"Ready?" Crane glanced to Kyle going off the radio having talked to Toy informing that the place should be empty, the message loud and clear broadcasted loudly from the building. The sun started to go down but even from outside it was visible that in there, night wouldn't be a problem.
"Why do you even ask?" Kyle smirked, the two quickly finding an entrance and stepping inside, away from the groaning infected outside unable to get in. Their eyes wandered over the scene after the elevator ride, the building bloody and messy with body after body strewn across. Kyle's glanced to Crane trying a door with electronics inside likely the source of the message and Crane shook his head. He got a bad feeling about this place and Kyle did too. Plus, Crane didn't want Kyle to risk being seen using his abilities so much having grown very carefree about it around Crane. The kid's eyes landed on a keycard on a coffee table handing it to Crane opening the door to what seemed like a set-up for a photo or scene shot, the next door leading to another room with more computers and to the source being recording on a laptop, Crane shutting it off, Kyle visibly relieved for it to be done having done little more than grated on his nerves but by far nowhere near a fire alarm. Another voice spoke up, the same of the recording but live and while the volume didn't grate on one the words that came did.
"To anyone who can hear this: Your situation is dire. I've killed women and children here. I can offer you death in exchange for your medicine, food and drinking water. Come to me…"
"Tell me what's happening," Troy spoke over the radio.
"We're in the Fan Zone. This place is a trap. Keep people the hell away out of here."
"Understood. Now take your own advice, and get out of there."
"I think I'm going to have to deal with this one Troy. Crane out."
"What about your kid?" Troy asked, not quite done yet.
"I'm not leaving his side. I go wherever Crane goes." Kyle replied.
"Yeah Troy, don't worry. He's way tougher than you imagine. Crane out."
"Ahhh! So you wish to challenge me! Excellent. A question to the child, as I'm curious. How old are you boy?"
"Old enough to shove the nearest pole I can find so far up your ass, it'll stick out of your throat asshole!" Kyle yelled.
"So much bite! Excellent! Take the elevator, and it will bring you straight to me." Both of them wore a deeper scowl facing the elevator with blood inside.
"Damn elevators…" Kyle growled, his eyebrow having a twitch.
"Elevator and a serial killer, this can only go perfect." Crane sarcastically remarked.
"After this one, I'm never riding a fucking elevator again in Harran except the one at the Tower…"
"Let's get it over with…" Crane sighed, the two stepping and watching the doors close as the murderer droned on taunting them describing how he would go about it.
"And here we go." Kyle remarked the elevator coming to a stop, of course not opening the doors nicely to some sparkling hallway, their eyes drawn to the open hatch. Crane didn't even try to tell Kyle to stay simply helping the boy into the shaft and vent as the man droned on and in this situation Crane didn't want the kid alone no matter how hurt with a cold blooded sadistic murderer crawling around the place. Crane stopped suddenly scooting back a little quickly as bullets punctured holes into the vent causing the man to snarl silently.
"You okay?" Crane whispered.
"Yeah…" 'Wait, what is that… a smell…?' The two crawled on but Kyle couldn't pinpoint what is was but it made him a little woozy following the man as the guy below kept shooting into the vent ending after a short crawl. Crane jumped down with his gun out, the man below quickly scrambling for cover but still catching a shoulder shot. But Crane's attention shifted to Kyle as the man's body revolted against the gas in the room, the assailant wearing a gas mask noticing the worry immediately flush into Crane's face as Kyle getting out wasn't a careful land but a flop barely stopping himself from falling in his hurt arm trying to hold his breath.
"Kyle!" Crane with a cough of his own, grabbed the boy by his good arm dragging him aside behind some cover causing a bit of a stand-off shooting to keep the guy away shooting back, eyes shifting to Kyle struggling to even crouch as the gas hit him way harder starting to bleed first from his nose. "Damn it… Hey, hey stay behind cover!"
"I have an idea…" Kyle coughed trying to drag himself forward with little success, stopped by Crane. "Use me… as bait… I'm sorry I'm so useless now…"
"You're not; hold your breath as much as you can." Crane coughed cautiously leaning a little out of cover immediately shot as quickly shooting back.
'Crane, I'll be okay…' Kyle glanced up to the man rolling to the next office with a growl letting the psycho circle closer to Kyle glancing to the boy position his right hand closer to his boot pretending to try to squirm away causing the murderer to eagerly come closer with a quick hail of bullets at Crane ducking behind a desk as the glass above him shattered. 'That's right asshole, think I'm helpless. Come to me…' His heart sped up a little, the evil man decked in cameo and a gas mask now shuffling right in front of him but shooting at Crane now hesitant in shooting back as the gas got to him as well with Kyle so close to the target. 'Crane, don't shoot for a moment.'
'That's too dangerous!' Crane's eyes widened as something stirred within, Kyle's eyes out of his sight widening as well.
'Please… I can barely see, blood… I won't be able to pull it off…' Crane obliged the blonde but only for a few seconds as he positioned himself to shoot again.
Kyle's heart raced a little hoping he was really right that such a sadistic man would maybe actually do what he bragged about in the vent, the man's hand closing around a knife as no shot fired, the movements bringing him just a little closer. Kyle quickly gathered all his strength, hand rushing to his boot as the men's leg pinned the claw wearing one luckily not concerned right now with stepping on the brace as the blonde pulled out the knife twisting around and driving it into the man's throat. But the man yanked away causing a death stab to become a near but still crippling stab causing the cruel man to stagger back and need a moment to take aim again taken aback as Kyle's green irises erupted in a blaze. 'Crane, shoot now.' With their attacker no longer crouching in hiding, Crane get up as soon as Kyle called and shot without mercy nailing the guy in more than one vital spot, body dropping faster than the shaky finger pulled the trigger of the gun aimed at Kyle. Crane quickly darted over to Kyle dragging him to a different room where the gas wasn't so thick before finding the switch to turn the power back on causing the ventilation system to take out the gas.
"Need ammo?" Kyle coughed having pulled himself up into a sitting position pointing to the boxes on the table.
"Fifty, fifty, you're not gonna fall over dead on me right?" Crane sighed, Kyle trying to wipe off the blood from his face. "We need Camden to check you out…"
"It's fine, we don't. You have some tissue?"
"I'll try to find some." It wasn't much but after a quick search he managed to find a bit of clean scraps, Kyle thankfully taking them and using his spit to get the blood better off.
"Just give me two minutes to breathe. Would've kicked ass if it weren't for that stupid gas…" Kyle growled, the knife wiped off on his pant a bag lying around right by the large desk tucking it back into his boot with the sheath.
"You still did. So…"
"Yeah, I heard you. You have telepathy too. I guess Rahim might actually have abilities then so I should stop brushing him off."
"Before he tries finding out himself and does something reckless…" Crane sighed. "So, think I can do something else?"
"I don't know."
"Troy? It's Crane."
"You alright?"
"Some psycho's been luring people into the Fan zone and hunting them. Must be 15 to 20 bodies down here."
"Is he dead?"
"Dead as I can make him. Crane out."
"Hey, you wanna run to the closest safe zone? I don't wanna sleep here."
"You sure you're up for it? It's not pretty but this place is safe now."
"Yeah, I can move enough. Did I get it all?"
"Just down there a little…" Crane finished for the boy discarding the bloody tissue, Kyle getting up carefully but with steady footing.
"You know I just had an idea…"
"We need to stop having this sleep deprived habit…" Crane sighed.
"Well it's just past the Ember's Tower isn't it, the office building Savvy marked? It's just right now, if Rais still has an outpost there, most of them will be asleep if we hit them now."
"That's still dangerous but brutally brilliant." Crane admitted. "We both need rest though even with you beefed up at night… aw fuck… you need to keep your ideas to yourself… After tonight, we're having a full night of sleep tomorrow…" The two headed off grabbing any loot that fancied them before sauntering and leaping over the roofs, Crane first checking if Kyle decided otherwise passing the tower both careful not to alert any volatiles, the sling stuffed in the backpack. Kyle was quite adept at using his elbow as a sort of support, the duo avoiding grapple hook gaps, their eyes soon falling onto the office building sneaking onto the roof to look for a way in. Two guards stood on a balcony overlooking the street with their backs turned to them. One the count of three, both jumped down Kyle using his machete and throwing the sputtering thug down into the street with his right hand to the zombies while Crane slit the throat of the other with a knife quickly tossed down into the street as well by the blonde. The duo carefully and silently entered the rather building looking rather cozy with couches, some desks and a vending machine with light revealing later a rather clean place. Kyle lead the way able to see without a flashlight although it wasn't anywhere near his normal vision at daytime heavily relying on smell and hearing as well. Just like the kid had predicted besides those two guards no one was awake, one thug right by the balcony stirring at a little but rolling over again and Kyle's knife paused as he found himself unable to attack the man being defenseless now not even aware that death hovered over him. Crane noticed it placing his hand on the blonde's shoulder nudging him away. 'You stay a sweet kid as much as this shithole will allow.' The man's eyes fluttered open just for a second before it was all over before he could even really notice it, Kyle dragging the body out and throwing it down to the street like with the other two while Crane carefully scouted ahead a little with the interior partially lighted. Kyle walked back, the snapped neck leaving no wound that would cause a drag mark, the following ajar left that way by Crane waving him to the right as he passed through, another snapped neck awaiting for Kyle to take the corpse away. Crane himself felt a little dirty but he knew those men would shoot at them if they were awake, shoot to kill and try to catch Kyle so it would've come down to kill or be killed at daytime anyway. The next thug just a few steps away from the last one on another leather couch silently slipped away with a tiny flail dragged away afterwards. The pair discarded of five more that way scattered around on the couches and armchairs sitting throughout the outpost.
The thug came from taking piss with a yawn quickly stumbled back standing against the wall peeking out again with narrowed blinking eyes barely avoiding the green blazing eyes of the figure dragging something behind it being none other than a fellow gang member now dead. 'Shit, did a zombie get in?!' The thug took a deep breath with a snarl following the one dragging the dead gang member, hearing the zombies pipe up as the body landed. Kyle walked back in suddenly rushing forward startling the thug jumping in the way stumbling back, the shot missing as Kyle yanked to the right seeing the shot miss to his left kicking the man in the leg shattering it, the scream cut short with the machete beheading the man and Kyle stepped out of the blood spray. 'The floor was so clean…'
Crane quickly glanced around, the shot echoing through the building rousing the remaining thugs quickly grabbing their guns, one of them shaking a runner on the shoulder interrupting his sleep eyes having started opening from the gunshot.
Kyle darted back in, handgun in his right fairly certain the outpost would have a lot of guns with whoever was left as every single other gang member they took down so far had a gun lying by their side. A couple of gunshots told him where to find Crane but before bumping into the man, the blonde found someone else equally as surprised to see the kid. "Rocket?" The moment of mutual surprise and awkward interaction got used by another thug, the butt of the gun slammed down on Kyle's head, the blonde crumbling to all fours catching his left arm with his elbow. Kyle tried to lash out, his vision a blur but the needle quickly punctured his skin by shoulder in neck injecting the antizin, cloth roughly shoved in his mouth quickly tied muffling the scream with his eyes wide with pain.
"Come on, help!" The man growled at Rocket just standing there seeing Kyle twitch and squirm in pain screaming slowly turning into a shivering mess as the adult tied his wrists while he was weak. "And call Rais!"
"You won't!" Crane bellowed from behind, Rocket darting to the side for cover and the bullet rushed into the thug's head unable to shoot back in time, the epinephrine dropped Kyle starting to go limp as Crane darted forward and quickly scooped up the syringe applying the drug. Shouts resonated, Crane noticing no shots coming from where Rocket had run out of sight. The Tower runner quickly dragged the weakened boy still on the floor behind the nearest pillar being as careful as he could with the arm carefully moving towards the shouts giving off a shot away from Kyle to lure the men away although he didn't exactly trust Rocket who could be close by. Frankly he didn't know what to think of the other runner right now but if Rocket did go after Kyle he would only be allowed by Rais to take him alive just like everyone else and with night and Kyle recovering with every second he was sure that Rocket trying would be his death. Crane shot two more sneaking around, a shot and the gurgled yell from a thug after a few minutes alerting the man to his relief that Kyle could fight again or at least defend himself on the spot behind the pillar. Crane swept the area of anymore thugs finding none, dragging out the dead bodies insisting for Kyle to rest immediately trying to help and stumbling hating to have been knocked down like that. The zombies in the street flung themselves at the last body dropping down, Crane picking up Kyle before he could protest and tucking him in on a large couch using a bedroll and blankets that the thugs had used, the boy's green eyes following him as the man pulled a couch closer afterwards dropping onto his own bedroll with a tired sigh turning his head to the tired kid watching, eyes struggling to stay open watching the man with a smile and loving warmth. "Go to sleep, Kyle. We had a long day." Crane smiled, ruffling the mop of blonde hair.
"Good night…" Kyle yawned turning over, eyes falling shut a whisper barely heard following after few minutes leaving Crane to wonder if he was sleep talking barely catching it. "I love you dad…"
Crane gazed at his watch with a yawn, the sun out and shining for another day in Harran the man noticing they had slept two hours past sunrise, eyes shifting to Kyle still asleep and the man gently shook his shoulder with a smile. "Time to get up; I want you tired at dusk so you finally have a full night's sleep."
"Mmm… five more minutes… we can do the radio station at night and have more sleep."
"Nope, at night you'll be sleeping!" Crane took the two blankets away, the boy slowly sitting up watching the man go over his stuff.
"So where do you want to start today?" Kyle yawned.
"Well, you want to meet that gunsmith? Or see if we run with our luck into another psycho with the loud music or an actual help needing survivor? I want to you more awake before we check the radio tower. Pick a can." Crane tossed two onto the couch.
"I am awake…" Kyle stretched almost bumping the brace barely noticing it. 'That's gonna be annoying…' "I don't care which one we do and there is also the bunker hunch with the people running out of supplies here."
"Alright, let's start with those supplies. If there really is a bunker we can take our cut with a little food for ourselves because we just ran out of food. The plumbing is all over the place right?"
"Yeah, we should turn on the valves as we pass them try to connect everything in a way."
"Good idea." Crane agreed. After eating, the duo headed back to the balcony where they had entered during their ambush to find Rocket standing outside the door causing the tension to skyrocket.
"Is that my favorite runner? Crane, hey not here to fight! I was hoping to see you again."
"You stayed here overnight, didn't you?" Kyle remarked with narrowed eyes.
"But the place isn't swarming with my gang and I didn't help the guy last night that counts for something right mate?" Rocket nervously pointed out.
"For now…"
"Great, so now we could have a competition instead of fighting." His eyes shifted a little more to Crane again. "I gotta say, you've impressed me. But here, in Old Town… this is different. Every runner has to be extra careful here. So, if you still wanna compete with me, we have to change the rules a little. You can't get hurt at all, can't let a zombie touch you."
"I'm in this time." Kyle said.
"Bu your-"
"I'll be just fine." The kid smiled taking off the sling flashing a smile oozing with confidence and spirit.
"Alright if you wanna. Ready? Go!"
"Arbitrary rules or not, you're about to go down." Crane said with a smile and Rocket counted down, both Kyle's taking off.
Rais's eyes landed on the stump again, it had made him boil in anger so much however as he let his thoughts roam busy getting payments in and have his tower running smoothly again while craving a successful capture call for the boy coming in for the boy, the man had found himself wondering if the very kid he hunted and wanted under his thumb so much could bring his hand back.
"I'm still better than you, Rocket and Kyle just beat you too."
"Better" is a relative term, Crane. See you next time." Crane and Kyle headed off to the valve near a hotel first being farther out of the way of everything else but before even hopping to the next building Crane suddenly stopped recalling something and Kyle knew it was trouble.
"What is it?"
"Mike, the kid's brother with Tariq. Yesterday was so crazy, it completely slipped past…" Crane growled, guilt setting.
"Well then just don't stand there, come on we have someone to save!" Kyle urged, the two rushing off with their destination at the edge of town.
"Any idea who took a shot at Rais?" Savvy asked Toy, the two in the loft the news having spread quickly and the man had his fangs out in the slums making it very clear that messing with him now would still be very ugly in case certain people got ideas.
"It wasn't us or Brecken…" Troy pointed out with a shrug. It wasn't just Rais who wondered who had bit him, The Tower and Embers curious as well since for all they knew those people weren't exactly allies to them. They knew exactly nothing about them. It was Harran's own little mystery, a mystery that kept everyone on edge. Brecken only thought it had to do with Kyle because of the note and everything that went down but wasn't sure himself.
"I can't think of any faction besides us, Brecken and Rais… but you know I've heard of a rumor of a runner spotting a help sign across the wall from a high spot."
"Hm… no one really knows what it's like there over there currently…" Troy remarked.
"You think a mystery group is sitting over there and bit Rais? But why if there is a gang?"
"I have no idea, it doesn't make sense… but rumor is that it wasn't an outright attack so somebody wanted to stall Rais, not destroy him. And Crane, his kid and Jade just had a confrontation just after it happened."
"You know, that kid won't go out of my head… I have no clue why…"
"Probably the metal claws… and I guess that have to be greenest eyes I've ever seen…"
Both slightly panted having ran and jumped as fast as they could entering the apartment block down on the street and Crane took out the recorder once inside the apartment Tariq had mentioned. The boy's voice played, both males looking around as they listened. "Ekhem, ekhem, … Detective Dooley and his assistant begin their search for: The Missing Person of Dolma Street! Oh, Come on! You have to help me. Dad's been out all day. Come on! We're going to find him. Ehem… The missing person of interest went out very normally to get some food, only to become missing under mysterious circumstances. Detectives Mike and Tom Dooley are sent to look for clues in the other apartments."
"Alright, boys, you were playing detective. What happened next? Hey Kyle, any idea where they would look?" Crane asked, the two now further up the building searching the trashed apartment.
"Nope"
"Did you ever play detective?"
"No, not really. Don't have any siblings." Kyle replied and Crane pressed for the recording to play again after few minutes offering a clue with the basement, the duo promptly heading down there. The recording played again allowed to continue with the boy calling for Mike and Crane paused it again checking every room stopping in front of a door in the back with a bloody hand print on it. 'I think I hear noise in there, Crane.' The man tried to open it to find it looked and Kyle gave him an asking look. On the chance that a kid was in danger and to save time, Crane stepped back gave Kyle the go ahead yanking out the door handle cautiously pushing it open with Crane ready with a gun, the sight awful with a dead dog on a table. Crane played the rest of the recording being the boy calling for Mike, being the dog, and screaming, the runner picking up the collar of the table turning to leave but Kyle stared at the door in the room catching the man's questioning glance. 'In there I think, if I'm right the person is trying to be quiet so we won't notice.'
'Let's pretend to leave.' Crane suggested but Kyle blinked at him.
'Did you try…'
"Yeah…" The man whispered. He thought it'd be easy after doing it once, it seemed that way for Kyle. "Let's 'go.'" Kyle and Crane pretended to leave and with their backs turned making their steps a little audible, the door sprung open and a man jumped out with a machete saying 'meat' over and over again, shot in the heart before he could make more than three steps by both Kyle's watching the body drop quickly making their exit in case infected lingered just behind some corner or door and heard the noise. "Case closed."
"You're back? Did you find Mike?"
"Mike was his dog. He's dead. So is his father. And it wasn't even the Infected. It was just some twisted creep."
"This place… It's too much for people. Listen, Crane… There are these keys to the museum storage. There's a lot of weapons from all different times. Maybe you'll find something useful there."
"I'm telling you we have to make the museum our fortress!" Kyle grinned earning a chuckle from Tariq.
"Thanks, Tariq. But there is something else I want from you."
"Sure. Anything."
"You said you're not good with kids."
"No. Not really."
"Well, get good."
"I will try. I give you my word. I suppose you had to get good too huh?" The man asked glancing to Kyle.
"Yeah and he didn't make it easy." Crane chuckled, the two bidding farewell and heading towards the tow hall next as a meal would be great by now ending up making a few pit stops along the way.
Crane and Kyle stepped back into the sunlight having just dealt with the second valve at the canal as it was quite close to the music loudly heard, Crane relieved to see that it didn't hinder Kyle tapping into his strength avoiding the use of his left arm quite effortlessly. The duo scaled the closest building making their way over the roofs and onto the balcony to which the apartment with the music belonged to finding the door open, the man starting to talk as they stepped closer. "I know why you are here. Your nemesis is preparing to take something from you. He has waited a long time but a viper has slowed him for now."
"Sounds like you've met him."
"He once sought my visions for his advantage, but I will not share my gift with such a man as him. With you, I will."
"How much will that cost?"
"The price will be high, but your payment will not be to me. Now you will go to the river. There is a pungent nightshade that reveals itself only in the moonlight. The smolder of its embers enables the seeker to pierce the veil."
"All out, are we?"
"Bring me several stalks of this plant."
"Maybe I will… But in the meantime you should shut off the music. It draws attention."
"Nothing enters that I do not wish. Now I must prepare my mind." Ishaq sat down and the two headed off to the town hall dealing with the valve on the way with little difficulty, Crane turning the wheel leaving only the main valve left. But the two quickly darted into the main hall first finding man snoozing on a mattress a couple of steps in pushing himself up on his hand a little hearing their footsteps and looking up at them.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Are you Mr. Thabit Erdal the town clerk?"
"That was my title. All city authority has been dissolved by the GRE and the federal government. My title does not exist anymore. Therefore I'm no longer required or allowed to provide any services to you or anyone else. In conclusion, goodbye."
"Not so fast Mr. Erdal. The dissolution order requires all local officials to be at the service of the GRE and the provisional authority as needed."
"Are you with the GRE?"
"I'm looking for information about a large supply cash hidden somewhere in the city." The line worked for Erdal to start listing forms 'needed' to take possession of it. "I need it now."
"Well then I suggest you employ the traditional method of accelerating the government process."
"Which is what?"
"Bribery of course. I need the official seal of the mayor enforcing stamp. The mayor was last seen at the hotel. Find his room and you should find the seal." Edal completely laid back down again and the two took off to the hotel, the inside crafted with pristine care tainted by blood, bodies, a few shambling infected and the general mess of a tornado hit that about every place in Harran had to it. With a lot of rooms to search, the two split up to cover more ground faster. Memories stirred in Kyle as he had spent two nights here with his mother and father when they had come for their vacation with slight bit of work mixed in.
"Hey, we'll be okay. Excited?" His mother a woman of slender build and green eyes but not the same shade as his and brown long locks smiled warmly at the boy on the bed.
"Yeah…" The kid smiled back, eyes straying to the window again, her arms closing around him and the boy hugged back. "I love you and dad so much…"
"We love you too sweetie…"
Kyle almost didn't notice that he had stopped gazing at the room quickly resuming the search, his heart stinging with the memory. Sometimes, he still saw her in his dreams with his dad after dipping into the past and their images as infected, twisted and in pain still haunted him even though now he easily hid behind a smile, the misery here and there creeping onto his face the few moments he was alone. There was only so much his in a way newfound family could do and the blonde didn't think it would ever really heal. 'My parents would've liked you Crane… and Jade too… and Brecken, Rahim and everyone else… I think they'd be really happy to know that you're there for me now… I just wish we could've met in another way without such a horrible thing having happened…'
"Found it! KYLE! I FOUND IT!" Crane smiled, hearing Kyle shout back a little from above and the man waited for the boy coming up beside him taking down a zombie coming close while he waited the few minutes. Smiles upon the find cracked a little back at Erdal sitting in a chair at a desk. Kyle could feel himself get annoyed bit by bit as the man verbally shat on the poor though the first line about the man's own considerable corruption humored him blaming it on the accent and the 'r' spoken as the stated fact wasn't funny.
"So you locked it up?"
"It's under town hall. I can monitor your progress on the city's services band. Radio me if you need some paperwork from the office of the mayor. I'll be generating reams of it." Crane and Kyle scaled down the building sprinting across the open square and hopped over the gate to the double doors entering underneath town hall. A batch of zombies immediately came into sight by the door including three bombers, the duo quickly scrambling back against the door with guns out, the stench of blood heightened for a moment with the bombers exploding quite close before they could go in further finding more zombies along the way rummaging a little through bags before heading downstairs finding spitter in the basement with a locked door, the light of keycard pad red. Crane gave Thabit a call directing them to a police captain roaming the street near his station with other turned officers. "How is your am doing?"
"It's fine."
"You've been using some of that strength to get around easier, haven't you?"
"Don't worry, I can keep going. It takes a lot of little taps to pull myself before they make up for kicking a car. Even after two cars I can do it again like in an hour I think. I never kept track of how much time passed between, I just know three in a row at daytime don't work…" Thabit turned out to be right, the turned man found in the area close by and having the keycard on him, guns and being to back making easy play of the demolisher and other zombies. The duo ran back again to the bunker to find Thabit himself standing by the door.
"By order of the mayor the entire contents of this bunker now belong to me! Get away from me thieves!" Thabit shoved Crane who retaliated and Kyle flashed bloodshot eyes taking the man's attention getting startled allowing Crane a swift decisive finishing blow before it could even really start.
"Door or vent? Zombies shouldn't be able to get in here with the other door needing key card."
"Let's use the vent in case the door ends up actually being needed." Kyle replied, the two making their way in as a kick from him would render it unusable, the vent crawl being very short.
"Isan, this is Crane. I'm in the supply bunker under the town hall. I think we hit the jackpot."
"That's great news, Crane. Thank you. Di you actually get Thabit to help you?"
"Yeah but I had to kill him in the end."
"I totally understand." Crane and Kyle took a few things for themselves, food covered for a few days with cans although Crane planned to stop by the Tower preferably before those cans would be used up. The duo made a stop by the University dropping off some disaster packages by Spike before leaving again to finish the day with the main valve of the fountain task.
Crane tried the red door finding it locked and the two checked the other side first turning out to offer a swimming session as a way in. "I'll check and swim ahead, you wanna wait here and keep our stuff dry?"
"If you think there is no trouble." Kyle shrugged.
"Well all I see is just the usual murky water, should just be the valve ahead maybe a few zombies I can handle."
"Alright, but shout or something if there is any trouble."
"I will. "Crane promised taking a weapon along and jumped in, Kyle leaning against the wall watching the man disappear underwater. Crane indeed was right about no trouble, only the valve waiting to be turned but his eyes landed on a lost note on the ground being about reminding oneself to tell Rais something. 'He must've had guys here but no one is here anymore… Not surprising to know he had been involved…' The man turned on the valve budging after a small fight and he quickly swam back to Kyle always bearing a little sweet smile now when seeing Crane so much different from when they had met where any smile was a plotting one.
After a bit of careful zombie clearing leaving a moment of breathing room, the tow darted to the fountain taking drink and Crane pulled Kyle close taking selfie with the boy with his phone both smiling brightly, the infected coming closer again prompting to leave after the picture. Back on a roof, the single infected on it shoved down, Kyle turned to Crane. "Still got daytime left, what do you want to do?"
'I suppose it wouldn't take long to drop those off, I really don't want Kyle to have a short night again and I could use sleep too… I really want to check out the gunsmith but who knows what strings come with that. It never goes that smoothly but the time right now would line up perfectly with those herbs at the river… I really hope we don't get asked for something at night again…' "Up for a trip to the river?"
"Race you to it!" Kyle smiled.
"Hey but I have the map!"
"You're forgetting I spent time here too not just the slums! And I remember where the river is, it looks really neat at night!"