Welcome to Gaia! ::

His approach was slow, calculating. Every few steps, he swung back to make sure he wasn't being followed. Everywhere was a possibility- in the tree tops, the forest floor, north, south, east and west. Quinn held out the rifle, his eye on the sights. His finger rested against the side of the weapon instead of on the trigger just in case he got a little trigger happy or jumpy and shot Stephen or the kid.

He slowed even further as he approached the downed shade. The bullet did damage, which he didn't expect. He swung around to see the front of the beast.

"What the Hell is this thing? Jesus.."

s**t.

s**t s**t.

Turning on heel, Quinn approached Stephen and the child, kneel down next to Stephen, and clasp a hand on his shoulder. As he did so he would raise his left hand up and make a "shushing" motion to the both of them. He would then signal for a retreat back the way they came, opposite of the encampment. Tactical withdrawal could only serve their purposes for now. The people inside of the encampment would weigh heavy on his mind, but he decided that was something him and his friend could discuss in safer circumstances.

Katie and Madi had a lot on their respective plates.

The guard himself nodded at their willingness to help. They looked different from your run of the mill tourist, and if he had more time he'd have asked them a few serious questions about whether or not they had anything to do with the mess Reen was currently in. Or if they knew...

But now wasn't the time.

"I'll take the third group. Split that way, it should give us a good run. Thankfully it's not as far as you'd think. Head for the west gate and just look for the sign of swords crossed, it's blue, reflective in the dark. Those are reinforced holdings."

The divisions where fairly straightforward.

Madi got a pair of families, and some residents. Katie got three more plus residents, and the guard took the rest, who were all tourists. No one protested, they were matched to how much the leader knew of the area, which is to say, none for either Katie or Madi. So they'd have some help heading in the right direction.

"Right, bunny girl left, big girl down the center, and I'll move to the right. Smoke em if you've got them, we're off."

And he quickly filtered his side off to the right, leaving the two girls and their own groups.

“Left it is!” Madison grinned and looked at her “troops”. It was a sad excuse for troops, but it was going to have to do. However, she thought for a moment about getting chairs or something to protect themselves from the shades. But there was no time for that. Only time to move and get them to safety.

“Let’s go!” The rabbit began to start walking to the left area. She didn’t think running would be their best option considering Madison could run to their desired location in about ten seconds, easy. She was required to be a little more responsible than that.

“Um…if…we uh…go the wrong way. Let me know?” Madison was much more shy than Katie’s assertive behavior; it was part of her nature. But she could sense that the families were not exactly feeling entirely safe. Afterall, the other groups had both an Amazon woman, and the head of the guard as protection. Instead they had a rabbit.

Nothing was said though.

And Madison could only hope it would stay that way.

Stephen, in the meantime, wasn't paying much attention, as he was currently removing his swords and removing his jacket and folding it up in as small a space as possible, revealing himself to be wearing all black underneath. He shoved it into a small pouch that he had strapped to his belt. The jacket somehow managed to fit inside, and the bag barely clasped shut, but the signature red was now well out of sight.

The purpose was made clear though - his visibility was now significantly dropped without that red thing waving behind him. He still had to deal with the blond hair in the dark, but that was less important than a long jacket in a color that naturally attracted the eye.

Returning his melee weapons to their normal places, he glanced over to Quinn, flashing a quick hand signal.

One.

He hissed a quick "Get on" to the kid, whom either out of fear or lack of anything better to do did so, getting onto the man's back and holding on tightly. He then looked over at Quinn and flashed a thumbs up stating that he was ready for the hasty retreat. He wanted to make sure Katie and crew were safe, not to mention Quinn as well.

They had no idea what they were up against, so strength in numbers was the best option for the moment.

(incomplete)



If a red eye could narrow, it would have done, quite effectively. Sakura would soon notice that she was actually running, yet, not getting anywhere. A strange earthquake vibration forming in the ground under her feet.

Asphalt creaked and moaned, buckling as the creature dug in with giant fingers, and RIPPED the road up from the actual dirt like a rug. Debris rained down from between the two hands, before slamming it down again.

Thus forcing Sakura to not only run from the giant, but also a rapidly growing buldge of road, bearing down on her like a concrete wave. With it carried large amounts of wood, glass, concrete, and twisted metal of various forms from the pipes and byways that had been hidden and then harshly exposed to the air.



As the massive hands hit the ground again, dust, and then water erupted up in a circle from around the huge form. One of the major pipes had burst from the force, and continued to wreak bloody havoc all around, forcing smaller pipes to do the same in the backlash.

And through all this came Ichigo like some robed invisible shadow, exactly as a shinigami with a ******** off huge sword should.

Zangetsu opened a hefty rent within the back of the Rook, forcing an alien roar of rage to break all the glass of the windows. Glass raining down to either side, the creature reared up and around at the new threat, arms sweeping a large swath of air in the direction of the irritating orange haired man.

Black blood splashed onto the ground, flowing like a river around the feet, sinking into the cracks of the dirt.



It was dark now, and that was a problem. Luckily, or prehaps tragicly, fire's had started in some of the buildings along her path to the safehouse. And hers were not the only wide eyes searching the flickering shadows as the group huddled and stumbled after the warrior woman.

At some times having a pack of people was distracting. A muttered gasp, or a squeak as something that moved, turned out to be some animal or a trick of the light, even Katie might find herself jumping, startled, by the darker places along her route.

Then the roar from the injured rook floated over the crowd, and everyone in her party froze. Which was just as well....



The bunny girl might have had an easier time of it, though her way was darker and slightly more obscure then the direct route, it was also the shortest. Fairly rapidly they made their way to the southern bunker.

Suddenly, the street would open up into a small circular courtyard, in the center of which was a very small ferris wheel, everything was of course turned off and powered down. But that did nothing to settle the whole spookiness of the situation....

(to be continu'd)

The shadows slowly danced around her as the rabbit continued to walk down the road less travelled. It was at this point where Madison wished she still had ownership over the chair that she used against the shades that she had fought earlier. But instead it was her and the group that had been following her. The sensation of fear filled the area as she wondered towards the center of the circular courtyard.

Madison seemed to now be relieved at the sight of what seemed to appear to be the southern bunker that they had been looking for. Smiling she let out a long breath of relief and continued to wonder forwards. Although it seemed to have an eerie sense to it, she knew that these people were safe and they had reached their destination.

This was easier than she had thought. Sure, there were a few monsters and some people that naturally freaked out. But overall, this was very simple.

Or at least, that was is what she liked telling herself.