Central Silent Hill/Alchemilla Hospital (Foggy World)

[scribble_puppet]

Their feet hit gritty pavement.

It's the middle of a block of foggy street in a run-down commercial district. Not the skyscrapers of New York, but squat, huddled old buildings of a quaint New England town. Behind them is a dusty toy store; other storefronts litter the street to either side and in front.

The whole place echoes emptily, the movement of the fog the only sound other than themselves.

Amber scuffs a sneaker on the asphalt. "So... yeah. Here it is."

Comments

[futures_of_ash]

"One of very, very few." Rachel agreed grimly. The Hound program had an incredibly high die off rate. That was alright though, it was only mutants.

Rachel was skimming the ceiling when the front windows simply exploded. It was a shivery, tinkling sound that let the renewed howling outside creep into the shop. The door soon followed the windows, then the brickwork, leaving the front of the shop a gaping hole beyond which the pack sat with glowing eyes.

Luckily, the pack tended to have issues with cages. That meant the next attack didn't focus on the girls, but on the cages lining the walls; pale energy lashing into the twisted metal bars until the things screamed and twisted in protest.

[hollow-way.livejournal.com]

Shit shit shit

Amber is through the door and running for the fire exit, past even more shelves and cages

and walls made of bars

chains

She doesn't pause to wonder about the back room. For one, that's almost normal, here. For two, EXPLODEY PEOPLE BEHIND THEM.

[futures_of_ash]

Rachel landed to run just behind Amber, a palpable heat at the girl's back as shrapnel chased them. She, too, was very careful not to look at the walls they were passing. The last thing they needed was for Rachel to let her fear of cages get the best of her too.

The Fear that had been beating at their heels returned in full force, twined now with unreasoning Rage as the pack hit the backroom. Bars, and chains, and cages...

...these materials didn't explode so easily, but they did lend themselves to more practical purposes. The chains started snaking and weaving, striking out toward the fleeing girls like serpents.

[hollow-way.livejournal.com]

"UFF" One with a heavy end catches Amber across the face, and she staggers into some bars. She recovers quickly, though, still fire exit bound.

Fear has always been a part of Amber's life. Never really to the level it's at now- not even that time she stumbled into the abandoned building territory of some thugs who didn't think they needed to be reported on- but it's something her mother taught her from childhood.

Her mother taught her that fear is the time for moving quickly but steadily, watching everything, and, over all, not messing up, because that means something worse than even death.

Fear is battery power. And you'd better be somewhere safe when that power runs down.

This is why Amber's response is a hissed, "fuck this place," and a tightened focus on the door.

And to topple a stack of boxes behind her. Because even with enemies that'll explode them, they'll have to pause at least for a moment to do that.

[futures_of_ash]

There was actually a low, steady growl trickling from Rachel's throat as they went. An unconscious thing that kept her in the right frame of mind for the run; after all, to take on the pack itself and hold them while Amber ran would require the Phoenix...

...and she'd already seen what too much force in this place could do. They didn't need the world dissolving around them.

She couldn't catch all of the chains, she couldn't even catch enough to keep Amber from being hit, but she was able to keep those chains from wrapping around; from hooking. With enough chains coming at them, she could tie the damn things in a knot that looked like a rusted, trembling spider's web in the hallway behind them.

Rachel was just an inch or two behind Amber when they hit the door back to the street.

[hollow-way.livejournal.com]

At the threshold,

And Amber is no longer in front.

[futures_of_ash]

And Rachel was no longer behind

[hollow-way.livejournal.com]

It's several blocks before she realizes that there's only one pair of feet pounding on the pavement.

Amber stops, clinging to a lightpost and gulping air. Her legs shake.

"rache?" she wheezes, then swallows more air into her aching lungs.

"RACHEL?"

....not the smartest idea she's ever had. She realizes it, and freezes, ears straining to hear anything beyond the pounding of her blood or the whispering fog.

Lucky. Nobody's coming after her.

Not lucky. Rachel's not coming after her.

"fuck fuck fuck." She sags against a brick wall, taking care to stretch out her legs.

She only relaxes long enough to get her breath and down a few granola bars. She doesn't have the luxury to take it easy, even with screaming legs and worry for her friend. She's off at a steady pace as soon as her breath gets back (http://hollow-way.livejournal.com/4872.html).