[2-8] The Campground

[Hiro Protagonist]

-click-

The removable Communicator module slid back into his wristcomp. He'd removed it when it was apparent communication was impossible, to save on battery life, but now it seemed that whatever he'd done had made it infinitely more valuable slotted in. Tweaking the wavelength, he tried to get the signal back as he and Barry pushed out the door of the lighthouse into the misty dawn. It was still very early, early enough that the sun hadn't risen high enough to cut through the eldritch fog surrounding their collective prison.

-kzzsshhh- -fzzzt-

C-connection established.

The hacker allowed himself a small smile and paused outside the lighthouse, watching Barry lug the briefcase outside. "Marcus, come in Marcus. This is Hiro. If you read this, I managed to reactivate communications, somehow. If you can see a lighthouse, head towards it, there's provisions inside." The message would go through and be saved as a voicemail if the robotic soldier didn't pick up. 

After a few more minutes of rest, Barry looked at Hiro and asked, "So now what? I really think we should get out of here." The cyber samurai nodded in response and scanned the trees around them. His goggles had a simple compass mod in them, and they had approached from the south west. North it was, then. "Let's keep moving. It's odd that we haven't really run into any other survivors yet. Let's see if they've managed to make it off the- huh?"

"Hiro. Hiro, answer me."

The hacker frowned. A voice came over his commicator, right into his earbuds. An unfamiliar, female voice. "Hello? Yes, this is Hiro....how do you know my name?" He held up a palm to Barry as he fiddled with the reception, the signal coming in waves of static and sound. The mystery girl spoke again. "That's not important right now. You're at the lighthouse, right? You have to be."

Her tone wasn't sinister; she sounded tired, pleading, almost desperate. The kind of voice that would make any red blooded chivalrous man spring to it's assistance. Which was almost clairvoyant, since the next thing she did was ask for help. "Please....this island. It's horrible. I'm a few miles north of the lighthouse. If you can, please help me. I'll explain when you get here. I'm being -ksszz- for -ffszzzt-. They've started -bzzzzzt-."

The signal fizzled and died again, and this time Hiro wasn't able to get a communications lock. However, enough of it was still transmitting that the systems whiz was able to kludge together a rudimentary tracking filter fron several different programs in his wristcomp. "Barry," he called, sounding a bit roguish. "We have a new goal. Rescuing a damsel in distresss."

The bartender couldn't help but chuckle. "Man, you're really living up to your name today. But, uh, I got a question." The hacker looked back at him. "Could you carry this goddamn briefcase for a while?"

Hiro strode forward towards the direction of the signal. "Sure, I'll carry the briefcase, and you can have my swords, goggles and daggers. Here, take my jacket too. Then you can be the badass cannibal fighter while I run away and drink."

Barry punched him in the shoulder. "I did not run away, and besides, you drank plenty last night. Also, who's the one who unlocked a freaky box and made us vomit blood, huh?" They both laughed, and continued into the woods. Amazing what good natured bitching will do for an uneasy sense of dread.