Phase 8

The ten remaining survivors of the Hell Mansion chose to continue exploring the mysteries, assigning Faith Faulkner (GeneralHankerchief) as their lookout in the Sunroom before heading out the back door. Though beforehand, Lola Richards (Myrrdraal) chose to inspect the bodies and requested Faith's assistance. Further, Bradley Palmer (El Barto) in his paranoia began to barricade the front door with whatever he could find.

"They haven't come in, and we've been here for a while. And we haven't exactly been quiet..." Jake Kelly (Montmorency) said.

"Yes, but I'd rather not run that risk. That okay with you?" Bradley asked sarcastically as he frantically moved small pieces of furniture to the front door.

A rather large group, six in total, including Lola herself, Jack Foster (Jarema), Charlie Wallace (Golden1Knight), Callum Simmons (Choxorn), Hollie Daniels (Winston Hughes), and Leo Webb (Beskar), intended on investigating the basement. Though Lola would be come in behind them after investigating the bodies.

The remaining, Jake, Bradley, and Kyle Bevan (Ironside) would search the first floor for anything interesting and possibly the back yard.

They dispersed...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lola and Faith, two of the three remaining women in the mansion, approached what they counted were eleven corpses. "Are they monsters?" Lola asked.

"No. They appear to have died as regular humans." Faith answered, crouching down to check a body. "It's safe, let's search them."

Lola and Faith checked the bodies for identification, "Look, this one has a government ID. Tobias Summerland, Secret Service."

"Why would the Secret Service be here? Isn't their job to protect the President?"

"Yes... among other things. Let's keep looking."

They found that two of the corpses had Secret Service ID's on them, as well as carried single .9 mm pistols with empty magazines. The other bodies seemed to be regular people, all except one...

"Look!" Lola said as she pulled a key out of one of the corpse's pocket. She ran over, "Not to the front door, and it doesn't look like it goes to a vehicle."

"Keep it then, it probably goes to a door or something here." They returned to the corpse.

"What's that?" Faith asked, pointing to something underneath it. Lola tilted her head slightly, a brief pause, "Laptop case!"

They both hopped down and timidly pushed the body off the case. They grabbed it, feeling lighter than it should, they opened it up. "Empty... No notes or anything in the pockets either."

"I bet it's here somewhere though, could have some answers."

Disappointed they continued searching but found nothing of true note, just the knowledge that the Secret Service had been there, two empty .9 mm pistols, a mysterious key that was held by the civilian as well as the empty laptop case.

"Think that one is the owner of the house?" Lola asked.

Faith stood, looking, "No, looks too Urban. Whoever owned this house was old, perhaps crazy."

"Wish we would've found the keys to those humvees..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Faith made her way up the stairs, around the corner, into the Study, and further into the Sunroom. She gazed out the window, careful not to bring attention to herself, and saw that the smoke from a distance had dissipated. She looked into the backyard, which was largely blocked by the roof, and saw that same gray man from before. "Only one..." She said to herself. She looked for anything else of note, but to no avail.

Upon request she placed Kieran's corpse inside, thinking it a bad idea to place a rotting corpse in direct sunlight, but the group "knows best".

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jake, Bradley, and Kyle investigated the first floor of the mansion, beginning with the Dining Room and making their way around, taking note of any large furniture, looking for anything interesting, and just as before, found nothing. They did, however, take some soil and plant samples from the Conservatory for further study.

It was Faith's report that she had only seen one gray man outside that made them feel that much more optimistic. Though she warned them that she could not see the entire back yard, they insisted on at least taking a peak outside.

The Mud Room was traditionally for keeping shoes, hats, and coats when one came inside from their work in the garden. Therefore the room was mostly bare, only a chair by the door, hat rack, dead plant in a pot in the corner. A pair of keys hung off a hook by the door, "These should be useful." Jake said as he pocketed them.

"Are they the same key?" Kyle asked him.

He investigated them, "Yes, two copies."

"Give me one, in case something happens to you." Bradley said quickly, thinking on the same page as Kyle.

Jake did so, and then, they began to turn the knob...

...

What they saw was another bright light, the pleasing smell of fresh air, green grass and blue sky, and dead bodies in the yard. At least half a dozen.

They looked around for any signs of life, and to their right they saw one small gray man facing away from them. They stepped forward quietly and glanced around to their left where the Sunroom had no vantage point, a small garden shed next to an overgrown and wild garden lay in their midst, only twenty yards away. The back yard was fenced in by a privacy fence covered in vines. The tall fence appeared sturdy, and not even Faith could see directly over it, though she did spot the occasional hostile outside.

"We can take that one, that's all I see." Kyle said quickly.

They wielded clubs, and thought that by the element of surprise they could take it out.

Creeping slowly across the grass, hoping their quiet footsteps would not draw any attention, Faith looked on as the three men wielding chair legs as clubs snuck up on the small, pale, gray man.

Jake stepped on a small twig, cracking it, and the tiny noise was enough to catch the gray man's attention. It turned it's head, eyebrow wrinkling, but it was too late. Jake, Kyle, and Bradley were on it and with a few powerful strikes, took it down.

They smiled, looked around cautiously, and silently high-fived each other. "That was too easy! Catch them before they transform and it's like taking candy from a baby!" Bradley said.

"That's just cruel..." Jake said sarcastically with a grin. They crept their way toward the garden shed and Jake used the key to unlock the padlock on the door, avoiding the corpse that lay next to the front door, a machete lay next to it. It popped open and inside lay another corpse, one of a gray man. His head was bashed in, a bloody shovel next to it. They kept their eyes on the corpse, but scoped the small building.

All items of note, in which they happily brought outside the door, included the shovel, a hoe, rake, and metal garden scoop along with the machete.

They each carried something, Jake the machete and rake, Bradley the shovel, and Kyle the hoe and garden scoop, and made their way inside after a final glance at the back yard. There seemed to be no apparent gate to the outside... If they wanted to leave, they would have to climb the fence, which appeared to be 8 feet tall, into the blind area below. That, or the front door. Either way, the men were satisfied with their find.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The larger portion of the group had chosen to head downstairs into the basement, having no real idea what to expect down there, Leo led the way with his club fashioned from a chair leg, Callum and Charlie close behind. Jack walked behind with Hollie, and Lola held up the rear. They crept down the steps, hearing the pops and cracks associated with an old staircase.

They reached the bottom, the door was cracked open, and Leo and the group stood quietly and listened.

Silence. Surprisingly.

He pushed the door open timidly and waited once again, startled by the creak the hinges gave off. Still nothing, he reached around the corner and felt the lightswitch, and flipped it. The light shined on a relatively empty room with four doors, just some empty boxes and tattered books lie on the wall opposite of them. No signs of hostiles or death, a welcome sign. The six made their way down, noticing it was a bit cooler and the ceiling was considerably shorter. Charlie reached up and palmed it, "I feel like a giant."

"Me too." Callum said, reaching up.

"Okay, let's check the other rooms, be careful, any sign of life and we haul butt upstairs." Leo commanded, beginning by opening a door and flipping a switch.

They quickly discovered that two of the doors led to an encircling storage room which scaled the entire basement. It was directly beneath the Great Room, and held what looked like hundreds of boxes, crates, and random stuff. It would take hours upon hours to search it, but at first glance looked mostly like junk.

The Furnace was interesting, lying directly below the Kitchen. Charlie, their architect, concluded it was used to help heat their appliances or perhaps the heat was channeled to help heat the bedrooms on the other side of the house.

It was the door on the right, that remained a mystery to them.

"It's locked." Hollie said, trying the knob. It turned, but the deadbolt above prevented access. The group, feeling relatively safe but still leaving Jack behind to watch their backs, attempted to open the door.

Lola remembered the key, "Guys! Let me try this!"

She pulled the key out of her pocket and slid it into the lock, turning it and hearing that satisfying metallic thud. The door crept open, and inside lie a corpse...

He sat on the floor, a laptop lay sideways next to him, a gun in his cold stiff hands and blood smearing the wall.

"Suicide..." one of them said.

There was food in there with him, lots of it, some eaten. Other survival supplies like a first aid kit and blankets, lined the wall next to the food. Surprisingly no weapons. Further, one corner of the room was obviously his bathroom, and the smell of death and sewage was unbearable. They quickly searched him, found another copy of the key which had opened the door, and his ID. They took the laptop, feeling confident that they could come back for the food and supplies if they needed it and quickly left, heading upstairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The groups met back up in the Billiard Room, Jake and his crew showing off their "weapons" they had found outside, and Lola carrying the laptop.

"Battery's dead, and I couldn't find the charger. Anybody know how to rig it?"

"I may. I was a marine equipment mechanic. Rigging electronics is what we did." Hollie answered her.

"Great!"

Jake spoke up, "Who was he, that guy down there?"

"Looked like he was holed up for the Apocalypse. Tons of food and more supplies down there." Leo answered him.

"That charger may be in one of the humvees. The keys too." Jack said.

"Well, let's get to work. What should we do?" Faith asked.