Soccer/Recreational Field, Night 44

[mustbethesuit]

[From here.]It didn't strike Peter until he was on the grass and staring at the moon that the last time he'd gone out this way, it had been to collect Harry. The thought was a sobering one to say the least, particularly when he was the only soul on the field. No one but him and the great outdoors. Except replace 'great outdoors' with 'big fat death

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[aleaderwillrise]

Nathan followed Peter closely, flashlight in hand, frowning at the dense fog. It hadn't been quite like this when he'd ventured outside the first night. It was cold, too, and Nathan wished that he had a jacket or something, but tried to keep his thoughts on the matter at hand for now. As they moved towards the wall, Nathan eyed it, judging its height. He could, he was certain, make it over that wall. Whether or not he could do it with Peter on his back was another matter entirely...

But then Peter brought up the night's earlier announcement, and Nathan frowned. "Something about, ah, improving security measures," he muttered, sighing. "I'm going to guess that's going to make things harder for us - not easier. They probably don't see monsters as a security hazard."

If they acknowledged them at all. The announcement had mentioned something about "false information" about nighttime, and while Nathan had never seen anything directly referring to monsters on the bulletin before, he also knew he'd never really taken the time to thoroughly peruse it like he probably should have. Most of the communication on there was personal...

"You still want to think up fake names for that?" he asked. They'd reached the wall, and Nathan stopped suddenly. They didn't need to find any vines - he could make this. And wouldn't Peter be able to copy him?

...It was almost funny, really, what Peter's ability was. As an older sibling, Nathan had often been a source of inspiration for his younger brother, and despite their age gap, Nathan would usually see Peter trying to mimic him as he grew up. It stopped pretty abruptly when Nathan moved into politics, though... But still, the fact that, now, Peter's power was to copy what others did... it was fitting, in a way, from his point of view. He knew better than to tell Peter that, though. Peter was of the opinion that he'd always struck out on his own path, trying to separate himself from Nathan and be independent.

[human_sponge]

Come to think of it, Peter had always noticed that there was a coat for them to grab in their closets, and yet he never thought to actually take it. Kind of like the shoes. He blamed it on the fact that he usually got caught up in his conversations with Sam and then wanted to bolt out of the room the moment the door unlocked. Still, it was something to keep in mind, since the foggy weather was making things unnecessarily uncomfortable.

"Yeah, pretty sure the monsters are here to stay," he agreed, though he wasn't exactly disappointed since he'd never gotten his hopes up about that in the first place. "We should probably go with fake names, yeah. I guess we could use the ones they call us, but that feels wrong somehow." Besides, the nurses referred to him as 'Ethan' all the time. If he ever ended up stuck with Sylar during some activity during the day and the man overheard a nurse addressing him by that name, then it kind of defeated the purpose, didn't it?

"Any suggestions?" he asked, glancing over at his brother and not expecting much of a response. Nathan was used to having his name plastered everywhere, so Peter imagined this idea of secrecy was weird for him. Peter was hardly an alter ego kind of guy himself (and forget capes), but at this point it was necessary.

He could tell that there was a good climbing spot a little further ahead, but then Peter realized that he didn't hear Nathan's squishy footsteps behind him. Frowning, he turned back around to see that his brother had stopped and was staring up at the wall. "What is it?" he asked.

[damned_monsters]

The sound was faint at first, but nonetheless distinctly out of place to those who had the sense to listen and focus enough to hear. It was not the pace of any human, or even humanoid foot: rather it was an uneven, syncopated thud-THUD, thud-THUD of heavy hooves against frost-touched grass.

Thus far nothing was visible in the dark of the field, but there -- toward the edge, near the wall -- that was perhaps an eddy in the mists that clung close to the ground. Difficult to see, perhaps, but the sound was coming closer.

[tiassa]

[aleaderwillrise]

Nathan watched Peter, a sort of bemused expression on his face. It really hadn't occurred to his brother yet, what Nathan could do? That was surprising, considering. Nathan had never been the type to want to use his powers out in the open - that had been more Peter's standard. Maybe he didn't think Nathan could make it over the fence?

"I was actually thinking-" He stopped suddenly, however, upon hearing the strange sound of footsteps growing closer and closer towards them. His expression instantly changed - from bemused to curious to concerned all in one moment. His voice lowered and he closed the gap between himself and his brother in two quick strides, grabbing Peter's forearm. "What is that," he asked. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest. Common sense tried to tell him that it was nothing, just another person coming out on the field, but those weren't human footsteps - not at all.

[human_sponge]

It didn't take Peter long to figure out why his brother had suddenly cut off like that. His eyes narrowed as he listened to the clopping sound, and then it occurred to him: was that a horse? He'd done enough horseback riding during their family trips to recognize that sound. Nathan had made it over to him by that point, gripping him tightly, and Peter couldn't exactly blame him. Having to deal with some kind of monster this early into the night just wasn't something he'd planned for.

"I don't think we should stick around to find out," he said firmly. After all, the wall was right there, and he kind of doubted that most monsters could climb. If that was really a horse, then the only way it was getting over was by jumping, and this wall was far too high for that.

For a normal horse, anyway. Peter really hoped whatever was after them wasn't so monstrous that it could pull something like that off.

"C'mon," he said, tugging Nathan closer to the wall and then pulling away from him so that he could start grabbing onto the vines there. They had to move fast.

[damned_monsters]

The thudding footfalls abruptly came to a halt, and for a long moment there was silence on the field once more.

And then a scream pierced the darkness, equine and yet not quite, overlaid with a harsh, almost metallic undertone. Immediately after the uneven pounding of hoofbeats resumed, only much more rapid - and coming closer. Fast.

[aleaderwillrise]

"Fuck," Nathan hissed, a quick curse word under his breath as the footsteps got louder and closer. He glanced towards Peter - he was still trying to climb the damn wall, and Nathan was so frustrated that he was almost frozen there a moment longer.

"Pete," he said, quickly, tone rushed. "You can copy me, can't you?" Peter had said he would be able to, when they'd had their long talk in Doyleton, and Nathan could only hope that that was so. They didn't exactly have a lot of time to deliberate over it - the cry that monster had given had shaken Nathan to the core, but with his powers the way they were he wasn't sure if he could carry Peter over the fence or if that would only weigh him down.

Nothing like a crazy situation like this to make him appreciate something he had, for the most part, henceforth taken completely for granted.

Quickly, Nathan sprung up, not as quickly as he would have normally, but fast enough to get away from the oncoming attack. He lingered for a moment at the top of the wall, but ultimately, he couldn't stay - he already felt gravity pushing him down, and so he had to land over the wall into the Courtyard beyond.

[human_sponge]

At this point, Peter was far too paranoid to think they were in the clear just because it got quiet. It turned out that his instincts hadn't failed him, either. The sound that broke through that uncomfortable silence was enough to make his heart race. That was no normal horse, though he hadn't expected any different in this place.

It occurred to him that he might have to ditch both his flashlight and his shovel if he wanted to climb the wall, and so he gave up on his original plan and was preparing to toss the items over before he went himself when Nathan spoke up.

Copy? Oh, he meant -- but Peter didn't need to finish the thought himself, since a second later Nathan had managed to achieve lift at least enough that he was able to get over the wall. This left him in a sticky position. If he wasn't able to mimic it--

Well, that wasn't something he was going to consider. Taking a deep breath, he first threw his flashlight over, and then chucked the shovel after it, hoping that neither one ended up hitting Nathan on the other side.

And now? Now he just needed to fly. Just for a second. Peter took a deep breath and tried to focus. He couldn't leave Nathan waiting.

[damned_monsters]

It wasn't long before the creature came into sight, skeletal hooves tossing up shreds of frost-rimmed grass with each step as the horse-like creature thundered toward the wall and the human still standing there. As it came, though, the landscape around it seemed to shift and warp until it was no longer grass upon which it ran, but an uneven spread of concrete, cracked and warped and coated in a thick layer of ash and garbage.

And all around it the normal sights of the soccer field -- the grass, the shed, even the bulk of the Institute nearby -- all disappeared, swallowed up by what appeared to be the ruins of what had once been a great city. All around the buildings were crumbling, blackened and twisted as if they had been close to ground zero of a massive explosion. And scattered about lay uncountable corpses, bloated and rotting and unrecognizable.

A faint wisp of breeze brought the reek of decay ahead of the nightmare, but also sent a number of discarded papers skittering across the ground, papers printed with glaring red and "EVACUATION NOTICE" in bold at the top.

[human_sponge]

It was right as Peter started to feel his feet moving off of the ground that there was a shift -- more jarring than that night at Doyleton -- and there was suddenly no wall to even try to get over. No recreational field, no courtyard, no Nathan. It was almost as if he'd teleported somewhere else entirely, except that he'd never really pulled that off the same way that Hiro supposedly could.

Falling back down and letting his feet touch the ground, Peter then turned around, taking in the sights of the ruined city. No, not just ruined -- destroyed. Was this New York? Was he in the future somehow? The buildings were in such shambles that he couldn't even tell if this was the city he'd fought so hard to protect, but it very well could have been.

Peter started to wander, staring up into a blackened sky, his chest wrenching with horror and the beginnings of guilt. He was so busy looking up that he ended up stumbling over something, and as he looked back he realized it was a long-dead body. A hand shot up to his mouth; he wasn't squeamish about corpses, not really, but when there was a chance that he'd somehow done this?

The rational part of his mind tried to fight that. He'd just been at Landel's, he'd just been with Nathan. There was no way he was responsible for this. They'd seen to that.

Still, even if this wasn't his doing, it very well could have been, and seeing the results of something like this hit close enough to home that Peter's hands were starting to shake.

[damned_monsters]

The light breeze curled around ruins of stone and flesh, setting the lighter parts of the garbage drifts to rustling as they were stirred and swirling patterns into the thick layer of undisturbed dust on the ground. The city, whatever city it was or had been, was utterly still but for that faint noise, the silence laying almost oppressive on the area.

Then without warning the faint stirring of air turned to a rushing gale, hurling grit and rubble with painful force at the lone living creature amidst the desolation. And amidst the fierce whistle of the wind came the equine scream once more, the only warning before the skeletal horse-creature reared up in front of Peter, its bony hooves flailing indiscriminately.

[human_sponge]

Just that slight sound of the wind blowing was eerie, chilling Peter to the bone and causing him to clasp either hand to the opposite arm in an attempt to keep himself warm in his short-sleeved shirt. His feet were quickly getting covered in grime, garbage, and other substances that he'd rather not think about. In fact, he was overall doing his best to keep his eyes off the ground.

Here was what he could have done, laid out before him like a kick in the face. Peter had fought to make sure this wouldn't happen, and it hadn't, so why did he have to be tortured with seeing it now? Gritting his teeth, he wondered if this was another dream. His were vivid enough that he would really have no way of telling.

He was in the middle of realizing that the bodies of loved ones could be among the masses when the wind picked up, blowing dirt into his face and forcing him to shield himself with his arms. It was just as he was trying to open his eyes again that the horse reappeared, shocking him so badly that he stumbled back and fell onto his backside. He stared up at the creature, breathing hard. It was responsible for this?

[damned_monsters]

When Peter fell the nightmare also dropped back to the ground, its front hooves planting heavily in the dust on either side of the man's feet. The wind slowly died down again, leaving the desolate city once more silent - and the creature didn't move.

It merely stood there, still as a statue, its head tilted just slightly so that one barren eye-socket seemed fixed upon Peter. Not a sound. Not a hint of what it would do next.

[human_sponge]

For a moment, Peter was completely frozen, staring up into the twisted face of the horse as he gasped in the cold air and felt his chest tighten up with the exertion. What was he supposed to do? He knew how powerful horses were, and he knew this thing could trample him right here, right now, if it really wanted to.

He didn't want to make any sudden moves, though it was obvious that the creature already had him in its sights. The question was what it would do next, and he felt like he was at some sort of terrible stalemate with it.

Still, he had to do something, and so eventually he managed to hold his breath and start to scoot himself backwards across the barren ground, doing his best not to think about what he was making contact with in the process (and hoping that he didn't end up backing into a corpse...).

[damned_monsters]

As Peter crawled backwards, the surface beneath him abruptly turned from relatively solid cracked concrete to something soft and yielding, something that would draw down a hand planted into it like quicksand. At the same time all around started to crumble away, buildings sliding down upon themselves before blowing away in the chill breeze like empty sand castles. Even the nightmare itself cracked and shattered, tumbling into a pile of decaying bones that were slowly sucked down into sand and vanished.

The slow devastation continued (for minutes? hours? who could say?) until all was empty and barren, a sea of nothing but sand stirred by the wind. And then in the blink of an eye it was gone: the ground upon which he lay was once more frost-bitten grass on a dark soccer field, surrounded by walls and with the stars silent overhead.

[human_sponge]

As everything around him began to fall away (maybe even the ground that he was sitting on -- if it was even there at all anymore), Peter searched for something, anything he could do. But where could he go when the world was falling apart on him? Besides, he knew that this couldn't be real (it just couldn't be), and so in the end he could only watch with morbid fascination as everything turned into sand.

Except then reality reasserted itself, firmly and jarringly. Peter's back straightened as he realized that the wall he'd been trying so hard to fly over was now behind him. Breathing hard, he leaned a hand on it as he dragged himself to his feet. That horse was definitely gone, right?

But then he remembered: Nathan had to be waiting for him, and he had hardly any sense of how much time had passed. While he was glad to know that everything he'd just seen had been an illusion, that didn't mean that the images were going to just go away. No, they were ingrained in his mind for now.

His efforts to fly a second time resulted in nothing, and so after a while Peter realized he was just going to have to do it the old fashioned way. Grabbing onto the vines, he slowly climbed up and then pitched himself over into the courtyard...