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Someone had mentioned getting a flashlight after he'd gotten his sorry a** up. Everyone else seemed to be raiding stores for them, handing them out, or using their phones. Finding his own was probably the better of the three options, Lex figured, and it would give him a chance to scope out the place.

His first stop was one of those mall directory boards, and with enough squinting and the assistance of the weak light from his phone screen (he had the brightness set to low, to maintain battery life.) the Lifer was able to make out where the nearest drugstore was. Crouching down, the man took slow and cautious steps in the general direction as Rep's all too cheery voice blared over the intercom.

One question; who the ******** gave that man a baby?

Regardless, he finally reached the drugstore after a stroke of sheer dumb luck in that there were no infected for him to dodge around. Just... oh God, no no no no. He hated crying, and this preteen boy was blubbering into the night as he held on tightly to one of those oversized stuffed bears that stood about as tall as the 12 year old.

< Ignore him. He'll just get in your way. >

<< You know I can't do that. >>

With a heavy sigh and a churning gut, Lex put a hand on the kid's shoulder and made it very clear he was not an infected. "Stop crying." He deadpanned, kneeling down. "You're going to be okay." He lied through his teeth, showing the pistol to him. "I'll get you out of this."

Lex had no idea what he was doing, as was apparent by the increased blubbering and the vice grip on the plush bear. "W-who are y-you? Go awaaay!"

Lex groaned.

"I-i-i just want my mommy! Where's my mommy!?"

Oh my god.

"I wanna go home!" The boy wailed, loud enough for the whole store to hear and bring in any roaming green eyed freaks. Lex was incredibly tempted to gag this child and bring him back to base camp, but that would probably go on his record of bad s**t Lex has done and we should point out at every possible moment.

"Look, I know where your mommy is. You just need to shut up for five seconds and follow me." Lex lied with a hiss, putting the gun away to seem a little less violent. "You're also going to have to leave the bear behind."

The boy hiccuped, shook his head. "I can't leave Bearnabus behind..." He whined.

Another deep sigh, but Lex nodded. If worse came to worse, he could always thrown 'Bearnabus' at an infected and get the ******** out of Dodge.

"I'm Benji. Who are you?"

"Lex."

"Yeah, but don't try to think about it too hard - you'll hesitate. You hesitate and you're dead. Whatever they once were, they're infected now." With a curse, Horace grabbed Tommy and tried to haul him a little farther away from the creature. He pushed at it as it hissed and bubbled. "No cure." Horace coughed. These things smelled like disease and rot. The infected took advantage of his pre-occupation to lash out, catching him across the shoulder. As he careened back, his hands moved up and he quickly tied his scarf around his mouth and nose. Better than nothing. Rep's less-than cheerful announcement cut across the mall. Annoying that- it effectively covered up any noises an infected might make.

A child's wail cut across the store and Horace half-turned. Captain's head was still barely visible behind the counter. "s**t, Tommy, there's another civ in here!" Or more. There seemed to be some ind of conversation going on, but it was too low to make out. "Hey!" he called out, watching the infected in front of him carefully. Getting the civilian over here was a gamble, but it might be better than leaving them to wail in the dark and attract something else. "Stay put unless you can come to the west entrance safely!"

HP: 27/40
DMG: 3
CHG: 3/3
NORMAL TYPE
HP: 41/60
AUTO DMG: 4
Status: yay


BUFFS:
accuracy: -5 modifier to rolls (4/10 uses)
speedy: x2 damage against speedy zombies

With Horace's help, Tommy soon found himself back on his feet, though not without another swipe taken at him first before he got away completely. Turning on his heel, he gave the infected a hard kick to the mid-section, sending it back to the shelf again. Beneath his foot, he felt soft flesh give, and more rotten scent filled the air, a cloying smell that made Thomas nearly gag.

"How can they deteriorate so quickly?" He wondered out loud, only a moment before he too heard the noise of a wailing child. A quick glance was given back towards Horace, before he set his attention back on the infected, content to let the death trainee deal with it.


HP: 28
Damage: 5
Charge: 2/3



Buffs: Mist (rolled absolutely crap all again woops)
Light weapon (using close range knuckles and not crossbows) double damage against speedy type

Despite the situation, Gretchen couldn't help a soft, smothered snort of laughter at Lukas' retort. She managed to turn it into a couch, clearing her throat a second after. Pesky mall air, so dry.

Their civilian was barely holding onto her composure. Nails were biting into Gretchen's arm where the young woman was clinging to her, and it seemed pretty useless trying to get her to stop. She was scared, this was all very overwhelming for her, the Death understood.

Didn't mean she wouldn't have crest shaped gouge marks in her arm later though.

They kept walking, and after a little while they came to what looked like a split in the causeway. "Hey I think there's a map here." It wasn't lit up, but Gretch could make out most of it by the light of the runes on her staff. It took a moment to locate the 'You Are Here' dot, but once she did she expanded her search for the ice rink. They were in luck, it seemed to be around the corner from them. "There, that's where we need to go." Another point of her staff.

"I dunno, but it can't be great to play splash-in-the-zombie-slurry." He grabbed the infected and spun it to shove it up against a broken shelf. The metal sliced into its chest and it howled. Even if it was once human, it wasn't anymore. Clacking teeth narrowly missed Horace's shoulder as the shoulder pushed back, shoving him into the opposite side of the aisle.

"Be careful," he grunted. "I don't necessarily think we're immune either." They could collect the other child later, when this threat was eliminated.

HP: 23/40
DMG: 8
CHG: 3/3
NORMAL TYPE
HP: 28/60
AUTO DMG: 4
Status: yay


BUFFS:
accuracy: -5 modifier to rolls (4/10 uses)
speedy: x2 damage against speedy zombies

Rep had received Harrison's text that he was heading back from the island and when he spotted the Moon hunter exiting the portal at base camp he had decided that he didn't want to wait any longer. The mall was treacherous and he'd been watching the infected pick up in activity gradually since the lights went out, even for an experienced hunter like Harrison it was no ******** place to be caught alone.

He moved swiftly through the dark, able to go unseen thanks to his artifact, slipping past a few of the infected that were gnawing determinedly on someone unfortunates who hadn't made it out. It was strange to think he knew who the people had been, at least to look at and that he'd sat and indifferently watched as they were ganged up upon and killed. He wasn't thinking right, he wasn't thinking right at all, all his emotions felt switched off and repressed, pushed down down into the darkness inside him. There would be time to dwell on all of it later, to second guess himself and his decisions, what mattered now was instinct and getting to Harrison before the infected did.

The bright glow of B0nez and his runes was visible from far away, unmistakable to Rep, and he honed in on it, picking up to a jog.

He was just in time.

There was a deep bellow of sound as an infected leapt from the second floor where it had been watching the Moon hunter, tiles splintering under its massive feet, intestines dragging on the ground as it moved towards the light.



HP: 120
AD: 8

"ACE" Rep called out. "Defend me!"

HP: 60/60
Charge 0/3

Death : Hunter - -3 from damage modifier (usable unlimited times)
Heavy weapons do not do well in enclosed spaces like these! If you roll two of the same number in your attack roll (for instance 4,4) you get stuck in something and miss! If you are a ranged, something breaks and likewise! You also do double damage against NORMAL type infected

"I know what it's been eating." Rep said grimly, moving to Harrison's side, probably closer than he'd been to the other man all day. There was no other option when it came to fighting, he needed him in his weak points, needed him close enough to duck Tracey when it was necessary.

"Maybe this one found that ******** gymrat shop upstairs though as well."

He summoned Tracey, a long row of blazing runes in the darkness. It felt good to be able to drop the act, even if this was another act of sorts itself. They couldn't really focus on what they'd been doing and what there was still to do, all they could do was joke and make light of the now, gallows humour had always been important. He struck the b*****d across the shoulder with a snarl of satisfaction.

You had to stay ******** positive, he found himself thinking bitterly.

HP: 60/60
DMG: 6
Charge 1/3

Mob HP: 114

Death Hunter : -3 from damage modifier (usable unlimited times)
Heavy weapons do not do well in enclosed spaces like these! If you roll two of the same number in your attack roll (for instance 4,4) you get stuck in something and miss! If you are a ranged, something breaks and likewise! You also do double damage against NORMAL type infected