damned_institute | Nightshift 42: Callahan's Grocer

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Nightshift 42: Callahan's Grocer

S.T. was bored. Bored and feeling useless. He'd stomped around town, looking for a distraction from his own self-pitying funk, as the light had waned. Boredom and feigned anticipation had given way to dread. He'd circled back around to the grocery to see if there was anything less useless on the bulletin. No dice.

Then it happened. Everything changed, without the comfort of a closed door and an unchanging dormitory room. Usually it was like an elevator with a dinner service -- if the doors open on the same sight as you left, either it's a crap elevator or you're in a stockbroker's office tower. And if it were the latter, the food would need more unpronounceable French things.

This had no frame, no steady point of reference. The smell of rotting fruit, esters and alcohol, hit him first. Papers curled and became brittle. The ambient temperature dropped at least five degrees.

It was night, and the closest thing he had to a weapon was a ballpoint pen and a rack of rotting tomatoes. At least he hoped the tomatoes were on his side.

[for Spider Jerusalem, open to threadcrashing once we get going]

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Like Leon, Haseo thought that description... pretty much sounded like a spell. But whatever, and Haseo didn't have time to worry about the concerns his allies were having at the moment in regards to feeling useless. Before, he'd been running on pure adrenaline, and it was sort of dying out. They needed to do something soon before he crashed, and therefore, his answer was nearly immediate.

"I saw earlier that this place has a second floor... if we can find the way up, then hopefully up higher it'll be more defensible. If we've got any luck these things are too stupid for stairs."

He paused for breath, eyes on the destroyed zombie still partially stuck in the floor. Especially since it doesn't seem as likely that these things will be doing that on a higher floor was the unspoken word.

He blinked at Leon's question. He didn't know, and the idea of them getting hurt or worst was... "They should both know what they're doing," he said distractedly, "Endrance at least is high-leveled, and I'm pretty sure Tsukasa should be too."

Looking at the things in his hands, he sighed and held them out slightly in offering with a quick "here," in case either thought they could use the knives or (geez...) shelf. "If you see anything else we can use, grab it," he added, then sparing a look for the chair against the door, he unbraced it but left it closed and took off along the edge of the store in search.

All our friends together... Kibitoshin managed to replace a little of his smile for Leon's loyalty, but the comment just compounded the concern he was already feeling. Sechs and Trunks could probably handle themselves okay (so long as Sechs hadn't just been boasting, of course), but the others had seemed virtually defenseless. Well, Franziska had her notebook, of course, but if three people had trouble taking one zombie down what good was that going to do?

This was no good. All he was doing was distracting himself. He yanked himself out of his brief (albeit intense) funk in time to catch the tail end of Haseo's suggestion. Something about going upstairs and grabbing... well... anything, he guessed.

Shaking his head at the offered weapons, he set off along the aisle alongside the route Haseo had taken; the closer he got to the stock the worse the stench of decay became, but Kibitoshin stomached it for the sake of keeping close together. Any semblance of composure he may have had, however, was promptly shattered when something soft and bruised gave way into cold slickness under the brush of his hand, drawing a short cry of shock that stopped him dead in his tracks. He was, he realised, shaking more than ever.

Shadows bordering the room gave way to the slightest suggestion of a door near the back of the store. To stairs, maybe? They'd have to see.

High level? Leon raised an eyebrow, ~~ironically~~ not getting what Haseo meant by that but not willing to question it either. He was probably talking about a position in society or somesuch.

He knew he was no good with knives, but he took one of the ones Haseo offered anyway. If all else failed, he'd at least be able to stab at things. The mage kept himself between the two men. It might have been the cowardly thing to do, but he was no front-line fighter. Even with all his abilities available he was aware of this.

Where are the damn stairs to this place?! Haseo thought, a strange mixture of irritation and rising alarm once more clouding his thoughts as he moved. Bizarrely, he was reminded of Antares haphazardly guiding him and his friends through a maze dungeon, which really only served to amplify the fact that directions weren't really his strong point. Which in turn was really kind of sad, considering they were in a simple grocery store, and Haseo worked in one in real life.

Of course, this was so much more real than a videogame, and although the layout was not particularly difficult, the undead's presence made trying to find what they were looking for a nightmare - literally. One aisle was blocked, as was the one next to it, clogged by the crowd of semi-animate rotting bodies and wreckage. He backed up and darted down another, trying to keep track of Leon and Kibitoshin, to remember his own advice, keep his eyes open for other useful items...

Fortunately, Haseo's luck had mercy on him when the entryway to the stairs was revealed at the end of the latest path. Unfortunately, it also completely screwed him over at the same time. Someone else had been through already, if the mildly-impressive congregation of not-quite-dead bodies was any indication- whoever it had been had apparently accumulated a following. They would have seemed fairly determined to go up the stairs after them, had it not been for their general aimlessness and that as soon as Haseo and his friends appeared close-by, their attention switched to them immediately.

The first that lunged at their group was struck down immediately, but there was another right after it, and another. Although they technically lacked the ability to reason taking advantage of the Rogue's instinctual swing with the shelf, regardless one seemed to do so anyway, latching onto his upper arm and tearing at his clothing with half-rotted but razor-sharp teeth and nails. Panicked and cursing with what seemed like every negative word he'd learned since birth, Haseo stabbed at the thing's head wildly and began backing up rapidly. The knife caught purchase several times, and the zombie fell away, but the damage seemed done and there were more preparing to attack.

Edited 2009-07-31 03:22 (UTC)

[swooping in from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/673721.html?view=55926457#t55926457).]

"Haseo!" Endrance didn't even think about the danger before jumping into the thick of the fight. He moved behind the Rogue, aiming to take out the zombie immediately behind Haseo. The undead being staggered forward, and he stabbed at it, hitting its arms first.

In this situation, it wasn't a matter of trying to get around the zombie and stab it in the temple - that would leave both of them too open. Instead, the strategy was to get it to lower its arms long enough to strike at its neck - and to somehow do it without getting himself bitten, if possible.

It was easier said than done. Those sharp nails scratched at his arm, making it hard to get within striking distance. Endrance wished once again for his usual blade, but knew he'd just have to work with what he had. When the creature grabbed at him, he moved with the movement, then struck, sliding the blade across the zombie's neck in a flurry of rose petals.

The idea of running into a zombie filled grocery store (why couldn't there have been a gun store? Or whatever the real-world equivalent of a high-level weapon and armour store was?) was not one that Tsukasa was particularly fond of, but he was as much a sitting duck out here on his own as he would be in there with Endrance and the choice was made for him when his friend charged in.

It became clear when Tsukasa spotted Haseo and Leon in there and they were alright!

He was probably going to regret this, but he charged in too, moving towards Leon and the other guy and landing a good whack on an approaching zombie with the frying pan too. He caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and just stared for a moment though. Rose petals? What the hell? And this was supposed to be the real world?

It was only when one of the things struck out at Kibitoshin's face that he even realised that they were under attack again. Brilliant white pain flashed in front of his eyes and he swung a fist in the direction the blow had come from almost blindly, bolting towards the door and into the stairwell. Only now the undead weren't just around him, they were under him too, putrefying under his feet. And not only that, but Haseo had been hurt too!

Lashing out wildly, it was only after a minute or so that he finally became aware of the world beyond the threshold of his panic and noticed that two more had entered the store: a young man with white hair and his rather more ambiguously gendered fri-- hold on a second! Kibitoshin ducked back to get a better look, inadvertently dodging the gnashing jaws of a zombie so that they instead became lodged in the wooden stairs next to him. Those two! They'd been there last night!

Immediately, the Kaioshin's fear washed away into a tide of relief. That meant that the entire rescue party was here, which meant that they were saved!

But wait a minute. Hadn't they had the advantage before because they knew what they were dealing with? Didn't that mean they were almost as helpless as he was now?!

The surge of emotions that had greeted him upon seeing the four of them ground to a profound halt and a chill shot through his blood like an arrow. Meanwhile, the zombie embedded in the stairs' night became just that little bit worse as Kibitoshin took a sudden terrified step backwards and cracked its spine. Oh, no.

Unlike Kibitoshin, Leon's relief wasn't as short lived. He smiled at the two arrivals, nodding his head in greeting. Though Tsukasa might be as limited as he was, Endrance was another fighter. With all of them together they'd stand a much better chance against the zombie threat.

Though he admittedly would have been more pleased to see Claude.

"You guys are all right! Wonderful!" A more proper reunion would have to wait until they'd gotten safer, however, if it was even possible to find such a place in the middle of this madness. The mage was protected pretty much on all sides, but he still managed to end up close enough to one of the undead to jab his newly acquired knife into one of its eye sockets.

The sound, not to mention the feel of metal grinding on bone, caused Leon to turn slightly green, but he pulled the weapon free again nonetheless. He stayed away from the main line of combat for more reasons than just because it made casting easier.

Haseo's cursing abruptly cut off, taken over by the realization that a fucking zombie had just bit him goddamn and subsequent strange feeling that there was nothing in his head but static. Surely he wasn't panicking, but... Becoming a zombie would be really bad. Really really bad. But that wouldn't happen, right? Except that all these current zombies had to come from somewhere, and what the hell there were enough of them to fill a city and why were they in the floors of the stores anyway and--

Haseo looked up at the sound of his name, just in time to catch the inevitable semi-dramatic entrance for the night, courtesy of his fellow players from 'The World.' Also, complete with rose petals. Endrance was still doing that even here? Seriously? Haseo might have been even a bit horrified at that had he not been busy defending himself and the others.

However, he seconded Leon's sentiment in his head- with all the people he was on friendly terms with in one place, he personally was content as could probably be expected from one in the middle of surprise zombies... though perhaps a little too obviously stressed at the moment. "You just going to keep saving me forever or something?" he cracked, panting slightly in exertion, "Ahahaha...." He turned and smashed the shelf into the head of a zombie that was way too close.

Suddenly there was a crash from upstairs, indicating a rather obvious scuffle or something on the floor above. Haseo's eyes traveled up, as if he would be able to see through the walls, but then he saw Kibitoshin instead. "Kibitoshin!" he shouted. What was he-- damn it!

"If you need me to, I'll happily do that..." Endrance's lips turned up in a faint smirk. The expression didn't linger on his face long, though. The sound of that laughter indicated it was time to move, and move as soon as they could. He started to say that, but his attention was drawn to that crash from upstairs. That couldn't be good, and he followed Haseo's gaze upward, frowning.

He might have turned to run upstairs if not for a sudden grab at his braid. Endrance gasped in a mix of pain and surprise, looking to his left to find a zombie tugging on one end of it. He inwardly cursed, preparing to strike at it, but didn't get the chance before its other hand grabbed at his free arm, sharp claws digging in. The sudden pain made him cry out, and he struck at the creature without really looking at where the blade was going. When the blade connected with the zombie's eye socket, he winced for just a moment, then drew it back.

"We should regroup on the first floor and then try and make our way out of here..." The words still tapered off at the end, but they were still spoken loudly enough to carry upstairs - or at least he hoped they were.

Once the immediate zombie threat was out of Tsukasa's way, he Wavemaster began to move back towards Leon, knowing that he'd just be in the way if he got too far into the thick of things. He didn't have the same skills as Haseo and Endrance, he couldn't move like they did and he wondered what it would feel like to be able to fight to like that and feel it as though it were real.

"Wish I'd chosen to play a blademaster," he murmured to himself, not for the first time as he reached Leon's side, giving the zombie the kid had just stabbed a whack for good measure. At least then he wouldn't feel so useless.

He glanced over the stairs at Endrance's words, grimacing at the... ugh, they were coming through the floor!

Even with the roar of activity around him, Kibitoshin managed a double-take upon hearing his name. The very fact that Haseo felt the need to shout out to him… well, it made him feel incredibly guilty. And embarrassed. Why was he always the weak link in the chain? Even in a place where everyone had been weakened he was still the one who needed to be saved all the time.

But he had to at least try to think positive, or at the very least just not to think at all. He wouldn’t have room to panic if he didn’t give himself the opportunity to. “Sorry, sorry! I’m fine! It’s under control!” he called back, clenched fist striking a zombie in the hollow of its cheek. Even if he couldn't kill them on his way up he could at least stun them.

There was a strange wetness on his left arm, but he ignored it. He’d calm down once they were upstairs. Or at least, he hoped he would. Until then, though, he refused to let anyone go on thinking he was completely useless, least of all himself.

Upstairs was fine by Leon. At least up there they wouldn't have to deal with more zombies popping out of the floor beneath them. They'd be able to watch any entrances. "I suggest we move quickly then," he advised, even though he was sure all the others were aware that they didn't have time to stand around and chat.

At least the outfits they were given for Doyleton had shoes. He wouldn't have been able to stand walking through all this barefoot or in Landel's issue slippers. They also served well when it came to sticking the heel through an emerging zombie's jaw. He gave the boy next to him a slight smile.

Though he knew Tsukasa was a mage like himself and wouldn't be able to lend much more aid than he would, he was still comforted when he stepped closer. The two of them were kindred spirits in their capabilities, at least. Some time he'd have to sit down with the other boy and discuss Heraldry, or whatever he called his type of magic. They weren't the same spells, or at least they didn't use the same incantations, but the elements were the same. (Even if, on this note, his skills seemed more similar to Celine's than his own.)

What tiny shred of relief Haseo had been able to capture at the return of Endrance and Tsukasa began to slip away, and he scoffed as he stepped back, involuntarily bumping into a display so that the cans in their decaying labels there went banging across the floor. It wasn't "under control" because it wasn't under his control, and with him stressed beyond reasoning that fact only aided the rise of frustration that should have been all-too-familiar to the Adept Rogue.

Once more his pilfered knife found its way into the half-shattered skull of a creature scrabbling towards them, but it was just one of many that were suddenly coming from nowhere and Haseo felt off-balance. He noticed, vaguely, that his attacks with the blade were leaning on the side of what he might have accomplished in his own body, with only the increased speed and strength of PC added on. It was a bad time to have it validated that if he was going to try using a shorter knife, he'd need something in the other hand that wasn't a shelf too.

So for the time being his "technique" consisted of trying to keep the rush away and taking care of them one by one... an act which was easier said than done. With each creature he struck down was another being that might have once been human, even if in the present situation it had mostly ceased to bother him... it definitely would later. But he was not going to get bitten again.

What to do...? Regroup. Right. But first... "Do something!" he said loudly, turning mostly to Tsukasa (though if Leon was going to help that would do too), "Suvi Lei, Vak Don, anything!"

[ps I wrote this on a phone :B]

Endrance turned his head then, and it was only then that he remembered he'd taken a second knife from the kitchen. Now wasn't the time to toss it Haseo's way, though, not with both the Rogue's hands occupied. As soon as they were outside, though...

Getting there was going to be the tricky part. It would be easy if there was a clear path, but the amounts of debris and - to his disgust - corpses littering the floor made navigating a bit of a hazard. He nodded agreement when the mages were called to cast their spells, but the moment's distraction was enough for one of the attacking zombies to try and grab him again.

There wasn't much he could do at that point to help the member of their party that had gotten separated, so he focused his efforts on trying to break free and try and clear room for the spells. He dodged the attack and then swept the knife in an arc around him in an attempt to crowd the creatures into one area.

[Also posted from my phone. At the mall.]

He slipped one something as he moved back, stumbling but managing to regain his balance. He didn't dare look down and see what it was that had made him slip though. He didn't think that his stomach was that strong if it turned out to be something more vile than rotten food. The stench was already sickening, like things had achieved day's worth of decay in only a few minutes, or hours, or however long it had been already. He couldn't tell anymore.

He looked up sharply when Haseo called out the names of the spells and he nodded dumbly before finding his voice again. He was a Wavemaster; it was his job to cast spells and support the fighters. Just think of it like a normal party and that would work. it had to work.

He held his hand out towards the zombies, voice quivering a little. "Vak Don!" he called out loudly, gasping when the fireball appeared, draining his energy with it. It was smaller than he'd hoped and moved more sluggishly, but it did move towards the thickest concentration of enemies. The zombies were too slow to dodge and ragged bits of clothing caught fire along with...

Oh no...

It wasn't The World. If the zombies touched stuff while they were on fire then...

A roundhouse kick sent the zombie charging at Kibitoshin’s front flying back away from him so that it hit the wall with a wet thunk. Fighting these things barehanded wasn’t turning out to be such a good idea- their flesh was unnaturally soft and spongy, yielding under the slightest of hits like bruised fruit so that even touching it was enough to raise his skin into prickling goosebumps. And there were just so many of them, far too many to keep ahead of with just his fists for weapons. He’d never been the strongest fighter, not by a long shot, and now—

Was that smoke he could smell? How strange. He could have sworn the store didn’t have any kind of kitchen.

…

Wait. That meant that… oh, no. They’d set something on fire?! After all, Leon had mentioned being able to cast spells, so…!

Kibitoshin’s speculation was soon cut short by the emergence of a zombie- a flaming zombie, for goodness’ sake!- near the entrance to the landing. It staggered towards him with a painful howl, fire-engulfed hands grasping the air in front of it. With a cry of horror he dived past it, brilliant tongues of heat licking towards him hungrily and scorching his clothes.

Already the flames had started to spread to the door frame behind him. The second he hit the floor on the other side he was scrambling to his feet again and bolting towards Haseo, Leon and the others. “What are we going to do? There's no way we can use the stairs now!"

What was... A fire spell! In the middle of a building! The limitations of Landel's were one thing, but he would have thought the other mage would have had better control of the flames than that. Apparently the zombies burned well, but not quickly. This would have to be put out fast, or they were all going to be in a lot of trouble.

It was lucky for them that one of Leon's specialties was the water element. Unfortunately, the spell that would be required was the second strongest he believed he could cast while hampered (Black Saber being the strongest.) It would probably put him out of commission for at least a little while, but there wasn't much else choice. Acid rain wouldn't be the best as it could possibly be partially flammable as it was.

Readying himself, Leon recited the incantation as quickly as possible, gathering energy before releasing it in the form of a spell. "!"

A thick fog immediately began engulfing the area. Due to the nature of his spells, the party should be able to see each other through it. It would generally reduce the aim of their enemies, since they wouldn't be able to see two feet in front of them, but who knew if these zombies even had working eyes to begin with? The main goal was to snuff out the fire, which it should do quite adequately.

When he'd finished, the immense fatigue that followed had him slumping against the wall behind him.

The only thing more horrifying than the current situation in general was that the first spell seemed to make it all worse. For several long moments Haseo did nothing but stare dumbstruck as the now flaming zombies continued to carry on their assault, and it was only when one lunged directly at him that he made any move to defend himself, stepping aside deftly and using the creature's own momentum to knock it to the floor. It was burning hot, and Haseo found himself hissing in pain at the sudden burn he'd received as he backed away, still notably stunned. He hadn't been actually thinking, just falling back into the habit of how things worked in 'The World'. And now it was costing them the stairs...!

The fog that came next was an almost unbearably pleasant relief, not only putting out the flames but seeming to affect the zombies as well, though it didn't immediately dawn on the Rogue that it was because they couldn't see. Haseo could take advantage of confusion though, and as the things stumbled aimlessly, he rushed over to Leon, trying not to attract any of the creatures by choking on the smell of not just rotting flesh and produce, but burning rotting flesh and produce that wasn't completely covered by the misty air.

Before he could properly check the mage's status, however, it sounded like something else in the store roared and bumped bodily into something else, and Haseo straightened in alarm at the commotion, suddenly battling the feeling of having his chest fill with ice. He suddenly realized that if the people who had been alive when night came were made tougher like the butcher had been, then there might be something still in the store that could create a stronger danger than the zombies they'd been fighting. Haseo was certain that there would have been other employees around during the day.

He bent next to Leon quickly, making a decision that he really would have preferred not to. It seemed that the younger mage's work had extinguished the fire, but he couldn't be entirely sure. What would happen if they went to the second floor and there was somewhere he couldn't see that continued to smolder? He set the shelf down in Kibitoshin's direction as he looked over his shoulder, and his expression spelled that he'd accept no argument over having someone else take it while he dealt with Leon, who he had every intention of carrying if he had to even despite the pain in his arms. When he spoke his tone was deceptively calm.

"Endrance-" he started, knowing from experience he would listen without much argument, "We have to leave here. Now."

Endrance didn't need to be told twice - as much as he was reluctant to go without Haseo, he picked up on the sense of panic that was hidden under the surface of that statement. He looked at Tsukasa and Kibitoshin, nodding at each of them in turn. "Get yout things, stay behind me, and stay close...we'll meet outside and decide where to go from here."

He shot a worried look over Tsukasa's head, trying to meet Haseo's eyes, then turned again and began to move as fast as he could towards the door, knife out and ready to stab at anything that got in his way.

[moving out to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/673721.html?view=56145337#t56145337).]

Edited 2009-08-05 20:24 (UTC)

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Nightshift 42: Callahan's Grocer

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