#dehqevent003

It hadn't been noticeable at first, people go missing all the time every once in awhile, someone wondered off into the woods, some joined the children, some simply leaving Burnington for greener grass. It wasn't really in Ash's jurisdiction to be looking into missing persons anyways, peacekeepers on that more than the militia. It wasn't until they started getting requests to help look into some of the missing people when they realized how large it had gotten in a single week and now even one of their own hasn't reported back to them when he should've. The missing persons reports seem to be rampant and overwhelming, the only logical way forward in his mind was to pitch in to help with some of the search party themselves.

he got the news late. too late for comfort. archie wasn't what anyone would consider a warrior nor was he trained in any sort of combat, but he was, first and foremost, a big brother and a man hopelessly in love with one woman. both of which meant he told daye he had to go find them and had him running ( driving ) head first into the city armed with little more than a pistol he's never had to use and a first aid kit delia put together for him ages ago in the trunk of his car.

of course he couldn't get too close with all the shit in the streets so he got as close as he could manage to the crow's nest and he did the rest on foot. once he got close enough to the motel is when he started yelling.

"delia? darcy? cape? hello?"

he moved past people still fighting and moving forward with the hoard, light brown eyes frantically darting from face to face until he saw one of them. until he saw her.

"del?" a lump rose in his throat as he rushed to her side and immediately crouched down at her side. "hey baby, hi, oh god..." he bit at his clenched fist in front of his mouth, trying to hold back a sob wanting to come out at the sight of her hurt. "fuck, i, um. what happened?" his hands hovered over her, afraid to touch and make it worse. "w-what can i do? tell me what to do." he said the thought out loud, powerless and lost in the moment. this was her territory. delia was who he would go to if there was a medical issue and public servant first responder training didn't cover anything close to this. as if he could remember half of it.

✱ DEHQ EVENT 003 : EXODUS

In the weeks following the arrival of an antidote to the cicada toxin and the removal of five members of the Children of Mothman from the gates into the city, a fragile sense of calm seems to have settled over Devil’s Elbow. Storefronts are rebuilt, supplies are replenished, and it appears, if only for a moment, as if Burnington might finally be on the mend. Of course, nothing good ever lasts forever, does it?

Over the course of a week at the beginning of August, people begin to go missing. It’s a quiet affair—there does not seem to be any violence, any evidence that it is an act of organized crime. It would appear as if people simply up and abandoned their homes. To go where? It’s unclear. But as more and more people begin to go missing, the peacekeepers tasked with taking the reports and finding the citizens quickly become overwhelmed. 

Any suspicion that their vanishing is a result of gang activity is seemingly quashed by the inexplicably equalizing nature of the disappearances. Every community in Burnington seems to be affected, from regular citizens to Jackals and Shamrocks, even the militia and family of Governance officials. (In fact, it’s been said that the peacekeepers only got involved once the Governance was affected.) There’s not a person in Burnington who does not know someone who’s gone missing, and with tensions high between all factions trying to survive in the town, rumors of who—or what—is behind the disappearances run abound. 

The Daily Burn and WDER, in an attempt to give the people a voice, have opened up their lines to the public. Whether you’re calling or writing in, citizens are encouraged to reach out and share their opinions and theories as well as offer support to each other in these trying times. During this time, we ask that players submit anything from thoughts to rumors to @wderdailyburn—no matter how outrageous, your opinions deserve to be heard. Do you have thoughts on what might have happened to the missing people? Or perhaps you think you’ve got a hot lead on how Afterglow is behind it all. Whatever it is, we want to hear from you, Devil’s Elbow. 

Your uncensored submissions will be published for all listeners and readers on this side of the East Atlantic, so keep WDER close, stay hydrated and stay safe, survivors.

MISSING ! if you have any information about these individuals, please let peacekeepers know.

➥ joey heart ・ meat clerk at the peppered pig (neutral) ➥ kristine neely ・ tailor at the sewing room (neutral) ➥ brigid sheppard ・ bartender at the mad scientist (neutral) ➥ marco morandi ・ ranch hand at tatum dairy farm (jackals member) ➥ gladys ford ・ central market vendor (neutral) ➥ juniper driscoll ・ bartender at the sound factory (neutral) ➥ libby mcdevitt ・ central market vendor (children of mothman initiate) ➥ evan wilton ・ alchemist at remedy roots (neutral) ➥ joseph levitt ・ mortician at moore funeral home (neutral) ➥ luinda york ・ tattoo artist at the fishery (neutral) ➥ gerardo de fiore ・ maintenance worker at the crow's nest motel (neutral) ➥ laila hughes ・ distiller at big mama mabel's (children of mothman neophyte) ➥ ethan tatum ・ tatum dairy farm (silver lining soldier / jackals prospect) ➥ bairre o’brien ・ broker at hell's gate (shamrocks capo) ➥ mirabelle mckenna ・ community worker (east atlantic governance) ➥ priyanka singh ・ headquarters official (afterglow research solutions) ➥ ximena muñoz  ・ host at red line diner (silver lining soldier) ➥ ace ingram ・ reporter at the daily burn (neutral) ➥ melvyn dwerryhouse ・ chief peace officer (east atlantic governance) ➥ laureen macfarland ・ cashier at barley & rye (neutral)

OOC :

he wasn't sure how much worth he was to the jackals to start with, already limping after finally getting the window open to his old bedroom at du pont manor ( where his father was keen to keep him guarded for an undetermined amount of time ) he hung off the window sill hoping his height would make the drop easy. unfortunately he hurt his ankle on the landing but that didn't slow him down, no weston hobbled to where his motorcycle was parked away in the garage and flew like a bat out of hell into burnington.

weston was trying to help those he could see get out of the way and back into safety. someone handed him a pistol at some point, though wes could count how many times he'd shot a gun on one hand. anytime wes had gotten into a fight of sorts, it was with his bare hands. obviously, that wouldn't work here. he was trying. it was a familiar face he'd moved to help. it was the other person that moved forward, the one that was injured with the marks that indicated they were infected ( something wes didn't notice or know to look for ), that lunged forward pleading for help. the shot that went through their skull seemingly came out of nowhere.

all he knows is it wasn't then pistol in his hand and his face was splattered with blood and gods only know what else.

instantly his ears began ringing and everything was going in slow motion. some part of him knew he had to move, he needed to get out of the way or react but he couldn't move. he'd never seen someone, infected or not, get shot before. or die for that matter. he couldn't focus on anything, he couldn't think, all he could do was stand there covered in blood. "uh... " he murmured in response, slowly taking a few steps back after a moment. he didn't know it, or anything else at the moment, but weston was in shock.

one thing about living on the compound is that when things happened within afterglow, and it happened a lot more than they'd like people to let on, it meant he didn't have to drive far to talk to anyone that might be suspicious or have information about things under investigation. right now, it was obviously the mass of missing people disappearing out of devil's elbow and in particular, those in relation to afterglow or the governance, like their chief. one of the people they were looking at was felix estrada, his still legally married wife being one of those disappearing. but emiliano never quite knew what to think of the man, he seemed nice enough the few times they spoke just a bit, off.

dixie was fixin' to lose her goddamn mind if she had to wake up in that hospital bed one more day. the pain meds could only do so much when the problem was at the central of her nervous system. maybe there was something wrong with her and that was why she couldn't sleep worth a shit, partially sitting up ( as much as they'd allow her to with the stupid brace on ). they said she could leave a couple days after the last surgery, but they'd yet to schedule it and she was going to pitch a fit if it wasn't soon.

as such, she hit the call button to get a doctor to come in and talk to her or a nurse to grab one. whatever is clever. once someone showed up, dixie frowned. she recognized her but not from this place it was the doctor from burnington. "hey, you're not supposed to be here. didn't i yell at you at the clinic a couple months ago?" granted dixie yelled at a lot of doctors that day. "sorry i'm not tryin' to be a dang howler, but i ain't heard from that blonde surgeon or whatever and i thought my last surgery was supposed to be today? i'm losin' my mind in this place." she wanted to go home, not that it would be any better there but it would be a start.

all around, it was likely a good thing that milo had gone through his entire work day without knowing what was going on outside in the streets of burnington. his noise cancelling headphones on so he could catch up with the moore funeral home backlog. it wasn't until the co-owner came in did he even know something had happened and then he'd seen the missed calls on his phone from both miah and frankie.

after he'd gone to check in on his older brother he made a promise to return, but there was obviously work to be done that could be seen on the street. that meant everyone available needed to get out there and start collecting bodies both for people to identify and to take care of so they could have a proper send off. it was incredibly important to milo that no one's loved one get left out to the elements if he could help it.

he was in the middle of loading someone, or what used to be someone as it is, into the back of one of the retrieval vans and as he slammed the door shut he felt the eyes on him. milo looked around until he found where they were coming from. "hi, um, hey can i help you? do you need something?"

dixie doesn't know what day it is anymore. all she knows is she's had two surgeries and was due for one more before she was going to be allowed to leave. shouldn't be more than a week, they said but she knew even when she did finally get out of there, she wasn't going anywhere for a good long while.

"well don't just stand there, get in here an' say hi. it ain't like i can come grab you." she called out when she noticed the blonde best friend of her brother lingering in the doorway. "i didn't know beau brought you with him. i think ziggy's had his fill of this place, i can't blame them." it's a wonder beau can even set foot in that place again, but she's happy he can because as good a boyfriend as judah is and even her roommates are, ain't no one out there as good as her big brother.

"got any miracle cures for catching stray bullets, soldier boy?"