1. Take the shot. Nicole is short, you'll aim over her head.
"Nicole, duck!" you scream, but you don't wait for her to do so. You sight for the upper chest of the faceless and fire.
Your first shot goes high. You were too cautious, trying not to hit Nicole, and missed.
You grit your teeth and re-sight.
The Faceless leans downward, vines about to close in on Nicole's face.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE --
Your second shot hits him right dead center in the upper chest. You see his tie get blown sideways as he lurches back and the vines recoil. You blew a hole in the tie.
The second shot seems to snap Nicole out of it. She screams and runs to the side.
You've got a clear line of sight, now. The Faceless is making hissing noises, and sort of flailing a bit. But then it rights itself and turns slightly to face you. It screams again, and you feel the heat from it on your arms.
"What's a thousand lawyers turned into tentacled monsters lying dead on the ground?!" you say, and shoot it dead center in the chest again.
Greenish blood spurts out from the wound, and the Faceless goes to it's knees, then falls face-forward onto the grass.
You lower your now empty revolver and walk forward toward Nicole. "A good start," you say.
The Faceless suddenly pushes itself up and screams again. You hear a bubbling sound in the roar this time, and it's sort of choppy. You scoop up Nicole, who is still screaming, and rush backward toward the building.
You see Jacob coming out of the den. David is coming around the opposite side that you did. He takes a quick look, unhooks his rifle from his shoulder, and goes to one knee, sighting the Faceless.
You run toward Jacob as the crack of the rifle rings in your ears. He's holding the shotgun out to you.
"Trade you," he says, gesturing to Nicole.
You set Nicole on the ground, and Jacob passes the shotgun to you as he takes her hand. You turn to see David firing again at the advancing Faceless. He hits it in the leg, but the Faceless barely flinches.
"Aim for the chest!" you yell, and pump your shotgun.
"I've got to reload!" David says, and takes his rifle down.
You advance to within fifteen feet or so, and brace the shotgun as best you can against your shoulder. You're probably not doing it right, but, whatever.
"Safety!" Jacob yells from behind you.
Right. You back up a bit and switch it off, then put the shotgun back up, aiming for the chest.
The shotgun spits buckshot as you pull the trigger, and the Ex-Lawyer's chest turns to shreds. It falls over backward.
You stare it down for a bit. Not moving. Greenish bubbles form and pop. The vines are all dead except for one or two still weakly slithering on the grass. They soon cease moving.
There is a clapping sound from behind you. You turn, puzzled that Jacob would do that, but it's not him. Benny winks at you with his one good eye. "Good going, champ. You really fucked that dude up. I've got deju vu, for some reason," he says.
You check once more to make sure the Faceless is down, then walk over to Nicole.
"You OK, Sweetie?"
Nicole nods. Tears run down her cheeks.
"You can't wander off alone like that," you say. "Not outside at the very least, OK? I was worried about you."
She nods again. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I was just playing."
"I know," you say, and hug her. Her hair is soft on your shoulder.
She brings her mouth close to your ear to whisper something.
You jerk away, then abruptly turn and face Jacob.
"What the fuck happened? The power went off."
"I was going to ask you that same question," he says.
David joins you. "I have some bad news, guys," he says, shouldering his rifle again. "When the power went off, I checked the generator. It's torn up. Ruined. The Faceless must have gotten to it."
You eye David. "Well, let's see it."
He takes you to the electrical shed to the side of the building. The door has been torn off it's hinges. Inside is a mess. The generator is ruined.
"That's great," you say. "Just great."
"If the Faceless knew to cut the power, they're smarter than we thought," Jacob says.
"Why cut the power at all?" you ask. "Wouldn't it have just been better to go to the building directly? Cutting the power only gave us warning that something was wrong."
Jacob shrugs. "I don't have any answers."
"I think," David says, "It's time to leave this place. Before more of those things show up."
You shake your head. "Fine. Let's pack. Daylight is wasting."
David moves off. Jacob follows, holding Nicole's hand. She looks over her shoulder at you as she leaves the shed.
You stand there for a moment, then kick the wall. Son of a bitch.
Did David do this? Jacob? The Faceless?
... or... Nicole?
Nothing is going right lately. At least you got your god damn shotgun back.
You head back and pick up the revolver from where you dropped it. No bullets, but it'd be dumb to just leave it here. You head back inside, look around. Pretty much everything you own is in your car, already. The den stinks. You grimace, and head to the bedrooms.
Jacob is there, packing a suitcase. He seems to have a few of them.
"Can I have the 9mm back?" you ask.
Jacob pauses, then goes to a desk, opens a drawer, and silently hands it over. "Thanks," you say.
He nods. "I must admit I'm not entirely comfortable with you being armed," he says.
"I understand."
He looks at you for a bit, then goes back to packing.
Well, what the hell. You don't have anything to do. While David and Jacob get ready, you'll...
************************************
1. Ask Jacob about his story.
2. Tell Jacob your story. Leave out seeing Benny.
3. Go and talk to Nicole.
4. Familiarize yourself with your weapons. Do some dry firing at targets in the back yard.
5. Study the maps in your car. Maybe you can figure out where you're going to go.
************************************
Location: Northern California, ruins of your hometown (Academy Veterinarian)
Health: Unknown. At this point, you're pretty sure something is wrong with you. Alcohol seems to have improved your situation a bit.
Weapons: Lead Pipe, Revolver (empty), 9mm automatic pistol (10 rounds), Sawed-off Shotgun (10 shells)
Assets: Clothes, contents of wallet, Nice watch (Showing 9:23), 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, Jacob, David
Nicole:
Health: Shot in shoulder. Assets: Clothes. Skills: ????
Jacob:
Health: Normal. Assets: Clothes. Skills: Medical
David:
Health: Normal. Assets: Hunting Rifle. Skills: Rifle
"They" encountered:
"Faceless"
Form: Humanoid
Attacks: Vines
Resilience: Medium, can be killed by massive damage to torso
Speed: Low
Special/Notes: Central nervous system does not seem to be present in the head
"Flesh Worm"
Form: Worm
Attacks: Mouth, Unknown
Resilience: Unknown
Speed: Unknown
Special/Notes: Unknown
"No-Face"
Form: Humanoid
Attacks: Unknown, seemed to summon other faceless. Changed a bird into a Crawler.
Resilience: Unknown
Speed: Unknown
Special/Notes: Can suddenly vanish, or turn invisible. May be all in your head.
"Crawler"
Form: Vermin
Attacks: Vines
Resilience: Low
Speed: High
Special/Notes: Can climb and stick to walls, ceilings.
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