damned_institute | Night 63: Road to/from Doyleton

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Night 63: Road to/from Doyleton

[From here.]

But being outside was probably just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than it was being trapped inside the bus with that nurse.

Besides the many other deformed nurses that were roaming around here, Zero caught sight of numerous forms flying overhead, casting large shadows on the ground as they passed by. They looked like...eagles. But deformed and horrific-looking, just like the nurses. At first, they seemed content to simply circle overhead, screeching, like vultures swarming above a carcass. But then many of them suddenly swooped down and headed straight for some of the prisoners running in the street.

Kind of like the one flying at Zero right now.

"Kh--!" The once-Reploid barely managed to dodge the monster as it dived for him by falling to the ground and rolling back onto his feet. The bird flew upwards again, slowly flapping its wings, then circled around as if to try again, another eagle joining it. To avoid them, Zero quickly moved out of the open, where he was obviously a target, and circled around one of the buses, keeping his back to it for cover. But he knew he wasn't going to be safe here...not when there were nurses on the ground and so many eagles above.

Not since the night he had become temporarily stronger had there been so much visible chaos... And if that one prisoner hadn't started a riot, this wouldn't be happening right now...!

As he stood contemplating the best route for escape, Zero glanced around quickly, searching the fleeing prisoners for anyone familiar or anyone who might need help. He was defenseless, so protecting someone else would only get him so far (and he certainly didn't want a repeat of two nights ago), but they all might have a better chance of survival if they grouped up...

[Leanne, Lana, and Harvey, WHERE YOU AT.]

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"... That's true, I guess..." It wasn't like he had any other suggestions to give them anyway. Luke looked back at the large iron carriages and wished one of them knew how to use it, but if it was any kind option he was pretty sure Guy would have thought of it long ago.

"Okay, let's go!" It helped to keep him resolute when he said it out loud. Setting his jaw, he reluctantly turned away from the mayhem behind them all and followed Guy. It didn't sit right in his stomach, running away, but he knew his friends were right. It was hard to help people when you were dead, and Luke didn't save his planet just to die unknown and forgotten in a prison camp. He was getting out, they all were, and they needed a better plan than racing headlong into danger.

Thankfully, this line of forest wasn't very thin. He doubted it was covered all the way to the institute, but it certainly helped to put his mind at ease for now. Still, his green eyes regularly darted around in the darkness, making sure nothing was creeping up on them.

"Hey, Guy, how far away do you think the institute is from here?"

It was easy to see that Luke was having a hard time just leaving the rest of the patients to fend for themselves, but there wasn't much they could do in this case. They'd had to run from the monsters and take cover just like everyone else, after all. Guy wasn't too happy about it either, but he'd been here long enough to realize that they weren't in a position to be heroes all the time.

Guy walked beside Luke with Anise on the other side of him, which was a good formation considering what their group consisted of right now. When Luke asked his question, Guy tilted his head up for a moment as he thought it over. "It's not too far. The main problem is that it's uphill," he said as he stepped up on a rock to get to a higher level of the terrain. "But we should be able to make it inside before night's over."

While it was nice to have all three of them together, there was one more person who should have been here. Guy glanced at Anise and Luke, wondering if they had any idea of where their last team member was. "Hey, did you guys see Tear at all today?"

Having spent most of the ride back spacing out in front of the window, Anise hadn't really kept track of how long they'd been on the road. Luckily, Guy seemed to have a decent idea as to how much farther they had to go. An uphill trek definitely wasn't the worst obstacle they could face.

When the question of Tear's whereabouts came up, Anise thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No... I didn't see her. It's pretty hard to keep track of people during field trips, though," she quickly added. She didn't want the group's morale to take a plummet just because they weren't sure about something that was hard to confirm in the first place.

Looking on the bright side, the monsters didn't seem to be pursuing them at the moment. Anise wished she could take that as an opportunity to relax, but when an old twig made a loud snapping sound under her feet, she couldn't help but cringe and give her surroundings another long, wary look.

"Oh yeah, Tear..." He felt bad for forgetting her. Hopefully a whirlwind of spontaneous terror was excuse enough. They had run for the forest without stopping to think about anyone else, but wasting anytime in that feeding frenzy would have meant all their heads. It still didn't stop him from feeling guilty though.

"I'm sure she's fine!" Luke announced a little louder than necessary. "Tear probably headed for cover like us. I bet we'll bump into her when we get back..." Yeah, he was certain that would be exactly how it turned out. Maybe they would even meet up with her on the way. He felt confident as they moved through the woods, not even letting the spin-tingling sensation of that twig snapping get him down! Still, it was pretty freaky out here, unarmed.

"So, is there anything in the forest we should, uh, be worried about or is it just the big birds?" It wouldn't be very fun to think the worst was past and then get bodily tackled to the floor by a wild monster loose in the woods.

While Guy couldn't help but feel some concern when Anise admitted that she also hadn't seen Tear today, he tried to focus on the point she made. Tracking people down during the Doyleton trip was easier said than done unless you made plans ahead of time. Tear was very capable and from what he'd gleaned from their conversations, she'd made some trustworthy friends here. She was probably fine. Luke seemed to feel the same way about it, so it looked like they were continuing on.

The sound of that twig snapping also sent Guy into a defensive stance, but after glancing around for a few seconds he determined that they hadn't attracted anything's immediate attention. That didn't mean that there wasn't something out there stalking them, though.

When Luke asked his question, Guy let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "I can't say for sure. I haven't spent as much time out here as you'd think." He'd been focused on the basement and the caverns for some time now, after all. Still, he did remember getting attacked a few times when he'd headed outside, even though it hadn't been in this area. "I'm pretty sure there are other things lurking around, though," he warned Luke. While the hallways of the institute were a cramped space where it was easy to get cornered, they were more controlled than this expansive area where something could attack from basically any direction -- and size wasn't a concern, either.

When several seconds passed and nothing came charging at them, Anise finally released a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. For a moment there, she was really worried, but maybe this really was going to be a walk in the park.

Luke started asking about the monsters that lurked outside, and Anise tried to think back on her previous excursions while Guy gave his answer. "Well... there was that creepy weird-looking thing that attacked Claude when we went out together, like a week ago," she offered, tilting her head a bit as she thought on the experiences. "But other than that, I haven't seen that many either, even though I used to spend lots of time outside." She'd seen signs of monsters and other dangers, but none had attacked her.

"Maybe the heavens are watching out for me because of my pure heart!" she declared, the brightness returning to her face. If the others knew what was good for them, they wouldn't challenge her on that.

Anise's high opinion of herself forced a snort out of Luke that turned into a "cough" in case she thought he had doubted her resolve. If Anise's heart was pure, his lineage was flawless.

"Used to?" They both seemed to be saying the same thing. Besides outside the institute, what was there to explore? "Where'd you guys go at night, then?" Now that he thought about it, Guy and Anise seemed to have plans the first night he was here with that one guy named Claude. The replica certainly had his fair share of work to do at night, but he was real curious what they did.

It was no surprise that Anise ended up mentioning that time when they'd been attacked in the forest with Tear and Claude. It hadn't turned out to be a huge deal, but there was one other incident he could think of. "Yeah, there was that. And once I headed out with Claude and Asch and we got attacked by this large catlike thing."

That was the night that they'd been separated from Asch, and Guy hadn't seen him since. It was eerie realizing that that monster could have mauled him. Guy liked to think that Asch was a bit more capable than that, but Luke had returned and he hadn't...

He smiled at Anise when she made her comment, glad to see that she was in a better mood despite their circumstances. He had to wonder if she was planning to tell Luke about her illness, but he wasn't going to bring it up unless he knew she was ready.

Besides, Luke had a question, although it was one that made Guy feel a little awkward. He still felt guilty that he couldn't take his friend with them down into the caverns, but there really wasn't any way around that. "We're exploring the basement," he said after a pause that may have stretched out a little too long.

Huh... Guy had traveled with Claude and Asch as a group? She hoped the two hadn't subjected Claude to too much awkwardness. They had a hard time getting along even at the best of times.

Guy's hesitation was easy to detect, though Anise understood the reason for it. She gave a slow nod to confirm, then asked Luke, "Have you heard anything about the basement here?"

She remembered telling Luke about the basement before - or everything she could tell, at least. Despite her inability to share the details, he understood her feelings, and tried to help discourage other patients from following in their footsteps. It was kind of touching that he'd do that much with only Anise's word to go off of... especially considering how her word hadn't been that reliable in the past.

But that was another Luke, and this one was likely still in the dark about the whole thing. Still, Luke was Luke, no matter what he remembered. Maybe he'd understand this time too.

"Yeah, I've heard about it before." He had tried drilling Claude about it, but he hadn't gotten much out of the blond. Apparently, no one liked talking about the basement. "Nothing good, though..." His words lapsed into silence as he looked at Guy and Anise. It would be nice if they would just say what exactly was so terrible about a basement.

If they were spending so much time down there, shouldn't he be helping? Well, it didn't matter right now. There were more important things to worry about, like the fact that it sounded as if something was following them. It was almost as if something large had fallen to the ground beside them with a thump, rustling the smaller undergrowth below the tall trees. It froze Luke in place and he grabbed for his sword at his back, but of course, it wasn't there. He snapped his fingers at both of them to get their attention, but it probably wasn't necessary. They were all battle hardened and sensitive to the smallest of sounds. At least Anise had Tokunaga if worse came to worse.

So Luke had at least been told enough to realize that the basement was bad news. Guy knew that his friend deserved to be told more than that, but the question was how much he'd even be able to reveal. He didn't want to tell Luke that he'd died temporarily when he couldn't even explain the circumstances, for instance.

He was about to send Anise a glance in order to search out some kind of guidance from her, but at that point Guy felt the ground beneath them being disturbed. Something was close by, and his guess was that it wasn't friendly.

When Luke snapped his fingers, Guy nodded, turning himself in the direction of the noise as he tried to squint through the trees. The problem with being under the cover of the forest's canopy was that barely any light came through, and so it was hard to tell what might be out there.

Without a sword to fight with, Guy knew he would need to improvise. As quietly as he could, he bent down, searching around with his hand for a rock or a branch he could fight with.

So Luke knew a little. That was probably good, but this was a topic they needed to tread carefully with if they didn't want to accidentally encourage him to follow them. Anise didn't want more of her friends to experience that kind of despair.

But the chance to elaborate didn't come, as Luke seemed to detect a presence nearby. Anise stepped away from what appeared to be the source of the noise, in an effort to keep herself safe in case of a sudden attack. Since the others were unarmed, it looked like this was the time to rely on artes. Anise began casting, preparing a spell that she could fire off as soon as she had a visible target.

With a fonic glyph below her feet and one hand raised, Anise stood at the ready, watching the brush for any sudden movements.

Everything came to a head the moment the faint rustling suddenly turned into a vicious growl, and a pair of blood-red eyes peered at them from the bushes. Soon, a large, dark shape came bounding out of the leaves -- a dog, its rotted flesh barely clinging to its body in some places.

With a wild snarl, the dog lunged for the smaller of the three, revealing its sharp canines as it targeted the girl's legs.

[Jansen]

"Anise!" There was little time to decide what to do. Luke's first thought was to push his friend out of the way, but with a glyph already etched into the ground the replica didn't think they could afford wasted time. She had to finish her fonic artes without delay! She was the only one of them still equipped with her weapon of choice.

His target was the rotting beast, throwing himself at it and hopefully knocking its muzzle away before it could do any real damage to Anise. With two of them to distract a monster, he had confidence in the girl to pull this off.

It wasn't often that Anise actually had the time or opportunity to cast one of her Artes, though Guy also realized that they couldn't rely on that. Their powers were severely weakened, and so even if she landed a spell it wasn't likely that it would be enough to keep the monster down, whatever it was.

Their foe didn't take long to show itself, and it made its entrance with a bang, jumping right for Anise. Guy's hand curled around a stray branch right as he watched Luke toss himself at the thing. His friend really didn't think before acting sometimes, although this wasn't the sort of situation where they could hesitate, either.

Luke was definitely going to need back-up while Anise finished casting, and so Guy stood up with the branch, darting past the girl and toward Luke and the dog, swinging out with his makeshift weapon. He was aiming for the monster's head, and he knew Luke was comfortable enough fighting alongside him that he wouldn't get in the way.

Even though Anise had been prepared for an attack, she wasn’t quite prepared for the monster to come charging at her so quickly. Her eyes widened with panic as the thing (a wolf?) lunged at her, but she held her ground. If she lost her focus, the fonons she'd gathered would dissipate and she’d have to start over.

Her friends were quick to intercept, but it was hard to find comfort in that when they were barely armed. And Luke – what was he thinking? Even if it was touching that he was willing to charge in recklessly to protect her, he didn’t have anything to defend himself with!

But now the creature had been slowed down, which made it easier to target. This was Anise’s chance.

“Negative Gate!” A vortex of dark flames erupted from beneath the monster’s feet, engulfing it. Unlike ordinary fire, they gave off no heat and did not spread, but they caused pain and damage to whatever they touched. The flames whipped about in a spherical motion, burning away at anything within range for a few seconds before vanishing.

The fatigue hit Anise harder than usual, reminding the girl of her illness. Her headache was back with a vengeance, and her face quickly grew flushed. She took a wobbly step back, away from the fray, and waited for the worst to subside. Hopefully the others could handle things while she recovered.

The dog hadn't expected the others to put up as much of a fight, but the promise of food made the prospect of retreat unappealing. Still, it soon became clear that the creature would get more resistance than it had bargained for. Before it could recover from the blow to the head, dark flames engulfed its body.

Although there was no heat, the rotting dog gave a broken, pained howl and staggered backward. Unfortunately for the creature, its momentary confusion left it open to other attacks -- or, at the very least, gave an opportunity for its prey to flee.

When the replica saw Guy move, so did he. Anise and Guy were the only two with weapons right now, so he got out of the way as fast as he could and let them both do what they did best. The wall of black flames licking across the monster were a welcomed sight to be sure.

Luke was about to say as much to Anise when he realized she was staggering out of harm's way. The battle had just begun and the young girl looked to be completely spent. If they couldn't use her artes to take the demon hound down, it was likely they would all be leaving here unharmed. Beating the thing with a stick would probably only piss it off more.

"I'll pass on dying here, thanks... Guy!" He shouted at his friend as he moved swiftly to Anise's side. "Let's go!" Bending over, the replica put one hand on Anise's back and caught the back of her knees in the crook of his other arm, lifting her easily enough. His stamina wouldn't last long carrying another person, but they couldn't afford to dangle Anise by the hand like a piece of tired meat before their newfound enemy.

While Guy did manage to hit the dog with the branch, the small amount of damage he did with it hardly matched up to Anise's spell. While it was a weakened version of what she usually could pull off, the dark flames licked up around the monster's body and caused it to scream in pain.

Before Guy could really weigh the pros and cons of continuing to fight versus fleeing, he heard Luke call out for him -- and the next thing he knew, his friend was running off with Anise in his arms.

Well, that was one way to go about it. Guy didn't like that Anise could end up so weakened from a single spell, but she'd done a good job and he wasn't going to let that work go to waste. He darted away from the monster and then raced after Luke, cutting through the trees. At least Luke was able to make contact with Anise in his stead.

Guy quickly caught up with Luke and then pointed ahead to the institute building, which was starting to show itself through the trees. "Look! We're almost there!" That was assuming that those birds didn't attack them the moment they cleared the trees, but he was trying to think positively for once.

For a few hazy moments, Anise wasn’t really sure what was happening around her. The next thing she knew, she was being swept off the ground and carried away… in Luke’s arms.

In Luke’s arms!!

The aches and dizziness were soon forgotten as Anise basked in that moment, gushing excitedly over her rescuer. “Oh, Luke! My prince!” – duke, whatever – “I always dreamed you’d sweep me off my feet… I can hear the wedding bells already!”

To make things even better, being off her feet allowed Anise’s head to clear much faster than if she’d remained standing. She raised an arm and wrapped it around Luke’s shoulder, then pulled herself up in what probably looked like an affectionate hug. Which, well, it partly was, but it also allowed her to look over the redhead’s shoulder to see what was behind them. “—Hey, I think we lost it,” she announced when she saw no signs of pursuit. And from what Guy was saying, they were close to the building… They were practically home free!

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Night 63: Road to/from Doyleton

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