Episode One: Man in the Box

Man in the Box

Olivia Warren hated her job.

She hated the blood. She especially hated the needles. How exactly she got involved in the medical field she could never understand.

Perhaps it was the money, there was a shortage of nursing around the city and she jumped at the chance to make a little bit of extra cash. She thought that maybe someday she will be able to get out of her San Francisco apartment actually move into a decent sized home.

Needles.

The streets were full of them now. The city's homeless crisis had gotten out of hand. She didn't care which political party would fix it, only that it would be fixed. Olivia felt that the world had forgotten about her. Her coworkers never asked her how she was doing. The politicians definitely didn't care. She hadn't spoken to her family members in months.

These late nights were stressful. She would get off work at 11:15 and have to walk all the way back to her apartment. It was a one room efficiency apartment with the kitchenette off to the left after one had walked through the door.

Olivia had a small TV. Everything was high definition now. She had a small high definition TV and stereo sitting on the floor of her apartment. She was able to afford a queen sized bed that also sat on the floor with the TV in front of it.

One day she was going to be able to purchase a home.

Water slowly began to pelt her face and auburn hair.

There was a light rain under a full moon.

She kept walking along the lonely sidewalks.

There was no one around. She was surrounded by the twisting trees that lined the walkway. It seemed as if the trees moved in the silvery moonlight. It looked almost as if the twisting trees were alive and moving.

Olivia knew this had to be her imagination playing tricks on her.

She had not seen a car for the past couple miles or so.

She had gotten used to walking long distances.

Like everything else, gas was way too expensive.

Down the street she noticed what looked like red headlights.

Coming towards her.

For some reason she felt the need to pause and look at the oncoming car.

She thought she heard a helicopter.

Helicopter blades flapping in the air.

The red lights approached.

She froze.

It looked like an insect.

It had the body of a human.

The flapping became louder.

The glow from the red eyes almost enveloped her.

She was frozen in a state of fear. She could feel the sweat on her palms. She was dripping with sweat.

It had the body of the human but the faces something different.

It was the face of a moth.

Frozen in terror Olivia could only watch as it stopped a few feet away from her face.

The creature let out a shrill scream that almost destroyed her ears.

A wind blew across the twisting trees.

She heard a voice from behind her.

"Don't move Olivia."

"Don't move. Don't look around."

"I need to know if you have it."

You must not move.

The disembodied voice from behind her was coming quickly.

"Do not move. I'm going to reach in your pocket.

"You cannot move."

"Do you have it? It's one of the keys."

"I'm going to reach in your back pocket now."

"Do not move."

Caught between the creature and some disembodied voice of a man behind her, Olivia Warren felt she had no choice but to run sideways towards the twisting trees that were moving in the wind.

As she turned to run, Olivia Warren felt stabbing pains throughout her body. She felt stings on her arms and legs.

She knew that feeling.

As she looked down she finally let out a brutal scream.

Her body was being punctured by several syringes with hypodermic needles.

This is exactly what she was afraid of.

She collapsed to the ground on the sidewalk.

In the darkness, as her consciousness was fading she could see the man behind her standing over her.

"I told you not to move, I don't know if I can fix it."

The man's face looked as if it contorted in pain as he moved his hands around.

A green light enveloped the night.

Olivia Warren's vision was blurry.

The green light was the last thing she would ever see.

(Here is the part where you as the players get to take over. You can choose where to start. Such as at your faction's HQ.)