4. Or, you could just let this situation play out without any violence. But David might not listen to the other guy, and you want in this place.
You decide to wait it out. You're trying to make friends here, and making a scene isn't the way to do that.
David is still looking over his shoulder. "But, but she's..."
"That's enough," says the older guy. "Put the gun away, and let them in."
David turns back to look at you. "Fine. But we're going to regret this, just you wait and see." He lowers the rifle, and turns and walks away.
The older guy comes around the counter, switching off the flashlight. He steps forward as you come in. He's tall, taller than you, dressed in nice clothes. Slacks. His hair is graying but still shows black. Salt and pepper. You'd estimate he's around fifty, fifty-five.
"Please excuse my friend. He's a bit stressed out by the recent happenings. I'm sure you understand," he says, holding out a hand. "My name is Jacob Connor."
You shake his hand and introduce yourself.
"The pleasure is all mine," says Jacob. "And who is this beauty you have with you?"
"That's --"
"My name is Nicole," says Nicole, cutting you off.
Jacob turns and squats down on his heels. "What a pretty name you have. I am honored to meet you, Nicole."
Nicole says nothing, just keeps staring at him. Jacob smiles and stands, turning back to you. "Welcome to Academy Veterinarian. Please, come on in, make yourself at home. We have some food and blankets in the back."
"Is it just the two of you, then?" you ask, following Jacob out of the lobby. Your shoes squeak on the shiny linoleum.
"Yes," Jacob says, opening a door. "We had one other, a woman. Becky. We. Uh. We lost her to one of those creatures."
"The faceless?"
Jacob pauses, and turns. "Yes. A good name for them. David was calling them the tendril freaks."
You shrug, and follow Jacob as he leads you farther inside. He ushers you in past another door, to what looks to be a den. He locks the door behind you.
"I think the vet also lived here," he says. "There's a living room, a kitchen, you name it. We're quite comfy here."
"I have some more supplies out in the car," you say.
Nicole is walking toward what looks to be a beanbag. She pokes at it. You notice a sliding glass door leading to a large backyard, with empty chain link pens.
"The door is locked, and the backyard is fenced in for the animals," says Jacob. "I don't think we need to worry about the faceless getting in here. They don't seem particularly intelligent."
You nod agreement. Suddenly you are exhausted. In the corner a couch, piled with blankets and pillows, silently beckons you.
Jacob smiles. "You and Nicole must be tired from your journey. Please, by all means. We can speak tomorrow."
"Yes, let's do that," you say. Nicole has grabbed a blanket off the couch and is dragging it over to the beanbag, where she promptly curls up under it.
Jacob does a little bow and leaves the room. "David and I will keep watch tonight. Sleep well."
You give him a nod and collapse onto the couch. Within moments you are asleep.
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Day 2
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A bird is chirping. You reach out for it, but it evades your grasp. You're so hungry, and it's so pretty. If you can just stretch out your arm a bit further, just a little bit further...
You know, what would really help you is if you had some of those tendril/vine things. Then you could --
You wake up. A bird is perched on a feeder, just outside the door. Daylight streams into the room. You glance at your watch. It's 9 am. You slept for twelve hours.
You feel fantastic. You sit up, stretching and yawning. Man. You haven't felt this good in ages. You look down at your hands, and clench them. You feel stronger than ever.
Nicole is awake, and staring at you.
"Good morning," you say.
She raises an arm and points at you.
"Sweetie, it's not polite to point," you say, showing your teeth.
Something is moving around in your head. You lift a hand to scratch it. Probing fingers sink into your eye socket, seeking relief. Ahhhhhh. That feels better. Your finger comes out dripping blood and gore.
But now the itching has spread to your chest. Man. If only you could get out of this dumb skin. So itchy. So useless.
Raised welts begin to appear on your arms as you raise them up to your chest to scratch. As the tendrils burst from your chest and sides, an intense feeling of relief floods through you. Now you can catch that bird outside, and Nicole too. You take a step forward as your sight suddenly is cut off. Nicole is screaming.
You wake up.
Jesus Christ.
You feel like shit.
That bird is still chirping. You raise yourself up, groggily. 9 am. Daylight spills through the glass onto Nicole, still asleep on her bean bag. You can see her hair spilling down the side.
You get up and stumble to a door. Looking for a bathroom. Hallways. There.
You reach the sink and throw up.
A few minutes later, you raise your head and look back into your face.
Christ. Your face is pale and sallow. The one good eye is almost sunken enough to mirror the one that's gone. Bruises, scrapes on your face and neck. You have a black eye. You splash some water on your face. It helps a little.
A good shower would help more. You shut the door and strip, letting the water run down your body. You examine yourself. Bruises, cuts, scrapes. Your arm has scabs on it from where the faceless cut into the flesh.
You push your hands through your hair. They come away with dull bloodstains.
Man. How long had you been walking around like this. Around Nicole? You're lucky she didn't just take one look and run.
Grabbing a bar of soap, you give yourself a good washing. Some shampoo proves to be a bad idea, as it gets into your missing eye and stings like hell.
You turn off the cold water, and towel off. You don't want to put your rags back on, so you exit wearing nothing but the towel and head to your car for the change of clothes in the bag. You grab your other gun while you're out there, too. In the daylight, things almost look normal, except for a complete lack of normal ambient city noise, and no people or traffic. Heading back inside, you go back to the bathroom, and change into your new clothes. Cargo pants, long sleeved green shirt. Nothing fancy. The pants have deep pockets.
You examine the pistol. Seems like it fires 9mm rounds. You fiddle with it until you find the clip release. Funny. Your aversion to guns seems like it took a vacation. Doing a quick count, you find 9 rounds in the clip. Huh. One in the chamber, already? Making sure the safety is on, you look down the barrel. Yep.
"You know, I caught my kid doing that once. I grounded him for two months. What's your excuse?"
You whirl, seeing Jacob standing at the door, which has swung open. He's smiling. You return it, sheepishly. "I'm afraid I don't know much about guns. Probably dangerous to look right down the barrel like that, huh?"
Jacob shrugs. "Normally. I guess in a situation like this, we have to redefine what 'dangerous' means."
You nod, and tuck the weapon away on your left leg. Pants like this will come in handy.
"How did you sleep?"
"Nightmares."
"Yeah, me too. I guess it's only to be expected."
You nod. "So, um. Thanks for getting us in, last night. I appreciate it."
Jacob smiles again. "You're welcome. But honestly, who would turn away a little girl and her... father?"
"No," you say, shaking your head. "It's a bit of a story."
"I have no doubt. Come on, let's have a sit down breakfast. I made bacon and eggs. We can share our stories there."
You follow Jacob to the kitchen, where you and he sit at a small table. The smell of bacon floods your nostrils, and you thank god you dumped your vegetarian girlfriend two months before all this happened. Jacob sets a plate down in front of you, and you dig in.
************************************
1. Tell Jacob your story. Don't leave anything out.
2. Tell Jacob your story, but leave out the bits about eyes... and your suspicions about the faceless infections. Especially pertaining to yourself.
3. Make something random that fills the gaps up. You don't want to disclose any information you don't have to until you know who you can trust.
************************************
Location: Northern California, ruins of your hometown (Academy Veterinarian)
Health: Poor (Possible unknown internal injuries) Left eye destroyed, left arm cut
Assets: Lead Pipe, change of clothes, contents of wallet, Nice watch (Showing 9:26), Revolver (3 bullets), 9mm automatic pistol (10 rounds) Swiss Army Knife, Roughly five day's worth of food and water, Car, near full tank of gas, Flashlight, batteries, lighter
Skills: None that would be useful spring to mind. Damn the school system!
Members in party: Nicole
Nicole:
Health: ???? Assets: Clothes (Strangely, they do not appear damaged) Skills: ????
"They" encountered:
"Faceless"
Form: Humanoid
Attacks: Vines
Resilience: Survived being hit by car and run over, being shot in the head
Speed: Low
Special/Notes: Central nervous system does not seem to be present in the head (Does it have a nervous system?) Damaged it by shooting it in the torso
"Flesh Worm"
Form: Worm
Attacks: Mouth, Unknown
Resilience: Unknown
Speed: Unknown
Special/Notes: Unknown
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Author
Topic: The End (Story Posts Only) (Read 9096 times)