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America had finally finished, for what good it may do. Stryker and Haruko's chains now form a circle around Otto and Tenya with 6 defense.

"Sure, don't attack the person until they're up in your space and shoving you into the sand," Jack drawled. "Look, I don't have fire on me sadly, but if you've got that covered, then--"

He heard what might have been contained explosions and a few hunters' voices; neither which sounded good. The LIfe pair were ganging up on Shiloh, and so he forced himself to trudge through the sand and reach them. "Oy! You want a real parasite to deal with, come at me!" he shouted at them as he swung.

HP: 40
Damage: 7 to the Mimsy/Lucky collective/bugs/what have you
Charge: 2/3

('cause really, how does anyone miss sand?) Milo finally got his arm free enough to and swung downwards into the sand. He was honestly aiming a little listlessly and half attempting to get himself a little out of the sand.

And then he kind of got a clear look of the scene. Well.... s**t. "Sorry, don't have fire... but maybe if I get my charge up.. I got wind to spread it?"

Pandora fired a few more mostly useless warning shots into the sand near her, which was churning uncomfortably frequently. The group of not-pod people was thinning rapidly, leaving her more or less alone with America and Otto.


HP: 19/40
DMG: 0
Charge: 0/3

Nevada watched Jack move, setting up Leroy on the top of the bug sand.

Soon as the life hunter was out of range, Nevada aimed her charge to cut through the sand between Lucky, Mimsy and Stormy advancement.

The minute she pulled the trigger though, the weapon exploded in her hands instead. At least this time it wasn't as painful as the time with Stormy.

USING GC CHARGE. Miss.

Nevada: 41/50
Damage: Miss

The failsafe lock of Otto's torch clicked as the flames died out, not before revealing a long trail of dead insects where the path of the flames had touched. Even now, the area was barren of insects, safe for the time being.

Stormy looked lost as Abbi was pulled away. With a strange sort of determination, she began taking another few steps -

- And then started choking, doubling over. She vomited both insects and blood. The ejected insects squirmed a bit, curled around, up her arms, and then forced themselves back into her mouth. She wiped away the blood with a smile and then started to walk again towards Nevada, Jack and Abbi.

Milo attacking the sand was far enough that he didn't attract the attention of any of the repossessed Hunters. It however, wasn't enough to stop something from bursting out of the sand - not insects but a tall figure, wearing a charred black outfit easily resembling a Hunter coat in design that clung to the remains of their skin. Their skin, what parts of it that remained had been entirely burnt, blackened and peeling. Perhaps at some point they had been human, but the thousands of insects writhing and milling around in the person's body was the only thing keeping their crisp limbs together. The hollow cocoon of a human shell moved towards Milo, stretching a hand out, and just three fingers, the other empty holes pouring insects out of them. They hobbled sideways, flopped over, and then crawled, a mass of both blackened flesh and insect.

It was over for Shiloh. His head easily submerged into the sand, he thrashed once, twice, three times-

- And then resurfaced and everything was fine. Haruko quickly desummoned, no longer part of the line of defense. The three of them turned towards their original goal, where Otto, America, and several others were gathered. They summoned their weapons when Jack did as well. Nevada's attack bounced quickly of Mimsy's Fear shield.

Dakota remained half-crouched in the sand, watching the interaction between Leon and Candace. His nose began to drip thick dark blood. Without help, Melvin easily got a hold of Rin and began to push her down. He was unprepared however, for the scarf, and instinctively moved back, no longer smiling, instead pacing around the line of fire, waiting for it to burn out.

The pieces fell into place. Lance desummoned his weapon. It was half buried in the sand as it was, and from his current angle it was hopeless to get a good angle. "Hoi!" He shouted, arm raised to try and get the attentions of the other hunters. "Scarves up and over your mouths now! Tie'em back bandit style, don't leave it loose to let those ******** in! Once they're in --" He gestured towards the possessed hunters, not needing to explain himself.

The assistant grit his teeth as he sank lower into the sand, trying vainly to activate the controls on his runic wheelchair to at least get the wheels spinning, just in case the runic tech would be reliable enough just this once to get him out of the sand. "Just stay calm and focus!" He added belatedly, using his free arm to pull at his scarf from around his neck.

Pandora obliged and pushed her scarf over her nose and mouth, for whatever good it would do. Shiloh was advancing on her too now. She fired a few shots toward the trio of zombie-like hunters, trying to keep focus and aim steady despite the stress.

"Lance," she asked tentatively from a few feet away, voice muffled in thick cloth. Every attempt to scale the sand nearby only resulted in being pushed farther down. She'd more or less given up on escaping upward. Her mouth was obscured, but her eyes betrayed her uncertainty. "Are we going to die?"

DMG: 2
HP: 19