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Scarlet looked shocked when her bullets seemed to have no effect on Jamila, her body continued to fight for any air that it could get, but it just felt like the woman’s grasp was slowly getting tighter. When even more of her vision started to go dark and her lungs felt like they were going to pop, that’s when her body desperately kicked as her closed fists hit the woman’s arms, eventually slowing down until her arms dropped to her side and her legs ceased their kicking, ‘Looks like this is it for me, sorry Rex,’ She thought to herself, ready to embrace her fate.

All of a sudden, Scarlet felt her airway open again as she hit the ground, taking in shallow breaths as she coughed violently, looking over to see what happened and saw Jade on top of the woman who had been choking her. Rex who had heard his master soon turned around and ran towards her, even though he was told to help Samantha, he couldn’t ignore his master when she was in danger. When he got to her, he sniffed and licked her face before turning his attention to hurt her, Jamila, and then started to growl at her, snarling and snapping, he was very angry and looked like he was ready to attack at any moment.

When Scarlet recovered slightly, she sat up, emptying the clip of her spent gun and then put in a spare she had, placing it inside the pistol and then slammed it against her palm until it locked in place with a click. She slowly stood up, though shakily as her body tilted side to side, “Thanks for the help.” She said to Jade, then when Jamila spoke, she added, “You’re not indestructible, something can kill you, you freak.” Pointing her gun at her once more, though she didn’t fire, remembering how only mere moments ago, the woman shrugged off her bullets like they were marshmallows or something, she didn’t really have an idea how to stop them and with focusing on not being choked to death, she didn’t notice the chaos with the box and the heart in it.

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Jessica relaxed a little when the man’s vitals seemed to have stabilized for the most part, he wasn’t out of the woods yet, but there was a chance he could make it, the chaos was still going on in the ER, but not as intense as before. She decided to take as seat in a nearby chair, putting her hands to her face and then rubbed it, she was tired and hadn’t really been afforded a break, her moment of peace was short lived however when the intern she had been upstairs with earlier beeped her.

She let out a groan and then headed to where the intern was, thankfully it was on the ground floor so it wouldn’t take too long for her to rush back to the ER if need be, "Let me know if something goes wrong with him, ya know?" The nurse giving a simple nod as Jessica left to check on the intern.

“So what is it that you need barbie?” She asked as she entered the room.

“Oh, well I was wondering how much aspirin to give to the patient.”

Jessica had a look of frustration on her face as she closed her eyes, slamming her palm to her face, it slowly sliding down.

“Did you just call me from the ER to ask for an aspirin dosage? How dense are you?” She asked, just baffled as the sheer nonsense of her question.

“Well I was just worried it could exacer-” She responded before being cut off, “It’s regular strength aspirin, ya know. Here’s what you do, tell the patient to open their mouth, take a handful and throw it at them, whatever sticks, that’s the correct dosage.”

She tried to say something again, but once more Jessica's pager went off, calling her back to the ER because of the lack of staff thanks to some going out to help the paramedics and it felt to her like she was the only other doctor in the hospital, even though it wasn’t the case, some days she just wished all the people in the hospital dead, just for some peace and quiet, but at the end of the day when she saw their happy faces after being treated, leave the hospital, those negative thoughts went away quickly.

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This day had already been messed up for Liam, between the visions, bright lights and the apocalypse, the detective certain he was now some kind of criminal was certainly not helping. He couldn't exactly explain what was happening to him otherwise. He sighed as he resigned himself to the fate of being dragged off to the station to no doubt be tossed into a cell for something like disturbing the peace, when gunfire, of all things seemed to divert the detective's attention.

As he watched her, and the boy he'd been speaking to run off, Liam took this as an opportunity to get the hell out of dodge. The town center had been nothing but trouble since he'd gotten there, he figured he'd head back to Jake's, he'd enjoyed even just his brief chat with the girl there, he found himself hoping she was still on as he slinked away from the crowd, away from the town center and down the road toward Jake's.

However, when he actually reached Jake's, he was met with a fairly gruesome sight. Moving inside, his eyes went wide as he spotted the body on the floor, it wore the same clothes that Sutton had on when he saw her, the same hair, but the skin was all charred, blackened. He could not for a moment even consider what may have happened, but as he stood there, slack-jawed and in shock at the sight he was witnessing, he found himself regretting more and more ever leaving New York.

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The situation in the town Center was rapidly descending into madness all over again. Darren remained relatively quiet as he listened to Jade, he almost felt sorry for how oblivious she was to what was really going on. He glanced over to the reporter and the kid again, from the look on both their faces, he figured neither of them was consciously responsible for whatever the light had been, he made a mental note to make sure Jade didn't gouge out the poor reporter's eyes in her misunderstanding.

However, it seemed her attention was drawn elsewhere by the sound of gunfire, reaching down, he pulled out his own gun and looked in the direction of the sound. As he heard Jade's insistence she would handle it, he watched her go, pondering for a moment letting her head off, but with the way things had gone so far, he was fairly certain that she wouldn't be able to handle it on her own. Glancing over to Zachary, he gave him a pat on the chest. "All yours." He nodded toward the reporter and the kid, hurrying off after Jade.

As he came into view of everything, he stopped, gathering everything from a distance, it looked like a clusterfuck. There was the woman, gorgeous, wrestling with Jade, while some other woman tackled a man and sent his box falling to the floor. As it opened and he saw the contents, he knew immediately what he was dealing with - well, at least this was easier than the last Qareen he dealt with. Bringing his weapon to bare, more people showed up, crowding around the group, he couldn't get a clear shot as it was.

"No you fucking twit, I said metzenbaum scissors, not hemostatic forceps! Learn your left from your right you twit!" Dr. Chang barked at the EMT trying to help her with her latest patient. She took a step back, about to fling the instrument she was handed towards the EMT as she head a thud behind her just before her foot sunk into something dense and yet spongy. Stopping as she felt the slickness under her heel she looked down with the chrome shine of the forceps shimmering in her fingers. Her eyes widened a bit as she tilted her head to the side.

"What in the arseblast of hell is this?" she grumbled as she lifted her foot up, the organ clung to either side of her shoe as it was caught with a ventricle enclosed around her toe and heel. "It's raining hearts? You have to be fucking kidding me! I quit!!!" she yelled as she tried to pry it off but it wouldn't move. Hopping around on one foot as she tried to again to pull it off before she started to do what looked like the hokey pokey.

"Get!" Left foot in. "The!" Left foot out. "Fuck!" Left foot in. "Off!" Shake it all about it. One last kick and the crushed heart flew off Amy's foot like a clay pigeon, arcing high into the air. "FORE BITCHES!!!!" Amy yelled as a heads up to anyone around.

Well, that'd do it. Darren's eyes drifted up along with the heart as it went flying into the air, he had to give the doctor credit, she had one hell of a kick. Darren was more amazed than anything as he watched it for a few long moments, it went up, up, and then it started to come back down, closer and closer, before plop. The heart landed rather boringly on his shoe, rolling off as he looked down at it.

He took a moment to actually take in what had just happened, looking back over to the group as he felt their eyes on him for a moment, he looked back to the heart. Adjusting his aim from the group to the heart, he took a half-step back and fired, a bullet sinking right into the heart and clear out the other side, burying into the ground beneath it. That ought to do it.

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Location: Altsoba Hospital
Interacting With: Howard Lucas @Morose

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"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."
He said with a soft chuckle, coughing and wincing softly at the effort.
"Then again, I don't think I'd believe it myself either."
He continued, stopping himself from chuckling again as the events played over in his head. Shaking himself out of it gently, he turned to the familiar professor again.
"Your collections are always a treat, after We're released here, I welcome you to come to my temporary residence, I'm sure we could both use a drink and some dinner, then you could introduce me to your newest display?"

He had always enjoyed leisure with Howard, a man of a similar making. With Howard, there was little room for the discomfort of emotional involvement, and any conversation was a discussion of factuality, not empathy. It was relaxing, to be around someone he didn't have to actively discern motivations from, someone he didn't have to involve emotional consideration. Howard was also a man of maturity, and he knew his own limitations when drinking, which meant Joel could simply provide a glass and show him where the whiskey and Ice was, then leave him to his own choices with alcohol, without fear of caring for an intoxicated adult.

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Sighing Danica got up from her chair and took a quick shower and changed. After everything she was figuring it might be the last one she would be able to grab. Picking out some cargo pants, a t-shirt, hoodie, and boots to wear she got dressed. Her thoughts kept going back to Elizabeth and while she was glad she was not longer feeling like Satan was trying to birth himself from her uterus she hadn't wanted the newly born demon to die. The woman seemed good enough and had actually tried to help her as well when the ghost showed up.

The ghost, the mention of the book. Sighing she threw her hair up in a ponytail, might as well try to do something productive. She was a journalist after all, well in a way. Looking around she started grabbing various history and mythology books she had piled up and grabbed her lap top. A note pad and pen later she was nose deep in all of it, trying to research as much as she could. Any references to demons, to ghosts, how the man had died that she had seen, references to the book he had spoken about.

She stayed off her blog for the time being, not wanting to deal with anymore trolls. It was time to figure all this out, if she could. It was the end of the world after all and tomorrow might not come. The net was a bitch to get through, of course with everything going on there was conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory up and about. The freaks were out in force but with all hell breaking loose, literally, it seemed that some of them were not as far off their rockers as one would original imagine. Funny how that works out.

Sighing as he rested her forehead against the palm of her hand she chewed on a piece of gum, popping small bubbles from time to time. She wanted to spit out the piece but knew if she did she would just end up chewing on the end of the pen instead and the result would be a mouth full of ink before long. Grumbling under her breath she kept taking notes, but it was slow going. The lines of fact and fiction were blurred right then.

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Location: Town Center
Interacting With: Jade, Darren, Amy, Qareen

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He watched as Jade ran for towards the sound of gunfire. Several people ran from the area, and he finally had a better view of the attack. Two woman could be seen, getting attacked by another person. A young man was standing there with something in his hand. The FBI guy ran into the fray.

"Wait a minute, you can't leave me with them. Damn it Jade!" he called out after them.

Damn it, she and I are going to have a little chat later about who is actually in charge. Can't be mad at the FBI agent, it's his job. Still, leaving me with these people, ugh, well, can't do anything about it now.

He turned towards the reporter and the kid. "Well, looks like you guys are stuck with me," he said, but he ran into a problem. The kid was running towards the commotion. Well hell, I have to follow him, the reporter looks like he's headed to Jake's. Good, at least he'll be out of the way. Might as well follow the kid. He thought as he ran towards the commotion.

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Location: Town Center
Interacting With: A lot of people

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Kat watched as all hell broke loose, again. Her leg still hurt, but she started heading over there anyway. A woman came running and tackled the woman who had just been a man seconds before. Another woman was there and was fighting the doctor guy, sending his box flying. Katsumi recognized what that woman was, and knew what was in that box. She made a move towards it, when a man came running up and grabbed it.

Well, maybe he'll be smart once he sees whats inside the box.

She still was walking towards the group of people, and pulled out one of her many knives, and in her other hand she pulled out her pistol. She was ready for these creeps, there was so much commotion she couldn't tell who was an enemy and who was an ally anymore.

Ugh, this is causing my head to spin.

She finally reached everyone else, just in time to see the man who held the box shoot what had been inside of it. Well, that solves one problem, that Qareen is as good as dead. Now to deal with the idiot who was controlling her. She walked over to where someone was fighting the doctor, and held up her gun, prepared to shoot if he did anything stupid. She was aiming to wound him if need be.

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Daniyal's Attack Dog spell took near instant effect on Chase, likely because he was a bit of a dog to begin with. He foams at the mouth a bit, his eyes streaked with blood, as he begins to bleed out of the corner of his eyes. Almost bewildered, Chase attempts to fight it, hoping to head towards Jamila. Of course, all is for nought, as Darren and Amy managed to kill the Qareen with ease, piercing her heart -- the only vulnerable part of a Qareen. The day appears to be saved once more for those of you in the Town Center, with Chase under an enchantment, and the Qareen dead. Of course, this safety may just be an illusion...

Beyond the more disturbing events, the clock has just struck 2:30 PM. Most people have left the Town Center by now, and even more have left the Shopping District they took cover in. There's talk of setting up a shelter at Altsoba High, but most head home to be with their families. A few more try to flee the town, only to show up in the woods, mauled just like all the rest.

@Lady Amalthea: After searching the entire Internet for anything to help, Danica stumbles upon several sites of interest. One claims to have a listing of hunters, able to help for problems, yet it looks like a third grader set it up. Probably not going to be that reliable. Another site claims to be an authority on ghosts, explaining that ghosts form when remains are left in this world, and a spirit had unfinished business. It recommends Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof by Roger Clarke for further reading. Danica may recall that John Moses' full remains were never found as well.

@Lady Amalthea: Luckily for Amy, it seems all of the work has about finished. The paramedics are treating the last few people, beginning to wrap things up. Of course, work never seems to be finished. Amy is called back to the hospital, asked to assist Dr. Sorreast with more patients. Looks like she won't be getting a break for a while -- unless, of course, Amy decides she's going to take one anyways. Who's there to complain, right?

@Sohtem: Jessica's work seems to be cut out for her, but she receives word that Dr. Chang will be returning shortly. At least they won't be as understaffed anymore. However, she's not out of the woods yet. Instead, it looks like she's about to enter them. Remember the cop that bumped into Daniyal and gave him Ghost Sickness? He’s being brought in right now on a stretcher, suffering from strange burns that appear out of nowhere. Hope you've got something to fix that, doc.

@Pundii: Music continues to play in Jake's changing to this song, almost the moment he enters. He may notice that the clock on the wall, every clock in the small café really, has stopped at precisely 11:45 AM. Sutton hardly looks like herself anymore, though if Liam had been paying attention, he'd recall that she already had horrible burn marks on her hands when she handed him the coffee. Those are still there. There's no sign of who did this to her, or how.

Updates for all other characters (those interacting with the Qareen or Dr. Barnes, mostly) can be found below.

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Jade blinked, hardly understand all of the chaos that just occurred. She nodded at Scarlet, watching as the woman in front of her fell to the ground, her skin and hair greying. All of it seemed surreal, but the glint of a gun caught her eye. It was the young girl, the Japanese girl, pointing a gun at the raving doctor, the blood dripping down from his eyes.

"You're the asshole who did this, yeah?" Jade asked plainly. She didn't wait for a response, snapping the cuffs onto Chase's wrists. "I don't give a fuck how you try to kill people -- attempted murder is attempted murder, you git."

Chase instead whimpered a bit at Jade, the blood flowing from his eyes excessively. It was as if his brain had been liquified, seeping out of every crevice. The doctor attempted to ask for help, but only growls came out of his mouth, as he limped his way over towards the fallen body of Jamila. Becoming weaker and weaker by the moment, he collapsed on top of her, viciously gnawing and biting and consuming, until his body spilled, the blood loss too great to be sustained.

"...What the hell?" Jade whispered, her eyes wide. For a moment, she wondered if her medication had been mixed up with someone else's, causing her to see things. But everything had been all too real. There was no way she could explain what happened today. Throwing glances between Darren and Katsumi, Jade bit her lip.

"The apocalypse is real...We're fucked," Jade said, blinking at the bloody scene in front of them. Only mere moments after the last tragedy, another had occurred. If all of this was real, there had to be some sadistic asshole running the show.

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The paramedics finish patching up Joel, handing him a prescription as well. It's rather lucky they managed to finish up treating for him, letting them avoid the wrath of Amy Chang for just one more moment. The paramedics quickly usher Joel and Howard away from the makeshift medical area, cleaning up the stations in order to care for the next pair. Howard buttons his suit jacket once more, flexing his cut hand, and admiring the wince of pain, like a child who touches the stove despite knowing it's hot.

"Enchanting," Howard replied, a snakelike smile on his face. "Shall we stop by the shop to procure some items and then head to your quarters? I just got my hands on the Book of the Damned, it's a fascinating read...A bugger to translate, I'm afraid."

Nodding his head at Joel, he motioned for him to join him, walking away from the paramedics and towards his humble place of business. He hardly batted an eye at the new wave of violence, having heard the gunshots and seen the police as they ran. He couldn't be bothered to care about people killing each other. If anything, it was welcome to him. More deaths meant less people to be irritated by.

He could certainly drink to that.

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Location: Altsoba Hospital
Interacting With: Howard Lucas @Morose

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Joel paid little attention to the bottle of Pills thrusted into his hands, knowing it'd likely be nothing more potent than extra strength Ibuprofen. As he was Ushered away, he shook his head with a soft chuckle and pulled on his Sports-Jacket. Reaching into the inner Pocket, he procured a pack of cigarettes and placed one in his lips, lighting it and pausing a bit to acknowledge the cuts on his hands. Looking back to Howard, he raised his eyebrows at the book's title, before shrugging.
"Absolutely, I'd love to have a crack at such an Infamous novel."
As he continued to walk with Howard, he began to feel a faint thumping, emitting from what felt to be the center of his chest. As it began more and more prominent, he shivered, a feeling of void slowly trickling down his spine before it's movement stopped, as well as the Thumping.

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Location: Altsoba Veterinary Office
Interacting With: Leo, the cat.

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"And we seem to be all good to go."
He said quietly with a smile, petting the white, short haired tabby purring on his examination table. The doctor set down his stethoscope and jotted down a few words onto a sheet of paper pertaining to Leo's health record, before setting them down as well and picking the cat up gently. Walking the few steps from his office to the Lobby, he smiled to the elderly woman sitting anxiously in the the waiting room.
"He's all good to go Mrs. Stetler."
He said happily, handing the tabby to the concerned woman.
"Everything checks out Doctor?"
She asks worriedly, reaching into her purse to procure a checkbook.
"Of course Mary, He's as healthy as a Kitten, just make sure to watch him closely while he's outside, that much grass isn't good for anyone but cows."
He responded soothingly with a chuckle, his hand resting over hers reassuringly.
"And don't fret over the bill, times as stressful as these shouldn't be spent counting checks."
He continued with a gentle smile, nodding as she thanked him and he walked her to the door. Retaining the smile until she left the small parking lot, his face dropped immediately, turning the sign on the door to closed, before walking from his office to the attic on the top floor of the building.

As he entered the attic, he removed his shoes and socks, as well as his lab-coat and button up, watching the attic slowly transform from a dusty room to a beautiful Sanctum surrounding a glistening pool of vibrantly blue water. As his feet felt the transformation of the wood into soft, luscious grass, he sighed comfortably, a sense of clarity surrounding him.

Surrounding the pool were Six small protruding stones, each with the Symbol of a different Essence carved into it's face, and a line of golden liquid that slowly changed the water's color protruding from underneath the stones. As the Water soon became the same color as the liquid mixing into it, Deacon stepped out onto it, walking atop the water to the center of the pool and sitting with crossed legs and folded hands. Then, he began to meditate, preparing himself spiritually for the days to come and the trials they will hold.

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Amy pulled the bloodied gloves off her hands and sighed as she tossed them into the hazardous waste bag. Shaking her head she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that she had just played the most deranged version of hacky sack in history. The heart was at least off her foot now. She watched it loft through the air and perked a brow as it landed and the land shot it. She didn't even want to know what that was about. She was a heart surgeon and normally she would have been devastated that a heart was ruined the way it was. You know, shaking it all about and then using it for close range target practice, but right then she could care less. It must not have been a good one anyways.

Turning things were wrapping up and she grabbed her bat. Figuring she could turn in for the day and get the hell off the streets of this maddening town. You know, curl up in front of a fire, pull out a good book and refuse to read it as you down a couple of cases of wine and try to forget everything that had happened today so far. A woman that came back from the dead, holy peanut oil, acid in the face, a mystery man that wanted her heart, a heart that rained out of the skies, stepping on it. You know, just your typical trials and tribulations of the every day.

Rolling her eyes she pulled out her phone as it went off and noticed the text message. She was supposed to report back to the hospital. What now? Someone give birth and instead of a single bouncing baby boy the woman shot out of her va-jay-jay a swarm of vampire bats and they wanted her to administer rabies shots to everyone? Grumbling to herself she grabbed tightly to her bat and started walking through the streets of this fine fine town back towards the hospital. She swore to herself, if anyone got in her path or asked her if she had heard the good word she was going to pretend their skull was a softball and go for a home run.

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Samantha looked at the crowd and wondered what the actual fuck was actually going on as Chase laid there noticing the blood flowing out of every orifice on the man's head. She looked around at the people, this was all certainly very weird and fucked up but then again it is the apocalypse as well. Sam took a step closer and took out her camera and started to film the body of Jamila as she saw the Qareen slowly started to die. She turned around aiming the camera at everyone else to hopefully try and get information on what was that thing and what had happened.

"So mind telling me what the hell is going on here, and what the hell that thing is?" Sam asked as she gestured towards the body of Jamila, she had never seen anything like that before. Then she looked down towards the heart that was now pretty much destroyed and assumed that it was the creatures.

x

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Scarlet was taken aback by what she had just seen in front of her, okay clearly whatever was going on is this damn town, it had little to do with terrorists, that was for sure, unless they some somehow learned to make their skin impervious to bullets as well as give the super strength to nearly choke the life out of her. No, something else was going on, something that had little or no explanation at all; she clicked the safety on her gun and then holstered it behind her lower back again, taking a kneel as she was still a little woozy from being nearly strangled to death.

Rex went over to her, nudging his head against hers as he licked her face, clearly he was worried if she was okay, “It’s alright boy, I’m okay that...thing didn’t hurt me too bad.” She spoke to him, though a little coarse, it would probably take a few days for her throat to recover from the strangulation, but she could still speak for the most part. Now the only real trouble she had to face was with the local authority, even though it was self defense, they’ll no doubt want the full story of figuring out what happened as well as getting her identification.

“I think it best if we leave pup, no need for us to get caught up in this town’s local law enforcement and cause more problems for us, yeah?” She asked with a small smile, Rex giving off a slight bark as she started to stand up once more. Deciding it best to leave so as to not be held up asking questions, she tried to exit through the dense crowd along with Rex, it’d be too easy to spot her deliberately walking away from what just ensued, but if she and Rex could get through the crowd, it’d be much more difficult to see either of the, especially with the locusts of reporters all wanting their juicy exclusive of the chaos that transpired.

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Jessica received news that another doctor was soon going to be returning back to the hospital, perhaps that would finally allow her to get a breather, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case on this crazy day, no instead it seemed like the world thought it would be fun to pile even more onto her already busy work. Between people injured and interns asking for advice on something as idiotic as aspirin dosage, it made her wish today was her day off, then again, if it was and she still knew about this, she’d still be trying to help.

“Dr. Sorreast, you need to come quick, there’s a man with strange burns on his arms.” A nurse spoke to her as she reentered the ER once more, it still chaotic as when she left or perhaps it just felt that way to her, she wasn’t entirely sure.

She let out a sigh as she went with the nurse to the patient, quirking an eyebrow as she did so, “So what happened to him?”

“We don’t know, they just seem to be appearing on their own.” The nurse replied.

“Why is it that anytime I ask someone what’s happened or what’s been done, they say ‘I don’t know’, it’s enough to make me want to gouge their eyes out, ya know?” She responded half sarcastically. “We’ll need to start him on a small dosage of morphine for the pain, then clean the wounds as best as possible without irritating them, then apply some gauze bandages to them loosely, we’ll check on him and see if the injuries get worse.”

They went about with what she considered the basics for the man, no doubt the lab was swarmed with doctors trying to get tests done on their patients and it would be little to impossible for her to get any intricate tests done on hers, no for the most part she’d probably be relying on examinations and basic tests, just great.

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Liam remained where he was in relative shock for a few long moments. He might've already seen a fair bit today, from a literal demon melting before his eyes to a bunch of visions he still couldn't explain. But Liam now realised he'd perhaps only hoped such things were happening in the town center, and there alone - that otherwise people in the town were going to be safe. Sutton here was clear proof of how wrong he was. Moving toward the body, he let out a sad sigh as he knelt down, looking her over.

The burn marks on her hands were sitll there, but now they were of course the least of her issues, Liam couldn't explain whatever had happened, part of him wanted to chalk it up to an accident, a faulty stove, gas leak or something of the like. But Liam knew well enough already to guess that this was not caused by something natural. This was one more thing to add to the list of things Liam was done with for the day, he was tired of everything, of these visions and what-not, he couldn't explain it and he didn't want to.

Standing up again slowly, he watched Sutton's body and sighed as he made his way out and down the street, he didn't bother to go and report it to the police in the town center, he knew her body would be found soon enough and although he felt bad, he had no intent of going back there. He made his way back to the Inn, moving up to his room and sighing contentedly as he lay on his bed, Sancho jumping up and settling on his chest, here at least, things seemed a little normal, he could rest.

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Darren watched from a little distance as everything seemed to go down at once, he watched as the Qareen dropped dead, that at least was good, and then as the doctor was charmed, bleeding from his eyes as Darren raised an eyebrow. That was not exactly a normal thing to have happened, clearly there was a witch about. Yet another thing to keep in mind as he slowly moved a little closer, watching as Jade moved to handcuff Chase a short while before he collapsed over the body of the Qareen.

He reached the group just in time to hear Jade speak up. It was honestly refreshing to hear her finally start to accept the reality of the situation. It wasn't exactly an easy thing to admit, or to believe, that the world was quite possibly coming to its swift and violent end at the hand of supernatural forces, but Jade took it like a champ. Holstering his weapon again, Darren cleared his throat and shook his head toward her, speaking up.

"Not technically, not yet anyway - there are seals being broken though deliberately, so once 66 of them are broken, then, yeah, apocalypse." He didn't particularly bother with seeming very FBI-ey at that point, he figured now that she had actually started to understand what was going on, he could drop the act a least a bit and not have her instantly assume he was an insane person or arrest him. At least he hoped she wouldn't do that, it was always such a pain in the ass to get arrested.

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Grabbing her things and shuffling her pack onto her shoulder Danica headed out the door of her room at Aunt Sues Inn and into the streets of Altsoba. She had checked online to see where she could perhaps find some more information, something that wasn't online. There were a handful of places. The local school library didn't seem like it would be even worth her time. School libraries like that were not exactly known for being dripping with rare literature. Granted the Rare book store would be but she didn't want to hit that place just as of yet. With everything going down, she figured that it might actually be worse to go there than not. So to the local county library it was. Not that she thought she would find anything worth wile but it wasn't too far. Might as well and anyways, people avoided libraries, so it should be quiet. She hoped.

She was right, looking at the smashed window and inside it seemed like the place was pretty clear, a big mess but clear. Why in the world would anyone want to wreck a library like this? Or was it just the mob mentality kicking in? There had been plenty of cities that faced riots before and the needless destruction that happened during those times of upheaval always left her wondering what the fuck was wrong with people. Seeing a smashed window and books everywhere made her wonder that exact thing as she carefully made her way into the library; making sure she didn't catch herself on any of the broken glass. Last thing she needed was to head back to the hospital. Enough had happened there today for her tastes.

"Anyone here?" she asked, probably a bit quietly but hey, if someone was in there she didn't want to startle them. Looking around she saw the red light beeping on one of the security cameras and perked a brow. They were still running? That was surprising. She figured if someone broke into the place they would have done something to disable the cameras, not wanting to get caught. Or did they figure because it was the end of the world that going to jail wasn't on their list of things to be concerned about?

Shrugging to herself she wandered through the library and into the back office where the monitors for the security camera was. Pulling up a chair she sat down and looked over the dials. It wasn't hard to figure out. Rewind meant rewind. So rewind it was, stopping every so often if she saw any movement but otherwise she kept just going through the footage to see if she could put her finger on anything that stood out. It was boring going through it but hey, that was part of the research. It wasn't so much the journey sometimes but the actual destination but fuck... What was the destination? Hell?

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But you know what the funny thing is about the end of the world? Everyone expects to have spare moments, minutes in which nothing is happening, in which the chaos has subsided. Hollywood has entranced us with this notion that there will always be a moment to live, a chance to do more than just survive. But that's the thing about the end, it never stops. It's always in motion, and the minute you turn your back, that you take a break, it's all over.

Have you decided to stop running? Are you taking a breather? Rest assured, the world keeps on spinning. Events keep on happening. Those moments you thought were filled with peace and quiet? They were merely shadows forming, ones that you didn't see until it was far too late. Death stops for no one, not even I. Perhaps those who already died are the lucky ones--they've stopped running.

@Morose @Nallore @Pundii @BlueSky44: Darren isn't wrong. The apocalypse is indeed nigh on the horizon. As far as Darren is aware, anywhere from 5-20 seals have been broken, all seemingly centered around this place. At his words, the earth around them seems to rumble, as if in agreement. Unfortunately, it's anything but that. It's Lucifer's Cage, beginning to break more and more with each seal cracked.

@hagroden @Morose: Well, well, well...It seems Howard and Joel have won the luck lottery! They make it to Forgotten Relics unscathed, and not a thing is out of place in the shop. Nothing has gone missing. No intruders are present. No one's trying to kill them. Enjoy the slight bit of luck you got, it won't last long in this world, now will it? Howard fetches the Book of the Damned and proudly presents it to Joel, a twinkle in his eye.

@hagroden: Deacon's meditation session is interrupted. His radio flickers to life, announcing an ever growing list of casualties. People aren't just dying in Altsoba--it's happening all over the world. Members of Congress are turning up in asylums, small children have turned into deadly killers, and a new plague has taken its toll on Florida. And that's just America--the entire world has been plunged into chaos. The news most likely puts a damper in his session.

@Lady Amalthea @Sohtem: The treatment is ineffective. The man, identified by his badge as Detective Walter Hanson, is rambling and pleading with any of the nurses. He claims to know why the strange burns are appearing on him at each moment. "It's John Moses' ghost!" Hansen shrieks. "He's giving me Ghost Sickness! You need to torch the asshole's corpse or I'll die! That's just a bit of a highlight from his ranting and raving. Question is -- do you believe him?

@Witch Cat: Sylvia may not have had the most relaxing trip to Aunt Sue's. First, the owner (a woman named Gladys) is perhaps a bit too chatty, asking Sylvia about all her more odd pieces of jewelry and possessions. But that really isn't the thing that'd unnerve her a bit. No matter where Sylvia looks, there are omens of death. There is no escaping them. No avoiding them. The universe has decided to send her a warning, but too bad it's too late to get out now, isn't it?

@Witch Cat: By contrast, Daniyal has almost too easy of a trip home. No one stops to bother him. Most of the street preachers seemed to have cleared out, and the streets are vacated. When Daniyal arrives at home, his mother's car is outside the house. The lights are all on. As he enters the home, he's met with the sight of his mother's corpse on the ground, her throat slit and covered in blood. A demon stands next to the body, waiting for him casually. "Finally, Daniyal, old boy! I've been waiting decades for you..."

@Sohtem: Scarlet makes it through the crowd, though a few people throw dirty looks at her dog. Just as she's made it out, her phone buzzes. The CIA director is on the line, wanting an update on the situation in Altsoba. The news has already broadcasted the newest tragedy to occur in the town, and the CIA isn't pleased. Scarlet was sent there to stop all of this from happening. To them, it looks like she hasn't done a thing. Best hope she doesn't lose her job, right?

@Pundii: Sitting on the bed, Liam may feel perfectly content and safe. To the extent, actually, that the purring of his tabby lulls him to sleep. In what he may believe to be a dream, another vision comes to him. The woman he saw earlier is there, with black shadows extending out like wings behind her. "The Rise of the Witnesses is imminent, Prophet!" she whispers, until her body is set ablaze. In a flash, Sutton is there, screaming on the floor, as she is roasted alive. And then, the vision ends.

@Lady Amalthea: The security footage doesn't seem to be the greatest thing, after all. Eventually, Danica can see a petite figure enter the library after smashing the glass. The bad thing? The culprit never directly faces the camera. Through a bit of zooming in and frustrating rewinds, Danica can barely make out the face, with this image being the best thing she can get. However, there is a bright side to all of this. In the process of watching and rewinding, Danica hears the figure mutter a few words. "John Moses' death...Fuckin' witch'll pay for this!" If Danica returns to the scattered area of books, she'll see two articles in the midst of the pile: one of these is about John's death and the other is about the promotion of Detective Walter Hanson in the Altsoba PD.

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Samantha looked towards Sylvia as she walked past her, and pretty much answered her question on what that thing was that had picked up Scarlett, she also warned her to stop filming which of course she wouldn't. Samantha needed to do this for her job and coming to this town would be a waste of money and her time to not get information on what is going on. She looked over her shoulder as she watched Rex and her walk off as well, then she could feel the earth suddenly shake below her and thought it was an earthquake. But then it seemed to stop, she wasn't sure what to make of it at all she knew that it had something to do with the world ending. Samantha looked around as the crowd seemed to dissipate sighing slightly as she couldn't get any questions and decided to head over to Aunt Sue's to get her room.

As she started to make her way towards her car Samantha shut off her camera and climbed inside, she drove down slightly until she finally found it. Samantha got out of her car and gathered her bags and strapped it over her back as well as her laptop. She started to head inside Sam made her way towards the receptionists desk and waited patiently for someone to check her into a room for her.

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Amy was glad that she had her bat in hand because the crowds outside were being a pain in the ass. "You won't have to worry about a second coming because take one step closer and the sound of my bat hitting a home run on your skull is the last thing you will hear before you meet your fucking maker," Amy spat out at yet another person trying to get into her face, calling her a yellow devil. Her bat swung warning the man before he jumped back, another swing as he stepped closer. She didn't care if she crushed his skull at this point. That whole oath she had taken was flying right out the window. She had meant what she said but she wasn't exactly trying to rack up a death count right then, so she opted for another piece of him. His knee and once more swing, this time low since he was expecting a head shot and he was on the ground; rolling around grabbing the now shattered cap and screaming in agony.

"Oh dear...Did I do that? Well fuck me. Someone get the man an egg roll and a fortune cookie," she said rolling her eyes before running passed him and leaving them there. If they brought him into the ER and he ended up being her patient she would laugh her ass off.

Stepping into the Er she looked around, the place was a clusterfuck and she cursed under her breath; the place was a mad house. Placing her fingers between her lips she let out a long and high pitched whistle. "Cut the fucking panic and get back to work," she yelled towards the staff as she twirled her bat around in her hand before it came to rest on her shoulder.

Making her way over towards Sorreast she perked a brow looking at the woman. "Fucking christ, I swear they come in all shapes and sizes but I wasn't expecting a look a like to be in my hospital," she said looking at the woman. She looked nearly identical to a doctor that had been under her in San Francisco not too terribly long ago. Doctor Natasha Brinne, an ER Trauma Surgeon but this woman couldn't be her. This woman looked to be a few years older and the last she had heard Natasha was in Jaipur India working at the Apex Hospital there. She had to wonder if shit was going as bad there as it was here.

Shaking off the thought she looked at Hanson as he started to ramble and rolled her eyes. "Well isn't this just a a bat fucked scenario. Had people coming back from the dead, hearts falling from the sky and now this shit. You know what, they don't pay us enough. I'm half tempted to just torch him to see what happens."

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Jade gave Darren a bit of a death glare. Had people not been dying in waves from illogical causes, she would have arrested him then and there. Instead, she huffed a bit, wishing desperately that she had a drink. The day wasn't over yet, and already, she felt like it'd been an eternity. Jade hardly would have been shocked if her hair had all turned grey.

"After this shit is all over, you're going to get well acquainted with these," Jade warned, raising her handcuffs. "For now, you need to tell us how to kick Satan's ass."

Crossing her arms, Jade leaned back and waited for Darren's answer. He may not have been FBI, but at least he seemed to know what was going on. She may not have been enamored with most of the people in Altsoba, but they didn't deserve to be slaughtered by some deity. Hell, a few minutes ago, Jade had been an atheist herself. She always imagined that she'd be killed with a bullet, not by some supernatural force.

The news of the seals caused her to grimace a bit. Sixty six seals between them and more mayhem? It didn't seem like much. However, she doubted that there was a physical cage for them to go to, and that reinforcing it with bullet proof glass couldn't do much.

"Fucking hell," Jade cursed, feeling the trembles around them. Earthquakes weren't altogether uncommon in Washington, but now, she was prepared for it to be anything. It could've been Barney the Purple Dinosaur rising from the grave in order to bring down fire upon them. "Tell me that wasn't something else to worry about," Jade snapped, her patience wearing thin.

This was so above her pay grade.

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Howard glanced over at Joel, noticing that he seemed to have a bit of trouble. Frowning, he clapped him on the back. "Feeling alright, old chap?" he inquired, fetching a bottle of water for the professor. He hardly ever let customers consume food or drink in the store, but for such a well known professor, he could easily make an exception. It wouldn't do to have Dr. Joel Schroeder faint on his floor. He didn't have the insurance for that.

Having attended to his guest, Howard retreated into the backroom, fetching the beloved Book of the Damned. Nothing in his collection was more prized than this. The legend told that a nun, possessed with evil spirits, managed to tame them in order to create this book. It was supposed to know how to break any curse, any spell, and stop any foe -- if you believed in that sort of thing, of course.

"You cannot fathom the trouble I had attaining this..." Howard murmured, offering Joel a pair of gloves for handling the ancient tome with. "Its previous owner didn't understand the jewel they had....But then again, no one ever does."

He set the book down gently on the counter, locking the front door of his shop. They didn't need to be disturbed with the petty wiles of some freaked out citizens. Recalling the knife he found earlier, Howard retrieved it, setting it down on the counter next to the book. With a cruel smirk of fascination on his face, he examined it slowly.

"Have you ever seen a more finely crafted blade, old chap? Someone left it in here earlier this day..."

x

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Location: Town Center (still)
Interacting With: Jade@Morose, Darren@Pundii

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Zachary walked over to the group of people, another person was dead and the monster was killed. Well, it could be worse. Several people could be dead or something like that, and all of the reporters would be even more like vultures than they are now. The dead guy looked like he had been a doctor, Jade and the FBI guy , what did he say his name was? Oh well, doesn't really matter now, were talking, looked like Jade was about to strangle someone. She looked like she was finally believing what was happening. At least one good thing came out of it.

The Japanese kid from before was still standing there to, and she had a gun. How the hell does that kid carry all of those weapons? She has knives and a gun, plus holy water on a daily basis? Almost like she has been preparing for this her entire life or something. Zachary contemplated asking her why she had a gun, and if she was legally able to carry it, but too much had occurred that night for him to be bothered by it. Hopefully she doesn't shoot somebody.He walked over to Jade and the other guy.

"Well, I am completely at a loss of what to do. I hope that you have an idea, cause I'm open to about anything right now." he said, looking at them.

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Location: Town Center
Interacting With: No one really, she is just listening

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Kat looked at the man who seemed to know about the seals. He was an interesting guy, but she didn't want to jump in on the conversation, especially between adults. She would be interrupting, probably told to go home to her parents, leave it to the adults. I can't go home to my family, they live on the other side of the Pacific. She realized that her pistol was still in her hand, and she lowered it, putting it back in its holster. Reporters were once again swarming like flies or something of the sort.

She watched as Jade started asking questions, and waiting for the other guy to answer. Sheesh, and people say I'm naive, from the sound of it she didn't believe that anything strange was going on. Even when the craziness of the fact that there was a freakin' DEMON running around like a lunatic. Man, she really needs to pay more attention to her surroundings, and start thinking that the impossible IS possible.She moved a little closer to the adults, trying to catch what they were going to say next.

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Scarlet managed to make it through the crowd without drawing any real attention, though she did notice some people were giving some funny looks to her dog, but for the most part, she wasn’t being tied up with local law enforcement when her phone suddenly started to go off, “Great, now what?” She said to herself as Rex sat down next to her, quirking his head. When she pulled it out, it was her bosses’ office number, she started to feel a little bit nervous and hesitantly answered it, putting the phone up to her ear.

“Hello, Director Shedwood?” She spoke, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

“Scarlet! What are you doing over there? We sent you in to stop this and then we see on multiple news stations of what’s recently happened, tell me what you’ve been doing, now!” Her boss shouted to her, so loud she winced and had move the phone a few inches away from her ear at first.

“I’m sorry sir, I was up late last night going over the files I was given and had overslept a tad, I missed whatever happened in the town center a-” She was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

“And why haven’t you gotten the details yet?” He responded, still a bit angry but was trying not to shout at her.

“Well I was sent in undercover, I didn’t want to risk revealing who I really was and end up scaring away whoever could be in on this, sir.”

He let out a sigh, “I understand, it’s hectic out there right now and were constantly getting phone calls of all this chaos going on, but we need this taken care of, I’ll let you off with a warning, but you need to stop anymore of this from happening, understood?”

“Yes sir, but...” She trailed off.

“What is it Scarlet?” He responded, noticing she had more to say.

“Well if you want me to remain undercover, I have to be more careful and that means avoid local law enforcement so they don’t hold me up and potentially give my cover away.”

There was a short pause on his end before he spoke to Scarlet once more, “Fine, I’ll let you choose at your discretion to reveal yourself as an agent of the CIA and if you do, take over all activities involving the local cops, they start having a fit, just give them my number and I’ll set them straight, understood?”

Scarlet started to get a smile in the corner of her mouth, “Yeah boss, thanks, you’re the best.”

“I am, but again, you need to make sure that nothing else like what I saw on the news happens again, understood?”

“Yes sir.” She simply replied back, still having the small smile on her face.

“Good, now is there anything else that you need to report on?”

She thought about what had happened to her moments earlier, rubbing her throat where it still felt sore from being strangled, did she tell her boss that a woman lifted her up by the throat with ease and then shrugged off her gun’s bullets like they were candy? He’d probably think she’d gone insane and pull her off the assignment, no she couldn’t do that, not until she had some proof, “Uh, no sir, nothing else at all, just mostly what you’ve seen on the news, but I’ll investigate further and inform you when I have something.”

“Alright, see that you do so, goodbye.” He said before he hung up the phone, Scarlet letting out a sigh as she put her phone back in her pocket and then looked to Rex, “Well I think I’m on thin ice and I haven’t even been able to do anything yet, must be easy just being a dog, no responsibilities or having to answer to anyone, huh?” She asked, Rex responding with multiple, Scarlet smiling and giving him a fuss on his head in return.

“Come on pup, let’s head over to the police station, find out what’s been going on here and get whatever files they may have, sound good, yeah?” She spoke to Rex once more after she had looked around at the empty town center. Rex eagerly responding with more barks as the two of them began walking, she’d try the gentle approach at first, but if they gave her lip, she’d gladly use her authority to get what she want, she always tried to make nice with local law whenever she was in a town like this, but she wouldn’t let it get in the way of her work and if they disliked her as a result, so be it, her job was much more important than theirs, at least that’s how she felt anyways.

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Jessica went running over to the man who was causing more of a ruckus than he had before just from his wounds, he sounded like he was out of it, probably was with the amount of drugs they had been using on him for both treatment and test results, but still, this was pretty intense, plus it didn’t exactly help that the nurses seemed to be confused as what to do. She quirked an eyebrow when the man was spouting that a man’s ghost was making him sick, so far she hadn’t seen anything truly strange, not like some of the others in the town, so she wasn’t really inclined to believe him, even if it was the end of the world as so many were claiming, but her first concern was to get the man calmed down and then treated once more.

She ordered the nurses to give him a small sedative to relax him, nothing was worse than a patient freaking out which would only cause more problems for her and the rest of the medical staff. Her attention was drawn away from the man when she heard a loud whistle, looking to it’s source and saw Amy, then to the staff who seemed to finally get into gear and not run around like chickens with their heads cut off. “Look a like? Perhaps I’m one of those...damn, what are they called? Shapeshifters? Wouldn’t be as nuts as what everyone’s been spouting since I’ve gotten down here, ya know?” She said as her attention went to the man once more.

Jessica let out a chuckle at Amy’s remark, “Sounds like you’ve had a more interesting time before I got here, although I don’t think the hospital would find burning patients as an acceptable form of treatment, ya know? Still I’m not sure what to make of him or his injuries, keeps saying something about a ghost or something causing this, I know it’s hectic out there, but I highly doubt it’s something as rediculous as that.” She added on, still trying to treat the man’s injuries.