The Wanderers

[Combined]

"Right! Lads! Let's get the hell out of here!" He ran, climbing up the stairway and into the chamber, followed by the entire team. Finally, they could see the hole where they entered. The rope was hanging there, almost as if it was waiting.

"Climb up and help everyone get out. Anyone who has a shot or shell ready, hold the upper door until we've all left."

Spoiler: RECAP

They are now all in the upper chamber, with a single rope leading outside. The army of darkness is trying to follow them, but are forced to enter a small stairway. The chamber is at the top of the stairway, obviously.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Rufus heard Smith's order, and turned immediately, stepping to the side of the door to allow the others to see past him, and raised his Turret Pistol, staring into the darkness. He couldn't see them yet, as the sudden natural light from above had dazzled his eyes, but if he kept watching, he'd be bound to spot movement...
He moved into a crouch to give the others room to shoot, and pulled out a handful of brass-cased shells, which he set on the floor, ready to pick up for a reload. "Mister Smith! I am thinking that perhaps you should go first up the rope, as you have no weapon, and are the most valuable person amongst us!"

 

[Combined]

"I would prefer someone else take the gold. I'm the leader of this expedition and I won't allow anyone to get harmed, simply because I'm not there."

He drew his sabre, determined to hold these abominations back at all cost.

 

[Jedoro]

"You better not be the last one up, then," Conner commented, pushing one of the packs of treasure on top of his own pack and securing both. Once he was ready, he mounted the rope and began climbing. Once you're up there, reload your pistols and provide some support, he thought. Especially while Smith's climbing.

 

[Fingerprint]

Beau shouldered his rifle and a bag of treasure and followed behind Conner. His strong arms and torso caried him up the rope with more ease than Conner though he kept his mouth shut and just wished Conner would go a little faster. The only onther thought to cross his mind was to reload as soon as I hit the sand.

 

[Jedoro]

Putting his arm onto the ground above, Conner pulled himself out of the hole and pushed himself away from it with his legs, making room for the others that were supposed to follow.

"I really," he began, taking deep breaths, "need to practice," another breath as he pulled out his right pistol, "moving around," he dumped the empty bullets onto the sand, "with a pack on." Rolling onto his side, he put the six bullets in as quickly as his sore arms would let him and reloaded his left pistol as he waited for the next person to get out of the hole.

 

[Sparrow]

Emerson fired wildly once more, this time knocking down more targets. It seemed all the adrenaline he'd built up was going to good use.

"Hurry up, guys. Climb up the freaking rope.", he said, slowly backing up toward it, "And could I get a little help, please?"

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Rufus was backing away from the door alongside Emerson now, after having picked up the bullets he had set down, without even firing.
He leveled his turret pistol at the door, and upon seeing movement, pulled the trigger as fast as he could, emptying the six barrels at the loathsome form. His aim, however, was not so good, and only two of the bullets had hit the target, but in close enough succession to knock the monster back a step.

Rufus reached into his pocket, and pulled out a couple more shells with shaking hands, which he hastily forced into his empty handgun. He hoped the others would start shooting soon, as Emerson took down another abomination that had stepped over the threshold of the doorway.

 

[Jedoro]

Done reloading, Conner crawled right up to the hole and stuck his right arm in there as he pulled back the hammer on his revolver. Spotting a monster getting close, he aimed at the chest and pulled the trigger. The monster paused but didn't fall, so he shot again to bring it down.

"He's almost up here, next guy on the rope!" he called out, leaning away to make room for Beau.

 

[Fraught]

Trying to assist the others with shooting, Anselm heard Conner call out for the next one. He quickly turned over, and without stopping started climbing up the rope like a monkey.

Once up, he tried to find a place where to emulate Conner, and assist the others still down there.
Without waiting for Conner to say it, he yelled out: "Neeeext one!"

 

[Fingerprint]

Beau was already up and loading his rifle for the second time when Anselm reached the top and shouted to the others.

As Beau reached into his ammunition pouch he realised something, "Shit, I'm fast running out-a bullets 'ere lads."

Beau fired two shots in quick succession, the first only glanced off the abomination but the second struck true and brought it to a halt. Still it was only one out of a swarm and they all knew that if they wanted to save the others then they'd have to keep firing volley after volley into them.

 

[Jedoro]

"Aye, I'm getting lower than I'd like, myself," Conner shouted over the gunfire. "Right, someone get on the fuckin' rope!" Putting the other four round from his pistol into another monster, he stepped back and dumped the casings onto the ground.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Rufus panicked when he realised that the hail of bullets pummeling the horde was barely slowing it, and doing nothing to thin the monster's ghastly ranks. He raised his partially-reloaded pistol and frantically pulled at the trigger again, not looking where the rounds went, only knowing he could not fail to miss the swarm. "Ach meine gott! They just keep coming! There is no end to them! We have to get out!"

Von Bernkastel swung around and grabbed the rope, forced the pistol into a pocket, and started trying to scramble his way up the illuminated thread to the safety of the surface. He didn't have much practice with climbing ropes, but was fueled on by desperation, and the rope jerked about erratically as he pulled himself hand-over-hand to the top, where he dragged himself out of the hole and lay panting on the hot sands.

He wiped his forehead with one trembling, grit-covered palm, then again took out his handgun and moved to look over the edge into the darkness, trying to reload so that he could attempt to redeem himself somewhat. He heard Connor say that he was running low on ammo, so he grabbed a handful of his own dwindling stock and thrust it towards Connor. "You can make more use of these, you should have them if you can use them!"

 

[SamuelT]

Spoiler: Ooops...

Seems like I sort of forgot about this. I have excuses though, and they all fail to help me.*Shamefaced*

I'll try to make it up to you guys. Let me just unsubtly dump myself into this story.

...Sorry guys. I've been trying, been staring at the blinker for 17 minutes now, but the impending divorce between my mum and dad keeps me from concentrating. Can we say that Sjors is topside?

 

[Sparrow]

Emerson turned around, seeing the rope in the distance. He was close, but so were the horde of monsters. He was the only one who hadn't climbed the rope, the others assisting him with gunfire.

"Cover me! And don't shoot me!"

He hosltered Smith's revolver and sprinted toward the rope. He jumped, in an effort to reach it quicker, and began climbing it as quickly as he could. He'd nearly reached the top, when something grabbed his leg from below. He grasped onto the surface above, and tried to bring himself above ground.

"Help!", he screamed, "They've-- they've got me!"

Spoiler: Not sure if that WAS everyone, but...

I think we need to move along.

Oh, yeah. Can someone help Em please?

 

[Jedoro]

Letting the box of bullets and his empty pistol fall to the ground, Conner drew his left handgun with its corresponding hand and grabbed Emerson's wrist with his right.

"We got ya!" he reassured, trying to aim around his legs. Sure of a shot, he fired and hit a monster in the shoulder. Pulling and lining up another shot, he pulled the trigger again after a few seconds and found himself falling backwards, dragging Emerson with him.

 

[Combined]

Spoiler: Ooops...

Seems like I sort of forgot about this. I have excuses though, and they all fail to help me.*Shamefaced*

I'll try to make it up to you guys. Let me just unsubtly dump myself into this story.

...Sorry guys. I've been trying, been staring at the blinker for 17 minutes now, but the impending divorce between my mum and dad keeps me from concentrating. Can we say that Sjors is topside?

Spoiler: I say...

It's okay. Don't worry about it. Post when you can and feel like it.

Smith sat upon the warm desert sand just slightly away from the main group, wiping his sword of the filthy blood that was acquired while slashing at the monsters below, trying to give it back the shine.

He was tired, but he knew that the weight of the gold in his pocket was worth more than an injured hand. He looked at it, before tearing away a bit of his safari shirt to wrap more around it, if only to hide how different the blood was from regular human.

"And that's how we do things in the business...", he muttered.

 

[Jedoro]

Exhausted at the loss of adrenaline, Conner released Emerson's arm and fell to the ground, only sitting up because of his pack. Taking heavy breaths due to the fatigue and combat, his hand stumbled around until he picked up his other pistol.

"This..." he began, "is gonna... be hell... I hope... it's worth it." While he grabbed the box of bullets that Rufus had offered him, he reloaded with his own ammunition.

 

[Sparrow]

"Cheers, man.", Emerson said, puffing inbetween breaths, "Good shooting too."

He patted Conner on the back, before slumping down on the floor. He pulled Smith's revolver from his own holster, and lazily passed it toward him.

"I think your gun saved my life a few times, so, y'know. Thanks."

 

[Jedoro]

"Yeah... thanks..." Conner replied, leaning his head back on the top of his pack. Finally catching his breath, he yawned. "So do we get to rest for a bit now?"