The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere

Inner Sanctum Exterior | 3:17 PM | Third Day

The closest door was the one by the statue of Phui under the overhang, leading into the conference hall, but that would put us directly beneath the bell tower. We'd come in right next to the stairwell, with whoever the hell was shooting at us having an absolutely fantastic opportunity for an ambush. (Of course, if we could get in place fast enough, we could set up a counter-ambush and take advantage of our superior numbers, but when you're running for your life, your mind doesn't easily go to a place of risky tactics.)

That left us with the second closest: The main entrance, opposite the greenhouse. With me grabbing Linos's chair, we hurried along the wall to the left, turning the corner and dashing towards the doorway while flashes and the sound of violently displaced soil followed behind us.

Kam panted desperately, her head perpetually over her shoulder. Her standard bravado and elegant manner had vanished in a puff of smoke. "Oh bugger, oh shit, oh fuck--"

"SHUT UP!" Ran ordered, with perhaps forgivable hypocrisy, given the circumstances.

In retrospect, I'm not sure exactly how much danger we were really in. I mean, we were being shot at, so obviously it wasn't insignificant... But thinking about it, none of the shots were landing anywhere near us since we'd charged the wall. It seemed doubtful that the shooter could actually get a good angle from their position on the tower without being blocked by the ridiculously bulbous architecture that comprised the rest of the building. They could maybe leap down to the roof proper without injuring themselves if they knew what they were doing - it was a three-ish meter drop - but they obviously weren't even trying.

Later, I'd wonder what they were actually trying to accomplish in continuing to fire at us, while probably shooting blind save for our voices.

As we passed by, I noticed that the greenhouse door had been left open, which seemed odd. However, there was no time to dwell on it. We frantically rushed up the steps and into the small porch, then into the entrance hall, slamming the door behind us and leaving us in near-pitch black darkness, the only source coming from somewhere far down the right hallway.

We all collectively gasped for breath. From what I could make out, Ran was gripping her knees and and wheezing sharply as Kam leaned against the wall, her eyes wide with manic anxiety. Linos looked like he'd been injured in the process of getting here on top of the shot he took in the shoulder, clutching both it and the side of his leg and wincing with a pained expression. Ophelia was holding clasped hands up to her face, shivering with overt terror.

For my part, I couldn't even relax. My eyes darted around the dark, looking for any signs of movement, any indication of a threat at all.

"G-Gods above," Kam said, after a moment. "That may well have been the most terrifying experience of my entire life."

"Yeah," Ran said weakly, as she continued to gasp for air. "Yeah." She turned her head towards Linos. "How bad is it, sir?"

"Nnn," he grunted, shifting his whole body back and forth. "Don't think the shot hit any blood vessels, but I'm still losing-- Losing a lot," he stammered through gritted teeth. "And I can't feel parts of my arm. Think I sprained my leg when I hit the wall, too."

She nodded, then glanced around. "Who's got first aid?"

"Uh, I have some bandages and basic supplies," I offered. "Maybe some painkillers."

"I've still got my whole kit with me," Ophelia said, quickly pulling a box out from her bag and handing it to Ran."W-Well, maybe not the whole kit, but at least most of it..."

Most of it except for whatever she used to casually kill that thing down the hall earlier, I remembered, flicking my eyes in the according direction. We weren't far from where that had all gone down.

Ran took it quickly, popping the lid open, before kneeling down in front of Linos. "Can't do much in this light, but I can at least start disinfecting and cleaning the area."

"I'll--" He winced, his face turning downwards with pain. "I'll take what I can get, miss Hoa-Trinh."

She looked up at him for a moment, then turned towards the ground and mumbled something, though I couldn't make it out.

"W-What... Was that, out there...?" Ophelia asked as she pulled her bag away, her tone still trembling with fear.

"Someone who had a mind to kill us, evidently," Kam said, her face twisting into a look of bitter frustration. "Not many 'divine beasts' who do their hunting with refractor rifles, I dare to say!"

"Do you think they got Mehit and Lilith?" I asked. Something isn't right, my senses were telling me, but were still too scrambled to process exactly what.

"At the pace they were going I shouldn't think so, unless they got held up trying to get the bioenclosure seal open," Kam said. "I feel rather the fool for trying to argue with them all instead of just after them now, to be frank. Whoever the shooter was obviously realized we were about to make a break for it, and capitalized on our indecision." She grimaced at Linos and I. "I hope you're satisfied having potentially botched our only chance at escape."

"That's not fair, Kam," I said, frowning.

She clicked her tongue. "You're right, I suppose it isn't. Even if Mehit and Lilith did make it, we could just as easily have been killed trying to follow in their wake."

I bit my lip. I'd more meant it wasn't fair because we were talking about leaving people to die, but considering I wasn't even fully convinced of my own argument, I elected not to push the issue.

Kam rubbed her eyes. "Damn it. They knew just how to get us at the last hurdle."

"What should we do now?" Ophelia asked.

"Linos," Kamrusepa said, turning to him sharply. "Is there any other way to the guest bioenclosure, other than the path to the arboretum we took earlier? Somewhere in the underground?"

He hesitated, cringing intermittently as Ran dabbed his shoulder with a cloth. "Uh, no. It's cut off from the underground infrastructure for security re--"

"Right, right, of course." She rubbed her eyes, then reopened them with a look of menace. "In that case, we have no choice but to get rid of the bastard shooting us. So long as they control that high ground, we'll have no chance of making our escape unscathed."

"Get rid of them...?" Ophelia asked anxiously. "You mean... Kill them?"

Kam gave her a pointed look. "No, Ophelia, I mean that we should take them out for Asharomi brunch in the upper plaza and have a civil conversation about how to reconcile our disagreements." She gestured outwardly. "Yes, of course I mean we should bloody well kill them! They're trying to murder us! It's kill or be killed!"

"What's the plan?" Ran asked, semi-urgently. "They could already be on the way here."

Kam glanced around. "First things first, we need a new gas lamp to replace the ones we left at the graveyard. Right now we're sitting ducks." She looked to Linos again. "Are there any around there?"

"I-I think there's one over there." He pointed to a wooden end-table in the corner of the room. Indeed, I could see something roughly lamp-shaped sitting at the back.

But I was quickly getting a bad feeling about it. I sniffed the air sharply, slowly biting my lip.

Kam nodded. "I'll light it, then. Su, keep an eye on the corner--"

"Wait," I interjected, holding up a hand to stop her.

She frowned. "What? What is it?"

"Can you guys... Smell that?"

She looked confused for a moment, then started sniffing too, her brow furrowed. Soon, the others started doing it too.

Ran was the first to speak up. "...gas," she said, her eyes narrow. "Fuck."

So it wasn't just me. It was faint, but present; the distinct odor of sulfur, very slowly worsening

Linos nodded grimly. "I smell it, too," he said.

"And me," Kam said, audible frustration creeping into her tone. "Where the hell is it coming from?"

"Probably down in the sublevel," Linos said, indicating towards the floor. "It's not much compared to the eris, but there's a small supply that runs through the entire sanctuary to refill stations and a few appliances, especially over in the guesthouse. The main pipeline from the reserve tank to the guest bioenclosure is just below us."

"You think it's been punctured?" I asked, somewhat redundantly.

He nodded. "That seems the most likely explanation. Though how that could have happened is a mystery-- Maybe something to do with whatever happened to the others."

"It's not much of a mystery as far as I can see it," Kamrusepa said. "It seems to me quite obviously done on purpose. We're driven in here by rifle fire, only to find we not only can't use the Power, we can't bloody see or fire our refractor rifles either!"

Oh, right. I hadn't thought of it, but refractor rifles were heat-based weapons. Obviously, they'd be far too dangerous to use with gas present.

"It's not one way," Ran said, looking up from dressing Linos's wound. "They won't be able to fire on us either."

"Maybe not down here," Kam protested. "But they still have us trapped. And now all they have to do is fire a single shot from a safe distance and the lot of us will be roast dinner!"

"Not yet," she retorted bluntly. "The gas down here is probably still really thin - not enough for the whole place to go up in flames. And they don't have a way to get down without coming through here themselves."

Kamrusepa grit her teeth. "That's a problem you can solve with a fucking rope!"

"W-We should get to higher ground," I stammered out anxiously, thinking by the seat of my pants. "It'll be even thinner there for a while-- We'll be able to stop, make a plan."

"Quick thinking, Su," Linos said, nodding fervently. "Let's head to the left - that'd be the closest staircase, and only one with a ramp. Treating me can wait until we get there, Ran."

"We can't go anywhere in pitch-black darkness," She told him, and nudged her head towards the right. "Let's get whatever's making the light from over there, first. Whatever it is, it's still working and hasn't set us all on fire, and seeing what the fuck is in front of us could be the difference between light and death."

"Alright," Linos conceded. "One way first, then the other. And keep your masks on tight; there might still be golems around."

We headed towards the glow, the source of which was obvious as soon as we turned the corner. Lying on the floor was a thin, glass-like bubble on a small torch. I recognized what it was at once: A biochemical lamp, the sort that was all over the place in Viraak but relatively uncommon elsewhere. It didn't create much light compared to a gas flame, let alone using the Power directly, but it was incredibly reliable and energy-efficient. You could hook one of these on your wall the night after you got pregnant, migrate to another country, give birth to and raise a child to adulthood, and still have it working by the time you got back.

But why was it here?

"Why is this here?" Kam asked, taking the words out of my mouth.

Linos looked as confused as the rest of us. "I don't know. We have those in the storage room on the other side of the floor, but nowhere in general use. I have no idea why it would just be lying on the floor in the middle of a hallway."

"Could the others have dropped it?" Ran asked. "It wasn't here when we went to rescue Mehit."

Linos scratched his head. "If they had, that would imply they've already done a full circuit of the floor, which doesn't really make sense--"

"We don't have any time for this," I said, panic starting to set in again. We could all be killed at a moment's notice. Just one spark, and if we were unlucky...

"Right," Linos, nodding. "You're right. Let's go."

With Kam asserting herself unspokenly into the role of lamp-bearer, we turned to the left, and I sprinted along with the others down the hall, taking a second left into a room I'd never visited before, but seemed to parallel the metal stairwell overlooking the pond that Neferuaten had led us up the other day. This one, though, was wooden, and as Linos had indicated was built as a long, gentle slope instead of stairs, crossing the length of the room back and forth multiple times. (For all its faults, it could not be said that the Order was unaccommodating.)

We soon made it top, where the smell of gas was far dimmer - almost nonexistent. However, Linos had been right to remind us about the golems, as a set was passing by just as we arrived. Another Tui She accompanied by two Serpopards, visibly scanning us, though apparently soothed by the presence of our masks.

"Those things are never gonna get any less creepy," Ran mumbled.

"I don't think I can smell any of it up here..." Ophelia said, glancing around.

"I think I can still smell a trace." I sniffed. "Well, maybe."

"Let's keep our rifles close, but only fire as a last resort," Linos said, but contorted his face painfully as he tried to take his own advice. "Damn-- I don't think I can move my arm. I won't be able to shoot straight."

"Can't you use your other?" Kamrusepa demanded.

"I said shoot straight, miss Tuon. I'm not exactly ambidextrous," he clarified flatly. He looked around. "What do you think we should do, now that we're here?"

Really inspiring confidence as the only fully-fledged adult in the room, I thought to myself.

"To start with, I'm going to finish treating your wound," Ran said, kneeling back down. "This went all the way through your shoulder - deltoid muscle, subdeltoid bursa, the lot. All burned and broken to shit. You're really not in that much pain?"

"N-No," he said, not sounding particularly reassured by Ran's bedside manner. (Not that this was a surprise - if it wasn't for me, she'd never have got into medicine in a million years, and I doubted she'd end up following a career even adjacent to it.) "But if it hit bone, that explains why I can't move the thing."

"There's nerve damage, too," Ran told him. "I can slow down the bleeding, but I'm not a surgeon-- I can't stitch you up, and I don't think Su or Kam can either." She looked over her shoulder. "You haven't been hiding those kinda skills up your sleeve, have you, Ophelia?"

"Um, I've done a little surgery before..." she admitted. "But only in a sterile environment on an anesthetized patient, and only in the chest area. I'm not sure I'd know what to do with broken bone..."

"That's a no, then," Ran said, looking back to the wound and starting to slowly bandage it.

"It's fine," Linos said. "We'll be out of here soon, and I'll use the Power to fix it myself."

Trying to project confidence we'll actually get out of here alive. You had to appreciate it on some level, even if he had the confidence of a rabbit in a foxhole in terms of his actual delivery.

"I'm grateful you're still willing to help me after what happened outside," Linos went on. "And being the reason we didn't follow after Mehit to begin with. If it were me, I might have left me out in the field and focused on my own well-being."

"Mm-hmm," Ran hummed skeptically

"I wouldn't push my luck if I were you, Linos," Kam said coldly. "We might still have a change of heart."

"I'm just greatful to have a chance to look for my son," he said. "And to still be alive."

Kam ran her hand over her face under her mask, pacing on the spot. "The one advantage to all this is that it's more or less confirmed that the five of us, at least, aren't involved in the conspiracy. Shooting at that speed, and with us all clustered together, had to be somewhat indiscriminate; any one of us could have been shot." She narrowed her eyes. "That means that we can trust each other more or less completely when it comes to survival."

I wasn't sure that reasoning was completely ironclad, but it seemed close enough.

"If that was the accomplice, out there on the tower," I said gravely, "it could mean that the others are-- That they're already dead."

"Yes," Kam admitted. "In fact, I'd say that's a very reasonable possibility. After all, the culprit wouldn't break off their pursuit of the other group to attack us unless their job was done."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions," Linos insisted. "They might've tried to ambush, but lost them, and decided to try and pick us off instead. Or whatever caused the gas leak could have been unrelated to the culprit, and derailed them somehow." He frowned, looking downwards. "Anna's one of the most cunning women I've ever met, in more ways than one. I can't believe she and the others would lose completely, even if they were taken by surprise."

"We shouldn't rule anything out," Ran said, as she cut one of the bandages.

"I... I want to believe the others are alright," Ophelia said. "It was awful enough losing Bardiya, but if Theo, Ptolema.. Seth..."

"We can believe whatever we like," Kam said. "It won't matter if we don't get out of this alive ourselves." She turned back towards Linos. "Sir, are there any old-fashioned firearms in the building? Magnetic, ideally?"

"Magnetic firearms..." He frowned, considering this, before suddenly coming to a realization. "Oh, I think Durvasa had one in his room up here. An antique from the Tricenturial War."

Kam nodded. "That'll do nicely." She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath. "Here's the best plan I can think of. We go to the third floor, out that other little tower separated from the rest of the building. From the window there, we should be able to take a shot at whomever is up on the bell tower. I'm a good shot, especially with a ballistic rifle, so I think there's a good chance I could take them by surprise."

The tower...

"What if they've moved?" Ran asked.

"We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it," she said. "I don't want to commit to anything - we might still run into the others, or the culprit might come directly to finish us off. One way or another, though, this is ending here."

I frowned, but it wasn't as though there were any better ideas which were instantly obvious. We definitely couldn't head underground. The only escape route was through the grounds, and the primary obstacle was the presence of the sniper. If we could just be sure they weren't there, even for just a minute...

Still, there was a funny look in Kamrusepa's eyes. I could tell that she had some kind of plan that she wasn't spelling out explicitly.

"...let's go," Linos said. "I'll take you to Durvasa's room."

We headed down the hallway, the dimmer light of the biochemical lamp producing even stranger colors and shadows as it struck the fish tanks, some of the creatures watching us curiously. Soon, at the opposite end of the floor to where I'd awoken much earlier, we arrived at Durvasa's room. It was locked, of course, but Linos produced the master key, sliding it open.

It turned out to be more richly decorated than I would have guessed from my impression of the man, though part of that was probably just the relative flamboyancy of Viraaki culture. The bedsheets were a striking red, orange and green pattern, and the floor was home to a series of colorful rugs with complicated patterns. By the window there was a small 'garden' with a variety of plants; flowers, cacti, bonsai trees.

It also looked as though he'd liked to collect things. There were several glass cabinets stuffed full of various sorts of chinaware, statuettes, and manuscripts from what were obviously a variety of cultures, plus some more unusual objects, including a few clocks and - yes - a magnetic rifle, displayed conveniently prominently on the middle shelf.

It was an intimidating weapon, clearly an artifact of another era. What looked like a titanium and bronze alloy was wrought into a complicated mechanical structure that suddenly came to a point with a surprisingly long barrel, jutting out like a knife.

"Perfect," Kam said, stepping towards it immediately.

"Feels a little weird to be looting the dead," I said, glancing around.

"This is no time for sentiment, Su," Kam replied. She walked up to the cabinet in question and, after unsuccessfully trying the lock, took the butt of her refractor rifle and shattered it, before casting it aside and sliding the larger weapon out.

Kamrusepa had handled the refractor rifle well, but I could instantly tell this was on a whole different level. She flicked the much more unwieldy device upwards like it was a second limb, and casually popped open a compartment at the rear. She then grasped a handful of bullets - also on display, and spun them between her fingers before slotting them gracefully into place.

Magnetic rifles were the immediate predecessor to refractor rifles, having been based on an old world design successfully adapted to the physics of the Mimikos. As the name would imply, they used magnetic force to propel physical bullets at near-supersonic speeds, cutting through pre-modern armor like it was butter. Their development was often associated with the end of the Tricenturial War and the final and complete defeat of the Rhunbardic Empire, even though it likely had little to do with it.

What they were also associated with was a sort of barbarity. A symbol of an era when death on an industrial scale was the norm.

Kam rose the barrel up to her eyes, squinting. She whistled softly. "Yes. This will do nicely, I think."

Ran squinted at it. "That looks more like something you'd beat somebody to death with than something you shoot. I'm surprised you can even carry it."

"Not much for your military history, Ran? Tsk." She shook her head, seeming to be a little more at ease now. "They're lighter than they look. Lots of cavities in the metalwork designed to keep them intact in fraught conditions."

She demonstrated by flipping it 360 degrees in the air. Ophelia flinched backwards a bit.

"If you say so," Ran said, with a flat look.

I noticed that Linos hadn't said anything since we entered the room, and glanced towards him out of curiosity. For some reason, he was staring at a particular painting on the left wall, over by the bed, which my eyes were drawn to as well.

It was, on closer inspection, not actually a painting, but rather an upscaled photograph. It depicted two figures, one of which was obviously a younger Durvasa - somewhat leaner and more gentle-featured than I might have expected based on the harshness of his present-day appearance, though still with the same severe expression.

The second, sitting on a chair with his hand on her shoulder, was a woman who appeared strikingly older than him, with visible signs of aging. She looked... Ysaran? Maybe Rhunbardic? With tan skin and curly hair, as well as an absolutely enormous amount of freckles. Her face was a little awkward - with very thin lips and a short chin, but oddly large eyes - and her expression met it there, her smile stiff and complicated, though not per-se uncomfortable.

Is this... His mother? His wife?

I twitched. Something about the woman's appearance was prickling something in my brain. Like I recognized her, but also not.

"What's wrong, sir?" Ran asked, stepping over as she also noticed his distraction.

"Oh, uh. Nothing, just thinking about old times."

"Who is she?" I asked.

Linos blinked sharply, a little thrown off by the question - like he'd forgotten we could see it, too. "O-Oh. Old flame of Durvasa's," he answered. "Used to be a little involved with the Order, but that was a very long time ago." He stared for another moment, then sharply shook his head, snapping himself out of whatever this was. "We should take a quick look around - there should be a lot of medical supplies somewhere in this room, too, including some Air Pollen. That might be a godsend if the situation with the gas gets any worse."

Air Pollen was a product - though not an artifice - of Biomancy that you occasionally found in larger or more situational first aid kids. As the rather on the nose name would suggest, it was a biological microorganism that, upon contact with open air, began steadily releasing a small amount of oxygen. By inhaling it and letting it infest your lungs, it could augment one's supply of air. Not enough to keep you alive if there wasn't any at all, but enough to help. It also helped break down harmful elements in the surrounding air, though again, not completely.

"Any idea where it could be?" I asked, as Kam double-checked the gun in the background.

"I'm not sure," Linos said. "Bedside table or desk would be my bets."

Ophelia and Ran stepped over to check the latter, while I - already standing nearby - went for the former. I leaned down and pulled open the drawers, but only succeeded in discovering a magazine he must have been reading (bizarrely, it seemed like some sort of mainstream youth culture affair, with a bunch of information on music and fashion) alongside a box of opium that seemed largely untouched. On a lark, I decided to check the floor below as well, and that was where I spotted it: The characteristic white-and-red colors of a first aid kit.

"I think I found it," I said, pulling it out.

"Excellent!" Linos said, nodding. "Let's take a look."

I lifted it up, placing it on the bed as Linos wheeled himself over, before reaching down to pop the lid open. Inside was a variety of bandages, syringes, chemicals and powders, all neatly labelled. I didn't actually know the market name for air pollen, but apparently the others did, because both Ophelia and Linos went for the same bottle before the former withdrew her hand, acquiescing for the latter.

"Alright," Linos said. "If you haven't taken this before, just open your mouth wide and spray it straight into your throat for about five seconds. Uh, and try not to cough."

He went first, sticking the top of the bottle between his lips as he tilted his head upwards and pushed his finger down, releasing a diffusal of slightly green-tinted mist down his gullet, accompanied by a slight groan. Ophelia took it next, repeating the motion.

"Um," I said, suddenly possessed by a degree of doubt. "Are we sure this is safe? Couldn't the culprit have replaced the mixture?"

Linos frowned. "That doesn't seem particularly likely," he said. "It's hardly the only bottle of the stuff in the building, and I don't imagine they'd even have time to make a switch, let alone guess we were going to come up here."

"I don't know," I said, biting my lip. "They could have guessed we'd go for the rifle, couldn't they?"

"I'm not even sure that'sthe only one in the building," Linos added.

"We don't have time to test it," Ran said, "and being caught with our pants down with the gas is the bigger risk. I'm already starting to smell it up here a little. I'll take the odds that I'm about to swallow a neurotoxin." She took the bottle and blasted the fluid down her throat as well, her face contorting. "Gods, that tastes foul."

I wasn't happy about it, but if Ran was confident enough, than so was I. She passed the bottle to me, and I sprayed accordingly. She was right, it did taste foul - bitter and rotten - but that was hardly unusual for fungal-based medication. I suppressed a cough, closing my mouth and grimacing as it half-escaped through my nostrils. Then, I reached to pass the bottle over to Kam, who had finally wandered over.

However, when I did so, she looked at it with an even more skeptical expression than I had.

"...I'll pass for the time being," she eventually said, taking the bottle but stowing it away in her pocket. "Small as it may be, I'd rather not take the risk."

Ophelia looked at her anxiously. "You're not afraid of the gas...?"

"As I said, I'll take the medication if it becomes a must," she said, "but we were fine downstairs. We're still a long way off the air becoming dangerous to breathe, at least in the brief time we shall have to suffer it--"

Suddenly, there was a noise from the ceiling. Because the floors were so obscenely tall here, it was oddly distant, but it was the distinct sound of something walking down the hall.

I say 'something' because it was hard to believe it was human. It was an unusually heavy and loud sound, much slower than a normal stride, and didn't have the rhythm you'd expect-- Not thump thump, but thumpthump thumpthump.

Like whatever was up there had more than two legs.

"...what the fuck is that?" Ran murmured.

"P-Perhaps it's one of the golems...?" Ophelia posited. "The Tui She?"

Linos stared upwards for a moment, slowly shaking his head. "No, I don't think so. Those things are surprisingly light." He tightened his lip. "But it could be one of the non-combat ones, out and about. We have a couple transport and maintenance ones that are bulkier than you'd think."

"Quadrupedal ones?" I asked, skeptical.

He hesitated.

"Could the culprit have somehow turned them against us, too?"

"I don't think so," Linos said. "We're not past four - and the changes to the scripting didn't suggest anything like that. But it's possible they caused some damage and triggered its arrival--"

What happened next almost felt comical, if I removed myself from the situation. Right as Linos was coming to the head of his attempt at a rational explanation, another sound came from overhead. This one, however, was a lot more conspicuous. It started off with a low hum that my brain didn't register as anything recognizable, but soon began to rise in pitch, with organic-sounding inconsistency.

"mmmmmmmMMMMMMMMmmrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."

At that point, it was easy to recognize the sound. The only way it differed from what one would expect was that it was louder. Much louder.

"Is that... A cow mooing?" I thought out loud, a tremble in my voice.

Linos stared, wide eyed.

Kam jerked her head towards me. "Don't be ridiculous. Why would a cow--"

"MMMMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

My whole body flinched with shock and fear, a shiver going down my spine.

The sound came again, but far noisier still, and this time filled with an animal ferocity. It was loud enough to feel it traveling through the walls and the floor beneath our feet, and was followed the sound of something stamping on the floor hard.Dust fell from the ceiling out in the hall.

Not a cow, I thought. A bull.

Kam doubts must've been dismissed fast, because she responded to this in a way that took me completely by surprise. While the other four of us continued to stare in stunned horror, she took a sharp intake of breath, then ran - without so much as a moment's hesitance - straight out the door and into the hallway, roughly to the spot below the origin of the noise.

Then, before any of us had a chance to object, she pivoted her new rifle straight up and fired.