Play@YSDC

"It could be," says Erich, following along. "And there was division even within the building. Whoever went downstairs barricaded the stairway, so that some people were trapped up here."

"But don't the air ducts flow all round the building? So whatever is hiding in them could bypass the stair barricade anyway." Herman sucks on his roll-up and blows out thin acrid smoke. He looks for any more doorways to try.

The next corridor is partially barricaded with tables and filing cabinets, allowing the easiest access to be through crawling between the legs of one table. The door nearest them stands partially open to reveal an empty room that is emptier than most since it seems that part of its furnishings were donated to the hallway for this rather unsturdy looking barricade. At least there is no corpse in that one. The other doors are on the other side of the corridor.

"Let's check each of these rooms in order, starting with the closest one," suggests Erich.

Jean nods.
Shall we clear the way or crawl under the table?

"Under, I think," says Erich. "It would take too long to remove the barricade, and we don't want to spend any more time upstairs than we have to."

'We'd better check these rooms before going on, best not to leave things unchecked behind us." Herman tries the handle of the first door in order to enter the room.

"My thoughts exactly," says Erich. "Never leave a possible enemy at your back."

The door is already partially open and inside the room seems to have been largely stripped of its contents. There are a few thick drops of blood here and there but nothing that would indicate a violent scuffle, more of a passive dripping. The other doors all stand on the other side of the blockage.

"I'm guessing all the furniture that used to be here went into the barricade," says Erich. "It's not very well put together, though, what with the gap beneath the table. Plus the whole thing looks flimsy. I could have done a better job. Shall we proceed?"

Someone was hurt
Jean trying to find if there is a trail of the blood ...

The person doesn't seem to have been bleeding badly enough for that. It's just a few stray drops of blood. There might be a few more elsewhere, presuming it wasn't due to a nosebleed that could be readily staunched with a handkerchief. Jean hasn't spotted any additional stray droplets. Perhaps on the other side of the barricade?

"it looks like the wounded person was here after the furniture was removed. Do you think?" Herman looks to see how dried/fresh the blood is to get a time scale.

"That's possible," says Erich. "Maybe it was one of the dead men we came across earlier."

The blood is damp but clotted. Perhaps a couple hours have passed? There's not much of it so it would've dried out reasonably quickly, though the air is damp with a promised storm outside.

"There was no blood in the hall and those men have been dead longer I'd say. Let's check under the barricade." Herman goes to the pile of furniture and gets on his hands and knees. He has a look to check the way through is clear, where it goes and if the blood drops go this way.

There are a few blood drops on the other side. There's also a couple between the furniture pieces themselves. Whoever put this together was bleeding at the time.

"You're right, it was the wounded person who built the barricade," says Erich, peering underneath and trying to get a look at the hall on the other side. "We'd better go through."

"Roger that. Guess I'll go first." Herman checks he has rounds loaded in his rifle and then crawls through the barricade on his stomach until he is able to stand up on the other side.

Jean drops to his knees and crawls after Herman with the rake he holds