Chapter 9: Dead City
As the duo ventured closer to the snow covered ruins of the old city they saw earlier, arriving only to have everything sound quiet, too quiet in fact. Aside from the other fact of the wind picking up its howling again, a warning of sorts of a storm arriving once more as out in the distance looked like a giant snowy fog wall slowly moving towards the city, at least from what it looked like to mainly Kayla.
Its gonna hit the city in two hours by Gwenn's best guess as he stood, staring at the storm slowly approaching, Gwenn beckoned Kayla to follow him into one of the old buildings, one that appeared to be what used to be a small grocery store, the sight inside seemed to suggest a fight broke out a long time ago, how long ago, is a question that cant be answered, the interior was frost covered and had a bit of snow within.
The bat in Kayla's hair was so cold it started to have frozen droplets from its nose, along with shivering and squeaking slightly, "Shh quiet little one, we don't know if we're safe here..." Kayla said, taking it from her hair and hugging it gently to keep it warm, Kayla, being slightly uneasy with the silence, could feel that this city is very unnaturally wrong somehow.
As they wander through the dilapidated buildings the sound of the metal creaking around them echoed out, only for screams and howls to erupt throughout the city, the source of these sounds are undetermined, but it is more than likely the two of them wandered into a Zom hive.
As the screams and howls started to sound more plentiful from outside, the sounds of feet shuffling are heard from the snow outside almost as if a horde was slowly massing around them, this fact caused both of them to quietly move faster, Gwenn, looking up at the end of the building they are in seeing part of the second floor of the building next door, he pressed against the wall seeing a ledge, beckoning Kayla over to throw her up to it.
As he tossed Kayla upwards, grabbing the ledge and pulling herself up she then reached down her arm, readied herself for Gwenn to boost himself up to her with his wings, hoping it wouldn't attract whatever was outside waiting for them. As Gwenn flew upwards to her she grabbed his hand trying to pull him up, part of the ledge crumbled from how old it was, the bits that fell made a lot of noise, and the screams and howls outside started to sound like more like an alarm of sorts, followed by the sounds of rapid steps through the snow.
Large groups of frost covered zoms rushed into the store and thrashed around the store as one of the smaller shambling ones started to sniff around shambling close to where they both were at, the zom snarled out like it was commanding the others, and the other zoms run at the wall and seemingly start to pile on each other as more and more join said pile, "Gwenn… we should hurry, this is looking bad..." Kayla whispered to him who replied in a hushed tone "Well do you see where else we can go? I can't fly and risk us hitting that snow storm, unless..." He looked at the building across from them seeing an opening they could fit, "Kayla hang on." Gwenn said as he scooped her up in his arms and prepared himself to make a running start before catapulting himself to the building across in an attempt to keep away from the frost zoms that clearly were picking up on their scent, now knowing full well food has arrived in their city.
Gwenn crash landed slightly as his flying was seemingly sloppy, though, shielding Kayla as she shielded the little baby bat still in her arms. The crashing sound attracted a large brutish frost zom into the room, its hideous breathing echoing through the room before roaring and stomping towards both Kayla and Gwenn at a surprisingly fast speed given the zoms frame was heavy.
Each rushed step almost shook the room, Gwenn reacted quickly to the charging brute by pushing Kayla aside so she wouldn't get hurt, getting sweeped up by the brute zom that smashed Gwenn through the wall before tossing him to the ground with a large and loud triumphant roar, raising its fists upward. "Gwenn!" Kayla cried out as she recovered herself, only able to watch, though she directed her attention over her shoulder and at the gun that rested on the bag which belonged to Gwenn.
The sound of a faint hum and electricity build up was slowly becoming louder, The brute dropped its fists down as it stopped an inch from Gwenn after a loud energy like burst ripped through the air followed by Kayla letting out a loud eep and thud.
The sound caught Gwenns attention, recognizing the sound and looking up at the brute that now had a hole through its chest the size of a small boulder, the massive zom toppled over with a thud. Gwenn who only stared and followed the brute with his eyes as it collapsed immediately then became worried, he recovered himself quickly and peeked over at where Kayla was and saw her dazed and sitting in a book shelf she was launched into, with the rifle laying upon the ground slightly ahead of her, "Did I get it?" Kayla asked out, still clearly dazed, Gwenn sighed with a bit of relief.
After noticing she was alright he went over to the gun, leaning down and grabbing it, "You shouldn't have done that… this isn't a toy." Gwenn said sternly to her as he walked over, placing the gun and resting it upon his shoulder. "Hey come on, that big guy looked like he was gonna turn you into a turtle paste!" Kayla said with a pout formed on her face.
Gwenn only looked at her confusingly, letting out a small sigh and offering his hand to help her up that she didn't hesitate to accept. Kayla only began to complain at him as he seemingly ignored her, turning around and beginning to walk, "Come on, don't be a jerk, just say thank you!" She growled sternly, Gwenn who stopped and looked at her, though with a subtle stern look himself, clearly showing he wasn't happy with her much at all after using his rifle.
"Thank you, just, don't use it again unless you don't have a choice, ok?" Gwenn said to her as he placed a gentle hand on her head, showing her he wasn't just saying it because she asked. Kayla who had a small flustered expression upon her face, feeling like he was treating her like a kid when he did that, only to have questions more form into her head as she directed her attention back and staring at the rifle as he turned back and continued to lead.
"Why are you so upset over me using that?" She questioned, picking up her pace to be beside Gwenn who didn't even glance at her, typical him. Despite his attitude, he told her anyhow, "Because this is an electric plasma canon rifle, fires extreme and high velocity amounts of electricity and energy, beyond what any human or mutant could withstand if charged up enough."
Kayla only became somewhat more confused, "So… you're saying…?" She began, hoping he would simplify things for her as she still didn't fully understand. He finally glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, subtly with anamusement in them. He only let out a small sigh, "In short, the blast and impact itself can kill you and everyone in a certain radius depending on how much the weapon is charged up with electricity and energy." He began, pointing back at the room they had just left over his shoulder, "Including destroying that entire room and causing a collapse in." He added.
"Making this weapon was a large mistake…" He said somewhat shamefully, Kayla only looked at him worriedly, "You… built the rifle?" She questioned him, directing her look back at the gun and then him once more, noticing him nod slightly in response. "Why is it a mistake though? Seems fine to me, there's always gonna be something very powerful and dangerous out there, whether it be your rifle or a brute like that." Kayla remarked as she glanced down at the baby bat in her hands as it let out a small squeak and flew back up onto her head, snuggling into her hair.
Kayla noticed the regret and sadness in his eyes, it made her feel bad for asking so much about the rifle, but it made her curious even more, "I'll just stop asking…" She began, "It fell into the wrong hands several years back." Gwenn interrupted.
He shifted the rifle off his shoulder and directed his look at her, placing the gun on her own shoulder and in her hand, seemingly showing he trusted her with it and heeded his warning. This only caused her to have a mix of a confused but also surprise look form upon her face, figuring she was off limits of using it, let alone touching it after what she chose to do.
She noticed a subtle smile on his face as he looked at her, "Use it only as an emergency, it charges and builds up on its own and doesn't need ammo at all, The gun itself is the ammo." He said to her reassuringly, he wanted her to have something actually useful against something like another brute or a mass horde of zoms aside from the measly little knife she was given by the elder.
As they wandered through the snow capped buildings, trying to make as much space between them and the zoms who were aggressively following them both, Kayla looked over and peeked her head out through a crack in the building, seeing some zoms climbing into a manner similar to parkour. "Um Gwenn, you might want to take a look at this..." Kayla said to him who promptly came over and looked over to see the rapidly climbing zoms, they both hurried to a room to get them out of the main hall they were in.
The snarls and screams of the zoms echoed through as the zoms clawed at the door in an attempt to break it open, as the duo seemed trapped in the room for the time being trying to figure a way out and away from the zoms that clearly tracked them here, that, or they heard the blast of the rifle or the calls of that now dead brute.
As the scratches got harder and louder, more and more zoms start to pile on the door, causing it to bend and creak as the door frame starts to weaken. Gwenn quickly realizing they were running out of time, he looked around the room trying to find another way out from the room, feeling the walls for a structural weakness, knocking on the wall for that same reason, hearing heavier footsteps rushing the door followed by loud thuds as the door started to crack.
Gwenn glanced up, noticing a vent big enough for Kayla, he quickly turned and grabbed her, trying to lift her up to the opening of the vent only to have her strangle in refusement, "No! I don't want to leave you alone!" Kayla growled at him, still refusing. "Look, i'll find a way, but you need to go now, ok?" He began, Kayla still refused as she tried to break out of his grip, " Kayla! I'll be fine alright, I need you safe first, do you understand?" Gwenn said as he tried to push her up into the vent, Kayla reluctantly accepted after staring at him worriedly and climbed into the vent.
Gwenn let out a small sigh of relief, returning and kept trying the walls only to feel no weaknesses. "Damn…" He growled lowly, standing there and glancing around the room, noticing behind him was a window. He quickly rushed over to it, breaking it open with his elbow and climbing through to see that there was a path to climb up to another floor, or at least a different room that is.
He noticed another window on the floor above, quickly he hopped out and flew upward as the zoms finally bursted into the room, running and falling out the window in an attempt to grab him as he took off. One of the Zoms leaped out and grabbed his leg, trying to dig its bloody and rotten claws into his leg only to fail due to his thicc clothing.
Gwenn started to kick the zom that grabbed his leg in the face rapidly, frantically trying to get the creature off as it was adding more weight and was clearly heavier than Kayla, the Zom caused his flight to stagger slightly as the Zom had finally lost its grip and fell from his leg. Gwenn barely grabbing the ledge and glancing down to see the long drop down as he hung there panting a bit.
After taking a quick breath he pulled himself up into the room to see the floor of the room he was in was weakened and could give way any second to the floor below where a lot of Zoms were, he carefully walked through the room trying to get the exit door, as the floor creaked and crumbled with every step, alerting the zoms below as some ran to the stairs, the rest tried to climb on each other in a attempt to dig through the crumbling floor, he quickly grabbed the door of the next room and scrambled through it, his fast moment caused the room to collapse into the floor below, burying everything in that room.
Gwenn ran trying to figure out where the end of the vent he put Kayla scrambling through the dark halls of the ruin building was, trying to listen for the vents and the sounds, but heard nothing but the approaching snarls and screams from the zoms ascending the nearby stairs.
Meanwhile, Kayla was stuck in a maze of vents, trying to make heads or tails of where exactly she was, all she could hear is the running and screams of the Zoms, causing her to sit scared from the noise hugging the bat that still decided to stay with her, shivering slightly because of how cold the vents were.
As the sounds went on, Kayla had no choice but to keep moving through the vents hoping to find an exit, the vent rattled more and more as she scampered though it, feeling smaller and smaller as she moved deeper into it, and darker.
Time felt like it slowed in the vents, the sound of scurrying creatures echoed through the vents, these sounds caused Kayla to become even more frightened, unsure which direction or area they were coming from exactly, given that she wasn't alone in the compact place she was in. She moved slower, trying to follow the sounds from outside the vents hoping it will lead her the right way.
She only stopped suddenly when she saw a long tail slither by the corner she was about to turn, Kayla covered her mouth in an attempt to not let out the slightest sound, she quickly considered her movement from that point on, hoping she wouldn't run into whatever she just saw.
Meanwhile, Gwenn, who was still being chased, noticed zoms just breaking through walls in a vain attempt to cut off his path, the amount of zoms behind him looked almost like a flood piling and rolling over one another almost picking up speed. He let out a very annoyed growl, picking up his pace more, he didn't just despise the cold but also cities, they were infiltrated and overly filled with Zoms and unknown creatures that lurked around, owning the place, and by his best and highest guess, these Zoms were pretty intelligent.
Gwenn slid, almost losing balance with how fast he was running as he quickly turned a corner, realizing he is going to run out of room if he doesn't do something quick. He contemplated quickly as he tackled himself through a door, causing the Zom ball flood to slam into the wall and trying to turn into the room Gwenn ran into, but he immediately shut the door and knocked over a bookshelf to barricade it, hopefully buying Gwenn some precious minutes and not seconds.
The zoms attacked the door frantically, cracking the door frame as it made loud creaking sounds and bursts, causing Gwenn to look around quickly "Come on come on..." He said to himself as he planned out his next move.
During Gwenns struggles, Kayla was still in the vent trying to survive a cat and mouse game with whatever was in the vent with her, She tried to control her breathing as she became more frightened, she was nowhere near as brave and unfrightful as Gwenn, then again, she saw that as a bad thing sometimes too.
She could hear the pitter patter of the creature's feet as it stalked around within the vents she was also in, Kayla staying still trying not to move as this creature seemingly went based on sounds and perhaps movement, not taking any chances. Kayla starts to hear the metal creaking around her as if the vents are starting to give out, she realized she should move quickly before it did, vainly trying to inch away from her spot only to have the vent give away under her letting out a loud yelp as she fell into the room below.
Kayla, landing right on top of Gwenn both of them hitting the floor with a loud thud, "Kayla!?" He growled surprisingly, glancing up at her as she shot a worried and frightened look at him. The large sound from them attracted the attention of the vent creature, quickly revealing itself from the vent and leaping down in front of them, the creature was a huge mutated rat with six red eyes, quickly reading itself to lunge at both Gwenn and Kayla.
Gwenn quickly glanced at the window behind them, seeing the snow storm was very close and glancing back at the door that's about to be broken down, "Kayla...hang on." he said as she quickly removed herself off of him and they stood close to each other, she looked at him, quickly hugging onto him tightly hoping he had a plan.
As soon as she grabbed onto him, Gwenn launched himself quickly flying to the building across from them again as the storm hit, the storm causing to cut off line of sight from the Zoms to them, the screams and snarls from them drowned out by the storm as the Zoms finally broke down the door.
Almost seemingly safe in the building the duo flew into, but not safe enough to camp out in, Kayla stared at the storm from the open crevice of the building, "That was too close..." She said worriedly, "That storm could have hit us and we could be pummeling down..." she said as she looked down slightly past the edge of the building.
Kayla looked around, seeing a partially open elevator "Hey Gwenn you think we can use this?" She said as she pointed at the elevator, "Maybe we could use your wings to safely go to another floor?" She asked as she peeked into the elevator shaft, she whistled when she saw how deep it was "Geez..that's a drop.." She says as she carefully backs away from the door as Gwenn approached beside her.
Gwenn looked at the elevator door in front of them and walked over to it, beginning to pull the door open, Kayla had to admit, he was very strong. As soon as he got the door open he saw the decommissioned elevators right below and saw across another set of doors behind what seemed like a grate of sorts. Gwenn noticed the sides of the grate were too small for him, but might be perfect for Kayla to go through, he glanced back at Kayla, "You think you can fit through that?" He questioned her as he pointed at the small gap in the grating, Kayla looked at him confusingly as she inched beside him to look where he was pointing "And do what?" She asked him as he then directed his point at the locked gate in the grate, a grate gate if you will, Kayla realizing what he meant, nodded and climbed down onto the elevator, attempting to squeeze through the gap.
As Kayla was able to squeeze through, seeing the grated gate she tested the knob to see if it was locked and in fact, it was, as she tried to unlock it, the wind outside actually picked up speed and started howling, frightening her a bit but also annoying her as she was displeased with the storms as it slowed them down. As Kayla opened the gate, Gwenn climbed down and the elevator started to shake, sounding like it's straining from the added weight of his, it started to rock and sway as Gwenn took a small step, causing him to freeze and hold completely still, realizing the new current situation.
The elevator staggered after a while, causing Gwenn to glance down at it, holding completely still as possible, he readied his wings noticing the elevator was about to give out due to how old and unmaintained it was. "Kayla move! Now!" Gwenn growled at her who promptly scrambled off to the other elevator next to the one they were originally on, as the one Gwenn was on gave way and collapsed, Gwenn prepped himself to keep himself in air had only failed as a loud whip sound of something breaking echoed throughout the shaft, before he could quickly save himself, the collapse of the elevator caused the large and tough wires to snap, causing them wrap and tangle tightly through and around his wings leaving severe cuts before plummeting down.
Kayla in a vain attempt tried to grab him only to miss his hand by an inch, "Gwenn!" She cried out as she saw him fall into the dark shaft below, Kayla stared into that darkness hoping to see him, then upon hearing a sudden splash. Kayla yelled "Gwenn, are you alive...?" She questioned worriedly, hoping for a response.
Kayla could feel herself begin to panic concerningly not hearing a response, though after a solid minute he finally responded to her, weakly, "Barely…" Gwenn said as he groaned in pain, Gwenn recovered himself as he rested himself upon some fallen rubble within the deep freezing water below, panting like a rabid dog trying to catch his breath and glancing over his shoulder noticing his now torn and shredded wings.
Gwenn let a small and weak annoyed growl, it hurt like hell, but he knew he had to get back to Kayla, "I'm going to have to find another way up, my wings are out of business… try to see if you can find a way to me while I make my way up." Gwenn shouted up at Kayla, "Ok I got it just.. Be careful! Please!" She said as she scurried off and Gwenn began to slog his way through the deep freezing water.
Gwenn then began to have to swim, trying not to go under because of his wings, unable to see around him due to the pitch black darkness around him, he knew he wasn't alone down where he was because of the sound of splashes and chittering in the surrounding darkness.
As the chittering and splashing picked up in frequency, Gwenn became very cautious of his movement, hearing a large splash very close to where he was, like something huge is now in the water with him.
The chittering around him started to sound more angered and frantic, the water sloshed around like a lot of creatures rapidly moved through the water, heading towards Gwenn, he stopped moving and lowered himself into the water holding his breath and trying to keep buoyancy to not sink like a rock, as he stayed under holding his breath, he saw the legs of the creatures around him, and they had a chitin like shell like a frame around the entirety of their body.
The chittering around Gwenn started to sound less angered and more confused, like whatever these things were lost track of him in the water, after a short while the creatures scampered back and out of the water, causing Gwenn to peek out slightly from the water and moved slowly trying to make minimal amounts of ripples and splashes in the water, hearing still the pitter patter of the chitin covered legs walking around along with the incessant chattering sounds. Gwenn came to the realization these creatures are blind and had no sense of smell under water, either that or have really really poor eyesight and smell considering they weren't picking up on the smell of his blood from his wings like a shark could.
Gwenn, wanting to test his realization threw one of his daggers at a wall furthest away from him, as it hit the wall making a loud clang sound, the chittering sounded angered once more and the shape of a humanoid creature revealed itself from the darkness, chittering now in much more anger and confusion as it started to patrol around where the knife was thrown, as if suspicious of what caused it, but unable to notice Gwenn who was still a bit visible, clearly showing and telling him these creatures were sound based, as he planned out his approach, he started to wonder if Kayla was safe up there alone.
Back up on the higher floors where Kayla was at, the rooms seem to be active with a lot of irritated Zoms, very irritated and very hungry ones in fact, shambling around groaning and hissing, as if they are hunting for prey for them to feast on. Kayla holding her breath in an attempt to not alert them of her presence, kneeling down trying to be as small as she can, she then tried to attempt her focus of hearing, trying to pinpoint what rooms to avoid as she tried to figure out how to make her way back down to Gwenn.
Kayla tries to creep her way down the hall, hoping not to alert any of the Zoms in the surrounding rooms, worried about Gwenn and if he'll be able to make it back up to her, given the circumstances, Kayla stopped suddenly when she saw a Zom brute burst through the wall a short ways from her, roaring loud at her, alerting the Zoms in the surrounding rooms, who snarled in response and began to break down the doors trying to get into the hall.
As the brute started to stampede towards Kayla, using her brain and her small size, she scampered past the brutes arms and started to sprint down the rest of the hall as the brute charged itself into a wall becoming slightly dazed, it turned around to refocus on Kayla again who at this point has a very significant head start, the brute then started to stampede again, building up speed gradually with each step in an attempt to catch up to her.
Kayla looked around in hopes to find something that would help her, she stopped suddenly, staring at the window in front of her and hatched a plan, she stood her ground as the brute stampeded towards her, standing still and prepared to roll out of the way, and that's exactly what she did when the brute was about to grab her mid charge.
The brute staggered from failing to grab Kayla, causing it to tumble through the window, practically vanishing into the snow storm. Kayla now staring at the window panting for a short moment, "I can't believe that actually work..." Kayla said to herself, almost amazed with what she was able to do, it seemed she was picking up a few tricks thanks to Gwenn.
She returned her focus to reality when the rest of the zoms broke from their rooms, the bat resting on Kayla's head started to squeak out of fear, she tried to keep the bat calm, time for Kayla felt slowed as she tried to plan her next move, seeing about ten Zoms stand in front of her, she thought about using Gwenns gun, but rejected the idea, her small stature and frame would send her flying from the recoil or could cause something worse after what he warned her about the capability of the rifle.
She widened her eyes realizing how she can use it to evade the Zoms, not use it against them, she readied the rifle, aiming it opposite from the horde as they began to rush and make their way towards her angrily, she held onto the gun tightly hoping to have it with her when she gets sent flying back.
Kayla then took a deep breath, squeezing the trigger hearing the hum of the weapon charging, as she braced herself against the gun, feeling the shockwave as it fired its shot outward through the storm, launching Kayla at high speed through the horde.
The force of Kayla being launched caused Zoms to topple over in the horde, almost screaming as she flew because of how unsure she was of her plan working, as Kayla was slammed into the wall at the very beginning of the hall she ran down once already, the impact knocking the wind out of her, putting her in a daze as she tried to keep consciousness.
Her vision was very blurry, barely able to see the zoms that weren't incapacitated by Kayla being launched through them, Luckly it was only three that was still active, noticing as they struggled to stand and wiggled around frantically. Kayla, still trying to keep conscious, wobbled slightly as she attempted to stand and shambled into one of the nearby rooms to hide from the zoms, as the zoms groaned irritated at losing sight of Kayla, they began to gamble around trying to find her again.
Kayla now having time, looks at the room she is in, she sees the room looks like an old hotel room, she found an old box of medical supplies, upon finding she started to hug it tightly, "Oh your a sight for sore eyes..." she said quietly in relief, she looked around once more, peeking through the door and seeing a flight of stairs at the end of the hall near the window at the end.
Kayla taking a deep breath before trying to be brave as she took advantage of her short self, she attempted to run while crouched through the hall, which felt longer than it should have been running through a second time around, as she approached the door leading to the stairs.
The brute that fell off the tower climb its way back up, very quickly too, its flesh hardened by the cold, looking almost like a frost golem, and it seemed extremely pissed off at Kayla for what she did to it, it started to swing its fist around in an attempt to hit her as it charged at her once more from the window she let it fall from, Kayla who was nearly getting hit with each swing, tried her best to keep dodging but she was only able to dodge so much until it snuck in a grab, picking her up off the ground clearing wanting to crush her in its hands, the little bat in her hair started to take flight, clearly wanting to protect Kayla, started to fly and dive bomb the brutes face, distracting it enough to let go of Kayla and swat at the air trying to grab the bat.
Kayla took this chance to open the door to the stairs, as soon as it was open Kayla whistled to the bat that it was time to go, the bat seeing the door flew as fast as it could nearly being grabbed by the brutes hands, the bat zoomed past Kayla and through the door, causing her to then push a cart that was near the door using it as a barricade to slow down the brute.
Kayla knowing she had no time to lose, descended down the stairs hoping to find a route connecting to where Gwenn fell, though meanwhile during what Kayla had to deal with, Gwenn was attempting to sneak through mutant roach men that patrolled through the basement of the tower, Gwenn noticed that the door leading out of the basement was electronic, and seeing the power was obviously off and seemingly connected to a power source, more than likely a generator of sorts.
Gwenn was becoming fed up and even more annoyed, trying to locate the generator, trying not to be spotted by these creatures around him, making the same chittering sounds almost like are communicating to each other, some scampered into vents as if to ambush anyone who comes by, clearly looking bad, as Gwenn stumbled about quietly, trying to follow the wires in an attempt to find a power source for the door.
Coming across a generator, he pulled on the cord attempting to turn on the generator, but heard it had no fuel when he pulled as it failed to start despite his pulls, upon hearing this, the roaches were alerted to his presence, quickly starting to converge to the generator room, Gwenn was already hiding as they approached, this caused them to sniff around seemingly smelling his bloodied wings, Gwenn realizing this glanced at the water near him and dipped his wings into the water trying to wash off some of the blood to reduce the scent, after short while they seemed to lose the trail of the scent and immediately return to patrolling the room.
Gwenn attempted to find gas for the generator, searching the other rooms, at least he could search the other rooms without being harassed, having no luck with the first two rooms, he tried to make his way to the other side of the basement he was in.
Seemingly not being able to find gas in the next two rooms he went to, realizing with annoyance the fuel was in the gen room, the same room that's filled with roach mutants, Gwenn slamming his fist into the wall to attract the attention of the mutants who came scurrying quickly, hissing as they approached where he last was, he started to show early signs of severe hypothermia and he knew he was on a clock at this point, having the immediate need to hurry, continuing to pant rapidly.
He began to search for any fuel containers, finding a small can of fuel that doesn't seem to have much left, realizing it could have the door powered and open for at least a minute, tops, which was plenty and enough time that he needed.
He quickly rushed back and filled the generator as much as he could and yanked the cord rapidly, finally causing the generator to rumble to life, though the sound quickly alerted the roaches as they came in a swarm, and fast. Completely aware of Gwenn and chasing him all the way to the door, Gwenn tackled through the door almost getting his wings caught in the door due to them being tangled and stuck in one place, unable to freely move them properly. He began to gasp for air along with shivering badly, he still pressed onwards hoping to find Kayla.
Meanwhile Kayla who was sprinting down the stairs, well because she knew that ugly giant would break down the door any second, hearing its angered roar echo through the stair well as it broke in, the stairs started to creak and shake as it descended still chasing her, some of the stairs began to break apart under the weight of the brute that's tumbling down the stairs trying to catch and grab Kayla once more, its arms reaching out almost grabbing her as the floor gave out underneath it causing the giant to pummel down.
The giant hit the bottom floor with a very large echoing thud, and with no sign of it attempting to climb back up, Kayla making her assumption that its probably either dead or knocked out, she carefully descended down the stairs in case it was trying to give her a false sense of security, seeing the giants body, still and unresponsive when Kayla decided to throw a pebble at it, letting out a sigh of relief she tiptoed just in case, hoping she is close to Gwenn now at this point.
Gwenn stumbled weakly from the door, gasping for breath and leaning against the wall, noticing a flight of stairs out of the basement into what looked like an abandoned lab, seeing what seemed to happen in that lab looked like whatever the subjects had broken free.
As Gwenn stumbled out of the lab he noticed a door that was barricaded shut, he staggered over to it and in his weakened state still tried to push the door open, the vending machine that was blocking the door started to make loud noises as it scraped the floor from the force of his push and strength despite his condition, this sound was enough for Kayla to figure out where he was, causing her to quickly run to where she heard the sound.
Upon seeing Gwenn, she immediately was excited at first until she noticed him shivering and constantly gasping for air, realizing something was wrong, she rushed over and tried to help him with the door to get him through it, seeing he was on the verge of collapsing. Kayla after getting him through the door, felt how freezing he was as he weakly leaned against the wall, trembling badly, gasping for air, wet and hurt.
Quickly she tried to start a fire, "Kayla…" Gwenn began weakly, she ignored him, already knowing what he was getting at, hearing him having a hard time even talking, "Kayla...Don't…" He added, almost about to collapse. Kayla only had a stern look upon her face as she shot it at him who wasn't even obviously looking at her as he had his eyes painfully closed, struggling to stay standing, "I am not going to let you freeze to death, and you sure as hell are very close to developing severe hypothermia Gwenn!" She growled angrily, her stern look became a concerned one, realizing once more how bad he looked, knowing full well if he didn't warm up somehow this instant, he could literally die on her.
Kayla jumped frighteningly as she was interrupted by a roach mutant that struggled to get through the door behind them as they didn't fully remove the machine from the door, hissing and chittering, chomping at the air in a vain attempt to bite them, "Not here…" He said, peering over his shoulder and at the roach as he stumbled towards the door, pushing the door on the mutant, causing its head to be caught on the door, still struggling and chittering as it was losing air from the force of the door being closed on its neck, after a while the chittering came to a stop as the roach seemed to have stopped breathing.
Kayla staring at the roach clearly confused, as she approached it and poked its face with a stick almost disgusted with the slimy sound it made when it was poked grossing Kayla out a bit, Kayla stopped when she heard a sudden thud, quickly shooting a look back at Gwenn who hit his limit and collapsed, leaning against the door, she immediately collapsed down onto her knees and placed her hands on the sides of his face, making him look at her, "No no… Hey, stay awake ok."She said as she tried to help him stand, feeling his weight on her staggering her, as she helped him limp along, almost like a three legged race.
As Kayla carried a limping gwennsicle and stumbled into a storage room, she noticed only one door and that being the door they came in from. Kayla tried her best to push a shelf in front of the door before quickly rushing and starting a small fire, hoping it would help stop Gwenn shivers for a start, he was very heavy and had to let him just rest and collapse on the floor.
She took off and dropped the bag next to him and herself, scrounging through it while also glancing around the room in a vain attempt for some kind of strong cutters as she noticed the wires for large and strong and wouldn't come off easily with how tightly they were digged and tangled into his wings, growing more worried not even sure she would be able to fix the severe damage.
She let out a sigh of relief as she wandered around the room, finding some cutters, she hated to admit it, but it was a miracle his wings were still intact and not broken with how deep the cables had cut into the skin, blood still rushing and soaking through his fur and feathers. She tried her best to carefully cut the cables, though due to how deep most of them cut into his wings, caused him to wince painfully a majority of it, and it was difficult with how badly he was trembling, though also be relieved of being able to freely move his wings and have air after being stuck and tangled in one place for awhile.
She tried her best to clean, dry and bandage his wings before removing a majority of his soaking wet clothing, wrapping a blanket around him and embracing him tightly, soothing her hand on his shoulder to try and produce more heat and fully trying to get him warmed up, clearly frightened for his well being, seeing his shivering wasn't going down.
Kayla taking a very short moment to recuperate and try to figure out how to help fix his shivers, placing the last bit of burnable objects into the fire to hopefully make it bigger and hotter, growing more concerned about Gwenns condition, seeing it growing worse when it should be getting better, Kayla unsure what she should do, but doesn't want to give up.
The bat squeaked softly and flew off to hang on a shelf as Kayla tried to figure out how to help Gwenn, she calmed herself down, trying not to overload herself with worried thoughts and bad assumptions. Letting him rest and warm up by the fire, as Kayla looked back at him about to say something to him only to see he was already passed out, she let out a small sigh as she had moved and began to poke at the fire and sparks with a stick, noticing his condition was still the same and would clearly take time.