As I heard her say, "You worry too much," she lifted her hand and brought it to my cheek. Resting it upon my skin I felt my mood completely change, it reversed upon me and I felt my emotions well up into happiness. I felt a big stupid grin break out upon my face, feeling laughter bubble up in my throat I let out a small chuckle. Although after I let out that first bit of chuckling I found myself starting to snicker and not being able to stop. Ethan looked at me curiously.

By now everyone was either in the small office or standing at the door, I fell back onto the floor and continued my light laughter. Claire was grinning like a fool and I was laughing my head off, looking around the office I felt a glum approach from the others. Quickly getting up I dragged Claire up with me, "Come on guys! Lighten up! It's not like it's the end of the world now! We got some weapons back, I can't find a [censored] reason to stop laughing and we're not dead yet!"

Continuing laughing I went on to think about what was effecting it, stopping the laughter for a few moments I let a thoughtful expression flit across my face. Actually wondering what had caused it lifted my thoughts to Claire, it had started since she touched my cheek... I worked it all out from there, letting the grin spread back across my face I looked into Claires' eyes, "Ah, hermanita, I think theirs more to you than you think now." I embraced her suddenly and looked at the others.

From the looks on some of their faces I burst out laughing, the giddiness inside me and the plain looks from the others just made me burst. If I wasn't holding onto Claire I guessed I probably would've fallen to the ground again by now.

Daius had gotten his assualt rifle back, he was pleased to have it in his arms, and the shotgun attachment was still on it. Darius had decided to keep watch for any other creatures which may attack. As Darius waited, he started to hear laughter, peaking into the office all he saw was Andrew laughing.

Darius had a puzzeled look on his face, and after he got the short speech from Andrew, Darius hadn't felt any better about where he was, not dead yet means in all likely they were going to die, and Darius thought this.

Dax blinked, a veil of sweat obscuring his vision as the weapons on the ground in front of him started to fade in and out of focus.
Lethargically, he reached down and picked up his axe, flicking the light on it curiously.
He had a fever, he couldn't deny it, but shot a suspicious glance over his shoulder at the other group members huddled away from him. He couldn't let them know that. They'd kill him. He knew it...he knew it.
The fight beforehand had been confusing. He'd simply regained his composure after ripping apart the zombie-like creature, and now had a strange light-headed feeling. He stumbled up to a wall, and vomited quietly onto the floor, wiping his mouth and making sure nobody else saw.

You're not crazy...

Dax muttered an indiscernible phrase to himself and slapped himself on the head, shaking it to wake himself up.
"Hearing...things..."

You're not hearing things. You're not crazy.

Dax's eyes turned blood shot, and he looked around frightfully. "Who...said that?" It barely came out as a croak, his throat starting to close up.
Suddenly, the room flashed crimson red, and he found himself in some warped chamber, where the walls and ceiling were pulsing as veins of iron and wood trailed through them, almost like a living body.
He took a few steps back, his feet feeling like they were on clouds, as he rubbed his eyes and tried to make sense of this sudden transportation. The room flashed again, and he caught a glimpse of the room he had been in before with the rest of the team. Then, it quickly turned back to the morbid, living chamber. A hallucination?

No, this is very real...you're not crazy, THEY are.

The room flashed again, and soon he found himself in the former room of his teammates, the gang all there, except the walls and structures pulsed, muscle and nerve tissue lining them like wall paper. How did nobody notice the room was alive?

In truth, he WAS hallucinating, and paced in a circle, a distant expression on his face, as a being slowly manipulated his vision.
Follow the blood. It will lead you to me. And to your teammates cure. For they are the insane ones. Not you...
Dax stopped, and slowly rotated his head down, spotting a single giant vein filled with dark blue blood that snaked down towards the area his teammates were already heading in.

Micheal gasped as the ghost left his body and dissappeared into the ground. The rest of the group was around him, asking if he was alright. Micheal said, "I'm alright, at least as alright as you can be after a ghost tries to rip apart your soul." After Andrew helped him up, he rejoined the others, and they continued onwards. When Claire rediscovered some of their weapons, Micheal grabbed his assault rifle and thought, "Man am I glad to have this in my hands again."

Micheal then turned around to see Dax spazzing out. Micheal came up to him and said, "What's wrong Dax?", and then felt an eerie vibe coming from the next room. Micheal said, "I suppose there's probably a bunch of monsters behind that door. Prepare yourselves."

As Claire began to return to her normal self again, Ann loosened her grip and rolled away as Claire sprayed vomit where Ann had been laying. She watched as Andrew helped Claire up and took her in his arms. Ann pushed herself up off the floor, her cuts on her cheek burned as she did so.

You're alone... A voice echoed inside her head, it sounded almost like her own.

Ann shook her head trying to push the voice away. As she turned she saw Claire offering her a pistol.

"Thank you for helping me," Claire was smiling but a single tear rolled down her cheek, "I can never express to you how sorry I am for what happened, but I hope this will help."

Claire nodded her head at the gun in her hand, "Take it. It's the least I can do."

Ann let her mouth grow into a smile, "Don't worry about it Claire," Ann wrapped her hand around the offered pistol.

As Claire left to be with her brother, Ann holstered her new pistol. Andrew pointed to a crude map that had been drawn in blood on the wall. There was only one option for them, to move forward. She began following the group at the back, making sure nothing would sneak up on them. The next room was cleaner looking, and had an office and cupboard. Claire opened the cupboard revealing a medical kit, and also a stockpile of the groups weapons. Ann was the last one to reach the cupboard. After the others had picked through the cache and found their weapons, only her Chinese Assault Rifle lay in the cupboard. She smirked at it, then slung it over one shoulder.

A sudden burst of laughter made Ann turn around, catching a glimpse of Michael speaking to Dax, she kept turning towards the laughter. Claire was on the floor and Andrew was laughing for a reason unknown to Ann. She slowly waltzed towards the group to see what was going on.

"Come on guys! Lighten up! It's not like it's the end of the world now! We got some weapons back, I can't find a [censored] reason to stop laughing and we're not dead yet!" was all Andrew could say without going into another fit of laughter.

He said something quietly to his sister before looking at someone else and laughing again.

"Let's not forget what we're here to do Andrew," Ann said taking a slightly serious tone that wasn't very natural to her.

Claire was trying very hard not to laugh at Andrew. She found it quit amusing to watch him. He seemd almost giddy. And even as a child it was a way he did not tend to act. The others were staring at Andrew with a dumbfounded look. Claire was very Happy that Andrew was feeling happy. The only thing that made her happier than this, was the thought that she had finally gained control of her powers. And that she had developed a new ability because of the experimental drug she had injected herself with.

"Let's not forget what we're here to do Andrew," Ann was standing in the doorway of the small office. She seemed to be more serious than usual.

Claire was enjoying the moment, and felt like a kid in a candy store with the new ability to explore. She pushed her emotions at Ann and attempted to make her feel as Andrew did. The ability seemed to have no effect on her. Claire surmised that she maybe only strong enough to control one person's emotions at a time. Claire decided it was time to get serious once again and allowed her brother to return to normal. As Andrew started to regain her composure she wlaked over to Ann.

"Don't blame him. It's actually my fault." Claire was still smiling and her eyes had returned to normal. "I injected myself with an experimental drug and now it appears I have the ability to control the emotions of others. Although it appears that my power can only be directed at one person at a time."

For the first time since the accident, Claire felt free. She could feel and wanted to get to know Ann, and the rest of her compaions, better. A part of her was actually starting to forget about the mission. She was living in this wonderful moment. Although she couldn't shake the nagging feeling she had forgotten about something.

OOC: :blink: How many posts since I left?

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Feeling my giddiness leave my body I let the calm wash over me, upon my skin and heart. Taking a few deep breaths I looked at the others, some looked a little worried but I felt fine. I leant against the desk for a second and thought about it all, why we were down here and if we would survive. Brushing away my thoughts I closed my eyes for a few seconds, giving myself some time to wonder what things would look like. Would it all be over when we got out?

Shaking my head to myself I let my words whisper my thoughts under my breath. Thinking of whether Claire would make it out, whether we'd all be sane after this. Whether we'd even be alive or whether we'd even recognise each other as friends. Brushing my thoughts against religion I wondered if God would look over us, but even then I couldn't bring myself to think of it. Opening my eyes again I noticed a few of the others were talking quietly and some were just staring into nothing.

Moving off the desk I stepped to the button, looking at it for a split second I raised my hand. Taking one last quick breath I checked to see what the others were doing. They were all staring at me, with a slight nod I brought my hand down upon the button.

Immediately I felt a presence inside my very soul, like their was something more there. Looking through the class I saw waves collide upon the floor. Moving up they formed soldiers, eight more bloody soldiers. From the roof through hatches dropped two turrets, which immediately locked onto me. Nothing happened for a split second, then all I could say was, "[censored]." I jumped to the left as shrapnel burst through the glass where I was standing, falling to the ground shards fell upon my back.

"Open fire!" Was all I could say as I tore my rifle off my back and pinned my back against the wall.

((OOC: I'm making this worse, hope that's no big deal. Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. :hehe: ))

Andrew propped himself up against the desk in the small room, and looked at the group. Ethan stood silently, waiting for whatever would happen next; while others' quietly spoke to each other. Andrew went to the button, and looked back to squad. He nodded, and brought his hand down on it. He got a look of distress on his face, then everyone looked out the window.

It was another ambush, but this time it was triggered. A turret came down from the ceiling, and soldiers arose from the rippling ground. Andrew cursed, while everyone jumped for cover and started to open fire.

Ethan was holding his gun upwards, and occasionally poking his arms out the window to shoot the soldiers. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw something blue huddled up. The cloak completely exposed the ghostly figure, except for the long beard coming from it's head. Ethan unsheathed his sword, and the silver made the figure look up.

It exposed razor sharp teeth, and took it's hands out; which had long, sharp claws. It hissed, as it jumped to attack. Ethan tightly squeezed the blade, and jumped towards the charging ghost. The silver instantly burned away at the figure, which started to hiss and cry for help. It let out a long screech, before disappearing into the air as mist.

Ethan sighed, then turned around back into the fight. To his dismay, more ghostly figures took shape in three corners of the room.

OOC: By the way, if you don't want to stay in the RP don't just bludgeon out and gruff at the side-lines. Waiting for posts that will never come is a downfall of any RP. PM me if you don't want to stay, if I don't start seeing some people I will just change this from an RP to a joint story if I have to... One which will involve people who post a decent amount of times, such as The Comedian, Cookies Ahoy, Stream and Naz.

Darius watched in horror as the creatures appeared, "God dammint," Darius said, "Barely even five minutes peace." Darius raised his assualt rifle and poor rounds into one the soldiers, it kept taking the rounds as it moved towards Darius, stumbling as a round hit it's leg, yet still came, no sign of pain upon it's face. Darius could see it's face far more clearly now that it was closer, moving his hand to the shotgun attachment. Pulling it's trigger, the shot came out ripping apart the soldiers face. It fell to it's knees before landing on what remained of it's face.

Darius used the time to look around at what the others were doing, all caught into their own fights. Some debris fell from the ceiling just above, Darius looked up, seeing a far larger hole then could of possibly been there from what just fell. Darius looked closely and could see a pair of blood red lights, eyes? Looking down upon the battle. Darius shook it off in time to see one of the soldiers aim and fire a gun which came with it, Darius tried to dodge but with a round hitting his shoulder. Darius winced in pain and pulled the trigger of his rifle, fired back in retaliation, it took all the rounds, even the few which went into it's head.

It looked like Ann was about to say something to Claire, when Andrew flipped the switch. It didn't take long for the soldiers to emerge from the darkness and even less time for the turrets to drop from the ceiling and start firing at Andrew. Claire immeditatley grabbed Ann and pulled her to the floor. Bullets had shattered the glass window of the office and were hitting the walls as the rest of the group headed for cover.

Claire stayed under the window and drew her pistol. She saw Darius take a bullet and he started to fire into the room. She peeked out the window and saw the bullets hitting one of the soldiers. She could see the blood and brains hit the wall from the wound to the soldier's head. An idea started to form in her head. Distracted by the idea she didn't notice that one of the soldiers, and a turret had got a bead on her. Bullets flew at her hitting the wall and sending bits of concrete flying. She managed to duck just as a piece of the wall hit her cheek, cutting her deeply. The wall distintigrated where her head used to be as the bullets pounded into it. She brought her hand up and wiped away the blood and then holstered her pistol. They were cornered and the gunfire seemed to only be partially effective against them

Claire exhaled deeply and reached out for some sense of emotion from the soldiers. If they had brains they were more than just mere machines. It was difficult for her to sift through all the emotions which were pouring through the room. She concentrated harder, and as her eyes blackened, she could sense two emotions that didn't seem to belong. She could feel the sadness and boredom that came from the soldiers. She poked her head up again and one of the turrets let out another barrage of bullets in her direction. She barely managed to get her head down in time, but she had seen the formation of the soldiers. She pushed out with her mind, focusing a single emotion towards the soldier in the middle of the group. The emotion was anger. Claire could hear an assault rifle fire in the room followed by a small explosion as one of the turrets was destroyed. She peeked out the window again and saw that the soldier she was concentrating on had started to open fire on the turrets.

The remaining turret started to turn towards the soldier, as did the other soldiers in the room. Claire had mangaed to distract them for a moment.

"Everybody fire on the soldiers now!!!' she yelled as loud as she could hoping the others could hear her over the sounds of gunfire. "The one I am manipulating won't last long!!" She saw the second turret explode as the soldiers prepared to fire on one of their own.

Ethan watched as the turrets exploded, and the soldiers kept coming. Through all the commotion, the ghostly figures in the three corners unraveled themselves, and slowly floated towards the group. Ethan reached for his gun, strapped to his back, and hastily switched off safety.

He shot three rounds into a ghost, that didn't know he could see it. With a hiss, it disappeared into the ground. Ethan blind-fired through the window, to have his gun shot out of his hands by a soldier. His gun flew across the room, destroyed. His hand covered in blood from the bullet piercing it.

Looking back up, he saw the two ghosts come closer and closer to the group. Using his one good hand, he unsheathed his blade and jumped through the window directly into the fight. He swung his sword, but the ghost managed to use it's arms to block the attack. He tried again, but the swing failed. At this time, the others could see him fight the ghoulish entity.

Swinging his sword in a circular motion, he managed to swipe it through the confused ghosts. It turned into mist, and seeped into the walls. Ethan looked around the room, trying to find his last opponent. He could find it, and he started to panic.

He turned, just as the last one was jumping for one of his teammates. Not wanting to feel guilt for their possible death, he did what any hero would do; take their place. Ethan yelled, and jumped in front of Andrew. The ghost wrapped it's arms around Ethan, and went into his chest head-first. Ethan struggled, and dropped to his knees.

Twitching, and showing signs of pain in his face, he lifted the sword which now burned at his hands. The skin was practically melted off when he completed his plan; he shoved the sword through his own stomach. Blood started to pour from his mouth, his white bandages stained red.

The sword sticking from his stomach started to glow, getting more and more bright. The robed ghost left Ethan's body through the blade, and faded away; finally at peace, going to Heaven or Hell.

Ethan fell over on his side, struggling to keep alive.

((OOC: Not the end of Ethan, too be continued! ))

"[censored].", Micheal exclaimed as the various machines and creatures attacked. Micheal took aim and fired with the others at the soldier that Claire held still, destroying it. He then turned aorund to see Ethan fighting three ghosts, with the third stabbing him in the gut and leaving him on the ground. "Ethan's down!", yelled Micheal as he ran over to Ethan and dragged him out of harm's way. Suddenly, a Licker came out of nowhere and pinned Micheal to the ground. It smacked his gun away and was about to bite his head off, but Micheal used his illusionary powers to trick its brain into shutting down, killing it.

As Micheal got up and retrieved his weapon he thought, "That's new.", and then tried to stop Ethan's bleeding to stabilize him. Micheal thought, "We need everybody, don't you dare die on us, Ethan."

Small shards of metal floated to the ground as the turrets exploded. The soldiers in front of the group were only going to be distracted for a moment though, the rest of the group would have to act quickly. Claire's manipulation had done its job. I thrusted my palms in front of my body, straightening my arms out. The orange liquid began to form spears, piercing through the bodies of two soldiers, impaling them on the wall behind them.

Ethan fell to his stomach at my side, his sword through him. An ectoplasmic dust pile was formed next to him, the remains of the slain spirit. His eyes were glassy and fluttering, almost like he was going through an REM cycle. This wasn't a good time. Flaring my palms once more, the bright orange light blinded a group of soldiers, knocking several back like dominoes.

"Come on Ethan, get up! Don't die on us Ethan! Claire, do something. I'll cover you." I yelled over the gunfire. I immediately moved in front of Ethan, guarding his body from the onslaught of soldiers. No one as going to be killed this quickly.

Sort of remind me of our time here, expect you were on the floor crying for your mommy, and I had to hold your hand through this entire facility.

My orange smoke formed around a metal table to the side of the room, lifting it from the ground and to the air in front of me. I flipped it on its side, the solid part deflecting any gunfire coming our way.

"Hurry up!"

"Claire, do something. I'll cover you." Claire could hear Bear yelling at her. She looked over and saw Ethan laying on the ground, impaled by his own sword. He was losng a lot of blood and she needed to act fast. The soldier she had been manipulating was already down and the others had turned their attention back to the group. Micheal was knelt beside Ethan, trying to stop the bleeding. "Hurry up!"
Ethan yelled at her.

She grabbed the case of medical supplies and keeping low, made her way to the table which was providing shelter for Ethan. He was bleeding profusely and Claire knew there wasn't a lot of time.

"Ethan?!? Ethan!?! Can you hear me???" Ethan didn't respond to her. Claire could tell from his eyes that he was going into shock.

Claire opened the metal case and removed a syringe and a small bottle labeled morphine. She filled the syringe and injected Ethan with the painkiller. Claire looked into Ethan's eyes and placed one hand on his cheek.

"Ethan, you have to hold on!!!" Blood was beginnng to form around the edges of his mouth now and his eyes closed as the drug took affect.

Claire knew what she had to do next and she dreaded doing it. Even with the morphine this was going to hurt Ethan. But wiithout it, it could kill him. She closed both her hands around the hilt of the broadsword and, bracing her feet against the floor, pulled on it as hard as she could. As the blade slid free, Ethan's blood began to flow freely from the wound. She grabbed a handful of gauze form the case and handed it to Micheal.

"Keep pressure on the exit wound!!" As Claire said the words, she grabbed some surgical tubing and the only blood pack from the case. She attached one end of the tube to the pack and put a needle on the other end and plunged it through his armour and into his arm. Claire handed the bloodpack to Micheal and removed another needle, a scalpel and some surgical thread from the case. "Micheal you need to keep the pack elevated so the blood can get to Ethan."

Claire used the scalpel to cut away some of the material around the wound. She took a moment to thread the needle and began to close the wound. She was finding it difficult to concentrate on what she was doing due to the battle being fought around her. She hoped that Ethan would forgive her for the scar he would have. Once she had closed the wound, she pushed Micheal's hand away from the exit would and rolled Ethan onto his stomach. She needed to work quickly and hoped that he didn't have any serious internal injuries. She needed to stabilize him quickly. She could be more thorough when the battle was done. She Started to stitch up the wound on Ethan's back as some bullets hit the floor a couple of feet away. Small chunks of concrete flew at her and she had to shield her eyes.

"Bear!!! You have to take these ers out now!!!! I can stabilize him but he needs to be moved so I can treat him properly!!!!" She had just about closed the wound but there was still blood seeping from it. If these soldiers weren't dead soon, Ethan most surely would be.

Watching the battle unfold I shot as much as I could at the soldiers, at least keeping them pinned. Although, there was one thing I wasn't keeping my eyes out for; ghosts. Of course, when the time had come I wasn't ready, the thing flew at me and I only just noticed it. I prepared myself mentally in that split second for the impact, when suddenly Ethan jumped in front of me. The ghost flew straight into him and entered his body, with pain beating through my blood I watched as he raised his blade.

Plunging it into himself I felt my breath get hit out of my body, he fell to the ground and others obviously noticed. Bear was quick to put his efforts into protecting us while Claire ran over and started to help him. Michael was around as well, helping Claire, gripping my rifle I felt my knuckled become white without even looking. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins at an extreme rate, I felt the power course through my veins as I watched Ethan. Not knowing what would happen I looked up.

Bear was putting his strength into the barrier and couldn't oblige to Claire, her request was simple; kill the soldiers. Raising my rifle higher I jumped out from the side of the cover, the soldiers were now a little less, with two holding shotguns, two holding assault rifles and one with an SMG. Raising my rifle I scowled, then burst my shots at them. Bringing down an Assault Rifle holder straight up, I moved onto a Shotgun bearer than onto another Assault Rifle-man.

By then they'd noticed me, even with my power bursting to it's seams almost making them move at a crawl. They turned and raised their weapons, I leaped to the left as shrapnel flew at me, landing on my knees I turned as quickly as I could. They were tracking my movements well, but I was quicker, bursting more shots I saw another fall. All that was left was the one with an SMG, but he was going to be of course, the worst of them all.

Aiming at me he burst shots all around my position, I knew I had a choice now; I could leap for safety and probably make it... But not take him out, or I could take the shots and fire back at him; taking him down. Ethan had risked his life for me, now I'd risk mine to save his, raising my rifle I aimed as quickly as I could and let off one shot. It flew through the air past the one's coming towards me, I felt at least four of the shots hit me in the arms and legs.

My shot continued to fly at him, it made contact with his helmet and it flew off with his head still in it. As his headless body fell to the ground I started breathing harder, wondering where the hell the others were. Lying against a wall was a man I instantly recognized, one that had thought so little of all this. Edward. Blood was trickling down his neck and onto the ground into a small pool. Moving my head to the left I noticed another body, it was Jian Yo's, lying in a seperate pool of blood.

Feeling tears come to my eyes I looked back to the others, quickly realising that my own injuries weren't too great. Grumbling with stringed curses I rose and limped over to Claire, "So, anything to help me so I don't bleed to death? Like, a bandage?" She looked up at me with worried eyes but I shook my head, leaning down I put my hand on her shoulder, then dropped it to the first aid kit. Pulling out two rolls I quickly tied it around my right leg and left arm, which were both pretty stuffed.

Spitting out some blood I fell down and leant against the metal table, "So, we're down to Darius, Dax, Michael, Ann, Claire, Bear and I eh? Oh and Adam of course... [censored]. Ethan, well... Is he going to make it?"

The carnage had unfolded, and the entire room was coated in blood. Andrew and Claire were both standing over Ethan, making sure he was OK. Several piles of soldiers were littering the floor, pools of blood forming under the heaps of flesh. Each looked almost identical. Almost. The familiar faces of Edward and Jian were among the wreckage, lying lifeless on the floor.

I switched my visor into a opaque setting, usually reserved for bright environments. I stared intensely at their corpses, remembering every bit of their counterpart's last deaths. I didn't think two people would die so soon. Though blood covered most of the walls, I found a patch off to the side with only a bit of splatter. I sat down, my back leaning against the wall, head drooping down a bit.

"You know... maybe this wasn't such a good idea. We did't have this many losses during the first incursion. And honestly, our weapons are going to be useless when we get to..." my voice drifted off as I stared back to the floor. "maybe we should cut our losses and find a way out?"

A few small red dots formed on my sleeve as I rubbed away specks of blood from my visor. Who knows, maybe it was Edward's.

svck it up and be a man. You've seen worse. This isn't a time to quit, and you know damn well the only way out is... wait, how exactly did you get out last time?"

My head swayed back and forth as Adam talked, I could barely even concentrate on him. The light from my amplifiers had ceased, and my concentration had been broken. I began to mutter a song under my breath, it would only sound like gibberish to the rest of the group.

We're in for one hell of a time.

Spitting out some blood, Andrew fell down and leaned against the metal table, "So, we're down to Darius, Dax, Michael, Ann, Claire, Bear and I eh? Oh and Adam of course... [censored]. Ethan, well... Is he going to make it?"

Claire couldn't be completely sure if Ethan was going to make it or not. She couldn't concern herself with the dead but would do everything in her power to make sure Ethan wasn't among them She threw some more of the gauze over to Darius.

"Put pressure on your wound and I will look at you as soon as I can." Darius' and Andrew's injuries were more severe than what the others had sustained, but Ethan demanded immediate attention.

She looked at her brother with concern. He was in bad shape but at least he was conscious. Claire removed the pen light form the case and a pair of scissors. Putting the light between her teeth, she proceeded to cut open the stitching on Ethan's stomach. She examined him closely. His internal injuries weren't that bad and she started to patch him up. It took a little time to get him fixed up, not to mention a large portion of the medical supplies she had found. She had repaired the internal wounds and proceeded to stitch him back up. Claire had done all she could, the rest was up to Ethan.

Claire looked in the metal box again and removed a small pair of forceps, along with a bottle of rubbing alcohol, form it. She walked over to her brother and looked down at him, frowning.

"Well hermano, it looks like you're next." She removed her belt and handed it to him. "You may want to bite down on this. Ready yourself. I will count to three." Andrew placed the belt in his mouth and bit down on it. Claire moved close to him now, removed the bandages, and brought the forceps close to one of the wounds. "One." Andrew relaxed for a moment and Claire dug into the wound with the forceps. His body tensed up and a look of intense pain appeared on his face. It didn't take long to remove the bullet and she went to work on the rest of the wounds. Once the bullets were removed, she bandaged him back up and kissed him on the cheek.

Darius was next, and Claire was able to patch him up quickly. While she was working, Bear found a place to sit and spoke. She ddin't catch the first part of what he had said and he seemed to trail off at the end. But she had clearly heard the other words, and they still rang in her ears. ""maybe we should cut our losses and find a way out?" Claire agreed with this. They had already lost two members of their team, and three more, one of which waas Andrew, were injured. She knelt on the floor beside Andrew.

"I think Bear's right. The injuries received in this room alone have cut our medical supplies in half, and it's bound to get worse from here on in." She was speaking sofltly. "I do want you to know that no matter what you decide, I will stay with you till the end."

Darius did what claire told him to, and sat down against a wall dealing with it. As Claire came around to him, she got the bullet outand was finished with him quickly. Darius nodded a thank you to cliare and started to check your handiwork, it was done well. Darius picked himself up, and started to search their former comrades bodies. Darius did not like it, but their survival was more important.

Only some ammunition was avaible to take, nothing else on them. Darius sighed, the next two victims of this insane place had been taken. Hearing bear say getting out was the only chance Darius looked around, "I agree," Darius said, "Maybe instead of killing this thing we could seal it again?" Darius stood up and moved back over to the rest of the group. "If it was sealed last time, then it should be possible to do it again."

Dax was sitting on a stool, shaking with fear while the others milled about.
During the fight, the sound and bullets had ripped him from his illusion, and he could do nothing but stare dumbfounded as the rest of the team was attacked mercilessly, but thanks to his position in the back he was safe. He was still in a semi-trance, the voices in his head making him contemplate who to attack and whether to make a break for it or not. It was only when he felt his boot turn wet did he look down and see a dead body lying at his feet.

The entire event had effectively spooked him, and now he was struggling to keep his mind sane and his emotions under control. But it wasn't enough. He felt a force tug at the back of his mind, rendering him helpless as soon as he got distracted. He, really, didn't know what to do.
"I hope we don't die. I really hope we don't." He spoke for the first time in a while to his team, and looked up at them with pleading eyes. "This place is crazy. I don't want to end up like...that." He pointed a shaky finger at Jian, then let his arm collapse to his side. He prepared to speak again, but suddenly vomited, retching from the illness that was slowly coming back. He didn't know how or why, but the force trying to possess him was starting to manipulate his bodily functions via his own powers.
He mindlessly fiddled with his axe handle, ignoring and secluding himself from the others.

((OOC: Sorry if I'm not posting frequently. Honestly, I'm trying, but I really only get a chance on the comp once a day.)))

OOC: Sorry for my inactivity the past few days. Work has been kicking my butt. I'll start a post right now.

As Andrew pressed the button machines and monsters sprang from the ceiling and walls. Turrets and soldiers began to fire upon the group that was in the small office. Ann started dumbfounded at the ambush, the only thing moving her was Claire pulling her onto the floor. As others began to attack Ann looked through the window, weapon drawn. She lined up one of the turrets that was spitting bullets at her teammates and pulled the trigger...

There was no response from the Chinese Assault Rifle. Ann ducked back down making sure she had cocked the gun, she had done so. Frustrated she smacked the weapon on the floor, which only helped in wearing the paint job more. As more weapon fire could be heard she began tearing the gun apart trying to find what was wrong. The others were shouting commands and Ann wished she could help them.

After a minute she had the weapon apart. It seemed that when it was taken, whoever took it had rotated the firing chamber, making it impossible for the gun to cycle. Ann muttered something under her breath and frantically started rebuilding the rifle. Then she heard some screams and looked up quickly, Ethan had stabbed himself. Ann was confused, but finally completed building her Chinese Assault Rifle.

Ann jumped through the window, this time with a working gun in hand, only to find the chaos had ceased. Claire was busy trying to stabilize Ethan. Ann could only watch, she knew very little about first-aid. Claire soon finished bringing Ethan somewhat stable, and Michael was holding a blood pack that was feeding Ethan. As Claire began to patch others up Ann knelt down next to Ethan. Gingerly she placed her hand on an exposed patch of skin.

Ann whispered, "This is the least I can do..."

Ann started to dump most of her reserved energy into Ethan, unsure if it would even help. The process took a matter of seconds, Ann stood up, hoping the others were alright too. She felt like it had been her fault everyone else was hurt, she hadn't done anything during the whole ambush.

Looking at all the others, listening to their pleas to ask to go back to the surface... It shattered something inside me, it caused my whole mindset to break down into small shards. Feeling my body wrack with a shudder I stood up slowly, "You all... Wait here, I'm going back to check our exit," I muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. I turned to the left and walked straight through the hall, moving slowly I paced down the hall and into the other small room.

Peering at the exit I noticed the white light was still there, shuffling to the left a little I leant against the wall and slid down. I stared at my legs for a while and buried my face in my palms, here we were; hardly even entered the facility, half of us injured and two dead. Feeling tears slide down my cheeks I allowed it, starting to sob quietly to myself I stayed there. No one had come after me and I was glad, if anyone saw me like this I wouldn't seem like much of a leader.

The walls were swimming around me with my vision, lifting my head I stared at the roof. With a short breath I said quietly, "This is it isn't it? We can't even get out of the place we're in now, what the [censored] am I supposed to do? Oh god, I can't take this anymore..." Resting my head back against the wall I stared at the floor in front of me. My mind wandering to my parents I thought of my Sister, she was the one thing I'd have to work towards keeping alive now.

"There's nothing left to lose, the fighting never ends, I can't face the dark without you... Oh god Dad, why did you have to go and get yourself killed? Why did you have to follow him Mum?" The tears came back but I furiously hit myself in the face to stop them. My mind wandered to all my memories I had of my Sister and I, running around playing our games while they were alive. But now, all we had were our memories...

Standing up suddenly I moved to the right and down the hallway, all the others were milled around Ethan and talking lightly. Moving up I cleared my throat and said, "Okay, we can't go back, we can't go forwards, half of us are injured, two dead; we have no choice. We have little provisions on us if any at all, we're going to stay here for a bit, conserve your energy and... And..." I felt my voice break off, staring at the floor I took a step back.

Moving to the left I paced up to the wall in the Northern part of the room and fell back against it. Murmuring songs of my Past that my Parents sung to us, remember old things that had been hidden in my mind for years. I didn't really care what the others did, as long as they didn't try and kill themselves or each other.

Andrew had gone back down the hallway to have a look around. Claire started to become uncomfortable at the length of time it was taking him to return. She had decided to go against his orders and follow after him. She could deal with the consequences after. She drew her sword just as Andrew re-entered the room.

"Okay, we can't go back, we can't go forwards, half of us are injured, two dead; we have no choice. We have little provisions on us if any at all, we're going to stay here for a bit, conserve your energy and... And..." Andrew stopped speaking and loked at the floor. Claire thought he seemed lost. She reached out to feel his emotions as he went to one of the walls and fell back against it. She could feel the waves of anger and despair emanating from him.

Claire began to walk towards him and could hear him murmuring. It sounded like singing. She moved a little closer and recognized the tune.

"Rain rain, go away. Come again som other day." It was a song that her parents used to sing to them when they were children. At this moment she read the note that Andrew had given her when all this insanity started. Written on it was a poem.

"She walks in beauty like the night,
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright,
Meet in her aspect and her eyes."


She recognized the handwritng. The frist two lines were that of her mother, and the last two were her father's. At the bottom of the note was a third line which read: "Claire; Remind you of anyone? Andrew."

Claire needed to speak to her brother now. Ther was something he wasn't telling her. She sheathed her sword again and walked over to him.

"So." She really didn't know what to say or where to begin. She had too many questions right now. She settled on the simplest. "Did you find anything?" She was still holding the note in her hand and her voice was wavering slightly, trying to choke back tears

Hearing Claire's footsteps I knew it was only a matter of time before she started talking. Waiting for the moment I stopped murmuring the song, instead waiting. I suddenly heard her say, "So," but she stopped. Obviously thinking I continued looking at the ground. "Did you find anything?" she continued. Taking a light breath I thought of saying one thing but it died on my tongue. Another thought popped into my head but I felt that fade away as well.

Looking up at Claire I quietly said, "No, I didn't find anything, we're trapped here... No way out, it's amazing we even got in, Claire I just can't find a way to do this anymore. What can we do but hope for the best? Their's no one here to help us anymore, all I can do is sit and hope a bloody miracle happens, what are the odds of that? Claire... Hermanita... I can tell that something's troubling you, please, come sit next to me and tell me. I don't want us to keep secrets from one another."

Patting the area next to me I looked in her eyes, those violet eyes, staring down at me. With the lightest of smiles I felt a tear fall down my cheek, maybe now she guessed at what I'd been doing in the other room. If she looked close enough she could see the redness of my eyes, the stain on my emotions. I'd always heard that after someone had been releasing their emotions through crying they were different. I guess they were right, I forget the last time I cried...

You cried this morning, with her, you really do love her don't you? Your Sister is a great person, don't lose her like I lost... The voice faded out into choked sobs. Feeling another tear roll down my cheek I looked at Claire, waiting for her to either sit or just start talking.

Claire sat down next to her brother. She could tell that he had been crying. She looked at the note in her hand and held it out to her brother. She wanted to cry. She could feel his emotions. She pushed them away and spoke

"Hermano, This note was written by mom and dad. Do you know why they would want me to have it?" She was trying her best to stay poised. She had a lot of questions now, and she had to try to take it slow. There was so many things she wanted to say to Andrew, but she was having a hard time trying to express herself as the questions piled on top of each other in her mind. "It seems like it's a poem about me but.." She trailed off. It was hard to make sense of everything and she looked at her brother expectantly.