Franz Koblerant : Burning Down

[LNG257]

They haven't seen you yet, but you are sure they know where you are. It's not paranoia speaking, though everyone has had a healthy dose of it ever since this all started. From the footsteps you hear one, two... just two here. You might have a chance then, until the entire horde comes crashing down on you. And the horde here is quite large, since this is the city where everything started. The building where they emerged is still intact, though only partially. More than can be said for some buildings, which were torn apart by the enemy or bombed into kingdom come by the military.

You do have a weapon. A submachine gun, 21 out of 30 rounds in the clip. If you fire it, they will hear you though, and come rushing at you. You also have a metal baseball bat, much more silent, but it will attract anything nearby to you. Or you can keep hiding, try to silently leave the building and make your way through the streets to someplace else.

What will you do to survive?

[conspiracist]

Alas, they've found me. Well, I might as well use my cover and questionably existent stealth to my advantage while it lasts, and silently try and leave the building.

[LNG257]

Keeping your head down, you run down an isle, since you are in what was once a grocery store at the moment, and head for the bathroom. But in your hurry to get packed, even though you have few things to bring with you, you failed you notice the footsteps that had been coming down the isle opposite you. You run headfirst into them and fall over backwards. You have seconds now to act before it either makes one of those horrifying, terrifying screams to summon others, or just kill you right there and then.

[conspiracist]

Draw the sub machinegun and shoot it, then and there, right in it's god damn head, putting several rounds through it's head just to make sure it's dead.

Note to self - look both ways before crossing the street.

[LNG257]

You draw your gun and fire. The bullets rip through it, sending sprays of black blood everywhere. But the noise has alerted the other one inside, and almost certainly the ones outside as well. Move fast, stay low, and be as quiet as you can, and maybe they won't find you.

[conspiracist]

Screw stealth, sprint the hell outta there and find a nice, safe, place to stay. Actually, there is no safe, what am I thinking? Safer. Yeah, safer, that's about as good as it gets, now, isn't it?

[LNG257]

You make your way into the bathroom, abandoning stealth for speed. The other one in the building sees you, you're sure of it, but it'll take some time to get up to speed. When the military was called in, they dropped bombs everywhere, and one of those bombs blew a hole out of the wall in the bathroom of this place, making for a good exit. After barely a peek around, you dash out towards the alleyway across the street.

[conspiracist]

Hmph, an alleyway. Seems good enough. There better be a dumpster or something I can hide in, maybe wait out the buggers. If there isn't I might as well go into one of the buildings nearby, or better yet, find a nice little manhole to dive into.

[LNG257]

The only good thing about alleyways is that they generally don't go into enclosed, darker spaces like that unless they know you're there. So if none of them saw you go in, it's probable none will follow you and even more probable there won't be any waiting for you. From being around this place in the grocery nearby, you know there's a small apartment building that opens up into this place, it would certainly be more comfortable to live in, but you have no idea how many of them would be inside.

[conspiracist]

Better get moving, then, and get up into that building and get the high ground, or get some foodstuffs.

[LNG257]

There'll be food in the rooms, assuming nobody else lives there. You enter the apartment building through its entrance in the alleyway. The lights have long since gone out and you rely on the sun and a little keychain flashlight you found to find your way through the building. The first story is check in/out, bathrooms, and a small communal kitchen with nothing but a can of beans, expired fruits and vegetables, and a hunk of yellow-green beef with dead flies nearly covering it. There is a wooden rolling pin on the floor, one handle broken off, which could serve as a weapon if you lose or otherwise can't use your bat.

[conspiracist]

Do I happen to have a backpack, or at least a sling for my SMG? If I'm gonna find anything, I better be able to carry it.

[LNG257]

You have a short sling for your SMG and a hook for your bat, you have a small backpack as well, which is about three fourths full and quite heavy with canned food and water bottles.

[conspiracist]

Well, then, I might as well hang the SMG under my right arm, and settle down to eat something, maybe get a drink, lighten up my backpack for anything I might locate. While I eat, if I somehow manage to open the cans, I should make sure to keep the bat somewhere close by, next to my left arm, in case of any surprise attacks by those... things.

[LNG257]

There are three floors in this building, and you don't know what might be on the second and third. But you sit down and take out a can. After a while, everything tastes the same, so you find a spoon and eat, afterwards pulling out a half-full waterbottle and taking a gulp. Nothing eventful happens through your meal, and you can't hear anything from upstairs.

[conspiracist]

Thanks the lord. I should pack up my crap and try and get rid of any traces of my dated existence, in that case. Once I'm done, I should check out whatever the hell is on the upper stories.

[LNG257]

You clean up after yourself, leaving the kitchen the way it was before except for the beans. You doubt there to be other humans nearby, and the... things aren't exactly master detectives.

Quietly treading up the staircase just around the corner, you see a short hallway with eight rooms, four on either side, and the staircase to the next level right beside the one you are on. Most of the room doors are closed, at least some of them probably locked, except for one that is hanging open with the top hinge sticking out of the woodwork.

[conspiracist]

Well, if the door's already open, I might as well make my way into it without having to suffer from that damned creaking sound that it may or may not make if I were to try open it.