Who: Felix [Narrative] Where:The Outpost (Marker 7) When: Around 8:30am
Felix wished he could say he was surprised with how out of breath and generally worn out he felt after speeding his way through the woods. Once his eyes had fallen on the shape of the building ahead of him in the early morning light, he'd spent a good three minutes with his hands on his knees, waiting for his heart to decide whether or not it was going to try out its impression of a chestburster right there on the forest floor. With people no doubt heading that way eventually he supposed it would have been an interesting find, and he couldn't help but wonder if the sneak suit's stealth capabilities shut off if a softball-sized hole showed up on it. A few months ago, not even pre-Zenith, he'd have been able to make that run with little trouble, even with the terrain being as much of a pain in the ass, but now, after weeks of lounging around doing little to nothing, his last real exercise being after hours with the last obstacle course with Audrey, he knew he needed to do something about that.
He'd dropped out of his bedroom window as quietly as possible with only the suit, his empty pack, and his multifunction knife a few minutes after the message alert woke him up. He'd contemplated coffee for a few heartbeats, but didn't want the smell to clue anyone in on the fact that he was awake. If this was going to work, he needed people to think that he was dead to the world for as long as possible. He did feed Shark, not wanting the poor girl to be cranky, hungry and alone, but made the decision not to sneak into the bathroom for his morning routine just in case.
He didn't know what he was expecting at the marker, but he decided he hadn't been expecting an actual building to be there, let alone several. What surprised him more than the building was the road, even as deteriorated as it was, and he found himself kneeling to pick up a crumbled piece of it just to smell the familiar stink of asphalt. He supposed it was an odd thing to miss, but he did. For a second he contemplated stuffing the rock into his pocket, but instead dropped it back onto the ground.
He checked the GPS to make sure that no one else had decided to get an early start, even if the chances of them catching up with him even if he spent some time checking things out were slim to none, then headed inside what appeared to be the main building. He moved quickly, but as thoroughly as possible, though there didn't appear to be much to see here, despite the building's size. He nearly missed the lantern, hiding away on the top bunk of one of the beds, grinning to himself as he tucked both the post and the main piece into his pack.
His next stop turned out to be the crumbling stable, and he gave it a cursory once over before moving on, deciding that while the wheelbarrow could definitely be fun, he didn't really have time to lug one anywhere right now. When he got a good look at the other building, his first thought was werewolf biker bar for some reason, though he didn't know what about it really triggered that. As soon as he stepped inside it was easy to see the contents were going to be a lot more interesting, his eyes falling over the random supplies littering the shelves of what had to be some sort of hillbilly S-mart. There wasn't much left, but he supposed that was probably a good thing, given the time frame. He eyeballed the cans of food, calculating what use he could have for them before deciding to leave them. He didn't have a can-opener, and the notable lack of expiration dates on each can didn't give him any confidence in the viability of the contents. He swiped a few candles, leaving the majority behind, along with an old air pump for someone else to find.
When his eyes fall on the last product available on the shelves he couldn't help but grin, snorting to himself as he readied his pack to fill it to the brim. About a dozen rolls of duct tape lined a shelf, and he shoved all but one single roll into his backpack, absolutely unsure of what he was going to do with them, but knowing he'd eventually come up with something. They wouldn't all fit in his stash in the room, and while he might get a few into the treestump hiding spot, he intended to plant at least one of the lanterns in there as well. That meant needing to hide the remaining rolls somewhere else until he could use them. He supposed he could use one of the drawers from the empty desk in the main building, but they didn't seem particularly sturdy.
Heading back outside, he moved towards the last structure he'd gotten a glimpse of but hadn't checked yet. He didn't know if the well was functioning at all, but it seemed in surprisingly decent shape considering everything around it. That meant there might be a bucket, which meant something suitably waterproof to stash the tape outside, at the very least. It took him a minute to figure out how to work the actual crank on the well, and the sloshing made it evident that not only was the well full, but there was likely a bucket down there even though he couldn't see it. What he hadn't been expecting was a second lantern to be resting in it when it came up.
"Huh," he huffed, blinking at it for a few seconds before maneuvering the contents in his pack around to make room for everything. In the end he had to remove the posts for the lanterns for the pack to remain comfortable to wear, carrying them in-hand as he made one more quick pass through the buildings. When he was satisfied he went back to the desk, deciding he probably shouldn't let whoever came looking for the lantern leave too disappointed. That was too easy.
Find Me - P21 he carved into the surface of the wood with the wide end of the bottle opener on his multifunction knife. He added a small, simple picture of a smiling sun in a box with a triangle on top that looked more like an elementary schooler's vision of a house than a lantern, but he supposed the point would get across either way. That also meant that if he ended up out in the woods longer than he planned, any group from the house would have incentive to go in a different direction than he planned on lurking.
With his treasures in tow, Felix departed from the area, heading towards this stump stash rather than the house, impulsively nabbing a piece of the asphalt on his way out after all.