The City

- Hades

"I'm glad we're on the same page." Hades said folding his arms with satisfaction. "You know for a demon. You're not half bad. Well, I'll have one of my men escort you to my office. Where we'll be holding a meeting of legends to get everyone up to speed. Make yourself comfortable. If you'd like a change of clothes. Let someone know and clothes will be provided for you. It's been a pleasure." Hades departed from the room and entered another where his eyes slid up and down the young woman who laid on the bed.

"Greetings Ms. Grey." He smirked walking over to where she laid on the bed and towering over her. "Sorry to... interrupt your nap, but the time has come for you to make your decision."

Alex Sledge

Thankfully as a sniper, Alex had rudimentary first aid training and was able to talk her through the medical treatment.
"Alright, get the peroxide out of the kit, we need to disinfect this bitch", Alex grumbled as he slowly unbound his hand. It couldve been worse, he had a 2 inch slit in his palm where the blade had slipped between two of the bones that led to his middle and ring fingers.
Reyna cringed. "What did that?'', she asked.
"The angels have these blades that slide out of their sleeves", Alex said as he took the open peroxide bottle from her hand and spread his hand slowly.
"Did you kill it?", Reyna asked.
"No, Seph did, or so we hope", Alex replied, then poured the peroxide over his hand, closed his eyes and growled at the pain.
"Seph? He came back?".
"Yeah, probably heard the screaming and gunfire, so he came to investigate", Alex said as he set the peroxide down. "Alright, time to stitch this up", he said and extended his open hand to to Reyna, who pulled the stiching from the kit.

He talked her through the stitching, making sure she did them in an X pattern, and when she tied off one side, he flipped his hand over, and to his surprise, she caught on quick, he didn't have to direct her. When she tied off that side, she reached back into the kit and pulled out a roll of guaze and another roll of medical tape and began wrapping his hand tightly, but not too tight.
"Whats our next move?", Reyna asked as she closed the first aid kit.
"Lets get everyone comfortable, and find out whats in this mall that we can use", Alex responded as he and Reyna stood up and left the room.

†☠†.The Mender.†☮†



Mara began the long process of digging Joseph out… the heavy stones quickly made her muscles feel like jelly but she continued her labor… when Frank tried to help her she merely shooed him away to see if anyone of the dark mounds were still alive. When the angel that still had a mostly intact head emerged she merely grabbed her rifle and sent a round through each of its eyes before using her knife to remove its head. After what felt like hours she pulled Joseph from the rubble, the skin on her fingers sanded off by the rough stone. She moved Seph with a fireman hold and walked the total distance to her hospital stumbling several times on her way up the stairs and laid him down on the surgery table. After covering the wounds that might cause the man to bleed to death she left him on a patient bed before entering her personal quarters to wash off the blood, grime, and dirt that had been collected. She’d have to remember not to beat the dense idiot to hard… otherwise she’d have to patch him up again… why did he use a grenade in a tunnel… why didn’t he just wait for her to bring death upon them.



\____Shinigami____/



Followed the men to Hade’s office and took a seat. To keep himself amused he juggled three of his knifes with his right hand and kept his senses alert… many wanted such a monster dead… but this monster wasn’t so generous as to allow it. The only generosity he’d give was death if they crossed him. His mind idly was brought back to Celia he’d get to know the girl better see if she was really what he had first assumed… even the strong willed fell apart in the visage of a demon or god. He already conjured up the dinner he’d serve her followed by the ball room dancing and the back room pleasures followed by him cradling her soft skin into a painless death. He blushed slight at the thought and dabbed the sweat that had formed from his brow. She would do… oh yes… a fine specimen to serve as sacrifice to a dark deity… live well Celia… you soon shall be mine…

Reyna Axelson

This was not the first time Reyna had to treat wounds. She had to doctor up a friend's or her own before on hunting trips, but she had never encountered injuries such as the ones Alex had sustained. She was glad he was able to give her some information on what to do, because she would have been able to help, however with his front-line knowledge, she had been able to do a much better job. She on hoped that there was nothing internal damaged. She knew firsthand that if one's tendons were severed, you needed them surgically repaired, a lot of healing time, and a lot of painful therapy to get them working again, and they most likely wouldn't be 100% the same again. She opened and closed her left hand slowly under the table while nodding to Alex's suggestion of rounding up some people to plunder the mall of whatever was left.

"That reminds me," she said with excitement. "I found an outdoors store at the far end. It's mostly looted already, but the door to the back of the shop is locked. I couldn't bust it down, but when you're feeling better, would you mind giving it a try?" Then she noticed the untouched cup she'd brought for him. With her playful spirits momentarily invigorated, she decided to tease him again. She hadn't had the chance in awhile, with him staying behind to save her and all.

"Well, if you aren't going to start on this, I will," she smirked with her eyes over the large cup. After a gulp, she sat it down in front of him again. "Now, drink up! Doctor's orders," she added with a wink. Then she realized that neither of them, or anyone else had eaten or drank anything since they arrived in this... place. She'd been ignoring her hunger, but mainly she'd been so preoccupied with what ever was going on at any given point, she had never had the down time to notice. Her right hand went to her stomach.

"We really need to eat something soon..." she said as Alex worked on downing the water. She pulled her down cast eyes back up to Alex. "Especially you." Reyna's severity and concern could be heard in her tone and seen in her face. If Alex was to make a full recovery, he would need to eat and drink quite a bit. Then there was the others to consider. They would have to take a day or two in order to see to everyone's needs. She slid out of the booth and stood up. "Alright, let's go find you some food." You're not allowed to die yet. Not right after scarring me like that.

Alex Sledge

Alex and Reyna had found a small grocery store connected to the west end of the massive mall and scavenged what was left of the non perishable foods, mainly cans and bottled water. After bringing their findings to the other 22 people in the group, Alex and two others began looking for something to cook with. They checked the gas-powered stoves at various restaurants in the food court, but turned up with nothing, and after Alex found a few kitchen knives to open the cans, they all ate a cold meal, but to them it was like a feast.

While eating, Alex, Reyna and Sarah began to get to know everyone in their group, talking about their occupations, and how they died. Alex took a particular interest in a man and a woman, Jon Hernandez and Elise Andrews. Jon was a member of Detroit S.W.A.T, and had been killed when busting a drug hideout, and Elise was a helicopter gunner for the United states coastguard, she had died when the helicopter she was in malfunctioned and made a crash-landing. Alex talked to Reyna, and they both decided that if something happened to them, Jon and Elise would lead the group.

After finishing his cold meal of canned corn, Alex looked at Reyna.
"Lets see about this door", he said.
Reyna sat her can down on the ground and led him to the outdoors store storage-room.

Alex studied the door thoughtfully,Typical storage door, he thought to himself Small,but sturdy, probably has only one lock.
"I'll see if I can break it open". Alex said to Reyna without looking at her.
"Think you can?", she asked him hopefully.
"Probably, I've done my share of boot-to-door breaches", he replied, taking a stance.
He lunged forward and hit the door hard with the sole of his boot, but it didn't budge.
Alex grunted and slammed hit boot on door again, there was a pop from somewhere between the door and its frame.
" Hear that? Must be giving in", Alex said.
"Or its laughing at you", Reyna said with a smirk.
Alex gave her a mock-glare, and then rammed his boot into the door again, and it gave in a little with another pop.
This time, Alex stepped back about ten yards from the door, and charged it, ramming all of his body weight into it with his shoulder, causing a much louder pop, and the door to swing open.
Alex stumbled into the room and immediately froze.
"Holy---"
"Shit", Reyna finished for him as she walked up beside him, equally dazed by the sight.
Guns. more guns, ammo belts, ammo, hunting gear, and to Reyna's excitement, a shelf labeled ARCHERY.
Alex walked to a storage shelf labeled AUTOMATICS, ripped open a long cardboard box and drew out a brand-new black civilian model AR-15 Assault rifle.
"Merry god-damn Christmas", Alex said.

*Kaylen Grey*

"Greetings Ms. Grey. Sorry to... interrupt your nap, but the time has come for you to make your decision."

Kaylen slowly opened her eyes, and turned her head to the side. Standing at the foot of the bed was Hades, she'd heard him enter, but didn't acknowledged him until he spoke.
"Ohh... So soon? I thought I'd be able to sit and consider my options over a glass of bourbon, in what ever wonderful alcohol serving business establishment you and your goons hit during down time..." Kaylen sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, "I guess I'll have to go with my first response, which was a possible affirmative... Tough I still wouldn't mind hitting the stills..."
Kaylen brushed her hair to the side with one hand, then glanced nonchalantly at Hades, studying his face for some sort of reaction to her vague answer.

Reyna Axelson

It was more than she could have hoped for. "The magic room in the back of the store does exist!" Reyna exclaimed in awe. Alex went immediately to the AUTOMATICS section, and Reyna went just a bit further to ARCHERY. She examined the few bow options there were. She picked up one up and aimed it down the way, poised. She held the string back for a few moments and then released. It felt good. That's a feeling I miss. She looked back at the shelf and noticed something. "Is that..." she said with soft hopefulness. She quickly set the first bow down and reach for another.

"What is it?" Alex was curious what she had found.

"Check out this bad boy," she said with a grin as she revealed a large compound bow. She then took her stance and prepped another dry fire, this time in Alex's direction. "I was saving up for this bow. You know, back before we died or whatever." She the released the string and lowered the weapon. Reyna then inspected what Alex had found. "Looks like you found some new toys, too." She smiled and then turned back to the shelves. She gathered up all the arrows possible and looked around for a bag to put them all in. After that she took one of them and took aim down the way once again, this time with an arrow notched and ready. She aimed at a poster for a some fishing advertisement. The first shot missed her target and went into the back ground in front of the fisherman's torso. Breathe, Reyna. You got this. That was just a warm up shot. This is a new bow after all. Reyna ignored a smart ass remark from Alex, though she grinned in response. She then readied another arrow. This time it was a straight, solid shot, right into the man's face. She walked down and retried the arrows. Then she made her way back to her bag of supplies, shouldered it, and marched on out past Alex. "You were saying?" She said nonchalantly as she passed.

Once back out in the store she turned back towards the busted door. "We should gather the able bodied people and make for that hospital." Before a moment could past she added "and not just for your sake." Alex's head popped out to catch her devious smirk. He just smiled and shook his head.

"Yeah," he eventually replied as he came out with his new gear. "Let's take a day or so to plan it out. We need to figure out where it is, first. There's got to me a map or something somewhere."

"While we're at it, we could get you some clothes. I think you're the only one who hasn't gotten some fresh ones that actually fit."

"What, you mean like your shirt?" He asked sarcastically. It was Reyna's turn now to shake her head.

"Youuu like it," she replied. "Anyway, let's get some other stuff and get back to everyone. Then we can go 'shopping'." Reyna grinned at the combination of her choice of words and Alex's facial response to it. "Come on, Rambo," she teased as she hefted the bag and made to leave.

Once they had gotten some good supplies from the outdoors shop, they returned to the rest of the survivors. They were now moved away from the front of the mall and were more centrally located. They gathered together some of the more able-bodied survivors, like Jon and Elise. They had their meeting in the food court, in a booth like the one they patched Alex up in. They shared their idea for heading for the hospital. They decided they would take the next couple days to continue to scavenge the mall and come up with some more detailed plans. As it was getting very late, once the meeting was adjured, Reyna headed for a bed store she had seen.

"Where you off to?" Alex wondered.

"There's a mattress store over there," she pointed in its general direction. "Going to go catch some Z's," she said while yawning and stretching. Once she recovered she added "care to join me?" She offered one last spunky grin before walking out of sight.

Once in the store, dark green blanket-in hand, she felt around on the mattresses until she found a suitable one. She unzipped the zippers on the insides of her boots and left them on the floor beside the bed. She then lied down on the uncovered mattress, curled up under the blanket, and went out like a light.

Alex Sledge

Alex sat in front of the mall door, looking out at the moonlit street, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers that had smiley faces all over it and a thick blanket.
Suddenly, his mind began wondering to Reyna. is she asleep? is she dreaming? is she into me? His face screwed up in thought. Yeah, she is definitely into me
He stood up and sighed quietly, then began stepping over the sleeping forms, all laying on mattresses they had pulled out of the mattress store, but Reyna had decided to stay in there for some reason, and that's where Alex was headed.
It was a short walk to the mattress store, then Alex slowly opened the door, not wanting to make any noise. It didn't take him long to find Reyna, she was in the middle of the store. Alex sat on the mattress next to her own, and considered crawling into the bed with her and falling asleep, but he didn't know how she would react when she woke up, or if she was even clothed for that matter. He decided to play it safe. Don't freak her out by crawling into bed with her while shes asleep, but let her know he was willing to be close to her by sleeping near her.
With another sigh, the Ranger stretched out on the mattress and fell asleep.

\o/-|The Crimson Lotus|-\0/



“Mistress… prey has fallen into your web… command us and we shall entwine these flies our queen…” A man with a sniper rifle spoke over a headset he had been tracking these new players. He zoomed in on the fleeing members of the Undead Revolution. “Yes… understood mistress… all units capture them… confiscate their weapons and bring them to the mistress… long live the Templar!” With the issued war cry from their spotter the streets filled with almost fifty men in black clothing and armed with an assortment of decently up kept weapons. The first wave slammed leveled their guns on the large man named Hassan “Surrender now… you are to report to mistress Blood Lotus… all supplies are to be surrendered… and your followers will be reviewed and assimilated based on skill…” the men took aim. “Though if you try anything… understand that we have snipers stationed across the streets… if you run you’ll be dead before you know it… if you resist we will fill you with enough lead that their won’t be anything left to burn…” He tossed a pair of hand cuffs to Hassan.

When he obeyed they took him to the Templar’s Castle. Which was almost entirely intact and under heavy guard… refurbished Mgs were lined up on the outer wall and snipers kept a keen watch on the city. The inside retained most of its luxurious nature from the start of this game,,, Hassan would be taken to a elevated seat upon which Alice sat, a table with a map of the city in front of her. She calmly exhaled a plume of smoke from her opium cigarette. She sat like a sentinel of war… a Shogun of ages past. “We have captured what remained of your group… and a decent amount of the new arrivals… they are currently being tested… however.” She released a plume of smoke from her lips before she continued. “We know you as one of the top men in your group… as such we offer a hand in membership. You’ll start out as a normal soldier to ensure no scorn is felt with our current forces and then I will allow you to work your way up the ranks… know that we the Templar of Blood take care of our own very well… food stores, the only water processing plant in the city, and of course the spoils of war from those who challenged us… slaves to appease fleshly desires. The game is coming to a close… the only group that has a remote chance of beating us is the Death Wings… and the Skull Brigade… though only together would they have a prayer… with their destruction we win… and we can rebuild this city… create farms… fix infrastructure and create a utopia undisturbed by a world of conflict… we are all brothers in arms and beneath my rule their would be no conflict… only peace eternal.” When the large man nodded Alice smiled. “It is always good to have new blood… welcome to the Templar of Blood… make yourself at home… rooms that are taken have an X on the door…”

-Hades

Hades felt laughter bubbling up in his chest, but he held it in as tear appeared in one eye and wiped it away with a grin. "You're definitely a very interesting one Ms. Grey. Very interesting indeed." he straightened himself up. "I'll take that vague answer as a yes. Now, that thats settled you'll be escorted to the meeting room momentarily." Hades paused in stride before opening the door. "Oh and by the way Ms. Grey. There will be consequences for rebellion. Keep that in mind." He exited the room.

Reyna Axelson

Two days later, Reyna, Alex, Jon, Elise and some others, were on their way to the hospital. They were fanned out as they traversed the city. This way they could greatly reduce the chance of getting noticed, and weed out any threats along the way. So far they hadn't encountered any problems, and they'd been sneaking about for at least half an hour. So far so good.

Reyna was the next one over on Alex's right in their wide spread. After her was Sarah. Every so often they would make sure to get a visual with the person on either side of their of them in the formation. They crept along in silence for a while, stealthily making their way back to the hospital. Reyna occupied herself with more trivial thoughts so she wouldn't lose her grips on things due to all the craziness of the 'life' she now was forced to live. She recalled waking up a couple mornings ago after the first night at the mall. She woke up feeling amazing and rested save for the sore muscles she had. However, the best part was looking over to find the Army Ranger, sprawled out on a neighboring bed in nothing but the smiley face boxers she'd found him. She'd had to stifle her out burst of laughter so she didn't wake him. It was a good thing he was a sleep, because she'd tried to use her shirt as a pillow, and so she had nothing but the crimson bra she'd found to cover her torso.

The following evenings involved them sleeping in a similar arrangement. She didn't know what to do about Alex because she was so very grateful for all his help, and he was enjoyable company, but their situation... well, it made things very difficult. There was no chance for any kind of normalcy. And so, she decided they'd have to take down whatever this thing was that posed as The Almighty before she could really give her future with anyone any serious thought. However, it was still pleasant to think about. She was now good and distracted, and able to smile slightly as she sneaked along through the city, every so often making sure she could catch a glimpse of Sarah off somewhere to the right and Alex off to the left.

Suddenly, something dropped down behind her. Reyna snapped out of her thoughts and whipped around. She was confronted with a sort of soldier-looking person of unknown origins, the man's face and head completely shrouded in darkness. This was made worse by the darkness of the low light of the alley she was now in. She dropped her bow and arrows and made to bolt for Alex, but she was unsuccessful. As soon as she was caught, she let out the most terrified scream. "Alee-" but she was cut off as the man slapped his gloved hand over her mouth, instantly muting her cry. She was then carried off, seeing the another man had snatched an equally terrified Sarah. The two women made eye contact. Neither needed to be able to speak to understand each others eyes, which showed only complete surprise and extreme fear.
Reyna took notice of the man suppressing Sarah, and noted that the man binding her had similar uniforms with the same emblem on the shoulder. A white sword, blade down, with white wings making a sort of V stood out against the dark green cloth of the uniform.


The Valkyrie

Val decided to dress out for this event. She was in a similar uniform to her men. Dark green with the emblem she designed on her right shoulder and one on her left breast. Only hers was a red sword with white wings, as was the uniform of her adviser, Lilith. At least, that's what she went by. Not that it mattered. Lilith was loyal and extremely useful. It was nice having a subordinate whom Val could have an intelligent conversation with, and not have to explain anything when strategizing.

Val marched on with her men. She had left only a small force at home in the suburbs to guard the base. It wasn't a tiny force, though. It was the perfect size to adequately defend against almost anything. Lilith had suggested the amount her self, and Val was shown how it would be the desired force to leave behind if need be. Anyway, Val now marched on with the bulk of her forces to the hospital. The supposed neutral ground in the city would soon be dominated and forced into submission at her very will. Val smiled sinisterly at the thought. She was make this place her own and expand her reach further within this city.

A scout then came up to her to report. "Ma'am," he called out as he snapped into perfect attention. She beckoned with a a pleasant smile to the man ahead of her, permitting him to walk with her. "We have located a small group of people making their way through the city, they are on their way here. We were able to capture two of them before recalling, per your request."

"Very good," she said as she looked off to the side of the street to see two large men with cowled faces, each with a subdued young woman. The right side of Val's lips curled upward tightly. "We'll interrogate them after our success," she said as she turned her gaze back on the scout. "As for the others, they will not be a threat. Prepare for the attack!"

"Ma'am!" With that, the scout was off and Val turned her eyes back to her mass of men before her. They were so very close to the hospital now. The fight would soon begin. Val smirked with sinister joy once again. Not breaking it until Lilith came to her side and requested her to accompany her to the top of a building like they had planned. They would have a better view from above. Much easier to command the Death Wings.

*Kaylen Grey*

Kaylen sat on the floor, leaning against a wall in yet another dingy room, head just touching the window frame above her. She was in full combat gear, or as full as she could get it, with a Barrett REC7 Assault Rifle with an adjustable sight mounted on it lying over her shoulder. Where Hades got this gear Kaylen couldn't even fathom. She looked round the room at each of the men in her squad, there were 10 in total, she'd already assigned a second in command, a short black guy with long dreadlocks everyone called 'Smiler'. Though he didn't smile that often in Kaylen's company he seemed like a decent man, quite knowledgeable in the field of combat (and drinks).

It had been two days since she had 'joined' the Skull Brigade, two days since she had received this assignment, two days since she had arrive in this mess, two days since the series of events transpired which allowed her to reminisce on things that happened two days ago in one really long sentence... She had been sent off with a large group of Skull Brigadiers, and this creepy 'Shinigami' guy, to stake out the hospital looking for signs of an assault on the hospital, that Hades was sure would come within the next few days. When signs of assault on the building were confirmed, the squad was to observe the situation until an opportunity to turn the battle in their favor presented itself, then they were to take control of the institution. Hades had assured her that the attacking forces would be significantly weakened during the assault, so it would be an easy task to pick off the remainders if she kept a level head and made the right choices. The squad was situated on the third floor of a appartment complex near the hospital, with a good view on the hospital's entrance.

"Hey Smiler, pass the Scotch." Kaylen called across the room to the man sitting on rickety wooden chair, who was holding a bottle of 10 year old Talisker scotch whisky. The man grunted, then placed the bottle on the wooden floor and gently slid it across to her.
"Thanks man.." She muttered, snatching up the bottle and taking a swig. Warmth spread throughout her body as the liquid went down. She brought herself to her knee, and glanced out the window. Still no activity... How long would she have to wait?

Alex Sledge

"Alee-", came a cry from Alex's right before something struck Alex's head, causing him to stumble and fall. When his vision cleared he found himself staring into the barrel of a gun.
"Slide your gun over to me", said the man through his black mask.
Alex was about to comply when there was a gun shot and the man's neck began spurting blood everywhere. He looked to the side and saw Jon, standing over a body of a second masked man who's neck was at an odd angle , and behind him Elise was struggling with a third attacker.
Jon aimed his AR-15 at the man who was engaging Elise and fired a round into his leg, dropping him down on one knee, then Elise grabbed the back of his head and kneed him square in the face.
Alex jumped up and looked around, two other members of their scavenging team had been killed by gunshots, and more to his dismay, Reyna and Sarah were missing.

"What are you doing?", Jon asked when Alex picked up his own AR-15 and began walking away.
"We need to find them", Alex remarked.
"There long gone", Jon said, "Believe me Alex, I want to find them too, but this city is too big, and has too many buildings".
Anger and frustration began to build in Alex, he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, Jon was right, but Alex would be damned to ever admit it, then his eyes fell on the unconscious attacker at Elise's feet.
"Bring him to the mall, we're going to get answers", Alex growled.

Reyna Axelson

Try to note where they were being taken. This was all Reyna could do to keep from completely breaking down. She tried to pay attention to her surroundings she was hauled away. She had been bounded and gagged. Her damp cheeks constantly begging her to be wiped clean. Despite all the distress from many sources, she decided to focus on one thing, and that was trying to note her surroundings as she went so that she might have a better chance of escape later. Her stomach hurt from being smushed against her abductor's shoulder. She felt so helpless. More so than she'd ever experienced before. She longed so much to be free.

After traveling for several minutes, the two women were taken into some building, and put in a room. Fortunately, they had removed her gag. But her hands were still bound behind her. She sat down as soon as the enemy soldiers left. She finally could slide her arms around her legs and pull them free. It felt so good to stretch them as much as her bondage permitted. She then slumped down beside Sarah. Both of them were shaken up, both psychologically and physically.

"This scout team Delta reporting in," Reyna could hear the men through the wall. "We have the two women in custody at our outpost... understood. Delta post, over and out."

Reyna awkwardly wiped her face with her bound hands. It was a minor relief. She just hoped nothing else in the near future would bring her to tears again. She then turned to her cell mate. "How you holdin' up," she asked Sarah, offering the best smile that she was able to produce.

The Valkyrie

The attack came from nowhere. Val recovered from being knocked over by a near by blast that wobbled the building. "What the hell?" Gunfire immediately fired. She ran to the window, being careful to hug the wall. "It's the damn Templar," she seethed. "Lilith!"

"Yes," her adviser replied. She was already making her way with a radio handset. Val snatched it up.

"All squads, take immediate defensive action! Formation Gamma. I repeat, formation Gamma. Return fire at will. Do not lose any ground!" With the battle over the hospital beginning, and in a an unexpected way, Val had to stay on her toes and come up with a plan. There wasn't supposed to much resistance. Still, she had prepared for anything by bringing every warrior she could spare. So there was still a lot of hope of victory. She grinned devilishly. "This will be fun. Guarantied victories are no where near as entertaining." She stood her ground at the window and observed the scene below. She inclined her head and tapped the top of it with a few fingers, lifting them off again in a hats-off gesture toward the invading forces. "For that, I thank you... Crimson Lotus."

†☠†.The Mender.†☮†



The hospital was deadly silent burned out cars had been dragged in front of the doors and boards and been nailed over the lower windows. The building looked deserted… she had sent away her nurses and left Frank to monitor Seph. Their was one thing she wouldn’t accept… not now this was her domain and she’d be damned if it was taken from her… or if she needed help to defend it. She had scattered loaded rifles through the top floor… traps filled the rest of the hospital. She had ordered the furnace burned at high capacity but the smoke vents be blocked so enemies couldn’t see anything with in the hospital which had every window covered in a black curtain. The power was cut and Mara had dawned an all black jumpsuit with black ski mask. A lot of people were going to die today… maybe the greatest amount of carnage since the game started… but then again the greatest pain killer was death… it was mercy in a place like this… “I guess… its time to stain this crimson floor with more blood… the time for healing and compassion are finished… it is time for the field medic to take up her rifle as the Marine she is.”

Alex Sledge

Alex had to admit, he and the other 9 members of his rag-tag "Strike team" looked terrifying. In the outdoors store's storage room they had found black and woodland camo, the automatics, shotguns, and pistols Alex and Reyna had found a few days ago, as well as camouflage face-paint of varying colors.
Alex had found a use for the "Autumn" colors, specifically the red face-paint. He had a red stripe horizontally across his eyes and a vertical stripe across each eye, giving him an "Apache Warrior" look, which was very fitting, because he had also found a stainless steel Tomahawk in the camping section of the storage room.
Now they were headed to the outpost that their prisoner had said Reyna and Sarah were being held captive at.

It took the team awhile to find it, they weren't familiar with the place, and the prisoner had only given them directions based on the size and color of the other buildings around the outpost. The "outpost" was just a very large, upper-class house that had been outfitted with a small amount of guards on the roof, balcony and the front and back doors. After scouting around the outpost, Alex realized they wouldn't be able to get into it without alot of bloodshed. on the outside, there were 8 guards, and probably twice as many on the inside, given the size of the building.

Alex's heart sank as he realized he would have to wait and hour or two until night fall to attempt a raid on the outpost, or risk getting his rag-tag group killed if they attacked now.

Templar of Blood.



Silence surrounded the outpost… only the occasional bird call could be heard it was several hours of silence… sweet peace and quiet. Then came a hollow ring… that seemed to echo from every direction. The ring was accompanied by the sound of four men falling to the ground and before the other four could act the ring sounded again and they to met the ground. Within moments ten shadows moved towards the outpost, pressed his body against the wall slapped a homemade breach charge to the wall and fell back behind cover. When the wall collapsed two Molotov were thrown in followed by seven aerosol cans that had been tapped to continue spraying creating flying flamethrowers as they met the Molotov cocktails. The ten men waited for the flames to die down before storming into the building to finish off anyone on the first floor who had been injured but not killed. They prepared to storm the next floor a bit hesitant now that the enmy knew they were here. The lead Templar kicked in the door as they pressed in to a fierce gunfight that left only five of the Templar left standing… but the out post was now there own… which meant their foe’s main force was now that much more exposed… the Death Wings were about to understand the meaning of being stuck between a rock and a hard place…

Reyna and Sarah had been sitting, in silence mostly. They'd have brief conversations off and on. Some more serious than others. They mostly were trying to keep their spirits up. They were both sitting side by side on the small bed in the small, barren room. Reyna let herself fall back on the bed. Her arms were over her head, still bound with the impossible zip tie. She was pondering their last discussion. Sarah had asked about Reyna and Alex. It hardly seemed like something important in their situation, and not even their current capture, but the larger scheme of being in a pot-life blood sport. Even just the other night, Reyna had told herself not to worry about such things until the appropriate time. But maybe Sarah was right. There really, truly seemed to be something between the two of them. Between Reyna and her chosen partner in this screwed up game.

"I wonder how long we'll be stuck here..." Reyna said, breaking the most recent silence. Before Sarah could reply, there was an explosion down stairs that rattled the floors and walls. Reyna shot up and locked gazes with Sarah. Then they both looked to the door. There was a lot of shouting and sounds of conflict. Reyna could tell that everyone had run down to help, so when footsteps could be heard creeping their way up stairs, Reyna yanked Sarah down with her under the bed. Not long after, a boot crashed the locked door inward. A man in attire unlike their captors stepped in and left shortly after once he had scanned the room. There was really nothing here.

The two women waited until there were was silence for several minutes. Then they slowly and quietly crept downstairs. "I guess this answers your question," Sarah commenting plainly. Reyna just nodded slowly as they went on. The place was a disaster, charred or burning all over, and in general, chaos all together. Reyna looked about as the navigated the dangerous mess about them. She spotted a large shard of glass, shaped like a longways stretched Nevada with jagged edges. She sat down, put the glass between her legs and began sliding the zip tie until she was free, cutting her self a little on the glass. She gave out a grunt of relief and success and began stroking her wrists. She didn't even care if having trying to chew the plastic earlier had helped with the cutting, for she was now free to use her limbs. She then assisted Sarah with her binding and then they made their way to the wall that had been blown open. After check that the coast was clear, the two made their way into the alley and ran away from the open street, deeper into the shadowed alley.

----------------------------------------------------------

The two of them kept on route to the Hospital. She hoped to find refuge there. Instead, she found enemy forces, all dressed the same as her captors, were all standing by in the streets, probably all over the area. And so, they needed to stay undetected and try to get into the hospital. It was as it had been when Alex and Sarah and her had come here before. It felt so long ago, but it was only about four days. They kept low and crossed the street a good ways away from the dark green army in waiting. Then, they steadily made their way to hospital, hoping they wouldn't get spotted.

Alex Sledge

Alex was awakened by a very loud explosion. He and his strike team had taken refuge in an office building that was literally across the street and a few buildings over from the outpost where Reyna and Sarah had been taken captive. He grabbed his assault rifle just as Jon ran into his cubicle, in full battle gear with his own AR-15.
"Alex, the outpost just got hit".
Alex's faced screwed up in confusion
"Not our boys", Jon said, "These guys are in uniform, looks to be about 10 or so".
Alex threw his assault rifle sling over his shoulder, and flexed his hand as he ran out of the cubicle, the other members of his large team were checking their weapons and gear.
"SQUAD FORM UP, ON ME!", Alex bellowed.
instantly, the rag-tag strike team formed into decent looking ranks infront of Alex, Jon and Elise.
"Change of plans, a third faction is attacking the targeted outpost", Alex began, "Reyna and Sarah are still in there, alive I hope'', he thought to himself, " You are to engage and eliminate anyone who is carrying a weapon whether they fire it or not, no chances will be taken. Is that understood?"
" Sir, Yes sir!", most of the group said in unison.
Satisfied, Alex turned, Jon and Elise did the same.
"Double time, march!" Alex called out as they had practiced in the short amount of time available to the team.
He began to jog at a steady quick pace, and he heard the echo of 9 boots behind him, it reminded Alex of his army days, and it got his adrenaline pumping.

A few moments later they reached the smoking remains of the outpost, gunfire could still be heard within the building. Alex motioned his group to the wall on the left of the gap in the building, with himself on point, Jon and Elise behind him.
He could feel his heart pumping, he could hear it in his ears, he wanted the thrill of killing an armed and dangerous enemy again, and the bloodlust threatened to take him over.
"Alright, we go in three at a time, first three clear the room before the second three come in, and so on. I'll take the right, Jon takes the middle, Elise will take the left.
The other two nodded at his orders, and he switched the safety off his AR-15 before moving his trigger finger from the side of the gun to the trigger, preparing to fire.
Alex swiftly moved into the gap in the wall and lifted his gun, looking to the right, Jon took the middle and Elise took the left, just as he had told them, but the only thing in the room were smoking bodies from the explosion. He looked around the debris and body strewn room. There were three doors, all of them open, he gestured to Elise and three others, and pointed at the right, then he pointed at Jon and another two members of the team and pointed at the left door, then he gestured at the last two team members, pointed at himself, and then the middle door. The three separate teams moved to their respective door, and stacked up on the sides, preparing to enter and engage.

Alex went in through the door, the two others, Mason and Jack behind him. He stepped over a bullet riddled corpse that wore the same uniform as the bastards that took Reyna and Sarah and silently wished he would get the chance to kill them. Near another door, Alex and the other two nearly jumped out of their skin as they heard a gunshot come from the room next to the hallway they were in, Alex gestured at them to get against the wall and stay there as he crept forward to the door way. He glanced in and saw a man in a ski mask standing over another man on the floor. The prone man was grasping at his neck, blood pouring from between his fingers, and the man above him aimed the M-16 at his head and fired, ending the other mans torture. Alex saw his chance and pulled his serrated 9 inch hunting knife from it's sheathe on his shin and silently crept forward. He came up behind the soldier, clamped a hand over his mouth, and before he could grunt in surprise, Alex raked the serrated edge of the knife across the top of his throat, damaging the vocal cords, and turning the grunt into a wheeze. Then Alex plunged the knife all the way to the cross guard in his victim's jugular and gave it a brutal twist, creating a wide hole in the side of the poor man's neck that couldn't stop spraying blood. Alex slowly guided the bleeding soldier to the floor as he choked on his own blood, then he went back to the hallway, gave Mason and Jack the "All-clear" and the trio began moving forward again.

Every minute or so, Alex could hear muffled gunfire throughout the building, and would try to hear the difference between the enemy's m-16's and his own soldiers AR-15's and shotguns.
They checked a few other rooms before coming to the end of the hallway. The door was partially closed. Alex put the barrel of his assault rifle between the door and the frame and opened in a bit to look inside. He turned back to Mason and Jack and put up 5 fingers, to signal that their were 5 hostiles in the next room. Mason and Jack looked nervous, but nodded and hefted their guns as Mason backed from the door and prepared to kick it in. He looked back ta Jack and Mason, the two men nodded, showing that they were ready, Alex kicked the door as hard as he could, breaking the hinges. Everything seemed to slow down. The 5 men in the room, which appeared to be the living room of this large house they were using as an outpost, turned in alarm to the sound of the door slamming open, only two managed to raise their weapons in time, but Alex already had his up and put both of them down with 2 quick bursts from the AR-15. He heard a Shotgun go off on his left as Jack fired both barrels of his shotgun at once, taking the right leg of one soldier off at the thigh in an explosion of blood and gore. By now the other two soldiers had their m-16's raised, Alex dove behind a couch as the two men opened up, Jack dropped dead instantly, catching several rounds in the chest. Mason was much more lucky, he was grazed on the shoulder and dove behind the same couch Alex was behind. The two remaining soldiers were trying to shred their attacker's cover and ended up using their whole rifle clips. Alex jumped up and shot the one on the left square in the face with a three round burst, he aimed at the other but his AR-15 jammed. The soldier pulled his pistol out and aimed it at Alex's chest, but then suddenly dropped as three rounds from another assault rifle hit him in the back. Alex looked beyond the dead man as he fell and saw Elise and 2 of her teammates, Elise's AR-15 barrel was smoking and she smirked at Alex, then they all aimed their weapons at the far left of the large, furnished room as a door opened, and out stepped Jon and both of his team members.
"Looks like i missed the party" Jon said, with both hands up.
Elise snorted and lowered her weapon.
"Did either of of find any sign of Reyna or Sarah?", Alex asked.
"Yeah", Jon said as he raised his left hand and opened it.
In his hand were two cut zip-ties.

*Kaylen Grey*

Kaylen lifted her hand to head level, signaling to her team. Competitor number two had entered the arena. All that was left was for the fight bell to ring. The men on the streets were moving, well armed, organized into squads of six, moving together, covering their ally squads as they advanced on the hospital. Their dark outfits helped them blend into the shadows cast by the dropping sun, but not enough to escape observation from Kaylen's sharp eyes.

She made a count of about 32, but assumed there were more, many more, either on their way, or taking a different route.
'Can the hospital really handle these numbers?' She though to herself as she observed the men moving through the street below. She moved back under the cover of the window sill, then addressed her squad in a hushed voice, "I made a count of 32, but since they seem to be divided up into sqads of six we can bump that number up to 36. As natural born pessimists we must assume they have reinforcements coming in from a different route... Let's say another twenty or so... So we need to be careful about this, no rushing in head first, no heroing, you're no John Wayne, you're just an average joe with a gun and I want to leave this with 12 soldiers following my lead, no extra bodies... Got it?"
The men nodded in union. Now, for an opportunity to present it's self.


*Sarah Freeman*

Sarah dashed after Reyna, glancing over her shoulder every few moments, fearing one of the men dressed in black combat gear had heard them and was in pursuit. Thankfully her fears were fears, and just that. She faced forward again, following behind Reyna as they dashed through an alleyway onto a different street to avoid a bulk of soldiers. Her hands throbbed, her head throbbed, her feet pained her with aches, but despite all this she kept moving, one foot in front of the other, moving closer to the hospital by the second.
'But is the hospital even safe now? With all these people in the streets? I mean it may have been ok a few days ago, but in this chaos can anything stand strong?...' Sarah denied her doubts a foot hold, and continued on, following the trail of black hair that flew behind her companion. One foot in front of the other.

-Frank Roseby

A gust of curses erupted in Frank's mind as he caught sight of the moving shadows storming the outer gates of the Hospital from a window in an unlit hallway on the fifth floor. He adjusted his glasses which was missing a lens. It was out of habit. In life he'd always had bad eye sight. When he was a child he would look outside and gaze at the trees. At that time the leaves as a collective resembled nothing more than a spherical bush, but once he was gifted with his glasses he could make out every detail of every leaf. It was as if he was gifted with a mirror to much more dazzling world than an medically necessary accessory. Now, adjusting the glasses was done out of habit. Ever since waking up in the city of Eden his vision had become just fine without the glasses. He'd noticed that there was no disease, no illness. Just the injuries that they inflicted upon each other.

Many more injuries would be inflicted soon enough.

"Mara there are a group of people mobilizing outside of the hospital gates. I can't make out what affiliation they're with, but there are dozens of them." He informed speaking into walkie talkie he held close to his mouth. He hurried down the hall and entered a room where a single bed was occupied by an unconcious figure. Underneath the sheets lay a slumbering naked Seph covered in bandages. Roseby reached into his pants and placed a small gun in Seph's palm and wrapping his fingers around it. "When you wake up. You better use that damned thing. You better do it soon too. I'm getting to old for this shit." He knelt down and pulled an M-76 sniper rifle from under bed. He took another long look at Joseph Halberd and went back to his post in the hall. He loaded the weapon. Sat the barrel on the window sill and rested the other end on his shoulder, while peering with one eye through scope.


-Lilith


Lilith grinned with pleasure behind the self proclaimed Valkyrie's broad shoulders. She was doing just as she had suggested. On all accounts.



Well, not completely. Of course the Valkyrie was too smart and being a natural born tyrant, she taught those apes how to act effectively. How to sacrifice their lives for her's. Which she had to admit was impressive and therefore she had her defenses. Lilith anticipated that.

She had her own connections...which she'd use to collect info on the other factions. It also worked in vice versa. Not only were the other factions aware of the Death Wings plans to take over the hospital, the only hope any one in the game knew of, but they were also aware of the Valkyrie's 'blind side'. Soon another faction would be decimated, pushing the unwilling citizens of Eden closer to their...eradication.

Not only was she sure that her scheme would come to fruition, but she had a back up course of action to ensure her own preservation. It was wrapped around her pretty little finger. She slid her arms around Val's waist and pressed her cheek into the back of her black vest. Smilingly softly, she spoke with false admiration that came off as genuine as the petals on an African lily. "You are brilliant, my love. So, very brilliant."

†☠†.The Mender.†☮†

As columns of men moved towards the Hospital many would see a large wooden cross created much like an old cross for a soldier’s grave. Upon it’s arms were written several words for the Death Wings. ‘Welcome Soon to be Departed. Future Mass Burial Site’ As the first line forced their way through the Hospital’s front gate there would be a horrible cry of agony as the large heavy iron gate pitched backwards atop of them as its’ hinges had been pulled out so it would toppled when one tried to open it. If they pressed on upon the on way in would be through the windows as the door had been barricaded with cars and heavy debris… the windows however held a gruesome fate. When one tried to crawl through the open windows they would slide down using the victim to create a circuit through a wire in the top half and a second in the bottom. Those who made their way inside would find the entire first floor filled with smoke and numerous sheets and curtains hung from doorways, windows, and walls so they couldn’t see anything ahead of them… the hospital was Hell upon Earth… Purgatory for those lost souls who dared enter.



Templar of Blood.

Alex’s squad would get the uncanny feeling that they shouldn’t move… most likely due to the four dots scattered over Alex’s forehead. The black clothed Templar marched forward from the debreies of the surrounding city… at least thirty strong surrounded the building. “Death Wings… your counterattack was mildly admirable. Though if you truly believed it was not a trap then you are sadly mistaken… surrender now and tell us where your leader cowers… and we will spare you.”

Reyna Axelson

Reyna was crouched behind a parked car, waiting until she knew what else to do, or an opportunity presented itself. Her and Sarah stayed there in silence, only their worry-laced breath was heard. It was strange, how the streets in the area could be full of contingents of soldiers, and be so quiet. Finally, after nothing happened for so long, Reyna pivoted toward Sarah. She then shared what she'd been thinking about and perhaps what their course of action should be.
"I don't think staying here is the best idea. Normally, it would make sense to meet up with the others at our intended destination, but right now... that's not such a good idea." Sarah nodded. Reyna turned and peeped into the street. There was still no change in the nearest group of soldiers, or anywhere else. She turned back to Sarah. "So, I think we should back track. We have a good chance of running into Alex or someone else if we go back the way we came, toward the mall." Sarah agreed again with another nod.

Reyna went to peak again, but had to drop to the floor when a burst of gun fire cut her short. Sarah followed suit. Glass shattered and the small shards fell all around them and on top of them. Once she recovered, Reyna lifted her head and looked to a frightened Sarah. "Stay low, and don't run in a straight line. Follow me, but don't take the same exact path, do you understand?!" Sarah frantically nodding now. Reyna looked over to where they'd come, but there was too much open ground. Damn! she seethed in her head. Then she looked the other way. Now that they'd been spotted, the hospital was probably their best bet.

After picking herself up back into a crouch, Reyna leaned against the car and faced the hospital. Sarah did the same. Probably confused as to why they weren't shifting to the other end of the car. Reyna adjusted herself into a better position so that she could push off. No more shots had come, so the shooter was most likely up top somewhere, trying to guess which direction Reyna would appear next. Hopefully she would throw him off by going further into the thick of things, as well as a second person popping out, too. Reyna waited several moments, trying to get herself ready. When she realized that time would never come, she just said softly "ready..." before counting down from 5 in her head. "Go!" She said at zero, and she bolted for the next cover, and continued as such toward the hospital, hoping that Sarah was keeping with her. Several bursts of shots were heard as they made their way, and she could feel the bits of concrete kicked up pelt her legs. With the help of adrenaline, she was able to make it into the safety of the hospital front, realize there was no way in, and then continued on to find the way that Seph had led them last time. From the sound of things, Sarah was still with her.

Alex Sledge

“Death Wings… your counterattack was mildly admirable. Though if you truly believed it was not a trap then you are sadly mistaken… surrender now and tell us where your leader cowers… and we will spare you.”
Death wings?, Alex thought in confusion. Shit, they think we killed their comrades.
Alex thought quickly.
"We're not Death wings!", he called out, letting his rifle hang limply from the sling on his shoulder and holding his hands up. "We were looking for some masked men in green and black who kidnapped two of our friends, we captured one of their men and his information led us here, we got here just as the battle was ending".

"Who is your leader?", asked one of the men, presumably the leader of the small army.
"I am, we don't have a faction, we're just trying to survive and look out for our own", Alex said, wit his heart pounding in his chest, hoping he just bought their way out of this mess.


The Ranger smiled,if his ploy failed, maybe he could confuse them. (that was for you Cherry :P )

The Death Wings pushed the gate in front of the hospital which toppled over on top of them. Though it smashed the members below it, the ones behind simply proceeded running over their fallen comrades and charged forward. Random men fell in mid-stride and were trampled by the others as as Frank Roseby sniped them from above.

Behind the Death Wings were flanked by the incoming mobs representing the Templar of Blood. They attacked mercilessly. Some Death Wings ran from cover towards the hospital while others turned took stand and retaliated.

At the top of five surrounding building, five squads of members from the Skull Brigade took aim ready to lay waste to every person battling below. Though something caught the eye of Kaylen Grey. Peering through her sniper's scope she saw a familiar face frantically seeking refuge inside of the hospital which she knew would become nothing but a grave yard. It was Sarah Freeman. The young woman she'd met upon arriving in plane of existence. Kaylen felt compelled to do something. She felt compelled to help her.