Cole's Journey: Lock & Key

[Laraqua]

The television remote is on the coffee table but the television merely shows a blue screen. Has something affected all of the television stations? There's a telephone sitting on the kitchenette counter and he calls through to the police station but simply gets an engaged signal.

"Traffic that bad, huh?" asks the man.

Show,it's all good. I've done plenty of research and watched plenty of cop shows so you pick up a few details like that.

[Garrett]

OK, this is no big deal, there is nothing supernatural going on. There were some earthquakes, the city is in a bit of a chaotic state right now because of them, that's why you can't reach the police station. You just have to chill out, and wait for they evacuation.
"You guys don't happen to have a gun do you, there was a pretty bad earthquake and we might not be rescued for a while, we might want to be weary of looters." Of course I was worried about things far worse then looters but I suppressed this.

[Laraqua]

"Earthquakes?" asks the man, sinking down into a sofa chair. "Really? That's ... that's no good. I didn't notice any earthquakes." He gets up again and heads over to the fridge, fumbling around for a drink. "Beer?" He grabs a beer for himself and the woman, another one for Cole if he asks for it, and then grabs a bag of pretzels and shares them around. "Well, we don't got no guns but we've got food enough to last a few days so long as we don't live this apartment and give it time to spoil."

The woman gratefully accepts the beer and the pretzel and remains seated on the couch, looking thoughtful. "We don't have any weapons. Even our knives are cheap and blunt. The door has a good lock, though."

[Garrett]

Crap, no gun. Oh well if all I deal with is looters I can probably scare them off with an unloaded one. "Where's your radio? Lets see if we can get anything on that." Cole asks taking the beer with a gratefull nod and taking a good sized drink.

[Spoiler-Button]do I still have the book I stole from the priest's house?[/Spoiler-Button]

[Laraqua]

"Our radio?" asks the woman. "Um, give me a sec. My bedroom alarm is a radio." She hops off the couch and heads down the short corridor into one of the bedrooms.

Cole checks his internal pocket. The book is still there.

"So, what's your story anyway?" asks the man. "You hear on a romantic holiday? Looking to pick up? Come to patch things up with your wife? Want someplace to relax? Just passing through?"

[Garrett]

I wonder for a moment if I should even bother answering the man as I look again at the book. "Yeah, I uh, won some office pool for a paid vacation here and thought why the hell not." Where the hell did all those suggestions come from?

[Laraqua]

"Hey, that's nice," says the man. "That's real nice. You hear that, Momoko? He won a trip here from his office!" The man leans back on his comfy chair and smiles sleepily at him. "Where do you work? That sounds real nice for your average office. You work with Microsoft or something?"

Momoko returns to the living room with a radio in her hands. "Here's the radio." She sat down on the couch next to Cole and turned it on to static. She started fiddling with the dials to find a working station.

[Garrett]

"Yeah I work for Microsoft," I say, not putting much effort into my lies to this stoned dumb ass. "any luck?"

[Laraqua]

Momoko glances sidelong at him, catching the lie but not saying anything. "You can hear as much as I can."

The static growls at a few points as though the radio signals were almost strong enough but not quite there. Then there's another burst of static and a man's voice can be heard: "...WLMN FM, this is DJ Bobby Ricks keeping you entertained on these long and lonely nights. I've got a shout out for old man Cole with a wonderful song of beautiful contrasts and a *he he* unique style of love." Moments later a songstarts to play over the radio.

"I always thought this song was so creepy," said Momoko.

[Garrett]

I listen intently to the song, of course it wasn't about you, why would it be? Nobody here knows you. "Alright I'm gonna go have a look around, I'll be back."

[Laraqua]

"No problem," says the man. "You want to come back at any point, feel free. We'll be here. Always are." He shrugs a shoulder.

As Cole heads for the door, Momoko looks up and says, "Hey!" and rushes over to him.

"Hey, feel free to say no but could you help us out if it's on your way?" asks Momoko. "I've been getting some bad headaches and I could really use some painkillers. Dope helps but its not going to solve anything. I think I'm dehydrated. We've only got soft drink in the fridge and the water is all fouled up. Could you bring us back a bottle of water or two?"

"I got a hankering for chocolate if you come across any," says the man.

Momoko glances back at him sullenly, likely guessing that too many requests would make Cole more likely to say no.

[Garrett]

Well I did come into their house uninvited, smoke their weed, and drink their beer. "Sure, I'll keep an eye out." I walk down the hallway still pounding on every door, when I get a decent distance away I break into a random apartment to look for supplies and clues as to where the people might be.

Lock picking success 49 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3745944/

[Laraqua]

The door unlocks with a click and Cole heads inside. There's a pretty awful smell in here like the septic tanks are broken. Its the same lay out as the other places. He enters through a grimy kitchenette that opens onto a small living room. A short corridor to the right has three doors. One door leads into a bedroom with a double bed stripped of blankets that stands below a steadily rotating ceiling fan. A series of family photographs line one of the dressers that seem to all include one sullen-looking teenage boy. This apartment certainly isn't large enough to house a family nor are there signs of teenager about the place. Perhaps the kid grew up? Or the father divorced and moved into this apartment?

The laundry is about the size of a cramped bedroom and it has both a washing machine, a dryer, and an old-fashioned safe that is currently supporting a basket load of men's clothing that all smell like old socks.

One leads into a bathroom buzziing with grimy tiles, tattered shower curtains and a cracked toilet lid which are all smeared with drying human (judging by the smell) feces. The room buzzes with flies and something silvery glints in the toilet bowl, half hidden by human waste. It looks like dog tags.

[Garrett]

I search the apartment for the things I was asked to find, if their no there I go check the next one, and so on.
Also I forget if Lockpicking skill can open safes but I try if I can.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3745999/ thats for the safe, if I can't open it its for the next apartment, I'm going to do this for a while, I want plenty of water.

[Laraqua]

Most of the doors are unlocked. There is a ground floor apartment that has a single water bottle sitting in the refrigerator but as Cole picks it up there is the sound of something heavy thwacking against the window glass. A large bird, perhaps? The heavy curtains are mostly drawn closed but there is a thin gap through which a wan light enters through the grimy glass. As he pauses a moment, wondering what he heard, there's a second thwack. Louder this time. And the sound of cracking glass.

[Garrett]

I go to investigate, tazer in my dominate hand.
OOC- did I find painkillers?

[Laraqua]

There'd been no painkillers so far. The cupboards are bare of food and the bathroom cabinets rarely even have used and grotty toothbrushes, let alone painkillers or any good medication. He might need to head for the chemists to get a hold of any medication. At least he's found a 2 litre bottle of water. That should help with the dehydration. Marijuana gives a very dry, cotton wool sensation in the mouth anyway so that can't help them if they're thirsty.

Thinking of that makes Cole's mouth feel a little dry.

He heads over to the window and brushes the window curtains aside to see a nurse who looked similar, though different, to the woman he had killed at the priest's house. This one had a substantial bruise and swelling on her forehead that trickled blood down her cheek even as she slammed her forehead against the glass again. Her eyes were glazed and her face impassive and she moved with the halting yet direct movements of someone completely out of her mind. As he stares at her, she tilts her head back and staggers back a few steps into the fog, her mouth hanging open slightly as her eyes caught his own. Slowly, ever so slowly, she raised her hand to point at him.

[Garrett]

Oh God I knew all the insanity being a hallucination was too good to be true. I open the window "Whatcha doing there?" I yell out casually, tazer still held out of sight in my pocket.

[Laraqua]

She stares up at him, swaying heavily, even stumbling right somewhat to maintain her balance. Her finger, half raised to point toward him, lowers as though she lacks the strength to hold up her hand. From her throat utters a distinctive rattle of blood and froth in the lungs. Oh, Cole can well recognise that noise. She turns in a shuddering movement and starts to stumble away from him, lips working silently as though trying to say something and yet failing.

[Garrett]

"Ah, I thought so." I close the window and proceed to go back to the stoners apartment, taking a long swig from the water bottle as I walk.

OOC- what does cole recognize it?