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[The Fool]

She crossed her hands and looked over at the man in the tactical armor, "You seem a little overdressed for a gas leak." Alex reached into her bag and pulled the mostly empty pack of cigarettes out. She flicked the lighter out of the pack along with the last two cigarettes. The man simply shrugged at the comment, probably heard it all before yesterday when the media would have been hounding them about it. Alex casually flicked the lighter, lighting her cigarette with a covered hand. The ashes of the cigarette glowed orange as she took a long drag on it before breathing out the thick smoke. "...And the fact that you let me light this means it likely isn't a gas leak. I just want to know what's up."

The SWAT officer quietly swore at you, easing his rifle further downward. "Look. I can't tell you shit and I can't let you in. If you try to get past the barricade we will shoot you. Sorry lady, but you ain't getting in." He turned and continued on his route along the barbed wire fence, clenching at the rifle's pistol grip. His voice was firm, yet apologetic in a way. "We can't let you through, even if you have family in there." After a few moments he was past where you could see, behind the apartment building.

Alex turned towards the Butcher's shop, making sure that the officer wasn't able to see her. Just in case. She walked towards the small store. The sign overhead read, "Boris' Italian Butcher Shop". The door swung open, happily jingling the bells over the doorway. The air in the store was tense, yet filled with delicious scents of smoke meats, and the rather short balding mustached shopkeeper seemed a little unsure of Alex as she walked in. "Hello. Don't mind the boarded windows, it's just a thing they wanted til this is over." He gestured vaguely to the windows with plywood sprawling across all three large windows on the outside of the glass, save the last which was covered on the inside. A few shards of broken glass littered the tacky black checkered floor near the covered windows. He stood up from his stool, making his apparent height impairment more obvious. Must be about five feet flat. He cleared his throat and stood by the daily special, Salcissila Fresca for $3.98 a pound, "What can I get you today?".

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Purse
 - Pencil and Paper
 - Tiny Folding Knife
 - Lockpick (thin)
 - Surgical Gloves
 - Plastic Bags
 - Cigarettes and Lighter (x1)
 - Phone
 - .44 Special (3/6)

[~Neri]

Ask the person if they know what is going on over at the hospital.

[Descan]

Ask about the broken window and glass.

[3man75]

+1 to both on top.

[The Fool]

Alex took a step across the tacky checkered floor towards the shopkeeper, "Do you happen to know what's happening at the hospital?" She felt a little strange, almost like there was a slight ringing in her ears, but it faded out after a moment.

The mustached man behind the counter turned his head slightly, "If you're from the media I only know what they've said in the papers. I've also sent statements saying as much to most of the major newspapers." He straightened his back, shooting a glare across the room at you. "You're the first to ask me today, but you people have been hounding me all of yesterday afternoon. If you're not going to buy anything get the hell out." He seemed quite angry.

Alex ignored the angry dwarfish man behind the counter and stepped towards the glass that was scattered around the rightmost window, which was boarded on the inside. "Actually I'm a private eye... and I'm wondering how this window got broken if it's boarded up from outside..." She leaned forward and lightly pried back the sheet. Sure enough there was a hole in it, about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide and it was letting in daylight behind the plywood. Clearly some of the glass was swept, but not all of it. "What hit it if you don't mind me asking?"

He man seemed unsure of himself and what he should or shouldn't say. After a moment he spoke up in a somewhat held back voice, "Last night something broke in..." There was a pause, almost as if he was upset to say it, "It was like a dog, but not. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it was big. I only caught a glimpse of it while I was walking back from the storehouse in the back." At this point the dwarfish man was visibly sobbing and there was a tremble to his voice, "It was chasing my son out into the alley towards the hospital. I was about to run after him, but I heard gunfire and... I couldn't bring myself to go. I'd pay you to find him if you're looking into this anyways. It'd mean the world to me." He gestured to the back of the counter starting to get a hold of himself and wiping his tears. "I'd even let you use the back exit if you need a way in. Just be warned that they do patrols and they don't like people walking around their barricade."

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Purse
 - Pencil and Paper
 - Tiny Folding Knife
 - Lockpick (thin)
 - Surgical Gloves
 - Plastic Bags
 - Cigarettes and Lighter (x1)
 - Phone
 - .44 Special (3/6)

[Parsely]

What's in it for me?

[The Fool]

Alex tapped her fingers on the rough plywood giving the man's job offer a moment's thought. Her head started buzzing again as she turned to ask, "So... What's in it for me if I manage to find him?" It was a cold question, but let's face it, she was broke. The buzzing intensified and she felt a slight pressure on her head as if her nose was about to bleed. It sounded like a swarm of angry bees all around her, deafening her as she watched the man's mouth jump up and down in silent conversation. She shook her head as it started to fade out, "I'm sorry, what? I must have blanked out for a moment."

The man scowled at her for making him repeat the offer, "I said I'd give you all I can. $450. It's the best I can do." He crossed his arms and his mustache bunched on his upper lip as his tears began to dry, "$450 and access to the alley out back. It'll take you within a block of the hospital. All I ask is that you bring him back to me."

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Purse
 - Pencil and Paper
 - Tiny Folding Knife
 - Lockpick (thin)
 - Surgical Gloves
 - Plastic Bags
 - Cigarettes and Lighter (x1)
 - Phone
 - .44 Special (3/6)

[~Neri]

Hug him, he's sad, he needs a hug. Promise we will do whatever we can to get him back.

[Parsely]

Hug him, he's sad, he needs a hug. Promise we will do whatever we can to get him back.

+1

[3man75]

Hug him, he's sad, he needs a hug. Promise we will do whatever we can to get him back.

+1

+1

[The Fool]

She straightened up and stepped towards the short man behind the counter next to the chilled meat display, proudly showing a small plethora of various meats and cuts. She pulled out her notepad for a moment and jotted a short note. "I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes to get your son back." She rounded the opening at the end of the counter and stepped behind the till, holding her arms out to the sniffling bald dwarfish man as she knelt, enveloping him in her arms. After a moment of apprehension the man opened his arms and returned the hug with a sob. Wordlessly he guided her past the coolers and towards the backdoor of the small shop. Alex stopped him, still holding the notepad at the ready, "So how will I know if it's your son?"

"He has short black hair, and brown eyes. My son... he was wearing our leather apron and a white uniform when I saw him dart out of the store last night. Made his way down the alley towards the hospital. Might have gotten into the apartments to get away from that huge thing. They occasionally forget to lock their doors." Alex jotted what seemed important into the journal and put away the pad.

He cracked open the shoddy metal door that had clearly seen better days and nodded, not wanting to say aloud that it was clear. Alex pushed past him and into the alleyway. It was rather downtrodden and poorly maintained, but there wasn't much garbage, hinting that it wasn't used all that often. For the most part the alley was sealed with chain link fences with just two openings at the very far end for delivery trucks to enter. However because it was sealed like this it was unlikely that the police were regularly patrolling it. The beige stucco-lined apartment complex the butcher mentioned was on the left with a rather lonely door. Across from it was a row of closed garbage bins and air conditioners just a few feet above. Alex saw this and immediately thought that she would be able to get to the roof of the single storied building using parkour if she wanted to get out of the alley. The alley was quite long, and seemed to stretch onward, beyond what she'd already seen.

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Purse
 - Pencil and Paper
 - Tiny Folding Knife
 - Lockpick (thin)
 - Surgical Gloves
 - Plastic Bags
 - Cigarettes and Lighter (x1)
 - Phone
 - .44 Special (3/6)

Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Find out what's happening in Mercer Medical Hospital
 - 2 block barricade with SWAT armed police guarding
 - Shoot to kill order (?)

Find the butcher's son
 - White uniform and apron, black hair, brown eyes
 - Ran down alley. Possibly in apartments.
 - Was chased by a 'huge' dog, probably aggressive

[~Neri]

Follow the alleyway for a bit, duck out of sight if we see a patrol or something "huge" If said huge thing looks like it can smell, climb a building.

[The Fool]

Alex followed the alleyway past the apartment block, dismissing it as unlikely that he'd have the time to get into such a building before something chasing him got to him. Cigarette butts and small miscellaneous bags littered the ground as she past the door to the complex. She squinted her eyes as she walked. There was what appeared to be a small swash of blood next to the gas meters. A small tear of fabric to bloody to tell the colour of blew in the wind, plastered to the backside of a nearby building. The swash of blood she saw became a small trail as it kept going. Alex felt an urgent need to run, but as she slowed as the sounds of snapping jaws and the rattle of metal became apparent. Then she saw it, standing at the the end of the trail of blood.

It was at least three and a half feet tall and five feet long and nearly a solid black save for the massive tears in it's skin wherever it's bulging muscles were. The breaks in the fur were glowing red and the horrid smell of roasting flesh seemed to emanate from it. The head was mostly out of view in a small square opening intended for electrical maintenance, possibly trapped. Through the small gaps in the grating around the opening she could see glimpses of it's head. For whatever reason it's jaws were snapping and it was lunging feverishly at the grating, practically slamming itself into it as it's shoulders caught every time, marring the metal with it's steaming blood.

The thing seemed preoccupied, but desperate to get into the maintenance grating. Alex could easily sneak by the thing if she was quiet. It was a block and a half to the hospital.

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Purse
 - Pencil and Paper
 - Tiny Folding Knife
 - Lockpick (thin)
 - Surgical Gloves
 - Plastic Bags
 - Cigarettes and Lighter (x1)
 - Phone
 - .44 Special (3/6)

Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Find out what's happening in Mercer Medical Hospital
 - 2 block barricade with a heavily armed SWAT team guarding
 - Shoot to kill order (?)

Find the butcher's son
 - White uniform and apron, black hair, brown eyes
 - Ran down alley. Possibly in apartments.
 - Was chased by a 'huge' dog, probably aggressive

[3man75]

Sneak past the monster only taking a half glance while we do so.

[~Neri]

Sneak past the monster only taking a half glance while we do so.

+1.