on without you.

Aston turned to Face Dr Clarke, it appeared he had given away more than he inteded in his warning not to interupt his more clandestine experiments. Aston replied to John his voice calm but forebodeing. " My friend, you know that my door is always open to you. Im an open book to answer any questions you may have. For now though you must trust me and understand that in however many years time when the wasteland has recovered, when America once agian IS the home of the free and the land of the brave that children will learn aobut us as a defineing moment in history. The will learn that even when the sky was darkest with clouds of storm and monstorous hail that people stood firm and defeated the evils that beset the land. Our names will be there alongside Flemming, Voltair, Jenner. We must not let anything stand in our way, this is bigger than us, this bigger than the unified powers, this is bigger than petty morality. You're questions must wait for an hour though, I have....buisness to attend to."

Aston turned and walked away, his calm speech had turned into something of a tyrade at the man who had inspired him to become a doctor, 'who is he to question me and the way I choose to conduct myself' Aston thought to himself. ' I who has saved the wastes from the grip of disease than Clarke had drawn breath. ' Aston put his rage to side for a moment. Taya, the female ghoul doctor was in the corner starstruck by the equipment, more advanced than anything non government sponsored doctors could ever dream of. " Beautifull isn't it, we are going to need every last inch of this apperatus to stave of this disease. Would you mind terribley, Taya is it? If I asked you to come and help me with some personal research." Aston's voice smooth and full of charm to the point of being almost oily sounding. Taya complied and followed Aston to the tent at the back of the camp that made up his private research quarters, The tent was pitch black with a blood red hospitellier cross on the front.

Aston held out hope that this time it would be different, that he would find what he was looking for but alas, it always ended in the same way. Taya had barely made contact with anyone, doctor or gaurd, her absence would not be missed.

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The post isn't as good as it should be I know but the Board deleted my origional so I had to re-do it.

John had to admit that he was starting to dislike Aston more and more. In John's eyes nothing was bigger than morality. They were doctors after all, and they were supposed to be moral. John watched as Aston took Nancy and left the tent. John felt a little twinge of fear as they walked out as he wasn't sure what Aston was up to, and after the tirade he was just subjected to, he found himself worried for Nancy. John sat down on a stool and began to speak to himself, loud enough for the other doctor to hear.

"I SWEAR in the presence of the Almighty and before my family, my teachers and my peers that according to my ability and judgment I will keep this Oath and Stipulation.
TO RECKON all who have taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents and in the same spirit and dedication to impart a knowledge of the art of medicine to others. I will continue with diligence to keep abriast of advances in medicine. I will treat without exception all who seek my ministrations, so long as the treatment of others is not compromised thereby, and I will seek the counsel of particularly skilled physicians where indicated for the benefit of my patient.
I WILL FOLLOW that method of treatment which according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patient and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievous. I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that deliberately takes a unique human life.
WITH PURITY, HOLINESS AND BENEFICENCE I will pass my life and practice my art. Except for the prudent correction of an imminent danger, I will neither treat any patient nor carry out any research on any human being without the valid informed consent of the subject or the appropriate legal protector thereof, understanding that research must have as its purpose the furtherance of the health of that individual. Into whatever patient setting I enter, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief or corruption and further from the seduction of any patient.
WHATEVER IN CONNECTION with my professional practice or not in connection with it I may see or hear in the lives of my patients which ought not be spoken abroad, I will not divulge, reckoning that all such should be kept secret.
WHILE I CONTINUE to keep this Oath unviolated may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art and science of medicine with the blessing of the Almighty and respected by my peers and society, but should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot." When John had finished he looked over the face of the doctor who was now staring at him

"I really hope you were listening. You have chosen to be a doctor. As such, these are the words that you should live your life by." John hoped that the oath wasn't lost on him. It was at this moment that John realized that Aston had not told them what to do just yet.

"Listen, I know that I am not in charge here, but I will not sacrifice the life of anyone to save my own. I have been around far too long to watch more people die for another's jaded goals. We need to work together and we need to be ethical in our treatment of our patients and each other." John looked around and realized he didn't know the name of the other doctor in the tent. He shook his head and decided he could get to know him soon enough. There was something he wanted to do first. Standing up he looked over at the computer terminal and then to the other doctor.

"See what you can find out on that terminal. I wish to speak with the captain for a moment. And by the way, my name is John." John turned his back and walked out of the tent.

There was a light drizzle falling form the sky and some of the guards were standing outside. John didn't see the Captain among them and assumed she must be in the next tent. He started to approach the tent when something caught the corner of his eye. Removing his glasses he looked at the two figures that were approaching. John reached down to his pistol and made sure it was on the stun setting.

"Captain! We have company!" John was surprised that the other guards hadn't noticed the approaching figures and turned his attention to them They were standing around nonchalantly, talking amongst themselves.

"All of you, look alive!" Although it was highly possible that these two were more of the people Aston had recruited, he couldn't be sure. He kept his hand on his pistol and waited to see what would happen next.

The experiment with Taya had failed, the slim hope that Aston held out that the disease could be combated without his full plan being put into horrible and destructive fruition had evaporated with the doctors dieing screams. Aston walked over to the microphone that would send his voice booming through the loud speakers to remove any pretense other than what the groups true purpose at this facility was. Aston sighed as he lifetd the microphone to his lips, the metallic smell of the device reminding him that he was still human, that he still had a chance to do the noble thing and go back to traditional scientific research. Aston crossed himself and uttered a quick prayer, begging for forgiveness before he spoke. Astons voice was cold and emotionless as he spoke.

" This is secretary of public health and head doctor Aston Turrell. By order of the combined government you have been selected for this programme and lured here under the false pretense that you will be actively combating the disease known as the MAD virus. While this is partially true you will not be infact be conducting your research on samples and test subjects. The food and water all doctors have consumed over the course of the past twelve hours was laced with three chemicals, Sodium pentathol, a very mild sedative to make you incapable of sustained high speed movement and finally the MAD virus. You have three weeks to find a cure, any attempt on my life and any escape attempt will be.....discouraged, the guards are hardly likely to let infected out into the world. you all have hypodermic needles, anolysis of your own blood is an advisable first step. I along with my personal guard Francis Griffith will be conducting research in my personal tent, I encourage you to pay a visit. Guards by the way, are free of infection"

Aston put down the microphone and sank back into his wingback chair, wondering how many of his colleagues would attempt to kill him in the next hour and what creative ways Francis would use to restrain them.

Lan Cheffe

As I heard the announcement my eyes narrowed, "The bastard, the complete and utter BASTARD. He gives us three [censored] weeks to live? That's it? Three weeks to figure this out? I swear if I get my hands on him he's a dead man, a dead man..." Most of that was mumbled to myself as well, except for the bastard comments. Rolling my shoulders I walked over to a lab table and picked up a needle, I followed Aston's advice and withdrew a sizable amount of my own blood.

If I couldn't kill him, then maybe there were other paths that could be taken; maybe there were other things that could be done. Scratching my chin I thought it through but nothing came to my mind, scowling I put a bit of my blood under a microscope and started anolysing it. If I had three weeks and I couldn't do anything than I may as well put my last bit of life to something usefel.

Freddy Flame

As I listened to the broadcast I thought it through, this was quite interesting when you thought about it. A stray thought entered my head though, were WE infected as well? Or was it just the scientists? Scratching my chin I sat down in a chair and stared blankly at the wall, why had I agreed to this? Scowling I looked off into the distance and resisted the urge to sigh, such is life I guessed.

Leaning back up against the chair with more force I blinked a few times, thinking about how to do this properly.

Ru walked into a camp that was in the midst of a panic. People were seemingly avoiding eachother, some were angry, some were distressed, and a large group of people were rushing towards one of the tents. Cautiously, he approached a ghoul dressed in a lab coat. He was obviously in shock, but Ru wanted to try getting some information.

"Excuse me, doctor...whats happening?" The ghoul simply stood there, deep in thought, seemingly unaware of Ru's presence.

"Come on sir! Lets find a real doctor! This [censored] zombie can't tell us [censored]. I wouldn't be suprised if one of the doctors gave him that coat because he was half-naked!", said Ru's companion.

Ru just realised that was the first time, the kid called him "sir". It would have been under happier circumstances if he didn't act like such a bigot in the same breath, but it was stil something. "Uh, no he's a doctor. Trust me on this one. I recognize him. We've met once before.", Ru told the kid.

"Um...sir. You probably dont recognize me, but I have something important in my possesion. We encountered the corpse of an infected individual who died at the last stage of the MAD virus. I collected various samples from the body before properly disposing of it. I think you should have a look at them sir, or at least direct them to someone who can anolyze them."

The doctor looked at Ru bankly as he took the samples Ru handed him. It only made Ru that much more concerned.

"Sir...Do you need any kind of help. I can do anything you want once I report to Doctor Aston."

John didn't hear a word of what the two were saying to him, at least not until Ru mentioned the samples. He looked up at the man who claimed to know him. John had met a lot of people in his travels, and generally remembered them all.

"I'm sorry, I was a little distracted by the announcement which Aston just made. I'm guessing you didn't hear it." John's tone was a little morbid. Quickly changing it, he forced a smile.

"Shun Ru, isn't it? Yes, I remember you from Rivet City." John took the samples from him and looked at them. If only Shun had arrived twelve hours earlier, maybe things would be different.

"Thank you for the samples. I'm sure I can put them to good use. Now if you will excuse me, I must get to the lab and get to work. It appears that time is of the essence. Please come and see me after you have had a talk with Aston." With that, John turned and made his way back inside the lab.

Lan was hard at work, examining something under a microscope. John assumed that it had to be a blood sample. John sat on a stool and put the samples which Shun had collected on the table next to him and stared at Lan.

"So?see anything interesting? If not, perhaps these will help," John said, holding one of the samples towards him.

Lan Cheffe

As I anolysed the blood sample nothing odd came up, replacing the slides I put another drop of blood onto the new slide and checked it. The exact same thing came up, cursing and throwing the slide onto the ground in a rage I realised that John had just came up and was asking what I'd found out. Taking a few calm breaths I quietly said, "Nothing, absolutely nothing has changed in the bloodstream. Your samples that you acquired," pointing to the other man, "are fresh I'm guessing?"

After a curt nod I took one of the samples off him and checked it over with the naked eye, it seemed to be quite different. Pursing my lips together I looked at John, "You should probably check this over instead of me. You've had many years more experience than me and I can't work in these conditions at the moment, being told your going to die isn't a great way to work. That's the wrong type of pressure you know?" Balling up my fists I just took another breath and looked at John square in the eyes.

"You were a doctor before the War right? Was there anything like this that happened in the Past before?"

Ru started to worry as he approached Aston's tent. The crowd he saw earlier was already there, and they looked very distressed. Several people in power armor suddenly came and started pushing the crowd away. Some even discharged their weapons into the air, which managed to finally scare most of them away.

As Ru got close to the tent, one of the people in power armor pointed a plasma pistol at him. They looked rather trigger happy.

"Back the [censored] off! Back the [censored] off! I mean it! No one hurts Doc Aston! So help me god we'll blow your head off you damn chink!!!", said the guard who's voice reveiled them to be a woman.

Ru was a little thrown back by her last remark. She wasn't wearing Enclave Power Armor for nothing. That was probably the first time in his life that Ru was ever insulted for being chinese. There were plenty of other more radical differences between people these days, and most folks didn't bother getting that picky on who they hate. Aparrently there were still some fanatics in the Enclave who could hate an enemy that hadn't existed for two centuries. It was certainly food for thought, but for another time.

"Guard Shun Ru reporting for duty madam, if I may adress you in that way." Ru quickly gave her a stern salute, figuring military types like her liked to see that kind of crap. "I'm a late arrival from Rivet City. I have information that may be of some interest to Doctor Aston. I'm also here to get updated on the current situation."

Before the woman could respond, Aston's voice came from inside the tent. "Let him in. He's...A friend."

Ru quietly walked past the woman and her fellow power armored colleagues, and entered the tent. Inside, he saw a very serious looking Aston. "It's good to see you Aston. I certainly hope nothing is wrong."

Dr Aston Turrell Case Dictation 4


" I told the doctors, I couldn't bare to keep them ignorant of their demise. I haven't left my tent as of yet, but neither shame nor fear keeps me in isolation but the immense workload I give myself. Corpses have been brought to me, they reek of death and are caked with the hemorrhaged that typifies the latter stages of the mad virus. My initial suspicions, fears hammered further past the point of sheer coincidence. In every body the pattern is the same, humans keep the disease incubated for two weeks and two days without ill effect. The ghouls though, the disease just seems to incubate for much longer, staying in that stage for months. What in those festering husks of beings is keeping this monsterous disease at bay? I shall conduct further experiments, I shall also converse with Clarke on the matter."

Dr Aston Turrell Personal Diary

" I hear them outside my tent, the names they hurl at me, you wouldn't believe. If only they put as much energy to curing themselves then they would have no cause to complain. A doctor burst into my tent earlier today with a scalpel threatening acts of terrible violence, Francis restrained the enraged man. I allowed him ten minutes to become calm but he was unable to so I was forced to labotamise, I will send him back into the camp as a warning. I feel increasingly detached emotionally from the fates of the infected. I declined to pray for the fate of the doctors for the first time today, what we are doing shall b remembered for all time, they have the opportunity to cure this infernal virus yet they use their rather limited time on this earth to cower and lash out at me.. Whatever fate they receive they deserve. A guard enters my tent, I shall end this entry for now."

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" Nothing is wrong my friend, nothing for you to concern yourself with anyway. Just know that there has been......a contamination. No doctor is to leave the camp do you understand? " Aston did not wait for an answer before continuing. " Good lad, remember report any treasonous activities to either myself, the captain or Francis here." Aston pointed at the hulking guard who punctuated his name with a confrontational grunt. " Now if you leave to my work I would be very greatfull."

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OOC: Sorry for the weird structure of the post, I was gonna post this yesterday but my computer messed up and I had to adjust it for Wasteland Scholars post.