Nightshift 42: Crossroader's Bar and Casino

[itstaichoutoyou]

Something was wrong. Hitsugaya could feel it in his soul. The sky darkened and an ominous wind passed through the town, heralding something sinister. Before his very eyes, the whole place underwent a horrific transformation, particularly the town residents. They had become monsters with decaying skin, revealing muscle and bone beneath

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[offduty]

The entire goddamn building seemed to shift before his eyes, cracks and rust springing out of nowhere. It took a second for Reno to register what was going on and in half that time, the bar went from boring to clusterfuck.

He reached for an empty beer bottle on the table beside him and smashed the end. He needed a proper weapon. Like a gun. A gun would be really, really nice. Seriously, what the hell? Living corpses? He didn't sign up to be in a freaking B-movie. He sure as hell hadn't signed up to be that extra who got eaten in ten seconds flat.

But hey, someone had taken care of the bartender for them. Awesome.

"Uh-huh. Just haul your ass." He was already behind the bar counter, rifling for a lighter and some bar rags; he knew what Rude wanted the alcohol for and it wasn't drinking. He snatched up the tiny plastic lighter at last and said pointedly, "'Lena's out there."

He didn't spare the blonde a second glance. If she wanted to stick with them, she was welcome to, but he wasn't gonna slow down for her. Though he had to admit, she shifted up a notch or two in his book for throwing a salt shaker at one of those things.

There were people barricading the door which was all fine and dandy except for the part where once the barrier broke, it meant you were cornered in a bar with a crapload of corpses stumbling after you. Plus, there was that window. No way this so-called barricade zone was gonna hold. They needed another way out that wasn't the front door, but rushing out from just anywhere wasn't gonna do jack shit, either.

Except he needed to find Elena. Shit, where the fuck was Elena. Not that she couldn't take care of herself, just.

Whatever. Finding her would be good, that was all.

[jokers_wildcard]

All of a sudden everyone but her was up and busy doing something. Yes! She needed to do something, too! At least, that's how she felt. The adrenaline of the moment was kind of taking her along without her really asking questions. She snapped to attention enough to yell at the bastard outside.

To her complete surprise, the guy actually tossed her something after he'd managed to make his way in. Hairspray and... a lighter? ....Ohhh~ FUN!! Okay, maybe Grandpa wasn't so bad after all. She squealed in obvious delight, and was happy enough with her goodies to respond to his question before turning back and running up to the bar where Red and Shades were looting.

"You kidding? I'm not stickin' around here!" Staying in one spot was like being a sitting duck. Besides, she worked better if she was still moving. Sitting still was no fun.

She took a moment to watch what it was they were doing and grabbing, leaning slightly over the bar to see. She stuffed the lighter and hairspray in her overall pockets to free her hands up. It looked like they were thinking of going out the door behind the bar to make a run for it. Was there an exit back there? Wouldn't it be mobbed, too? Hmm.

She grabbed one of the wooden bar stools and brought it with her as she circled around the bar to where they were. "So what's the big plan?" It sounded like she was being sarcastic, but she seemed like she was waiting around for some kind of instruction as to what to do to help. Or just so she wasn't sitting around.

[brightlyshine]

[From here.]

Luckily for her, Elena noticed that there was a broken window to get inside, since the front door was a bit too impossible on her own without being properly armed. She ran for it, struggling to get inside as she felt one of the disgusting things lunge for her legs. She winced a bit, knowing she wasn't a hundred percent healed yet and not sure that fighting would be completely fun. Although some part of her was a bit excited at the possibility of getting back at something for what they'd done...

"Reno! Rude! Over here!" she called out, not quite able to get through the broken glass on her own. At least not that and fight off a bunch of zombies.

[offduty]

"The big plan is that we don't--"

A voice snapped his attention to the left. Speak of the devil.

Reno shoved his way towards the window without hesitation, ignoring the rest of the shit going down in the bar, aside from what he had to keep an eye out for in case someone got...excited. He'd been in the field long enough to know that half the time, friendly fire was what got your ass killed and really, that was with trained soldiers. Surrounded by a bunch of civilians, some of which may or may not be psychopaths?

Yeah. Fuck that.

Problem was, they were kinda stuck here.

He reached down and grabbed Elena's arm. One of the ugly bastards was latching onto her leg and with nothing on hand except for the broken beer bottle, he shoved it right through the thing's face, and shit, he didn't think it could've gotten any more disgusting, but apparently, zombies still bled even though they were dead. They just oozed a lot more black fluids than the living.

Using the window ledge as leverage and slicing the side of hand open in the process, he hauled Elena through, rougher than he might've wanted, but there was a time to be sensitive and this wasn't it. Even if she was still pretty messed up and climbing through a broken window wasn't gonna do much for leaving a person unscratched. Still, risk a little pain and avoid being eaten alive. Fair deal.

He didn't pause once she'd gone through, backpedaling until they were as far away from the window as possible. What idiot had smashed that, anyway? Barricade the door and open a window. Best goddamn plan ever, that.

"Tell me you didn't get chomped on," he muttered, eyes darting over his surroundings to find a better weapon or a way out that didn't include them getting devoured in two seconds flat.

Or, you know. A miracle. Maybe the bartender kept one stored in the cabinet on the right.

[jokers_wildcard]

The Redhead ran off to help some blondie climb through the window. ...He hadn't answered her question. And to her, that was as good as saying he didn't really have a plan and so she was free to do whatever the heck she wanted. And depending on how many of these things burst in here, she might just try blowing the whole place up if left to her own devices.

And then Shades actually had a good idea. Back door. It was all fine and dandy there was a table up front, but the rotting things could always worm their way in through the back. It would be good to check if there was a way out that way. Or at least check to be sure there wasn't some mob waiting for them right behind them. So Harley followed right behind him, snatching a big bottle of liquor by the neck as a makeshift weapon.

Strangely enough, all she could think about was how much she really wished Mr. J were here. He'd probably have a thousand solutions cooked up in a jiffy. The Joker was just brilliant like that. And he'd probably have a blast with this, too... Sigh. Everyone here was just kind of making it up as they went along. Not everyone could measure up, she supposed.

[brightlyshine]

While climbing in through a broken window normally wouldn't be her preferred method of entering a building, Elena would rather take a small scratch on her hand from the rough glass edges than deal with a zombie hoard. And Reno's helping hand was a welcome for once, and she temporarily forgot about all of the annoyances she had with him.

"Chomped on? I don't think so..." Elena brushed off her sweater sleeves, mentally checking herself over to make sure she hadn't racked up any other injuries in the process of getting inside. It looked promising so far.

"..And did Rude just run off with a girl? Don't tell me he's planning on keeping a date during this weird invasion whatever you call it. Not exactly the best way to go about it."

[offduty]

Don't think so wasn't exactly reassuring, but right now, that was as good as he was gonna get so Reno just went with it. No point in freaking out over what he couldn't control, anyway.

He glanced behind him, then back at Rude who was already moving ahead. Reno shoved another bottle into Elena's hands.

"She's comin' with us. I dunno, seems pretty handy with throwing shit. C'mon."

She was proactive, at least, and appeared willing to whack things in the face. Reno could appreciate that.

Back door might as well be the way to go. He let Rude take the lead for now, figured his partner wanted to be up ahead to set some things on fire or whatever. Though honestly, who the hell knew if that would even work. Best bet as any though; even dead people couldn't keep coming at you when they were bits of ash. Theoretically.

Seriously, this was so not cool.

[jokers_wildcard]

[skipping Rude this turn~]

For a few moments, Harley actually thought Shades might've found a completely clear route and that they were scott free. I mean, it's not like there could really be that many, right?

Then, he opened the back door.

The back led to a small alleyway that went straight ahead and opened up to a street. But the alley itself was teaming with the mutants. As soon as the door opened at least four turned their attention toward us. It was the kind of situation where Harley would have slammed the door shut again and proclaimed it was the wrong way.

But instead, Shades glanced back - not at Harley, but something behind her. Before she could so much as turn around to check, Redhead went barreling past them both and through the door. ...Well, damn. Looked like they were going this way. Ooookey dokey. Not like there was much room for debate. Harley exhaled through her nose, slightly exasperated, before lifting up he bottle and running out herself.

[to here]