Rivalry Who: Tayne, Keith, Verity and Jasmine Where: North of the hotel; Oakwood Mall When: Day 14, late afternoon
The long trek across town had been relatively miserable for Tayne, who was starting to think this had been a bad idea, only a day recovered from being ill for three, despite the need for someone who could protect the group if need be. He'd loaded his bike down with crackers, some warm cheese that was starting to go hard, and lots and lots of water. At least half the water was gone, now, and a good chunk of the crackers and cheese, and there was still the search and trek back to consider. The silver lining was, he definitely was done throwing up: nothing had come back up, today, and if something was going to, this was definitely the way to make sure of it.
However, they had made it to the mall-- the building full of broken windows and ruined merchandise strewn across the floors-- and Tayne rolled his bike across the parking lot with some relief. At least maybe they'd let him sit down for a minute once they got inside, in the shade.
"And Terry really thinks Landon came out here," he commented dubiously, shielding his eyes despite the protection of the sunglasses as he looked up at the second story of the mall. "It looks pretty damn picked over, already...." Though maybe they could find a little something useful while they were here, if they didn't find Landon. Tayne was all about collecting everything and anything a body could that might eventually prove useful.
There wasn't much Keith had done since the group meeting--so he was glad that he could finally be of some help...sort of, at any rate. He knew his way with a gun, and hopefully when / if they were in a situation where he needed to use it, he wouldn't panic and fumble it like an idiot. Especially since that was all he had. Everyone else seemed to have... some manifestation of a power, and in his head that ranked them higher than him. Which was okay! They all seemed like very nice people and this was a good way to get to know them better. Kinda. Minus the whole trekking through death city thing.
Keith stood there as they arrived at the mall, examining the building and subtlely scanning his eyes over the area. It was better to be safe than sorry, and getting caught off guard by anything would be bad.
"Hope he's okay..." he mumbled, shifting his shoulder slightly and placing a hand on the backpack strap.
"I still think this is a really lousy choice of places to go." Verity was loath to enter the building at all. Hadn't anyone here ever seen a movie? Zombies were the particular danger in malls, of course, but you got all sorts. Heading in here seemed like asking to be eaten under the cold gaze of the mannequins. But maybe there'd be something worth scrounging. Malls were admittedly mostly full of stupid junk, clothes and makeup and stuff, but sometimes they had sports stores or even just superstores like Target or something.
Oh, and they might be able to rescue Landon, of course. Verity had never spoken to the guy, but saving him was definitely a priority. It was just a hard one to focus on when he wasn't even sure he was matching the right face to the name, and when his mind kept wandering back to Jasper and appraising the likelihood of all of them being eaten.
Jasmine shifted the pistol she was carrying for the hundredth time, still uncomfortable with it. As the others spoke, she stared up at the building ahead of them nervously. Who knew what was inside? As she looked between her companions and the building, she could only hope that she wouldn't be a liability inside. She could barely use a gun, couldn't use hand to hand combat at all. She sighed slightly. Hopefully they'd find something out at least; she couldn't help but worry about the missing people. She didn't know all of them very well, but Catie had been a sweet person. If Landon had really come this way, there had to be some sort of information.
"So... let's go in, I guess?" She shifted her backpack on her back. There was no reason not to bring it, just in case they came across something useful. It was obvious to the others that she was nervous. After all, she was a model, for fuck's sake. She wasn't a fighter... but she would do what she could to help regardless.
"Yeah." Tayne kicked down the stand on his bike, heaved up the motorcycle saddlebags and the backpack with all the water and snacks in it, and headed for the doors. Which were broken and hanging open, so he could just walk right through. "Everybody stay together, a'ight? You don't know what kind of monsters might've taken up in here, and I don't wanna have to come runnin' to find you if there's trouble." He'd pretty much dubbed himself the party protector, and since he really wasn't feeling well, running to find them would just make him less effective.
Pausing just inside to take a good whiff of the air for any potentially warning or useful scents he might find, he added, "And if you find anythin' that might be useful, even if you ain't sure what for, feel free to grab it...." Might as well make the trip worth as much as possible.
Keith meekly followed in after, nodding and quietly making note to obey Tayne's command. After all, he was prob'ly the most um... qualified one of the lot at the moment. And the idea of sticking together and staying alive seemed like a very good one too. Besides, he didn't want to be the one that dragged everyone else down... sigh. Especially since he felt like the dainty princess of the group--er, not that he was thinking that Jasmine wasn't feminine and pretty, because she very much so was, but more that uh she...was not like... a wuss. Like...he... was. ...foot in mental-mouth.
He glanced around, scanning the area.
Verity was sticking toward the back a bit. Not from cowardice. Well, not really from cowardice. Primarily. He just wanted leisure to scan his surroundings. He knew he had sharp eyes, and who knew what neat things they might come across in a mall? If nothing else he might spot some toys to bring back for Juny and Jasper. Hard to shop for a six year old girl and a ten year old boy at the same time, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
He shivered slightly as they entered. Wasn't sure why. Just one of those funny twitches that came across him from time to time. "I'd say, you know, buddy system, but I guess with only four of us..." Yeah, not plausible.
As they entered the mall, Jasmine became more nervous still. She stayed towards the center of the group, hoping to have some sort of protection that way. Something wasn't right in here... but that was probably just because being in an empty mall was unnerving. It didn't seem natural without people crowding every hall and store... She rubbed the heel of her hand against her jeans, then stretched her fingers. Her hand itched-- probably nerves, she thought. What a chicken I am, afraid of an empty mall. It's not like she'd prefer it to be full-- these days, it would probably only be full of monsters. That was definitely the last thing they needed.
Frowning, she tucked the pistol into her belt. "I'll feel more comfortable not holding that," she mumbled if anyone cared to hear. "I can just use my... zappy thing, if it comes to it." She took a deep breath, scratching at the palms of her hands and rolling her head on her shoulders, feeling strange but attributing it to the stress of the situation.
"Buddy system is all four of us," Tayne said firmly, frowning. Everything smelled... muddy. Not old, exactly, but... muted. Confused. It was very strange, and rather uncomfortable. He ran the back of one hand over his forehead, hoping he wasn't getting feverish again. It didn't feel like it, but he never could really tell, himself. "If you don't want the gun, Jas, I'll take it, or Keith can carry it." He'd forgotten she had a useful power like that. It'd be better for her to keep her hands free to use said power, he thought.
He started further into the mall, past broken and ruined ads in their clear-plastic frames, towards the main strip with all the shops attached. He kept to the front of the group, trying to stay as alert as possible, to handle anything that came charging out at them. Nothing did. "Don' smell Landon... don't mean nothin', he could've come in another way...." He rubbed at one eye with the palm of his hand. "Okay, Left, I guess, first. First floor first, then we'll check second if I get any hint of his scent in here." He didn't really want to go upstairs if they didn't have to. A place like this was too full of places to hide in ambush, and impossible to be silent in. Maybe if they spotted a really useful, unplundered store, but otherwise....
Keith held out a hand as a silent gesture and offer to hold her weapon if Jasmine would like. He already had one of his own handguns out, with the other tucked in his back pocket to be easily withdrawn if need be. Hopefully not, though... The atmosphere of the mall unnerved him, and he felt a tightening in his chest. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he chalked it up to being nervous. He had good reason to be nervous, right?
'It's okay, we're in a group...' he tried to reason to reassure himself. They had three other people watching their backs, if anything did happen--but the place seemed pretty empty...
From somewhere in the mall, the location hard to pinpoint, there was a sound of scuffling. It was similar to that of a person stumbling or perhaps coming to an abrupt halt, but the sound was gone almost as suddenly as it had appeared. There was dead silence for a moment, and then the sound of wings flapping, and the call of some kind of bird. It was loud, squawking, and to those familiar with them, it could be identified as a raven.
"Huh. Bird." Made sense. Verity could easily picture lots of little sparrows and things like that roosting in the high ceilings of a not especially well tended mall. Sure as hell didn't sound like a sparrow anymore, and God only knew how big it might have gotten. Verity turned his eyes upward, scanning the ceiling for any sudden movements. Considering he lived with a guy bigger than he was who could fly just fine, Verity had a feeling he couldn't rely on a mutated bird to be in any way a reasonable size. And it might be hungry. And think eyes would make an excellent meal for its horrible mutant babies.
An imagination could be a curse sometimes.
Jasmine nodded at Tayne's suggestion and, when Keith held his hand out, willingly turned over the unwanted handgun. When the sudden birdcall shattered the silence, she couldn't help but shudder. She didn't know enough about them to recognize what type of bird it was, but it sounded so ominous. Slowly, she made her way with the group, looking around her at the--hopefully abandoned-- shops. Not that she'd mind finding other survivors, but in her mind it was just as likely they'd find monsters or a hostile group as a friendly survivor. With those chances, she'd honestly rather not find anyone new at all.
She kept an eye on the windows, staying in the center of the group for the most part. However, it was hard not to pause as they passed a clothing outlet. A clothes advertisement outside the store had been ripped partially apart and lay now on its side. Jasmine's hand went subconsciously to her throat as she stared at the poster she'd posed for months ago, which now portrayed her headless body. Between the strange sensation of something being wrong and her decapitated visage, she felt like she was going to throw up. She rejoined the others, visibly pale and shaking. Dear god, was she ever tired of bad omens.
Tayne's gun-- borrowed from Dhaval, and while not very big, it was at least bigger than the tiny thing he'd had before-- was in his hand before he had even thought, pointed in the... general direction of the sound, the motorcycle bags tossed aside in the same motion. His heart was beating more quickly than it should, and he swallowed another faint urge to be sick. "The 'ell was that," he muttered, half-expecting a monster at any moment. There was no such thing as a raven anymore, and if there was a sound like one, he was going to be wary. "You guys stay under the overhang there--" He gestured behind them, where the second story covered the path back towards the door. "--and I'm gonna see if that's somethin' that's gonna wanna eat us or not."
Without really waiting to see if they obeyed or not, he crept along the line of destroyed shops in the direction he thought the sound had come from. Everything still felt strangely muted, and he didn't like it, trying to strain his ears and nose to the limit in the hopes of picking up something he might otherwise miss.
It didn't take long for the source of the sound to be spotted. A lone raven came seemingly out of no where, hopping on the tile floor from around a corner. It squawked noisily, ruffling its feathers as it slouched over, no longer hopping from tile to tile. Another raven appeared a moment later, much more bold in appearance, stronger, wings out as it made all the noise it could muster. The first raven stayed where it was, simply watching its partner as it danced around him on the floor.
Taking Jasmine's gun in his other empty hand, Keith had drawn both weapons towards the sound of the... birds? He could feel his fingers twitching--but what was left of the reasonable part of his mind told him not to shoot before they saw what it was. If it was a raging monster, it'd sound more like one, right? He shut his eyes for a brief moment, trying to make his breathing more stable and to calm himself down.
Though he wanted to follow Tayne's commands--it weighed on his conscience to let him go up to explore on his own. Keith hoped his actions wouldn't be misinterpreted as disrespect, as he kept his guns pointed towards where the sounds were and slowly stepped after their leader.
At the sight of the animals, his arms lowered and he let out a sigh, his heart slowing down. It was just some birds...
"What? No. That's a bad plan. That's the dramatic heroic sacrifice plan! That's the Scooby Doo plan!" Verity didn't quite dare run straight after Tayne, but he wanted to. If the dangerous thing was ahead, they should all go look together or all walk in exactly the opposite direction. And if Tayne didn't run into anything that wanted to rip his face off or, in the case of a more human opponent, shoot him, then the rest of them definitely would.
And then there were birds. Regular old bog standard birds. Not the slightest bit malformed. Verity immediately ran through the possibilities. One: Some animals had survived intact like some humans had (perhaps with super powers? Because birds that breathed fire or burrowed through solid earth or talked or shot lightening would be pretty fantastic). Two: Another human survivor had powers like Tayne. Well, two of them. Unless one person's power was to turn into multiple creepy birds. Three: He was hallucinating like Edgar Alan Poe on a bender. Four: There were actually animals that had avoided being infected. All these were interesting possibilities, and either way, he wanted a closer look. Forgetting Tayne's instructions completely, Verity began to inch forward, not wanting to spook the birds, just in case they were, in fact, regular animals.
Jasmine was perfectly happy heading back to the overhang as ordered-- until the other two started to disobey. There was no way she wanted to be left alone out here. She hesitated for a moment, shuffling from foot to foot and resisting the urge to scratch madly at her hands. When Verity was about twenty feet away from her, she lost what little resolve she had and started after him, not moving very fast because she was turning in circles, trying to watch every direction at once as she followed the others. It hadn't even hit her yet that the birds being there, not malformed or mutated, was weird-- in the stress from everything else, she hadn't stopped to consider it.
This was wrong. There shouldn't be real birds here. Tayne glanced over his shoulder at protest from Verity, glared a little at the boys who had so obviously disobeyed-- though not at Jasmine who just looked so nervous, and who he couldn't blame for not wanting to stay behind alone-- then sighted the pistol at the bigger of the two birds. He held his hand as steady as he could, and fired. At the very least, it'd get someone a meal, but he still didn't think they were real birds.
Keith shrunk back from the glare they got for following after Tayne. He hadn't meant anything bad by it, and mumbled a quiet 'sorry,' before trailing off, not being able to come up with a concise enough explanation. He would just feel like he had a fat tongue that rambled and rambled.
He winced back at the sound of the gunshot, moreso at its sudden loudness breaking through the stillness of the mall rather than any fear of it firing. He kinda didn't like that the birds got shot... but he supposed it made sense, for them to hunt any animals they found.
...but he still felt bad for the birds.
Verity didn't notice the disapproval. Following orders was something he'd never had any cause to learn, between his rather unstable mother's home schooling ceding directly to a relaxed, independent college life. His eyes were still on the birds, and half on their surroundings, trying to stay aware. Whatever was up with the birds, he wanted to see. His curiosity about the world in general had only sharpened in the last few weeks. If they didn't understand whatever they could of what was around him, they'd lose. He jumped at the sudden, ear-splitting shot and scowled. Of course, shoot first. Great idea.
When the shot rang out, Jasmine jumped about five feet in the air and let out a frightened-- though quiet-- yelp. She'd been looking off behind her and hadn't seen Tayne raise the gun. Spinning back towards them, she hurried to catch up to the others, forsaking paying attention to her surroundings for catching up with the guys as quickly as possible. "What happened?" She whispered urgently as she stopped barely short of running into Verity. "Did something attack? Is something coming?" She resumed scanning their surroundings, looking more frightened. Surely no one would fire if they weren't directly in danger... not when they weren't sure who-- or what-- might be in the other parts of the building.
As Jasmine's words left her mouth, the sound of flapping wings rang through the hallway. A splatter of blood painted the ground where the ravens had been, black feathers falling as both small animals took off in separate directions. Neither were seriously injured, but the slightly larger of the two was dripping small bits of blood as it left.
The two birds escaped to the upper level of the mall, and settled out of sight inside two of the store fronts. The sounds of their cries could be heard for another few moments, and then silence fell. Along with the silence came a heavy feeling inside the heads of the small search party. It was like invisible weights had been placed on their minds, crowding and pressing them downward. Physically, a sense of being empty crept up their spines and settled into their chests. Tayne decided as soon as he'd shot that it had been a bad idea to shoot. Not only had he panicked Jasmine, not only had he missed, but it had been so damn loud. "No," he answered her, a little disgusted with himself, "it was just a-- bird--" His voice choked off as a creeping chill made him shiver, and he realized, to his horror, that he couldn't smell anything anymore. Something was very wrong, and the hollow feeling inside was only making it seem worse.
"Out," he said hoarsely, clutching his gun with one hand and flinging his other, slowly and rather like he was trying to move it through molasses. "Make for the doors. Now."
That feeling in his chest from before? It only got worse, but instead of a tightening it was just... gone. Not even a good gone, it made him feel sick. Keith placed a hand on his chest for a moment, as if that would help at all, feeling a little confused and dazed.
'What just happened...?'
He only nodded silently at the command and started to head out back towards the door, glancing back warily at the birds and where they'd stood. Something wasn't right...
Verity wasn't very aware of his little talent from moment to moment, so the edge of panic didn't really grow in him. He wasn't subconsciously modeling every mechanism around him. There weren't many just standing in a mall. However, seeing Tayne visibly upset was enough to seriously discomfit him. He might not have been very good at following orders, but he wasn't so oblivious to people that he didn't realize Tayne was leading. Without hesitation, Verity spun on his heel. Pity this was a bust, but he'd rather bring an intact skin home to his brother.
Jasmine was about to answer Tayne's remark about the bird when she shuddered, swallowing down the strong urge to be sick. She wavered on her feet as the strange sensation spread through her chest, feeling alarmed and afraid. The itching in her hands was gone, replaced with numbness as though they had fallen asleep. It was then that she realized that she'd been trying to keep herself ready to use her power-- which usually caused the smallest of electrical current and a slight buzzing feeling. This time it'd only itched, and now her hands were completely numb.
She started to ask for her gun back, but realized that with her hands feeling this way, she'd probably only drop it. They couldn't afford to lose any of the few weapons they had, nor could she waste time fumbling with one. Trying to keep her growing panic in check, she followed the others towards the door.
As the small group retreated toward the exit - the door about fifty feet away, still - there was a sound from behind them, the echoing of a gun being readied for use. Immediately afterward, the sound happened again, and again...
"I wouldn't make any sudden movements, if I were you."
The voice came from behind Tayne and the others, obviously female -- and clearly the only female here other than Jasmine. Her hair was cropped short around her face, wild and unkempt. She had the eyes of a woman who had been robbed of every bit of humanity she'd been born with, lips slightly parted as she took in a slow breath. She adjusted the pistol in her hand and took a step backward, toward the group of men she'd arrived with. Immediately, two larger men filled the gap where she'd stood, directly in front of her to form a wall of flesh. One of the men was black, bald and hulking -- the other man was a pasty white, almost unnaturally so with long dark hair to the middle of his back. They each had a shotgun, both aimed at the other group. There were threeothermen as well, all armed with various handguns and ready to use them if it was needed.
What wasn't immediately visible was the presence of others, hidden away until they were needed, and the growing number of monsters filling the parking lot outside the mall.
Bringing up the rear, Tayne heard everything clearly. His first inclination was to shift forms-- and he was extremely disconcerted when nothing happened. His second inclination was to get the boys and Jasmine behind him, though that was pretty much impossible. He had twitched to one side, on instinct to dive behind something for cover, but there wasn't anything to use, and the words stopped him short before he could even move. The best he could do was turn to face the speaker, and the others with her, and get himself between the guns and the others, chin held high and one arm spread to the left, as if to protect the nearest one to him, Jasmine, doing his best to blindly herd her, at least, behind his back.
"We're not here to cause any trouble," he told the gun-weilders warily. "We're just looking for a friend, that's all."
Keith merely stood there, he made no motion to use his guns, but he made no motion to drop them either. He was a mix of scared and frustrated, glancing around at the people that surrounded them. He wanted to look tough, but God what ammo did he have? He couldn't draw a gun faster than they could pull a trigger, and he had no powers. These people had the upperhand.
'Way to stay positive,' he mentally scolded himself. Maybe they'd let them go. They hadn't caused any trouble, so what was the point in doing anything with them?
Something told him this lot wasn't going to be so nice, though.
Verity was willing enough to drop the heavy stick he'd been using as a monster preventative. Maybe it was his innate, geeky detachment from reality, maybe just what he'd been through the last few weeks, but while he should have been pissing himself, he was pretty calm. He was tempted to mouth off, but at least he had enough sense not to do it. Instead, he focused his attention on the woman's gun. He tried to prod with his mind and nothing happened, so he was certain now that his power wasn't working. Well, so be it. That was a setback, but not a shocking one. There was always an anti-phlebotinum, after all. Someone whose superpower was detecting and restricting others, or the EMP, or the magic cancellation field. All pretty basic stuff. From what Verity could bet, someone had to be holding that up, which meant that it probably depended on concentration (might be up all the time, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it). If he was right about concentration, sooner or later, it would waver. Maybe just for a second. But guns were very simple machines. Verity was willing to bet he could probably break them all pretty quickly, though he'd definitely be exhausted afterward. And if the bad guys had someone who could shoot telekinetic bolts or whatever, then the powers would have to be back on, and they had a tiger, lightening bolts, and Keith was practically Jubilee, right? Probably good for something. Hopefully they'd find out what.
Alternately, it could still be a big misunderstanding. Either way, they had this covered. Yup.
It didn't take much encouragement for Jasmine to duck behind Tayne when he put his arm out to shield her, wishing she were not quite so tall-- grea3t in the model industry, bad when trying to hide behind your companions. From behind his shoulder she stared at the others. All those guns pointing in their direction certainly didn't make her feel any better about the situation. Swallowing in a dry throat, she spoke as well. "Yeah. We... just wanted to see if our friend came here. We'll just... y'know... leave now. There's no reason to fight, we haven't even taken anything from here. We could just... go our separate ways and, um, and not worry with each other." The loss of her power made her even more nervous-- Keith had her gun, and she couldn't even reach for it in case she needed to protect herself without looking hostile or suspicious.
"Just go our separate ways," one of the men repeated, laughing as he glanced back over his shoulder. The woman behind him didn't smile, staring past them to the group they were holding hostage. She tilted her head to the side, her eyes drifting from Jasmine to Tayne.
"You were warned to stay out of our territory. Someone felt like he was above our rule, though. You shouldn't have come back this way... but you're here now, and we are lonely." Her words were stiff, no obvious emotions to back it up. It was as though she was completely detached from the people around her. It was a dangerous trait to possess, given the state of the world now.
It would be clear to anyone who bothered to look that the crowd of monsters outside the mall had flooded the area, blocking out the light from the outside. There was no easy way out of this, no real options other than total surrender.
Even without the tiger in him, or with it suppressed by whatever kept him from shifting and scenting, that made Tayne growl, deep in his chest. "You're them," he said, his voice tight. "From the grocery store." He was too focused on the guns, the immediate threat, to notice the monsters-- especially with his senses muted the way they were, to a merely human level. He mastered the growl with effort, and said, just as stiffly as the woman had said but with far more tightly controlled emotion, "We didn't know this mall was yours. All we knew was it was somewhere our friend might be. We know better now, and will-- gladly-- stay away if you just don't harm anyone." He very nearly choked on "gladly", because it would be with great, great reluctance that he let this place alone, and that only because he knew there was nothing he could do.
"But," the woman said, watching Tayne closely, "we're going to be making dinner soon, and... you're all invited."
The woman's words sparked a flare inside of Keith, though he continued to remain quiet and let Tayne do the talking. How could they do that? Treating the dead with a total disrespect... And how could they talk about it like they owned the place?--the world ended, that didn't mean severing ties with your humanity, it meant you had to keep a tighter grip on it. And... it frustrated him that this group took an opposite interpretation of the end of the world.
At the sight of the light from outside dimming, his eyes glanced around slowly... this wasn't natural darkness. And if he had a guess, he'd say it had something to do with this group.
"...something's wrong," he breathed quietly.
Yeah, so... she was definitely crazy. Absolutely nuts. Verity wondered now if she had mind control powers or something. It didn't make a lot of sense for a bunch of beefy, armed guys to be doing what a crazy person said for no particular reason. It wasn't like she'd had more than a couple weeks to put this together. It was too implausible to think that some weird cult had all survived together when family members hadn't even made it predictably. He was going to have to take that into account. But most of his attention was still on the gun in her hand. It'd be really easy, actually. He didn't have to see the insides of the guns with his special trick to know that all he had to do was compromise the firing pin. Tiny alteration, nonfunctional machine.
Verity was in his hyperfocused place now. Where he went when a test was clearly going to make him start tearing hair out or, way back in the day, when his grandmother had gone off on one of those shrill tirades about Jesus. Pay attention to the little, useful stuff. Don't let the big stuff get to you. Even if he couldn't get his power back, even for a second, malls were full of weird shit, weren't they? Damage crazy woman and they'd probably be okay. In a building full of slippery floors, pointless balconies, and a million dumb store displays, didn't seem like it was that hard. Whether he'd actually be able to hurt her was pretty irrelevant. Verity'd always been prone to elaborate, violent fantasies. Relieved stress.
Jasmine continued to cower behind Tayne. The 'invitation' to dinner didn't calm her nerves any, considering the tone in which it was given. Not to mention the mocking man, and the crazy woman's use of the word lonely. She shuddered, using all her willpower to hold back a whimper. What the hell had she been thinking, going on a would-be rescue mission? She should have stayed at the hotel. Without really thinking about what she was doing, she started to back away from the group. A glance behind her told her the front doors were definitely not an option, but she kept moving slowly. Maybe a different option would present itself...
"Oh," the woman said, gesturing to the men around her. "You must have misunderstood me. I didn't mean to make you feel like dinner was optional." She paused before speaking again, and this time it was devoid of any teasing. Her voice hardened, becoming commanding. "Come with us quietly or we'll tear off your skin and leave you for the dogs." She turned and headed the other direction, and the men that had been surrounding her gestured to the group.
"Drop your weapons," one of them directed. "And come with us. Now."
There wasn't really much they could say to that. Tayne was irrationally glad he didn't have his axe with him-- he'd not wanted to carry it, feeling as bad as he did, in the heat-- because the last thing he'd want was to lose it-- especially to them. Dhaval would be probably be pretty upset about losing the Browning, though.... He looked over his shoulder at the younger folks with him, expression worried and a little helpless, and he nodded. "Best do as he says." For now, anyway. Hopefully their powers would come back... or they could sneak away somehow, later. Even if one of them got away, and got to his bike to escape, that'd be good enough. The most important thing, now, was to warn the others, somehow, about this. The next most important thing was somehow getting as many of them out alive as they could....
So for now, saying silent apologies to Dhaval, he flipped the gun over, holding it by the barrel, and offered the grip end out to the nearest of the gun-weilders. He had a swiss army knife in a pocket, but he hoped nobody'd notice that. It wouldn't do them an ounce of good against guns, but it might help them escape later, if they were left alone.
Keith frowned, tightening the grip on his gun for a moment. He didn't want to drop it, not without knowing why it was there when he woke up those two years ago. But he had a feeling it was something important, and dropping it... Sigh. They had no choice, did they? He unloaded both guns so that the bullets dropped to the ground, emptying the chambers, glaring silently at the lot, and did the same with the third gun in his back pocket. He held the three guns in his hands, waiting for them to take it.
It kind of felt like he was giving away some piece of himself... even if he didn't completely know what it was. He had to get them back somehow. Later. He would.
"Um, I don't carry guns, since I can't actually use them. So, sorry, obviously insane and not very bright lady. I really have nothing to cede. So yeah. You can take us off and very clearly plan to eat us like some giant, moronic cliche now." Verity held up both hands. It was hard to see anywhere he might have a weapon stashed, since he'd dropped his long stick. He had completely detached himself from this situation. It was really the only way to cope without panicking. His eyes didn't raise to anyone's face, just lingering, as ever, on the woman's gun. It would never fire again if he could snatch just a moment of having his power again.
Jasmine's panicked retreat slowed to a halt as she watched the others surrender and realized just how hopeless of a situation they were in. Since she'd given her own weapon to Keith, she had nothing to give up either. She moved closer to her companions, hugging her arms around herself silently. She avoided looking at the strange men who surrounded them; just thinking about them made her skin crawl. It was all she could do not to imagine what was about to happen, why they were being taken. "I just want to go home," she whispered to herself, barely audibly. The world had plainly turned into nothing more than one nightmare after another... at least back in the hotel there was some sense of normalcy, even if it was skewed.
"Well then, we know who to go after first, should we get bored," the woman commented. She turned to leave, headed back to whatever home they had laid claim to earlier. As she exited, the guns were gathered from the survivors they'd taken hostage, and the group was taken away as well.