Viktor; Dimitri; Adair; Nellie

Dimitri had seen what this disease could do to animals, and even humans. But so far, nobody seemed to know what caused it. Dimitri would be content just culling all the diseased animals. Viktor, however, preferred to take the chance to study this strange disease, and he hoped he could bring a few samples back to study. Adair, a police officer - one of the few who wasn't corrupted - tagged along. She brought with her a friend, Nellie Cardigan, a reporter for a local news organization.

"I'm telling you, it's in the water." Dimitri suggested as the group exited the truck.
"We don't know that." Came Viktor's indifferent reply.
"But you know it's probably the case." Dimitri said in his usual dark and gloomy way.
The was a pause. "Maybe." Viktor finally agreed. Of course, it was just a guess. The disease seemed to be mainly around the water sources right now, but still, nobody knew for sure if that was the cause.
The whole time, Nellie was simply scribbling on a piece of paper. It was a habit. She would take notes even if there was nothing to report.
In the trunk were four hazmat suits, which Viktor preferred he and his companions wore. They would not be taking any chances today.

Adair stepped up onto the porch and knocked on the door. She hadn't changed out of her police uniform, so it might be a bit of a surprise to see a cop on the doorstep.

Nadeem Tarak

More reports had been filtering in about ill animals, which at first Nadeem had chalked up to some mild bug going around; but when he started seeing how many different kinds of animals were affected, from deer, to wolves, to birds, to rodents... he knew it probably wasn't a virus. But then what could it be? Another contamination like they'd had a few years back, that killed so many fish and poisoned so much of the local wildlife? Whatever it was, the need to find out the source of it became much greater when humans started to show up with the same general symptoms as the animals.

Today was the day that Nadeem hoped to find out more about the sickness, and in preparation for it, he'd posted bulletins around town to invite volunteers to help with his research. And about this time, as he was organizing a few last-minute items to a large backpack, that a knock sounded at the door. Setting his stuff aside, the young, curly-haired man approached the door and opened it - and promptly froze for a second or two when he saw a police officer was standing there. "Can I help you with something?" Of course, the very first thing that came to mind was that something must have happened to his house; had the CrypticSilvers ransacked it again? Had something happened to the Wallocks?!

Adair & Others

Adair waited patiently, hearing footsteps with her acute hearing. Her senses were quite good; it was a genetic trait in her family. She stepped back a few inches to allow space for the door to open. She was a bit surprised to see a scrawny man leading the hunt. She expected somebody who looked like he could kill a bear with a single punch to the head. Nevertheless, she smiled politely. "No, sir. I'm sorry to alarm you." Her voice was cool and calm, and she acted almost as if this was a fine summer day and she had a lemonade in one hand and a beach towel in the other. "We actually saw the bulletins you posted. Are you still inviting others to investigate the animals with you?"

Nellie raised her head, moving her curly read hair out of her face. She pushed her glasses back up over her green eyes. She smiled and waved. "Nellie Cardigan here." Dimitri and Viktor remained quite quiet, as usual, and the former glanced around nervously. Normally he loved hunting, but he wasn't so sure about going straight toward the disease, a silent killer.

Nadeem Tarak

What a relief Adair's words were! Nadeem quickly brightened up and held a hand out to shake with the officer, "Yes, yes, I'm actually just finishing packing." Little by little, his tense muscles unwound and his thoughts returned back to the expedition. Peering past Adair, the man smiled in return to Nellie, "Nadeem Tarak. It's a pleasure to see so many interested in helping. Please, come inside. I've almost gotten everything packed." He stepped back inside after gesturing the others to follow, and strode across the floor towards an oblong table near the side of the main room.

"I've two agendas for the expedition today, one being the main goal of examining the area for any clues to what's causing the sickness." His back was currently turned to the others while he was bent over the table, shuffling some papers into a folder, and glancing over a notebook filled with scribbles in Devanagari. "Secondly, I was interested in tagging a few individuals and placing tracking collars on them. Ahh, there we are." After murmuring something to himself and packing the papers into the backpack, he turned to another back laying further down the table, and rummaged through it to bring out a few facial masks. "I'd strongly advise wearing these once we get to our destination. We aren't sure what's causing the symptoms, but whatever it is, it's hitting the respiratory system very quickly." He couldn't be sure if the masks would stop them from getting sick, but it was precaution well worth trying, at least.

Isabella Wayson

Isabella had noticed the sickness among the animals, she tended to be very observant when it came to them and she had seen that many were acting sickly. Like many she had at first chalked the sickness up to something mild that she figured would pass quickly as the animals' immune systems became accustomed to the new threat. But this threat had hung around... And from what she had read in the news papers, it had began to spread to humans. This was a bit unnerving, since she had been observing these animals for quite some time. Their senses had seemed to be down, so she had probably gotten a little closer than she should have. Though, luckily she had not picked up any symptoms yet...

Though, on her most recent trip to town she had seen a bulletin that a local man was leading a group that would be trying to find out what was causing the issues. She was glad to see that more people were interested in finding the truth about this sickness like she was. She would definately go help out the group, after all, she did not really want to be out in the wilderness by herself with chances of contracting the sickness herself. At least with a group, they would be there for each other to watch each other's back.

That was what brought her here now. She pulled up to the address that she had wrote down in her Jeep Wrangler. She did not see any one outside, so she figured that they had already went inside. It figured, she was late once again... Though, she did not hesitate to walk right up to the door and knock on it. She then stood there to wait for an answer...

Dimitri & Others

Adaire usually took the lead ahead of her friends when it came to strangers. After all, if somebody messed with a reputable cop, they'd get into a lot more trouble than if they messed with an angry Russian with questionable ethics. But Nadeem seemed like a nice guy. She shook his hand firmly. "Officer Adair Baine." She entered the house, soon followed by Nellie, and then Dimitri and Viktor.
"Hey, Mr. Tarak. I'm Viktor Volkov and this is my brother, Dimitri." He knew Dimitri probably wasn't going to introduce himself. He was still a bit paranoid. However, Dimitri listened intently. He wasn't so sure about the tracking collars, though, and voiced his opinion on the matter. "I thought we were going to be killing them all." Dimitri said in his thick Russian accent. "Less chance of the disease spreading." His voice was a bit sarcastic. No doubt he'd be driving Nadeem crazy the whole time. "And then we could autopsy them. Good plan, no?"
Viktor gave his brother a pointed glare, as if to reprimand him, but Dimitri just smirked. At least he didn't say anything.

There was the sound of an engine nearby, revving and shifting, and apparently whoever was driving it quite enjoyed himself. Soon a dark red 2009 Dodge Viper stopped in the driveway. The driver, 21 year old Ellis Parker, exited the vehicle and locked it. He too had seen the bulletins. Normally he avoided danger such as this, but his curiosity always got the best of him. Besides, he'd have another story to tell.
He was walking toward the door, and noticed that somebody else was already there. He suddenly recognized her. "Hey, Isabella, right?" He asked, stepping up onto the porch. Surely she would probably remember him from the night club.

Nadeem Tarak

"It's a pleasure to meet you both, and I cannot thank you enough for wanting to help with this." Ever quick to be courteous and polite, the dark-skinned man stuck a hand out for Viktor and Dimitri to shake, then finished handing out the masks for them all to wear. His pleasant smile froze and then faltered when Dimitri gruffly mentioned shooting the animals, prompting Nadeem to quickly try and clarify what he expected of this outing, "Actually you see," A knock at the door and the loud rev of a powerful motor was a thankful distraction for Nadeem, giving him a reason to look away from Dimitri in order to move for the door to answer it, ", I was planning on capturing sick individuals in the hopes of finding ways to treat them. Of course, I expect we'll find deceased animals that we can bring back for studying. I have a few in our freezer, in fact." At this point, he had reached the door and opened it, brandishing a new smile for Isabella and Ellis, "Welcome. Here for the expedition?"

Isabella Wayson

As soon as she had knocked on the door and let her hand fall back to her side she heard the sound of a revving engine coming closer. Who ever was driving it surely was enjoying themselves. Though, she did not pay the noise much attention until the sound became louder and the dark red Dodge Viper came into view. She looked just momentarily, though when she saw the driver get out of his seat, she looked back once more, she recognized him as the man that she had met at the night club not too very long ago.

He reached the porch beside her and a dazzling smile consumed her features. Yep, and it's Ellis right? She was surprised that he had remembered her name and everything. Though, he had so that was always good. Her attire was much different this time than it had been when she had met him the first time. Today she wore just an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt that was a little too big for her slender frame. Her natural copper hair was pulled up in a ponytail.

After the greetings had began between the two of them, the door was opened and another man answered the door. He wore a friendly smile and it was met with Isabella's own glowing smile. She nodded as he spoke, she was here for the expedition and she assumed that Ellis was as well. Yes, I'm Isabella Wayson... She figured she might as well introduce herself to this man if she would be working with him on this trip. A smile was still worn as she waited for something else to happen.

Dimitri & Others

"It's our pleasure, Nadeem. We're glad to be helping out." Viktor replied with a strange sense of calmness. He grabbed a mask, making sure that all of his friends each had one too.
Dimitri was good at bothering people. Usually he wasn't this blunt and snarky, but with Hunter gone and Damian on the prowl, he had to find some way to release his frustration. What better way than this? "And when to we eat them?" He added with a smirk, and this time got a glare from both Viktor and Adair. Yes, Dimitri would be driving Nadeem crazy.
Ellis nodded to Isabella, tipping his hat a bit. "Yes ma'am, Ellis Parker." Despite his love of shooting things and blowing things up - not harming anybody, no - he was strangely very polite. He was raised to treat everybody politely. "It's nice to see you again."
When the door opened, Ellis turned to see Nadeem. It surprised him that somebody Ellis would think of as a geek would be leading an expedition straight into the danger of a disease. Well, he probably knew what he was doing, though. Geeks know everything, right? "Yeah, we're here for the expedition. I'm Ellis Parker." He was ready to get going. He just couldn't wait.

Nadeem Tarak

The curly-haired man glanced back over his shoulder, almost surprised by Dimitri's comment. Very quickly now, he was getting an ill feeling about this man, and wasn't sure how well he could handle him; Nadeem wasn't a weakling by any means, but neither did he work out on a daily basis, and he didn't exactly carry and air of dominant authority about him. He could lead, yes... but he was no alpha. "I'm afraid you may have gotten the wrong impression about this expedition." Nadeem replied as politely as he could, trying his best to avoid any confrontation with the Russian man, "The work today is more about observing the environment and collecting data." He looked back to Isabella and Ellis after this, with his smile looking more apologetic than anything, to make up for the brief interruption, "Nadeem Tarak."

After returning his name, the young man went on, addressing the two new arrivals, "I'm glad you could make it. Here-" From the small stock pile in his backpack, he took out two additional facial masks and handed one each to Isabella and Ellis, "When we get to the bogs, it may be beneficial to wear these. We aren't sure if the sickness is being spread through the air or not, but it's better to be safe than sorry." He shuffled the pack onto his back again and took a moment to size up the crew that was going with him. "I can take three people in my truck, unless the rest don't mind riding in the bed. Otherwise, we may need an additional vehicle to transport the rest."

Isabella Wayson

Isabella smiled to the man who stood on the porch with her, Ellis Parker, she nodded as he confirmed her previous statement. She hoped that their last meeting had not left him with a bad impression of her, after all, by the time she had left the club she had been more than a little intoxicated. Though, he still seemed polite and he stated that it was nice to see her again, so she assumed that she had not made much of a fool out of herself. It is good to see you again as well. Her smile was genuine as she had spoken in reply to the mechanic.

Then as the door was opened and their introductions were made she was handed a facial mask and told that it would be best if she wore it when they reached the bog. She nodded and held on to the mask. Then the man who had introduced himself as Nadeem spoke once more, saying that he could take 3 people in his truck and that an additional vehicle may be necessary. At that, Isabella spoke up. A few people can ride in my Jeep Her vehicle was more than capable of handling the mushy roads and such that would lead to the bogs as well as if they needed to go off road. She waited to see if anyone would be interested in riding in the Jeep with her.

Dimitri & Others

Dimitri was usually quick to come up with witty responses when he was in a mood like this. But it became clear that for now, he really should keep his mouth shut. Between Hunter still gone and Adrian battling an unknown disease in a hospital they all hated, he definitely was not in a good mood. "Which place are we hitting first? I really know the bog has it pretty bad, but I noticed some similar signs near the river deeper into the wolves' territories." It was almost unsettling the way he turned from snide remarks to a professional and serious demeanor, but even now he still had a cold, dark look on his face.
"What am I doing here?" was the question in Ellis' mind. Nobody knew very much about this disease at all, so it was all the more dangerous to be jumping in on a mission like this. He really didn't know why he was here. All he knew is that he wanted to be here. "Good to see you, Mr. Tarak." Said the young man with a smile when Nadeem answered the door. He took the mask but seemed a bit surprised about it. He looked back at Nadeem. "Aw, hell! We're going to a bog? My Viper's going to get dirtier than pig turd!" For some reason, his voice almost held a bit of fear, though he was more alarmed than afraid. "If anybody else needs a ride," Viktor began, "we came in a Humvee, and you know how many people can fit into those beasts." The civilian-converted military HMMWV, or Humvee, was parked outside. And it truly was a beast.