CHAPTER ONE: Cole's Journey: Lock & Key

[Garrett]

"It was a long time ago and it wasn't anything serious." I say partially truthful. "How long till until we get to the fucking school?"

[Laraqua]

"Can't go very fast because of all of this fog," says Wheeler. "Can't risk us going over a cliff."

"Its so quiet out there," says Bennett. "Where are all the people?"

"Peak season, no people, I'm sure it's fine," said Wheeler. She rapped her knuckles against the protective mesh separating the cops from the others. "You seen anybody? How'd you come to be wandering around anyway?"

[Garrett]

"Judging from what I saw all the people are probably dead." I say rashly, the liquor making me forget for a moment that the little girl's dad was still out there. Not wanting to upset her I quickly added. "Of course they might just be hiding." In response to the other officer's question I speak. "I was out for a walk when the mist rolled in and I heard an earthquake, then I happened upon the police station and you know the rest."

[Laraqua]

"Is that when you saw the monster?" asked Wheeler, her tone clearly revealing her disbelief.

[Garrett]

"Fuck you ya useless pig." I say in an aggressive tone, the booze siphoning away my rationality.

[Laraqua]

"Nice," said Wheeler. "Just nice." She sighs as the car comes to a halt. "Great. Another chasm."

"That one wasn't there before," said Bennett quietly. "And there wasn't enough of a shake up to support that kind of movement.

[Garrett]

"Well isn't that something?" I say condescendingly before taking another long drink from my flask.

[Laraqua]

"Here we are," says Bennett, as the car slows to a stop behind a fog-shrouded bus on the side of a street that is so packed with dense fog that he can only make out a street light nearby and the edge of some well-tended grass. "Let's hope its all as we left it." She twists around in her chair and smiles at the little girl. "There's a lot of children in the school for you to meet up with. Perhaps you'll find some of your friends or even your parents. Would you like that?"

The little girl nods mutely.

[Garrett]

Well the kids safe and I can go back to exploring my hallucinations, I think with relief. I finish my flask off and let myself be led by the police wherever it is they go.

[Laraqua]

The police officers get out and Wheeler keeps her gun out and ready, flashlight held beside it like some FBI Agent from the X-Files while Bennett opens the back doors and lets them both out. The two police officers then quickly lead them down a cement path to the front doors, flashing their guns and lights all about. Once they reach the doors, Bennett thuds against the wood while Wheeler keeps her gun trained on the darkness.

"Hello?" says Bennett. "Its us!"

[Garrett]

After a moment with no response I yell loudly. "HELLLOOOOO? ANYBODY HOME?"

[Laraqua]

There's sudden blast of sound and fury and splinters erupt from the door. Bennett staggers back, sputtering blood down her pretty chin while Wheeler grabs the little girl and whips her away, arms wrapped around her protectively.

[Garrett]

I'm a bad man, why am I standing here? I moved without thinking and before I realized where I was going I found myself between whatever thundered out of the door and the girl. As I noticed this I looked into her innocent face, fuck she looks so much like Mary, I thought trembling. I blinked away tears and willed myself to become angry, if those dumbass cops hadn't taken my gun I could actually be helping.

[Laraqua]

Bennett staggers back still further still, hunching over, hands clasped at her belly when another terrific blast tears through the air and its as though her lower jaw is near swiped away, the bone and the cartilege and the meat and the muscle torn loose by a barrage of what Cole suddenly realises must be a shotgun's lethal ammunition. Somehow, Bennett is still alive, tears running down her ruined cheeks, mingling with the blood that drips loosely from her upper teeth, and she continues to stagger back with eyes wide and bright and somehow full of life as she whirls around to face the three survivors and in those eyes isn't hatred or even fear but confusion as though the mind hasn't caught up with these terrible events and is considering this to be a rather nightmarish twist of events but just a dream after all. How could something so violent be from anything but a bad dream? And she teeters toward her gun and picks it up and fires three shots through the wooden door before toppling over dead.

[Garrett]

I actually felt relief as I realized that it was a shotgun. "HIT THE DECK!" I scream before sliding over to the gun Bernette had dropped, attempting to be quiet. With the gun in my hand I point it at the door and don't move.

sneak success if you need it.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3662567/

[Laraqua]

Cole grabs the gun and lays there in the loose blood but there's only silence to greet him. After a long moment, the doors click and creak open before pausing at that slightly ajar state.

[Garrett]

I move silently over to a position behind the parked police car and watching silently. If nothing happens after a full minute I sneak up to the door with my gun raised and peek inside.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3663792/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3663793/

[Laraqua]

Wheeler just stares at the corpse of Bennett, disbelievingly, clutching the little girl in her arms.

Time passes and there is no sign of the attacker.

Slowly, gingerly, Cole creaks open the double doors and peers into a foyer whose marble floor has partially peeled away in small pieces here and there to reveal a steel mesh and nothing underneath. A ceiling fan slowly turns on the high ceiling, indicating that there is power somewhere within the darkened building. There is another set of doors at the other end of the foyer, closed.

[Garrett]

My mind sobers a little at all the danger, I tried to shake away the fuzziness in my head. I'm so fucking stupid, I thought it was okay to get drunk because there were a couple officers. When can you ever count on a cop to do anything? Serve and protect my ass.
"Alright useless bitch number two," I say approaching the officer and looking over to her dead partner. "we got a wounded assailant packing some serious heat in there; I'm too drunk to get in a fire fight and I'd wager you can't use that gun to save your life, so were getting the hell out of here. Get the little girl in the car, I'll take shotgun." I say, angry at this woman for being so damn useless.

[Laraqua]

Wheeler looks up at him, gaping for a moment, then seems to shake herself out of it and rises to her feet. "No, I have to...." She pauses and looks over at the school doors. "There's children in there." She tosses him the keys and double checks her gun is fully loaded. "Take her and get out." She pauses again as though to wish him luck but seems to think better of it and simply heads into the foyer.