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Fingers in a warm slid along the back of Ever's neck would hopefully get him moving again, Zeke steering him towaeds a door to one side of the hall. "Mines closer." He opened it, nudging Ever in before him, and pulled it closed behind them. Maybe they'd sleep, or maybe not.

Carl was frowning up at Beth as he emptied his other boot and pulled it on again. "This is just an observation, but ya might be holdin' to a lost cause with that one." His tone was apologetic, hesitant, because it wasn't any of his business really, but Paige really didn't seem interested, and Beth was a pretty girl. No reason she had to cling to unrequited pining. "Lots of fish in the sea." Or desert, for that matter. Lacing his boot he flashed her another bright smile before getting back to his feet.

"Kin walk ya back to your room, if you want."

A long sigh through the nose followed that look, and Carl brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck before Beth's tone jerked his head around again. "Oh! Yeah."

Well then.

He trotted to catch up to her, then slowed as he reached her, offering a small, wary smile.

That night the wind picked up, not too terrible at first. By noon the base would be surrounded by a sandstorm that made it impossible to get through. By eight in the evening one of the hunters will have managed and will got missing.

The intranet having died three hours earlier. The power dying a half hour after.

Jokers wild

Entertainment was limited in the Sahara base, and with the power down it was even further capped. Carl wanted them to stick to the mess hall, it's be safer he said, so that was what they did. It was fortunate there were a handful of hunters on this trip with various vices and habits. Someone produced a deck of worn cards, a bottle of bourbon appeared on the table not long after the game had started. All things considered, it wasn't an awful way the spend the evening. If only Bob would stop demanding assistance from, the group while simultaneously insisting they leave him be.

When it got strangely quiet, when at least one of the gathered hunters had noticed the absence of another, there came a lull in the game. Zeke, a cigarette between two fingers, looked up from his cards and across the table to Paige. "Where did Cee say she was going?" Had she even mentioned? It was her turn.

Frowning, he offered the smoke to Ever, turning in his chair to look down the hall.

Carl, sitting next to Beth, frowned as well. "How long has she been gone?"

Jokers Wild

Beth was looking... incredibly pleased with the current turn of events.

"Maybe she's dead," she whispered almost giddily, watching Paige and blatantly ignoring Carl.

"That ain't funny," Paige half-snarled as she threw her cards down on the table. She shoved back from the table and rose to her feet.

"If something happened to her and it's your ********' fault," Paige let the threat hang heavy in the air as she stalked off towards the bathroom. "She's been gone too long for just peein'."

Ever's reply to Zeke was a shrug -- which could have been casual, except for the slow knit of pale eyebrows in the middle of his forehead. "It's not like she wouldn't wander off or mess around, but..."

But, he hesitated, rolling to sit more upright and tapping off his cigarette as he watched Paige go. "I feel like she wouldn't wander off or mess around alone."

Lips pressed into a thin line, Zeke nodded, letting out a long breath as he reached over and plucked the cigarette from Ever's hand so he could pull in a long drag. "Yeah, this doesn't seem like her." Just like sleepwalking had never been an issue for Zeke in the past. Strange occurrences that were now quickly becoming causes for concern.

Paige returned to them to confirm Cee was not in the bathrooms, and Carl shot Beth a stern look before getting to his feet. "I think we should form groups of two and or three and go search the whole of the base. This place is pretty big." He didn't know Cee well, but if her friends said this wasn't normal for her, he had to believe them. That meant it was unlikely she'd have simply wandered off into some hidden nook or cranny of the base, but he wanted to be sure before they even attempted going up in that storm.

With a plume of smoke Zeke got to his feet, A pointed look directed at Paige and Ever as he handed the smoke back to the later. If they were teaming up, those two would certainly be his preference for a search party.