Cat had entered the hotel to hear the words of the haggard man and took them to heart, these people were of to a good start, but clearly needed more help. Her first priority had been addressing the wounds she’d sustained from the birds outside, but now that she had been patched up, Cat rummaged through the pile in the center of the room and explored further into the hotel to look for supplies that could be used to help fortify the defenses here. It wouldn’t do them any good to fight off these birds if the civilians got torn to ribbons in the process and there was evidently already a good foundation to build from.

She worked with a steady calm; she didn’t know quite where this came from, but had found herself to always remain calm during a stressful situation, thinking rationally and able to give quick directions to those around her, it was afterwards that the adrenaline would catch up to her and reduce her to a shaking mess. But for now she was still useful and would work to help ease the burden and stress on these refuges, setting herself to the task of fortification with unspoken confidence.

Cat was glad of her training in Girl Scouts- sure it had also been a great deal of fun while she took part in the activities and camps, but more than just social meetings and cookie sales had taken place. She had taken to heart all of the lessons she’d participated in at camps, working her way towards badges and feeling confident at passing on the skills she’d learned to younger girls as she advanced through the program. She’d always loved reading survivalist stories and wanted to learn how to survive off the land (not that she could, it was more of an interest than anything else), so maybe that’s why the lessons on firebuilding, whipping and hanking, lashing and knot tying all stuck so well. Regardless, she was thankful that she’s committed those lessons to memory and was genuinely good at them so she could apply them now.

As she was looking further in the hotel, one of the items she found strewn about in the hallway was a ridiculously large suitcase, obviously belonging to a wealthy woman on holiday. While there were some gorgeous dresses in there- some might even fit her- and it pained her to wreck them, she wasn’t about to take advantage of these poor people’s misfortune. She recognized that they could serve a better purpose now as ropes and set to work cutting, plating, and splicing the dresses together to create makeshift ropes. Coiling the new ropes over one arm, she walked upstairs and fastened them to the banisters with bowlines where there were large opening from hallways and landings, dropping the other end down to the floor below. She finished off her job by anchoring the ropes so that they wouldn’t swing wildly if someone did slide down them (testing each rope herself before calling the job done); in case of emergency they would need more than just the staircase to get people out.

Cat made her way towards the kitchen and restaurant area once the ropes were finished and found, of all things not to already be grabbed, kerosene? The stash was in the back of a storeroom behind some boxes, she assumed it was used for the small lamps in the restaurant portion of the hotel that were meant to lend ambiance to meals. Grabbing the kerosene and empty bottles that had been discarded in a recycling bin, she headed back to where she had left the remnants of clothing from the suitcase and got to work making Molotov cocktails. They could be seriously dangerous, and erratic when thrown, so she sought out the man who had first approached them about needing help and trusted him to hand them out to reliable civilians or store them for emergency.

While she had been walking back from the kitchen, Cat also spotted two steak knives from a discarded room-service tray. She’d picked them up (Why let a sharp edge go to waste?) and spotting the round, broken poles from a four poster bed in the surplus pile, knew what she wanted to do. She lashed the knives to her scavenged posts to create makeshift pikes that could be anchored near a doorway to the chaotic, outside world. The birds would have to avoid the gleaming metal or else inflict damage upon themselves to draw close.

Lastly, she found what might have been the mattress from the same bed she’d used for the pikes. It was partially torn with half the stuffing is torn out. Why it was in such a state she couldn’t be sure, it’s not like the stuffing could be burnt with the amount of flame retardant used on mattresses in this day in age. In any case, she moved the bulky thing to add further reinforcement to a nearby window- the darn thing was heavy and would prevent a broken board from leading to immediate entry into the hotel.

With defenses bolstered, Cat brushed off her hands and pant legs. It was a job done well and could help in a pinch. She felt back to her old strength too, so it was time to take on some birds!

[WC: 891]