Fear, Itself

OOC: Continued from final post of Waiting to Die.

*Lilith wakes up at some point, but the nature of the black forest makes it difficult to tell whether it's the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning. She throws some sticks on the fire, then spends an inordinate amount of time staring at her phone, briefly checking to make sure it still has power. It should be good for a few more hours.*

The sound of Lilith tossing sticks wakes Astarte and sends her into a scramble to an upright position. After realizing where she is, she visibly relaxes and doesn't seem delirious or panicked any more.

*Tirea and Eve both wake up, Tirea scrambling to her feet, Eve remaining in a half crouched position*

Tirea:<What's the time?>

*As Vanessa lies around pretending to be asleep, Lilith checks quickly.*

L"3:00 in the afternoon. More snow is coming tonight. Before we do anything, we should probably find out what happened after--last night. Did we get the car battery? Maybe we can jerry-rig it to charge our stuff."

Tirea:<Yeah, we got it. Our stuff is probably fired though. We took a dip in the river yesterday.>

Astarte seemed to be listening intently and acclimatizing her vision.

L"Well, fortunately my phone still works."

*She holds out her hand.*

*Tirea passes it to her*

Eve:<I took the battery out of my phone as soon as I could...it might be worth a shot.>

"...Is there," Astarte paused before continuing like she had heard something, then continued. "Is there something I can do?"

L"Do we have any wires? If not, I'll have to use the filaments from inside the light bulb. I'll also need the gloves."

*She glances over her shoulder at Astarte.*

L"Take Vanessa & scout the area, we should know the terrain if we're going to lure Ira here."

Eve:<The only thing close to wires that I have are jumper cables.>

*Tirea looks from Astarte to Vanessa*

Tirea:<...Maybe I should go instead of one of them.>

"Vanessa is sleeping," Astarte stood up and tried stretching her muscles without getting a massive cramp.

*Lilith opens the phone & removes the battery.*

L"Well then just give me the gloves & wake her up. Or go alone. I don't care."

"Let's go," Astarte nodded to Tirea and started carefully stepping out of their small camp.

*Tirea nods back, then grabs the crowbar and follows. Eve gives Lilith a glove, then removes the battery from her own phone*

*Lilith finds the closest rock & begins breaking the light bulbs she'd gathered over the fire pit, taking the wires & tying them together. She then uses these to create a circuit with which to charge her phone battery. The "camp" is really more of a fire pit situated amidst a bunch of nondescript trees, with the closest point of interest being the road, perhaps 100 or so feet away.*

Astarte made slowly for the roadside.

*Tirea follows silently behind Astarte*

*There isn't much to say. It's an expanse of road that curves downward to the left & upward to the right, with a steep but not unclimbable incline on the other side. The thickness of the trees makes it difficult to see what's beyond.*
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*Because I don't want this to take 40 years, the battery charges very fast & she puts it back in, standing up & activating it.*

L"That should be good. Maybe I can get a signal & see what's going on in town."

Eve:<Stay safe.>

*She looks away while hooking up her own phone battery to the contraption*

"I mean... you could ambush someone on this road," Astarte shrugged back at Tirea. "But he would expect it."

*Lilith emerges, holding her phone in the air until she gets a signal, at which point she reads the 1st news article she can get.*

L"...Everyone from last night is dead. Well, almost. Of course he's not mentioned. They're trying to pass the monster off as a wild animal."

*She moves to the tab of Thiera's document & starts filling in the information.*

Tirea:<What does it say about us?>

"'Violent fugitives' would be my guess," Astarte took another look around. "...I don't know much about ambushes... but what if we could use the road spikes to stop him, and burn him up with firebombs? We have gas, so if we could get glass bottles..."

L"Nothing much. It says they don't know if she had accomplices or if she's connected to our disappearance."

*She turns off the phone & puts it away, surveying the area.*

L"Somehow I doubt he'll be coming by car. But traps might not be a bad idea, if you want to risk going into town for supplies, or spend hours trying to find the right litter. Do either of you have a flashlight?"