Play@YSDC

Cael's eyes shot up in alarm, "Flower! Stay put!" He shouted as he ran down the stairs, his weapon leading the way.

Sarah runs for all she's worth, adrenalin coursing through her body. She runs faster than she has ever run before, just on the edge of panic. As she bounds up the stairs, Cael comes into view ahead. "Get back upstairs!" she calls, her chest heaving. "It got Radcliffe...too late for him...we need to get out of here!"

"Run past me, I'll cover you and grab the kid." Cael shouts, trying to remain calm although he could feel his own adrenaline pumping. He moves as close to the side of the railing as possible and fires a three round burst toward the next floor. (Assuming Sarah is out of the way.)

Sarah sprints past Cael and up the stairs with lightning speed before he even raises his rifle. "Careful!" she warns him. "Aidan's coming behind me! Don't shoot him!" She sees Dahlia up ahead. "Quick! Back to the chopper!" She ignores the ache in her muscles and runs for her life.

Cael radios his copilot, "Starter up! We need to get out of here... fast! Stephen, do you copy?" At that Cael starts moving backwards up the steps, ready to bolt at a moments notice.

Dahlia stands amongst them, flabbergasted, and stammers out, "Huh?? What...what's going on...um..."
She looks entirely disoriented and slowly follows the group. She checks over her shoulder for whatever might be headed up the stairs. Then she hurries to catch up, and heads towards the chopper.

Tears stream down her cheeks as she meets up with the group, and she stands next to Cael, shaking.

Sarah keeps running up the stairs, her legs and lungs burning with the effort. "Thank God you're okay, Dahlia!" she says between short, sharp breaths. "We've got to go!" She's operating on pure instinct. There will be time to think and cry later - if she makes it out alive.

Stephen starts the rotors going and gives a crisp: "Whatever," into his walkie-talkie which, for Stephen, was a clear affirmative.

OOC: Now let's wait for TheKingInYellow. If he followed Nurse Sarah, he'd be about ready to come around that corner...

"Don't whatever me! This shit is about to get real heavy! I want that chopper a few inches off the ground, ready for people to jump in and take off!" Cael shouted, anger and anxiety rising.

OOC: My apologies about my infrequent posting. I think I should have the time to post more frequently from now.

Aidan follows behind Sarah, lagging by fault of his own weak constitution. His head held down and a thick sweat trailing down his forehead and neck, he falls to his knees to hack out a throaty cough, dropping the golden spike to his side.

With some effort he gets to his feet and grabs his weapon, only having a moment to lament having left his briefcase behind. He staggers to the others. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... ... Let's go."

"Yeah, yeah," says Stephen with a chuckle over the radio. "Whatever."

Cael stands on the Fifth Floor landing. Footsteps come from behind him. All who are on the landing are brutally exposed as the staircase sits in the middle of each floor. A noise comes from behind the stairwell, footsteps, someone approaching.

Dahlia looks at Aidan worriedly and takes a small step back from him.

"Are....are you s.sure.....you...you're ok??" She stammers, and looks wide eyed at him for a moment. "How come you keep carrying that?" she asks, pointing at the golden spike.

Aidan nods, panting heavily. "I'll be fine."

He holds up the spike, looking at it almost nervously. "I... One of them is afraid of it... I don't know why, but she was terrified... I'm hoping that the rest also fear it."

Hearing the footsteps, he tightens the hold on his little charm.

"Look guys, we can chit chat later once we're safe in the chopper but we have to get to the roof first. Get running and I will do my best to cover you!" Cael moves past everyone so that Dahlia, Sarah and Aidan are all behind him and he's looking down into the stairs, his flashlight showing him probably little.

[O.C. Ok now I really am confused...Laraqua posted we're already on the roof. There is a staircase leading down, but we're not in it....we were running away from it. So we're currently standing on the roof, close to the chopper....unless I'm mistaken again??? ]

[OOC: I think the rest of us are on the stairwell leading from the fifth floor to the roof. Cael was deliberately bringing up the rear, so he was still on the fifth floor. In Andrew's last post, it looks like he moved down those stairs past the rest of us so that he is covering our retreat, guarding the stairs.]



Sarah's mind finally catches up with her legs, and at last she realizes that she could have been running not just away from danger but straight into it too. She redoubles her efforts to run up the final stairway leading to the roof and out to the chopper, panting heavily and bathed in sweat. She leads the way up, remaining alert to her surroundings and gripping her weapons intently.

[Okay, now, I assumed that once Dahlia and Cael got the door open, they moved into the stairwell to meet up with the constable. They didn't get very far at all. Now, unlike most stairwells that are enclosed, this stairwell is enclosed only by railings. It is in the center of each floor, after all. Other than about six or seven steps that pass from the fifth floor ceiling to the rooftop door landing, the rest of the steps are most certainly in each floor. Thus, those on the stairs can get a good view of the surrounding floor and the surrounding floor can get a good look at you.]

Sarah reaches the rooftop and can see the bright lights of the helicopter as the rotors increase their pace.

Sarah stops to catch her breath, waving to the pilot and then turning to look back down the stairs. "Keep going, Dahlia and Aidan! You're almost here! I'll cover you from up top!"