NIGHTSHIFT 42: MAGUS PARK

[zeus_incarnate]

The shift was familiar enough, in it's own way, but it came too soon. He wasn't sure if any of the others in the group aside from Stefan had been around long enough to witness this before, but he wanted to reassure them that this was just like the changes the institute underwent at night

Comments

[tartaros_avatar]

Wonderful. He was about to spend a night alone with Marcus, Scourge, and a town full of zombies. Well, at least that would delay any need to explain Scourge's presence. The fact that the Decepticon was here probably made it a bad idea to raise the question of whether these things might be infectious.

He immediately followed after Marcus, keeping close. "I saw axes in the hardware store. They'll make good weapons." All he had now was a few hand tools, not exactly the right sort or armament for dealing with the undead.

[haplesstracker]

Scourge let out a horrified gasp when nightfall hit, and a scream stifled only by the quick application of his hands when the ground erupted with corpses. He knew the human word for them, he'd seen a movie or two, and he knew what happened when they caught up with you. The gore wasn't so funny when your insides looked exactly the same.

Try not to get bogged down in too many fights, what kind of an order was that? Scourge did know a few suicidal maniacs who'd do it just for fun, but he'd hoped people ranked him a bit higher than that. Either way, he was out of here. Maybe they could just barricade themselves inside, nail the doors shut, and wait it out until morning--

No, 'Search and Rescue'. Damnit. What a time to try and be a good guy.

Despite his smaller size Scourge managed to keep pace with Lord Recluse due to sheer force of epic-level surges, his air intakes aching as they pulled in the cold night air. A galaxy for his wings.

[buteo_sapiens]

Tobias swore loudly, eyes going wide, before doubling over in unexpected pain.

Gasping for breath and trying to hold back the morph for just a few seconds, he clawed the awl and the big screwdriver he'd shoplifted out of his sleeves, thrusting them towards Depth Charge and Javert with a quivering "Here" before his face melted forward into a beak, burning as the bones shoved their way past his skin, wing bones pushing out before his skin and muscles could catch up, and that dizzying feel of falling as his legs shrunk under him to raptor talons--

He cried out in pain as the itching fire of feathers spread over his skin, jeans and tee melting into the morph but his oversized jacket tangling around him as he plummeted to the ground, and then the morph was over, and he lay there shuddering for a moment before struggling upright, sharp gold eyes glaring up at his teammates.

< Right, now that that's over with, let's get the hell out of here, > he said, thought-speech strained. < Could someone get this jacket off me? >

[unmocked_lawr]

Typical. The nagging suspicion that they would be trapped here for the night had proved true. He loved it when his instincts were correct. Javert had to laugh mirthlessly at the sight of the creatures--were they actually hordes of the undead? He didn't want to think about it--clawing their way out of the ground. There was nothing else he could do. He had never been one for screaming and running

[scalyfishman]

When Cybertronians were offlined, they went to Silicon Valhalla. That's what people told sparklings looking for a reason to be good. So far as Depth Charge could see, though, death was death. Your body disintegrated into a rusty spray of nothingness.

What hadn't occurred to him was how much worse it was for humans. Flesh, he realised as he watched a man tear himself out of the earth, jaw hanging loosely by a few threads of sinew, rotted. It twisted and warped and stank of decay. And, for tonight at least, death was most definitely not the end.

Forcing down his gag reflex, Depth Charge turned back to the other two, only to find himself looking at a very bemused Javert and... a bird. Well. Names didn't lie, that was for sure. Perhaps it came with the familiarity the whole transforming gig held for him, but he simply nodded at Astor- if anything, the telekinesis was the most bewildering part. No one got in his processor without his say so. Irritation aside, he gave the area a brief scan. "Right. This place is really starting to fill up

[zeus_incarnate]

Marcus was beginning to question the wisdom of Stefan's team selection as he headed the charge to Main Street. He was glad to have someone he knew was competent backing him up, but that also meant that the other team might be without a leader that knew what they were doing.

There was no time to second guess, though. They had their plan of action and needed to carry it out. Once they secured the Sheriff's office they could potentially split his team up and rotate the protection of it, depending on how well they were able to secure the building.

After one final glance over his shoulder Marcus left the park for Main Street.

[Going here]

[buteo_sapiens]

< Thanks, > he said to Javert, hopping out of the tangle of cloth, beak easily ripping through a sleeve caught around his leg. < Man, no one told me there would be zombies, > he whined, trying to get off the ground-- it wasn't easy going; there was a lot of flapping before he rose more than a couple feet, caught a faint breeze, and made it up to a low treebranch. < Where to? Besides out of here. >

Tobias could smell the rot of the corpses. He could hardly smell at all as a hawk, but that...

[unmocked_lawr]

There seemed to be an increasing number of the living dead around them. If they hesitated for much longer, getting out of the park would probably cease to be an option.

"The hardware store, as M. Cole suggested," Javert said firmly. "I'd venture to say that I know the town fairly well by now; finding it should pose no problems." Actually reaching it might be a different matter entirely. "After we manage that, we can discuss where we ought to start our patrol."

[scalyfishman]

"The hardware store it is." Depth Charge nodded definitively. "Which means we're gonna have a long walk."

A very long walk.

That decided, the Maximal cracked his knuckles, snatched the screwdriver out of Javert's hands with a short "thanks" and stormed towards the gates, gripping the tool like a knife and ready to ram it into the eye socket of whatever tried to get in his way.

[Warpath-ing to here. Feel free to call him out on his bullshit.]