One of Eighteen 2013-03-26

[zachariah]

Good instinct and lucky. Running like that is being a target. The gore will get worse. This is a full scale assault on non-combatants.

[Jabberwonky]

And the hits just keep on comin'...

[shadowinthelight]

Was this a religous group? Those people look pretty holy.

[Boxilar]

Holy crap. Definately heavy machine gun fire. And it may not be luck. Katherine is different enough that when the chips are down, she may be just enough faster and tougher than tha avereage "normal" human. I honestly don't see how she could have survived her adventure with Atsali otherwise.

And it looks like we're in for a rough week. On a Phix scale of gruesome, I'd say we're at "defacing Monica" and climbing.

Was this a religous group? Those people look pretty holy.

Pun jar. Do it NOW.

[Thor]

That is just horrible! Do you have any idea how all that blood and tissue is going to contaminate the dig site? These people are not using best practices.

[KnightDelight]

Whoa! Paul has really crossed the Jordan this time. All this bloody mass slaughter has changed the comic quite a bit. And I'm not sure for the better. I believe we have moved into "R" rated territory now. May lose some readers if this becomes staple, and it looks like it is. I think we have the idea now and more bloody scenes of people being shot to pieces will not be necessary. At least I hope not, but that's not my decision to make. Just hope it doesn't get worse as we go. Though I'm afraid it will. Has thus far anyway.

Does one of eighteen mean 17 were murdered in the dig, or is Kath one of 18 somethings, or maybe there are 17 more artifacts to be gathered after the bronze thingy?

[zachariah]

Holy crap. Definately heavy machine gun fire. And it may not be luck. Katherine is different enough that when the chips are down, she may be just enough faster and tougher than tha avereage "normal" human. I honestly don't see how she could have survived her adventure with Atsali otherwise.

And it looks like we're in for a rough week. On a Phix scale of gruesome, I'd say we're at "defacing Monica" and climbing.

That wasn't being tougher and faster. That is panic, justified panic. She just got lucky and ran the right way to avoid the field of fire. In that situation you don't think you just run. If she was thinking she would have dived into the hole they were working on to take cover.

[zachariah]

That is just horrible! Do you have any idea how all that blood and tissue is going to contaminate the dig site? These people are not using best practices.

Actually they are adding value to the site. Generations from future digs will have an interesting puzzle to put together to figure out what happened. An ancient battleground dig.

[Thor]

Whoa! Paul has really crossed the Jordan this time. All this bloody mass slaughter has changed the comic quite a bit. And I'm not sure for the better. I believe we have moved into "R" rated territory now. May lose some readers if this becomes staple, and it looks like it is. I think we have the idea now and more bloody scenes of people being shot to pieces will not be necessary. At least I hope not, but that's not my decision to make. Just hope it doesn't get worse as we go. Though I'm afraid it will. Has thus far anyway.

It's just red pixels. Red pixels are all okay here in America, just as long as they aren't in the shape of nipples.

[KnightDelight]

Was this a religous group? Those people look pretty holy.

Pun jar. Do it NOW.

That's it! It's the Pun Jar taking retribution for our not giving it enough tribute for the horrendous level of punality we generate!

shoot.gif (7.43 KiB) Viewed 9463 times

[Boxilar]

Whoa! Paul has really crossed the Jordan this time. All this bloody mass slaughter has changed the comic quite a bit. And I'm not sure for the better. I believe we have moved into "R" rated territory now. May lose some readers if this becomes staple, and it looks like it is. I think we have the idea now and more bloody scenes of people being shot to pieces will not be necessary. At least I hope not, but that's not my decision to make. Just hope it doesn't get worse as we go. Though I'm afraid it will. Has thus far anyway.

Does one of eighteen mean 17 were murdered in the dig, or is Kath one of 18 somethings, or maybe there are 17 more artifacts to be gathered after the bronze thingy?

Wapsi has been a supernatural horror comic for awhile now. It bumped up against it several times prior to the calendar machine resolution and jumped right over the rated R line when Phix killed Meadea. The light hearted moments serve to accentuate the moments of terror. Stephen King is such an effective writer because he makes you care about his characters before he does awful things to them. Paul is doing the same thing here. I also think he want's his readers to understand the exactly reason Katherine was the way she was when we met her. the past two updates have driven it home hard. A less resilient person would have given up. Maybe Kath did for awhile. It also makes me understand how much Monica befriending her really meant to Katherine. She may well have been at the end of her rope.

Holy crap. Definately heavy machine gun fire. And it may not be luck. Katherine is different enough that when the chips are down, she may be just enough faster and tougher than tha avereage "normal" human. I honestly don't see how she could have survived her adventure with Atsali otherwise.

And it looks like we're in for a rough week. On a Phix scale of gruesome, I'd say we're at "defacing Monica" and climbing.

That wasn't being tougher and faster. That is panic, justified panic. She just got lucky and ran the right way to avoid the field of fire. In that situation you don't think you just run. If she was thinking she would have dived into the hole they were working on to take cover.

Fair point. I guess I want her to be more, but then, automatic weapons don't care about that kind of thing. It does mean that Katherine likely has a huge case of survivors guilt.

"Why was I spared, why didn't I die when everyone else did?"

That would be crippling. My heart aches for her.

[Atomic]

She was one of eighteen. The sole survivor. But she dug eighteen graves -- one for each of them. Others would never know her name.

And so, she became The Lone Archeologist.

[shadowinthelight]

Pun jar. Do it NOW.

*drops a set of body armor ceramic plates into the pun jar*

[Fairportfan]

Good instinct and lucky. Running like that is being a target.

Running like that in a straight line is being a target.

Standing still is being a better target.

[pp2222]

Having heard scary stories from archeology teachers, Paul isn't very far away from the truth
http://archaeology.about.com/od/ethics/ ... rsuits.htm
touches on this lightly, but we humans are very good at starting wars with minimal provocations. Hard to always be safe away from uni. If that's what Katherine went through, I'm astonished that the PTSD hasn't shut her down completely. Paul? you write up some tough chicks... this oughta be a movie...

[Fairportfan]

That wasn't being tougher and faster. That is panic, justified panic. She just got lucky and ran the right way to avoid the field of fire. In that situation you don't think you just run. If she was thinking she would have dived into the hole they were working on to take cover.

Not deep enough - especially i'd be willing to bet this is fire from a chopper.

A helicopter, not a Thompson, that is.

[Boxilar]

That wasn't being tougher and faster. That is panic, justified panic. She just got lucky and ran the right way to avoid the field of fire. In that situation you don't think you just run. If she was thinking she would have dived into the hole they were working on to take cover.

Not deep enough - especially i'd be willing to bet this is fire from a chopper.

A helicopter, not a Thompson, that is.

I didn't think of that. It would also explain her reaction to the initial appearance of the MiB's gunship.

[zachariah]

That wasn't being tougher and faster. That is panic, justified panic. She just got lucky and ran the right way to avoid the field of fire. In that situation you don't think you just run. If she was thinking she would have dived into the hole they were working on to take cover.

Not deep enough - especially i'd be willing to bet this is fire from a chopper.

A helicopter, not a Thompson, that is.

When the bullets fly any hole in a bullet storm is my motto. The hole ain't much but it's better than nothing. Standing, or running, is like wearing a big target saying SHOOT ME NOW!

Where it is coming from is not that important. The fact that it is coming is what matters.

[zachariah]

It does mean that Katherine likely has a huge case of survivors guilt.

"Why was I spared, why didn't I die when everyone else did?"

That would be crippling. My heart aches for her.

I agree on survivor's guilt. But a lot of that depends on how they react afterwards. From what we've seen Kathy did not handle it well. The isolation is from being afraid to let anyone close in case that happened again. Her dislike of going out. Being home is safe. Her shyness. "Are you going to attack me too?". But it has been shown she is recovering from it slowly. Monica had a lot to do with it simply by accepting her as she was not not rejecting her. That was probably Kathy's first attempt at interpersonal interaction since stopping therapy and going off her meds. This does raise the point of what meds she was taking. It might have been to control the fear and turmoil she felt. If the healing continues eventually she may reach the point of feeling anger at the people who did this to her. I just hope MIB was not the ones who took out the dig crew.

[Jabberwonky]

She was one of eighteen. The sole survivor. But she dug eighteen graves -- one for each of them. Others would never know her name.

And so, she became The Lone Archeologist.

It's...The Bone Arranger!