ALTERED STATES - EPISODE 1

As Tom had the furry creature to keep watch over him, Kitty took the time to head out and start exploring the place. Her nose twitched constantly as she caught the scent of different things. While the earthy decaying smell of the pool area was washed off her, she could still catch a whiff of it from time to time. No doubt from the air moving through the place. Each time she thought of that it made her shiver.

Slowly making her way along the corridor and back towards the steps, Kitty decided to go past the steps and head down another long corridor, took a left down a second corridor then a right into yet another corridor placing her on the opposite side of the pool area. Apparently this corridor was where the staff did all the behind the scenes things. Large linen closets with the doors either half open or torn off seemed to line the place. One had what appeared to be table linens. Another had apparently been where all the sheets for the beds were stored. Further down one had the other bed linens such as blankets and bed spreads. Kitty made note of all of these things so she could tell the others. Some of this would come in handy when they decided to move out again.

Another room seemed to be extra storage for dining hall chairs and tables and finally at the end of the hall, she came upon an area where the building had collapsed and caused part of the ceiling to collapse. Again her nose twitched as she caught the scent of something she had caught scent of earlier. Faintly, but it was there. Lifting her nose to the tunnel like opening she could see, she began to let her sense of smell tell her what was there. Warm blooded. Still alive. Not bleeding. And…..male. Blinking, she thought perhaps it was that man who had the slave girl from upstairs and she decided to pay him a little visit.

Curious now, as was her nature, Kitty found the opening big enough for her to get in and she cautiously made her way to the other side and found herself blocked by what appeared to be some sort of metal machinery. With barely enough room for her to turn around so her feet were now in front of her, she placed her feet on the smooth metal of the machine and pushed. She was rewarded with the thing sliding across the floor making that unmistakable metal scraping across concrete sound.

Another few pushes with her feet and Kitty slowly eased herself into the room. Using the machine as cover, she peered out from behind and over the machine to look around. She could see the make shift bed he had made for himself but he was no where to be found. No doubt the sound of the machine alerted him to someone coming into the room.

As Kitty slowly stalked from behind the machine looking every bit like the tiger her DNA was spliced with, her tiger eyes searched the area for any signs of the man. If it hadn’t been for where her tank top and shorts made a solid pattern, her exposed, striped skin almost allowed her to blend in with the surroundings.

Slowly standing a little taller but still crouched, Kitty sniffed the air again to try and zero in on the man. Where are you? she thought. I can smell you, but I can’t see you or hear you. So where are you hiding. Taking a few steps out form the machine, she moved towards his make shift bed to see if there was any clue of his where abouts there.

When the washing machine moved, Plymuth was up like a shot and retreated behind the large stacked washer and dryer units in the corner of the room. He noticed that there was crawl space behind them, and so he had stashed his gear their just in case the very situation he was currently in happened.

The room was dim. Slivers of light filtered in through the ceiling above allowing Plymuth's eyes to see quite well. As he watched through a gap about the width of a man's arm, between two units he gripped his triple barreled spear gun tightly. There were only two ways to get to where he was and that was the entrance to the crawl space to his left or up and over the nine foot tall units. Either way he'd have a clear shot, but after that, he'd be seriously, &#$*ed, if there were more than three of the bastards.

Plymuth grimaced when he saw the feline creature peek over the fallen washing machine and skulk about the room, sniffing the air like an animal. She, however, from what he could see looked fairly feminine, despite her markings and contemplated whether he could take her hand to hand if he had to. Hopefully, though, it wouldn't come to that, but the way she was sniffing the air it seemed to Plymuth that besides looking like a cat she probably had the nose of one, so it was only a matter of time before she located him.

To his left, directly in line with to the space between the units and the wall was the ladder going up. He could make it, but then he'd have climb and shoot and that was just a bad idea, besides there was no way he was going to leave his gear to some over grown alley cat.

She moved toward where he had been sleeping and lost sight of her. Straining his ears, Plymuth tried to pick up any sound from the striped woman but heard nothing. "Bullocks." he thought, while crouching down low. He watched the entrance to the narrow space behind the washing units, while also trying to keep an eye above should the cat decide to take a leap.

Kitty knew that who ever the male was she smelled was still in the room. She could practically feel the heat he emitted. When she got to his make shift bed, she leaned in closer and got a very good smell of him. Knowing then that was the same scent she picked up on earlier, only fainter, she was still unsure if it was the man who had the slave girl upstairs. The scent of the man who had the slave girl lingered on the girl and it wasn’t this, yet she HAD smelled this scent when she entered the hotel, near the girl.

Furrowing her brows, Kitty let her nose lead the way and her sight to help her along. Turning towards he stacked machine, she tilted her head slightly. There was no doubt about it. The scent was strongest in this location. Letting her eyes slide down slightly, she saw the toe of a boot sticking out from behind the machine on the bottom. Knowing now this was where the man was, she gave a soft growl.

Slowly waking back towards the machine Kitty moved to gain access to the room, she walked to the other side of it then made some sounds like she was climbing back into the machine and back into the tunnel she came through. In reality, she ducked down behind it and waited. The man would come out of hiding eventually.

And when he did, Kitty would be waiting.

Plymuth could hear the feline mutant head back the way she came, or had she? He had his doubts, since she suddenly went from being cat-like to as loud as a bull by the way she stomped on the old the washing machine. It was obvious that she wouldn't be heard unless she purposely made some noise and he figured that's exactly what she did.

"Christ." He swore silently to himself. The longer he waited the worse things were going to get, especially if some of her friends showed up, so he decided to stop the 'cat and mouse' and try and communicate.

"I know you're out there." Plymuth called. "Look, I'm not here to get in anybody's face, I'm just trying to get some rest before nightfall, then I'm outta this pace, and she's all yours. You understand?

Plymuth remained in his hiding place and awaited a response.

If anyone could see Kitty’s ears, they would have seen them twitch slightly. When the man’s voice reached her ears, she perked up and tilted her head to see if there were any other sounds that would tell her he had a weapon or anything else she should be careful of, other than the man himself.

He was smart, Kitty thought. Obviously he had been through something like this before or he thought a lot like herself. Either way, she admired his attempt to figure out what the hell she was up to without being sneaky about it. The only BAD thing about all of this was the fact she couldn’t really communicate audibly with him.

Or could she?

Glancing around Kitty saw some crumbled pieces of brick she could use as throwing stones. Not big enough to hurt him but big enough to get his attention to the point where she could at least flush him out from behind the stacked machines so she could come face to face with him. At least at a distance.

Quickly gathering up several of the pieces, Kitty leapt onto the washing machine she had moved out of the way and took a crouched, ready to pounce stance. Setting the pieces of brick at the toe of her left foot, she tossed one of the pieces towards the machines he used as cover and was rewarded with a clanking noise when the brick piece hit the machines.

“What the hell?!”

Kitty heard the man’s voice and again she sent another brick piece in his direction. When she saw him peer out from the machines, she gestured for him to come on out. While she knew this wasn’t the man Tom had the confrontation with and had the girl upstairs, she was still wary of him because he had gone to great lengths to conceal his presence. While she could completely understand why one would want to do something like that, she also didn’t want to take the chance he could harm any of her companions.

As the man hesitated, Kitty threw another piece of brick towards him, hitting the machines again. This time she snarled slightly as she motioned for him to come out. While it wasn’t the friendliest gesture she could have done, she couldn’t help it. It was simply her animal nature that surfaced.

When she saw movement from the man she stopped moving herself and got ready to pounce at him, if he showed any signs of hostility or threaten to attack her. Muscles coiled and ready to go, her body trembled slightly like a coiled spring ready to let go at any moment.

Tom, sniffed the air, cocked his head slightly and looked at the others "Where is Kitty? I smell the presence of another, not the one that attacked us but one of his race. He is not far away and Kitty's scent is close to his. They are not intermingled but at the same distance."

Tom moved off in the direction the scent drew him, sighning for the creature to stay and protect the others.

Plymuth scowled when the cat-woman snarled, but made no other sudden movements so as not to set her off. "Nice, kitty. Good, kitty. Can't talk, eh?" He said as he moved out into the open just beside the ladder, keeping his free hand and his gun held high and pointing at the ceiling. "I'm just trying to get some sleep." he explained, "Y'know sleep?" as he spoke the words he made a sign of resting his head on his hand as if it were a pillow.

The cat creature began to sign back to him after that, and to Plymuth's amazement they were rather complicated gestures as if in fact she was able to grasp the concept of the language. Not knowing how to sign, he could only gesture back with the universal hand motions for, "I have no idea, what you're saying."

Tom, focused on Kitty's scent as the strangers scent grew stronger along the corridors Kitty had taken. With his nose quivering and his ears twitching slightly, Tom found the ladder and the opening. He switfly jumped down the opening, landing lightly crouched on his fingertips and feet. He saw Kitty and the stranger, springing quickly to Kitty's side facing the stranger, curling his lips back, exposing enlongated fangs and canines, much like a wolf's, his eyes black as two pieces of coal.

Kitty caught Tom’s scent and knew he was there most likely before the strange man did. Even as the man made the universal gesture for sleeping, Kitty knew Tom was approaching. That still didn’t stop her from rolling her eyes at the mans attempt to communicate with her. When she signed back to him, she was quite agitated and her signing was proof positive of that as she was signing rather quickly.

not some sort of pet or animal you need to talk like that to. can hear and understand perfectly, dip shit.

Just about then Tom made his appearance and Kitty could tell he was in a heightened sense of alertness. When he joined her Kitty tapped him on the shoulder and while he kept a close watch on the man, Kitty was able to relay to him the man, so far, wasn’t a threat and she had followed his scent to find him and find out what and who he was. She then relayed to Tom what she had just signed to the man, word for word, and asked Tom to translate it for her, emphasizing she wanted it translated exactly as she had stated it.

As Tom began to translate, Kitty relaxed slightly and got what could only be described as a smart ass smirk on her face as she slowly eased down off the washing machine and crossed her arms before her.

Tom grinned at Kitty, then turned to the man ad said " Kity said ' 53not some sort of pet or animal you need to talk like that to. can hear and understand perfectly, dip shit.' I would suggest you showed her a lit more respect. Unless you are not particularly found of living. Now you you mind telling us what your doing skulking around down. I would also like to know if your associated with the individaul that would use a girl as a suicide bomber." Tom asked definately aggitated at the idea anyone would stoop so low, but then again these individuals were human. And human's had tried to destroy themselves for centuries.

It was getting uncomfortable holding the heavy spear gun high, so Plymuth let it rest on his shoulder and he lowered his other hand to his side.

"Well, well. Aren't we just a nice happy family now." He said, then he looked to the cat creature, "Kitty eh? Well now that's an imaginative name. You can call me, Plymuth. I was guided here by some asshole, named Texan. I take it you had a run in with him? Well, we had a little disagreement and I henceforth ended our business arrangement. I am just a businessman passing through."

Plymuth's eyes moved from Kitty to Tom who seemed to be the more hostile of the two, "I take it you're the one that ran into, Texan, well hopefully you killed the bastard, since he'd probably like nothing more than to skin me alive. Was there a girl with him? She's probably not to fond of me, but don't take it the wrong way. You see, she figured that perhaps I should out of the goodness of my heart set her free, but I honour my contracts, and regardless, whether or not, Texan was an asshole he and I had an arrangement. He held up his end of the bargain and were I to have broken our deal and set the girl loose, well then by association I would be obligated to go back to the place that she came from and risk my neck to set all the other girls free." He shook his head, "I have neither the resources nor the inclination for such an undertaking so I left things as they were. So if she has a problem with me, tell her that 'life isn't a bed of roses'. Now, if the two of you have any more questions, let's have 'em, so I can get some sleep."

Kitty listened to Plymuth talk and saw the way he moved. While he had not made any threatening moves towards her or Tom, there was no doubt he was quite capable of taking care of himself. The way his muscles rippled in his arms and the way his eyes assessed her and Tom told her a great deal.

So it appeared he was an opportunist. Weren’t they all? But his accent told her he wasn’t the normal skum that usually hung around these parts. Knowing Tom took exception with the way the girl was treated, even Kitty didn’t care for it, knowing this man knew what she was subjected to didn’t set well with either Tom or Kitty. Still, Tom and Kitty understood his reasoning. This was a harsh world and it wasn’t easy to survive so one had to do what ever it was they had to do in order to make sure their own survival was first and foremost. While Kitty didn’t care for that sort of thinking, she DID understand it.

Kitty nudges Tom’s shoulder with her own and signed again knowing the wolf hybrid would interpret for her again.

not a bed of roses, true. could use less pricks, though. where from? where going? looking for something or someone? answer questions first then go back to sleep. not disturb beauty rest again

Tom said " Very well, Kitty says 'not a bed of roses, true, but could use a few less pricks, though. Where are you from? where are you going? Are youlooking for something or someone? Answer these questions first then go back to sleep. We'll not disturb beauty rest again' ........ And just so you know I think your 'associate' will have a few more pardners arriving soon. And those that hunt us are bound to pick up are trail soon, as well. So keep that all in mind while you sleep......a world of hurt may soon disturd your sleep before we do." Tom then turned to Kitty and said "Come on let Sleeping Beauty get his rest, by the looks of him he needs all the beauty rest he can get." Tom the motioned for Kitty to follow him.

Plymuth was silent for a moment. He scratched the back of his head with his gun and debated just how much he should tell these... humanoids. Studying them, it was apparent they were just wanderers but they did seem to adhere to a code and could be trusted to abide by it, so he didn't see any problem with giving then a brief synopsis of his travels.

"I'm, from a place called, or it was called Avalon far across the ocean" He began, "I arrived here, on your continent," he then purposely paused to check if they understood the terms he was using then he continued, "over a month ago. I've come down from the north. Then I was thinking I would turn west, to Tahoe. I've heard they are slowly rebuilding there, and they don't discriminate against those who can pass for human, not that it matters to me either way. Except..." he stopped for a moment considering whether or not to share what he had been experiencing, "I've been having these weird dreams and for some reason I feel that I should be heading East. Do either of you know anything about that? And as for Texan's friends, I was hoping to be outta here before they showed up, which is why I was trying to get a little shut eye. Texan didn't say much, but I got the idea that his mates were due to show up a little before sunset, of course I've been wrong before."

Needless to say, Kitty’s curiosity was rather piqued. It didn’t take a scientist to know that Plymuth had her rapt attention. Especially when he mentioned something about an Ocean followed by a dream of heading East. So did that mean he was having similar dreans about Paradise like she was? Did Tom? And Gavin? In fact, the more he talked, the more she perked up and was beginning to understand him. And what really made her curious was the fact he mentioned a place that didn’t discriminate against those who weren’t fully human. So did that mean HE wasn’t fully human? If he wasn’t, he sure could pass for it. But then again, so could Tom.

With the threat of Texan’s friends breathing down their necks and the fact they all needed rest, Kitty knew this man could be an asset to the group. He didn’t appear to be afraid of confrontation. While he preferred NOT to, he wasn’t the sort to turn tail and run either.

When Plymuth was done talking, Kitty studied him for a long moment before she tapped Tom’s shoulder and silently spoke to him.

could be good member to add to group if he agrees to leo’s rules. if not, he go on own. what you think? safety in numbers but too many numbers weigh group down if not able to keep up. like skittles. especially if goons coming for fight. need to rest before long to make sure strong for fight with slaver and others.

As Kitty signed to Tom she kept glancing at Plymuth seeing how he furrowed his brows, studying what she and Tom did. For once she was glad she didn’t need to talk and could sign everything without him understanding what they were discussing. Other than him.

While the two humanoids conversed with each another via sign language, Plymuth folded his arms against his chest and watched them. He knew how to use diver's signs, when underwater but aside from that knew absolutely nothing else about the silent language, nor did he really care to. Studying their movements, however, he was able to pick up on some of the more intuitive signs, like 'think', 'many' and 'rest', but that was it and the rest didn't make any sense to him at all.

"I like the idea of resting." Plymuth remarked, not that he was sure he even got the sign right or was using it in the right context, but all he knew was that time was ticking and he needed to catch a few winks before sundown.

While the new guests of the Oasis, debated his place among them and made plans of how to deal with the slaver, Plymuth gathered his gear and made his way to his first resting place. "I'll see ya when I see ya." he said to them and retired for the day.

The sun came down like a hammer and Plymuth struggled to awake. He forced himself up though, knowing that ugly son-of-a-bitch would be coming at night. He didn't bother to offer a bye, there seemed to some stress in the group and so he slunk away toward the setting sun leaving them behind to find their own way.

Plymuth figured they could take care of themselves, besides they were many to his one so he figured they wouldn't begrudge him his right to walk his own path. Burdened with his many supplies the strong man trudged through the dunes, the heat from the sand yielding to the fast approaching cool of night. He decided to press onward to Tahoe, the mystical place that mutants and humans alike spoke of as if it were Shangri-La. Perhaps there he would find solace, and if not a vast ocean existed beyond.