The Grandfather of the Reunion

Act 1-6

Temperance Riffs

Starting first memory playback with: memory of certain day

[They attempt to retrace their steps back to the truck—they figured they have enough of scavenging the entire mall, seeing as it has: spiders, poisonous perfume stores, a sanitation worker stalking them, and not to mention husks that they haven't encountered just yet.]

[They decided to ignore everything, and look for their truck ... they eventually got lost in the process however. The mall is not that huge, most of the scavengers are just pretty lacking in geography. They ended up stumbling in places they shouldn't be in—most of which consists of nests of giant spiders. Gordon commented that they hadn't encountered any spiders for when they made it to the rooftop, and it's scary to think how much he missed that would be crucial in their scavenger hunt.]

[It also did take time to realise they were still on the second floor of the mall. After presumably going around in circles for a few minutes, they made it to a deactivated escalator leading down to the first floor. They were very glad they made it to a pair of electric staircases, but if only the same could be said to the ground floor.]

[It's like a convention of husks. A party of ghouls. A conglomeration of cadaverous undead cannibals. There was an entire gathering of those freaks just down at the portion of another entrance and exit of the mall. Now that would explain why there weren't so many husks from where they came through.]

[Because they're not a full idiot just yet, to the point they shared one brain cell, they hid behind mall decorations, or, just retreated away from that mass of bloodied rocky bodies.]

[They refrain from talking, but a few terror squees were let out from the sheer ass cheek clenching after they saw...that... All of them grip their weapons firmly and tightly - and despite in times of great fear clenching, were they able to keep decent trigger discipline.]

Hosea: "Everyone...let's go find another staircase, our truck...is very far if these cannibals are here in the first place." <To conserve the element of surprise retreat, he speaks in a hushed and quiet voice>

Gordon: "No kidding... Look, why can't we just jump down?" <And so did the rest>

Crownslayer: "And get risked eaten alive?.

Gordon: "From before!..."

W: "And get risked our legs broken?"

Judith: "Have you guys ever went to school?"

Eno: "I had a bad experience in school!"

Hosea: "Everyone shut up! Look, let's find another way, there's gotta be. Let's go back, and let's not deal with this horde."

[The team solemnly agreed to Hosea's idea. As they turn around, hoping to find another exit, Hosea sees that same gas masked figure, standing right next to a security glass encased store, with a suspicious beeping LED light just above its door frame. Usually it means that the store is hooked to a loud alarm bell for burglaries, but perhaps the mall still has emergency power running through its electrical veins. Now just why is that guy standing there—oh dear.]

[It feels like Hosea and this mysterious gas masked stranger are in a showdown at high noon at a western ghost town. Hosea, thinking rationally and cautiously, slings his shotgun over, but does not point at the stranger who's suspiciously near the security glassed store, wielding a sledgehammer.]

[He doesn't know what this guy would do, but judging by the sledgehammer, the stink eyes inside his goggles, and the glass, all that guy could do is break it, and unleash the horde. Why is he just standing there? What's his deal? All thoughts linger in Hosea's mind, some of those are about himself, thinking why he's just standing there, leaving himself behind. Hosea shakes his gun deliberately, trying to appeal to this stranger as he feints and stabs the air with his shotgun, attempting to shoo him away.]