Night 52: Rec Field

[tsunagari]

[from here]This was already further than Sai had gotten the past couple nights, which was saying something. It was getting over the wall that would be the real test, though. The actual act of scaling the brick would be simple, but the night had an odd way of ending before he'd gotten beyond that point. Hopefully the same wouldn't hold true this

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[beyondinfinity]

[Buzz Lightyear, to the rescue from here!]

A small smile hit Buzz's face as he stepped through the door. Outside! Even better, he realized as his eyes darted cautiously up to the wall above him, he couldn't see any kind of security measures that'd hinder his progress out. So, the Head Doctor spent so much time on torturing poor girls that he didn't have time to beef up his video surveillance? Surely, it'd teach him a lesson about playing nice.

Buzz began trotting - quickly, but carefully - toward the outer wall on the far end of... wait. Was this a soccer field? Buzz stopped in his tracks for a second to fully register the fact, arching a brow as he realized how much smaller it looked than the vast expanses of grass that he remembered from Andy's soccer games. And speaking of grass... Buzz picked up one of his strange sandal-feet and staring at the dewey bits of dirt and grass blades that were clinging to his heel. It all felt so... cold. And clammy. And, Buzz thought as he put his foot back down and looked back toward the field, his shoulder was starting to feel a little achey from when he'd dropped to the floor earlier.

He took in a breath and narrowed his eyes somberly. Humans. They were truly more courageous than he'd ever imagined. All those times that Andy had-

Something rumbled underneath Buzz's feet and he jumped back, staring ahead at the source of the sound. It was hard to see at this distance, but it looked like one figure was attacking a few others with some kind of.... plasma cannon?!

Buzz balled his fists and began to run in their direction. He had to-

"Ahhhh!"

Buzz froze. His eyes widened. He turned a one-eighty on his heel and raced straight at the source of that voice. Although blurred with motion and distance, he could make out the figures of a person and a hulking thing in the darkness, and he tightened his grip on his flashlight as he approached. One shot, one surprise attack-

He ran at it from behind. He swung his flashlight so hard that he lost his grip on it - curse these fleshy hands! He couldn't tell whether or not the hit connected, but he whirled toward the figure even though he could barely see its features.

"Woody?!"

[pullstrung]

Woody breathed hard as he narrowly missed the bird's sharp talons, and in the same moment he tried to regain his bearings. He'd managed to avoid one hit, but that didn't mean he was out of the woods yet. As he reached for the clothes rod he'd brought, his stomach clenched with the awful realization that he'd dropped it just now. Woody desperately felt around himself, but to no avail -- even if the thing was only two feet away, it didn't matter if he couldn't even see where it was!

Glancing up, he saw with horror that the bird was making another round. His feet kicked against the grass in a last ditch effort to push himself out of its grasp. No, no no no no no--!

And then, out of nowhere, a short, stocky figure leaped from the darkness and charged at the grotesque animal from behind. In the flurry of chaos, Woody couldn't tell whether he'd made a hit or not. But then the guy spoke, and the familiarity of his voice alone seemed to make everything around him to stand still for a second.

Woody's jaw dropped.

"Buzz!"

[damned_monsters]

The aquila's cry was more from surprise than pain; such a small missile could hardly do much to injure it, but it had been so focused on the prey that another's arrival hadn't even registered until the object struck and dislodged a handful of decaying feathers. Still, though, it was enough to make the avian once more miss its target, and this time surprise made its efforts to regain altitude somewhat more clumsy for a moment before the aquila found its balance in the air.

It was frustrated by now, and quite angry, so rather than take the time to gain enough height for a proper dive, it simply wheeled about and drove at the pair with a piercing shriek, talons and beak alike ready to strike and slash. One of them had to fall, if only it moved quickly enough. Which one hardly mattered.

[beyondinfinity]

Buzz's face exploded into a giant grin, his terrible situation all but forgotten.

"WOODY!"

He rushed forward, momentarily oblivious to the imminent danger as he bent down to grab his friend's arm and pulled him - wow. Sure was weightier than he remembered... ...but it didn't matter! Woody was alive, and even better, it probably meant everyone else was okay too!

"Come on," he said urgently, his exertion coloring the tone of his voice, "we have to-"

A deafening screech tore through the air. Buzz whipped around, eyes wide, to see the monstrous bird heading at them with all the fury and appetite of a playground pigeon.

"-DUCK!" He finished, using his grip on Woody's too-solid arm to yank him to the ground.

[pullstrung]

Before he realized it, Buzz was pulling him up from the ground, and Woody scrambled to help push the weight of his human body up to a full stand. For a split second, he tried to search his search his face for any similarities from his toy self. But between the darkness and the fact his heart was beating way too fast, it was hard to really make out any details.

Now wasn't the time to let himself get caught up with the whole human thing, though. Woody was more than ready to make a break for it, but the bird had other ideas.

Thankfully, Buzz's reflexes were fast enough for the both of them. Woody felt himself getting pulled down again with a yelp, his heart leaping into his throat at both the sudden movement and the terrifying thought of the monster tearing them to shreds.

[damned_monsters]

And again its talons closed on nothing, leaving the aquila even more frustrated than it had been before. Something clearly wasn't working about this plan of attack -- it had them all but pinned down, but couldn't get low enough to grasp them. Not with the bulk of the building too close.

This time when it pulled out of its dive it didn't immediately attack again, instead going up even higher, high enough that it was barely visible against the stars overhead, to wheel over the field and consider its next move.

[beyondinfinity]

Buzz could feel the gust of air as the beastly bird swooped down toward them, but then, just as quickly as it'd attacked, it disappeared. Buzz paused, listening for it, before he jumped to his feet, scanning the area for any sign of where it might've gone.

"It must be lying in wait," he muttered to Woody as he took a tentative step forward. He paused as he felt the sensitive sole of his slipper hit something, then pulled his foot back and saw the outline of a wooden rod lying on the ground.

He turned to Woody - or at least the figure that must've been Woody - and nodded for him to pick it up. Then, after another visual search of his surroundings, he waved his arm toward the building in a signal for Woody to follow him toward it. As much as he wanted to escape, they needed to make sure they were out of that thing's clutches - fast.

[pullstrung]

This was it, this was seriously it, he frantically thought to himself as the monster closed in on them. And then, just like that, a gust of air hit his face, and then...nothing. Confused, Woody glanced around, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Still, at this point, he didn't really care where that bird went as long as they just got the heck away from it.

He glanced down when Buzz's slipper (wow, that was still really weird to think about) hit his clothes rod. Reaching down, he snatched it up from the ground, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he was holding onto it.

Though he was hesitant about running back toward the building he'd just left, Woody nodded when his friend signaled to follow him back inside. Taking in a deep breath, he brought his body in a half crouch and darted across the grass.