Nightshift 42: Sheriff's Office

[guyslikegames]

[from here]"There's gotta be something here you can use..." Yousuke was a little proud of himself for having thought of this, even though it was possible they wouldn't find anything. It would also be less crowded here, at least for the time being. If they could take care of the zombies here and around it they might be able to hold up in there for

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[alwayscomesback]

"I wish I had Space Sword or Boomerang! Why does it never come back when I really need it?!" Sokka complained as he swung the picture frame about. He would have felt so much better with at least one of his two signature weapons there with him, but since when did the universe like giving him something comforting? It had just gone and sicked about a hundred walking undead on him! Definitely not comforting!

The picture frame snapped against a rotting skull, becoming useless in Sokka's hands. With his "weapon" gone, Sokka was forced to retreat back to his original corner. Unfortunately, he'd already gotten their attention and one followed after him. Yeah, getting involved and then cornered had not been the best of plans. Sokka looked around the corner again, finding no more picture frames for him to grab but noticing that something else might work a bit better. Quickly he dug his arm behind a filing cabinet, then kicked his foot into the crevice to work it more away from the wall. When he could he got both hands and a shoulder behind and shoved forward to make the thing topple over.

"Timber!" he called, half on reflex, as the cabinet fell over and onto the one that had followed him.

[zeus_incarnate]

It seemed that Scourge wasn't the most trustworthy person here. Not surprising, giving that it was Stefan that had recruited him. Recruited him, and apparently not warned about the superior sense of hearing Marcus had. That was just as well, it made it easier to keep track of what was going on.

Marcus grabbed the next zombie by the throat, and used his slightly greater reach to keep the thing from clawing at his eyes. It still managed to hook it's fingers in the jacket and rip it slightly, drawing only a little blood, though Marcus didn't even feel the wounds. He held the zombie in place as he snapped it's neck and dropped it to the ground, hearing the kid drop a file cabinet on the zombie that had followed him. A quick glance revealed that the zombie was successfully stopped, so Marcus gave it no more attention.

He'd ask what a 'Space Sword' was later, although using a boomerang as a weapon seemed a bit odd.

[tartaros_avatar]

"Sometimes," Recluse replied, turning his attention to the rest of the room again. There didn't currently seem to be anything coming after Scourge or himself, but that was only on the inside of the office. There seemed to be quite a few undead outside, battering stupidly against the door.

Also, Marcus seemed to have kept himself from being bitten thus far. What a shame.

[haplesstracker]

"It's annoying," he commented in reply, his back to Lord Recluse as he resolutely kept chopping away at decaying digits. The oozing stumps were just as persistent, but they couldn't fit into the gap and Scourge considered that an improvement.

Space...what? Even in the midst of rotting terror Scourge spared a moment to give Sokka a look of bewilderment before the wriggling zombie fingers caught his attention again. Good thinking on the drawers, though. The undead population in the office seemed to be thinning out a bit. Most of them were in pieces, mobile or immobile, and if Marcus and Lord Recluse and the rest kept it up they'd probably be all right in a minute or two.

Of course, the undead population outside just kept increasing, throwing their unthinking weight against the door again and again. Scourge's chair, the keystone of his defenses, was beginning to slip against the floor.

[alwayscomesback]

That... had worked? That had worked! Even if it had left a reeeeally nasty splatter around the landing spot.

Unfortunately though, that left Sokka's "arsenal" of the corner all but spent in terms of weapons. He supposed he could try to get the fallen cabinets back up and taunt what was left of the zombies over, but he wasn't so sure he could get it back up on his own. That didn't mean he was just going to quit though!

He jumped up onto the back of the cabinets and looked around a moment before using them like a bridge to get out of the corner and over to the guy at the door. "Anything I can do to help?" he asked, understanding that the door was the only thing blocking more of the zombies from getting in.

[scalyfishman]

[Threadcrashing from here]

And the door was jammed shut. Gear. Immediately, Depth Charge set about making their presence known; whoever the designated doorman was, they were just lucky they managed to open the door before the Maximal bulldozed it down himself.

The fact that it was Scourge at the door didn’t seem to matter- until, that is, he realised the reason why he was there and not with the others. The store was swarming with rotting corpses, and battling their own personal mini-mob was the rest of the group, plus some kid he’d never seen before. Typical cowardly ‘cons…

Still, if the thick stench of open wounds was anything to go on, they’d done a fair job by themselves. Moving before the adrenalin rush wore off and the aches and pains started to kick back in, he stormed towards the others.

“Alright, we hit the hardware store and we’re here now. Just like the doctor ordered.” He reeled off the words impatiently, as if the nanokliks it took to say them were being skimmed off of his life in decacycles. “Where to next? The stores? The buses?” And if he didn't get an answer soon enough he'd just decide for himself. This wasn't the time to wait around for bureaucracy.

[buteo_sapiens]

Tobias followed DC in, looking absolutely exhausted and without jacket or shoes. "Anyone want a sledgehammer?" he asked, patting the one he'd taped to his hip as he made his way to a wall, leaning against it in shuddering tiredness. Adrenaline wasn't doing its job properly, dammit, his racing heart was just making him more tired-- he didn't want to know what the comedown would be like.

[unmocked_lawr]

"I wouldn't bother with the stores," Javert offered as he stepped inside, pausing a moment and leaning on his axe for support. Of all the damnable times for his age to start catching up with him, it had to be now. "I've no doubt most of the patients are extremely innovative when it comes to using the merchandise found in those. The park and the buses are another matter entirely."

As he spoke, he glanced around the interior of the building; the situation seemed little better than the scene outside, though the patients appeared to be gaining the upper hand. Two people appeared to have opened a locked cabinet of some sort, and Javert's eyes caught the gleam of gunmetal inside. He briefly debated the idea of exchanging his axe for one of those before reluctantly dismissing the idea. He was in no shape to fight his way across the office anyway.

"If any patients were escorted to the buses this afternoon, they'd no doubt be trapped inside with the nurses and orderlies now." He let his meaning sink in before adding, with a touch of irony, "Just a suggestion."

[zeus_incarnate]

"Anyone inside already is probably better off staying there, with as many zombies as there are," Marcus said, offering his agreement with Javert. He wanted to retrieve a gun before he went out, although it would probably be a waste to use bullets on the zombies that littered the street. They couldn't all be the easily disposed of kind.

"People stuck on the buses are probably in more danger, since they may have been sedated, going back to the park would be a good idea. There may also still be patients trapped there by the zombies. I'll be going out as well as soon as I get a gun. If any of you are trained with them I'd suggest getting one as well, but if you've never used one before you're better off without one," The only thing worse than no gun was a gun in the hands of someone who hadn't been trained how to use one.

This would be an ideal time to change team composition, but Marcus didn't know enough about the people he was working with to make a good decision about that. He looked at the Bird Boy, who seemed to have fared the worst. "Since I'll be going out, it'd be good to have someone else stay here to hold down the fort. Javert, Depth Charge, will you two be fine as a two-man team or do you need backup." He also looked at Sokka. "And if you want to help, you should stay here and help with the defense."

They needed to get this sorted out as quickly as possible so they could get back to work.

[tartaros_avatar]

Aah, finally the others had arrived, with weapons, no less. "I'll take it," he said to Bird Boy, holding out a hand for the sledgehammer. If anyone here was going to be using a weapon that relied on brute strength, it should be him.

And Marcus was taking charge again. How adorable. "Do you want me with you, Marcus?"

[haplesstracker]

As much as Scourge would have loved to lock Depth Charge outside and let him be devoured, Recluse would probably scold him for it. And at the rate they were going the group would probably wind up charging through the door (and over Scourge's face) anyway.

Scourge stepped behind the door and yanked it open. "Get in!" he yelled, leaving just enough room to let through the other humans and a single enthusiastic zombie before slamming it shut on the next zombie's fingers. And wrist. And the stump of his arm.

"I volunteer to stay behind," the tracker piped up as he went back to work stabbing invading zombie limbs He could use a gun, sure, but he'd never laid hand on a human-style gun with its gunpowder kick and metal projectiles and he wasn't about to leave the safety of the office at anything less threatening than overlordpoint.

[alwayscomesback]

With more people there (thankfully none of which being zombies), Sokka only became more confused, but he was able to follow when the guy that had picked him up talked to him. If he wanted to help, that meant staying there and... what, waiting for morning to come? He didn't think the door could hold off until then, but even a room like this where things had been cleared was better than the streets of undead waiting outside.

"Right," he nodded to the guy that he understood, "And my name's Sokka," he finally introduced as though it was important. He had heard some of the names, so these guys apparently knew each other. Being the odd one out who nobody knew was never a good thing, even if there wasn't a zombie swarming going on.

[scalyfishman]

In truth, Depth Charge was only half-listening. It didn't matter where they were going so long as they were, well, actually going. Standing around talking about it was about as useful as opening the air lock in deep space. The note about the guns caught him, but after a brief look at what they had on offer... 'unimpressed' wasn't the word. When it came down to a choice between a primitive alien firearm that would probably run out of bullets before he'd left the building and good old fashioned brute strength? No contest.

Said crowbar, determined to earn its keep, caved in the head of a lunging zombie and he scrubbed the resulting splatter from his cheek impatiently with the back of his hand. "Fine, the buses, whatever." He threw Tobias a sidelong glance, head to one side. "He's got a point. You can barely walk."

[buteo_sapiens]

Tobias looked up, a bit foggily, at the end of the exchange, looking rather blank-- it was hard to pay attention, for some reason, though he caught the last comment directed at him. "Don't have to tell me that," he said, with a weak smile at Depth Charge as he straightened, crowbar clasped in both hands. "You guys do what you need to, and tell me what I need to do."

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert nodded, resting his axe against his shoulder. It would be easier to stay together with just two people anyway, and at this point Astor seemed more a liability than an asset. It was best if he stayed out of harm's way (though the current state of the office gave him pause for a few moments).

"We'll be fine," he said, turning to leave. "Let's go."

[zeus_incarnate]

With the group split up decided, Marcus nodded "Be careful out there." He glanced again at the weapons locker before heading in that direction. There weren't many left, so bullets would have to be conserved. Marcus grabbed a hand-gun and checked the magazine. It was decades ahead of the last gun he'd ever needed to use, but the overall design and principal hadn't really changed.

It wasn't like he was going to have to figure out how to use an Arachnos mace or some form of Rikti weaponry.