Chapter 1 - The City

Looking about the utility room Jacob doesn't find anything that grabs his interest. "Was hoping for some flashlights or something." Exiting back into the main room of the basement he asks aloud, "Should we head to the stairwell then? I'd like to see if I can get some signal on this thing!" while holding up his phone.

"Well Jacob, you just need to know where to look!"
Andrew grabs the flashlight and turns to offer it to him with a smile.
"I, uh, I think we should stay here for a bit. It seems structurally sound, and we have electricity. Maybe in an hour or so we can check outside and see what's happening. But, then again, what if my family is hurt and needs my help?"
Andrew rubs his head and looks down at the floor in distress.

Feeling that idleness is going to lead to frantic worry, which is pointless, Howard hunkers down to the floor and leans against the wall, trying to come up with some topic to distract/occupy the group before each person splits off into panic. "I think you're right; we should wait for a while before we check again - maybe see how long it takes for the power to come back on." Being both imaginative and nostalgic, Howard continues "This reminds me a bit of back when I was in camp, everybody gathered around the light at night. Anybody know any good ghost stories?"

"I wonder if our cars got hit?" Kel says as he fiddles with his keys, listening and feeling for more impacts. His only concern was now for to be by his family's side. He always worried about living an hour's drive from work, that it would be a problem should an emergency happen.

Howard gets up, curious and a little uneasy about non-skittish rodents. What are they...? he looks to see if everyone else is seeing this. "Hyah!!" he yells, trying to get them to behave normally and run away.

"The whole thing must have them freaked." Kel says while still staying in the stairwell door.

Tim laughs a bit, "Must be hungry!"

He grabs a chip from the bag he has started snacking from and starts to walk towards the rat. As he bends down to feed the rat it jumps a few inches off the ground and snaps at the chip. Tim drops it and falls back into a sit. The rat keeps moving past the chip towards Tim Tim is scooting back quickly in a clumsy crab walk, "Uh, guys, the thing is bleeding, it's covered in blood. There's blood on it guys." He keeps scooting back until he runs up against the wall right next to the doorway leading to the stairwell. The rat continues it's pursuit across the floor, the other rat that was in the door way is also now moving this way as well, leaving another dark trail as it moves.

As you are trying to take it in Tim kicks at the rat and it grabs on to his kicking leg. "Ow, fuck!", Tim cries as he kicks the rat off of him and scurries out the door mentioning something about rabies frantically. The rat skips across the floor after being kicked, leaving a small dark splotch on the ground where it hits.

A few more small rats start to come from the darkness in the Utilities room. At least another 5 or 6.

"What the fuck?" Kelly exclaims, he looks around for something to use to fend them off like a broom or other long stick like thing, while also helping Tim up. "Are you ok?"

Kelly follows Tim's lead, "C'mon guys, lets get out of here!".

As he goes out into the stairwell, Andrew waits by the door so he can quickly slam it shut as soon as the last of his companions passes through.

Howard is astonished that there are so many rats, and leaves with the rest, back into the dark stairwell. He refrains from making a gaming joke about how they failed their inevitable beginning encounter with rats in the basement. Tim seems really hurt; now's not the time for such jokes. Tim is going to need a rabies shot, but of all the times when he could've been bitten, he had to get bitten now, when emergency services are going to be busy with car crashes, fires and whatever other emergencies arise when a meteorite impact cuts power to the city.

"Hey, Tim, how are you? Did it break the skin? We may need to take you to the hospital to get that looked at."

Tim, seeing that the door is going to be shut behind them stops a few stairs up and lifts his pant leg. There is a small spot where it looks like the rat had bit him on the leg. Two small puncture marks and one or two stray red claw marks are all that seems to be there. "Damnit. Fucker bit me. I'm going to need shots for this, I'm sure of it." He keeps looking over the small wound, takes out a water bottle he had been drinking out of and pours a small amount over the wound. Wincing at the pain of the cool water he keeps checking back to make sure the door is getting shut behind everyone.

Sitting on the stairs, a few steps above the others while Tim inspects his leg, Jacob ponders out loud, "You know how dogs and cats are supposed to start acting weird before and during natural disasters? I wonder if those rats are doing that?"

Standing quickly and wanting to get out of the basement he changes the subject, "Right, hospital then? Or maybe there's a Quicky-Med* around here someplace..."

*Quicky-Med is a protected trade mark of Szemely.

After slamming the door shut and making sure there isn't a big enough crack in the bottom for them to squeeze through, Andrew leans his back against the door and wipes some nervous sweat off his brow.
"It's been a while since the last impact, right? Maybe it is time to check outside and find a hospital or whatever. And I don't wanna sound weird or paranoid, but if this really is a thing that's affecting animals weirdly and making them aggressive, maybe we should try to find some way to defend ourselves. You know, just in case? I don't wanna get attacked by any dogs or whatever."

"Should we tell someone in Security about the rabid rats? They might have a radio or know better what's going on. Isn't the security office behind the main lobby?" Kel says, breathing a bit heavy as the group ascends the stairs quickly.

"I know John in security, we go to church together. I think he's working tonight, let me see if I can get him on his cell..."
Andrew pulls out his phone and dials John's number, hoping there's enough reception to connect the call.