The Mall

[Otis McNutt 395]

Welcome to the Parksville Mall, the glistening jewel of Parksville Maryland. You just got paid and decide to do a little Saturday shopping when...Bam!

Trash cans explode sending shoppers tumbling to the ground. From the floor above shots ring out sending the man next to you to the afterlife. You scurry for cover behind a sunglasses kiosk and look up to see seceral men in ski masks and body armor peppering the crowd with automatic fire.

"Hey you!" a voice shouts.

You look over and see a man in his early 30's, with light brown hair and wearing a black t-shirt.

"Wait for the shots to stop them move to me!" he adds.

The shots stop and you follow his orders.

"Do exactly as I say and we might just survive this...oh by the way I'm Gabe nice to meet you."

Name:

Age:

Sex:

Job at Parksville Mall: (or you could be a shopper)

Likely to survive: (1-100%)

Will to take a life: (1-100%)

Name: Gabe Hall

Age: 32

Sex: Male

Job at Parksville Mall: Works at the Gap

Likely to Survive: 90%

Willing to take a life: 95%

[TrueNinja2 0]

This sounds like a fun one...

Name: Suzaku Kururugi

Age: 17

Sex: Male

Job at Parksville Mall: Shopper

Likely to survive: 100%

Will to take a life: 0%

Suzaku gritted his teeth as the first shots went off. Terrorists? He thought, the thought of being held hostage instead of rescuing from the outside with horrifying.... One of the men spotted him, and called to another, pointing directly at him. Is it possible they recognize me? Suzaku saw one point a gun, and his will to live kicked in, putting him on auto-pilot.

He turned and began sprinting, easily dashing past most of the other screaming people. He jumped over a hit man, slid underneath a clothes rack, and found himself amost totally alone. He looked to his right, near the entrance. There were men there, sealing the doors and stationing guards. Gotta get outta here... He looked around frantically, spotting nothing. If he stayed much longer, he risked being caught. Isn't Gabe here too? Remembering seeing him near the sunglasses store, he turned and dashed off again, weaving through the people still trying to get out.

[Otis McNutt 395]

"Gabe!" Suzaku shouted over the bursts of AK fire.

"Stay there, I'll come to you." Gabe shouted as he slid over.

"They've chained all the exits, and placed C4 charges we're stuck inside!" Gabe said.

"Who are they?" Suzaku asked.

"Probably some homegrown terror cell, I thought I heard them speaking Arabic."

"You know Arabic?" Suzaku asked.

"A little, I dated a girl whose family came from Iraq. Her grandmother always swore at me in the language."

"Where go we go?" Suzaku asked.

"I have a plan, but it'll be tricky follow me." Gabe stayed low and Suzaku followed him as he ducked into a corner store.

"The Sharper Image, what are we doing here." Suzaku asked.

"I spend hours in this Mall, I know everything about it." Gabe said.

"What I want you to do is crawl to the door, when you see one of them give me a thumbs up. I'll draw them in here with a noise, while you hide I'll take him down...got it?" Gabe said.

Suzaku crawled on hus belly to the door and after a few minutes a Terrorist sppeared sweeping the stores for survivors. Gabe held up his thumb and signaled one.

Gabe nodded as Suzaku ducked for cover. Gabe grabbed a quarter from his pocket and tossed it, the coin hit with a loud clatter allerting the gunman. Gabe moved to the corner nearest the door and waited, a stainless steel briefcase in his hands.

As the terrorists entered Gabe pounced, he pinned the guy under the case and stabbed him in the neck with a scissors. Gabe covered his mouth as he bled out. "Is he dead?" Suzaku asked.

"Yeah." Gabe nodded.

Gabe pulled off the skimask. "He's not Arab, what the hecks going on!"

Gabe grabbed the AK-47 and 9mm side arm. and cut the bullet proof vest from his sholders.

"Why are you cutting that?" Suzaku asked.

"You see that Duct Tape, I want you to tape one half on me and I'll do the same for you."

"Why?" Suzaku asked.

"Because we have to fight back, you know how to fire a gun right?" Gabe asked.

"No."

"It's very simple. safety on, point and brace with other hand and pull the trigger."

Gabe grabbed a red Sharpie from the counter and uncapped it.

"You're gonna draw on the guy?" he asked.

"He won't mind!" Gabe said.

"This is a kill shot." Gabe said drawing a circle on his head.

"So is this the heart, and the lungs and here the liver, Were not trying to wound them here so try for head shots, ok."

"We need to call the cops!" Suzaku said.

"Tried that, they're jamming cell calls. But If we can get to the "Plug and Gulp we might ve able to use the computers to get the cops here."

"The Plug and Gulp, on the third floor! Are you crazy?"

"It's either that or wait to be killed Suzaku." Gabe said.

"Just point and shoot?" He asked.

"Yeah just point and shoot."

[TrueNinja2 0]

Suzaku had no idea what had just happened. He was a soldier, wasn't he? He knew this already! Why was his mind so fogged up?

"Where's the nearest escalators?" Suzaku asked. He didn't know the mall very well, in fact, this was only his second time being here.

Gabe peeked around the corner, and, noting that it was clear he said "The escalators are being watched, and I imagine all the camera's have either been hacked, or they've taken the security room. The latter much more likely."

"So... how do we get to the third floor then?" Suzaku asked. Immediately afterwards, right before Gabe began to speak, bullets ricocheted off the walls around them.

"Down!" Gabe barked, dropping to his stomach. Suzaku dove to the side, landing next to Gabe.

"Where are they?"

"I can't see them..." Gabe answered.

"Maybe their on the next floor? The shots seemed to be angled downwards."

"Hey, you're right! Maybe they were at the caffe. If they're up, we shouldn't be laying down, it gives them a better view." They both stood and went to oposite sides of the store, not visible to the second floor.

"When I give the order,"--Gabe did a motion with his hand--"you run after me, and don't stop, okay?"

Suzaku nodded, this didn't sound to promising.... still, he was very fast. He should have no problem keeping up. H- Gabe popped around the corner and fired at the caffe area, a body dropped over the railing and landed on the ground. Gabe motioned with his hand, and took off, Suzaku hot on his heels.

[Otis McNutt 395]

So just to clarify, your character has military training or is he just an average joe shopper caught in a bad situation?

[TrueNinja2 0]

He's had VERY little training, but he is kinda in the military. He's also much better with hand-to-hand combat than with guns.

[Otis McNutt 395]

Suzaku and Gabe left the safety of the store and proceded slowly down the hallway.

"Crouch down and take careful steps." Gabe whispered.

"Stay a foot away from the wall, ricoochet bullets travel along walls for at least 20 feet."

Gabe held up his fist and motioned inside a store nearby.

"What is it?" Suzaku asked. Gabe pointed to his own eyes, then to the second floor landing. Suzaku looked at saw a gunman standing on the stairs looking for victims to kill.

Suzaku noticed they were in Cutlery World and started scrounging through the displays. As he did so he heard a wimper.

"Hello...whose in there?" he asked.

"Hey Gabe someone's here." he added.

"Gabe?" the woman said emerging.

"Sam...I thought you weren't coming in today." Gabe said.

"Guys, lets take out the bad guy...then catch up." Suzaku said.

"Good point." Gabe said.

Suzaku crawled over to the door and crouched, he held a wooden knife block inhis hand, aiming he let it fly.

It whipped through the air and impacted in the guys temple, his knees buckled sending him to the ground unconscious.

"What the...good shot Suzaku!" Gabe said.

"Come on Sam." Suzaku said.

They moved to the landing and stopped. "Sam grab his gun and take his vest."

As they neared the guy he stirred and Gabe knocked him out again then they continued up the steps.

"I'll cover." Gabe said

"Get to the Café and make the call Suz." he added.

[TrueNinja2 0]

Suzaku absolutely REFUSES to take a life, for future reference. Hence 0%. And, if it meant his survival, he would abandoned everybody. His will to live overrides everything else.

Suzaku slowly and silently crept around the corner, no one was there. The entire area was empty. He allowed himself to relax a little and stood up, partially. He wasn't reckless, and he knew he could easily give away his position if he stood completely.

He continued inching his way over to one of the computers and sighed with relief, it was still working, and connected. Apparently they hadn't noticed, or they hadn't cared.

Gabe and Sam were crouched by the wall, watching his back and their own. Sam heard footsteps and alerted Gabe, he janked out a piece of paper from his pocket, uncrumpled it, and quickly wrote "HIDE" He wrapped it around his cellphone and slid it across the room, he waited until Suzaku noticed it bounce off of his heel before he and Sam ducked into another room.

Suzaku saw the paper and spun around, to his horror, he could see the shadows of at least five men, each one laughing loudly. Suzaku wasn't fast enough, they came around the corner and spotted him, their jaws dropped. Clearly they thought everyone else had been herded up or killed already. One un-slung his AK-47 and shouted something, Suzaku didn't hear him. He turned and dove over the railing.

Gabe heard the shots and peeked around the corner after the men had gotten farther. He saw a body laying half hidden by an overturned table, bullet holes were in the table and a puddle of blood surrounded the figure.

"No..."

Suzaku landed on his back, bounced, and landed on his feet. His adrenaline pumping him onward at an inhuman pace, he hopped off of the trampoline positioned in front of a children's toy store and took off, heading back for the stairwell.

He charged up the steps, not breaking a sweat nor breathing heavily. He slipped and fell in a puddle of a blood, the momentum causing him to slide all the way down the hallway. He slammed back-first into the wall, his head snapped back and cracked against it as well. He groaned in pain, then slowly got to his feet, trying his best not to move in a way that would hurt his back.

He stumbled up the next set of stairs clumsily, dizzy with pain. He bounced off of a wall and almost went down. He leaned against it for a moment, trying to clear his head a bit. He shook it side to side a bit before continuing.

Suzaku finally made it to the hallway Gabe and Sam were at, they were both crouching against the wall, looking sad, but ready to ambush the five men.

When Sam saw Suzaku she nearly fainted.

"Z-Z-ZOMBIE!!" She screamed, firing her gun in a frenzy.

Suzaku, realizing how horrible he looked, dove into a doorway, which was shredded with bullets immediately afterwards. Gabe wrenched the gun from Sam and ran after Suzaku, waving for Sam to follow.

"It's Suzaku, you idiot!" Gabe shouted angrily, not caring now whether they heard him. They were bound to be coming after all the gunshots.

Edited 9 Dec 2009 by Suzaku Kururugi (see edit history)

[Bitmapfox112 1]

still room for another applicant?

[Otis McNutt 395]

still room for another applicant?

Yes please we only have three, and I wrote two of them.

And Sam's a woman BTW.

Gabe hurried over to Suzaku, who was sprawled out on the floor. "Is he alright?" Samantha (Sam) Marquez asked. Gabe pulled his keys from his pocket and turned on his keychain flashlight. "He's dazed...but it doesn't look like he has a concussion."

Gabe looked around in confusion.

"What store is this?" he asked himself aloud

"It looks like Dodson's Bait and Tackle." Sam said.

"There should be a First Aid kit under the Register, get it for me." Gabe asked.

"Gabe leave me and run, they'll be here any minute." Suzaku said struggling to speak.

"Hey enough of that we'll be fine." Gabe said.

"How do you know?" Suzaku asked.

"Because i'm CIA." Gabe said.

"You're what?" Suzaku and Sam asked in unison.

"I'm CIA undercover." Gabe said

"I'll tell you more after we get to safety." Gabe grabbed Suzaku's arms and dragged him over to a supply closet.

"We're hiding in a closet?" Sam asked.

"Not exactly." Gabe said opening the door.

Inside was another door.

"What the heck!" Sam asked.

"When they renovated the mall they overlooked this old side door and just decided to leave it.

"How do you know that?" Suzaku asked.

"I always read up before a mission, I studied the Blueprints."

Sam opened the door and pushed Suzaku through while Gabe grabbed a mop, closing the outer door he propped the mop in between the door and the wall.

"We can't stay here, sorry Suz but we gotta move." Gabe said dragging him to a back office.

A year ago there was an increase in terrorist chatter they were talking about an attack on a Soft Target here in the states. Then three months later a raid turned up a laptop with plans for this mall. I went UC as an employee in order to investigate."

"Investigate what?" Sam asked.

"Someone in the Mall was a member of a Sleeper Cell, supplying the group with sensitive information."

"If you knew why didn't you warn people?" Suzaku asked angrly.

"We knew the place...but not the time Suz. Sometimes panic is worse than an actual attack." Gabe said.

"Did you contact the cops?" Suzaku asked.

"No...I sent a burst pack to my CIA handler so the strike team should be here any minute." As Gabe spoke the lights switched off.

"Is that them?" Sam asked.

"Yeah that's our que to get to the loading dock." Gabe said.

"Take me with you." a voice asked across the room.

[Bitmapfox112 1]

[well im not sure what just happened so ill wait to join...]

[Otis McNutt 395]

The voice was a way of introducing your character, add him (or her).

[Bitmapfox112 1]

Name:Brett

Age:16

Sex:m

Job at Parksville Mall: office janitor

Likely to survive: (89%)

Will to take a life: (99.9%)

i couldn't see anything but i had over heard a conversation and the people sounded like my most likely way to survive.

[TrueNinja2 0]

Suzaku and Gabe turned and watched as a man walked out of the shadows. He looked scared half to death, gripping the mop he had been holding with white knuckles.

"P-please..." He begged. Suzaku noticed, through the foggy haze which covered his eyes, that he was wearing a janitorial suit. The name tag, in swirly red letters, read: Brett.

Gabe looked him over, then nodded.

"You can come if you stay close and do exactly as I say, when I say it."

Brett nodded slowly, then sorta shuffled closer to them.

There you go, a little introduction. It would have been better, but I don't know what your character looks like, couldn't go into great deal in that area.

[Otis McNutt 395]

Gabe, Suzaku, Sam and Brett made their way out of the offices when a loud explosion rocked the building.

"What was that?" Sam shouted.

"It must've been on of the C4 charges on the entrance door!" Gabe shouted.

Gabe held his AK close andspun around.

"RUN to the Elevator!" he shouted as several gunmen burst out of a side door.

As Brett and Sam made their way down the Hall, Gabe and Suzaku stayed to hold off their attackers.

"Still have a qualm of killing?" Gabe asked.

Suzaku pointed and fired, hitting a gunman in the knee.

"He'll live." Suzaku shouted.

"We're here." Sam shouted opening the elevator.

"Go I'll cover you." Gabe shouted to Suzaku.

As Suzaku ran Gabe emptied his AK into the hallway, then his 9MM.

His guns dry he made a dash for the elevator.

As he neared he could see a look of fear on his companions faces and dropped as a bullet flew by, spinning upward he drove a pencil into the gunmans ear, he then picked up hus gun and ran closing the elevator behind him.

"If you have any weapons put them down now!" Gabe shouted.

As the doors opened a group had their weapons on them.

"Wait friendly!" Gabe shouted.

"147?" an agent asked

"Civilians Agent...?"

"Oh sorry sir, it's Coulson."

"Well Agent Coulson, get these people some help." Gabe said,

As they walked away a nearby elrvator dinged.

"Anybody else with you?" Coulson asked.

"Hostiles get ready!" Gabe shouted

"Sir." Coulson shouted tossing him a gun.

"Suzaku get them behind the SWAT van!" Gabe shouted.

Suzaku and the group held their heads down as loud pops erupted around them...then silence.

"Gabe are you okay...Gabe....GABE?"

Suzaku sat in an uncomfortable folding chair as the steady beep of the EKG filled the room.

"You still here, go home." Gabe said opening his eyes.

"You're awake." Suzaku said.

"Yeah imagine that." Gabe said smiling.

"How can you joke Gabe, you were shot?" Suzaku said

"Yeah, I'm not exactly a bullet virgin if you get my meaning." Gabe said.

"How are the others?" He added.

"Their fine, a little shaken up but they'll live." Suzaku said.

"Oh and Sam wanted me to give you this." he said handing Gabe a folded piece of paper.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Her phone number, she said to call her."

"Call who?" a very attractive redhead asked standing at the door.

"Hey Mary!" Gabe said smiling.

"Suzaku this is my wife Mary, Mary this is Suzaku...the hero of the Parksville Mall attack."

"But Gabe you saved us, not me." Suzaku said.

"Yeah I was never there, Suz so it's all you buddy." Gabe said.

"Let me get outta your way." he said walking past Mary.

"Hey Suz. You, Me, Sam and Brett Barbecue once I get out of the Hospital?"

"Sure why not." Suzsku said grinning.

As Suzaku left the hospital he passed a man walking in, he was sweating buckets, was pale with thick purple bags under his eyes.

"Man he looked SICK!" a Paramedic remarked

"Yeah hope he'll be ok."