The Man in Black
Clark slid into the shadows, drawing his Judge and using a speed-loader to slide silver shot into it. He hung back, letting the others go first—he was not typically a close combat specialist.
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Swashbuckler Extraordinaire
Jadis sighed, as she looked toward the building their investigation had brought them to. Hospitals. Not a good place to fight. Close quarters, narrow hallways with little in the way of room to maneuver. Lots of shatterproof plexiglass windows and dark hideaways.
Unfortunate. However, there was nothing to be done about it.
Jadis examined the dead rat over their leader's shoulder. Privately, she agreed with the man's thoughts. Mentally, she lined up wear the teeth would be on the small creature.
"The bite radius isn't consistant with a human. Possibly wolf, possibly supernatural." Wolves had been near extinct in the region before the Apocalypse, but recent years had seen a resurgeance. Not just regular wolves either, dire wolves and hellhounds had also reappeared. And of course, werewolves. The less said about them, the better.
The markswoman drew her AR. It was optimised for long ranged combat, but it's firepower was much greater then anything else she had on her. She advanced a few steps into the building, watching for booby traps as she did so, her rifle shouldered and her stance low.
She did not turn as she spoke, her eyes focused forward. "If it is a wolf, were or not, then it knows we are here already. Caution is advisable."
Lord of the Avians
Blight pulled out his weapon, a crossbow-like weapon he made himself. It had a handle that looked like it was from some kind of shotgun, with a muzzle torn apart and replaced with a big mechanism that held a wire ready to be hurled forward. He called it the "Blight Bow". Silently, he placed a chunk of metal he found in the wreckage of a car on it, and adjusted the wire to fit it.
He then pulled out a large dagger, and put it on his belt.
"I hope it's a Hellhound, they have great meat." He said. It was true, but he was really only saying it to lower his anxiety. If it was a Werewolf, he would only be able to slow it down, unless he used one of his bullets.
The cat, sensing danger, went back out of the hospital.
If there's anything bad about eating Hellhound meat, like poison or something, I'll change my post.
edited 29th Feb '12 7:24:59 PM by Falkon
Quaerat et Intelligere Veritatem
As Dean stepped forward, he drew out his Kriss and pulled the bolt back. He went up to the front with Jadis taking point and said, "I believe it goes without saying, but limit radio contact. only speak when in earshot or use hand signals."
He stepped forward, staying close to the right wall so that he could watch the two doors on the left, "So which door should we check first?".
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing- Wernher von Braun Until proven otherwise, Everything is Relevant
THE SLORG!
Ross looked down at the rat again. He wasn't sure about the bite marks; in fact, it looked like it had probably had something besides teeth tearing into it, so determining the bite radius wasn't that simple anyway.
Ross moved forward to the left door, and tested it a moment; not to see if it was locked, but to see if it was closed securely. He then did the same with the right hand door. Once he was satisfied, he pointed to the open door and the turn at the end of the hall. "We take that room. Someone watch the hall" Ross said quietly, and moved to the side of the door.
Glancing inside saw the front area of a medical office with nothing but scattered chairs and old papers about. There were at least two doors going into back areas there, one of which was also open.
You are reading this.
Lord of the Avians
Scanning the room they had just entered, Blight didn't see any danger. Yet.
The room reminded him of something, but he didn't really care what.
Swashbuckler Extraordinaire
Jadis nodded to their leader. "I have it." she said. Her long barreled rifle wouldn't do much good in close quarters, anyway. She crouched, her shoulder touching the intersection between the foyer and the darkened hall. She looked down her sight, and quickly lowered the crosshairs, calibrating the weapon for short distance aiming.
The Man in Black
"Check for signs of tampering or forced entry." Clark reminded them, covering the team's six.
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Sandwich Summoner
Alearth had been following obediently until now, scrying the scene as if this was the most wonderful sight of them all. She even went all interested in poking the dead rat.
"Can we make it into a plushie, Ross?" She asked, her eyes all shining. "I'll help you with the hide and seek game! Alearth can help with seeking!"
THE SLORG!
"Looks like forced entry, but it could've been hours ago or years ago" Ross mentioned quietly after checking the door to the room. As Alearth spoke up, Ross looked back. "Uh, maybe... How can you help with the seeking?" he asked, wondering if this would be something actually useful or another playful joke.
Meanwhile, two things happened. For Jadis, as she looked around the corner, she'd see it went down another short stretch of hallway, with one door on the left, closed. At the end of that stretch was an open stairway, going up straight forward on the left side, then flattening out and turning around to go up to the second floor on the right side. And visible peeking around from the flattened out part was a small figure; a quick estimate would put the person around 9-11 years old, but Jadis wouldn't get a very good look at the figure's features. Once it saw Jadis, it let out a small yelp and scurried up the stairs quickly.
Then, for Alearth, her detection of souls got something. While short-ranged without focus, it was still omnidirectional; and so, she would quickly become aware of two things. First, there was probably a basement to this building. And second, a soul that had died and risen again in the most common way, a zombie, had just shambled past almost directly underneath her.
You are reading this.
Swashbuckler Extraordinaire
"Contact. By the stairs." Jadis called over her shoulder. It was time to make a judgement call.
She could pursue the small figure now, possibly into a trap, or she could wait the until the others caught up with her. She didn't like either option, but in the field, one seldom did.
With her left hand, she flipped on the thermographic mode of her rifle's scope, a small whine sounding as the device warmed up. Placing her eye to the tube, the sniper scanned the stairwell, white showing heat, and black cold. The reason for the device was two fold. The first, to detect the much greater body heat of creatures such as werewolves and demons. The second, to find the cold spots caused by spirits and vampires. Jadis had had to pay through the nose for the device, but it had been worth every penny.
She advanced down the hallway, slowly.
The Man in Black
Clark froze for a moment as he heard the word "contact," his eyes scanning the back of the team in case more of the things showed up. He lifted the Judge warily.
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Quaerat et Intelligere Veritatem
Dean frowned a little, although no one could see his expression, after hearing what the demon child had said. "Little girls shouldn't play with such foul creatures. Whether they be human or not."
Then he heard a small noise inside the room and followed after Jadis. Quickly he pointed his gun into the room and said to Jadis, "Did you see anything?". He slowly entered the room, scanning around while reaching for his flashlight.
edited 1st Mar '12 7:21:33 PM by DAcriznips
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing- Wernher von Braun Until proven otherwise, Everything is Relevant
THE SLORG!
Jadis's thermo scope didn't pick up anything unusual, the figure having scurried up out of sight. Ross, attracted by Jadis's call headed over behind Dean, shotgun at the ready. "What did you see?" Ross asked, looking back down the hall.
Nothing else seemed to be acting up; the door Ross was checking before was still open, but nothing had come charging out of it.
You are reading this.
Swashbuckler Extraordinaire
Jadis nodded. There was ambient heat from the presence of someone, but they had left. "Small child. About 10. Couldn't tell you anything else, the stairwell was too dark to make out anything else. It could be a feral child."
A lot of parents had died in the initial wave. Sometimes, it left a kid alone, with no one to depend on. A few of these children managed to survive on their own, but the lack of communication with other human beings caused them to behave more like foxes or raccoons then people. Solitary hunters, picking their way through the refuse of a once great nation, living in hiding from both the other humans and the monsters. Some efforts had been made to rehabilitate them, but with limited success.
"In any case, watch your targets. The hospital may be harboring children."
Lord of the Avians
"Children?" Blight said. He lowered his weapon a little. If there were children here, then the chances of there being some horrible beast around the corner dropped quite a bit.
He remembered when he was 10, and the monsters started spearing in the mountains where his family lived... But this kid would have to have been at most 5 when the apocalypse began. 5, and city kids, too. They probably didn't know how to hunt, definitely didn't know how to fight, or shoot a gun.
Blight could respect that. These kids were tougher than every single bounty hunter in the building, at least to him.
THE SLORG!
"Feral kids?" Ross muttered, glancing up the stairs. "I'll check it out" he said, and moved for the stairs, taking his right hand off the handle of the shotgun. Ross made it up the first flight and turned around to look up the next flight. The lights were off but there seemed to be plenty of windows, making Ross still visible in the dim.
"Hey, we're not gonna hurt ya'" Ross called out calmly, taking a slow step up the stairs.
"Yeah right!" a young boy's voice yelled out in return, * and Ross suddenly staggered back. By the sound of the thumps, something had been thrown at and hit Ross.
"The hell?!" Ross stammered, regaining his balance then running up the stairway. As he was still running up the stairs, the sound of glass breaking came from somewhere above.
edited 2nd Mar '12 5:16:22 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.
The Man in Black
"Sounds like a few scavenger kids." Clark said. "Let me see if I can't talk them down. Someone cover our six." He said.
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Lord of the Avians
Blight didn't know military slang, but he could guess. He knelt down, weapon ready.
"Covered." he said.
edited 2nd Mar '12 5:23:40 PM by Falkon
The Man in Black
Clark nodded. The back of the unit being duly protected, he headed up to where the kids had been seen. He glanced around and headed up the stairs, Judge at the ready. He moved to the next floor, hoping that the others would follow him, and looked around, checking for any signs of the children.
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
THE SLORG!
Up at the second floor was another hall, this one going straight until a similar stairwell at the very end. On the right coming up the stairs was two doors on either side of the elevator; they looked more utilitarian, probably storage closets or such. On the left was a total of three doorways; the closest was missing the door entirely, making a fairly empty medical office visible. The farthest was closed, but the middle one was open, and Ross had already ran up to it.
"He threw a brick at me!" Ross called back, running through the door.* "And now he's made a break for it!" he added from inside the room.
You are reading this.
The Man in Black
Clark reacted quickly. He followed Ross. "Hey, kid!" he shouted. "What are you doing? We're not looking to hurt kids!"
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Quaerat et Intelligere Veritatem
As Dean calmly followed others, he carefully observed his surroundings. The commotion caused by the kid could alert any monsters lying in wait and that would be risky for the mission. He quickly walked up to Clark and put a hand on his shoulder while making a "sshh" sign.
"If you wish to catch the child then you must silent, for we may receive an unwanted visitor.", Dean quietly said, "Now in order for him to trust us, we first have to lure him out...", as he spoke he turned to the demon girl, "Now normally I wouldn't trust a demon, but as long as you're on our side you might as well help". Lowering his voice even further Dean said, "Now what I want you to do is to pretend to be a lost little girl and call over the kid, because he will not trust an adult but he has no reason to fear a little girl. Then we will hide and you will bring the kid over to us, understand?"
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing- Wernher von Braun Until proven otherwise, Everything is Relevant
The Man in Black
Clark stared long and hard at the paladin. "Are you stupid? First of all, that's luring them into a trap, which we do not want to do—it undermines trustworthiness. Second of all, the kid already created enough ruckus to attract anything lurking nearby, so I suggest you get back to watching the area. Let the man with experience deal with this."
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Ross listened, and wondered where the little demon girl had learned humor like that. Malena looked like she couldn't decide if she was supposed to find that funny or creepy, then figured she'd avoid it entirely by making a move for the door. "Whatever, I'll see you around" Malena said, opening the door and leaving.
"Maybe you guys should wait a few days before completely wearing out your welcome?" Ross suggested jokingly, stepping through the door while it was still open and catching it with his foot to keep it open. "Now come on, let's get moving" he said, pointing one thumb over his shoulder out at the decayed city.
Once the group was out of the immediate area, things got quiet, aside from the occasional bird. Hours passed as they walked through the streets, which were strewn with debris and abandoned cars. Occasionally Ross would stop their advance to take a look through a building, searching for any signs of the missing scavenger. Unfortunately though, they found nothing conclusive.
About three hours and over a dozen searched buildings later, Ross suggested yet another to search. A hospital, fairly small as hospitals go, and clearly long since stripped of probably everything useful. The double doors leading in were open, one half actually missing entirely. Ross led the way in, but stopped just inside the door. "Whoa, hold up" Ross muttered, and advanced slowly to something on the floor a few feet into the hall. He crouched down and prodded the object, now visible as a dead rat.
"Torn, not sucked... Either a wild pet's been around, a runner got it, or a werewolf" Ross guessed, looking up from the little body and blood pool at the hall. It wasn't too long; two doors on the left, the farther one open, and one door on the right. At the end of the hall was an elevator and a branch to the right. "Hmm, check it out?" he asked, glancing back at the group.
You are reading this.