Corona

[NativeForeigner]

From outside, the door to the Dance Hall was heard being slammed open.
Jesse found plenty of cloth and string that he could make a bag from.  

[SiberDrac]

Jesse had stuffed the Swiss army knife in his jacket pocket, but took it out again as Ton'yell answered. Hey, she has good ideas sometimes.
Of course she does! Alex shot back defensively.
She's why we're still alive, Chris snorted derisively.
"Screw you two," he mumbled under his breath, and started fashioning makeshift bags from the soft clothing, hoping it wouldn't dampen the explosions too much. Laces from shoes and jackets made excellent ties. It was too bad the stuff was too volatile to shake hard enough to test the ties; they'd just have to trust the bags to stay closed. In all, he made ten mini-flash-bangs, each with enough powder to temporarily blind someone and maybe burn their eyebrows off, if they got too close. He looked at Rebecca, considered her, and gave Ton'yell five, held in a larger sack.

"Don't shake 'em. Stuff'll go off if you blow on it too hard. It'll make running hard, but just keep 'em padded and we'll be good." He grabbed a few more, broader pieces of material, laid them on the floor, then jumped as the sound of the door opening echoed through the hall. "Stupid kid." He moved up to the curtain to check where he had come in. "Followed us. We didn't even kill 'is freakin' mom. Needs to find that Tom jack-tard." He held one flash-bang in his hand and laid the other four on the ground.  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell nodded and took the bag of explosives. She then carefully stuffed them in her purse so that they wouldn't move around much. As soon as the door slammed open, she had instinctively gotten into a fighting stance with her makeshift staff. She heard Jesse say it was the kid. She put down her purse and walked over to see the mysterious kid.

"Jesse, if we end up having to fight this kid, I want you to hit him from far away. There's something wrong with these people, and I mean more than their minds." She'd remembered the brown blood. "They may be infected with something, so don't touch their blood if you can help it."  

[NativeForeigner]

Jesse saw the boy... sniffing around as he looked for them. He saw the curtains move and made a bee-line for them, moving rapidly on all fours.

***

Tom and Rebecca both heard heavy footsteps heading up the stairs.  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell was surprised to say the least. The boy was fast - extraordinarily fast. Jesse had attempted to throw one of the makeshift bombs, but the boy dodged them. "Move back!" she drawled - her accent was coming back out again.

Again she got into her defensive stance as the boy neared. "Boy, you best back off," she told the crazy boy. It probably wasn't going to affect his decision, but at least she'd given a warning.  

[NativeForeigner]

The boy quickly closed the distance between he and Ton'yell and lunged at her from roughly five feet away.
He was flying for her head, screaming as he jumped.  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell saw two ways that this could end. One) she could smack him away and have him potentially attack Rebecca and Jesse. Two) she could hold the stick in front of her so that he'd smack himself right onto the broom stick.

With a deep amount of sorrow, she held the staff out in front of her - whether the boy would just be knocked out or impaled depended on how much strength the boy put into his lunge.  

[NativeForeigner]

The boy smacked the broom stick away, but Ton'yell still managed to clip his hip, sending him to the side and to the floor. He landed on his back, but he twisted his body and got back to all fours an instant after hitting the ground.  

[Isa-sama]

It was going to be hard for Ton'yell to fight this boy. For the longest time, she'd wanted a child to call her own - now she was having to hurt one. She flinched as the boy hit the ground, and stared in horror at the murky brown blood on the end of her weapon. I...I don't want to hurt this child. She gripped the broom stick hard. She wanted to stop. But that would mean Jesse and Rebecca would be targeted.

A child of her own. It was a dream, and a foolish one at that. Ever since college, she'd never felt ready to begin new relationships of the romantic sort. Not after the son of a b***h took advantage of her. It wasn't enough for the b*****d, though was it? He took every child from me. After the medical exam, the doctors explained that she could never have children - she was too damaged and wouldn't be able to handle the strain of carrying one. At first, that was okay. She felt she'd never want a child or be ready to take care of one. Later, she felt the need to have her own, and that was when she truly realized the damage that man had caused her.

Then along came Alex. Here was a boy who had 2 other people in his head and had family issues. Slowly she found herself caring for him more than as a patient. She wanted him as a son. However, she was careful not to show it. None of them would appreciate it, and her job required that she help him with any issues he had. Besides, she wanted to help him, not bother him with her personal feelings. And now to save him, I need to stop this other child. It would kill her on the inside, but the lives of two children depended on the downfall of this strange child. Now would be a good time to throw a mini-bomb.  

[SiberDrac]

It was not going to be hard for Jesse to fight this boy. Or at least, he didn't originally think it was going to be. He picked up a flash-bang and tossed it at the oncoming attacker, but missed by a long shot. Heat and light pulsed at him and momentarily blinded him, but he was not to be stopped. Enraged, he grabbed for another one, but this time felt something tug at him. It was Chris.

God damn it, woman, can't you leave me alone?

You're being an ignoramus! He'll hit Ton'yell first, and she doesn't want to hurt him, so she'll either grab him or throw him away. Use your head.

Jesse shook himself. Stupid girl. Huh, thought she knew stuff... but it sounded okay. He snorted angrily and hefted another bomb, then watched the short explosion of combat. When the boy was thrown back, he hurled the flash-bang at him and shielded his eyes with an arm.  

[Dreamshell]

Their reunion interrupted by the noise, Tom held Becca to him and pulled his gun out where it sat tucked in his jeans against the small of his back. He was quickly grateful he had forgotten about it earlier; though the woman had still died, at least it had been an accident. Who knew how worse things might have been had he remembered his firearm earlier…

“Becca, what the hell is going on here?” he asked his wife as he prepped the gun.  

[NativeForeigner]

The boy shrieked and covered his eyes with his hands as he fell on his back, blinded. He began to scramble and flail on the ground, his eyes clamped shut as he tried to right himself.

***

The footsteps slowly made their way up the stairs and heavy breathing soon followed. Two large hands, dark veins bulging and fingernails dirty, gripped the wall. An obese Hispanic pulled himself up the stairs and into the room.

His eyes, the whites of which were a dirty yellow, settle onto the two in a hateful glare.  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell had to shut her eyes at the flash. She flinched as she heard the boy scream. When she opened her eyes, she found him curled up on the ground. This wasn't the time to pity or worry though. "'Kay kids, let's go." She gave her purse to Jesse to carry. "Whatchu'all waitin' for? Move!" She ushered them ahead of herself to run up a flight of stairs. Damnit, Tom, where the ******** are you? If she ever found that man, she was tearing him a new one.  

[Dreamshell]

Jesus Christ, another one?

Tom held up the gun, exasperated. He was in a house full of crazies, going crazy himself. And if Ton’yell was right about not being able to get out… but no, there had to be another way. There had to be. Right?

“Beck, babe, get ready to run,” he told his wife. Tom Sumner wasn’t playing anymore ******** games. Faltering for a split second, he aimed his revolver at the Hispanic’s foot and fired, hoping the fat nutjob might react like any normal human being and tend to his injury, thus providing Tom and Becca with an escape route.  

[SiberDrac]

Jesse flicked his glance over to Rebecca as he delicately caught the purse. The girl couldn't possibly hold it? "Seriously, Tony?" he asked, staring at the bag. But there was clearly no arguing with Ton'yell at this point; he gave up quickly.

Rebecca had been quiet this whole time - too quiet. It was starting to get a little strange. It was possibly a side effect of whatever had made her scream like that. God damn crazies all over this God damn house.

You watch your language!
Shut it, Chris.

He ran ahead of Ton'yell to the top of the stairs and saw Tom and some woman facing down yet another fat man. What the hell was wrong with people? "Cover your eyes, people!" he shouted, and chucked a flash "grenade" at the fat man's feet, belatedly noticing that at least one said foot was already going to be out of commission. He shielded his eyes.