"Hmm." Matthias looked around at the looming, shadowed form of some of the abandoned buildings nearby. "I'm pretty sure she didn't say she was actually in a building when she lost the cross. But, seeing as we can't find her or CB, I suppose it can't hurt. I mean, it sounds like her cross could really be anywhere in the area." Matthias walked down the sidewalk a little ways more, then turned abruptly down a narrow alley. "If we want to get in, we're probably gonna have to use a back entrance," he in a tone that usualy wasn't reserved for discussing breaking and entering. "The front doors are usually locked."

A geek's most personal tool is a flashlight. Soren was a rescue-geek. His tools were his knives and flashlight, things which were sort of to him like the blankets and stuffed animals young kids always had around except that his actually had practical uses. The metal of the light pushed into his hand as he tightened his grip, unwilling to let go of the flashlight while still quite as spooked as he felt.

No... He can just tell me where to point it he thought to himself, trying to think of a valid excuse to keep ahold of it. None came mind except that his multi-tool might have a light on it. He had a dozen of them and couldn't recall which he had on him. Reaching a hand into his collar, he pulled out a think piece of metal and whipped it down to throw the plier heads open with a loud 'sssh raack' sort of sound. He fumbled with the end and found a rather crumby little light meant for working inside small things like computer or boxes.

Approaching Cruiser, he held out the better flashlight, but, had to fight himself to get his hand to give up the steel-grip on it.

OOC: Scared/Spooked Soren = dog who needs his flashlight or pocket knife...

Plamen froze in his place while she sang. She sang great, her voice ringing in his ears. "She sings... like an angel..." he muttered quietly.

"well, as long as I'm distracted from this weird feeling. Let's find a way in."

Cruiser looked directly at Soren as he handed over his flashlight. Despite it being almost pitched black, he could still see the hesitant expression on the younger dogs face. “I just need it for a second...” The Dutch shepherd turned and approached the doorway. The faint shuffling noise he’d heard just seconds ago was gone, as he turned into the next room he expected to see someone, or something, that’d been making it. For all he knew, it could have been anything from some vandalizing kid, to just a mouse. Whatever it might be, there was nothing logical he could think of to explain the fear he’d just felt.

Cruiser shined the light about the room, and didn’t see much of anything, just some empty shelves, a broken ceiling light, and a window that’d for some reason been boarded up from the inside. No signs of any vandal, or anything alive for that matter. “Yeah...it was just a mouse...” He mentally decided and exited the room, heading back towards Soren and Marcus.

After Cruiser went on into the darkness, Soren began to feel more afraid. He hadn't any significant comfort as his usual thing, his flashlight was gone for now. The other dog's words hadn't made him any happier. Running had seemed like a viable option except that he'd never leave anyone behind if he could help it. In this case, there was no demonic thing around hunting him... So, he couldn't help it.

Spooked as he was, his fear began to subside a bit and then Cruiser returned. "What was it?" he asked, looking towards the darkness.

Marcus continued to look past the other two dogs into the room, unwilling to look away for the fear that some kind of horror would rush out of the room.
He backed up a few steps, making a conscious effort not to turn and run.

"Just like usual!" Skya called over at Plamen. "In fact, some times I find myself sitting there listening to her singing, and wish I could have been born with a voice like hers!" She told him, while patting out the rhythm of the song. She felt like, through some sick twist in her luck, she had been cursed to only be able to hear Zaya's voice when she sang every once in a long while. Heak, she felt like Zaya's voice carried far enough for her to just talk to Plamen from where she was, unlike her own voice, which wouldn't even carry far enough for her to talk to him from more than a few feet away.

((OOC: I know this had nothing to do with the song, but I'm a details person, and needed to know if it's something Skya would tune out. So weird am I. |D ))

"Alrighty," Matthias murmured as he walked deeper into the shadowed space between the two buildings. Aside from an old dumpster and a few pieces of trash scattered across the ground by the wind, the alley was almost completely empty. It wasn't until he passed the dumpster that Matt paused to take a look. "There we go." Just to the left of the battered trash receptacle was a thick wooden door, set into the building's brick wall. Matthias tried to turn the handle. It resisted at first, but then, with a dull scraping sound, it turned. "Perfect," Matthias remarked as he pushed the door open. It swung inwards with a low creak, revealing a deeply shadowed hall.

The young shepherd looked blankly over both the other dogs before responding. “No clue, I didn’t see anything. Here’s your light...” Cruiser held out the flashlight for Siren. “We can go now. Not much else interesting left here and I don’t trust those stairs enough to keep looking.” After Soren took his light back, Cruiser walked back around the corner to the doorway they’d originally entered through.

He stopped dead in his tracks the second his eyes passed over the open door.


He wasn’t sure who or what is was he was looking at, but there was a very tall, very slender figure standing just before the doorway. All that fear he’d felt earlier that had resided, suddenly hit him like a freight train.

The sight, in and of itself, was actually more bizarre than frightening, but it was like just looking at whatever or whoever it was, made all of his nerves go on the fritz for a short moment. Cruiser’s rationality and confusion were mixed, but he succeeded in at least retaining the inexplicable, instinctual fear long enough to allow his security training to kick in. His hackles bristled and his chops pulled back to reveal his sharp teeth as Cruiser barked out. “Hey! HEY!! What are you doing!!?” Despite the background light from the open door, he could still see whoever it was, was clad in a suit of some kind with a tie, so it had to be a person...or at least that’s what the rational part of his mind said...the fear driven part of his mind was going into overdrive as he realized he couldn’t make out any facial features at all on the person. Something was very, VERY, wrong...

--

“Won’t you go?”
“No means no”
“Your dirty life, is like a one-man show”

“You’re a night attack”
“You turn the light to black”

Zaya smiled softly as she sang, catching small bits of the conversation between Skya and Plamen. Their appreciation in a way made her feel that much better, even as she began to close on her last bit of unsearched rooftop. She continued the song with the repeated second verse as she kept looking.


Her eyes flashed with delight as she passed the second air conditioner located on the opposing side of the roof, she’d noticed a small gleam of light come from nearby, which could very likely had come from her precious trinket. It made sense to her as she excitedly rushed over to it. It was off that same plain metal box that’d she’d demonstrated to CB how to do back flips. That must have been when she lost it.

Zaya knelt down to inspect the shining object. Sure enough, it was her cross!

But there was now a small problem troubling her. It had somehow gotten wedged into a small gap between the roof tiles. How it ended up there was a complete mystery to her. Even if she’d dropped it straight into the roof, the chances of it getting stuck like how it currently was seemed impossible.

The only part she could even see exposed was the very bottom of the crosses handle. Her singing had stopped as she nervously extended a paw to attempt pulling it loose. But to her obvious disappointment, It wouldn’t even budge…

Marcus followed Cruiser around the corner and stared with him at the strange figure.
Sorry sir we, uh, we were justleaving his voice trailed off as he talked as he realized he couldn't make out any facial features.
What the ### is up with his face??

The husky rather eagerly took his flashlight and then followed Cruiser towards the door and became terrified again. He had at first thought he was just looking at someone in the shadows and then he thought the guy had some skin condition that'd make him harder to see and then he flat out jumped to the idea that he was staring at something evil. His mind raced on the 'fight or flight' idea and got stuck in the middle as both involved going through the door. His hackles stood straight up. His hands held a death grip on his multi-tool and flashlight.

What Soren wanted most was for his dad to be there. Instead all he had were stories, first-aid and some basic self-defense things. He remembered that the key to taking down a big person was causing pain. He remembered that pressure points and certain joints would do that. He remembered his dad demonstrating a few just so that he'd know them if something bad ever happened. What he didn't know, was whether or not they worked on creepy evil things that scared the life out of him. Hopefully they did.

With all this shooting through his mind, the dog managed to at least stay there around Cruiser and first just see what was going to happen. The first guy to go alone was always a guinea pig and he would be no guinea pig.

Selina looked at the dark hallway and was scared. She was a cat of science and she knew there was probably nothing to be afraid of, but her basest instincts said that this probably wasn't such a great idea. but whether it's good or bad, she was able to make herself take a step through the door. "well, let's go see if we were lucky enough that the random building we chose is where Zaya lost her cross."

As she stopped, Plamen turned to where she was and saw her next to a air-conditioner. "You found it?" He asked as he went to Zaya, just to see her trying to reach something in a gap between the roof tiles nervously.
"It's in there?" The Shepherd asked.

"Heh. Yeah, lucky," Matthias remarked. Before taking his first step into the building, the Retriever rummaged around in his drawstring bag for a few moments, before producing a small flashlight. He clicked it on and aimed its dull beam down the dark hall. Unlike Selina, he seemed completely unconcerned with the prospect of going in. "I'll lead," he said, stepping through the doorway.

"well you are the one with the flashlight," she said, slightly more comfortable now that she could see where they were going.

Cruiser was just barely able to resist the urge to either run or attack, once again she shouted out to the figure. “Just who are you!? Did you unlock those doors!?” The answer he received was more than he could handle.

The suited figure’s head convulsed and whipped about unnaturally in a blur of motion, causing Cruiser to nearly jump in terror. By now he'd concluded it wasn’t a person they were looking at.

The door behind the slender being was suddenly slammed shut by some unseen force, sending the three dogs again into complete darkness, spare for the light from Soren’s flashlight. The young shepherd's mind went into a complete frenzy of panicked decisions. They were now stuck in the dark of an abandoned building with god-knows-what less than twenty feet from them...

Marcus stood still for a moment paralyzed with fear.
Dude get your ###### light on that door!

Slowly, Matthias started off down the corridor, sweeping the faint beam of his flashlight over the floor and walls ahead. It only took a few moments before the beam fell on another door, to their left. Matthias tried it, but the knob barely turned. "Hm. Locked..."

"should we break it down or look for another?" she said jokingly.

"Maybe we should move on," Matthias said with a lopsided grin. He swept the flashlight's beam back and forth across the hall as he continued to walk forward, pausing briefly on one patch of wall. He quickly moved the light back to the floor ahead. Scratch marks? Eh. It was an old building, and the door was unlocked. It would have to be some kind of miracle for there not to be damage. Matthias glanced back at Selina and kept moving.

And now, in complete terror, Soren was run more by instinct than on thought. He pointed his flashlight at the door in a heartbeat and crouched low to keep his center of gravity low while he still held a death-grip on his multi-tool. He couldn't tell much about the figure despite his light shining on it. What he could tell though, was that he wanted to get out of there and whether or not the stairs were safe he was going to climb them if it meant he had to walk up the metal beams that supported them.

The husky couldn't find his voice to speak, but, he slowly started edging back in order to make a run at his plan if he had to. Run up the steps, locate a door and run out it. Simple, elegant and in his state of mind, nothing would dare stand in his way as he'd probably beat it to the ground. Fear's a powerful thing afterall.

Marcus bared his teeth and backed up a couple steps.

Guys what is that?

When Soren redirected his flashlight back at the door, Cruiser instantly made the choice to RUN. Like out of some horror movie scene, in the few seconds they’d been in the dark, the slender whatever-the-@#$%-it-was had somehow silently closed about half the distance between them and the doorway it was originally standing at. Cruiser simply deducted this by the fact Soren’s light was shining at the torso of a tall suited body less than ten feet away.

The shepherd spun around and grabbed both the smaller dogs by the collar, and jerked forward, letting go only once he felt that they were moving along with him and not just being dragged behind. “****, GO FREAKING GO!!” He dashed for the stairs, just barely managing up the first few steps without stumbling over the steps in the darkness. Cruiser was now severely regretting not having his own flashlight with him.

It didn't taking telling twice to get Soren moving. As soon as he saw that evil thing and then got pulled, he did what huskies do best and bolted off as fast as he possibly could. At the steps he ignored whatever structural problems their were and bounded up them in the widest and fastest steps he could take. Once up top he kept going and didn't look back. He ran ahead, shining his light everywhere in search of an exit. Though, he was also staying in the area of the others.

Harley tilted her head and squinted her eyes slightly, waiting for the cats reply. Then the man behind her said “Order up!” and with a click of the bell, Harley’s mother had come to pick her up back from the store. The cat smiled to the man and took the drink, before using her other paw to shake Angels hand and thanking her for getting her glasses back.

“Thank you very much for helping get back my glasses, I have to leave now, but I will be sure to come by and visit” Harley said, waving goodbye to Angel and leaving the store. Once the feline was outside, she stepped into the car and her mother took off. Driving towards their new home.

“So sweetie, what’re the people like there?” Julie said, smiling and continuing to drive back down the street.

“Everyone is rather strange and some people are very kind, like the one cat that I met.” The feline explained, drinking her milkshake.

“That’s alright honey; you’re going to love the new home!” Julie explained, smiling to her pet, as they neared to the new home.

As soon as she heard Plamen ask if someone found it, Skya turned back to see him heading toward Zaya and an air-conditioning units, which she ran over and jumped atop to keep conversation with the dogs and watch Zaya try and pull something out from beneath the air conditioning unit next to the one she was on. "If it is, is it stuck?" Skya asked with a pleading gaze for the truth, since she had several trust issues from her past experiences. She shook off the thoughts before she went into another vivid flashback of her past.

Marcus bolted up the stairs behind the other dogs

I hope they know where they're going

“I’m sure of it! But, I can’t get it loose. How did it even get here?” Zaya uselessly tried to pick the small silvery object out of the gap between the tiles, but to no avail. She was beginning to look very upset once again at the situation. If she wasn’t careful at freeing it, it might end up falling all the way through the roof and inside the building. It would be a nightmare trying to get it back then.

The tall wolfhound stood back up, gazing down at the gap with her paw up to her muzzle as if worriedly thinking.

--

While running through the dark and muttering profanities out of shock, Cruiser finally caught up to Soren, who had the advantage of getting a small head start past them, having the ability to actually see where he was going. “KEEP GOING! KEEP GOING!” He said in an urgent, whispered voice. Where they were going exactly? He had no clue. All he knew for now was that they had to get out of dodge from the terror they were nearly cornered by seconds ago. At the top of the stairs, they found themselves running down a long, second story hallway. Soren’s light allowed them to catch glimpses of closed doors on each side, but none of which he would dare stop to test if it was open.

The hallway ended in an abrupt right turn, which Cruiser passed Soren to immediately follow through...Only to run face first into a wall...”OOF!”

The young shepherd staggered back a few feet, stunned, and hobbled around for support before gripping onto what felt like an open doorway. He pulled himself together to catch the attention of the others in the same hushed panicked tone from earlier. “GUYS! THIS WAY!”

Plamen frantically started looking around for some solution, until he spotted a long, thin nail and not far from it - an old, rusty crowbar. An idea came up to his mind.
"I got it!" he said loudly and rushed to get the nail and the crowbar. He presented them to the two girls shorty after. "Here's my idea." the shepherd began "I'll make the nail like this." he twisted the nail into a hook. "With this hook you'll catch your trinket and when I loosen the tile a bit with the crowbar, you'll quickly pull it out" he finished with a grin.

Selina saw the scratch marks and her latent curiosity started to remove her fear. I wonder what kind of animal made those.

Selina noticed some sounds coming from upstairs; extremely muffled voices and running, not to mention the dull thud she heard.
"What's making those sounds?"
(OOC: that was the group you meant for us to hear, right?)

"Crawling in my skin! These wounds they will not heal!" The radio on Reno's motorcycle sang out as he rode down the street "Edge City..." he thought to himself "Its been a year or so since I've been here..." he smiled to himself "I'm home!WAHOOOO!" he howled and picked up a bit of speed

"Err, Maybe I could just reach under it using my claws." Skya said, hoping to avoid damage to the building. "After all, a cat's claws are smaller than a dogs, giving me a little bit more grip on it the cross. Besides, damaging the building is pretty much vandalism right?" She asked, hoping to get Plamen to drop his Idea. Not that it wasn't a good idea or anything, but she just didn't like running the chance of getting in trouble.

Matthias glanced to the ceiling with a frown. "Heck if I know... let's try and find a set of stairs." He continued slowly on down the hall, sweeping the dim beam of his flashlight back and forth across the empty, run-down hall.

Plamen nodded "Your way is indeed good, but let's keep my way the second option. Besides, what I want to do to the building is nothing more than like you receiving a small scratch - nothing that can't be very easily fixed."

The little husky stopped pretty much on a dime. He stood back and kind of examined everything around him while the larger dog staggered around and then once he got going again, followed. At times, he could hate being small, but right now he didn't. Small meant fast and short stop distances.

In the next room his light flew around the room, examining as much as it could while they ran on. It seemed like an empty and abandoned office space. There was seemingly nothing more really there.

Zaya exchanged glances with Plamen and Skya before explaining her own thoughts on the matter. “This building is full of cracked windows and broken locks. I don’t think there’s much we’d do here to get my cross back that make us vandals...” She took the small bent nail Plamen had held out and held it delicately. “Skya, do what you can, but please be careful. It feels almost like it’s been intentionally jammed there. If you can get it, we won’t have to ease up the tile and risk it falling through to the attic beneath us...”

Marcus followed the voice without hesitating, too scared to really consider whether or not he should follow.

Selina started to try to open doors, her curiosity replacing that uneasy feeling from earlier. one of the doors opened to a stairwell.
"I found the stairs."

"Oh, good," Matthias said, lowering his voice. "Let's take a look around ..." He stepped through the doorway into the darkened stairwell, sweeping the dull beam of his flashlight over their surroundings. Satisfied that it was safe to continue, Matt started up the old stairs. But as he reached the first landing and rounded the corner, the flashlight's beam flickered and suddenly died. "Oh, cuss..." In the sudden darkness, Matthias gave the little flashlight a few quick whacks. After a few heart-stopping moments the reappeared, though a bit more dim than before. "Hehe... must need new batteries...."