Mandy didn't reply. All she could think of was the nonsensical "No, you," and her breathing was speeding up too much to even force that out. Beneath her feet, things in the carpet went crunch, and she felt one of them poke through what little remained of the bottom of her left boot and jab into the ball of her foot, but if there was pain to come, it would be in the future.
The room was a dim blur around her, but the door to the balcony, still standing open, was a brilliant arch of light. She half expected the shot to come before she made it there, and more than half expected that if it did she would be immediately cut down, but Ivan was going slower now too.
This had to work. Ashanti had disappeared from this very room. This was the way she'd gone, right? Mandy just needed a few seconds. She just needed to not get shot, to create a distraction.
Maybe eight steps in, with the door almost within reach, she tilted to the side, but it wasn't a stumble or overbalancing. There weren't so many possible projectiles in this stretch, but one remained.
Mandy's fingers closed around the squishy, hairy lump of whatever it was—she wasn't going to think about what she'd looked at, what Fisk had done—and kept the turn going to hurl this too at Ivan, watching it flop and unfurl on its path towards the boy for only an instant.
Hit 'Em Up
Private
-
MurderWeasel
- Posts: 3448
- Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:56 am
- Team Affiliation: Jewel's Leviathans
-
The Honeless Beard
- Posts: 894
- Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:47 am
- Location: Got it? Good, now get inside.
- Team Affiliation: Emmy's Selkies
Ivan stepped through the doorframe of the balcony and was immediately hit by something wet, fleshy, and hairy, a muffled fwap against his face, leaping up and around his mouth and chin. The attack made him rear backwards, firing one shell into the air and sending him staggering back through the door with the force of it.
With a choke of disgust, he grabbed at the object, pulling it from his face and found - hair. Human hair.
Disgust turned to horror as he thought about the person on the decks below, skinned alive, no face, no hair-
Hurling it behind him, the noise of horror turned to fury as Ivan raised the shotgun again, firing through the open door blindly, trying to wipe his eyes of Gregory's blood at the same time.
With a choke of disgust, he grabbed at the object, pulling it from his face and found - hair. Human hair.
Disgust turned to horror as he thought about the person on the decks below, skinned alive, no face, no hair-
Hurling it behind him, the noise of horror turned to fury as Ivan raised the shotgun again, firing through the open door blindly, trying to wipe his eyes of Gregory's blood at the same time.
-
MurderWeasel
- Posts: 3448
- Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:56 am
- Team Affiliation: Jewel's Leviathans
By the time the second blast flew through the doorway, Mandy was down on hands and knees, orienting herself, and so the bullets passed overhead. She still flinched, still froze up for a moment, but she shook it off. Her heart was slamming from her toes to her nose, fear and a need to get away thrumming in her scalp, and that was enough to keep her moving.
There was a ladder here. It was metal, partially slick with ocean humidity and partially rough with rust and corrosion. It lay against the side of the cruise ship, tucked so neatly away that she'd only barely noticed it, and the thought of trying to go down it made something tighten inside her, but the only other choices were going through Ivan and going down the harder way, so the ladder it was.
Mandy's feet found the rungs, her left hand squeezing the bars so tight that the metal felt like it was going to scrape the skin off her palm, but her grip still slippery with somebody else's blood. There was no time for caution, but there was also no room for mistakes. Her backpack hung awkwardly as she started to shimmy down, and her right hand clung to the gun and that made it really hard to keep her balance, and she missed a rung and jolted to the side and a box of band-aids tumbled out of one of the holes in her pack. She saw it go by in her peripheral vision but didn't turn to watch it fall, just kept going, foot over foot, left hand clinging for her very life.
Just in case, though, she kept her gaze upwards. Just in case, she kept the gun pointed.
There was a ladder here. It was metal, partially slick with ocean humidity and partially rough with rust and corrosion. It lay against the side of the cruise ship, tucked so neatly away that she'd only barely noticed it, and the thought of trying to go down it made something tighten inside her, but the only other choices were going through Ivan and going down the harder way, so the ladder it was.
Mandy's feet found the rungs, her left hand squeezing the bars so tight that the metal felt like it was going to scrape the skin off her palm, but her grip still slippery with somebody else's blood. There was no time for caution, but there was also no room for mistakes. Her backpack hung awkwardly as she started to shimmy down, and her right hand clung to the gun and that made it really hard to keep her balance, and she missed a rung and jolted to the side and a box of band-aids tumbled out of one of the holes in her pack. She saw it go by in her peripheral vision but didn't turn to watch it fall, just kept going, foot over foot, left hand clinging for her very life.
Just in case, though, she kept her gaze upwards. Just in case, she kept the gun pointed.
-
The Honeless Beard
- Posts: 894
- Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:47 am
- Location: Got it? Good, now get inside.
- Team Affiliation: Emmy's Selkies
"Ugh," Ivan said, spitting blood from his mouth and a fleshy bit of... something came with it, making his stomach roll as the vocal exclamation turned into a dry retch. It rocked through his body, forcing his head parallel to the stained floor, tinged saliva rolling from his mouth and spattering the linoleum.
"Fuck," he grunted again, snapping Tenga back open and slapping two more shells into her, clacking her closed. He approached the doorway, gun raising back up, and was momentarily confused by the lack of Mandy.
A gunshot exploding high near his head provided an answer to that question as he shrunk back into cover. It came from lower, meaning she was somewhere below the balcony, somewhere with a clean line of sight-
"Fuck," he grunted again, snapping Tenga back open and slapping two more shells into her, clacking her closed. He approached the doorway, gun raising back up, and was momentarily confused by the lack of Mandy.
A gunshot exploding high near his head provided an answer to that question as he shrunk back into cover. It came from lower, meaning she was somewhere below the balcony, somewhere with a clean line of sight-
The voice bursts out of Ivan's collar.
"Ivan! Akeno's gonna die if you don't get to her right now!
"Move!"
"Ivan! Akeno's gonna die if you don't get to her right now!
"Move!"
-
The Honeless Beard
- Posts: 894
- Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:47 am
- Location: Got it? Good, now get inside.
- Team Affiliation: Emmy's Selkies
Ivan froze.
"Fuck. Where?"
"Fuck. Where?"
"She-she went over! Get topdeck!"
-
The Honeless Beard
- Posts: 894
- Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:47 am
- Location: Got it? Good, now get inside.
- Team Affiliation: Emmy's Selkies
-
MurderWeasel
- Posts: 3448
- Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:56 am
- Team Affiliation: Jewel's Leviathans
As soon as Mandy saw the shadow above, she pulled the trigger.
The plan was some combination of wanting to scare Ivan off so that she could continue her descent and thinking this might be an opportunity to actually get him, but her shot was premature for the latter purpose. The degree to which it accomplished the former, Mandy wasn't in a good position to say.
Despite having fired the pistol several times now, Mandy still wasn't properly used to how it jerked and kicked. She knew she needed the gun, so she clung to it, but it was very different having her arm pulled around by the weapon when she was standing on the relatively stable deck and having that same experience while hanging one-handed to a ladder. It almost slipped out of her grasp, and she brought her other hand up to grab and steady it, and then there was a moment of panic as she felt herself start to slip backwards off the ladder.
Mandy didn't fall, at least not completely. She did, however, slide ten or so feet even after she grabbed the metal again, her palm heating from the friction and her legs kicking before she managed to get her foot back onto a rung, though that in turn threw her off balance and almost sent her pitching off the side. Throughout it all, she barely kept her grasp on the gun, unable to realize that the chances of future death without a weapon were thoroughly outweighed by the chances of immediate death if she fell dozens of feet.
Ivan could've come and shot her at any moment, but he didn't. There was no time to worry too much about why. As quickly as she could without letting her descent again become uncontrolled, Mandy hustled down the ladder and found herself on the roof of some part of the ship overlooking the pool. It was steeply angled, smeared with blood she didn't want to think about, and there was another, smaller ladder nearby.
When her feet were finally on the deck again, she took a moment to breathe, took a glance to the side and saw the splattered remains of a corpse painting the entire area in gore, and decided to find her way back to the others as quickly as she could.
((Mandy Gross continued in Tinnitus))
The plan was some combination of wanting to scare Ivan off so that she could continue her descent and thinking this might be an opportunity to actually get him, but her shot was premature for the latter purpose. The degree to which it accomplished the former, Mandy wasn't in a good position to say.
Despite having fired the pistol several times now, Mandy still wasn't properly used to how it jerked and kicked. She knew she needed the gun, so she clung to it, but it was very different having her arm pulled around by the weapon when she was standing on the relatively stable deck and having that same experience while hanging one-handed to a ladder. It almost slipped out of her grasp, and she brought her other hand up to grab and steady it, and then there was a moment of panic as she felt herself start to slip backwards off the ladder.
Mandy didn't fall, at least not completely. She did, however, slide ten or so feet even after she grabbed the metal again, her palm heating from the friction and her legs kicking before she managed to get her foot back onto a rung, though that in turn threw her off balance and almost sent her pitching off the side. Throughout it all, she barely kept her grasp on the gun, unable to realize that the chances of future death without a weapon were thoroughly outweighed by the chances of immediate death if she fell dozens of feet.
Ivan could've come and shot her at any moment, but he didn't. There was no time to worry too much about why. As quickly as she could without letting her descent again become uncontrolled, Mandy hustled down the ladder and found herself on the roof of some part of the ship overlooking the pool. It was steeply angled, smeared with blood she didn't want to think about, and there was another, smaller ladder nearby.
When her feet were finally on the deck again, she took a moment to breathe, took a glance to the side and saw the splattered remains of a corpse painting the entire area in gore, and decided to find her way back to the others as quickly as she could.
((Mandy Gross continued in Tinnitus))