Breaking Quarantine

Star shrugged. "I still say that door doesn't look safe to go through. Whatever was behind that door is dead and whatever killed it is probably still there. But let's go for it anyway." He said, readying his sword. "Oh...and if I get shoot in the flank by ya..." He decided to let the sentence hang as he charged at the door. He lowered his head so that his helmet would help him probably break the door down. I can't believe I'm doing this. He though to himself as he ran at the door. This was such a dumb idea, but then again who said him and Distortion were smart.

The door was more stubborn than it should have been when Star charged into it, and the cause of that was revealed once Star was the rest of the way through the opening. What was left of a body was lying on the floor, just a few feet from, the door. The blood trail from it obviously showing that it'd been pushed away from where it had been resting against the door by Star's charge.

At near the same time there was a loud crash of noise from room Star and Dis had been ambushed by the harpies. The doors slammed open as a rag covered figure was thrown through them, catching the corner of the opening on the other side of it and knocking a few bricks loose. A feminine cry of pain sounded out on the contact, and as she stood up again, one of her wings drooped, obviously in pain but it'd take examination to figure out the extent of the damage.

While still looking at the door, the harpy took off running down the hall almost slamming into Dis and Star. While it seemed she didn't truly know the way she was running, the harpy was still set on getting away from whatever had thrown her out of the prior room. Speaking of which, the doors she'd been thrown through at that point slammed open again, fully flying off their hinges. One slammed into the wall and knocked a few more bricks loose while the other flew through the opening and disappeared outside the building.

Distortion glanced down at the corpse lying on the floor lifelessly. "Oh dear. That's not good. We'd better-"

Then the loud crash of noise sounded from back down in the corridor, and Distortion flinched very, very heavily, dropping to the floor with a soft, muted thud and directing his rune gun upwards. He switched it back from its previous mode and onto the shield rune, pulling the trigger immediately and forming a protective bubble around Star and himself, then huddling on the floor. Then he realised that it wasn't a good idea to lie there if they wanted to get away quickly, which they most likely did, so he stood back up. "Yeah, um, should we go?"

Star stopped when he was through the door. He looked at the corpse and at the blood on the ground, somewhat backing out of the room. He turned around and yelped a little at the loud crash the doors made. He stared at the rag covered figure, wondering what had thrown it out of the room. He also had to wonder what had killed the harpy in the room that was now opened.

Star looked at Distortion when he formed the protective bubble around them. "Hmm...Ya think? Into the room or..." The rest of his sentence died on his lips at he stared at the door that was thrown through the hole. "Into the room it is." He said, grabbing Distortion and gently throwing him forward. "Run!" He shouted at the unicorn, running into the room that had the corpse. He looked around the room for any other door or something they can run through...or down...or fly out of.

"Shit" Sky shouted silently to herself.

She sat still and thought deeply but quickly 'this is really bad, they're all dead... no we have no home anymore... maybe they'll accept us' 'if we try that they will kill us' 'we die either way and there's safety in numbers'. sky gulped. if she tried to help she could be killed by the two ponies, but if she ran she'd get lost and that would be even worse.
that was it she had made her mind up she stood up, her working wing up in a surrendering facion, her face serious. "dont be stupid you have to run now!" she said loudly, but more fear was presant than anything. "come on lets go now!!" she reiterated

As the three took off down the hall, they'd catch the tail end of a creatures bellowing roar, but they were well into the other room when it stepped into the hallway. The room they had gone into was a mess that Sky would somewhat recognize. It was another of the room's that the harpies had laid in ambush, but here they'd just been massacred. The remnants of the group were scattered about in pieces around the room, some with obvious and blatant bite marks out of their hides. This grizzly scene was supplemented by the piles of junk and debris that filled the area, giving several possible hiding places among the wreckage and gore.

This however didn't mean the Sky would know where they were or how to get out, and the room itself had 2 other still usable entrances. The other doors were ether blocked off with rubble or seemingly barricaded. That left the door straight ahead, and the one to the right. The one ahead seemed to lead into another hallway with door on either side, while the one on the right was dark and impossible to determine what was beyond.

Behind them all, the heavy thud's of the monster's step resounded out and lightly shook loose some of the dirt and dust that had accumulated over the years on the piles of junk. And every step brought it closer.

"Just keep running!" Distortion shouted agitatedly, though he still didn't lower the shield to let this newcomer in. He may have been a ditz, but he was a thoroughly suspicious and paranoid ditz when he needed to be. He was hardly going to trust somepony he had just met. He simply continued running along as fast he could.

Star gave a glance at the new pony, not quite baying them any heed. "What do you expect?!" He looked at the hall that went forward then the one that went right. His mind quickly raced on which to go down. Forward the damn thing can see us run. If we go down the right...It might not see us... He shook his head and took that chance. He grabbed Distortion and gently pulled him towards the right door. "Keep that shield up, Distortion. We don't know what's down this hall." He said, gulping a little, biting down on the handle of his sword and held it tightly.

Sky followed close behind, she didn't expect to be trusted, but at least she hadn't been shot so she couldn't complain. once or twice she thought about running ahead of them but in the end she simply followed quietly.

Choosing to go off to the right, the door opened easily enough to a short hallway with a 4-way intersection a short ways off. Behind the group, the heavy thuds of the monster's stomping could be heard.

"Okay..." Distortion panted, though he still didn't let up, "now which way do you want to go? Seriously, this thing is catching up, and we can either kill it or get out of here! And we don't know the way out of here!" His ears drooped. "Man, I miss our guide. Why'd we have to go and get separated?" He looked at Star. "So, you wanna kill it or just keep running?"

"that 'thing' cant be killed by us, not a chance, we run or we die now keep going you pair of wimps.... oh gracious, uh i mean we should really keep running is all." she said, her twin personality splitting her sentence into two. she rushed her hoof to her side and grabbed the hilt of her sword, worried they may not be going nearly fast enough.

Star seemed to ignore both the ponies as he tried to think of what to do next. He finally skidded to a stop and turned towards the direction the thing was coming from. "Distortion, cover my back." He said to his unicorn companion. He galloped forward a few meters and took up a defensive position. He took one glace at the mare. "And if you can help, that would be appreciated." He said, rather calmly. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

The heavy thuds of the monster's steps continued to get louder and more reverberating as it drew closer. A shadow even loomed for a moment to obscure the small sliver of light that'd previously been creeping under the bottom of the door. Then the shadow moved on, the heavy thudding slowly got quieter until it suddenly picked up in pace and started getting quieter, faster.

Taking a look at the room the three now found themselves, they'd find a lot of low seemingly portable or movable walls, creating cubicles. The occupants however were long gone, including the majority of the desks and other things that would have typically taken up space in them. At the far end, there was a set of doors and a bathroom to the left.

"Are you planning to fight it?" Distortion asked slowly, keeping his back to Star's and scouring their behind for any threats. "I hope you can handle it." He glanced around as well, taking in the sight of the cubicles and such around them. Reluctantly lowering the shield, he switched the gun to laser mode and brought it to bear at the other end of the room. "If you need a shield, just say the word. Otherwise I'll try not to get in the way."

"Oh, its ok, i didn't want to bucking live anyway!" sky outbursted as she examined the room working out what it used to be, and what they used to use the rest of the building for. Her left hoof still resting on her sword as her eyes scanned every bit of evidence, at the same time checking the room for any and every exit. sky feared the wraith and the last thing she wanted to do was fight it, but she had already let here group down she might as well have an escape root for them.

Star squinted at the door for a moment before back up. His ears twitched at both of the ponies behind him talking. He grabbed both of them and put his forehooves over their mouths. "Shhh." He hissed at both of them between his hold on his sword. He quickly sheathed his sword in it's scabbard. "Come on, and stay quiet." He looked around the area they were in. He looked at the doors on the far side and let out a hmm. "Be wary. Don't know what's on the other side of those doors." He walked slowly towards the doors and slowly pushed them open just a crack so he could see what was on the other side.

Past the double doors, Star would see another hallway or at least what was left of it. Numerous destroyed walls marred the space, granting multiple access points into the dozens of rooms that the hallway was connected to. Rubble peppered the floor space, along with scraps of cloth and other remainders of a time long since past. There were even the skeletal remains of a few ponies who hadn't made it out of the building at some point.

The heavy thuds of the monster's footsteps continued to echo out from an unknown area. The slow rhythmic sound not picking up in speed or diminishing and seemingly coming from anywhere and everywhere.

"Yeah..." Distortion's eyes kept darting around the room, still looking for threats anywhere he could. Slowly, he switched the rune gun back onto shield rune mode. "You still sure about this? Because if you ask me this is looking like a worse and worse idea by the minute." He half expected something to jump out of nowhere and start attacking him, and his magical grip tightened itself around the trigger of his gun as he shook in anticipation. "Come on, attack us already..." He muttered.

sky, now sweating from worry the beast, and how many more there may be. yet, through this her posture stayed unperturbed, her mouth still clutching the blades hilt. she was taking no chances.

Star looked around the other side for a moment before stepping through the door. He scanned the area really quickly. "Yeah, yeah. I know, but we have to find Stalwart. He said to meet at the...south end of the building? All we need to do is find which way is south." He whispered to Distortion, hmming for a moment before starting to trot off quickly in a direction. Sure it was probably not south but it was a direction. Better than being a sitting duck.

His ears twitched slightly at what he heard Distortion mutter. "Don't say that." He hissed at the unicorn. "I'd rather not get covered in...tar like blood again." He skidded to a stop, just now remembering the mare following them. "Oh! And how the buck are you?" He whispered to the mare, turning to her. He silently gazed at her with the stoic eyes of a guard.

As the group started traveling down the hallway, the sounds of the monster started to get just slightly more distant and quiet. The echo however was still persistent and refused to leave regardless of how far they traveled.

As for the hallway itself, the semi-destroyed state of the things was readily prevalent. More office cubicle type rooms scattered about here and there, with the occasional larger room for meetings, presentations, or group work scattered about. Suddenly, in one of the rooms ahead, a loud crashing sound exploded out of the space. The sounds of breaking glass, metal clashing against metal, and something ripping sounded out, but for now at least, the walls blocked off what was making the noise. The room had glass windows looking into the hallway, some of which were broken, and a wooden door that had managed to stay mostly intact still on the hinges.

Distortion followed Star in whatever direction he'd picked, being pretty much just as lost as they all were but hoping that Star might know something he didn't. He allowed himself to be distracted just momentarily by the cubicles they were passing on the way to... wherever, and took a moment to wonder about what this place used to be. An office, definitely, but of what sort? Maybe it was just one of those regular places where they did boring things he always read about and watched on shows...

Then the sound of a loud crash drifted over to them with the laziness of a locomotive and full speed, and Distortion quailed on the spot, keeping his magic grip on the trigger. "Still think this is a good idea?"

She stared back with a smile. "fine and dandy" she said plainly with her sharp eyes looking directly at his with a burning glare, non visible but easily noticeable. "So, whom, may I ask, are you looking for, and why are you here in the first place?" she continued with her plain voice, and constant unblinking stare.

Star took half a step back at the sound of breaking glass and clashing metal. He looked at Distortion once and shook his head. "Nope...And my next plan isn't going to be anymore good. Because I am dumb and we don't know where we are going in this building." He said, quietly moving closer to where the noises came from. He kept his guard up and eyes encase something attacked him. He also tried his best to ignore his bad question. Who, how, what? How'd I even do that...Seriously.