Welcome to Gaia! ::

Since they were trying to win favors Cecil headed off as soon as he was able in search of things they might be able to use. There wasn't a lot to choose from but perhaps he would be able to find something in the local businesses.

He stepped into the office supply store after a few failed attempts of getting through the door, realizing it looked just as looted and destroyed as the university. Paper and debris were everywhere and he would be hard pressed to find anything of use but still he would try.

Slowly moving in, keeping a hand in front of himself to avoid running into things, he decided to walk the perimeter first. His hindered vision was a set back but at least he was able to tell where he was going. There were several rooms off to the side, some of them might have been break rooms, or maybe a clock in room for the employees, but one room he came across he couldn't open. It was strange that it was still closed and hadn't been pried open. What was behind it?

He worked at the handle of the strange room for a little longer before he finally gave up and moved on, searching through the debris with his foot as he went trying to find items he could keep or give to the others. He wasn't sure what he would dig up in the supply store and eventually circled back around to what had looked like a break room. There was always a chance there was food or snacks that had been in the vending machine that had been tossed aside but as he entered he found nothing of the sort. The vending machine was broken and on its side, empty of all its contents. A quick sweep of the room told him there was nothing of use. All he found was a cluster of rats in the corner and he didn't really want to know why they were gathered together like that. It was like they were...scared. Had it been from all the noise outside or was it something else?

A little unnerved he headed back out of the break room and into the neighboring office. This room looked like it had been manager central once upon a time. There wasn't much to it and what there was had been scattered about. The desk had been opened and rooted through but still Cecil moved toward it and opened drawers to investigate and see what he could find. He was almost excited when he came across a bottle of booze but when he lifted it from the desk he realized it was empty. That would have been far too easy wouldn't it.

With a sigh he placed the bottle down on the desk and moved out into the main area of the store tripping over a few things as he went. It was so hard to judge where things were and the more careful he tried to be the more clumsy he became. He had just leveled out his walking when he tripped again and went to the floor, groaning when he hit with a loud thud. That had not felt nice, but what had he tripped over? It had felt odd against his foot.

He shouldn't have looked, there was a small voice in his head that said he should keep moving but he hardly listened to that small voice. Instead he turned his head and spotted a half eaten body not a few feet away and froze. Cecil hadn't noticed the smell before but now that he was so close it invaded his nose with no hope that he would forget it. His body was still screaming at him to move, the blood and gore of what was beside him slowly settling into reality. It was when the eyes moved to look at him that he yelled out and scrambled to his feet, chest heaving as he made his way back. He never took his eyes off of the body as he stumbled his way out of Staples but when he was back in the street and what he deemed to be a safe distance he finally looked away in order to be sick.

His body emptied itself of what little food and drink he had consumed earlier and just when he thought he was done the memory would come back and he would heave again until there was nothing left. Breathing hard he moved to rejoin with the others to at least let them know what he found trying to bury the memory of the body the best he could. This was no time to let it slow him down.

The shadows against the windows suddenly shifted the moment Cecil left, revealing a monstrous form that steadily moved forward again, prey no longer in sight.