The trapdoor up to the attic opened up and James leaned down and stuck his head out, yelling as loud as he could.
"What?Whats wrong with Amos?"James yelled.
"He's knocked out cold!"Haley yelled back, still struggling to compose herself and keep her sanity about her.

"He's still alive though?"James called back.
"Yes!"Haley screamed back, becoming very frustrated.
"Well your never going to get him up here!And neither are you guys,"James called back,"that thing smashed up the ladder!And the ceiling is ten feet up from the floor!You'll never be able to jump up here, much less pull up a body!"

"Is there anything you can drop down?,"Haley called back, growing frantic again,"a rope, or some boxes to climb on?Anything?!"

"No!Nothing, the only thing up here is fardboard boxes and that won't work, but don't worry we'll figure something out!Hide out in one of the bedrooms, we'll find a way to get you up here!"James yelled back.

"Hurry please!"Haley cried.

"Are you guys alright?Everyone accounted for?"James yelled back.

"No." Hazel barked back. "Courtney is dead." She glared upward into the trapdoor.

"We'll push some dressers out here into the hallway and get Haley and Amos up there. I'll put the dresser back so the Tartok can't use it to get up. In the meantime, figure out a way to get me up there. Haley, come on. Leave Amos." Hazel set him down and opened the door into the bedroom nearest to them.

"We've got to move fast. Hopefully the Tartok takes its time with its meals." She felt her stomach churn again, but forced down the bile. She grabbed the dresser inside and started dragging it into the hallway. "Take the other side. Once it's positioned, we'll get Amos up and then you."

"...W-what?"James called out.

"Courtney,"Haley called back weakly,"she's dead James.The Tartok, it killed her.She's dead!"

"Oh...oh my God, no!"James cried out.

"James I'm sorry!"Haley yelled back weakly, sympathizing for his loss.
Haley never liked Courtney at all, but she didn't want her to be dead, and she hated heading the pain in James' voice even now.

Several minutes past and a loud thud could be heard, followed by heavy footsteps.
Terrence turned the corner, the pump action shotgun in his arms, his face was riddled with concern, fear, and exhaustion.

He approached the two girls and the fallen Amos, speaking as he did.
"Hey, I'll stay down here with you guys.Mark is trying to come up with a plan, he's still a bit rattled, but he's holding together."

"What about James?"Asked Haley worriedly.
Terence frowned grimly and shook his head,"He's not handling things well.Makaya and Abby are trying to comfort him.Although, between the three of us, if he really cared, he would've made sure she was safe before running and hiding."Terrence had a dark look on his face.

"Terrence don't say that,"Haley snapped,"he's scared, we all are."

Terrence turned and faced Haley,"Yeah, I'm scared too, and look where I'm standing at now and what I'm doing.I'm down here to protect you guys and help keep you safe."

Haley slowly dropped her head and sniffed,"Your right."She said.

Hazel nearly jumped out of her skin when they heard the thump and the footsteps, whirling around and raising the gun she had- until she saw him. Someone was finally coming to help them. Hazel dropped the gun back to her side and returned her attention to the dresser.

Hazel agreed with Terrance immediately when he spoke.

"Yep." Was all she said. Her breath was still coming in, her chest and side burning. She had been in direct contact with the Tartok, and she was having a hard time not feeling angry at everyone else who had run. The scowl on her face communicated everything she was thinking.

"Come on!" Hazel wheezed at them. "Let's get this moved into place so we can get you guys up there." She had no intention of leaving Terrance down here. She had the eagle. If there was anyone who could deal with the Tartok attacking them, it would be her. Hazel gritted her teeth at the knowledge, wishing it had been someone else who could make the pendant work. She hauled at the dresser impatiently to punctuate her anxiety to get this over with, moving it a few inches.

"We'll handle James when we get up there. At least he didn't see what the Tartok did to her."

James and Haley helped Hazel slide the dresser on around and over beneath the trapdoor, which was opened up wide.
Makaya was up above looking down at them.
Terrence grabbed hold of Haley and helped her up onto the dresser, then held it steady as Haley stood up and reached for Makaya, who reached down and grabbed both of Haley's wrists and pulled her up into the attic.

Terrence then looked at Haley and spoke,"You go up next, im too heavy for you to try and hold me steady.I'll be up right behind you, I'm tall enough that I can jump straight up.Alright?"

(OOC:You can go ahead and post about you coming up and Terrence coming up behind you and closing the trap door.If that's how you want to do it of course.)

Hazel raised her eyebrow at the dresser.

"Won't that just give it an easier way to us if we leave it there? I think I should stay down here and move it back so it can't reach the door so easily." She didn't want to be left alone downstairs. At all. She wanted SOMEONE down there with her, but it didn't make sense. They would just be a sitting duck, and she could at least keep it away from her. She didn't have the stamina to keep running after everyone.

"How about this!" She ran into the bedroom and grabbed all of the sheets and blankets off of the bed, and did the same in a few other bedrooms.

"Let's see if that blanket rope thing they do in the movies works. You get up there, tie all of this into a rope, and pull me up with it once I've got the dresser out of the way. Just do it fast."

Terrence nodded slowly,"Alright,"he said,"sounds like a good plan."

He grabbed all of the sheets and blankets from Hazel and wadded them up into a big ball of fabric and tucked it under his left arm.
He then hoisted himself up onto the dresser with his right arm using all his hard earned strength from football as well as boosts from his legs.

Once he got on top of the dresser, he took the big wad of sheets and blankets and heaved it up through the still open trapdoor and then, with a deep crouch and a mighty leap, jumped up and grabbed hold of the edge of the trapdoor.
He then utilized all his strength and, with several strained grunts, pulled himself up and into the attic.

He then called down to Hazel,"Alright, move that dresser, I'll start making a rope."

"But what about Amos?She can't drag him up with her."Haley could be heard saying.
"We can't just leave him down there defenseless."Abby's voice chimed in.

Amos still lay on the floor unconscious, his nose had stopped bleeding and the blood on his face was dried and caked to his face, his breathing was deeper than before though.

Hazel swore under her breath. In her haste, she had forgotten about him. Stupid! How could she do that? He was the one who knew what was going on.

"Hold on!" Hazel bent down and picked him up under her arms like she had before. She got his upper body onto the dresser, then his lower body. She was strong, but not strong enough to lift him totally on her own.

"Amos!" She shook him, hoping it would wake him up. "Amos! Come on, I need you to wake up!" Feeling like a monster, she patted his face lightly at first, then harder, and harder still, until she pulled her hand away flicked his broken nose hoping the pain would bring him back to the land of the living.

"Amos!"

Amos's eyes flickered open.

"...-wha?"He mumbled.

His eyes were lazy and disoriented looking as they darted around.
He pulled himself together slowly, and lightly pulled away from Hazel.
"What's going on?,"He asked, still mumbling slightly, rubbing tenderly at his nose,"where's the Tartok?"

"Later on that man, come on up into the attic, we'll explain once your up here."Terrence called down from above.

Amos slowly raised his head towards the trapdoor.
On que, a rope like bundle came tumbling out of the attic trapdoor, the bottom dropping down to the floor.
"Grab on,"Terrence said,"we'll hoist you up."

Hazel watched the blanket rope lowered down. For a moment, she was about to shove Amos out of the way. Her nerves were getting to her. Her hands were shaking, though her breathing had managed to ease a little.

"Go on, Amos. I need to move the dresser so it can't get up with us as easily. Better I do it since I can keep the thing off of me with the eagle." She handed him to blankets.

"Unless... you've got an idea?" She asked hopefully. Now that Amos was awake, maybe he could take charge and she didn't need to do it.

"I sent Haley up there with the frying pan it hit you with, the crossbow, the quiver, the shotgun, a bag of supplies- oh, here's your rifle." She pulled it off of her shoulder and held it out to him. "It might need to be reloaded."

Amos grabbed his rifle and shouldered it, he was still dazed and had a splitting headache, though he was for the most part alive and aware.

He grabbed hold of the wad of sheets and tugged twice lightly.
He held on tightly as he was slowly hoisted off of the floor and upwards, Terrence and Mark could be heard straining and grunting as they lifted him into the air and finally up into the attic.
As his feet dissapeared over the edge of the trapdoor, the sheets came tumbling down again and dropped in front of Hazel.

"Hurry up Hazel, move the dresser and grab on, it could be back anytime."Terrence called down.

(OOC:You can post about them going ahead and pulling you on up into the attic.)

Hazel pulled and strained on the dresser, but it moved much more easily than she thought it would. Perhaps it was the adrenaline. She got the dresser put back generally where it needed to be and ran back to the blanket rope and tugged- maybe a little harder than she needed to.

"Pull me up!" Hazel shouted up, her voice still hoarse. Terrance and Mark heaved and pulled her up. She finally started breathing easier. When she got her breath back, she finally looked around at everyone. James looked devastated, but she couldn't pull up much sympathy, as much as she felt she ought to.

In fact, now that she was up there, her anger started boiling over.

"No. All those times I was calling for help. Thanks for ignoring me." She announced with venom.

12:55 A.M

The attic itself would have been pitch black from the loss of power and lights.However, lit candles sat all across the large room, as well as lanterns and flashlights that were turned up toward the ceiling.

Everyone had a mixture of emotions across their faces.
James sat in a small chair over in a corner by himself, his hands were clasped together in front of him and his eyes were glued to the floor, with his face kept low.
A tear could be seen drip from his face onto the floor.

Terrence and Mark stood against the wall nearby with sheepish looks on their faces, not saying a word, their eyes were on Hazel.
Makaya and Abby stood nearby James, both with fearful and shocked expressions on their faces, while Haley sat on the floor near to Terrence and Mark, her legs crossed and her arms crossed as well.Her face was blank and expressionless, she stared emptily across the room.

Amos stood closest to Hazel, he had taken off his heavy equipment and weapons and piled them all on the floor nearby.
On hearing Hazel's outburst he turned and hissed at her,"Dammit' not so loud!"

He scrounged past her and grabbed the trapdoor and gently closed it down, sealing the basement off.

He then stepped back around Hazel and back over towards his gear.
He slowly bent himself downward and, with a soft grunt, plopped down onto the hard wooden floor.
He had wiped the dried blood from his face, making it clear again, other than a few dried blood specks in his mustache and beard of course.
His nose was dark purple and tender looking.
It was terribly sore, so sore that he had his lips parted and was breathing through his mouth.

There was pure silence in the large attic, which was virtually empty other than a few stray cardboard boxes and some rickety old furniture.

Mark finally spoke, softly and clearly,"We're sorry."
Abby immediately chimed in,"We shouldn't have abandoned you down there, all three of you."
"We were being cowards."Terrence said softly, his eyes were directly on Hazel, but were filled with shame.

"Please, forgive us."Makaya said aloud.

Amos waved his hand from his spot on the floor.
"Forget it.Lets just focus on making it through the night.What time is it?"He asked aloud.

"Twelve fifty-five."Terrence answered, looking at his phone.

Amos nodded lightly,"Over six hours until dawn."He said.

Hazel shut her mouth. Amos was right. Instead of letting more of her frustration spill out, she fished the first aid kit out of the bag she had brought from the kitchen and one of the frozen items and made her way to Amos.

"Here." She flipped open the kit and pulled out wipes for him to clean up with. While he did that, she rolled some gauze into cylinders so he could stop whatever bleeding might still be going on.

"Use this for the swelling." She said. Obviously he knew to use the frozen item she was handing him for the swelling. She didn't know why she felt the need to whisper it to him.

"Is anyone else hurt?" he ignored her own bumps and bruises. They were minor enough, though her right wrist was swelling a little bit where the Tartok had grabbed her. Thick bruises were forming there in the shape of the Tartok's hand. She suppressed a shiver.

Amos nodded his thanks and began applying what all she had gave him.
While he did that, everyone else either shook their heads or mumbled that they were fine or weren't injured.

Everyone slowly lowered themselves into sitting positions on the floor across the room, other than James, who remained in his chair seemingly frozen in the position he was in.

Amos spoke clearly but softly.
"Everyone take off your shoes, so when you walk it won't make any noise, keep your socks on as they will pad your steps."
Everyone nodded and began working their shoes off of their feet, not even bothering to unlace them, they just pushed them right off their feet.

"Don't off your cell phones too."He said hoarsely.
"Why?"Asked Mark.
Amos replied,"We can't have any alarms or notifier going off can we?"
"But there's no cell service out here anyway."Abby said aloud.
"Just turn them off in case."Amos demanded.

Hazel pulled her boots off, hesitant to lose the warmth they offered. She grabbed the blanket rope and untied one of them to wrap herself in. She went to turn off her phone, but found it wasn't in her pocket. She muttered another curse- she normally didn't swear this much. The phone must have fallen out of her pocket while she was running around downstairs.

Oh well. If it went off by some strange turn of events, it would only distract the Tartok.

She swung the blanket over her shoulders, toying with the idea of untying several for everyone else, but she quickly discarded it. She was done being helpful. Maybe she was being too spiteful.

She went and sat next to Mark.

"How are you holding up?" She asked quietly.

Mark slowly shrugged and shook his head.
"I'm still connected to reality, that much I know.Provided that this is reality and we're not all not going insane."

Terrence reached over and patted Mark's right shoulder and spoke,"Hang in there, man.As long as we do what the man says and keep our wits we'll be cool.I promise."

Mark glanced sideways at Terrence then over at Hazel before looking down at the floor.
"I didn't want this,"he mumbled,"I just wanted us all to come up here and have fun.I didn't want this to turn into a twilight zone episode or a Stephen King movie.Paulie and Courtney both, dead."

"We don't know that Paulie's dead.He might still be alive."Haley piped up nearby.

Terrence lightly shook his head and softly responded to her,"Even if that thing didn't get him, it's below freezing out there, he's probably frozen to death.He shouldn't have clumb out the window."

Mark stared blankly ahead now, at the far wall.
Paulie was his best friend, and even though he had a lot of mental and emotional problems, he wasn't an idiot, not was he a terrible person.He didn't deserve any of this.
Although Terrence is right.Only a fool would jump out of the window into the freezing climate while hearing gunshots outside to boot.

Hazel sighed. This was all ridiculous. This whole situation. Even situations within the situation. How could anyone think Paulie was alive? Sure, no one saw him die, no one saw his body, and Hazel had seen enough horror movies to think that was enough room for doubt, but this wasn't a movie. Plot twists like that weren't a thing.

"No one thinks you wanted this, Mark. I don't blame you, at least." Hazel threw part of her blanket over his shoulders and shared it with him, trying to comfort him. Of everyone, this had to be the worst for him. The guilt he must be feeling had to be terrible.

"We'll make it through, no one else will get hurt, and things will go back to normal."