Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4991796" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks for the bump! Looks like the SH forum's gotten a little busier of late.* * * * * Session 8 (June 2, 2008)Chapter 24“We have got to stop this running on ahead or we will die,” Catalina said.  The fight had been short and bloody.  The sectoids had possessed the initial advantage, hiding in the shadowy half-light of the garage, while the members of Alpha had been backlit against the bright light of the street above.  But Vasily had disrupted their attack with a thrown grenade, and with the others laying down a steady stream of fire, the Russian had circled around to the right, coming up behind a long concrete wall to take the survivors from behind.  One of them lay unconscious on the cold floor of the garage, hit by the Russian’s stun rod; the others bled out on the floor.  Vasily had taken glancing hit to his right arm near the shoulder, which James was giving a quick examination.  Buzz had suffered some scratches on his face from shards that had come from a near miss, but despite some grimaces he was more or less intact.  “Over here,” Jane said.They continued deeper into the garage, to find another long row of parking spaces, with a brightly lit alcove with an elevator at the far end.  They could all see at once what Jane had spotted, the scattered bodies obviously human, people who had tried in vain to escape from the aliens.  James checked them anyway, hoping perhaps that their initial perceptions were wrong.  “Killed by plasma bolts,” he said.  If we want any hope of finding survivors, we need move fast,” Vasily said.  Jane started toward the elevator, but he shook his head. “Take stairs,” he said, pointing to an almost invisible door to the right.  They made their way up into what looked like a service corridor.  Two people lay in a bloody heap next to a door marked, “Emergency Exit.”  While James checked the bodies, Catalina pushed on the door handle; it didn’t give.  “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she said.  The other end of the hallway opened onto a broad foyer next to the elevator.  The air conditioned foyer was brightly lit, both by the natural sunlight that streamed in from the wall that connected to the street outside, and from dozens of lights in the ceiling panels.  There was a number of businesses that opened onto the foyer, and at least a half-dozen bodies lying within view. Catalina activated the sensor and panned it around.  “Faint signal, there,” she said, pointing to a doorway on the far side of the foyer that appeared to lead into a Japanese restaurant Ken’s voice sounded in their ears.  “Team, news chopper is showing survivors coming out of the cordoned area, both north and east of your position.  Army ETA is ten minutes, you almost done in there?”“Not yet, Ken, we need move fast,” Vasily said.  “Meet at our position in five minutes.”“Roger that, Alpha.”Jane and Catalina had moved up to the front entrance of the restaurant.  The interior was dimly lit, a long dining room visible behind the front counter.  A faintly charred odor hung in the air.  Vasily glanced over at Catalina, who tapped the motion sensor against the wall.  “Damn it, I think I’m losing power.  But the last signal was this way.”“All right,” Vasily said, leading them inside.  The restaurant was bigger than it looked outside.  It was mostly deserted, although they could see a body slumped into a booth to the left of the entry, and what looked like another lying on the floor near the bar along the far wall.  There were several exits, one by the bar that seemed to lead into the kitchen, one leading to a narrow hall that probably accessed the restrooms, and a third in the back, down a short hall, that might have led to another exit, or to a banquet room or offices.  Vasily gestured for James, Catalina, and Buzz to head in that direction, while he led Jane toward the kitchen. The kitchen was orderly and clean, with a long stainless steel counter running down its center.  The burning smell was coming from a wok sitting ajar on the stove.  Jane started forward to turn it off.  Vasily started toward the right, to check the rest of the room, but was interrupted as a woman in a red blouse and dark trousers stepped into view from the side, holding the biggest handgun Vasily had ever seen pointed squarely at his chest. “Hold it!” she warned.  “Who are you?” Jane spun and started to lift her weapon, but stopped as soon as she saw the gun pointed at her partner.  “Hey, woah!  It okay.  We army,” Vasily said.  “Army?  Yeah, right. Nice Russian accent, ‘Army’.”“We have I.D.”“Oh, I’m sure you do.”“We need to get you out of here,” Jane said.  “for your own safety.  This is a dangerous situation still.”The woman snorted.  “More aliens, you mean?  There’s three of them in there,” she said, jerking her thumb at the room behind her.  “They killed all the others.”Vasily opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, they heard the familiar sizzling sound of plasma blasts, followed immediately by the louder crack of James’s rifle and Catalina’s pistol.“Uh oh, they know you’re here,” the woman said.  “Better go help your friends.”Vasily was already running, Jane a step behind.  “Watch her!” Vasily yelled over his shoulder at Jane.  Emerging back into the main dining room of the restaurant, he looked at the back hall, where weapons flashes were lighting up the short hallway.  He heard James yelling something, and saw Buzz, staggering back out of the hallway, blood oozing from a gash along the side of his head.    Vasily ran toward him, but before he could reach the hacker the wall ahead exploded outward.  Buzz fell to the ground, and something hard struck Vasily square in the center of the forehead, and then everything went dark.</blockquote>

Verification