07-07-2016, 04:17 AM
Colonel whirled back around as he gave his single word order. There was little time to do anything else. Granite had been made of stern stuff; he was extremely hardy and durable. If whatever was after them could bite right through him...then none of the rest of them stood a ghost of a chance. He didn't like retreating, but he liked fighting the unknown a whole lot more.
"Any bright ideas?" Abner called back.
A low, crackling noise heralded the response. "You might say that." It was hard to build up a charge on the run. The focus it required made it difficult to keep fully aware of his surroundings, and left him able to only charge straight ahead. Which suited his current plan just fine.
His eyes snapped to the right, to a gap between two buildings up ahead. That should suffice. "Turn up ahead. Down that alley."
"I just hope you know what you're doing here..." came the response from the man, Trent.
"I'm improvising." The soldier navi's response did not inspire confidence, but all the same the group did as instructed. "Shout if it's a dead end!"
"It's clear!" Abner this time.
"Good. Go!" Colonel made it only to the entrance of the alley before he spun on one heel and leaped up and backward. His energy saber came up, and after a moment's delay, lining up his angle of attack just so...he struck. A blade of emerald light crashed into the two nearly adjacent buildings near the base, producing a horrendous cacophony of exploding brick and the thunder of energy sizzling in the still air. Huge sections of both walls came tumbling down, only producing more of a racket and throwing up thick clouds of dust and soot, and quite effectively blocking the way to follow them on foot. Whether it would do any good or not was anyone's guess.
If it really had been a wild animal, that much of a ruckus would hopefully scare them off, or at least make them hesitate. And even then, just a few seconds to get more of a head start on vanishing into the city could be invaluable.
...but it wasn't all positive.
The war machine came stumbling out of the roiling clouds of dislodged grit, his left arm desperately clutching at the navi emblem on his chest in a very human fashion. Expression twisted into a teeth-baring grimace, he slowly made his way forward, down an adjoining alleyway. This wasn't natural. The sudden output of energy coincided all too eerily with clawed hand deciding to rummage about in his internal components, smashing and shifting things about at its random, cruel whimsy. It was all he could do to stay upright and moving, slowly shuffling down the alley and out into the street again.
A short, sharp whistle from the other side of the street alerted the machine to the presence of his other three companions -- for now, at the least -- and he made a beeline for them. They looked just about as terrible as he felt, and there was the alarming presence of blood splattered on the ground near them. Whatever it was that got him, probably.
He shoved aside the expected "The hell was THAT?!" question with a simple "Keep moving!" and barged right past them. The pain in his chest was easing now, and he suspected the human term for it might have been it was 'becoming easier to breathe'. His pace slowly quickened, his focus sharpening without pain to distract and dull it, and after a time, he finally relented in the mad dash.
"No sounds of pursuit..." He made a short survey of their current surroundings, taking in the depressing state of the city about them. He seemed satisfied at whatever he found -- or didn't find, as the case more probably was.
"Right. So, next order of business: avoiding letting anything sneak up on again, yeah?" Abner spoke up. "And seeing if there aren't any supplies somewhere in this city. Grabbed some from the plane wreckage, but they ain't gonna last forever."
"...right." Supplies. Very human thing to need. For a moment, Colonel debated shooting down that idea, as they really didn't have the time to waste, but had to stop himself. He was a machine, at least here in the Omniverse. He could keep running just about indefinitely, provided he didn't get too badly damaged. Even back home, humans had been different. They had more basic necessities they required. "Given the state of this town, don't get your hopes up. But start looking."
"Any bright ideas?" Abner called back.
A low, crackling noise heralded the response. "You might say that." It was hard to build up a charge on the run. The focus it required made it difficult to keep fully aware of his surroundings, and left him able to only charge straight ahead. Which suited his current plan just fine.
His eyes snapped to the right, to a gap between two buildings up ahead. That should suffice. "Turn up ahead. Down that alley."
"I just hope you know what you're doing here..." came the response from the man, Trent.
"I'm improvising." The soldier navi's response did not inspire confidence, but all the same the group did as instructed. "Shout if it's a dead end!"
"It's clear!" Abner this time.
"Good. Go!" Colonel made it only to the entrance of the alley before he spun on one heel and leaped up and backward. His energy saber came up, and after a moment's delay, lining up his angle of attack just so...he struck. A blade of emerald light crashed into the two nearly adjacent buildings near the base, producing a horrendous cacophony of exploding brick and the thunder of energy sizzling in the still air. Huge sections of both walls came tumbling down, only producing more of a racket and throwing up thick clouds of dust and soot, and quite effectively blocking the way to follow them on foot. Whether it would do any good or not was anyone's guess.
If it really had been a wild animal, that much of a ruckus would hopefully scare them off, or at least make them hesitate. And even then, just a few seconds to get more of a head start on vanishing into the city could be invaluable.
...but it wasn't all positive.
The war machine came stumbling out of the roiling clouds of dislodged grit, his left arm desperately clutching at the navi emblem on his chest in a very human fashion. Expression twisted into a teeth-baring grimace, he slowly made his way forward, down an adjoining alleyway. This wasn't natural. The sudden output of energy coincided all too eerily with clawed hand deciding to rummage about in his internal components, smashing and shifting things about at its random, cruel whimsy. It was all he could do to stay upright and moving, slowly shuffling down the alley and out into the street again.
A short, sharp whistle from the other side of the street alerted the machine to the presence of his other three companions -- for now, at the least -- and he made a beeline for them. They looked just about as terrible as he felt, and there was the alarming presence of blood splattered on the ground near them. Whatever it was that got him, probably.
He shoved aside the expected "The hell was THAT?!" question with a simple "Keep moving!" and barged right past them. The pain in his chest was easing now, and he suspected the human term for it might have been it was 'becoming easier to breathe'. His pace slowly quickened, his focus sharpening without pain to distract and dull it, and after a time, he finally relented in the mad dash.
"No sounds of pursuit..." He made a short survey of their current surroundings, taking in the depressing state of the city about them. He seemed satisfied at whatever he found -- or didn't find, as the case more probably was.
"Right. So, next order of business: avoiding letting anything sneak up on again, yeah?" Abner spoke up. "And seeing if there aren't any supplies somewhere in this city. Grabbed some from the plane wreckage, but they ain't gonna last forever."
"...right." Supplies. Very human thing to need. For a moment, Colonel debated shooting down that idea, as they really didn't have the time to waste, but had to stop himself. He was a machine, at least here in the Omniverse. He could keep running just about indefinitely, provided he didn't get too badly damaged. Even back home, humans had been different. They had more basic necessities they required. "Given the state of this town, don't get your hopes up. But start looking."
Quote:782/2400 words, according to on-site wordcounter.
"Hold on a second, I have a call..."
![[Image: blog-Wesker.jpg]](https://cdn.dcdouglas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/blog-Wesker.jpg)
"Yes, this is Wesker. Go ahead."
"Yes, this is Wesker. Go ahead."