It's the end of the world as we know it...and I feel fine.

The Ammo Shop inferno managed to attract half the city in its explosive wake. Rather...what was left of the city. The virus spread from one end of the city to the other, leaving its taint on not only the humans but the vampires and werewolves. Only a handful had escaped its grasped and currently they ran at a break neck speed to get to ground zero where, unbeknownst to them the cure was rapidly taking shape.

Everyone left in the city - uninfected and salivating infected turned from the smoldering fires downtown and refocused their sight on another fireball lighting up the evening sky.

Duibne Industries was on fire.

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

To all those left in the city - this is the exit thread. The storyline will continue on and if you choose to involve yourself in the mayhem, I will happily include you.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR:

Several members have been infected. Several had made their way towards the industrial district to Duibne Industries. Vampire, human and werewolf will set aside any differences in hopes of finding the answer to this night's terror and a vaccine/cure.

The ground floor of Duibne is now on fire, but there is a small pocket that anyone can move through to get inside DI before it is completely inundated with smoke and debris. You can go up or down - either way both areas are not completely secured or free of infected.

Plan your exit AND CURE (if infected) here.

Brig watched as his cousin tossed the severed hand and returned his one eyed stare at the panel. With a shrug Brig considered their situation.

'Why do we want to get into what is quite possibly the host center for the virus again?'

'Because we can't get back to the Den.' Brig mouthed an O and nodded. Hammer peered at the control panel and reached up again to touch its sensitive controls.

CRACK.

Brig jumped and pointed to the now broken panel. The light dimmed and after a few half hearted sparks died completely. Hammer looked over at the other panel on the other side of the elevator bank when he heard another crash, this time not from his own doing.

The force of the explosion sent flames curling into the lobby in their direction. Smoke immediately filled the lobby and more glass sprayed down from the overhead glass art dangling precariously above them. Both he and his cousin hit the floor with a resounding 'oof'. They were now caught inside the facility with their one good exit covered by what appeared to be a ton of burning metal. Hammer immediately searched for his cousin who grabbed him in the darkness of the smoke and yelled in his ear.

On the far side of the elevator banks, near the second panel, Celeste had leaned back against the cool stone wall, her legs crossed as she puffed away on a clove to calm her nerves. It still was beyond comprehension why she was voluntarily breaking INTO the nest of those rogue kindred who considered themselves a clan. Which also happened to be the breeding ground for the epidemic of zombies now overrunning the city.

Well, the Anantya reasoned, she'd often been accused of being crazy. Maybe this was actual proof. Or, maybe she was doing this to help eliminate a potential threat to the Clan that could kill them off or even expose her kind to the general populace. Yes, she'd go with that second idea for now she decided, her icy blue eyes dispassionately watching the two large mortals as they tried in vain to open the elevator doors.

The crash and explosion roared right through her as she didn't even move a muscle, instead simply turning etheral until the initial mess had passed and she began to move through the smoky darkness without a sound, keeping up with the two noisily crawling around easily.

They were proving amusing if not helpful. Maybe she could make one into a familiar when this was all done. She did like the nature of the one eyed, surly one. He suited her.. she briefly wondered how that proposal would go over and snickered.

So would you two big strong men like the tiny little woman to open the elevator doors for you? she drawled, wondering if she should just rip the doors open or slide into the shaft and look for an emergency release.

The tinkling of glass mixed with the sharpness of a billion pieces breaking around them filled her ears. Ellis pushed Simon through the glass doors of Duibne and was briefly reminded of her incident with Nic. Good times.

The glass gave way to the inevitable rush of burning hot air, forcing Ellis to keep from curling into a ball and moving further into DI's lobby. Both she and Simon grabbed at each other, pulling themselves into the lobby running from the arid and fierce temperature and licks of white hot flames. The smoke filled the lobby within seconds and blindly they shoved their way back toward the elevator bay. Choking on the smoke, Ellis fell again in front of the elevators, right at someone's feet.

Shit, she thought to herself.

Pushing back and scooting away she peered through the smoky darkness and let her perception feel its way. There was no distinct nasty ass smell they had already begun associating with infected. It was someone else, someone very, very tall. Ellis reached up and rubbed her irritated eyes, coughing into her sleeve when finally the smoke cleared and the tinkle of a female voice penetrated the darkness.

'So would you two big strong men like the tiny little woman to open the elevator doors for you?'

Another Anantya, she recognized. Through the haze she saw one of the two men the Anantya was referring to. Ellis, ignoring her dire surroundings and using very little obvious common sense...smiled at the werewolf called Hammerthynn.

It was all a blur. One minute she'd been outside and the next flinging herself into the building to tumble and roll over the shattered glass. The blonde had slammed into the far wall and ducked behind a massive stone and steel planter as the explosion ripped through the lobby. Heat and flames had made her whimper as she curled up as tightly as she could. Acrid smoke has stung her eyes making them water as she gasped for breath, choking on the smoke before simply holding her breath.

Slowly she stood and peered across to the elevator bank where several forms were semi visable through her blurred vision. A quick mental once over and she was battered and sore but nothing felt broken or punctured. The Anantya crept quietly closer to the others, alert for any infected until a voice broke the eerie post explosive quiet, carrying above the crackle of flames to her.

'So would you two big strong men like the tiny little woman to open the elevator doors for you?'

Amberelle stopped and blinked. That voice.. that could only be..

Celeste!

The younger vampire cried out her name as she ran up and wrapped her arms around her shorter cousin in a tight bear hug.

As he landed on the ground, the glass embedded itself into his palms and and forearms, causing a disgruntled sneer to emit from Simon's mouth. The smoke filled his nostrils and stung his eyes, causing more soft cursing as he grabbed Ellis and dragged her and himself toward the elevators. His perception picked up on the other bodies standing in the murky smoke and his body tensed, waiting for the rank smell of infected to overtake his senses, but it never came. Ellis, however, seemed to have found herself at the feet of one of the bodies. The female voice drifted over to him and as the smoke parted, he recognized who it belonged to and to whom she was referring to.

Slowly he stood, his eyes traveling up the long distance from the pair of boots standing in front of Ellis all the way to the head of large body. The smoke parted a moment, revealing Iov Hammerthynn and another taller male.

'No,' he replied to the female. 'Don't break my elevator doors, please.' With his burning eyes on Hammerthynn, he walked over to the panel next to him and sighed at the sight of the broken screen.

Hammerthynn looked down at him and snorted angrily.

Walking to the opposite side Simon ran his hand over the panel and it lit up, but that was it. The entire system was locked down, as per emergency protocol. Simon accessed the main frame and began the tedious chore of bypassing the system.

In her defense, Celeste was somewhat distracted studying the couple that had emerged at their feet. There was something sinister and somehow familair about the woman that set her teeth on edge and had her hand itching for her sword. That was what she would tell herself as she tried to figure out how she was now being smothered by her amply endowed and much taller cousin. Any response she made to her name and the annoyed sounding retort from the strange male were extremely muffled.

Her arms flailed about in a most undignified manner for a brief moment before gripping the blonde's upper arms so she could wrench herself free a few inches and draw in a loud gasp of breath. Blue eyes met gold and the two De'Espionne's smiled, though Celeste's was short and the Nightswoman quickly resumed her stoney sneer.

Amby's hair was mated and clumped with dried blood, it stained her leather coat and bodysuit and over it all was a fine grit of soot and dirt. It was definately not how her normally well put together and appearance conscious cousin was found and the elder of the two couldn't help but be proud. They were trophies of her evening and Cel couldn't wait to get back to the manor and hear all about it. Of course she'd never let Amber know she was pleased, or even that she'd been worried. No, that would never do.

I see you managed to make it through the night intact so far, Cel said. Let's try to keep it that way. Disengaging herself from a slightly hurt looking Amberelle, she turned to the dark haired man and stepped up beside him to peer down at the screen.

So does this thing have an interior release? It could be quicker to just open from the inside, non?

Ellis watched with laughing eyes as Simon slowly stood and passed Hammerthynn and the other male. It was funny, again thinking of her many reoccurring situations, Ellis didn't worry much about anything, including what could be a really nasty incident. Instead she slowly stood, waving the smoke away from her face and stayed within Hammerthynn's personal space. Without looking at Simon, she asked:

'Need any help with that?' Referring to accessing the override to the system - which Simon would have undoubtedly changed her access long ago, but still - she thought she'd be polite and offer.

Simon rolled his eyes without looking at her and continued his work on the panel. The silence was only interrupted by the cracking of metal and tinkle of glass as Amberelle made her way into the bay area. She called the other female 'Celeste', which Ellis duly noted.

'Welp,' Ellis said as she stood, wiping the glass off her palms onto her pants. 'Seems like the party moved to DI. Who's your friend, Iov?' She smiled brightly at the taller male, taking in his handsome features. In the middle of blood, murder and mayhem - one should never discount the pleasantness of being polite.

Brig felt Hammer's irritation without even having to see the expression (or lack thereof) on his face. The presence of the Duban woman set off the same alarms in him that were undoubtedly being felt by his cousin. He had yet to meet the female face to face and Hammer likely would not make introductions, especially by her request. Brig nodded his head and let an irritated sneer crinkle up his nose.

'I'm Jameson,' was all he said.

More people gathered in the elevator bay with a small human bringing up the rear. His information did not surprise Brig.

Simon rolled his shoulders, finally overriding the DI's security system. To answer Rowland's question, he activated the elevators, the four banks that consist of three large capacity elevators, twelve in total slid open their doors, awaiting occupants and commands.

'Alright. I'm heading down to the sub-levels to hopefully find some of our scientists.' And Carol, but he didn't dare say that out loud, not with Ellis here with him. He had yet to be able to contact Carol and she was first and foremost on his priority list. 'The sub-levels are self contained, but some of you might want to check out the upper levels to see...'

SMASH.

Simon blinked at the noise; something out behind the lobby had crashed, followed by more of the same. The sound was spaced apart by several seconds until it overlapped, crashing down on the broken metal and glass. Through the smoke his eyes widened when he realized the source of the noise.

With the new arivals, It was time for the cop to lose himself, and avoid the dark-haired demon who had bit him. He walked over to Blondie, figureing that he could somewhat trust her. "I'm gonna go see if there's an arms storage room around here," Steve said quietly to the blonde woman. "I wonder if theres a broadcast facility. We need to contact the military forces and tell them to stand down. I don't think we have too long before this place gets toasted. Also, I need to get into the camera grid, and see just what we're dealing with here." He walked to the receptionist's desk, and found a radio in the top drawer. This he set to the frequency of his own, then gave to the blonde. "Push this to talk. Let me know if you guys run in-" A noise caught his attention. Zombies. Dammit! Steve swung a second P90 from it's sheath on his backpack and fired with both weapons, cutting down the infected people with deadly accuracy. "I'll hold 'em off, you guys get the hell out of here," he said, picking off his enemies. Zombies fell, holes in thier foreheads, chests, and faces. He got down on one knee, then yelled, speaking mainly to the blonde who had saved his ass. "Get out of here! GO!" He cut down a large zombie, then had to duck as a second one lunged at him. He wasn't going to last long, not unless the others found a way out fast. Another group of zombies charged at Steve, and he dispatched them easily. I can't hold them off much longer, Steve thought, reloading his weapons. The zombies were gaining ground, and were now about twelve meters out. Damn!

Life is always full of choices. Good ones...bad ones...but full of them, nonetheless. And in this case - Nachton's members have that same choice.

Do those now trapped inside Duibne Industries continue in or brave the onslaught of zombies now surging on the facility?

The vampires, the werewolves and the humans standing in the lobby of DI need to make a choice. Go up into DI's center tower or go down into the bowels of the facility to search out answers?

Those who are infected will be drawn to the bright light calling out to them - where there is activity there is more to eat. The effects of the infection - for those that have had it since the start of the night will begin to feel the effects of hyper active mutation. Dr. Thorpe did indeed happen upon a strain of Eternity like virus that regenerates much like an ancient vampire but with it came the rapid molecular degeneration. For as quickly as they turn, the quicker they slow down. Death would be inevitable, some day, but the increased strength, speed and resilience will decreased.

Again...some day.

However - deep in the lower levels of DI works Nova Piestewa with the help of zombie host Dr. Thorpe. The last bit of the scientist's humanity gave him the strength to offer himself up to the vampire and with time running short for them, isolated the mutation. Young Carol, executive secretary for both DI and Tacharan accessed the small reproduction facility within the sub levels, using a preexisting manufactured delivery system. Now all they had to do was make enough to cure the infected. One question being - would it work against those who had been infected since the beginning...or would it kill them?

Funny thing about life - it was as full of questions as it was choices and choosing wisely always meant asking the right question first...well...before the military descends down upon on the town with fire bombs, that is.

Good luck.

Carol looked down at the delivery system and frowned.

'Are you sure this is going to work? I mean...well it's pretty...wow, you know?'

The Merc looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

'Well it's just...we actually had these handy? Yikes.'

The Merc replied, 'You act like you've never seen anything like this before.'

Carol blew him a raspberry. Leaning back she cocked her head to the side and watched the production line manufacture the weapons. 'So uh...how do we get to them?'

The laboratories nestled deep under Duibne Industries boasted state of the art technology and replicating machines. Weaponry, medical technology and supplies, computers and super fancy motion sensor toilets were at their fingertips - except for the hundreds of zombies. Some were trapped in sealed rooms, however like the upper floors, some loitered in the hallways, slowly feeling the long term effects of the virus and their starvation.

Carol sighed and she and the Merc both looked up at the ceiling, then back down again at her skirt. She knew exactly how they were going to get to the new delivery system and with an annoyed grunt she pushed up off the chair and kicked off her heels.

'God damn ventilation system.'

In a night filled with some truely horrific visions, Amberelle knew the sight of those infected plummeting down towards the fiery wreckage only to rise up and turn towards them would stand out. Grotesque, distorted shadows stretched out towards those gathered at the elevators as the light danced over them. That image burned into her brain and would haunt her dreams for decades to come. Steve began firing rapidly, yelling out orders but the blonde could only blink for a few seconds before that survival instinct kicked in.

She brushed past the two tall strangers to stand beside her cousin and for some absurb reason murmured Pardon moi, as she did. Even in the midst of madness inbred manners would not be forgotten it seemed. Roughly shoving the radio onto her belt and raising her own handgun she started picking them off. Neat and calm she took controlled head shots and watched them jerk backwards and crumple. Even as Cel did similar beside her it was obvious the waves of them were just too much to handle. Almost in unison the De'Espionne women yelled out, Fall back!

Slowly sliding back towards Simon, Amby yelled over to her cousin in French, Don't leave that one, up front, he's Anantya property.. She didn't look to see if Cel heard her as she took up a position beside the elevator and drew her katana.

Standing beside her younger cousin, Cel just smiled as they cut down zombie after zombie. It was kind of a rush, finally getting to cut loose and shed some blood after all the stealth she'd been engaged in so far this evening. The loud mouthed man that had been with the blonde was snapping off orders as if he was the one in charge which irked her somewhat, but she appreciated a "take charge, get the job done" kind of personality. In times like this it was probably what had kept him alive so far. But for continued survival he'd best not throw any of those orders HER way.

In another time and place it may have pleased the Creole to hear Amby's judgement was as spot on as hers still as they issued their retreat orders, but it didn't cross her mind right now. The vampire had sort of mentally adopted the two mortals and found herself taking the time to spin and force them backwards into an elevator with her. Spinning, her back pressed against the two so roughly pushed against the far wall she kicked out and pressed a few floor buttons and sighed as the doors began to close.

Don't leave that one, up front, he's Anantya property.. rang out towards her and Celeste swore fiercely. Pushing off the solid wall of men behind her, she rushed out the doors before they closed. They sprang back open as she brushed them, eliciting another round of violent swearing under her breath. Celeste ducked under one rotting and mangled form that lept for her, her hand swinging backwards to shoot it point blank in the back of the head as she reached out and snagged the back of the familar's flak jacket with her free hand. Lifting him was out of the question since she was a good deal shorter than he, so she drug him along and managed to get him roughly shoved inside the elevator without disturbing the reclosing doors.

The vampire stood outside and watched to make sure the doors were closed completely, saluting the two cousins inside with a fang filled grin just before she lost sight of them.

((men tossed and pushed around with permission))

Ellis watched the fight unfold and then sighed. Tucking her gun back into her waistband, she decided that wasting what little bullets she had now wouldn't be a good idea. Instead she turned to look at Simon and nodded toward an elevator.

'Let the heroes handle that - we'll need our bullets later.'

She swept into the elevator and turned back to look at as the others started to fall back. She considered what might happen next - trapped below with hundreds of zombies or trapped at ground level with an entire city. Yeah, this was going to be fun.

Simon followed Ellis into the elevator and put his hand out to keep it from closing. 'Amberelle,' he said in a calm voice. 'Going down.'

He waited for the female to back up and step into the elevator car which she did firing off several more rounds to ensure everyone's saftey. The dark haired female caught hold of Rowland and tossed in him with Hammerthynn and Jameson. Stepping back into the car, Simon stared over at Hammerthynn as both the doors closed. Rowland would now be on his own with the werewolves - that should be interesting.

Pressing his hand against the digital panel caused the elevator to immediately descend to the lower levels and to whatever the devil had waiting for them.

It was a swarm of infected that surged all around her, vile things with gaping mouths, fetid breath and dull eyes. How many she couldn't even begin to tell but as they went to reach out with grimey, bloody hands there was nothing but air where once sweet smelling flesh had been. Howls of rage filled the air as small wisps of smoky ether slid through the elevator doors.

She peered down at the rapidly dissapearing elevator car and gave a mental shrug before returning to her solid form and began to fall downwards. Even gravity was having a hard time catching her up to them she noted. But nature prevailed and just before slamming into the roof she dematerialized and slid through into the cab, solidifying just before smashing onto the floor roughly.

Sitting up and pulling herself up onto one knee while effects from the impact wore off, the Anantya looked up at the other occupants and in a rather un Celeste-like manner quipped, Mind if I crash this party?

Ding.

The elevator doors opened and with silent curiosity, Brig stepped past the gun toting human and peered out. It was painfully quiet. He stepped off the elevator as he fingered the gun in his waist band, pulling it out slowly but not raising it. Slowly and quietly, Brig inhaled.

His werewolf sense tried to identify the smells in the air. Faint traces of the putrid zombie flesh, but it had dissipated somewhat. He then felt a slight breeze and he stepped further out into the hallway, walking toward to the fresh air coming in; rounding a corner he could see the source. Office desks were turned over and stained red - several badly chewed up bodies laid on the floor, most missing a vital portion of their body - either their head or necks. Some turned, some unfortunately not; being eaten beyond the virus' capability, he wagered. Still, he walked by them with caution.

The window at the far end of the space had been broken in, it looked like. Probably from whatever preceded the explosion. Peering out the window he looked down and saw the remains of what looked like a helicopter. Sensing his cousin at this side, Brig spoke quietly without turning.

'Great. I was kind of hoping on that still being on the roof.' A plan to make it out of the city in DI's helicopter had crossed his mind and more than likely on Hammer's as well. Unless there were two up there - they were stuck. Looking back up across the city he could see more zombies running toward the towers. With a sigh he turned back to the office and addressed both Hammer and the human.

'No where to go but up, I guess.'

Steve shook his head, and started down the hall. "You two go, I'm gonna see about a security office. I want to know what the hell happened here." With that, Steve walked down the hall, guns at the ready. He paused at a doorway, and touched the button on his headset, setting it to voice-activation. "Amberelle, do you copy?" Steve listened, but there was no reply as he continued down the hall, searching for something, anything. He finally reached a door marked Security. After a few seconds with a lockpick, Steve opened the door, and walked in. The room was jammed with computers, one of which had to run the security system, shouldn't it? Monitor banks lined the walls, and a metal door leading to an armory of sorts stood ajar. Steve slid the P90s into thier sheaths on his backpack, spining them on his fingers. He pick out an M-16 from the selection, stocked up on ammo, then turned to the computer terminals. He pulled his laptop from his backpack, hooked the thing in through a parallel port, and began to work his way into the mainframe. Hopefully, there was a chance to contact the airbase. And maybe, just maybe, he could find the one person his heart burned for. A thought crossed his mind, and he spoke into the mic. "Amberelle, do you read me? Does anyone read?"

The dark haired vampire materialized out of thing air. Ethereal, Ellis thought. Damn Anantya's and their abilities. With a monotone voice Ellis replied as the elevator came to a halt. 'Color me jealous.'

The squawk of Amberelle's radio made her jump, pausing long enough to give the blond an annoyed look. Quickly she fingered her gun and along with Simon, raised their weapons to eye level as the doors opened. The smell of rotting flesh immediately flooded her senses and told her that they were not alone. Tapping Simon on his shoulder, she motioned to the right and she stepped off to the left. The hallway walls were smeared with blood but clearly read - 'Sub Level 1'. At least they had a security room on that level, but none of the laboratories - which was probably a good thing. He'd be able to gain access to the rest of the building from those computers - they just had to get there.

Nodding to the other two women, Ellis murmured quietly. 'Let's go.'

Relief washed over Amberelle when Celeste appeared even if the whole car did bounce from the force of her landing. The blonde leaned against the corner and continued reloading her clips for a moment, just smirking at the question poised. As if they would really mind another along.

The Anantya had no idea what the size of this underground area was and how many potentially infected they would face. But no matter what, she was willing to do her best to help find a cure. At least she wouldn't have to worry about any of them taking a bite out of her cousin. And she prayed the two Ancients avoided exposure because that would be... bad. Very very bad.

She squeaked in suprise when the radio went off in the small, enclosed space at around 5 million decibils. Snatching it from her belt and spinning the volume dial down a good bit, she responded with forced gaiety, Loud and clear sunshine! How's the weather where you are?

Exiting behind the others she kept the radio close but turned down to volume 1 now. Not a problem for her to hear but at least as quiet as was possible. Her left hand gripped her katana tight, leather glove creaking slightly as she followed them to who knew where.

Relief flowed through his body as Amberelle replied to Steve's calls. For some damn reason, probably because she had saved him once and told the other person to save him a second time, he felt himself wanting to make sure that she survived. Debt was a weird thing. "Well, either this is a Stephen King movie, or this is one hell of a nightmare, and I'd love to wake up," he said, looking at the carnage. He looked at the screen of the laptop, then swore. There was a backup security system, and it had quarantined his computer, making any chance of getting information from the mainframe impossible. He checked on the video feed. There must have been some devine being watching his ass, because the video feed was active. He patched his laptop into the feed, and soon small windows were popping up on his screen, each one showing a different camera in the building. Steve pulled up a second program, into which he entered a few commands. Soon, he had programmed it to search the video feed for figures matching the ones from the video of the lobby below. He located Amberelle, and found that she was with the other two he had originally joined up with, as well as the drak-haired woman who had shoved him into the elevator with Frick and Frack back there. He searched the area around Amberelle, and found that there was about a dozen zombies waiting for her right outside the door. He swore, then spoke again. "Hey, darlin', you may wanna lock and load, 'cause there's a dozen of those rotted freaks waiting right outside your door." He opened a third program, which would create a 3D wireframe of the building, and place the people in there. He looked at the computers again, then swore yet again. This was turning out to be the worst night of his entire sad, sad life. He called Amberelle again. "I tried to get into the network, but I couldn't get in. Damn security network. Anyway, I'm monitoring the camera feeds. Let me know where you guys are heading, and I'll give you a route." Hopefully she wouldn't go all macho and tell him to blow it out his ass. He really didn't need the aggrivation.

Pausing while the human spoke, Amberelle's golden eyes swung over to look at Simon quizically. The Anantya had no clue where they were or where they were going, she was just following the ones she assumed did. Ever so softly whispering Which way? to him she peered around and listened, sniffing the air delicately as she determined the direction of the dozen hostiles Steven was seeing.

The air was thick with their stench which did a number on her stomach but she could tell they were off to the left, so she stepped to the right right after Simon and signed to her cousin to the left to indicate the zombies. The shorter De'Espionne nodded curtly and silently pulled a large machette from the backpack she wore even as she slid the Glock she'd been carrying out of her waistband. Cel moved into position close beside but behind Ellis, glancing between the two Tacharans and then back to Amby.

Speaking up against the radio in not much more than a whisper , Amberelle replied once Steven was done. Ok, gonna maintain as much radio silence as we can until in a secure location. Just give us heads up if you see massive movement towards us please. Looking around she finally spied the security camera with its tiny blinking red light and flashed her most charming smile to it before clipping the radio back to her belt and drawing her handgun.

Her golden eyes looked back to Simon as she waited for his mark. This was his territory so she would follow his lead.

She knew about as much as he did, it seemed. "I hear ya. I'm out. And Amberelle, watch your ass. I've got a bad feeling about this." With that warning, Steve set the computer to alarm when anyone approached him or Amberelle, and began trying to locate a broadcast facility. The closest thing was a server room back down on the ground level. The fire had come to the door, but...

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP....

Steve switched windows. The computer had detected motion in one of the cameras outside the security office. He looked at the feed. A small group, maybe five or six, of zombies was heading for the security office. He pulled a wireless transmitter from his backpack and pluged it into the computer bank, then set his laptop to feed the video to a hand-held computer that he snagged from another desk. He moved into the hall, locking the door and jamming the lock. He then ran, heading for the elevator bank, shooting at the oncoming pack of zombies. They fell easily at the M16, and Steve felt a kind of satisfaction that only the safety and security of holding a weapon could give him. He wasn't sure, but the other two men seemed to have moved off, and Steve was alone. He had just reached the elevator, and was in the process of hitting the call button, when a scream rang out, and Steve jerked around. Someone was in trouble, and they sounded like they were nearby. He broke into a full run, blazing around a corner, tearing through a door, and hitting a dead end. He listened. Breathing. Nearby, too. He kicked open a door, and ran through, wiping a mixture of blood, dust, and grime from his goggles with one of his fingerless gloves. Something moved up ahead. Steve found the switch for the light on his gun, and turned it on. At a different time, Steve would have been mad that the gun didn't have a laser sight. But now he was more concerned with the figure in front of him. He ran, chasing down the person, unti-
"Son of a bitch!"
A young man was lying on the floor, his stomach and throat torn out by a mass of zombies. Steve fired, dropping the crowd with cruel ease. He ran to the man. No pulse. Dammit! He looked around, and found that he was totally lost. Wonderful. Just fucking peachy.

Hammer let his irritation with the human creep in his face. He looked at his cousin who shrugged and snorted in reply. If the human wanted to go off and get himself killed - he was more than welcomed to do so. One less skin sack to worry about.

'Now that we have our permission from G.I. Joe there, let's head up,' Hammer murmured. They walked back passed the elevators into another section that opened up into an atrium type setting that opened up two floors up and two floors back down. Quietly they waited on the edge, listening for any noise which soon presented itself. The soft shuffling of feet could be heard above them, causing both werewolves to back against the wall and rethink their plan when gunshots interrupted the silence.

Rolling his eyes, Hammer sighed.

'Oh man - that aint right,' Ellis whined.

The glass walls vibrated against the pounding of the fifty or so zombies trapped in the sealed rooms. The rooms stretched into a wide hallway on both sides, forcing the four to walk it like a gauntlet.

'Shit, shit, shit...' Ellis willed herself forward and walked down the center of the hallway as quickly as possible, the glass threatening to break as the zombies pounded furiously on the surface, trying in vain to get to her. 'Quickly...quickly, quickly, quickly,' she said to the others as she finally made it down the long hallway back to steel covered rooms.

Ellis shuddered a mixture of fear and revulsion. They still have a good half of the structure to make it to the security room and it was all freaking her out more than she'd care to admit. She tried to open up her perception but it was filled with surrounding zombies which proved to be little help at all, especially when she came to the end of the hallway and the secured doorway at the end. Ellis looked for the panel to it and found none.

'What the hell...I don't remember this?'

Simon was equally unnerved walking in between the glass office walls and sighed in audible relief upon reaching Ellis on the other end. Touching the door he looked up into the ceiling.

'Up into the ventilation maybe - I can go over and open it.' Simon spoke mostly to himself as he thought about what was on the other side. His voice trailed off just thinking of it. With a slight jump he reached up and pushed on the ceiling. It budged slightly. Jumping again, higher and harder this time, he popped the seamless tile. It wasn't as easy as dropping into a room, he'd have to tear a hole into the siding to drop out.

With uncharacteristic smile, Simon nervously joked, 'If I'm not back in ten minutes...'

Simon's nerves were visible as he popped open the ceiling tile near the locked door. He was nervous - he actually tried to joke. He never joked. Ellis nodded and tried to smile back.

'Yeah...' and held up her hand, mimicking a phone. 'Hello, 911.' Then she cleared her voice and nodded again. Simon began to pull himself up when she called out to him again. 'Hey.'

Simon had pulled himself up and into the ceiling when he heard her call. He popped his head back out and looked at her.

'What's the worse that can happen, right?' She sheepishly shrugged and waved him on. 'Forget it, go. Go.' Ellis watched, slipping her hands to her hips as Simon moved the ceiling tile back in place and again it was a seamless steel pattern again.

Turning to the other women, Ellis waited.

Her pulse was pounding in her ears and almost deafening her as they moved as fast as possible down the hallway. Amberelle turned and pressed her back to the far wall beside the door, looking back at the glass walls with wide eyes. That had been the most unnerving thing, just walking through them all waiting for the dam to break and knowing if it did they would have been swarmed. The sounds, the screams and roars and the gag inducing stench were just so overwhelming.

Amby bit her lip as she listened to the exchange between Simon and Ellis then watched him dissapear into the ceiling. Looking back down the hallway to where Celeste waited, still and silent as she watched for any wandering infected Amberelle had to wonder if maybe they should have sent the other Anantya instead but held her tongue. Ellis still creeped her out a good deal.

Celeste stood in the center of the doorway that lead to the long hallway the others had just started down. The incessant screeching, howling and pounding on the glass had her grinding her teeth in irritation. She glanced over her shoulder briefly and made sure the three were at the far doorway, then turned back to her self appointed post.

The series of events unfolding around them was highly unsettling. They were an unknown amount underground and without the other two would be completely lost. The two Anantya needed an escape plan and the only one that came to mind for the Creole had never been tested. Leaving her younger cousin down here to rot was not an option so as she contemplated things her brow furrowed.

Looking back, Cel saw the man wasn't with them and she looked at her cousin quizically. Amby simply jerked her head towards the door beside her in response so she nodded and turned away again. The sooner they were away from this area the better. These undead were no threat to her, but to her cousin... her lip twitched and Celeste ground her teeth a little more.

Simon pressed his ear against the ventilation system wall. Cramped up in the small space, he tried to listen for any tell tale signs of zombies on the other side of the locked door. He had to travel fifty feet or so to get passed the solid structure beams so he was fairly sure he was deep on the other side in god knows what. Again he strained to listen; his perception useless to him in the closed quarters and the concentration of zombies nearby. Still - he heard nothing below him.

Simon poked three fingers through the siding and tore back the steel, wincing at the noise. Hearing nothing in respond, Simon pulled back the material and poked his head through when it was big enough. The hallway was clear - well, clear as in no zombies, but not clear of dead bodies. Holding back the urge to vomit, Simon dropped down into the hallway quietly noticing immediately he had moved over somehow and the locked door was not in sight. He moved down the hallway, passed closed doors, returning to the hallway with the door. Finding it easily he pressed his hand up against the door closest. The panel located near it was not a mainframe one, so with strained determination, Simon opened it with his gun ready.

Nothing.

Poking his head in, his immortal eyes cut through the darkness of the room and dismissed it. He moved to the next door down and again opened it with caution. On the fourth door he found his goal - a connecting room to a computer lab with mainframe computers. He moved quickly through the connecting doorway and located a computer, logging in with his override code and opening the door between Ellis and the hallway. He haunched over the desk, trying to open any more doors that led to the security room and the access to reconfigure the lock down when the shock of Carol's voice in his head made him grab the keyboard instead.

'What?! Carol? Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU?'

'Huh? What?'

The Merc listened to his ear piece again and confirmed the information. 'Mr. Huntington is in the building, he's accessing the mainframe from a computer on sub level 1.'

'He's here? He's alive? Wait, wait!'

Carol shook her head and reached out. Sometimes this whole bonding thing confused her - it was always like, 'what muscle to do I flex?' when trying to contact him. She tried to relax and did her best to send a calm message.

'SIMON ARE YOU THERE?'

Yeah, that was calm.

'What?! Carol? Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU?'

'I'm here!! I'm at the production lab. Nova did it! Nova found a cure! We're coming with the delivery system. It'll cure and inoculate - well Nova's not sure about that but she's hoping it will.'

Carol waited for his response but heard nothing.

'Simon?'

Nothing.

'SIMON!!!!!!!'

'Miss Hedley.'

Carol held her hand up to silence him.

'Miss Hedley.'

'WAIT!

'There are more in the building. Someone is trying to access the mainframe but was locked out. There are at least a dozen more that just entered the facility.'

Carol looked at the Merc. 'Who's accessing the mainframe?' The Merc showed her his hand held computer and located the connection. 'Can you patch me into that connection?'

The Merc pulled his hand held back and talked into his communicator. Within a minute he handed back his hand held. 'There you go.'

Carol emptied her hands and took the hand held, typing furiously into it with a single message.

'WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SYSTEM?!'



(OOC - message to Steven, feel free to talk back to Carol via your laptop.)

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.......

The urgent beeping of the computer caught his attention, wrenching his focus from his unknow objective to the palmtop. He checked the display, and swore.

Zombies were bearing down on Amberelle and her comrades, and they seemed to have no idea. He hit the call on his headset. "Amberelle! You've got company! Get the fuck out of there, now!!!" He ran back to the elevators, hoping to get down the cables to her. Unfortuneately, zombies near the securtiy office had other plans. He fired, blowing away zombies franticly. He had to get down there now. "Die, you bastards!!!" he screamed, firng away. His clip emptied, and Steve slung the weapon over his shoulder and drew the P90s. It was time to kick ass and take names.

More bleeping. His laptop was displaying a message. He pulled it up on the palmtop. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SYSTEM?!" displayed on his screen. He tapped the on-screen keyboard with one hand while blasting away with one of the P90s held in the other. "RADIO CHANNEL 361"He hit another key on the screen, and sent the message back, then put the computer away, and concentrated all of his mind, and both P90s, on his enemies.

Rolling her blue eyes Carol shifted to her radio and spoke into the wireless microphone after resetting the frequency.

'This is Carol Hedley of Duibne Industries - lone runner identify yourself god damnit!' The group of Mercs with her finished packing the delivery system. The command Merc handed her a weapon and silently showed her how it worked.

The delivery system was basically an augmented semi automatic gun with an expanded capacity. The bullets were retipped with sharp injection plugs that immediately dispersed the cure into the target. It was a quick lock, load, aim and shoot wildly. The production laboratory would continue mass producing bullets and the weaponry were distributed to the remaining Mercs with a cases of more to supply uninfected along the way. It was theorized that the cure would reverse the effects but not on those who had been infected for longer than an undetermined amount of time, hence all Mercs were carrying live ammunition to kill what didn't get cured. The cure tested (albeit in a frenzied short trial) as a knock out as well as immediately curing the target. Nova had hoped it would inoculate as well, but they'd have to see about that afterwards.

If there was an afterwards.

Carol nodded to the Merc and armed herself with a live round gun and they proceeded out to the zombie infected areas to start shooting shit up but more importantly, to find Simon who had suddenly been cut off. She hoped for the best but her gut told her the worst had happened. Well, she thought, what's the worst that could happen...right?

With nervous laughter Carol exited the lab with the Mercs.

His headset buzzed. Carol Hedley, eh? A DI worker? Good. "My name is Luetienant Colonel Steven Rowland. I am a survivor of the NPD, and am here with a small squaderon of survivors, trying to save as many people as we can. Our numbers are limited, and many of us are low on ordinance." He paused long enough to beat back a large zombie that seemed interested in eating him. "I tried to acsess the central security network, but your damn backup system caught me before I could finish the uplink. All I have is the camera grid. My comrades are under heavy attack in the lower levels, and I am currently standing outside one of the security offices, trying not to become zombie fodder." He fired at more zombies. "Amberelle, do you read? Dammit, Amberelle, where the fuck are you!?"

Fanged zombies. Wonderful. He fired, swearing when the bullets failed to stop the oncoming attack. He unlocked the door to the security room and launched himself in. There was no way out. He radioed Amberelle.

"Amberelle! I'm cut off! Zombified vampos. I need some help here!"

A single thought raged through his head: HOLY FUCK! HOLY FUCK! HOLY...

Amby looked down at the radio with some suprise as a female voice snapped over the radio. She looked around then back down at it before shrugging and pulling it off her belt. 'I don't know how she knows we're here or why she said lone, but.. ohhh... Steve!' Instantly she was concerned for the familair. The Creole kicked herself again for not dragging him along with them. But how could she have known Celeste would toss him off to the others?

The blonde looked over at the Ancient beside her and quirked an eyebrow. Carol? You know her? Think she'll be any help to us?

Before Ellis could respond Steve was yelling over the radio for her and Amberelle brought the radio up close to her mouth. Steve I hear you. We are still on sublevel 1. Ellis, Cel and I are waiting for Simon to open the doors. The vampire paused, she could hear the sounds of fighting in his voice and in the background. Biting her lip, she asked with obvious concern Where are you? What's going on.. where are those two big guys?

Waving her cousin over who had turned to look at her, Amberelle turned up the volume a notch to make sure the other two women could hear over the constant zombie racket. His next transmission twisted her guts and she looked up at Cel in alarm.

He needs help! Celeste please you have to go.. he's part of Anantya, 'Just barely, but enough luckily for him,' she added to herself. We owe him protection. It was the only way, and she knew it. None of them could reach him quickly, none but her. But convincing her cousin that a human was worth the effort would hinge solely on his affiliation with their clan.

Cel walked down the hallway, oblivious to the increase in screams and frustrated pounding by the trapped zombies. She paused a few feet from Amberelle and looked up at the blonde incredulously. Help a human? Yes he was a familiar but, seriously? The Anantya rolled her light blue eyes and snorted.

Give it a rest Amber. I'm not leaving you alone down here with all these... things. She waved her hand behind her to encompass the zombies. Especially not for a zealot human of all things, clan property or not. Crossing her arms under her breasts she set her jaw and glared at her cousin.

'Ahhhhhh,' Carol grumbled as the Mercs made their way to the elevators where their first test of the cure. A group of zombies tore into the Mercs, infecting two of the twelve but all the zombies were taken down. The two infected Mercs were immediately shot with the cure but left in the hallway. They stayed down, knocked out by the drug.

Carol checked the hand held, Steven had locked himself into the levels security room. 'Stay where you are, I have a group of men coming your way.' She yelled over the others but clearly heard Ellis' name as well as Simon's.

'What do you mean, waiting on Simon? I lost contact with him. WHERE IS HE? ELLIS, FIND HIM!' Not one to ever bark orders to her once lover and old clan leader, Simon still meant more to her than anything else and if Ellis was there, SHE OWED HIM.

Carol and the Mercs entered the elevator and rode up to sub level 1 - as the doors opened to more zombies flooding the hallway. The Mercs pushed Carol to the back and unloaded their cure into the mob, dropping them instantly.

The commander Merc put his arm protectively over Carol, 'You can't get off here, not yet.' Carol pushed against him. 'GOD DAMNIT STAY. Ride with us and then we'll head back down. We'll find him, I swear to you.'

Carol could not hold back the tears but glared at the Merc. 'You better fucking pray we do.' Speaking back into her ear piece she yelled over to Rowland.

'Rowland we need to contact the outside and let them know we have a cure. Do you know anyone? Can you contact the military and tell them to stand down?' Carol knew - hell EVERYONE knew what was about to happen. Nachton was going to be leveled unless they got word out that the infection was contained. 'Let them know we're containing the incident. A terrorist germ warfare attack has been thwarted and not to firebomb the city. Can you do that?'

Her jaw twitched and she glared down at her cousin. Golden eyes flared as she snapped back, Yes, for a human. A familiar. And you will do this for ME.

Ice blue eyes held her gaze and burned coldly. Why in the fuck would I?

Amberelle 's voice dropped lower, almost flat and monotone as she replied. Because of one thing. Tokyo. Her gaze stayed steady.

Celeste's eyes widened and the elder De'Espionne winced. Her eyes clouded and she looked down with a sigh. You're calling for paybacks for.. that.. now? For this guy?

Oh, you owe me a thousand times more than this and you know it. That woman, Carol, screeched over the radio again and the blonde shoved it out towards Ellis, paying it no mind as she waited for a response, the only response that could come to her demand.

Two heartbeats later, Celeste looked up at Amberelle and nodded once. Fine. Where is he? This is a fucking huge place.

Amby nodded and pulled the radio back to her and spoke. Steve what floor are you on? Any landmarks to find you?

Steve watched the pounding door with tired eyes. This night just wouldn't end. The door of the armory was still open... He doubted there would be anything good in there though. His radio buzzed again. She wanted him to contact the military? He touched the headset, holding the mic to his mouth. "I can't get a signal out of here unless I can some sort of broadcast appuratus to work. I need an internet connection or a....." His modem! He could get a signal out with the satelite modem! He pulled his laptop from his backpack, then spoke the Carol again. "I'm gonna use an internet connection to get a message out to them." He typed, acessing the government systems yet again. He found the information he was looking for. "Ok, I got it. The CBDC is running this op, but an old friend is supervising the quarantine: Commander Shaw. I served with him in Afganistan. He'll help us. Or at least me." He worked franticly, trying to get his message to Shaw. Finally, he got a line. COMMANDER SHAW- LT COL ROWLAND IN NACHTON. TERRORIST BIO-WEAPON ATTACK. WE HAVE CURE. TELL BOMBERS TO STAND DOWN. HOLD FIRE! HOLD FIRE! God willing, the message would go through. "Message away," he said. He packed up and locked himself in the armory just as the door to the office gave way to the flood of vampire zombies. The radio buzzed yet again. Amberelle. She wanted to know where he was. "I'm on the, oh shit, where the hell am I? Fifth floor, security office. down the hall, make a right. Whole shitload of zombies up here. If this door goes, I'm a goner." He looked around. A large machine gun caught his eye. Perfect. He set it up, aiming it at the door. Sweat dripped down Steve's face, and his heart raced. Wonderful.

Just then the door slid open next to Ellis. Carol screeching over the radio, the human wailing about being cut off, Amberelle fighting with the other vampire - Ellis couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement - especially when Carol said she had lost contact with Simon. That exact moment Ellis ran off - her abruptness surprised even her. She owed Simon nothing - or did she? She'd have that conversation with herself later, but right then she'd look for Simon who was no where to be seen.

Quickly Ellis walked down the hallways, peering into the opened doorways. That stopped her as she turned a corner. The doors were all opened - not just the locked doorway connecting the hallway. Her perception was lit up but it was unclear from what direction, mostly all around her. Crap, she thought to herself. There were panels on the walls next to the doors; she removed her right glove and pressed her hand on it. It rejected her DNA print and for good reason. Leaving Amberelle behind to fight with her kin left her alone.

Really...really alone.

She entered the next hallway over and listened.

'Ellis?'

Simon's voice came from one of the opened rooms several doors down. With a relieved sigh she walked quietly down, peering into the first three rooms. Nothing. The fourth room revealed the connecting computer room and in the darkness she saw Simon's profile. He was rising slowly and turning toward her. Standing at the doorway she called out.

'Amberelle is contact with Carol. We need to head back, there's some trouble.' Ellis waited but Simon simply stood, his back to her now and his hands twitched and reached up toward his head.

'Hey - waiting on you.' Ellis walked into the connecting room and approached Simon. With an annoyed monotone voice she again repeated. 'Waiting on...' Simon turned just then, his hands on his face which slowly dropped back down to his side.

'....you?'

Two more shadows appeared next to Simon, but Ellis didn't wait for an introduction. With every ounce of strength, speed and agility she could muster in .2 seconds, Ellis turned and ran back to the connecting door, hitting the close button on the panel on the way out. She bounced off the other side of the hallway just as the doors closed behind her - but that didn't stop Simon and the other two shadows. Well, it barely stopped him, just not the hand that came through the steel door, reaching out for Ellis. Simon's now bloodied arm, torn by the steel door reached out to her, blood stained fingers dangling just inches from her face.

She was frozen, plastered up against the wall, trying to catch her breath from using up what stored ability she had from Rowland's blood. Ellis could not wrap her mind around what had just happened; she felt herself slide away from his hand which followed as she stepped out of reach. Her legs buckled beneath her and a sob wracked her body.

'Simon...Simon no.'

His hand disappeared back into the room and the door began to vibrate. They were trying to push the door down. Ellis reached for her gun but she let her terror and dismay freeze her fingers and it fell away. The door bowed open, far enough to catch another glimpse of Simon's frozen zombie eyes and his bloodied mouth and his fangs...Jesus...his fangs.

'Are you hearing this?'

Brig looked over at Hammer at the barrage of gunshots that were vibrating off the steel walls. The human had managed to find something to piss off and the rapid gunfire kept coming along with the screeching of zombies. Hammer looked back him and rolled his good eye.

'We probably shouldn't let him die.' Brig snorted. 'Think of the pergatory we'd get?' Hammer gave his cousin an uncharacteristic look of surprise. 'I mean on top of what we're already getting.' Brig touched his finger to his lips and chuckled again.

Hammer took out his shotgun and walked back toward the noise.

'You're such a hero, Hammer.'

The vampire mentally filed away the directions Steve gave them, then turned to her cousin with a hard glare. Stay close to those two but at the first sign of trouble you run, got it? I'll be back as soon as I can. Cel turned and took a couple steps before looking back over her shoulder at Amby one last time before exhaling and shifting forms. Looking upwards, she willed herself forwards and shot up, through the ceiling and underground complex in a blur, moving as fast as she could.

It still had her reeling, having that thrown in her face. But if Amber wanted to bring it up then fine. She did owe her, and maybe just maybe there were some similarities. Her mood was even blacker now if that was possible. Damn human.

A few seconds later Cel floated around the lobby area getting her bearings before continuing on to the fifth floor. Walls blended and blurred as she zipped to and fro until she knew she'd found the right place when a large group of zombies came into view. She grimaced as she remembered these would most likely be vampires, infected. Even rogue kindred deserved better than this. And, the Anantya had a very strong hunch that they weren't going to be as easily dispatched as those in the lobby.

Standing in the hallway a few yards from the security office, Celeste solidifed. Before they had a chance to catch her scent on the air she raised her handgun and began taking headshots, walking slowly towards them. She just grinned, a tight and mirthless baring of fangs, as they turned her way and several broke from their battering of the inner door to come toward her.

What are you stupid fucks waiting on? Come and get it... she screamed out at them. Three of them raced at inhuman speed at her, and she managed to blow a neat hole right between one's eyes before the other two leapt at her with wide open mouths and curved clawed hands. They both fell through empty space and slid along the ground behind where she stood. Cel spun and resolidified, blowing off the back of one of them's head as the third turned and rushed back at her, screeching in anger. The petitte vampire just shifted etheral again as he lept and spun to solidify and neatly chop off his head before he hit the ground a second time.

Coldly looking up at the rest still trying to reach the human, she waited for the next wave.

Steve heard the gunshots just as the door to the armory gave way. He squeezed the trigger of the machine gun, but nothing happened. The damn thing was defective. He drew the P90s and fired, taking out various zombies. Between his efforts and the new arrivals, they managed to finish off the crowd. Steve walked out of the office and found the woman who had saved him down in the lobby standing there. He nodded his thanks, then unslung the M16 and reloaded it, after which he slung it back over his shoulder. He looked down the hall. "You'd better grab something from in there. There's a whole shitload of weapons and munitions, but I'd advise checking the equipment before taking it. I found a defective M2 back there," he told the short-haired woman, nodding to the armory. Strange sounds reached him. He touched his headset. "Hedley, do you read? I'm clear. Give me your location, I'm coming to you. Be advised that the armory over here is secure for the moment, but that may well change." He turned to the short-haired woman. "What's going on here?" It was crazy to assume that she knew any more than he did, but he figured he'd try. What could it hurt?

It's called pulling your ass out of the fire, she drawled with obvious annoyance. Oh let's see.. Just your typical Halloween night zombie infestation. Other than that I have no fucking clue.

Looking past the human, both of Celeste's eyebrows rose as she watched several of the zombies struggling to regain their footing. Yes, of course, a gunshot wound to the head wouldn't normally kill a vampire. Slow then down, stop them for a while.. but not kill them. She sighed and growled to him as she readied her sword, Get back it's time for round two.

Weighing her options, Cel wondered if she should just incapacitate them or kill them. The woman on the radio said they had a cure. Tilting her head slightly sideways she watched one stagger to his feet and said a mental "Fuck it". They were all clanless orphans anyways, who would really care right?

Rather rich of her, being annoyed, Steve though, but said nothing. After all, the woman had just saved his ass. Again. "Looks like that's two I owe you for," he said, a slight grin crossing his lips, before disappearing. He pulled his water bottle from his pack, and took a swig. He looked around, searching for anything useful. Nothing.
"Water?" he asked, offering her the bottle.

'I'm here!! I'm at the production lab. Nova did it! Nova found a cure! We're coming with the delivery system. It'll cure and inoculate - well Nova's not sure about that but she's hoping it will.'

Simon sighed with relief. Now all they had to figure out was the damage control. There was a noise out in the hallway that caught his attention. The smell of rotting flesh was still mingling with the smell of the dead bodies but nothing more than usual - no reason to panic, he wagered. Simon turned his attention back the computer and scanned the floor, clearing a path to the security room.

'Ok,' Simon mumbled out loud. 'I've cleared the path to the security room on this level, we'll be able to...' he cleared his throat and covered his nose. 'Christ the smell is overwhelming, we need to get out of here...Ellis?'

Looking back at this moment, Simon was embarrassed that he was stupid enough to let his guard down, even around Ellis. She could take her revenge on him at any moment - back turned during a virus outbreak or even on the corner - however when he turned to protect his back and face her, once again wiping at his nose, he had zero time to react to the bared fangs of two zombie vampires lunging at him.

Rounding the corner to the security room located on upper level five, Tacharan Mercs encountered the swarm of zombies heading from the opposite direction. The men fired a barrage of cure bullets in the direction of the mob, downing the group instantly. As half the group stood guard, the commander radioed to the lone gunman.

'Stand down inside the room, we're coming in.'

The commander Merc entered his security code and pushed open the door. Dropping a pack on the ground he addressed both the male and female. 'Weapons with the cure, supplies and access codes to take you back out of the building. No fucking snooping around - you won't be able to get anywhere but out. Everyone is shoot on sight but the cure will knock out the target. There are self injectors if you get bit. Inject yourselves immediately or we'll put you down ourselves on sight. Stay in communication on this frequency.'

The commander nodded to the couple and then backed out of the room. Time to take Miss Hedley to the sub levels.

When her cousin dissapeared Amberelle looked around at the writhing zombies against the glass and swallowed hard. Suddenly she felt alone. Acutely, achingly, terrifyingly alone. Where had Ellis gone? What was keeping Simon? The door was open so she stepped through it then turned to look for a few moments until she found the close button and sealed it behind her. There. At least when the glass gave way those zombies wouldn't be right on their tail.

Turning around to look down the quiet, dim hallway she swallowed nervously and bit her lip. Her hand squeezed tight on her sword as she lowered the radio volume to minimal again and pulled out her gun. Her feet made nothing more than a whisper of sound as she creeped down, looking cautiously into each doorway before inching forward.

Her mouth was dry and her heartrate erratic as she wondered what had possessed her to send Celeste away. No, she'd had to. To save a life. That was important. 'But what about mine?' she wailed to herself. Chin up. She was a big girl and she'd come through this, she was a De'Espionne. Besides there was a cure so she just had to hold on and not get eaten. If the Fate's were kind then she had two very good reasons to keep moving waiting for her back at the Manor.

"Good enough for me," Steve said, walking to the pack. He drew out what looked like an HK-5 machine pistol, a bag of clips, and a plastic card. He gave the short-haired woman a two-fingered salute, then ran down the hall, shooting any zombie he found that looked like it was still alive. It was a damn good time to go.

He got to the second floor, then jumped out a window to the ground. He moved off into the city. He would rendezvous with Commander Shaw, explain the cover story, and then head home to hold his position. He had had enough bullshit for one lifetime.


(Steven out)

'Move, Ellis.'

Ellis' eyes were wide and she bit back another sob as she watched Simon tear ferociously at the door, his now blood shot eyes glaring at her as she lay crumbled on the ground.

'MOVE, ELLIS.' She reached again for her gun and the cold steel of it reminded her that surviving this mess was the only choice she had now. 'FUCKING MOVE!' She gripped the gun and started to back away. Forcing herself to tear her eyes away from Simon, she got up and sprinted away, down the hallway. She made it fifty feet when she heard the door finally break off its hinges and the scurry of feet and screaming filled the hallway.

A security door loomed as she turned another corner and she put the last bit of her vampire strength into her sprint, trying to reach the door before they reached her. Her hand slammed the panel as she passed through the doorway and she turned her head, raising her gun. One of the other zombies had moved in front of Simon and she took a chance, shooting at its head as she ran. It fell to the floor as she turned another corner but Simon and the second made it through but just barely.

The hallway opened up into another security laboratory and the path split off in two directions. Ellis cut right with Simon close behind her but the other zombie cut left. She had to stay ahead of Simon as she pounded her legs toward the other side of the lab. Simon was gaining ground, still healthier than she had been, and as she turned the other corner, slammed her hand on the panel as she passed through the exit door, successfully closing the door just a hair passed Simon but slamming shut on the zombie, severing it in half.

They were finally on the other side, near the security panel. Her best chance was to make it to the room where the door was much heavier to protect against intrusion. Maybe it would hold against Simon but not for long. There were also the elevators...maybe, just maybe she could make it to those since they were right before the security room.

The hallway opened back up into office space and she cut around the desks as Simon jumped up on the office desks and cut a path straight to her. She could see his reflection in the glass walls just as she pushed herself through them, shattering it. They spilled onto the ground, Simon's fangs just missing her face and she got her hands up under his chin and a knee in his chest. Pushing as hard as she could, she lifted him off her and back several feet. Reaching for her gun that had fallen out of her hand, she slid on the floor, getting up to round another corner.

The elevators!

She threw herself at the panel but it merely beeped at her in error. 'FUCK! NO!' Ellis spun around and Simon's hands came up and pinned her against the wall by her throat, lifting her off the ground. The gun was still in her right hand as her left came up to scratch at his hand. Her eyes caught his and her struggle faded.

There was nothing left of Simon in those blood shot eyes. As his hands closed around her throat, cutting off her oxygen she raised her gun and put the barrel in between his eyes. Her hand trembled as his glare remained bloodthirsty. Her finger pulled back on the trigger slightly, feeling the tension, imagining the firing pin poised over the bullet, ready to put it in between his eyes, blowing out the back end of his head doing god knows what kind of damage. Her eyes began to bulge and despite the pain, she began to cry knowing she couldn't do it. She couldn't put that bullet in his head, saving herself.

Suddenly he brought his face closer till it was nearly touching hers, his skin already emitting the sickening infected stench when he pulled back and threw her against the opposite wall. Phased she pulled herself to sitting position. He was playing with his food, she thought to herself when he came at her again, grabbing her throat and leaning down on top of her. Now he wasted no time and with ferocious hunger, bit into her face.

The Mercs moved through the upper levels, cleaning out the infected and putting down those beyond the cure when they happened upon a woman - someone who had once been very beautiful, the Commander thought as it bared its fangs at him. Blond hair matted with blood and once soft skin that was now covered with dark black blood.

The Mercs fired their cure bullets at her, immediately knocking her out. They called for another stretcher to move the cured female to the triage set up on one of the cleared floors and then later to the medical facilities within DI for observation. The Commander knelt down next to her and moved some of the hair out of her face.

'Nighty night, ma'am.'

Carol stood by the elevators waiting on the rest of the Mercs as they swept the entire floor of zombies, injecting them with the cure. As soon as the Commander returned, Carol stepped back into the elevator, impatiently waving him in.

'Let's go. Let's go. Right now, right now.'

Checking his hand held he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

'What are you doing?'

His forehead crinkled and then suddenly he broke out into a run. 'We have eyes back online - it's the sub level crew. They found Simon and Ellis.'

'Oh good! Are they ok?' Carol's exuberance deflated when the Commander refused to look her in the eye. Instead he put his hand out, stopping the doors and signaling for more Mercs to come with them, until there were ten in the elevator. Carol looked around at the taller men, all readying their weapons. The doors closed and they descended to sub level 1.

The red digital read out dropped below zero to minus one and the men readied their weapons as the elevator came to a stop and the doors quietly opened.

Simon didn't even feel his hand break as he put it through the door, all he knew was that clean flesh was on the other side and he had to have it. He pushed the other zombies away greedily, wanting to get to the woman first. The virus over took him immediately once the other zombies attacked him, tearing the flesh from his chest and arms, transmitting it instantly. He felt stronger, quicker and hungrier - all he knew was that he had to eat that clean flesh and nothing would stop him.

The three of them began to pound the door when she fell out of reach. Pushing and shoving until it fell away from its sliding hinges and fell to the ground. They were running after her the second they cleared the door. Simon kept his eyes on her, ignoring the other two zombies as one by one they fell. He didn't even try to dodge the bullet that took the first one and would never know how close he came to falling victim to the second one's fate - sliced in half, down the middle. No, there was only one thing on his mind.

To eat.

His surroundings were a blur to him, his eyes never leaving her. Through the lab offices he lunged over the desks, knocking them to the side. His fangs pulsated as he closed in - so close, so sweet till finally she stopped and he was on her.

He picked her up by her throat and looked at her clean flesh, his fangs aching to tear her apart when she looked at him. Clear, watery green eyes looked back and a spark of recognition passed over him, like a ghost. Simon leaned in close to the clean flesh and tried to recall why those eyes reminded him of something...something lost. Even when the barrel of the gun touched his hot skin, he still tried to remember, but the hunger was overwhelming him and he threw her back against the opposite wall.

This time he was on her quickly and when he sank his teeth into her flesh, she screamed a horrible, high pitched wail that cut him to the core but it could not deter the hunger and he tore a chunk of her cheek away.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened and more clean flesh scent wafted in. He looked up at the flesh coming out and the hunger welled up again in him. He looked back down at the female and immediately her skin tainted, no longer filling his nostrils with the clean flesh scent. Dropping her Simon stood and took a step toward the men when a woman stepped out in front with something in her hand.

There was a sharp pain in his forehead and then...suddenly everything blurred. Simon fell down on one knee and then face forward onto the ground into a sea of nothing.

(Simon out)

Carol pushed past the Mercs and saw Simon and Ellis on the floor. He was...eating...her. Carol raised her gun as Simon took notice of them and did not hesitate for one second to shoot him in the forehead and then Ellis in the chest. They both slumped to the ground. Carol walked over and knelt down beside them, Ellis on top of Simon, both unconscious.

'Is the cure being distributed outside DI?'

'Already done, Miss Hedley,' the Commander replied.

'Alright - take them down to Nova, she'll know what to do.'

Quickly the Mercs picked up Simon and Ellis, carrying them back into the elevator. The rest of the Mercs fanned out into the level, clearing the infected. Carol stood just as the main lights were restored to the level. She stepped back into the elevator and let the doors slide closed.

(Carol out)

They were bearing down on her fast, too fast. Amberelle had barely had time to register them when they were around her. Her blade flashed even as she fired. One fell, his throat blown out and tainted blood pouring across the floor as he gurgled and thrashed. A second one's arm fell to the ground even as her foot connected with his throat, sending him flying backwards. It was a blessing for her that they were shoving each other, jockying for the position to take her down. It gave her more room to manuver as she furiously sliced and kicked them away. But they were fast.

Oh god.. she gasped as one of them's fangs barely missed her face. Her gun smashed across the side of his head and the blonde scrambled away. The other three were all around her, all over her yanking and shoving. She screamed, pure terror filled, high pitched, mindless noise as their fetid breath assaulted her nose.

Then her brain kicked in and the mouths snapped into air as her form shimmered and shifted in between them. A small golden cat darted down the hallway at a dead run while they looked around in confusion. One of them roared as he caught sight of movement and turned to give chase. The other two quickly followed suit.

Amberelle rounded the corner and stumbled slightly as she resumed her human shape, but she kept running as fast as she could, agilely sliding around corners and slapping the close buttons as she passed them. The elevators were not too far ahead if her sense of direction was right, which she seriously doubted in this maze of a complex, but she the rounded another turn and saw a group of armed men making their way towards her she felt relief even as they raised their weapons.

No wait! she screamed and dropped to her knees in a slide, their shots passing over her to take down the ones giving chase. One of the men roughtly hauled her up to her feet and they looked her over before nodding that she was clean. Amby dropped her katana and tried to calm her shaking as she leaned against the wall. Tears stung her eyes as the adrenaline from before slowly worked from her system. Taking the gun one of the mercs offered and listening numbly as she went over the principles of the cure's release, the Creole could only watch as they moved on to continue sweeping the floor.

The radio on her belt crackled. Amber, are you there? Answer damn it.

The Anantya snatched it up and laughed. Celeste? Where are you?

Upstairs.. the lobby. Your precious little human took off. But he's safe and sound. A slight pause. Where are you? Are you ok?

Oui. I'm OK.. Some guards came through with this gun.. Celeste cut her off. Oui, I met a few of them, I have one myself. Get your ass up to here and let's go home.

Home... Golden eyes closed briefly and she pictured it. Not even Heaven had ever sounded as good as the Manor did right now. Oui, I'm on my way up.

((Amberelle and Celeste out))

Amidst a lot of noise she continued on her quest, becoming more frantic, yet weaker as time passed. Just when she was fairly certain there was food ahead, she would round the corner, and find nothing but more like her, or dead.

Sounds of gunfire didn't stop her, locked doors didn't stop her, at one point even a solid wall stopped being a barrier when she shoved a huge iron statue toward it, and it fell against the drywall, breaking through enough to allow her to dig the rest of the way, and crawl through. She was oblivious to the nails digging into her flesh, as well as the torn wooden shards that tore at her skin. With all that was going on around her, it probably wasn't unusual that the bullet she took through her thigh was similarly unfelt. One thing the bullet did too, was propel her into the corner of the wall, where she struck her head with such force as to be completely knocked out.

Fallon was incredibly lucky that day. Lucky that she hadn't been infected for too long, lucky to have somehow found her way to Duibne, and lucky that the bullet stopped her instead of killing her. Her final stroke of good fortune came when someone of true compassion found her, and saw a reason to try saving her, rather that dispatch her like so many of the other infected rabble.

Recovery would take some time. The physical injuries were bad, but there was a lot of emotional pain that would also require attending to.

But Fallon was lucky...and in some respects always had been. Or in her mind, she would decidedly see things that way.

(Fallon Out)