The stairwell was worse than three days ago. The smell hit their nose first then the sounds became closer and heavier now, those big signatures on Floor 3 were moving slow and patient like something that knew it had all the time in the world.
The screaming had gone quiet which was either good or the other thing and he wasn't thinking about the other thing.
They went down.
Floor 5 was clear. A single Rotter in the hallway that Sera dropped before Michael had even finished tracking it on the pulse and they kept moving.
[+30 SP.]
Floor 4 was not clear.
Michael stopped at the stairwell door and looked through the wire mesh window panel before touching the handle. The hallway beyond was a mess, two apartments doors were open with their contents spilled out into the corridor and a Rotter drifting aimlessly at the far end.
On the ceiling above apartment 407 was something that made his stomach turn unpleasantly. He could see a Crawler, the first one he saw in person, clinging to the ceiling with its joints bent in directions that made it irritating to look at, its head turning slowly like it was tasting the air.
And pressed against the wall beside apartment 409 behind an overturned shelf unit were three people.
There were three women with one woman on the floor. The woman had something wrapped around her leg that was dark and wet. One of the women was young, maybe nineteen or twenty, both hands pressed over her mouth with wide dark eyes fixed on the Crawler above her.
The other woman was older, maybe in her thirties, watching the same Crawler with the rigid stillness of someone who was holding their breath ever so slightly.
The Crawler hadn't seen them yet. The Rotter at the far end was sitting between them and the stairwell door.
Michael pulled back from the window and looked at Sera. She had seen everything. She held up two fingers then pointed at the Crawler and then at herself then pointed at the Rotter and then at him.
He nodded.
She held up three fingers. Two. One.
He pushed the door open on zero.
The Rotter turned at the sound and Michael was already moving. He hit it before it finished turning, two swings was all it took and then it was down and he stepped back and looked up.
[+30 SP.]
Sera had crossed the hallway in near silence and the first axe swing knocked the Crawler off the ceiling and the second finished it on the floor before it could make a sound.
[+60 SP — Crawler Eliminated.]
The hallway went completely silent.
Three pairs of eyes came up over the edge of the overturned shelf and looked at them.
The younger woman moved first, lowering her hands from her mouth and staring at Michael and Sera with an expression that had gone from pure terror to stunned disbelief in about two seconds.
She had a small dried cut above her eyebrow and a university hoodie two sizes too big and she was holding a table leg in one hand like a weapon, which he genuinely respected.
The older woman rose slowly. She had short practical hair and was in her thirties, she had the controlled expression of someone very frightened and very determined not to show it.
Her eyes moved to Michael's axe then to the Crawler on the floor then back to his face.
The most youngest of the women stayed down. Her leg was bad, it was not a bite by the look of it but a fall injury that had gone untreated long enough to be a real problem.
"Can dhe walk?" Michael asked quietly.
"If she has to," the older woman said and her voice was steady which impressed him.
"She has to." He pushed the pulse down toward Floor 3. The big signatures were still there, still moving slow, still not coming up yet. "We need to move right now to the stairwell up to Floor 6. Stay close and stay quiet."
The young woman in the hoodie was still staring at him. "Where did you come from?"
"Six floors up."
"Is it safe up there?"
He thought about her question for a moment.
"Safer than here," he said and held out a hand.
She looked at it for exactly one second then took it and he pulled her to her feet.
[Ding! New Survivor — Maya. +1 Bond Point.]
He blinked at the notification then looked at her. Maya apparently. She was looking back at him with those wide dark eyes that had gone from scared to something else, not fully safe yet but maybe considering the possibility of it.
He let go of her hand and turned to the older woman. "I'm Michael."
"Dr. Kang," she said already moving to get the injured man upright. "Shin needs medical attention. If you have supplies—"
"I have supplies." He looked at Sera who had already positioned herself at the far end of the hallway between the group and the stairwell door. She gave him a clean nod.
She was ready to run at any time.
"Okay," Michael said. "Let's go."
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[Rescue Quest — Survivors In The Dark. Survivors found: 3/3. Extracting to base.]
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