The ominous state of the stranger's reply weighs heavily upon them, beating down as though death itself were speaking to them. Rosaline drops her backpack to the ground, retrieves her hammer, goggles, and gloves. The speed at which she readies herself is alarming.
"It's right, it does." she says, looking to Hawaii.
Hawaii mouths "No!" to her, but she brushes past him. Sweetie reaches for her arm, but she pulls away. She steps out from behind the spring house, squaring up with the stranger.
"Are you alone?" she asks.
The stranger's head tilts to the side. She can't figure out if it recognizes the significance of her question, or if it genuinely doesn't understand her.
"You think there's blood and flesh here for you? There's not. You picked the wrong people to fuck with." she angrily says, her jaw clinched, the words barely escaping.
The stranger's eyes widen, it's stance tenses up. This is not a stranger, it is an Adapted, but Rosaline has already suspected as much.
"You know we're here. Where are your others?" -she unsheathes the knife from her belt, and holds it up, pointing it at the Adapted- "At least make this a challenge for me."
The Adapted looks to the worn down barn.
"Boys!" it shouts out.
In a terrifying frenzy of morbid silence two other Adapted emerge from the barn.
"ROSALINE!" Sweetie screams, panic and fear twisted around every letter.
Rosaline looks back to the spring house to see Sweetie and Hawaii hurrying to her. Behind them are two more Adapted running their way.
"Fuck the noise rules, shoot them!" Rosaline yells, then charges at the three in front of her.
As she careens toward them she surveys the environment. They're spread out, this is good. The other two wont have enough time to get to her before she kills the first one. None of them are especially large, in fact one of them is barely bigger than her, also good.
As she closes in on the one closest to her, it takes off in a mad sprint at her. Its arms stretched out, its mouth agape, and a bloodthirsty rage in its eyes.
She pulls her arm back, feigning a strike with her hammer. The Adapted rears back in anticipation. Just as she is within its arms reach she suddenly drops to the ground, landing on her side, and furiously swings the hammer at its kneecap. She connects with bone crushing force sending it toppling over her. She rolls through the maneuver coming back to her feet, nearly instantly, and charges back at it. She plunges the knife deep under its jawbone, ending its feeble fight.
She looks back to the see the other two are racing for her now. She heard gunshots as she approached the one she just killed. She looks up to see that Sweetie has taken down one of the Adapted already, but the other is still coming for them. Hawaii and Sweetie are now running towards the pile of rubble that was once a house.
Rosaline turns her attention back to the other two that came from the barn. She runs wide left in the direction of the barn, attempting to put it between her and them. She stops once she reaches the far side. The Adapted split up, each coming at her from opposite sides.
With no time to plan she rushes the one to her right. She barrels into it with her shoulder, knocking it to the ground. She swings her hammer at its head, but its hand blocks the blow. The other Adapted grabs her from behind, lifting her off her feet.
She feels its hot breath as its mouth closes in on her neck. She throws the hammer over her shoulder as she leans forward, and in a stroke of luck, bashes its teeth. Its head jolts back. She drops the hammer and places her hand under its chin pushing up with all her might. She stabs wildly at its neck, puncturing it over and over, until it releases its hold on her.
She falls to her knees, coughing in a mad fit. She looks up in just enough time to see the other Adapted jumping at her. It tackles her to her back, but she only needed a moment of awareness to be ready. By the time they both hit the ground her knife is buried under its chin.
She pushes it off her and rolls away from it, regaining her footing. The other Adapted is still moving at her, though now crawling on its knees--slowed by the blood loss from its neck.
She circles around it to her hammer, picking it up as she passes it, then swings hard over her head bashing its skull. It slumps to the ground. She smashes it head again and again until she's confident its days of being a threat are over.
She races around the barn and heads toward the pile of wood and cement that was once a house. Hawaii and Sweetie have scaled the rubble to the highest point they can. Sweetie fired all the shots that were loaded in the rifle, but her nerves got the better of her and she managed to kill only one of the Adapted. Hawaii used his arrows when he got to the rubble, but only one caught its neck. This wasn't enough to stop it.
The Adapted ascends the debris, gurgling and howling an evil that will forever haunt them. Neither of them had a plan when they started climbing, and their inexperience in fighting these monsters is not serving them well.
Seemingly out of nowhere Rosaline comes racing from behind them. She reaches the lowest point of the wreckage and climbs up after the Adapted. She grabs its leg and pulls it down. It turns to her and lunges, leaving its feet. She twists to her side, it smacks against her, and they tumble down the homely remains.
Once she hits the ground Rosaline urgently rolls away and up to her knees. The Adapted moves as quickly as she does, both of them now standing only a short
