As if to punctuate the end of Diego's sentence the blast doors began to shake.  The Reavers were just outside - trying to bang down the doors.  Loud thunks echoed through the service hall, each one sending a jolt of fear through everyone gathered.

Geoff had nodded to Wei-Li's assertion that they would be getting out of her together. "Ya can count on tha'.", he said softly as he continued to look around. He saw Diego echo his own cries and sentiments against the door and heard the low utterance he sent up. Geoff shook his head to that. "God's gonna hafta wait on tha' 'cause the cap'n ain't dyin' anytime soon. 'Sides, I think this station is the last place God's got anythin' ta do with, righ' now.", he said firmly, obviously not thinking much of prayer at all, let alone a prayer for the departed soul of a man he still wants so badly to be alive.

When Diego told them to move and he heard the pounding of the Reavers on the door, he nodded shakily in agreement, lifting his gun up and at the ready as he walked close to Diego. He still grasped Wei-Li's hand tightly as though it were the only reminder that he had a reason to survive this time around. "So wha's the plan? Ya got a way out of these tunnels tha' the Reavers won't know or are we expectin' a fight pretty soon?", he said in a low tone to Diego, not wanting to alarm others with his talk.

Diego looked at the large man beside him - Geoff... Kale's crew. He felt for him.  Kale was a good man.  A decent man.  There weren't many like them - it was understandable that Geoff wouldn't want to accept what had happened and Diego wasn't going to push the matter so he nodded his head but said nothing.

He pulled his pistol out and reloaded it, "Just in case." he said looking at the others, "There is a back way - should let out to the docks.  I've barricaded this stretch of hallway, we should be safe." Should being the key word there but Diego wasn't going to call any unneeded attention to that.

He began walking then, leading the way down the hall.  Their footsteps echoed no matter how softly they tried to step and the slience that hung between them was only puntuated by the distant screams and the quiet sobs of the child in their midst.

Geoff nodded to Diego's words, glad that there was some sort of plan at work here. Geoff was not an idea man, he was a guy who followed orders and a friend of the captain's was a good enough person to give those orders. So he followed after Diego with his gun still held at the ready and his other hand holding Wei-Li. He was very glad for her presence at this moment. He thought he would not have handled things quite so well had it not been for her. He turned and gave her a quick smile before looking back down the tunnel, watching for any trouble. No matter what Diego said, "should" was not good enough for Geoff to feel completely safe.

Wei-Li's hand trembled slightly at Diego's words, but it was the pressure from Geoff's hand that gave her courage.  He was here.  They were still together.

Everything else ceased to exist.  She continued to scan where Geoff wasn't, hoping that between them there would be no surprises.  She ventured one look to the ceiling, then focused on the world around them.

It was a tense walk down the hallway.  A few times one of the larger men, obviously members of Diego's gang would mutter curses under his breath about blowing the Reavers to pieces.  It was tough talk, belied by the way he kept nervously twisting his hand around the barrel of his gun.

Diego looked back to the others as they reached a fork, "Almost there now, see no worries." he said in a tone that was far more confident then he felt, "This way." he said and branched off to the right.

Diego stopped short then, holding a hand up for silence, "Shh, did you -" a loud crash suddenly resounded down the hall, the sound of metal hitting metal.  It cut through the silence like a knife.  Everyone's head whipped around in the direction of the sound.  Then Diego said quietly, "Run."

Geoff had walked in a wary silence, his gaze and his gun always traveling about in front of them as he trusted Wei-Li to watch the back. His hand had never left hers, the physical contact between them being one of the only things keeping him as calm and grounded as he was right now. If it wasn't for her grip keeping him here, he would be lost in his mind, worrying about the captain, worrying about Charlie and Connor, worrying about Ren and Acacia and, most of all, worrying about Lei. He felt a pang go through him at the thought of how his sister, as he had come to refer to her just about all the time, must be worried and scared without him. He knew that, if it wasn't for Wei-Li's presence, that thought alone would have driven him to a much less rational place in his mind.

But, as it was, Wei-Li was there beside him and that focused his thoughts more. He had to be calm and cool so they could get out of this alive. Get out of this together. So he walked right behind Diego, following his lead easily. He felt a slight bit of relief as he said they were almost there and started to lead them down a branch in the path. That relief turned into an icy feeling of dread as he suddenly called for silence and the sound of metal crashing down the hall caused him to start. He looked in the direction the sound had come from as everybody had and didn't even have to wait for Diego's quiet word to start running, his grip tightening on Wei-Li's hand as he tugged her along with him, shooting an urgent glance back to her as he did so.

Everything came down to a rhythm.  It was the rhythm of their pace, their hearbeats, the things left unsaid.  She moved as Geoff's shadow, his back.  He watched the front, she watched everything else.

She'd heard enough about Reavers to know one thing: hope was an illusion.  Hope was a goal, but it wasn't the road to take.  Safety existed in distance and in being unreachable.

Then it happened.  They'd been found and they were too far from the next barrier.  She moved with Geoff, feeling his tension and the pressure guiding her arm.  She'd worked the trapese too many times with her brother not to notice.

This was the same pairing, the same risk: fall out of rhythm and you were lost.  She gave him the briefest of questioning looks.  There were others here, though she held no illusion of being able to protect them.

There was no time to contemplate how they'd gotten in - it was enough to know that they had.  The ominous sound of heavy footsteps rattling the metal flooring of the service halls spurred everyone onward.  The Reavers ran - impossibly fast.  They could hear the sounds of the others footsteps - they could smell their prey.

Diego's feet pounded agains the flooring and he cast a look back at the others, "We're not gonna make it." he shouted to be heard over the sounds of their own footsteps - he could hear the Reavers gaining on them.

Geoff had caught Wei-Li's brief questioning look, but could only shake his head quickly. He wasn't concerned for the others around, no matter how much it may make him seem cold to act as such. In the end, that was what it came down to though. He didn't know the people around here and he didn't care about them all that much. He knew that they were all scared people with families and people to care about and that their deaths would cause pain to those closest to them. He knew this, but he also knew something else. He had his loved ones to think about and care for. Right now that meant Wei-Li. She was the only other person he gave a damn about right now and all the rest would just have to fend for themselves.

So he ran, still gripping her hand tightly as he came up beside Diego, making up for his lack of speed with long strides. He could hear the sounds of their pursuers behind them, the sound of their heavy footsteps clanging down onto the floor sending a chill down his spine and causing him to press onward even faster. As he heard Diego's shout, he knew the truth in it. He could hear them being gained on. He knew that they would overtake them eventually...but he would be damned if he was going to admit that.

"The hell we're not!!!", he shouted as he ran as hard as he could, knowing that it may be futile in the end, but not willing to give up. He wouldn't even look back to check the Reavers' progress because he knew that would only waste time and, even worse, make him lose what little hope he had. He gripped both his gun and Wei-Li's hand tightly as he continued to run forward with his gaze ever pointed to the front.

Wei-Li gave him a worried, yet understanding look.  He was right and she knew it, she just didn't have to like it.  She trusted Geoff's decisions and knew that she was part of his survival plan.  That was all she needed.

As they ran, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.  Most of her life had been about timing.  It had been about ariving at the right point with the right momentum and here, the timing was all wrong.

She was about to give up, surrender all thought when she saw something overhead.  It was an air intake vent, some 10 feet above them.  She slowed down, trying to get everyone's attention.  "Won't make it running... gotta climb."

She nodded towards the vent.  She was already climbing it in her mind, Feeling the steel and tile under her feet as she stepped onto a small inset in the wall, then up to the fire stantion next to it.  It was worth a shot and if Wei-Li knew one thing-- it was climbing.

Geoff had slowed down as she did, looking to her with confusion as to why they were slowing down at all. He heard what she said and saw where she nodded and he winced inwardly. Climb? Geoff had never been much for climbing that didn't take pure brute strength and his balance was only okay at best. Climbing would not be his first choice at all. But he knew she was probably right. Running was probably futile and the Reavers were almost upon them. Besides, he trusted Wei-Li's judgement and, if she said climbing was the only way, then climbing they'd go.

"Fine. Wei-Li, go first and pick out the way then. Then I'll throw Diego up there with ya 'cause he knows his way 'round here. After tha' I'll be right behind ya.", he said with a nod and then looked to her with a concerned gaze,"Do it quick 'cause we don't got a lot o' time, but be as careful as you can. Don't want nothin' happenin' ta ya..."

Wei-li looked him in the eyes and nodded.  Her raw emotions shone in her eyes.  Fear danced with terror as she forced herself to let go of his hand.  Trembling she nodded again and began climbing.

It was as she imagined, except that the tile was glossier than she thought.  She let her breath out as she climbed, shimied and swung into place.  She stood in a precarious position as she tried to remove the cover.  She let out a slight sound of frustration as she tried to pry it open and slipped.  She chinned herself back into position and tried again.

It gave suddenly, almost sending her back down but she caught it and herself and lowered it to Geoff.  Then she slipped into the vent to make sure it was strong enough.  Then she was back out with a foot on the stantion.

"Let's go," she said holding her hand out to help him and the others up.

Geoff had given her a brief reassuring smile, though he knew that his worried expression made it hard for anything to be reassuring on his face. Still, he wanted to reassure her as much as possible. He also wished he could reassure himself, but that was much harder to do. "We're gettin' outta here together no matter what.", he murmured as he reluctantly released her hand and let her get to climbing.

He alternated between looking behind them and up to her as she climbed, not wanting to take his eyes from her, but knowing that he had to watch for the Reavers. Still, he was ready when she finally got the vent cover off, grabbing it as she passed it down and letting it down to the floor. He watched as she climbed in and then came out with her hand out to help others up. He nodded to that and quickly moved to Diego.

"You first, boss man. You know the way to go.", he said as he almost bodily pushed Diego up to climb and grasp Wei-Li's hand. When he knew that he was up, he had started to move to climb up as well, but he paused at the sound of the bawling kid. He looked to the mother and child and frowned to himself. He knew he shouldn't worry about anybody but himself, but the captain had risked his life to save the two. There was no way Geoff could make that risk for nothing. So he moved over to the mother and child and reached a hand out to them.

"C'mon. Y'all first. We don't got a lot o' time so hurry.", he said urgently as he began to try and help the woman up too. It was stupid to do this, he knew, but it was the right thing to do and, damn him for a fool, he wanted to do the right thing for once.

Diego hardly had any time to react before he found himself being lifted bodily by Kale's guy, Geoff and shoved up into the vents.  It was a good idea though, he was fairly confident the Reavers wouldn't follow them there.  He climbed in - the vents weren't large but enough so that he fit rather comfortably, being smaller in stature, although it'd be a tight squeeze for his men and Geoff.  He moved to the opposite side of the vent opening to help Wei-Li pull the others up.  He nodded respectfully as Geoff turned and helped the woman and child up into the vent first - he was most certainly on of Kale's men.  Diego wouldn't have expected such an act from a man that looked like Geoff did - in all honestly 'thug' had been the first word that came to mind when he'd saw him.  But he was one of Kale's through and through.  The sentimental hun dun ... he just hoped it didn't get him killed like it had his Captain.

"Come on, up you go." he said, pulled the woman inside after the child, "Alright guys, let's go!" he shouted to Geoff and his three men still in the hall.  His hand reached for Geoff's, who was the closest, but suddenly the large man was shoved aside by one of his own.  A new guy, Clive.

"Get me outta here!  Get me out!" he shouted, his push had come unexpected and sent Geoff with no small amount of force into the opposite wall.  The panic was rising down there in the hall as another one of his men tried to hold Clive back - then the other made a leap for the vent, just to get hit by Clive who had wriggled free.

It was coming to blows now ... and the sound of the Reavers feral growls was growing closer.

"Jesus, we don't have time for this!" Diego shouted, but his men weren't listening.

Geoff had cursed himself a stupid sentimental fool for letting the woman and child go up before him and he knew that he would pay for letting his emotions get the better of him. Sure enough, when it came time for him to go, he was pushed fiercely away to slam into the opposite wall. He grunted in surprise more than pain and then turned back to see who the hell had pushed him. What he saw shouldn't have surprised him at all. Of course the men were panicking about who would go first. It's human nature, he supposed. Still, it was also idiotic as their fighting only wasted time and Geoff didn't have time to waste.

So it was with a growl of barely suppressed anger that Geoff stalked over to the three men and shot his pistol into the ground near them. "Hey!! We don't have any ruttin' time fer this!! The more you fight, the closer the Reavers get!! Now I dunno 'bout ya three jackasses, but I've got a home and a family to get back ta! They're waitin' fer me ta get there and I'll be damned if I'm gonna keep 'em waitin' longer than I hafta!", he shouted in a voice full of rising rage,"Now either ya stupid ung jeong jia ching jien soh get yer gorram asses in gear and get up the ruttin' vent one at a time or, I swear ta God, the devil or whatever powers there are from here to the ends of the 'verse, that what I do ta ya fer wastin' my time will make even the Reavers sick ta their stomachs!! Dong Ma!?"

He then pointed his pistol to the one who had pushed him and glared at him dangerously. "Now hurry the hell up and GET UP THAT FUCKIN' VENT!!"

The men all froze as Geoff's gun shot went off - the sound impossibly loud it seemed in the small, tight hallway.  It echoed off the walls for what felt like an eternity long after he'd actually fired the shot.  They listened though to his words - or perhaps they only understood the fact that they were being ordered up into the vent at gun point.  Regardless they weren't fighting anymore and starting to move .... problem was it was too late.

Around the corner came the thing of nightmares.  Three to be exact.  Their faces mutilated out of all recognition.  The closest one had a hook connecting his upper lip to his eye socket - the eye, all white and red and obviously useless looked as though it were beginning to fall out.  And that was the most human looking side of his face - the other was just a mess of gore.

They were moving fast - their harpoon moved even faster.  The huge pole of metal soared through the air and entered with a sickening sound into Clive's stomach, the man Geoff had his gun pointed at.

The men screamed, Clive blinked in shock, trying to scream as well - his mouth opening soundlessly in agony and fear.  The stench that radiated from the Reavers was enough to make one sick - it was even worse if you could bear to look at them.

Wei-Li whimpered slightly when one of Diego's men shoved Geoff away from her.  She quickly drew the gun he'd given her and aimed it, not at the men, but at the approaching Reavers.

"Come on, Come on..." she said as she wrapped a leg around a pipe outside the vent.  With her other hand free she reached down to offer support to the others, all the time swearing to herself that if Geoff was lost because of their stupidity she would shoot all three of them.

Then she swore and nothing else mattered but Geoff.  She had to get him up.  She fired down at the Reavers waiting for Geoff to take her hand.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:47, Wed 04 Oct 2006.

Geoff's blood went cold as he saw the harpoon pierce the stomach of the guy he was holding at gunpoint. The expression on his face made Geoff's insides tremble and it was all he could do to keep himself from throwing up the contents of his stomach, the combination of the Reaver's stench and looks and the pure fear that coursed through him causing the bile to rise up in his throat. Still, he couldn't freeze in fear. He had to move. Had to move or die just like the man in front of him.

So Geoff moved quickly, feeling the cold chill of fear enter his bones. He looked to the men that were left and knew what he should do. He should shoot them in the knees and leave them as a distraction for the Reavers. Sacrifice them so he could live. It's what he would've done before. On the streets by himself, he had sold out a good many people to keep himself alive. He had left them to die so that he could live. He had done it so many times that it should be easy.

But maybe it was the fact that he had people to care about now, maybe it was the fact that he couldn't stand how Wei-Li would look at him if he did that, maybe it was his thinking that doing that would make him nothing like the shining example of big brother he should be to Lei or maybe it was just that the captain was rubbing off on him. In any case, he aimed his gun, not at the men, but at the Reavers, shooting off a few rounds to their heads, knowing that little to nothing could stop Reavers but having to try anyway.

"Hurry up!! Get up there!!", he yelled to the remaining two men as he shot again.

Clive had sunk to the ground, shaking and shivering in convulsion, "I - I don' wanna die ... I ..." his words were weak, cut through with sharp inhalations as the life was leaving his body - he was the lucky one.  He might die before the Reavers got him - hopefully.

Despite the bullets flying the Reavers kept coming.  Another harpoon soared through the air grazing another mans shoulder - not piercing it, but knocking him to the ground all the same.   The first of the Reavers was on top of him in a second.  There was the sound of breaking bone as his arm was practically ripped from his body.  He screamed in agony.  The third man was suddenly paralyzed with fear.  Just standing there - he had wet himself.  The sickly yellow liquid was pooled beneath him and still he didn't move.

"AHHH!" the man screamed beside Geoff, and Clive looked pleadingly up into his eyes as the second Reaver was just a few steps away.

"Don't ...  let 'em  ... get me ..." he managed to choke out.

"Oh God!" Diego gasped, pushing the woman and child away from the vent - they shouldn't see this.  Diego wanted to look away himself ... but he couldn't.  His eyes were glued to the massacre beneath him.  Transfixed.  His insides were churning - he was going to be sick.  Fear had him paralyzed.  The sight was so unimaginably awful that he had to look.

"Jesus!  Get up here, get up here!!" he shouted futily, the Reavers were on them.  His men were already down, "Give me your hand!" he screamed to Geoff who was once again closest to the vent.

Geoff cursed as his bullets did nothing to the Reavers and he knew that fighting was futile as he saw the other man go down under the Reaver and saw blood spray as his arm was nearly ripped from his body. He heard the scream of the only surviving man left and then met Clive's gaze. It was a brief meeting of eyes and his words were quiet and choked, but Geoff heard them like they were the only sounds in the hall right now. He nodded and picked his gun up, aiming it at Clive's head. "I'm sorry...", he said and shot the man, knowing it was better dead than in a Reaver's clutches.

He had barely even shot the gun before he was dashing for the vent at Diego's urgings. He holstered his gun and jumped to  grasp Wei-Li and Diego's hands so he could climb up. As much as he had wanted to help, there was only so much a man could do before he had to turn tail and run.

Wei-li stood there, her jaw clenched to hold back the sobs she couldn't control.  She held her hand out for Geoff, this was a catch she had to make.

As she stood, she watched the Reavers closing in.  She quickly tucked the gun away and waited for Geoff.  When he jumped, she focused on Geoff and nothing else.  She felt his weight and strained, briging him back into the vent.

"Geoff!" Her voice cracked as she sobbed in relief.  Then she softly added.  "Gotta go..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:17, Wed 04 Oct 2006.