[d20 Modern] RESIDENT EVIL: Damnation [PG -17]

If Patel's jaw could drop lower, it would. Bordering on panic, her training is the only thing keeping her from bolting for the car and abandoning the whole freakish situation. She's downed men twice her size with that hit.

Switching tactics, she sidesteps behind the creature and shortens her grip on the tableleg so she's grabbing its center. Hoping for accuracy over power (her strongsuit anyway), she reaches over the thing, grabs its forehead, yanks hard and tries to impale the splintered buisness-end of her weapon into its remaining eye socket.

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion

After seeing the lack of effect from his first strike, a terrible thought hits Michael:

We can't kill it -- It's a corpse, it's dead, and it's moving! Whatever killed it the first time didn't stop it from attacking us. What would it care if we smash its skull or punch out its kindey? It's head is half-gone and still it is attacking. It doesn't feel pain, it wouldn't even mind if we broke its leg or tore an arm off -- Wait a minu--of course, we can't kill it, but it still needs arms to grab, legs to move, it still flexes muscles and needs its bones.

"Go for the joints, smash its bones!"

As he yells the advice, Michael swings at the creature once more with the club, his nerves bracing for the horrible sound that his strike will make. He doesn't take the time to target any single joint, but hopes that he can hit a vulnerable area. A shoulder, knee, a thigh bone, any important body part that could break or disjoint, stopping the creature's relentless assault.

After striking, Michael remembers the Sergeant's command. He takes a step back from the fray, and quickly, systematically makes a check of the entire room and each of the persons in it.

We can't use a surprise now. Focus! With the four of use fighting it, we're bound to cripple it soon. We'll soon be clear, then we can find a way to get out of this hell. Now, get back there and finish this thing!

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion

Anders almost could not believe his eyes or his ears. The sickening thud of the contact with the creature's body would have lifted a normal man off of the ground. That fact that the creature closed on his so quickly didn't help Anders' mood. He tightened his grip on the table leg but shifted it slightly, preparing for a double handed strike to the creature if the opening presented itself. Concentrate, ignore everything else, trust in your team, destroy the target Anders mentally repeated his mantra.

Knowing the creature was keying on him, Anders shifted to a more defensive fighting style, counting on the others to be successful while he held it off. Even so, he couldn't stop himself from trying to get a few licks in as well.

The only way that creature was going to finish his meal was through Anders - and that wasn't going to happen.

Clairemont Mansion

1st Floor – Entrance Hall

Isaac Goldstein

Your hand fumble along the wall, along the corners, looking for candlestick holders, but you realize that the holders are nothing you can use. Just indentions in the wood or beautiful plates with fat candles on them that show you that you have less than 3 minutes of light left. The room has definitely dimmed. Over in one corner of the mantel, on the bookshelf you spot 2 more unlit candles way in the back.

Maria Moreno

Your hands are sweaty, your wit is nearly gone and all you can think of is trying to subdue this thing until it is nothing but a hunk of pounded flesh on the floor. Whether the grip is loose, or the others swings interfering with yours, you can't seem to connect...and when you do, the creature hardly seems affected.

Amisha Patel

Did it stumble? You could have sworn it did just as a claw comes out and rakes its fingernails along your forearm, causing you to yelp in pain despite yourself.

Mike Smith

Your careful eyes glance over the creature as you thud it with your weapon, noting possible weaknesses. Again, though you contact with its body heavily, the creature doesn't even look fazed by your strike.

Yuri Borzakovsky

Your hands move tenderly over the woman, doctor's hands that know what's right and what's wrong. The wound smells, of the creature's breath. Though bleeding, it didn't look too serious...just disturbing to see the half-moons of a human mouth imprinted upon her ragged skin.

The smell bothers you though...something about it seems wrong. Your inner warning signal, the one that all doctors rely on, goes off like a blazing alarm.

Anders Carlson

Nothing seems to hit...nothing seems to work and all the while the creature is using you for its very own scratching post. Finally with a burst of strength that you didn't even know you had, the wooden table leg goes smashing into the creature head, taking it clear off the shoulders. The head flies into Amisha who barely ducks it.

The body twitches before dropping to the ground like a lifeless doll even as the smashed head rolls to a stop by the fireplace, its cranium now a bowl of mushy red and pink.

All is silent again in the hall except for the frightened breathing and stink of sweat and fear lies on everyone's mouth.

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion

Isaac settles with picking up the candles, and he turns around to see the zombie's head rolling around. Just for good measure at that moment he runs up and kicks it towards a window.

"I found a couple more candles," he says casually.

Well thats my share of freaky for the day, I'm gonna go home and drink the whole thing away... after I clean my shoe.

He hands the candles to Carlson and tears a piece of curtain to clean his shoe of zombie bits.

"The fing asswipe had it comin'," he explains to everyone.

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion


Yuri sighs heavily in relief an instant after looking up to see the monster's head come flying off.

"Sit tight." he says to the wounded woman. "Keep this arm elevated for a sec."

He gets up and goes to where Amisha had torn down one of the curtains and picks it up.

"Someone help me tear this into strips... I need bandages."

He then goes back over to the asian woman and says "Don't worry... it's not as bad as it feels..." And flashes a smile.

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion

Even as the creature is decapitated by Carlson, it contues to attract the attention of Michael. He cannot help but following the arc that the head makes, until finally it stops rolling.

The blud flals to the ground, Michael supports himself with his hands on his knees, bending forward to try and catch his breath. And there lies the head of the corpse. He continues to stare at it intently, half fearing that it will move again, that the horror has't ended yet.

And then indeed the head moves again, propelled by the old man's kick. It startles Michael greatly, until he realizes what happened. Then he explodes, casting the man a deep, scowling look of anger.

"What the hell. Don't you have any respect?! This, this was once a man, despite what it is now. A normal man probably, just like you and I--"

Seeing where this thought would lead to, Michael stops in mid-sentence. He looks ashamed and confused. He bows his head, trying to make sense of, or forget what just happened.

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion


"Shut up Smith." Maria says to Michael as he yells at the old man. She puts her stick under her belt, so she has both hands free. "He might have been a man once, but he isn't any more."

The blood still sticking on Maria's hand makes it feel cold, not warm as blood should feel like. Also, the blood isn't really liquid, but more solid, like jelly. "Ugh" she sighs as she wipes it off.

Slowly Maria walks towards the small closet in which the fight started. Carefully looking around the corner she tries to see what's in the little room.

"Can I get some light up here?" She asks, as she feels the walls for something like a lightswitch.

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion

"What the hell. Don't you have any respect?! This, this was once a man, despite what it is now. A normal man probably, just like you and I--"

Click to expand...

Ha! Whatever human this was has gone long ago. This was simply a piece of rancid hostile meat. I should know, its hard to forget something like that.

Isaac looks calmly at Smith. A stern look comes to his face.

"Young man, while you were in grade school I was putting away bags of living, breathing flesh that looked pretty similiar to us. They weren't human though. Wait till you've seen as much as your CO or I, you'll feel the difference. I wasn't kicking a person's head then, I was kicking a monster's," he tosses the piece of curtain he used to wipe his shoe to Maria, "I believe that may help a little for getting rid of gore."

Isaac then makes his way over to Amelia.

Better check how that poor Amelia girl is doing. Somthing like this happening isn't good for her, these kinda things shouldn't happen to nice girls like her.

He speaks as gently as possible.

"Miss Amelia? How are you feeling?" he asks, genuine concern written on his face for the innocent bystander.

1st Floor – Entrance Hall
Clairemont Mansion

"Yeah!" Anders exclaimed, but nothing more was forthcoming.

Anders' exultation at separating the creature's head from shouldrs was far more than it should have been. Whether it was the unnaturalness of the creature or that Anders had remained in control of himself and defeated the creature, he was unsure. He was sure that the only thing preventing him from shouting more was that there were civilians present and the unsettling suspicion that there were more of these things. For crying out loud, this creature was in a freaking utility closet, what can we expect elsewhere? Anders thought.

"Patel, have Yuri look at that cut." Anders half-asked, half-ordered. "Can't have you bleeding out on me," Anders kidded. His team can first and ran deep. Anders hated losing anyone, and already half the squad was missing.

Anders accepted the candles from the male civilian, thanked him, and handed one to Smith. "Smith, give Moreno some light and search that closet with her. I want anything we can use: clues, things to defend ourselves with, anything."

Ander moved to Yuri to light one of his candles from Yuri's candle. Concern for the woman was evident in his voice but Anders didn't look at her directly (perhaps not trusting himself to do so).

"How is she?" he asked of Yuri before moving on to the unmoving corpse then the closet.

Anders had attacked the creature, but it didn't even register whether the creature had clothes, perhaps even equipment from when it was 'alive.' Normally, he would have had one of his team do the searching, but he wasn't going to have them do anything he wasn't prepared to do. Slowly, cautiously he knelt down at the body of the corpse - prepared to search pockets, take its belt and whatever other useful items could be found. Anders was very cautious, not certain that the creature would move or act again.