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| Scrote |
“Hey Scrote, missed me?”, he bent over and ruffled the massive dogs wrinkled head for a bit, and was rewarded with a handful of slobber he wiped on his fatigues. He headed towards the kitchen, followed by the large quadruped and took a couple of beers out of the fridge, ignoring the containers of food Sam had packed away.
He walked into the loungeroom, dimmed the light and turned the stereo on. Dopes to Infinity started to blast through the speakers, and he nodded, with a bit of a smile. The last thing he did before flopping himself onto the sofa was grab a fat joint out of a small box. He lit up, watched the smoke drift to the ceiling and closed his eyes. While the music flooded through the room, his mind wandered over the recent events.
Kodiak had gotten to work straight away on the second terminal, identifying locations where the electricity output was high. After about half an hour, he had found two likely locations. One was the local high school, but that kinda made sense, as it was also the gathering point for families who didn’t have electricity or heating and had been turned into emergency accommodation. The other one looked like a normal house. The looked at each other and nodded.
“Let’s check it out”
The decision had been made to load up the truck with all the sensitive materials, after Krobar had a run-in with some linesmen, who were asking more and more urgent questions, which he couldn’t answer. He had told the others the FEMA cover was wearing thin, and they should consider abandoning this spot and stay on the move. The counter on the SecureLine showed 21:44:16 and kept counting down. On one of his trips back, Knight mentioned a cop outside, looking like he was off-duty, but asking questions of linesmen, who clearly weren’t able or willing to help him.
As they moved to the car with the last load, the cop approached them, hat in hand. He claimed he needed assistance with a case, something about finding out where there was power etc. Krobar’s first instinct was to tell the cop to fuck off, but then he realized the guy may have known something they didn’t, perhaps even seen the things that had torn Mother Mills in two.
They made their way inside and fucked around a bit on the terminal, trying to get the cop to open up. The guy clearly was tired and not in a talkative mood, but after a while he said he had found a body inside an ATM boot. The guy was only wearing underwear, so clearly had to have come from a nearby location, so the policeman wanted to follow up. He had been glancing over at the screen, while Kodiak tried his best to steer away from sensitive locations. It didn’t work. The copper stopped him and tapped the screen, indicating the exact spot they were about to visit themselves.
Making up some ridiculous excuse about having to go there themselves to check what was going on, as the output was too high and they weren’t able to shut down remotely, they convinced him to let them come along, and even succeeded in getting Kodiak to drive along with him.
Once they arrived at the house, the cop got out and walked up to the front door. Knight and Krobar observed him from the pick-up. Kodiak remained in cop car. Clearly no-one answered the ringing and knocking, as the cop returned to the car. Krobar moved his hand into the small sportsbag, taking the safety off the SMG they had taken from the Green Box, while Knight checked his Magnum.
Two short blasts sounded from the car ahead of them, so they got out of the car and quickly made their way over towards it through the biting cold. The cop had cuffed himself to the steering wheel, relieved from his gun by Kodiak. Krobar noticed an AR-15 next to the cop and brightened up, flashing a smile. The cop kept talking while they were discussing how to proceed. He tried to ignore the man at first, but he kept jabbering on and on, and Krobar janked the SMG free and pointed it at the cop, telling him to shut the fuck up.
Kodiak intervened, seemingly convinced Krobar was about to turn the guy into a sieve and pushed the AR into his hands.
“Have this, but let the guy live… “
Krobar smiled widely, taking the rifle and handing the SMG to his cell mate.
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| Eli Fillagree |
As the others kept an eye on things, Krobar fired a burst at the body, but missed it totally. Annoyed by this, he called out, “There’s something moving in the dark!” And let rip again, this time piercing the body. Some kind of noise resounded, coming from … outside? … and straight after, something ripped out of the corpse, and moved into the darkness, too quickly to be shot at. They were all on full alert now, and in an adrenaline fuelled 20 seconds, they fired a number of bursts at the thing, which they could now identify as the creature mentioned in the papers: a legless form, moving on arms, sitting on what looked like a massive cock, with an eyeless head and two slits on the sides as ears. As soon as they blasted it away, the thing’s ‘cock’ tore itself free and moved towards us, covered at one end by a mass of small tentacles and on the other with some pincerlike protrusions. Kodiak stopped it in its tracks by slamming an ice-pick into it.
They made their way up, clearing the house room by room, fully aware that their presence would be known to anyone inside after the firefight downstairs. Everything remained quiet, apart from some of those noises outside. Downstairs they found some bloody marks on the wall, clumsily hidden by a blanket, and a man’s bedroom. Someone had been attacked there and the linen was covered in orangey stains, like what they had seen at the Mills place.
Upstairs they found two more bedrooms. No one to be found there, but clearly inhabited by two girls, with an interest in art. One room had quite a few sculptures in it, including one that looked exactly like the creature they had just dispatched. Kodiak called out from the other room, he had found some footage on a computer, showing a clip of how the girls had lured some vagrant into the house, and went to town on him, stabbing their heads towards his flesh like a couple of woodpeckers, with those Things sticking out of their dropped jaws. The whole thing was affecting Kodiak badly, and they decided to bring in the petrol and torch the place. Checking the messages on the phone, they got an indication as to where the two women might be: “Chaaaaad” had invited them to a party in one of the university dorms.
When they left the house, they heard a thudding noise coming from the patrol car. When they opened the door, the cop was yelling about something in the trees, clearly scared shitless. They quickly discussed the matter and decided to pull the policeman in, showing him what was going on, before torching the place.
Krobar sat up, reaching over for another beer. “Ego, The Living Planet” started to play, so he turned the volume up, to a level that made Scrote decide to find a quitter place in the house. Krobar didn’t give a shit about the neighbours. They all knew better than complain or ring the cops, if they knew what was good for them. He rubbed his eyes, cursing himself for not having something about the part that came next. It could have ended up totally different.
It seemed to have the desired effect on the officer, Eli Fillagree. Seeing the remains of the created and the pinned down tendril, plus the footage on the computer made it clear to him that something was on the loose here, infecting civilians and turning them into some kind of monsters. Another issue had become apparent: the girls were at the university, but there was also something out here as well. Something that would freeze to death soon in this cold and would more than likely make it’s way to a warmer area.
The Cell discussed it and decided to split up. Krobar offered to go after the girls and had hoped to get Kodiak with him. Knight said he’d go after the creature, which they expected would probably head to the high school, as it was closest to the house and one of the few areas with heating and power. Knight decided to take Kodiak along, leaving Krobar with the cop, who couldn’t even be considered a Friendly at this stage. This seriously pissed Krobar off, who already had Dawn of the Dead visions of a dorm full of students with cock-like tentacles dangling from their extended jaws chasing him, while the others would be chasing a single legless Penismonster.
They split and torched the house.
The front door slammed close, loud enough to wake Krobar up. Sam walked into the room, smiling widely when she saw him.
“Hey, Vang! Didn’t know if you were going to be home yet! All good with your mum?”
She picked up his beer and sat next to him, drinking what was left.
“Yeah, as good as could be expected, given the circumstances.”
She got up and heated some leftovers, and they sat together, listening to music and talking a bit. Krobar was happy to get some distraction, any topic was fine. After a while, Sam started to get a bit handsy and moved her hand to his crotch. Krobar jumped, pushing he away, perhaps harder than intended, but she fell, cutting her arm on the corner of the coffeetable. The cut started to bleed immediately, blood soaking her sleeve.
“What the fuck, Vanguard? What the hell is wrong with you?”
She got up and moved to the bathroom, holding her arm. Krobar watched her go. He wanted to follow her, apologize, try and explain. But he know he couldn’t.
In the car, Krobar returned the service weapon to Eli. They drove to the campus and parked behind the dorm. The backdoor was fitted with an alarm, so they decided they’d had to go through the front. Krobar told him to follow his lead, that he was going to make it look like he had taken the cop hostage. He put his balaclava on and marched Eli to the front and got the cop to signal the woman behind the counter to open the door. As soon as she had done that, Krobar came into view, pushing Eli in and pointing the rifle at the woman. He moved her into a cupboard under the stair, telling her that she’d be ok if she kept quiet.They moved upstairs, and soon started to hear music from one of the upper areas. Making their way there a bit of panic started to break out at the sight of a cop being pushed along by a masked guy with an automatic rifle. Krobar remembered something from the writings they had found, how infected people were lured out by the sight or smell of blood.
Putting it to the test, he smashed the butt of the rifle into one of the students who looked like a total dickhead, shattering his nose and spraying blood all over the area. Since no-one came out screaming (apart from the idiot blubbering on the floor), they moved on further into the corridors, opening doors and showing pics of the girls, asking if anyone had seen them.
After a while someone said they were in Chad’s room, pointing down the hallway. Arriving there, Krobar kicked the door in and was jumped on by one of the girls, tentacle in full glory, going straight for his face. Unable to use his rifle, he wrestled with the thing. Eli was unable to assist, as the other girl had jumped him and tried to overcome him as well. A frantic fight erupted, with Krobar able to land a few punches, but not enough to knock the Norwegian down. Eventually, he was able to land a solid headbutt, pushing her away and put her down with a burst from the rifle. As expected, the tendril removed itself, but was also shot to bits. In the meantime, Eli had also been able to freehimself and kill his opponent. The second tendril was also eliminated. Looking into the room, they saw a frantic Chad rush towards them, followed by a third tentacle. After dispatching it, Krobar looked Chad over. He was covered in bitemarks from the pincers. Not sure if this was enough to infect the young man, but thinking of the counter on the SecureLine, Krobar decided not to take any risks and killed the student with a burst in the back.
Sirens were audible, coming close at speed, so they made their move, still trying to keep up the pretence that Eli was a hostage. They made it to the patrol car, and started driving off, but it was clear that they would not make it by car out of the gated community, The car was ditched and they made their way over the wall, hotwiring a car a bit further away.
Krobar told Eli to direct him to the morgue, as he wanted to make sure the body Eli had found (clearly the 3rd occupant of the house), was also dealt with. They took it to the incinerator and destroyed any evidence to be found on him, only to be caught by the nightman, a spotty teenager. A few harsh words were enough to send him running, as Krobar really didn’t feel like shooting another kid tonight. They made their way out and drove off. Krobar chained the cop to the steering wheel and pistol-whipped him, knocking the officer out cold. He headed to a phonebooth and called it in, informing the other person on the line someone was locked up in a car, and bleeding.
Then, he made his way to the motel where he was supposed to meet up with Knight and Kodiak.
Upon arrival, only Knight was there. No pick-up, no Kodiak.
Apparently, things had gone bad after they had taken out the creature. Police had shown up and just like Krobar, they had come to the conclusion they wouldn’t be able to get away with the car which was loaded with sensitive materials. Kodiak had taken a flare and tossed it into the petrol tank but was too slow to get clear and got caught in the blast. Knight had seen him, down on the ground, and thought he was dead, but wasn’t 100% sure.
The risk of getting caught trying to get to the bottom of it was too big, and with a heavy heart Krobar decided not to try and go after Kodiak. He turned the SecureLine on and informed A-Cell that the threat had been dealt with. Answering a few of their questions he seemed to be able to convince him that all was taken care of, and the counter stopped ticking down.
He sat down, thinking what to do now, then said his goodbyes to Knight. He would make his way out by himself, after laying down for a few days in a nearby town.
He walked into the hallway and opened the door to the garage. Scrote followed him, giving him his usual stupid look. Krobar opened the garage, letting the winter air in, cold, but not apocalyptic like last week. He took his leather jacket and cut and got onto his Evolution. Time for a ride. Have a few beers. Get into a fight. He fired the bike up and took off.Scrote was looking at the bike as his master drove off. He walked a few steps out, clearly not impressed by the cold and lifted his leg, pissing against the bins.
