2200h. 7th JUN. 1944 - London. DDay +1
You've all slept and been fed and had some time to yourselves. The curfew and the blackout have all gone into effect, which means the streets will be fairly empty with the exception of military patrols and the occasional soldier running errands. Foley came and kicked you all out of bed, and has dragged you downstairs to the basement.
It's time to go werewolf hunting.
Characters:
Magda Horowitz
Alton Foley
Ben Rapp
Viola Sienko
Nicholas Redman
Foley has issued you all uniforms which you woke up to on your floor in front of the door. He also instructed you while you were waking up to be down in the basement in 20. Most of you have managed to get there.
The basement has been converted into a supply depot. Vetz is here filling out paperwork and whistling to himself. Foley is standing near him with his arms crossed, waiting for all of you to join him.
"How was sleep?" He asked, not sounding the least bit groggy.
There are a few crates on the floor that you might find seat-worthy.
Rapp walked into the basement, wearing his uniform, and leaned back against one of the walls. He said nothing, but casually nodded to Foley and the others gathering in the basement. Unlike the night before, he was remarkably question free.
Foley looked Rapp over. "Can you handle a rifle?"
Magda followed behind Rapp, and picked a section of the wall to lean against.
Viola picked a crate at random, and examined it to see if it was good enough to sit on. It was covered with a thin layer of dust, as were the other crates around it. She decided to stand, tired as she was. She found a spot near one of the shelves to lean against, and did so.
Rapp shook his head no. "No training, sorry," he apologized.
Foley nodded and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and lowering his head. "Can -any- of you handle a rifle?" He asked.
Vetz pulled something out of a crate behind Foley and inspected it before shouting, "Horowitz! Mail."
"I can," Viola said. Magda raised her hand. Vetz then flung the box to Magda. Grinning, Magda catches it, one-handed. She looks like Christmas came early.
The box was small, and rattled slightly as Magda caught it. "Check it. Make sure it's what you needed."
Foley looked between Vetz and Magda before looking back to Viola. "What have you handled? A Garand? M1?"
Magda checks it, and nods her approval. "You're a life-saver, Vetz." Vetz grinned to himself and continued unpacking boxes. "M1," Magda added.
Foley looks over magda and nods, looking over to Vetz who's already moving to the back of the cellar.
Viola nodded, "Likewise. Basic training, nothing special."
Foley looked over magda and nodded before looking back to Vetz who was already moving to the back of the cellar. "Get two," he said. "And get Rapp a side arm."
Vetz shouted, "You got it, Sarge," and went to work throwing things aside. He came back quickly with two paratrooper M1 carbines and two bandoleers, setting them on the make shift counter. It was really plywood over two large barrels, but it worked.
Magda took a carbine and examined it. Viola came forward and took hers, handling it with the sort of familiarity reminiscent of a kid trying to remember how to ride a bike.
Both rifles are serviceable, and in pretty good condition, though obviously issued. They appear to have been recently oiled.
Judging it to be in good condition, Magda took one of the magazines out of the package Vetz gave her, and slotted it into the carbine.
The bandoleers each have 5 magazines in them of .30 cal.
Foley handed off the holster to Rapp. "Pretend you know how to use this."
Magda took the remaining magazine out of the package and put it in one of her hip pouches with the other ammunition.
Rapp opened up the holster, looked inside, and nodded. "That I can do." He snapped it across his uniform buckles.
Foley buckled on a harness and adjusted the empty pocket of it to sit by his hip. He then lifted his own bandoleer from the ground, strapped it on, and made sure everything was good and tight. "HEre's the story.." He began while he made final adjustments. "We're on recon tonight. We're -looking- for this thing."
Viola listened to Foley as she loaded her carbine with a magazine from her bandolier.
"What that means is don't shoot it. Don't shoot it, don't scare it, don't talk to it, don't sneeze at it.." He lifted his BAR off the ground and checked the magazine in it. "Don't.. do anything."
"And what happens when we find it?" Magda asked.
Foley pulled the charging handle on his BAR and put it over his shoulder with a grin. "You assume we'll find it."
"I'm an optimist," Magda said grimly.
"This is a goose chase. I know it, most of you know it. It's likely a bear, or something else similar. Some wolves, maybe. I'm not willing to believe it's a wolfman."
"Considering we're looking for it, I think it would be good to know what to do in case we're successful," Viola said.
"But if it is.." he shuffled past you all, heading up out of the cellar. "Then we'll just have to break orders and kill it 'till it's dead."
Ben muttered to himself, "Finally, some reason."
Magda followed. "I love this plan."
"I thought it up myself." Foley said to Magda, grinning back at her. "I'll make something clear to all of you."
"So these rifles are
not decorative," Viola said with half a smile. "Nice."
He lead you all into the lobby from the cellar and reached behind the desk there. "I'll be straight with all of you. I'm not in the habit of getting people killed."
He produced a box of matches, shook them, and grinned, fumbling in his pocket for a cigarette. When he found one, he put it between his lips and lit the match, lighting the crumpled thing.
"I don't intend to let some crazy wolfman or whatever is out there change that."
"Follow orders.." he said, looking you all over. "And do what I tell you."
"If both conflict, follow the second one, and I'll take the blame."
He raised his chin, blowing smoke out of his nose like a bull. "Capiche?"
"Aye," Viola said. Magda grinned her assent. Ben nodded once.
"Good. Follow." he ordered, and pushed open the door, his rifle slung over his shoulder like some kind of hunter. Viola followed. Magda followed close behind, her rifle clutched in her hands.
The street was quiet, save for a few soldiers milling about and drinking. The occasional pedestrian is out, but nobody seems to be harassing them as they scurry to their apartments or wherever. A man reads a paper on a bench, and several soldiers are talking to what can only be a couple of hookers, dressed rather whorishly, not far off down the street in front of a closed down bar.
Foley took his gun from his shoulder and walked with it at his hip. He appeared to know the way, and lead you down the street, sticking to the sidewalk.
The night air is cold and the moon is waxing. In a few days it'll likely be full.
Ben took a deep breath of the crisp night air and fell into step next to Magda. "Nice night to be hunting a wolf man, wouldn't you say?" he quipped at her and smiled.
She returned a faint smile, but her eyes were elsewhere, scouring the alleys and shadows for anything out of the ordinary. "Like a walk in the park, with guns."
Viola walked between Madga and Ben, and Foley, her rifle also in her hand. She took in her surroundings as she went, keeping an eye out for anything peculiar.
As Foley leads you down the street, nothing really seems amiss. Nothing stands out, or catches your eye as being strange, save for a small pack of dogs rooting through garbage in one of the alleys you pass.
The town slowly gets more and more bombed out as you near it's center.
As you turn a few side streets, you notice that whole buildings have been crumbled to nothing but dust. Others are charred remains, skeletal structures that once housed people.
You pass an orphanage that the night before was filled with kids and now houses only the dead, it's walls bulging awkwardly from what can only be the concussion it held inside it. Glass litters the street along with debris.
It slowly smokes from it's center, though no fire is there to be seen.
Foley blew smoke out the side of his mouth as you pass this site. He eyes it over carefully and shakes his head. "Christ." he muttered under his breath and then tossed his cigarette into the pile of ashes as he walked past.
"Keep your eyes peeled and weapons hot. Around here is where it's been spotted."
Viola looked at the destruction around her with a practiced detachment, her eyes searching for their target.
Rapp sighed as he passed the orphanage. He had read about the bombing earlier, but was only now seeing it for the first time. He shook his head side to side and continued to walk.
Foley tucked the butt of his rifle into the small harness at his hip, adjusted it, and looked around as he walked, his pace slowing.
The center of town is a mess. A large circular area with the center of it a monument of debris and waste. Dust and grime cover everything, and broken glass sparkles all over like stars in the ashes.
"Maybe we should have brought a raw steak," Magda muttered, hardly louder than a whisper. "You know, for bait."
Here, there is no movement, there is no sound. Only the light of the moon shows off this grim no-mans land.
"We have Rapp." Foley said, looking around. "He's about as Fresh Meat as this company gets."
"Touche," said Magda.
Foley pulled his flashlight from the clip on his gear and turned it on.
Ben ignored the comment and instead scanned the buildings with a trained journalists eyes - remembering details, touches of color. He tried to reconcile what was once here, a few years ago, with what it had now become.
Magda made a mental note: From now on, Rapp's nickname was Wolf Bait.
The light coming from it was dark red and faded quickly from the center. Foley moved to the center of the monument o' dirt and hiked up it, easily. He found a jutting piece of wood that had likely been a rafter of some sort and sat on it, making sure it wouldn't fold. He then sighed and looked around. "We camp here for a bit."
Viola stayed near the bottom of the pile, her senses on alert.
"Get comfy and stay alert," Foley said. "No telling what we'll see, or if we'll see it." A few minutes pass with the slowness of molasses over a block of ice.
It slowly turns to an hour.
You spot nothing at all. Not a thing.
Magda picked a spot on the opposite side of the rubble monument from Viola, leaning against a segment of pavement that now jutted out of the ground vertically.
Ben removed a cigarette from his pocket and smoked through it quickly. Its end making a tiny speck of red in the darkness. When he finished it, he tossed it into the pile of dirt and stamped it out with his foot.
Viola paced, so that her guard didn't relax.
After an hour had passed, Ben threw a few shadow punches into the night air. To keep his feet from growing restless, he bounced around in a stance for a few times and then dropped his hands to his side to look at Foley's chimneys.
"This wouldn't be so bad if we had a fire and marshmallows," said Magda.
"Maybe we should do more looking rather than waiting?" Viola offered by way of suggestion.
Foley grunted and pointed off into the sky where he'd been staring the last hour. "See those Chimneys?" he asked. He indicated a few chimneys off toward the south part of town. There were few places still standing, and few more were actually populated. Among these buildings were a few lucky enough to have a fire going. "Now look over there." Foley said, pointing off into the bombed out part of town to the west. The sky was utterly blank there, save for a whispy trail of smoke rising from somewhere in the ruins. "Just about everyone is living in the tubes right now. Underground. I doubt that thats just some camp fire."
"So the werewolf gets a campfire and we don't?" Magda asked.
Foley grunts and then slides off his perch. "Lets go check it out." As you begin to move out, something falls off a nearby roof. Twisting her arms out behind her into a full-body stretch, Magda yawned, and then followed Foley.
The sound of concrete scraping concrete echoes in the empty space as a large corner from one of the buildings roof tops cracks and falls away, smashing onto the ground.
Magda tensed, pointing her gun in the direction of the noise. Foley aimed his gun at it, and then up at the roof. Rapp opened up his holster and pulled out his sidearm. He aimed it in the direction of the roof.
You all wait a few minutes but spot nothing. Nothing at all. Foley throws up a hand and walks slowly, noting for all of you to walk very quietly. Magda walked very quietly.
Foley seemed to relax a bit after looking around, though his hand never left his weapon. "Lets go check that house." He said, sounding almost too anxious to get the fuck out of there. He began walking towards the nearest gap in the buildings which would lead to the farther part of the ruins. He watched the roof tops as he went.
Magda's eyes scanned the broken landscape, not reassured that the noise was the innocent decomposition of blasted brick and mortar. But she followed Foley. Viola did likewise, her eyes scanning the shadows between buildings in particular.
As you near a half-blown out building, you hear more shuffling and bits of debris fall from the roof, passing from one blown out floor to the other until they land on the large mound of upturned dirt where Foley is standing. Foley looks up and squints.
Magda leaned over to Rapp. "If the werewolf eats me, I leave to you all my whiskey and comic books."
"You've got comic books?" Rapp asked incredulously.
"Shut up," Foley hissed and took a few more steps until he could get into the bombed out building's second floor. He placed his foot on the broken floor boards and then pushed off, managing to not trip and die.
"BLAM BLAM!!"
You hear gunfire.
It echoes through the area, the flashes coming from an alley close by.
"Sarge?" Magda asked.
Foley steps back onto the pile of debris. "Sounded like a .45. American."
Viola turned sharply in the direction of the gunfire. "One of ours?" Her voice showed that she didn't really believe that.
As the question is asked, something bolts from the alley way and into the street. It crosses the gap in a sprint, and then disappears into one of the buildings across the way that still stands. It looked fairly man-shaped.
Foley nods. "After it."
But before he can step down from the mound, the roof above him makes am ominous cracking sound.
Viola starts running. Magda bolts for it.
Viola's attention is completely focused on the shape in front of her, and she didn't quite register the roof cracking. Magda did hear the roof cracking, and she wants to get away from it as soon as possible. Foley beat it to, running back to the center of the square just as part of the roof fell in. Ben stepped back and towards the girls and their rifles.
It hit the third floor, paused, broke through with a squeal of breaking boards, and hit the second floor in a cloud of dust and debris. Something kicks around and snorts in the debris.
Viola is still running towards the shape, making for the building that it entered. Viola disappears from view, entering the building where she saw the 'man' run.
Magda points her gun towards the shape moving in the debris.
"RAPP, JESUS, RUN!" Foley shouted as he ran past Ben. Whatever it is, it's fast, and it leaps from the cloud of dust, tailing Foley. IT's huge. Rapp hustled after Foley. Magda sprints into the building after Viola.
The creature is at least Twice the size of Foley, who's pretty big, and it's rapidly gaining on Ben and Foley.
"SHIT!" Foley shouts, running hard. "God damnit it's a fucking wolfman!"
Through grit teeth, as Ben chased beside Foley, the journalist asked, "So why don't we shoot him?"
Magda stops, aims her gun at the monster, and fires off a round.
The creature runs on all fours and it appears to be covered in a thick coat of fur, as described. It's white fangs glisten with saliva in the moonlight, and it becomes abundantly apparent that this thing is, in fact, a wolf of some kind, only it's as big as a car.
Not waiting to see if she hit anything, Magda ran away again.
It's claws make skittering noises as they find purchase on the stone ground, and they kick up debris behind them. Magda's bullet whizzes by the creature and it howls. It howls like a dog who's been kicked and abandons it's chase as you all enter the building where Viola ran. You spot it running for the shadows just as you enter.
You all pile into the main room of the building where Viola is standing. Foley waits for Rapp to pass him and slams the door shut behind him. As if that will stop the wolfman..
Magda wheezed, trying to catch her breath between bursts of very foul German. "Did I hit it? Did I hit it?"
Rapp leaned back against the wall to catch his breath. He inhaled deeply. Exhaled. Inhaled.
Foley braced the door, checking his gun and then looking through a small window at the top of the roof. "I think so." he responded, breathing heavily.
"Hit what?" Viola asked. "There was another one?"
Foley then turned to Viola and spoke, rather reluctantly. "The wolf man."
"Not at all like Lon Chaney." Magda said.
Foley frowned as if finally, he was proven wrong, and hated it more than the idea of a wolfman.
"Hollywood lied to us." Magda looked pissed.
Viola muttered something altogether unladylike.
"I just saw one run into this building," Viola said.
She turned to Foley, "Just how many of these are there?"
Foley sighed. "Where did it go?"
"I don't know. I checked around down here, but nothing. I was heading for the stairs when you all rushed in."
"Like I fucking know?" Foley answered, looking at the door as he leaned off it.
Viola looked at the door. "Why is that door closed?"
Foley aimed his gun up the stairs and began to ascend. "Someone watch the door."
"Because there's a wolfman out there."
With a glance at Rapp and Viola, Magda followed Foley.
Rapp shrugged and pointed his sidearm at the door.
"No escape routes. Is that altogether wise?" Viola said as she ascended with Foley.
"The door -can- open, you know," Foley responded.
Viola shakes her head. "If you say so."
Foley made it to the second floor and then tripped with a loud cracking noise as the top stair buckled under his weight. Viola's hand lashed out reflexively towards Foley.
"Shit!" he uttered, and scrambled to pull his leg free. "Shit." Foley took Viola's arm and tried to wrench himself out of the hole.
Magda looked around the second floor, not keen on a werewolf taking this opportunity to attack when the Sarge was trapped.
Someone in the room asks, "You're not the most observant band, are you?" His voice is deep and coarse, like he drinks and smokes more than six people.
Magda points her gun in the direction of the voice.
The owner of the voice sticks his head out from behind a tipped couch, a gun in his hand. He keeps it lowered, and not pointed at anyone.
Foley does the same, his leg still stuck.
Ben considered switching targets to the voice, but keeps it on the door. He's been shot at by people before - the double-sized werewolf thing scares him more.
Viola, alert, keeps her eyes trained on the source of her voice, her rifle at the ready, though she hoped she wouldn't have to fire it as her other hand was occupied.
Foley gave a few tugs on his leg, and sacrificed his aim for a moment. He wrenched himself free, the top stair falling away to the ground below, and stood awkwardly on the top step as he readjusted his aim.
"That creature was a foot above your collective heads, ready to pounce. For a bunch of folk hunting wolfmen, you have a funny way of missing them." The man gave them a shrugging, half smile, his voice raw and rattly. He then walked off the stairs and into what was likely a den, making room for everyone else to join him.
"Funny, like ha ha?" Ben quipped.
"Who are you?" Foley asks, and looks out one of the bombed out windows facing the street.
Nicholas looks the group over once more, and holsters his pistol. Seconds later, it is replaced with a Lucky Strike, lit with a zippo. He stands up. Viola got off the rickety stairs, both hands on her rifle.
Nicholas then glanced at the rest of the room. A hallway leads to the rest of the upper floor, rooms on either side of it. A single door leads off of this room, nearer to the stairs.
Magda lowers her gun, but still keeps in pointed in the stranger's direction.
The ceiling is made of floor boards, and through them you can barely make out the night sky through the third floor, where the roof has been taken to pieces.
"This from the guy who ran away from the thing?" Viola muttered.
Foley repeats again, looking out the window a second t
