wipeawaythedebt | Doors Plot: Screams in the Night

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Doors Plot: Screams in the Night

The power has gone out. Routine automated maintenance systems and life support are the only things running. They're not enough. The lights have gone out, and they won't be on again for three days. The miner of the Midnight Isle used to take these power downs as unofficial holidays. Card games by battery-operated lights, cold canned dinners and gossip among men who were away from home a year or more at a time. But not now. Now the darkness was silent...

...until it wasn't.

The sounds in the walls, the scratching and slithering get louder and louder until there's a crash from somewhere deep in the ground. That's when the screams start. Inhuman screams from inhuman throats broken only by the sounds of crystalline claws on the metal floors. Shadows grew into monstrous forms with ebon-black scales and no eyes. The monsters of the Midnight Isle were freed from the dark.

And they were hungry.

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The screams - they're inhuman, like nothing else she's ever heard before, and the very sound of it chills her to the bone. Beyond that, Elizabeth's not the only one who's very firmly disagreeing with the plan to split up - or to even consider leaving any one of them behind. She knows full well what she and Booker had talked about earlier, but in the moment, it feels completely wrong to abandon him here, and it's time for her to put her foot down - in its leather boot.

"Like hell I am," she mutters, lowly and between her teeth as she hovers close to him, over his shoulder.

"You're coming with us."

"We stay together," Sybil agrees, her words firm even though she's frightened. If they start to separate she worries for them all, more she worries that some might not make it back to Darrow should they find a way.

The scratching is louder and Sybil sees something that looks almost bug like, or it would were it not so large. She bites back a scream, her knuckles white around her weapons. "We go, but we all go. We can find somewhere safe."

"I'll be right behind all of you, but you don't want to be too close when the fighting actually starts." He looks directly at Elizabeth, she knows what he can do and how it might not be the best idea to be right next to him when it happens. He doesn't know what he's going to do yet, but he's betting it will have to be big and he doesn't want the girls singed in the crossfire.

"I promise, right behind you. I just want to make sure nothing's following too close."

Elizabeth knew it would come to this. Knew, but didn't like it. She saw the look he was shooting her and it was enough to make her believe he wasn't going to do something stupid.

Dangerous, probably, given the noises, but he wasn't staying behind alone. That was what was important. He was their best chance of surviving this, even though the two of them had no idea just how true that was.

"Here," she said, giving him the flashlight. It was on, at least for the moment. Giving him a look of her own, she repeated, firmly, "Right behind us."

She turned to others, more composed than she probably ought to be in the face of all that was happening. When she spoke, it was especially to Emma, who she knew Booker had entrusted to lead them. "We have to go."

She watches the shared look between Booker and Elizabeth. Knows there's something going on there that she can't place a finger on, an understanding that she likely won't be a part of. That's not what nags at her, though. It's almost as if they know something's about to happen, and she may or may not be a witness to it. But she steadies her gun in her grip and nods firmly, toward the other end of the hall - away from those sounds. It occurs to her then that she doesn't even know if normal bullets can stop whatever these things are. She feels suddenly, completely unequipped.

She hides that helpless feeling from her expression and lets the girls go ahead of her.

"Okay. Come on."

It would have been easier had the creatures only attacked from one side. Sybil’s staying close to Elizabeth with her flashlight, grateful for the small, flickering beam even though it makes the shadows deeper. The screams and noises are still behind them, and when they turn a corner Sybil can’t help but feel like a grouse flushed out of the bushes by her father’s hounds. There’s a wall of the creatures with their strangely hinged jaws waiting, and when they fly toward her Sybil isn’t able to hold back the scream she’s been biting down all this time. She swings wildly at them but it makes little difference, heavy claws striking her arms.

Well, guess we're not going that way. It's the only thing he has time to think before he's acting, running past the others and extending a hand to release a burst of Bucking Bronco. As fast as the monsters had appeared, they're floating in the air, releasing Sybil even as they scream at their sudden loss of grip.

"Run, back the way we came, go!" With the kind of scales he was seeing he didn't think fire would do much good, so he blasts them with a follow up of Shock jockey, the electricity jumping from one to the next. He doesn't know if it's enough to kill them, but it's certainly not making them happy.

Elizabeth was about to hit whatever had gotten hold of Sybil herself before they were suddenly launched into the air. She knew without even looking what was causing them to remain suspended, and she knew he wouldn't be able to hold them for long.

He only had a limited amount of Salts. The sooner they started moving, the less he would have to use to keep them at bay. As electricity shot out toward the ugly beasts, she didn't even hesitate to grab the arms of the other two.

"Follow me!" she exclaimed as she pulled them in the direction they had to run toward. She didn't want to chance them being too surprised to budge. A part of her wished they'd told them about it before, but it was too late now.

Explaining could come later. She was more worried about getting them all to safety.

Emma glances back behind her with wide eyes. She'd only seen Booker gesture in her periphery, but something's happening to those things, and she doesn't know whether she should stand and watch dumbly or start moving. Thankfully, Elizabeth's hand on her arm brings her back, and she gives Sybil a quick cursory glance to make sure she's alright before they all start hightailing it in that direction.

Her hand's on her gun, and she's ready to aim it at whatever she has to. As long as she keeps the girls out of the line of fire, it's a necessary measure.

Sybil has no idea what has just happened. Electricity shooting out, the creatures levitating and then falling away. That's beyond anything she's able to understand but right now she doesn't care. Sybil only knows to listen to Elizabeth and to run when she says to.

He knows it isn't going to last. Those things were built like... hell, he doesn't know what to call them. Another blast of power summons the crows. Their flapping and sharp beaks will slow the bests down as he starts to retreat. Taking off at a run he keeps the girls in sight and ahead of him.

"Keep going, don't look back, try and find a place to hide! A way out!"

There was no way of knowing what could be a way out. Absolutely no way. Every hallway looked the same, and if there was some sort of glowing exit to this madness, she certainly wasn't seeing it.

"What are we supposed to look for?!" she said outloud, hoping someone would have the answer. The angry noises of whatever it was that had apparently shaken off the crows were getting louder again, so she knew running wasn't going to be an option very long. They would need to find something, and quickly.

"Damn it," Emma mutters, under her breath. Without some kind of direction to lead them in it feels like they're just going to be running in circles.

She chances a glance back over one shoulder, making sure Booker is still in their line of sight, and she tries to catch his gaze for some understanding of where they need to go. She's suddenly struck by the possibility that maybe none of them know. Maybe they're trapped.

There seems that there's nowhere to go that the creatures aren't. It's a closed doorway that holds some hope for Sybil, unsure what could be behind it. She pushes the door, hitting it with the side of her body without it budging. "Help me! Please!"

The creatures rush him and he lets loose another blast of Bronco. Would have worked, too, except one of them was out of range. It came skittering under its friends and rushed him, causing his shield to flare and knocking him back. He won't be able to take many hits like this.

Thinking fast, he looks up to see a break in the armor-like scales. Reaching up, he places his hand against the break, ignoring the sudden pain of something lancing through his shield and into his shoulder. Letting loose with a point-blank blast of the firey Devil's Kiss, he's rewarded with a scream gurgle as the creature falls over, critically wounded or even dead.

With the others still suspended, he points to a set of double doors at the end of the hall. "Through there! Maybe we can seal the doors! MOVE IT!"

Elizabeth had to fight the urge to duck every time something new lashed out. Booker was using everything in his arsenal, and she knew she was using it all too fast. They didn't know how what he was doing worked - they didn't know there was a limit before he couldn't do anymore and they'd all be completely without any way to defend themselves.

The instruction sent her rushing forward towards where he pointed. One of the doors were locked, but the other flung open when she pulled on it. She would feel thankful for their luck later.

"Inside! Quickly!" she said, making sure the other two went in first before she followed.

Emma's through the door first, immediately moving to stand on the other side to keep it open until she counts three more heads behind her. She doesn't even know if they'll be able to close this thing and lock it once they're inside, but they have to try. Only then will they be able to start regrouping and figure out what to do next.

She peers around the door to see Booker down the hall a ways further still, his arm limp at his side.

"Come on!"

The room they end up in is thankfully free of monsters and still has flickering lights. Not that it shows Sybil anything but a series of doors that circle it. There's nothing to block the way they've come through, no weapons, nothing of use.

She's barely thinking when she lunges forward, pulling open a door only to see more of the moving black shadows that plague them already. She slams it shut, her back against it and sweat on her brow. "Not this way."

He can't work his arm like he wants to. Sparing a quick glance, he realizes he's got a tooth or spear-like scale or something stuck clean through it. Gripping it tightly, he pulls hard and fast, grunting at the flaring red-hot pain. In his arm, it's a hindrance, in his hand, it might be a weapon. Which is good, because he knows he's low on salts and running out of power.

He's the last one in the room and he shuts the doors, but not before setting fire and electrical traps in the hall. Anything coming for them will be slowed by going through the traps. Grabbing a chair, he wedges it under the doors. It won't stop anything for long, but it buys them some time.

"Check the other doors. I'll watch these."

Elizabeth found herself almost drawn to Booker, to try to check the injury that was so apparent. But she knew they had to get out of there, that it wasn't safe to pause yet. With one small glance in his direction, she took a deep breath and hurried to the farthest left door.

What she found was rubble. It was piled high near the door, leaving little room to even consider squeezing through the space. She might be able to do it, but she doubted someone like Booker would be able to. It wasn't an option right now.

"Nothing! Someone try another!" she exclaimed.

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Doors Plot: Screams in the Night

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