"Looks like somebody wanted some heavy drugs," Tanner muttered.
"Looters?" Andrea asked. "Brave ones, maybe?"
Bunny shook her head. "No, it wasn't. They didn't take any of the food."
"Maybe they just don't like hospital food," Tanner suggested.
Again, Bunny shook her head. "I doubt it. Getting a decent meal isn't easy out here. Whoever did this was after something specific."
"Maybe it was your friend," Andrea said as she examined the door. "I don't know any normal human who could bust through this lock."
"He wouldn't have had to," Bunny told her. "He had access to the keys."
"So, what?" Tanner said after a long silence. "Are we seriously suggesting that Gaunts did this?"
"We're pretty well running out of other options," Bunny replied.
Andrea waved them forward. "Let's do a sweep of the ground floor, just in case. I'd rather not get surprised.
Bunny nodded and led them downstairs. Quietly, they slipped through the halls, and into the reception room, only to find it had been overturned as well. On the street side, they saw the heavy steel shutters had been broken through, the glass windows and doors they protected, shattered.
"They came in through here alright," Bunny said softly. "Hacked their way through, looks like."
"I don't know any Gaunt smart enough to do that," Andrea replied.
Bunny shrugged. "There's at least two I know of. Could be more."
"We're too exposed here," Tanner told them. "Let's get back up. Whatever happened here, there's nothing we can do about it now."
Bunny nodded and followed as he made his way back to the stairs. Once in the stairwell, Andrea paused a moment to tie off the door, securing it only slightly, but the grenade she attached would give them ample warning of an incursion.
Exercising all the stealth they could, they slipped back up, heading for one of the rooms on the highest floor. It would offer a better lookout position, as well as shorten their run to the roof in case they had to leave quickly. While Bunny felt the urge to explore the destroyed clinic more fully, she had to agree that it wasn’t a luxury she could afford.
As they exited the stairs, Andrea pausing to secure that door as well, they headed down the corridor, making a turn only to be faced with a dark figure holding a bow, arrow notched and ready to fly.
Both soldiers raised their rifles, Tanner bellowing at the figure to lower his weapon. Bunny pushed alongside him, ignoring his demands she stay back, squinting to get a better look. Both of her companions pushed her away, though, trying to protect her from harm, making it a struggle she quickly grew frustrated with.
"Marco?" she finally called. "It's me!"
Slowly, the bow lowered as he stepped forward, the light exposing the ruins of his face, as Marco asked in surprise, "Bunny? What the hell are you doing here?"
"So, what's with the bow? You fucking Robin Hood now or something?" Bunny asked.
Marco glanced at her for a moment, but looked back out the window, studying the street carefully. "You shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous."
"Fuck me," Tanner said softly, staring openly at the dead man's face.
Bunny gave him a dirty look as she asked, "What happened here, Marco? Who tore this place apart?"
He stared into space for a long moment before turning to face her. "Some smart ones. I don't know what they were looking for, but they ripped this place to shreds trying to find it. I stayed out of their way, and I'd advise you to do the same."
"Smart ones?" Bunny asked. "You mean, like the fast ones?"
"No, smart ones," Marco repeated.
"Are you trying to tell us there's a lot more like you?" Andrea asked him.
He looked at her then at the gun she cradled not so discreetly in his direction. "No, not like me, or the other one."
"You mean Pete?" Bunny asked.
Marco seemed honestly surprised by that. "You know about him?"
Bunny nodded slowly. "He paid the camp a visit. Politely asked us to come out so he and the rest of them could eat us all like civilized dead."
Marco snorted. "How very conscientious of him."
"He's dangerous," Bunny told him.
"You have no idea," Marco replied.
"What about these smart ones?" Andrea asked, obviously feeling they were getting off topic.
Marco nodded. "I'm guessing you haven't run across them yet. Can't say I'm surprised. They seem to be busy doing Pete's grunt work."
"Wait, back up," Tanner cut in. "They work for him?"
Marco wavered his hand in the air. "Sort of, yeah. When I say they're smart, I don't mean like you, or me. More like really clever dogs with thumbs and a bad case of rabies."
"Fucking great," Andrea said. "This really is the end of the world."
"What was your first clue?" Marco snapped.
"Hey, we risked our lives to find you," Andrea barked. "For all the good it does, too. Not even a thank you."
"I didn't ask you to stop by for tea, you know?" Marco retorted.
"Enough!" Bunny shouted. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Obviously, there's a lot going on we don't know."
"Obviously," Tanner sighed, falling into a nearby chair.
"Look," Marco said. "Things out here, they're getting worse every day. Best thing you can do is hightail it back to your little fortress of solitude, before one of them spots you and alerts the rest."
"We plan to," Bunny told him. "But we need to talk."
Marco sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Fine, make it fast. I'd rather they not crowd this place up. It's getting hard to find holes to hide in.”
Bunny nodded. "I told Colonel Williams, the man in charge over at the Park, about
