Topic: The Ends (Read 59147 times)

Lady Duke · « **Reply #780 on:** May 17, 2009, 04:55:33 PM »

But our dog would eat all the rotting meat for us right :3
Just kidding. I voted for the liquor store, because I'm dumb and assume there is a freezer in there. There could be. C'mon.

Friday · « **Reply #781 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:34:59 PM »

Liquor store leads 8-2 to Jack in the Box. Tremendously doubtful 7 people will suddenly decide to vote against.

1. Go in the liquor store.

The entrance is locked, but you're able to step carefully through one of the shattered plate glass windows. A defunct neon sign reading BUDWEISER SOLD HERE still hangs haphazardly by one chain, tilted into a diamond. It sways as you brush past.

Jesse steps in gingerly after you, and Max sits outside, whining softly. You slap your leg once and he leaps inside.

The interior is in ruins. Shelves overturned, random garbage and smashed items everywhere. The cases in the back are all standing open, the beer inside mostly missing, the few samples left torn open and left to spill out onto the shelves and ground. You notice a bunch of matches on display and grab some.

Jesse heads to the back and looks up and down the row at the formerly cold shelves. "The little bit of soda left is untouched," she says. "Who would come in here and destroy the beer?"

You walk up behind her. "They do. The infested. They seem to have caught on that it fights off the infection. Or maybe they just are instinctively drawn to destroy it. It does smell terrible to them/us."

Jesse shakes her head. "This isn't good. There's nothing left."

"There might be some in the back," you say, hopping the counter. "Come on."

Max is sniffing around the shop. He finds an open bag of chips and sticks his snout inside, making soft munching sounds. "Come on, Max," you say. "We'll find you some food later."

Max looks up briefly at you, then snatches the bag in his teeth before sliding under the counter to stand by you. Behind the counter, at the back of the store, is a large metal freezer door. Jesse comes up behind you and tries the handle.

"Locked," she says.

"It probably leads back behind the shelves, and maybe to the back exit for loading," you say, searching around the cash register for a key.

Max continues to snarf down his chips, finally finishing the bag and licking his chops. He sadly paws at the bag and looks up at you.

"I know, buddy," you say. "We'll get you something to eat soon, I promise."

Jesse joins you in your search, looking on the shelves behind the register. Most of them are cleaned out. From outside, you hear a faint Faceless scream.

"It's gotta be here somewhere," you say. "Maybe it got knocked down onto the floor."

The two of you look dismally down at the mess at your feet. It would take forever to search it all.

Suddenly something occurs to you.

"Jesse, do you still have the car keys?"

She raises an eyebrow and reaches into a pocket. "Yeah, why?"

"Give them to me."

She hands them over, looking puzzled. You smile at her, and turn to Max.

"Hey, come here, boy."

Max cocks his head at you, responding to your tone, and trots over. You put the keys in front of his face and his sniffs curiously, then looks back up at you, puzzled.

"Max. Can you understand me? We need to find more of these," you say, gesturing to the mess on the ground. "Can you do that? Can you help us? Find the keys. Find the keys, Max."

Max's tail wags once, back and forth, and he seems to be searching your face, still wondering what you could want.

"Keys, Max. Keys! Find the keys!" you say, jingling the car keys in front of his face.

"Uh, I don't think he understands you," Jesse says.

You kneel down on the floor, and make a sweeping motion with your hand, brushing some of the junk aside. "Find the keys, Max."

Max looks at you, at the floor, whines once, and turns and begins sniffing.

"I'll be damned," Jesse says. "You weren't kidding about them being smart dogs."

You smile at her and stand. "Didn't you ever have a dog when you were growing up?"

"Just little ones," she says. "Mom had allergies."

The two of you watch as Max sniffs in strange circles, moving away from you behind the counter.

Another Cavine howl from outside. Closer.

"The question is," Jesse says, "Is he doing what we think he's doing? And do we even have the time to wait for him to find them if he is?"

**************************************

1. "Let's barricade the windows with some shelves. I can take out the first few who show up with the shotgun. We've got to give Max some time."

2. "You're right. He might not even be looking for the keys. He's hungry. He might get sidetracked even if he is looking. Let's go while we still can."

**************************************

Lady Duke · « **Reply #782 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:42:02 PM »

1 seems like a better option than 2, only because once we go outside, I'm terrified we're totally gonna get murdered really really hard.

Kayma · « **Reply #783 on:** May 17, 2009, 08:45:59 PM »

No arguments. Being wherever the cavines aren't is the soundest plan I can think of.

Romosome · « **Reply #784 on:** May 17, 2009, 09:02:39 PM »

Yeah, we've already established we can't run from them. Going "Oops!" and running outside is just asking for death.

Lady Duke · « **Reply #785 on:** May 17, 2009, 09:04:21 PM »

We knew when we entered a building that we'd have to find a way to secure it from incoming cavines, so obviously leaving wasn't really ever going to be a good option. If there'd been a running vehicle we could've taken, then maybe, but even then, I bet those bastards could keep up with a car. And they're scary ;-;

Niku · « **Reply #786 on:** May 17, 2009, 09:46:39 PM »

I like doggies way too much not to trust one.

Friday · « **Reply #787 on:** May 18, 2009, 04:43:48 PM »

9 to 0. Updating.

1. "Let's barricade the windows with some shelves. I can take out the first few who show up with the shotgun. We've got to give Max some time."

Jesse look at Max, who is working his way toward the metal freezer door. "Alright," she says.

The two of you hop over the counter and start lifting shelves to place in front of the windows. It takes you about two minutes to get them all in place. In the meantime Max is sniffing around the main area of the store, avoiding the two of you.

The first Cavine, a black lab, shows up just as you put the last shelf into place. With a low snarl he walks slowly toward the front of the store, slinking through the mist like a loping shadow. His side is split open, and you can see the worms shifting in his innards. The head is almost completely gone, replaced by the thinner attack vines, twisting and twirling like a den of vipers.

"Jesus Christ," Jesse says, watching him. The Cavine's head twists in her direction as she speaks, and it lets loose a horrible howl that sends your hairs up.

You kneel and point the shotgun. The Cavine draws closer, to within firing distance. Your mind flashes back to your first encounter with these creatures, to being drawn to the ground by the vines, seeing Jacob's mutilated body.

You fire, and the Cavine hissing and falls backward, limping. More than half the frontal vines sprouting from the neck are gone, a few lay writing or dead on the ground amongst splatters of greenish blood. The Cavine staggers, spits more blood from its neck, and lays down on its side in the street.

You pump the shotgun and look over at Jesse. "More will be coming," you say.

She only points out the window. "Look."

You turn to see a lone Faceless emerging from the southern mist. It's the tall thin man in the robe from before. He screams and staggers closer. Behind him, another shadow in the mist.

"Shit," you say as a third comes into view. Then another.

"We're drawing a crowd here!" Jesse says.

You take aim and fire at the lead Faceless once he closes to about twenty feet, but the angle is weird through the shelves and your shot goes wide. You pump, shift positions, and fire again, this time blowing him in half at the waist.

You pump and wait for the next to close. As you watch, the Faceless who you cut in half suddenly starts to hiss and sputter, the upper torso writhing. It begins to crawl toward you, both with arms and vines. The bloody purple robe drags behind it like a snails slime trail, the purple now stained greenish red.

*************************

1. Finish it off.

2. Ignore it, without legs it's not a threat. Fire on the next Faceless.

*************************

Friday · « **Reply #788 on:** May 18, 2009, 05:04:05 PM »

You stir in your sleep. Someone is hurting the family. You can feel their pain, hissing in your mind. The other pulses like an infected splinter, blazing like a star in the night sky.

You reach out with your dreaming mind, touching the minds of others in the area.

Go, you tell them through a medium that is not quite telepathy or shared mind. Extinguish the one who hurts our family.

The ones who are close hear you, and turn to obey. But still more wander on the edge of your mental reach, thin wispy threads that tickle your fingertips. You are still not ready. You must sleep, and feed. The one who harms your family now will be destroyed. Others more well armed than him have fallen to less number.

And when you awaken fully, if he still lives, you will find him. The other will not be allowed to grow. You block the dying agony of the family from your mind and drift back to the sea of warmth.

Edormoggon · « **Reply #789 on:** May 18, 2009, 05:36:20 PM »

If we make it into the back room, find some flammable booze, and there's a back door, we should backtrack and thank our dumpster-dwelling friend with a Molotov or two.

As for the one on the ground, he can probably still get us with the vines. Better finish him off.

Guild · « **Reply #790 on:** May 18, 2009, 07:08:32 PM »

ssssstill growing ssssssss

Romosome · « **Reply #791 on:** May 18, 2009, 09:02:15 PM »

Leaving it is courting fate. We'd better hope Max hurries up though.

Niku · « **Reply #792 on:** May 18, 2009, 09:03:52 PM »

HEY GUYS THAT CRAWLING VINE THING SURE WON'T HURT US IF WE JUST LEAVE IT ALblamblamblamblamblamblam.

blam.

blam.

Friday · « **Reply #793 on:** May 19, 2009, 01:47:11 AM »

7-0. Last few have been landslides.

1. Finish it off.

You stand and tilt the shotgun downward through a gap in the shelves, firing you last shell into the torso slowly crawling forwards.

It shrieks, spasms like a worm being stepped on, and goes still.

"Reload!" you say, handing Jesse the gun. You take out the box of shells and open it for her, as she jams them in one at a time. Fumbling a bit, one shell falls to the floor, causing Max to glance briefly over at it, before returning to his task.

As Jesse and you load, the Faceless outside draw closer. The nearest reaches forward with its vines, entwining them around the shelves, pulling. It leans in, the empty face a few feet from where you stand, and screams. The blast of hot air washes over you like a cloud of stench, turning your stomach. Jesse visibly grimaces, and finishes the fifth shell. She kneels under the bent over Faceless tugging on the shelves and blows a hole through its chest, sending him staggering backwards, vines retracting, before collapsing in a bloody heap on the sidewalk.

Jesse pumps and scans to the right toward the third Faceless. From the left, a Cavine lopes in a direct course for the store. You point and yell.

"Left! Cavine!"

Jesse swings her body left and blasts, catching the Cavine in the shoulder. It doubles over backward, scrambles for footing, and rights itself. Jesse pumps again, but the Cavine does not charge. Instead, it begins to circle away, favoring its right side.

Jesse turns her aim away from it back to the still advancing Faceless. The black woman with torn breasts. Through the holes, you can see something slithering inside her. Vines extend from where the nipples used to be. Jesse fires, but only succeeds in vaporizing her from the neck up. A few vines emerge from the neck, short, raw ended things, twisting much faster than the others.

"Shit," Jesse says, and repositions for another shot. In the background, the wounded Cavine still keeps its distance.

Jesse puts another shell into the black woman, exploding her upper chest outward like a broken pinata. Blood and bits of bone and tissue land on the shelves in front of you. And severed piece of worm flies through a gap and lands at your feet, squirming on the ground before you step on it.

Now only the lone Cavine remains. It seems to be watching you intently. You stare back at it, and it howls, a strange, low pitched version, one you haven't heard before. The sound is heavier on the hissing static.

From the south, another Cavine, a smaller dog, what looks to be a white poodle, comes walking silently up. It turns to face away from you, making low hissing noises at its wounded companion. The other Cavine responds in kind, and then they both turn back to you, circling, keeping their distance.

"Christ, these things are smarter than the rest," Jesse says. "I think they're either waiting for us to reload, or for more of them to show up."

"Or both," you say grimly. "How many shells you got left in there?"

"One, I think," Jesse replies.

"You sure your rifle won't work on these things?" you ask, eying it on her back.

"It didn't seem to have any effect on the Faceless. I don't know why it would work on these guys."

*************************************

1. Try the rifle. It's got more range. It might work on them, who knows.

2. Fire on them with your last shell despite the distance. You can't let them build up in number.

3. No reason for both of you to man the barricade with only one weapon. Take over, and have Jesse go look for the keys.

4. Go yourself to look for them.

5. You've got to risk it before more of them show up. Reload. Keep the rifle ready if they charge, better than nothing.

6. They seem to be content to wait, for now. Perhaps you should do the same. Max will find the keys. You might be needed up here if they attack to hold the barricades.

************************************

Niku · « **Reply #794 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:44:15 AM »

Quote from: Friday on May 19, 2009, 01:47:11 AM

7-0. Last few have been landslides.

Quote from: Friday on May 19, 2009, 01:47:11 AM

1. Try the rifle. It's got more range. It might work on them, who knows.

2. Fire on them with your last shell despite the distance. You can't let them build up in number.

3. No reason for both of you to man the barricade with only one weapon. Take over, and have Jesse go look for the keys.

4. Go yourself to look for them.

5. You've got to risk it before more of them show up. Reload. Keep the rifle ready if they charge, better than nothing.

6. They seem to be content to wait, for now. Perhaps you should do the same. Max will find the keys. You might be needed up here if they attack to hold the barricades.

I'm gonna trust Jesse on the weapon front here and go look for the keys with Max.

Cthulhu-chan · « **Reply #795 on:** May 19, 2009, 10:03:57 AM »

That feels reasonable. Better the person with training than our fumbling (albeit lucky) self.

Guild · « **Reply #796 on:** May 19, 2009, 10:23:01 AM »

she HAS been missing on occasion :cowell:

The Artist Formerly Known As Yoji · « **Reply #797 on:** May 19, 2009, 10:47:13 AM »

With just one shot at the moment, somebody had better reload.

Romosome · « **Reply #798 on:** May 19, 2009, 11:37:34 AM »

Right now this looks like "hope and pray", and we will have to reload suddenly while dogs are running at us if we fail, or "reload now". Let's not tempt fate.

Lady Duke · « **Reply #799 on:** May 19, 2009, 11:38:15 AM »

Definitely got to reload right now.

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Author Topic: The Ends (Read 59147 times)