As we hobble inside the clicking of flashlights illuminates the space around us. Dust still hangs in the air, but not nearly as bad as outside. We can actually see the whole room, which isn't as big as one would expect. Straight across from the now open air entrance is the bank tellers line, except the metal shudder they use for security has been dropped. Which is good, we might be able to hide back there if the long counter it's sitting on is made of decent material.
Off to the left are three open air cubicles, with a closed door at the end of the line farther in the lobby. On the right is a big conference room, the fancy glass panels once separating it from the lobby shattered and strewn about. It looks like there are some public bathrooms next to the conference room. Past that further into the lobby is an open door that presumably leads deeper into the building. A few of those stand up writing desks for customers to fill out paperwork on sit in the middle of the lobby. If we can get deeper into the building, all the better. Seymore walks me over to one of the standing desks, which creaks as I set the missile launcher down on it.
“No offense girly, but you're heavy when you got that launcher.” Seymore says, letting out a huff. I outta slap him for calling me heavy regardless of the rocket launcher. It's just rude to call a girl heavy in any situation.
“Karen, come take a look at Lucy. We need to get this glass out asap.” Seymore says, having bent down to look at my foot. I could totally make a foot fetish joke right now but I'm a wee bit distracted by the mix of throbbing and tingling sharp pain coursing through my foot.
“No need.” I say as I put the missile launcher down, pull my foot up, and lean back against the desk. I figured out on the hobble over here that the shard isn't super deep in. Seymore shines a light on my foot as I look over the shard more carefully. Blood is pooling around it and slowly running off my foot and now down my leg. Definitely left some drops on the way over here, hopefully the demons can't smell that or anything. I carefully make note of how it's shoved in, which is thankfully only like a half an inch at most. Taking a breath I reach down and grasp it with two fingers, a small pulse of pain shoots out as the shard shifts from the contact. Slowly I started applying more and more force to extricate it as close to the exact way it went in as possible. After a moment and a light tug the shard slides out, and with it the sharp tingling disappears. Unfortunately the shard was holding back a lot of the blood it seems, and now that it's gone it's coming out almost twice as fast as drops run down my leg off one side of my foot and onto the floor off the other. What's my mana at?
Mana: 8,037/24,456
Not great, not terrible. Still I think a foot injury warrants the use of a heal, even with limited mana. A small flash of green later and my foot starts to close itself up, the flesh unnaturally closing in on itself as it knits back together. Still freaky to look at, and even freakier to feel. I toss the shard across the room into the pile with the rest of the stuff that once separated the lobby and conference room, then put some weight on my foot to test it. It's still tender, and a hint of pain runs through it when I attempt to walk, but I can work with this. I take the healing crystal off Sara and put it on myself, a few minutes and I should be perfectly fine.
The others have taken the liberty of checking the rest of the lobby, with Toby exploring the three cubicles while George and Robert check the closed door that looks to be some sort of side office. Greg has placed Sara down on the one sitting chair in the lobby, and is now leaning against the wall catching his breath while Karen tends Sara. They shoot me a glance when I pull the healing crystal off but go back to their own business when they see me hobbling still.
I let out a sigh and throw the ammo bag down by the table. Pulling out my pistol I check to make sure it's still in order. That done I turn back to Seymore.
“Are we going to help the others clear the back rooms or wait here?” I ask him.
“Best to wait here, this rifle won't be good in close quarters and you're still limping and little. Robert's got that shield and shotgun so they should be fine.” He replies. Then an uneasy silence descends on the room, aside from the sounds of the others bumping and tossing things while clearing.
Only thing for me to think about are my own thoughts. A dangerous prospect that's for sure. Seymore wants me to suicide run up to a building and shoot the cultists. Stupid plan is an understatement, what he's asking is for me to effectively go out and die so that they will have a chance to live. Which in a vacuum would be an unbelievably dick move. But we’re not in a vacuum, we're in a god damn cultist, demon, and zombie demon infested city. And there is a good chance that even with the heavy weaponry we liberated, we’re still all gonna die. So I guess the question is what's one life to save five others? Of course, that's the worst case scenario, that we are the only ones left alive in the city. Not even getting into if other groups are hiding or if the southern bunker is still holding out. I let out a sigh, either everyone walks away from this with nothing, or someone might at least survive or something.
“So then…. What is your miraculous plan I'm to enact to absolutely dumpster the cultists hopes and dreams?” I ask the old man, but my tone is anything but cheery.
“Well, it's simple, at least the first part. Take the launcher up to one of the buildings. Go to the top, fire down at something important, preferably those crystals they are trying to charge. Then drop the launcher and run like hell.”
“And that's going to stop them? You think they didn't bring backups or what? How do I know the missile would even hit? Wouldn't they have shields or something protecting all the important shit?”
“There is a good chance those crystals are the backup. But even if you don't stop them, you will slow them down…. And distract them.”
“So you do want me to lead them on a wild goose chase through the city.”
“The longer you can, the more time we get.”
“And the shield issue?”
“I don't know if those crystals will have secondary shielding. But that base doesn't have shielding, at least it shouldn't.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Because that building fell on it. If they did have a shield protecting the base, it would have shattered on impact. Damage like that ain’t going to be repaired quick.”
“OK, so assuming I do manage to sneak through a city full of shit that's probably fully alerted to our presence now, get onto a roof close to their base, and manage to get the missile past any shields and bunch of demons cracked out on power. Then what?” I ask him, because I really, really want an actual plan. Not fucking fire, forget, and fuck off like a bat out of hell.
“Well, with any luck the shield will drop and you'll only need to survive a few minutes at most before reinforcements arrive. I doubt they will leave you hanging with free live target practice chasing you around.” Oh come on Seymore that's your plan? Your killing me here old man, possibly literally.
“And what if they think I'm part of the target practice?”
“Pfff, they’re better trained than that.”
All I can do is gawk at him in response. Does this man not understand the terms friendly fire and collateral? I'm not trusting some random dude not to put a high explosive something up my ass. This whole plan is so fucking stupid I'm losing IQ think about it. And I'm gonna do it anyway.
“Alright, I'll need a place to recharge my mana. I'm not running through that shit hole unprepared.” I say, then I notice George, Toby, and Robert have moved to clear the door that leads further into the building.
“We might not have the time, unfortunately. Tell you what, if you want to clear those bathrooms the others have missed i'll watch those two and the lobby. Once you're done just pick one and get as much mana back as you can before the cultists catch up to us.”
I nod to him, getting up and pulling my pistol out of my pocket. I walk over to the women's restroom, carefully to avoid the nearby glass from the shattered conference room panels. I take a deep breath and push the door open, only to realize once I stare inside that I don't have a flashlight. I let the door fully close in front of me, then make my way back to Seymore.
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“Yea, I need a flashlight.” I tell him. He just chuckles in response and fishes one and hands it to me. I then realize I felt no pain in my foot on the walk there and back. So I move the healing crystal back to Sara.
“Actually Lucy, think I could have that healin do dad while you're clearing the bathrooms? My arthritis is starting to act up again. I should only need it for a few minutes.” So I call the crystal back and put it on Seymore.
New equipment in hand I return to the bathroom and push the door open while clicking the flashlight on. What greets me is a standard women's bathroom, with white painted drywall and gray tile floors leading around a small corner to increase privacy. Timidly I round the corner, making sure to run the flashlight over every nook and cranny. Three stalls on my left, two personal, one handicap, stand opposed to four sinks built into a dark granite countertop. Slowly I approach the first stall, its door hangs half open partially revealing the inside. I push it open all the way and find nothing but a standard commercial toilet.
Moving to the next stall’s door is completely open, giving me the same view as the first stall. Finally I come to the handicap stall. Slowly I push the door open, checking the corners as I make my way into the stall. Nothing, which is a good thing because I don’t want to deal with shit. I make my way back out and move to clear the men's side.
Unfortunately, pushing open the door greets me with the sight of a massive amount of dried blood splattered across the walls, floor, and even some on the roof. A trail of it runs further into the bathroom around the corner, with splatters,spurts, and smears around like whatever was getting dragged was still flailing about while bleeding. How about a big old helping of nope! I step back and make sure the doors closes before turning back around.
“Hey, I'm gonna need some help over here. This one's got a lot of blood in it.” I call out to Seymore.
“Old or fresh?” He replies.
“Old.”
“Then just watch it and wait for the others to finish. I don't want to leave this area unattended.”
So I step back from the door and wait, and wait, and wait. It feels like it's taking forever. I don't hear anything coming from the back where the other three went in, which is both a good and a bad thing. Seymore seems content to watch the front ‘entrance’ while Karen takes a nap and Greg watches Sara. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, I hear some bumping around and grumbling coming from the back. I turn and look just in time to see the three coming out.
“The back looks clear, most of it is open office area but we found a better protected room with a walk-in vault in it. Problem is it's closed, and I don't think we can open it from the outside without the code.” Robert says.
“Hmmm, that might be something we can look into. Everything is quiet here, except Lucy found some blood in the men's bathroom and wants help checking it out.” Seymore replies, causing the rest to look at me confused.
“Dude, this wasn't just ‘some’ blood. It's pretty clear someone got whole ass murdered in there. Like grabbed and dragged around the corner kicking and screaming. I'm not going in alone on the off chance whatever did it is still hanging around.” I reply.
“Fair, enough. Toby help her clear it. I'd rather be safe than sorry. The rest of us are moving to the back, we'll grab the missile launcher and meet you back there when you're done.” Robert replies.
“Aw man, why do I gotta do it?” Toby gripes.
“Just make sure she's in front.” George sneers. But I ignore him, because at this point if I don't I'll knock his fucking teeth into the ceiling long before the demons can do it.
Me and Toby make our way to the restroom. I push the door open and Toby imminently gags.
“Holy shit you weren't kidding!”
“No shit.” I reply as I start pushing in and checking the corners and ceiling as I go. The men's has a slightly different layout to the women's, having only two stalls, one handicap and one single, and two urinals placed opposite the counter with four sinks. There's also blood all over everything, with the trail leading into the handicap stall, whose door is slightly ajar.
Slowly we walk forward, the feeling and light crinkle of dried blood under my feet not at all pleasant. Nothing happens for the first half, but as I approach the first stall I hear it. Slow, raspy, wheezy breathing. So low in volume I can barely hear it between footsteps. I tense up and freeze in place so as to not make any more sound. Toby picks up on me a moment later and also freezes, his flashlight shining just over my shoulder at the handicap stall door.
With the ensuing quiet I can finally tell where the breathing is coming from, and to no one's surprise it's the handicap stall. I move to hold my flashlight in my mouth, then motion for Toby to give me his rifle. Probably better for me to actually poke my head in and kill whatever is in there instead of Toby. He reluctantly agrees and passes me the rifle while taking my pistol while I keep my eyes on the stall the whole time. I check the safety and find it's already set to full auto. I pass my flashlight back to him as well, since the rifle has one duct taped under the barrel. I point at the stall and slowly make my way towards it, trying my best not to make any noise.
With nothing but the sounds of breathing and the ever so light sounds of our footsteps we move forward. It isn't until I get just past the first stall and next to the handicap that I get the feeling something is off. I pause and just feel for a moment, before realizing the door to the single stall is closed. But it just doesn't feel right. Slowly I crouch down enough to shine my light and look under the stall. I can see the bottom of a barely human figure, I think it's curled up on itself but upright, head to its knees and arms wrapped around them while leaning back against the toilet.
Except it's pale as fuck, and its arms and legs, at least what I can see of them, are abnormally long and gangly. Whatever it is definitely isn't human, and isn't awake yet. I slowly pull the light away and stand back up. I use my trigger hand to motion to the stall, then hold up one finger. The problem is I still hear the breathing coming from the handicap stall, so I'm willing to bet we have two problems to deal with.
I motion for Toby to start backing up, which he promptly does. Only for him to bump into the god damn trash can mounted into the wall next to the sinks. For fucks sake!
A clawed hand shot around the corner and violently grabbed the frame of the handicap stall so hard it cracks. The creature in the regular stall also started to stir, the horrendous screeching of tearing metal ringing out as I see it under the divider stand up off the floor. A split second later a mangled toilet paper dispenser clattered to the floor with a heavy twang.
The creature in the handicap stall slowly revealed itself while pushing the door open. A pale white, lanky figure with only scraps of white hair pulled itself into the light. Its face distorted and its jaw naturally distended, revealing razor sharp teeth jumbled about its mouth. Its eyes locked onto me, an ominous purple filled with malice seemingly attempting to burrow its way into you to consume your soul. It opened its mouth, revealing more teeth all throughout the mouth and even into the back of its throat.
I see its chest expand like it was pulling in air to scream. I pull down the trigger and the rifle spews forth a wave of pain and death with the symphonic banging of shots firing. I do my best to keep on target, but it's not the kick throwing off my aim. I'm strong enough to handle that. As the first bullet slams into the framing divider of the stall, the creature's building scream comes out as a horrific screeching as the round passes through and into its body on the other side. It tumbles and falls into the doorway, spazzing and jerking as more and more bullets slam into it. Sprays of black ichor spew out of the impact holes in all directions, coating everything in the cursed blood of the abomination.
After two full seconds of holding the trigger the rifle clicks and the bullets stop flying. The demon's screams turned into a pathetic wheeze as it lay twitching in a growing pool of its own blood. The relative silence only lasts a mere moment. The other abomination blasts through the door to the single stall and crashes into the opposite wall, sending dust, plastic, plywood bits, and drywall flying about in spectacular fashion. In response I reflexively pull the trigger again.
‘Click’
Fuck! I turn to yell at Toby to run, just to find he's already beaten me to it and has thrown the door open. I decide to bitch his ass out later and rush after him, damn near instantly catching up to him due to my enhanced speed. Unfortunately, that ugly ass ghoul thing is just as fast, as I hear it crash its way out of the wall and rush across the bathroom while letting out a horrendous screech so loud it almost makes me deaf. If the fucking cultists and demons didn't know where we were before, they definitely do now. Me and Toby make it out the door and I tackle him to the ground just in time for the ghoul as I'm calling it, to crash through the partially cloud door behind us and go sailing over our heads. Splinters of wood and the door handle clatter to the ground around us as the ghoul fails it's landing, going tumbling along the ground and into the of the writing desks in the middle of the lobby, destroying it and making even more of a mess.
It keeps screaming until it slams into the table, at which point it changes to an angry growl. I throw a confused Toby off of me and jump to my feet at the same time as the ghoul does. Me and it stare at each other for a moment, then it moves. It stops growling and screeches once more while lunging at me, and I barely have enough time to hold the rifle out in front of me to catch its claws and prevent it front bisecting me. A harsh clang rings out as its claws impact the metal of the rifle, and it closes its hand and grabs hold. Instead of trying to rip the gun away it continues to throw its weight forward, trying to get close enough to me and rip my face off or my throat out with its teeth. I desperately push back, but it clearly has more mass as while I keep it at arms reach it starts forcibly sliding me backwards along the ground.
But the more we slide the closer it gets, using its height against me and slowly pushing itself over-top of the gun. Suddenly a bang rings out, and the creature flinches, giving me the moment I need to force the gun back up to its chest level and keep it at arms reach. Another loud bang rings out, and this time it hisses in what sounds like annoyance while still trying to push me over. You know what, fuck this guy, demon, thing. He’s right up in my face, so I’ll teach it to mind its fucking personal space. I charge up a screech, set for damage, and blast it in the face at point blank.
It scrambles backwards as its face explodes into a shower of black gore as the ceiling above it explodes into a shower of drop tile debris from the parts of the attack that overshot. But it keeps screeching as it finishes tumbling back and recovers while holding its face. Only now it somehow sounds even more enraged. Another shot rings out and it collapses onto a knee, that's when I finally notice Toby on the floor behind the creature, his weapon aimed for another shot. He fires again and it flinches, but starts to stand again anyways as it stops screeching and starts to inhale a large volume of air.
My danger senses scream at me to move, and I have a bad feeling I'm about to be on the receiving end of my own spell or something worse. I lunge to jump out of the way, but the fucker in a blur of movement grabs me by the arm and yanks me back. I hear more shots rapidly ring out from Toby seemingly abandoning precision in an attempt to save me. It flinches but keeps holding me while charging its attack. I sock it in its ugly, bleeding, half destroyed face but that just seems to piss it off even more. I feel whatever it's doing reaches its crescendo, and its mouth starts to glow as it tries to pull me closer. I charge another screech spell and blast it in the face again in an attempt to interrupt it. My attempt is partially successful, as it staggers back, letting me go and clutching its face again, but doesn't lose its spell.
I also stumble, failing to catch myself after it lets me go and landing on my ass. It recovers and leans towards me with furry in its eyes. I throw my hands in front of my face and brace for whatever is about to come next. This is gonna fucking hurt.
But the attack never comes. Instead I hear an extra loud bang from deeper in the building, and feel little droplets of something splatter all over me. Then it's quiet, nothing but silence and me and Toby's heavy breathing. I open my eyes and peak at the now half headless ghoul as it teeters, then falls towards me. Landing just short of actually falling on me, it hits the ground with a loud thunk and sprays a fresh set of back ichor and demonic brain matter all over me. God fucking gross! Even in death these things have to be assholes!
Robert bursts out of the door to the back, weapon ready. Unfortunately his help is a little late, but better late than never. I go to stand only to realize there is a sharp burning in my right leg. I look down and find a bullet hole going through my calf, clean through and leaking a fair bit of blood. God damn it!
Mana: 2,252/26,544
And I'm almost out of fucking mana!