Stress and Relief.

Once your eyes adjust you notice there are several dead raiders strewn about on the floor. The first is smashed flat on the ground. Another is missing his entire arm with a deep gash across his chest. The strangest one is a man with boils and blisters covering his entire head and torso. Wisps of smoke curl up from his still sizzling form, and the smell is gag worthy. In total there are about 5 more who seem to have received the same treatment as the first three. All are spread out near the entrance. Looking around you see no signs of anyone else. You can feel the conflict of being glad you don't see anyone you know laying dead on the ground, but also it stings a bit that they don't appear to be here. At least not that you can see. You call for Annabel and Jane as loudly as you are comfortable with and listen for a response. You don't hear any response so you call out again, but again you don't hear anything.

"The stable" Yvette says with some hope on her face.

"What" you ask not understanding what the Inn has to do with it. As if understanding where your head is at Yvette explains what she means.

"I don't mean the stables at the Inn. I mean the stable here. Jane had to keep Bruce somewhere right" she asks. Understanding spreads across your face.

"That's right, its probably behind the shop" you reason. Both of you quickly run to the shop's door and peak your heads out. Down the street you can see a group of five raiders stalking through the streets, but their attention isn't in your direction and soon they will be out of sight. In the other direction you see a similar sized group of raiders walking along.

"We're going to have to be careful getting out of here" you whisper to Yvette "we don't know when a group of those guys is going to pop around a corner". Yvette nods, and when the coast is clear you slip outside hugging the building and you both slink around its side.

Behind the shop is a tall barn like structure, and the doors are shut. Anxiously you approach the building and attempt to push open the doors. They hold firmly in place locked from the inside. That's a good sign you think to yourself.

"Annabel...Jane" you whisper loudly trying to keep yourselves from being found. At first you don't hear anything so you call out again. After a moment you hear a board being moved and the door cracks open slightly. Peering through the crack you see Annabel and Jane's wide eyes looking at you. They immediately look relieved and the door opens a bit more for Annabel and Jane to pull you in quickly. Annabel doesn't let you go and pulls you both into a hug as she cries. Jane wraps her arms around the group and you all pull her into the center of the hug. After a moment you feel Copper nuzzle his head into your shoulder and you reach up to pet him.

"Thanks for watching out for them buddy" you tell him. Annabel's sniffles slowly fade and you step back to assess if they are hurt. Confirming that no one is hurt, including the Dinos, you ask "What happened?"

Annabel and Jane look at each other briefly and Annabel steps forward.

"We were just finishing up loading up Bruce with Jane's gear when the town alarm went off. Both of us rushed to the door to see what was going on. We thought maybe a fire had broken out, but that was obviously not the case. We ran back inside and barred the doors as best we could to wait for you. We heard people running outside, and then we heard a group of raiders laughing. They were able to push through the doors, but they weren't expecting what they found" she says smiling.

"COPPER WAS AWESOME" Jane says a bit too loudly earning shushes from everyone. "Sorry" she whispers in response. Annabel turns back to you and continues.

"Copper was indeed awesome. They weren't expecting to be facing off against a couple of Dinos" she says smirking. "The first raider that charged in was greeted by Copper. Specifically his mouth and claws. Then from there Copper moved on to his next...uh...prey. Bruce stomped on several himself, and I got a couple stragglers with some rather nasty concoctions of my own" she said smiling.

"Yah, I think I know when ones you got" you say "in fact I think I could guess which ones where killed by who" you chuckle.

Everyone chuckles a little and then gets a bit distant.

"So do we wait this out in here, or do we try to leave" you ask.

"Our town has had raids before, this one is bigger than the rest. Most were a few raiders hitting a specific target and then getting out" Jane says looking a bit stunned.

"Yes, I don't think these raiders are going to be leaving any time soon" Annabel confirms.

"So our best bet is to get the hell out of Dodge" you say.

"Huh" everyone says in unison at your phrase.

"Oh...uh...it's just a phrase that we need to leave" you look at Yvette who seems to be starting to understand it's something you said where you're from originally.

"Yes...we should leave as soon as possible" Annabel agrees with some confusion still on her face.

"We're going to be pretty obvious once we leave. No hiding Copper and Bruce. So once we leave we're going to have to run" you state and everyone nods.

"Are we all ready right now" you ask. Everyone nods again as you look from face to face.

"Ok, then we'll try right now. Do you both know of the stand of trees to the south of here" you ask looking at Annabel and Jane. Again they nod. "Then that is our target. Should we get separated then make your way there as best you can" you state. You pull everyone into a hug again before making your way to the door.

"Ready" you ask. Seeing everyone ready you open the door slightly to see what you can. You don't see any raiders around so you open the doors fully, and your party makes their way out into the town again.