From Death

Chapter 5 - Nightfall concludes

The exit to the underground facility was positioned at the other side of town. As the ground was swallowed by the fake grass moving out of sight, a stairway appeared guiding and inviting the way to ground level once more. Out emerged, Butch, who in a meerkat manner popped his head out of the opening to see if the close was clear. On establishing that the close was clear and that the teeth were most likely congregated around the dynamite explosion site which meant they were outside of the chemists still; it appeared that the sunlight was diminishing somewhat beyond the horizon. Knowing of the transformation that the teeth make when the moonlight shines was worthy of a trembling thought to the mind of Butch, especially with the knowledge of his new companions being next to naught in combat against such challenges.

As Butch walked out into the open, he waved his hand to signal that it was safe to vacate the area. Out followed Harriet, Paul, Hector, and Marcus at the rear, all looking around to ensure that Butch had the correct decision and twenty twenty vision. Marcus and Hector could be mistaken for thinking such things, after the dreadful miss of Butch's attempts to catch that fish. With the area being clear and all of the group being in the open, the gap that was once behind them soon began to close once again and the facility would presumably go back to running simulations, doing checks, and maintenance. It would certainly have been useful for a hacker to take control of and live out the rest of their days in comfort from the teeth. However, there was no luxury to be found in such times as of yet and the scientists were forced to tag along in the hope of finding a stable sanctuary in the form of The Base.

As they all got acquainted with their new surroundings, Marcus realized that they had fallen down a snake, in a metaphorical game of snakes and ladders, and now found himself further away from home.'We are on the other side of town, are we not, Butch?' The sheer disappointment of being late again was clear from his tone of questioning, as he really didn't want to let Mariah down this time, especially with how much he knew she would be worrying right about now.

'Don't worry, fellas - and lady.' Butch was sure to involve the Doctor into the conversation, it appeared that their time together with him being locked up and her being so nice to him was giving off some sort of Stockholm syndrome as the blood rushed to his cheeks to indicate a liking to her as he glanced in her direction and was given a smile. 'I know we're behind schedule.' 

'what schedule is this?' Paul reacted in his typical ill mannered ways and interrupted Butch. An action that was met with a stern look before Butch carried on with what he was talking about. '-like I was saying, before this guy interrupted,' continuing to look in Paul's direction, 'we're not going to make it to your pozzy before the night drops.' 

'Pozzy? speak English please.' Luckily the person who interrupted this time was Marcus; Butch had built up a certain degree of respect for him over the journey they've had together so far, so Butch let it slide for him and explained. 'Sorry, I meant your home. I've sorta cleaned up my old ways, but you forget sometimes don't ya? Anyway, we can't be trekking through the town like before, there's too many of 'em and they're more active. So I would say we have to head around it all and go through the woods.' Butch wasn't happy about this idea as he knew what the woods possessed, things that were not of the dead way inclined, ofcourse he wasn't going to make such things public knowledge though as he felt that it would discourage such actions. Most would choose the teeth option, especially if they didn't know how snappy they can get at this hour; so it was a necessary risk to take or the lesser of two dangers in Butch's philosophy. The rest of the group took the knowledge that Butch had about the world of today, and accepted his decision. So they all began to move towards the trees in the distance.

The formation of the group was in a two by two and a lone leader in Butch, as he knew the way from his compass after all. Behind Butch was Harriet and Hector, she was acting as a surrogate mother towards Hector, making sure he was extra careful as they moved along. For defense, Harriet had found a slicing implement that was best used for cutting into skulls and Hector still had one of the Kitchen knives from home. They weren't displaying them openly though as the danger wasn't imminent, it was rather peaceful as they walked five paces behind Butch. Only the creatures of the night could be heard, the wildlife rustling through the trees above them, birds flying around to rest up for the night. And owls beginning to hoot to further set the mood of nightfall. Further back was the pairing of Marcus and Paul; the older and wiser of the group or at least that is what you would have thought from the combined age, but in all there years on this planet, it was evident to know that they didn't really have much experience and barely knew anything about the changes of the world today as they spent most of the disaster hidden away, in one form or another. Paul had his hand within inches of his chosen weapon which, like Harriet, was of similar cutting ability. Marcus was more relaxed about the surroundings, but was more unnerved about the time that all of this was taking, and he was obviously missing his wife and daughters. In an obvious attempt to show he was not happy about being at the back, he was walking slightly ahead of Paul, just a step or two as he wanted to get home as soon as possible. Marcus had his screwdriver that he found in a draw and the handgun, just encase.