Nighshift 63: Sheriff's Office

[fourstonewalls]

[from here]

The door was locked, but just with a latch; the credit card they'd issued her for the trip was worth far more sliding down the thin space between jamb and door than it had been earlier. The latch clicked, and the door swung open with a loud creak.

Lana held the door open, gesturing for everyone to come in. In her other hand she'd grabbed one of the waiting-line chairs and was holding it, ready to jam it under the doorknob. As long as they were all inside before the zombies arrived, they'd be fine.

That was, of course, assuming the office was empty.

Comments

[dividedby]

Thankfully, the police station wasn't far from where they had been when the zombies spotted them. Not close, but...it was definitely a much shorter run than the one the group had been through just to get into town.

It wasn't until they were almost to the station that Zero considered the possibility that the place might not be unlocked once they got there. Sure enough, Lana reached the door first and tried it to find that it wouldn't budge. Before it could become a real issue, though, she managed to somehow open it with a card - an act the once-Reploid watched with quiet curiosity. If it had been him handling the door, he would have simply broken it open with brute force; he didn't know much about lock picking or other door opening tricks, nor would he prefer to use them if he did know. However, this way the group could use the door as a way to stop those zombies from following them. That was better than breaking it to get inside more quickly...

After watching Lana open the door, Zero was the first to move inside, and of course, he made a point to stop and check out the group's new surroundings. He'd never been in Doyleton's police station before, so he had no idea what to expect. Who knew if there might be someone (or something) else in here...especially when there were zombies lurking about the town.

Seemed to be quiet for now, at least. Quite small and quaint for a police station, wasn't it...

[survives]

A gasp escaped her when the creatures turned toward their group, her hand flying to cover her mouth, as Leanne got her first good look at them. In motion, they were absolutely horrible, gruesome. It was enough to set her stomach churning again, the moment she stopped to really think about their state. Even Harvey's assurances that they wouldn't be too difficult to take down did nothing to set her mind at ease. She wasted no time in setting off after Lana the moment she called for them to run, all too eager to finally reach the police station, and the comfort of having some means of defense.

Once Lana unlocked the door, Leanne quickly followed the others inside, instantly recognizing the inside of the building. Yes. This was definitely the place she'd visited with Renamon. It'd been safe enough that night, hopefully the same would hold true this time.

And if everything else was also still the same as the last time... "We should check out the lockers," she said with a glance at the others, before taking another look around them.

[dualistic]

The dash to the sheriff's station and the fumble with trying to get the door open actually went better than expected. Harvey was hoping that was the last bit of running that he would need to do for a while, but he realized that entering a building like this could often be the same as walking into a trap, if any of the zombies were lingering in here.

Which was definitely possible, but if they could get some guns then they wouldn't need to worry too much about that. A well-placed bullet would take the walking dead down easily.

One thing at a time, though. First was catching his breath. Second was looking for the cabinet that he'd forced open the last time, which wasn't where he remembered it being. He was about to let out a groan and deliver the bad news, but that was when Leanne spoke up.

"The lockers?" he echoed. "Is that where they keep the guns now?" It was clear that some things had changed around since he'd forced his way in here that night, but that had been a month ago now, so maybe it wasn't so surprising. At this point he was actually glad to have Leanne with them, since she'd clearly been here more recently and knew where to go.

The question was whether or not there were going to be a few lingering zombies between them and the goods. Harvey tried to slow his breathing down so he could hear if there was any moaning or any dragging sounds.

[fourstonewalls]

The lockers seemed like a safe place to start, if any of them were open. Lana looked at the chair she'd shoved under the door handle, and frowned. Maybe one of the desks would be a better idea, provided they could maneuver it out to the front. Then again, that would trap them in here if they weren't alone. Instead, she knocked the swinging door open with a swing of her hip and started going through the drawers.

For all his folksy manner, the Sheriff did seem to run a tight ship -- all of the desks were well-stocked with notepads and pens, and there were some personal effects, but nothing case-related. She slid the drawer shut, and leaned on the desk. Hopefully it looked determined, rather than exhausted, but she wasn't sure.

"Lead the way." There were three doors, and each of them was likely to have zombies behind it; if Leanne knew which one to open, Lana would be delighted to improve the odds. "If there's any 9mm ammunition, I wouldn't say no to it."

[dividedby]

Following Lana, Zero wandered into the rest of the room past the swinging door and then began to explore, although he was still keeping eyes and ears open for any sign of undead life in the vicinity. To him, it looked like a normal office with nothing special inside. Just desks and chairs and common old office supplies. There were three other doors, but where they led was a mystery to him. Certainly one way must lead to where all the equipment was kept, right? Which door, though...

Just as he was about to ask that question out loud, though, Leanne spoke up and offered a suggestion as to where those firearms (or else, something useful) might be kept. Lockers? Where? And how did she...?

...Oh wait, that's right. She had said once that she'd been here before. Gotten a gun, even. Oh good. So someone here knew exactly where everything was kept. That was a relief.

"If you know where they are, then definitely." In agreement with the others, Zero nodded his head as a gesture for Leanne to take the lead. He himself would follow quietly behind wherever they went, still keeping guard, anticipating getting a hold of something that could finally do some real damage to all of these monsters.

[Threadmates, feel free to skip/godmode Zero until Sunday now! c:]

[survives]

"Uh... I guess they might have guns in other places too?" Leanne shrugged, a small smile coming to her lips. With any luck, it didn't look as awkward as it felt. Suddenly being the one leading them was unexpected, and just the slightest bit uncomfortable, but she wasn't about to back down from it. She could do this. It couldn't be that different from taking point during a job, and she'd done that plenty of times. "But the lockers were where we checked the last time I was here. I don't know if there's anything else anywhere else..."

That said, she turned around and walked briskly toward the doors. Three doors... Which one had she walked out of that night, after they'd teleported inside? It had been...

Right. "I'm pretty sure it was in this room," she said, even as she reached for the doorknob. Before turning it, however, she glanced back over her shoulder, at her three companions. "You guys ready? I don't know if there are any more of those... things in there." After all, couldn't one of the officers have easily stayed inside past sunset? Running again wouldn't exactly be easy while they were inside either.

[dualistic]

So Lana was also looking for ammunition. That meant she must have gotten her hands on a gun already, and Harvey was curious as to how. That was something he could discuss with her later, though. The others went about searching the main area, and it quickly became clear that there wasn't much of interest here beyond some office supplies.

For that reason, Harvey didn't think there was any point in holding off on searching those lockers Leanne had mentioned. He moved up behind her and was about to give the go-ahead for her to open the door, but then--

"Wait." He reached out and grabbed Leanne's hand, pulling it away from the doorknob. He motioned for everyone to be silent for a moment, and after a few seconds he heard it: a thumping sound from behind the door, followed by some faint scratching.

"There's something in there." It was really no shock that they were going to have to fight for what they wanted. They couldn't just leave weapons unguarded, even if they'd gone to enough trouble just to make it all the way down here. Still, there wasn't much point complaining about it now. Instead, Harvey moved to grab one of the desk chairs, lifting it up to use as a bludgeoning instrument. "All right, ready."

[fourstonewalls]

A stapler wasn't going to do Lana that much good against a zombie, but it was better than nothing. And she'd seen people killed with less -- a sharp blow to the head was easier than most people thought. Not quite as effective on things that could walk around with their brains rotting and falling out, but enough damage and they'd go down as well.

She stepped in and put her hand on the knob, just where Leanne's had been, and threw a smirk at Harvey. "On my mark, " she called out. The zombie -- let's be optimistic and assume there's only one -- already knew they were there; whether by sound or smell, it didn't matter, so synchronizing their attack could only help. When everyone was looking at her, she started the countdown. "Three, two, one, mark." She pulled open the door, stepping behind it so that she might have a fighting chance of closing it again.

The smell of rotting flesh rushed out, followed quickly by its source. A badge on its breast hung from the tattered remnants of a dress shirt, and Lana shuddered. She would rather not have thought about the fact that these were people, once.

[dividedby]

Wasn't all that surprising to find that the group wasn't alone in this place. At least it was only one moaning remnant of a human and not an entire group. Four against one - and the one seemed to be mostly dead already. This shouldn't be much of a challenge.

Zero took Harvey's lead and armed himself with one of the desk chairs; certainly, something like that would do far more damage to an enemy than his coat would. Then it was only a short wait before Lana pulled the door open, putting everyone face to face with their enemy.

Unexpectedly, it wasn't a physical form that struck Zero the moment the door was opened, but a wave of smell that caused his stomach to grow queasy. Just because he was used to seeing corpses didn't mean he was used to their smell...and what a smell it was. Still, despite its strength, it wasn't enough to immobilize him. As the zombie moved out of its hiding place, Zero moved as well, stopping only a short distance away before pulling the chair in his hands back in preparation for a swing.

It didn't matter what this thing was (or used to be)... All that mattered now was that it was in their way, and it was going to be terminated for that.