Plymuth had found himself a new hide-out. In the far corner of the hotel basement, part of the ceiling had collapsed but he was able to find a small tunnel through the debris. It lead to what he figured was an old laundry room by the old washing machines that aside from a thick layer of dust looked to be in working order. There was the remnants of a laundry chute, but something had sheered off and twisted the metal making the end result for anyone riding down it a very painful experience. There was an aluminum ladder leaning against the wall in the corner of the room leading up and through a hole in the high ceiling where someone had hacked through the rotted wood. He climbed up, and cautiously poked his head up and shone his flash light around a bathroom. Apparently the laundry room had an escape route to the main floor via one of the hotel-rooms. Even though there was little chance of someone going through every room to find the hole, Plymuth being the cautious person he was covered the hole in the bathroom with several sheets he found in a bin to obscure it. There was no way a person could squeeze down the hole without hitting the noisy ladder so he was pretty content that he would be awoken by an intruder.

Plymuth wrapped his arms around a standard sized washing machine and carried it over to block the other entrance to the room. There were plenty of old blankets, still in good condition and so he was able to fix himself a nice bed, although not as comfortable as the mattress he had to give up.

It was quiet now, and Plymuth hoped it would remain so. His spear gun at his side, the weary traveller laid his head back and fell asleep.

Jack had kept his finger on the trigger ever since he had seen Kitty enter the ‘building’ or dare he say purposely fell into the trapdoor. He was bored at this waiting finally releasing his finger from the trigger he sat back after being prone on the edge for a good few hours he had slight cramp. He looked at the black box remote all seemed clear. Suddenly a compact grenade blast was heard Jack checked the remotes lights all continued to blink green which was a good sign. He peered out seeing a small crater in the sand where it had detonated.

“That was random.”

He sat back again ‘I can wait’ he thought to himself he turned his head seeing a small dust cloud in the distance.

“Hmm a car, I think.”

Praying it wasn’t the army with their tin cans. He turned back to his rifle he glanced down the scope to find to his surprise a ‘Shock Trooper’ the main assault squad of the special forces the collared helmet had been deployed meaning it was impossible to identify him as an individual.

“He seems familiar?” his question drifting away from his lips.


Rarmon wiped the thick ‘mud’ whatever brown stinking substance. Walking out of the pool area he closed the door securely locking it with some makeshift bending of a pipe which he ripped from a handy standing lamp. Rarmon followed Leo and the others at some distance finding the showers they searched. They had found a working shower. Rarmon on the other hand had found a ‘semi’ working shower it simply had enough water flowing to clean his clothes he was halfway through it when they heard the heavy boom and vibration of a grenade. This situation causing them all to run out to investigate Rarmon being dripping wet saw to his grate relief Tom was still alive with a…….. huge teddy bear? No can’t be that stupid his scanners continued to analyse the bear in half disbelief but certain files from the military database showed such things existed.

Rarmon turned away listening to them talking of cleaning and the blond haired annoyance his HUD putting a small tag on the voice. “Avoid at all costs motivation for the action of the vocal compile system.” He smiled at his own comment he turned and began to walk to look for ‘something to wear.’ To put an honest point across his true objective ‘find something to shoot! .’ (smiley included) Rarmon had walked up a few corridors he looked into what had probally been clean rooms but 'formally' looted he reached a suite with a safe door some fool had tried shooting the lock with a shotgun. Giving a snort he gave a hard shoulder barge to the hinges the screws jumping from the skirtings of the wood and he was blessed. He walked forward to in his eyes was a dry cleaned overcoat he threw his ragged torn excuse for a coat to the floor taking the new one he slung it on. To his pleasure it fitted he found a blue vest but he wanted a white one but he finally found black he slung off his manky rag of 'white' slipping into the black.

"Might as well look good when fighting?"

He wandered around finding a whole draw full of cloths it seemed to have a mixed selection men and womens he gave a shrug and started to head for the showers again carrying the 'tray' with ease.

As Rarmon went about his way and searched the place for clothes, Kitty kept her vigil at the doorway to the showers. Thankfully, just as Leo and Gavin were finishing up, the cyborg came back carrying a large drawer with him. Quirking her brows, Kitty tilted her head slightly as she saw the way he was now ‘dressed’. To say the least, she was a bit surprised at his choice of ‘clothing’. As he approached then set the drawer down on the floor, Kitty gave a long, appraising whistle, smirking and nodding her head. Her hands moved as she signed to Rarmon.

looking sharp. never knew you had such fashion sense.

Hearing the water from the showers turn off, she glanced quickly over her shoulder then signed once more to Rarmon.

let leo and gavin know clothes here and I go around corner for privacy

Rarmon moved the cigar stub from one side of his mouth to the other and nodded.

“Sure thing.”

As Kitty moved away and turned the corner of the corridor then stopped, she heard Rarmon’s voice tell the guys the coast was clear.

“Got some clothes out here for you two. Coast is clear for you to come out and get ‘em.”

Leo and Gavin both peeked out the door to the showers and looked up and down the corridor. Seeing that Kitty was no where in sight, they quickly picked out some clothes that looked like they would fit and slipped them on as both of them gave Rarmon a rather quizzical look then glanced at each other. Gavin just shrugged. If the robot wanted to wear a dinner jacket, then who were they to say differently? Thankfully the clothes were a good fit. A little loose, but at least they didn’t have to worry about them pinching or being too short. Each one was able to get a pair of faded jeans. Leo chose a blue t-shirt and Gavin took a tan one. Leo was still shrugging into the t-shirt when he called to Kitty.

“Kitty? You there?”

Kitty peered around the corner of the wall and saw Leo tugging his short down and Gavin running his fingers through his wet hair to get it out of his eyes. Nodding, she walked around the corner and towards the men. Leo gave her a welcoming smile and Gavin nodded as Leo spoke up.

“Water’s a little cool, but it does feel good to get that mud and stench off ya. We found some soap and stuff in there. Seems that sort of stuff never goes bad. Damn good thing too. That mud was really stubborn. Go ahead. I’ll keep watch so you can get a shower now.”

Leo gave Rarmon a nod as Kitty handed Leo her gun then slipped into the shower room.

“Thanks, Rarmon. The clothes are good.”

Rarmon took a puff off his cigar stub and nodded.

“No problem.”

“I’ll stay here with Kitty.”

Rarmon nodded and shifted his gun to his other hand.

“Just yell if you need help.”

Leo nodded as the cyborg began to talk away.

“I will. Promise.”

Gavin looked over at Leo.

“You sure you’ll be OK here by yourselves?”

Leo smiled and nodded.

“Yeah. If anything happens we’ll let everyone know. Kinda hard to miss Kitty’s warning.”

Leo chuckled slightly and shook his head as Gavin appeared to roll his eyes.

“Tell me about it.”

Gavin turned and followed behind Rarmon as they headed back to the others.

Leo could hear the water flowing from the shower and heard the water as it hit the hard, tiled shower floor as Kitty washed the mud from her hair and body. He tried not to think of this as anything but him guarding the shower, but he couldn’t help but think of Kitty on the other side of the door. To break the tension he was creating for himself, he called into her.

“When you’re done and need the clothes, just let me know and I’ll slide the drawer into you. That way you don’t have to worry about stepping out into the hallway.”

Knowing Kitty wouldn’t give him an audible reply, he took it on faith she heard what he said. Her hearing was rather good, he convinced himself. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the water was turned off and he concentrated on listening to hear Kitty come up behind him. Being very careful NOT to turn around any at all, he was still taken by surprise when he felt the soft tap to his shoulder and startled slightly.

Dammit. How the hell did he NOT hear her? He bent down and carefully pushed the drawer behind him then quickly stood back up with his back to the door. He heard the drawer being slid over the floor a short ways then all went silent again. A few minutes later, Kitty walked out of the shower tugging the bottom of a thin strapped shirt down. She chose a pair of shorts that once more exposed her striped legs. Carrying her hiking boots in her hand, she handed Leo his boots as well. Both pairs were wet, but void of the mud that had nearly sucked them off their feet.

Like Leo, Kitty’s hair was wet and while it no longer dripped from the tips, it was slicked back by her fingers and fell haphazardly over her brow. Giving Leo a small smile, she signed her thanks then thumbed over her shoulder before she signed once more.

help carry drawer up to others?

It took Leo a few seconds to understand what she was asking but when he got it, he nodded.

“Sure…let’s go.”

Each one carried their boots in one hand and in their free hand they each carried an end of the drawer and made their way back to the others. Now that Kitty had the mud washed off her body, she kept picking up on that scent she caught a slight whiff of earlier. She knew it was warm blooded. And male. That was about all, right now, but she was going to find out exactly what it was as soon as she could. She wanted to know who was in the place with them.

When they came back up to the others, she and Leo set the drawer down and she signed to Tom.

water is nice. your turn. i go to keep guard. choose clothes to take with you.

Kitty glanced at Leo then looked back to Tom and signed again.

when done, we go search. can smell other. want to make sure not threat. need to find food and drinking water as well

Tom, signed back a thank you and to be careful. He then rested a hand gently on the creatures arm and motioned for him to sit and wait, that he would return shorty. Tom then selected another t-shirt and jeans from the drawer and moved off towards the showers. The creature stood and followed Tom, ducking to get under the door way of the shower room that housed the shower room and locker area. Tom disrobed and stepped into the shower, turned on one of the showers and began to clean himself. The creature watched curriously then stepped into the large shower room, Tom reached over and turned on two shower heads in a corner. The creature tentatively stepped into the multiple steams and sat on the floor as the cool water cascaded down over him.

Tom stepped back to his showerhead and continued to bath, when he had finished he turned off the shower, stepped over and turned off the two showers that had been cascading down over the creature, then stepped back. The creature stood and shook himself, sending a spray of water through out the shower.
Tim smiled and said "You fell better now my furry friend?" He then stepped out and dried himself and put the new clothes on. Tim then walked back out to where the others were with his hair still damp from his shower.

Plymuth couldn't sleep. For the past half of an hour or so the ancient pipes in the building had been squealing and it occurred to him that the building like most before the cataclysm probably used a coil system on the roof, much like they had in Avalon. Large black hoses were coiled on the roof tops and the sun would heat the water, then gravity and a series of smaller hoses generated the water pressure. It also meant that someone, somewhere was showering and they either left the water running or there was more than one person. Probably those brigands cleaning up after their mud bath he supposed, who else would it be?

He closed his eyes once more. With the other strangers in the building, Texan would probably be a little more concerned with them than seeking vengeance for his broken nose. Confident in his theory, Plymuth relaxed and began to believe that he may yet get some sleep after all.

As Tom had the furry creature to keep watch over him, Kitty took the time to head out and start exploring the place. Her nose twitched constantly as she caught the scent of different things. While the earthy decaying smell of the pool area was washed off her, she could still catch a whiff of it from time to time. No doubt from the air moving through the place. Each time she thought of that it made her shiver.

Slowly making her way along the corridor and back towards the steps, Kitty decided to go past the steps and head down another long corridor, took a left down a second corridor then a right into yet another corridor placing her on the opposite side of the pool area. Apparently this corridor was where the staff did all the behind the scenes things. Large linen closets with the doors either half open or torn off seemed to line the place. One had what appeared to be table linens. Another had apparently been where all the sheets for the beds were stored. Further down one had the other bed linens such as blankets and bed spreads. Kitty made note of all of these things so she could tell the others. Some of this would come in handy when they decided to move out again.

Another room seemed to be extra storage for dining hall chairs and tables and finally at the end of the hall, she came upon an area where the building had collapsed and caused part of the ceiling to collapse. Again her nose twitched as she caught the scent of something she had caught scent of earlier. Faintly, but it was there. Lifting her nose to the tunnel like opening she could see, she began to let her sense of smell tell her what was there. Warm blooded. Still alive. Not bleeding. And…..male. Blinking, she thought perhaps it was that man who had the slave girl from upstairs and she decided to pay him a little visit.

Curious now, as was her nature, Kitty found the opening big enough for her to get in and she cautiously made her way to the other side and found herself blocked by what appeared to be some sort of metal machinery. With barely enough room for her to turn around so her feet were now in front of her, she placed her feet on the smooth metal of the machine and pushed. She was rewarded with the thing sliding across the floor making that unmistakable metal scraping across concrete sound.

Another few pushes with her feet and Kitty slowly eased herself into the room. Using the machine as cover, she peered out from behind and over the machine to look around. She could see the make shift bed he had made for himself but he was no where to be found. No doubt the sound of the machine alerted him to someone coming into the room.

As Kitty slowly stalked from behind the machine looking every bit like the tiger her DNA was spliced with, her tiger eyes searched the area for any signs of the man. If it hadn’t been for where her tank top and shorts made a solid pattern, her exposed, striped skin almost allowed her to blend in with the surroundings.

Slowly standing a little taller but still crouched, Kitty sniffed the air again to try and zero in on the man. Where are you? she thought. I can smell you, but I can’t see you or hear you. So where are you hiding. Taking a few steps out form the machine, she moved towards his make shift bed to see if there was any clue of his where abouts there.

When the washing machine moved, Plymuth was up like a shot and retreated behind the large stacked washer and dryer units in the corner of the room. He noticed that there was crawl space behind them, and so he had stashed his gear their just in case the very situation he was currently in happened.

The room was dim. Slivers of light filtered in through the ceiling above allowing Plymuth's eyes to see quite well. As he watched through a gap about the width of a man's arm, between two units he gripped his triple barreled spear gun tightly. There were only two ways to get to where he was and that was the entrance to the crawl space to his left or up and over the nine foot tall units. Either way he'd have a clear shot, but after that, he'd be seriously, &#$*ed, if there were more than three of the bastards.

Plymuth grimaced when he saw the feline creature peek over the fallen washing machine and skulk about the room, sniffing the air like an animal. She, however, from what he could see looked fairly feminine, despite her markings and contemplated whether he could take her hand to hand if he had to. Hopefully, though, it wouldn't come to that, but the way she was sniffing the air it seemed to Plymuth that besides looking like a cat she probably had the nose of one, so it was only a matter of time before she located him.

To his left, directly in line with to the space between the units and the wall was the ladder going up. He could make it, but then he'd have climb and shoot and that was just a bad idea, besides there was no way he was going to leave his gear to some over grown alley cat.

She moved toward where he had been sleeping and lost sight of her. Straining his ears, Plymuth tried to pick up any sound from the striped woman but heard nothing. "Bullocks." he thought, while crouching down low. He watched the entrance to the narrow space behind the washing units, while also trying to keep an eye above should the cat decide to take a leap.

Kitty knew that who ever the male was she smelled was still in the room. She could practically feel the heat he emitted. When she got to his make shift bed, she leaned in closer and got a very good smell of him. Knowing then that was the same scent she picked up on earlier, only fainter, she was still unsure if it was the man who had the slave girl upstairs. The scent of the man who had the slave girl lingered on the girl and it wasn’t this, yet she HAD smelled this scent when she entered the hotel, near the girl.

Furrowing her brows, Kitty let her nose lead the way and her sight to help her along. Turning towards he stacked machine, she tilted her head slightly. There was no doubt about it. The scent was strongest in this location. Letting her eyes slide down slightly, she saw the toe of a boot sticking out from behind the machine on the bottom. Knowing now this was where the man was, she gave a soft growl.

Slowly waking back towards the machine Kitty moved to gain access to the room, she walked to the other side of it then made some sounds like she was climbing back into the machine and back into the tunnel she came through. In reality, she ducked down behind it and waited. The man would come out of hiding eventually.

And when he did, Kitty would be waiting.

Plymuth could hear the feline mutant head back the way she came, or had she? He had his doubts, since she suddenly went from being cat-like to as loud as a bull by the way she stomped on the old the washing machine. It was obvious that she wouldn't be heard unless she purposely made some noise and he figured that's exactly what she did.

"Christ." He swore silently to himself. The longer he waited the worse things were going to get, especially if some of her friends showed up, so he decided to stop the 'cat and mouse' and try and communicate.

"I know you're out there." Plymuth called. "Look, I'm not here to get in anybody's face, I'm just trying to get some rest before nightfall, then I'm outta this pace, and she's all yours. You understand?

Plymuth remained in his hiding place and awaited a response.

If anyone could see Kitty’s ears, they would have seen them twitch slightly. When the man’s voice reached her ears, she perked up and tilted her head to see if there were any other sounds that would tell her he had a weapon or anything else she should be careful of, other than the man himself.

He was smart, Kitty thought. Obviously he had been through something like this before or he thought a lot like herself. Either way, she admired his attempt to figure out what the hell she was up to without being sneaky about it. The only BAD thing about all of this was the fact she couldn’t really communicate audibly with him.

Or could she?

Glancing around Kitty saw some crumbled pieces of brick she could use as throwing stones. Not big enough to hurt him but big enough to get his attention to the point where she could at least flush him out from behind the stacked machines so she could come face to face with him. At least at a distance.

Quickly gathering up several of the pieces, Kitty leapt onto the washing machine she had moved out of the way and took a crouched, ready to pounce stance. Setting the pieces of brick at the toe of her left foot, she tossed one of the pieces towards the machines he used as cover and was rewarded with a clanking noise when the brick piece hit the machines.

“What the hell?!”

Kitty heard the man’s voice and again she sent another brick piece in his direction. When she saw him peer out from the machines, she gestured for him to come on out. While she knew this wasn’t the man Tom had the confrontation with and had the girl upstairs, she was still wary of him because he had gone to great lengths to conceal his presence. While she could completely understand why one would want to do something like that, she also didn’t want to take the chance he could harm any of her companions.

As the man hesitated, Kitty threw another piece of brick towards him, hitting the machines again. This time she snarled slightly as she motioned for him to come out. While it wasn’t the friendliest gesture she could have done, she couldn’t help it. It was simply her animal nature that surfaced.

When she saw movement from the man she stopped moving herself and got ready to pounce at him, if he showed any signs of hostility or threaten to attack her. Muscles coiled and ready to go, her body trembled slightly like a coiled spring ready to let go at any moment.

Tom, sniffed the air, cocked his head slightly and looked at the others "Where is Kitty? I smell the presence of another, not the one that attacked us but one of his race. He is not far away and Kitty's scent is close to his. They are not intermingled but at the same distance."

Tom moved off in the direction the scent drew him, sighning for the creature to stay and protect the others.

Plymuth scowled when the cat-woman snarled, but made no other sudden movements so as not to set her off. "Nice, kitty. Good, kitty. Can't talk, eh?" He said as he moved out into the open just beside the ladder, keeping his free hand and his gun held high and pointing at the ceiling. "I'm just trying to get some sleep." he explained, "Y'know sleep?" as he spoke the words he made a sign of resting his head on his hand as if it were a pillow.

The cat creature began to sign back to him after that, and to Plymuth's amazement they were rather complicated gestures as if in fact she was able to grasp the concept of the language. Not knowing how to sign, he could only gesture back with the universal hand motions for, "I have no idea, what you're saying."

Tom, focused on Kitty's scent as the strangers scent grew stronger along the corridors Kitty had taken. With his nose quivering and his ears twitching slightly, Tom found the ladder and the opening. He switfly jumped down the opening, landing lightly crouched on his fingertips and feet. He saw Kitty and the stranger, springing quickly to Kitty's side facing the stranger, curling his lips back, exposing enlongated fangs and canines, much like a wolf's, his eyes black as two pieces of coal.

Kitty caught Tom’s scent and knew he was there most likely before the strange man did. Even as the man made the universal gesture for sleeping, Kitty knew Tom was approaching. That still didn’t stop her from rolling her eyes at the mans attempt to communicate with her. When she signed back to him, she was quite agitated and her signing was proof positive of that as she was signing rather quickly.

not some sort of pet or animal you need to talk like that to. can hear and understand perfectly, dip shit.

Just about then Tom made his appearance and Kitty could tell he was in a heightened sense of alertness. When he joined her Kitty tapped him on the shoulder and while he kept a close watch on the man, Kitty was able to relay to him the man, so far, wasn’t a threat and she had followed his scent to find him and find out what and who he was. She then relayed to Tom what she had just signed to the man, word for word, and asked Tom to translate it for her, emphasizing she wanted it translated exactly as she had stated it.

As Tom began to translate, Kitty relaxed slightly and got what could only be described as a smart ass smirk on her face as she slowly eased down off the washing machine and crossed her arms before her.

Tom grinned at Kitty, then turned to the man ad said " Kity said ' 53not some sort of pet or animal you need to talk like that to. can hear and understand perfectly, dip shit.' I would suggest you showed her a lit more respect. Unless you are not particularly found of living. Now you you mind telling us what your doing skulking around down. I would also like to know if your associated with the individaul that would use a girl as a suicide bomber." Tom asked definately aggitated at the idea anyone would stoop so low, but then again these individuals were human. And human's had tried to destroy themselves for centuries.