It would be an understatement to describe this operation as chaotic: there is obviously a breakdown of command and control here. Ace gets distracted a lot by the local EMTs and Paramedics carting Police Officers away from the front doors, barricaded with random street effluvia and what appears to be chunks of squad cars. The constant strobe of flashing fire, law enforcement, and emergency lights makes the area look a lot like a demented rave; but you note that the people are leaving the building, not trying to re-enter it. You also note that - unlike most perimeter posts - there are no guards anywhere *near* the barricaded front doors. You also note that the doors themselves are still functional; the barricades appear to cover only the glassed-in areas between them. But why would you try to armor bullet-proof (probably rocket-proof) spalltex crystal windows with crap and debris?
Nobody even looks in your direction as you form up through the field, and head for the door. Standing in front of the doors, close enough to see shadows stirring and moving somewhere deeper inside the foyer, you see yet another four-man rescue team burst through the doors, dragging a litter between them. They don't pause at all as they turn their arc across your view to your left, and as they do you *think* you might have seen what looks like a segmented, erm, well - a LARGE-ish segmented insect leg, cyllia and all - sticking out of the lower chest/upper abdomen of an officer, still wearing his bullet-proof vest, blood spattered all around the wound. In seconds they are gone, disappearing from your view, concealed by a Fire Engine, apparently Engine #946 from West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department. Great things, these new AR ID Tags. Always giving too much information...
But your mind(s) refuse(s) to be distracted from that one vision, just a brief peek into something - something quite possibly more horrible than anyone had considered - that might be going on in there... |
