1 Week, 5 Days BZAD (Gallion, Ohio):

SFX: SLAM!

Georgette:  "Please...  Keep it down Jana...  Francine finally got Ron to sleep."

Jana:  "Oh, sorry.  Just...  Those damn rats are still down there!  I thought maybe after a few hours they'd just eat each other or go somewhere else..."

Alex:  "Nnghh...  What's happening?"

Georgette:  "Jana just got back from checking the stairwell.  The rats still haven't given up."

Alex:  "Really?  Same at the other two stairwells?"

Jana:  "Yeah, the others hadn't done as thorough a job as us so they had to hit the rats back down as they leapt from the floor up to some of the stairs a bit higher up."

Alex:  "Shiiiit.  They got that bit hacked off now though, right?"

Jana:  "Believe me, after one of the rats almost gnawed someone's ear off they made damn sure at the central stairs that they wouldn't have that problem again.  Killed a few of the rats and threw them at the rest.  Damn things completely ignored them despite how sickly they looked..."

Georgette:  "Sickly?  How so?"

Jana:  "You haven't been down to look at them again while I was sleeping?  Huh.  Thought everyone else had."

Alex:  "Well, I haven't either, but having to haul myself up when the ladder tipped over kinda made me not want to go back down there."

Georgette:  "So, sickly?"

Jana:  "Okay, okay.  Well, like...  I've never seen one up close before, but...  These rats seemed to be losing a lot of their hair, and there were these...  Splotchy patterns underneath."

Georgette:  "Huh.  Curious and curiouser..."

Alex:  "What?  Aren't rats very territorial?  Fighting and pulling out hair should be pretty normal, right?"

Georgette:  "Well, yes, but they don't usually swarm a body like they did that person outside or stay put when they can't get at their food...  Whatever's making their hair fall out and skin underneath look like that might have something to do with their behavior.  Some kind of infection like rabies but not quite?  It might be something no one's seen before..."

Jana:  "So then you'd get to name it, right?"

Georgette:  "Perhaps...  But I think more study would be needed then, and beside that, I think we need to figure out how to deal with the rats safely before that could happen.  After all, what'll happen when supplies dwindle below what everyone in the building can ration?  Who would make the run for food, knowing those things would be waiting for fresh meat?"

1 Week, 6 Days BZAD (Gallion, Ohio):

Georgette:  "The other tenants have taken out the central stairs and the ones on the far end, starting to take out begin collecting up everything and anything that could be used as a weapon just in case.  Rats don't usually try to climb smooth walls like the building has-"

Jana:  "But fucking rats don't usually gang up on people in their homes either.  Right.  Glad Georgie here knows something, 'cause I know jack shit other than they're big and ugly and smelly and freaky even when alone."

Cal:  "Yeah, well, at least we can board up the stairs afterward to keep them from climbing up, right?"

Georgette:  "Well...  Rats can fit in some tight spaces and chew through concrete and even a small amount of steel..."

Alex:  "Fucking hell..."

Georgette:  "But they don't-"

Jake:  "Usually do that.  Right.  These rats aren't usual, so what do we do?  Ron, something on your mind?"

Ron:  "What about, like, a line of, like, fire or something?"

Jana:  "And burn the fucking building down with us in it?!  What are you, a moron?!"

Francine:  "Jana, calm down, we're not going to set fire to anything.  Right, Ron?  Ron!"

Ron:  "Huh?  Oh, right.  Whatever you say Francine."

Alex:  "I'd say we could setup an electric fence or something, but the power is still out and no clue when it'll come back on with the snow and wind being as bad as they are.  Thought they would have fixed it already to be honest..."

Cal:  "Enough about the power already.  I know you want to go check it out, but that place is high security and we'd get nowhere near there."

Jake:  "Not to mention that whatever happened might need the snow to be cleared to get fixed."

Alex:  "Fine, fine.  But what do we do about the rats?  Can you lower the ladder down for us now, Jake?"

Jake:  "Almost done there, then?"

Francine:  "Ron, did you remember to take your pills today?"

Jana:  "It's barely hanging on now.  It'll drop off once hit enough times."

Ron:  "N-No...  I couldn't get cap off...  Maurice wasn't there to take the cap off..."

Jana:  "Oh, crap.  I'm sorry Ron.  I...  I didn't know you were...  I mean..."

Francine:  "Differentially intelligent, Jana?  No one would expect you to know, you don't live in the building.  Still, would you mind helping me make his soup later?  His caregiver sometimes lets me help, sometimes."

Jana:  "Um.  Yeah.  Sure, I'll help."

Cal:  "If we could focus back on the rats?"

Georgette:  "Electricity and fire won't work without more danger to us than them currently...  Flooding wouldn't work either."

Alex:  "Doubt there are enough rat traps to take them all out in the building..."

Georgette:  "Right.  I'm trying to think, I'm not sure..."

Ron:  "Nn...  Francine..."

Francine:  "What is it Ron?"

Jake:  "Is that...  Do you hear gunfire?"

Ron:  "Mean...  Mice outside."

Francine:  "What?"

Jana:  "Shit... Look at the windows."

SFX:  Distant gunfire repeating.

Alex:  "Fuck...  That one was closer... They're getting in by the other two entrances.  Everybody up the fucking ladder!"

2 Weeks BZAD (Gallion, Ohio):

Georgette:  "Alright, um...  Call and raise you a Kit-Kat."

Alex:  "Call."

Cal:  "Call and raise a snickers."

Jana:  "Read 'em and weep!  Royal flush bitches!"

SFX: Collective groan.

Jake:  "Woah."

Alex:  "Huh?  What do you see Jake?"

Jake:  "Someone just jumped out their window into the snow."

Cal:  "Gimme room to see."

Jana:  "Did they not have a balcony like you guys?"

Jake:  "No, there's a balcony on each floor...  And they jumped out the fourth floor."

Georgette:  "What?  Are they okay?"

Alex:  "From that height?  If not for the snow they'd be a pancake."

Cal:  "Here, Jana, see for yourself?"

Jana:  "Shit, that's pretty ballsy or stupid...  Hey!  I see them moving!"

Georgette:  "Should we go out and help them?"

Alex:  "Someone that crazy?"

Jana:  "What the hell is...  Fuck!  What's that pouring out of the building?"

Jake:  "Huh?  What're you-Oh damn.  It's like...  A sea of something moving."

Georgette:  "Here!  Use my cell's zoom."

Jana:  "Thanks.  Looks like the dude is trying to limp away and the mass is...  Fucking shit!  there've got to be a few hundred rats out there!"

Alex:  "Rats?!"

Cal:  "What the fuck are they doing out in the snow like that?"

Jake:  "Looking for food I guess."

Georgette:  "They normally just burrow and try to eat bugs, even with this much-"

Jana:  "Guys!  They're swarming him!"

Jake:  "Guess they found their food..."

SFX:  Distant scream.

Georgette:  "I...  I think I'm going to hurl."

Cal:  "They're spreading out...  Disappearing in the snow."

Jana:  "Uh...  How secure exactly are the lower levels right now?"

Alex and Jake:  "Fuck me..."

2 Weeks, 2 Days BZAD (Gallion, Ohio):

SFX: "BAM BAM BAM!"

Jake (mumbling):  "Nnnghhh?  Time for work already?"

Alex:  "Open up Jake!"

Jake:  "Oh!  Alex!"

SFX: Locks being undone, door being opened.

SFX:  "Whooooooooosh~"

Alex:  "Fucking windy as shit!  Move!"

Jake:  "Sorry!  Alex, what happened, who are these people?"

Alex:  "Let us in and setup the propane heater, then I'll explain."

Stranger:  "Wanna give my friends a hand?  Had enough trouble packing down the snow to get the heater below your balcony."

Jake:  "Right, right.  Um, I'm Jake."

Stranger:  "Yeah, Alex told us about you.  I'm Cal."

Female Voice:  "Enough chit chat already!  I'm freezing my tits off!"

Cal:  "Hold your horses Jana!"

Jana:  "Fuck you Cal!  Georgette and I are the ones holding up this damn thing!"

Cal:  "Fair enough.  Jake, you got a good grip?"

Jake:  "Yeah, I think so.  Let's give it a try."

Georgette:  "Do or do not there is no-Hey!  Watch it asshole!  You almost hit my glasses off!"

Alex:  "Great company, aren't they?  Scooch over so I can help."

SFX: Collective grunt and scraping.

Jana:  "Finally!  Come on Georgie, get your ass up here, the snow will hold you over here."

Georgette:  "Just... Give me a second.  Hff...  Alright, I'm coming."

Alex:  "Put it over in the middle, good, good."

Jake:  "Man, the carpet is getting soaked by all the snow coming in."

Cal:  "It'll dry when we get the heater running and clear some of the snow out."

Jana:  "Alex, we going to get the rest of the stuff?"

Alex:  "We'll head back down after we sleep.  We had a long walk hauling this, and the rest is locked up with Cal's sister for now."

2 Weeks, 4 Days BZAD (Gallion, Ohio):

Alex: "You want to go to the hospital?  You don't look so good."

Jake:  "I'm fine, it's just-ATCHOO!  Snnfff."

Alex:  "Gross."

Jake:  "Just a cold, man...  Snnf.  I'll be fine after a couple days bundled up on the couch instead of my freezing room.  Beside...  Snnrrk.  The doors are frozen shut downstairs."

Alex:  "Yeah, yeah...  Fucking piss-poor time for the power to go out.  At least we've got plenty of blankets and food."

Jake:  And...  And...  Atchoo!  Ngghhh...  And we've got the emergency plows out in full force."

Alex:  "Snow just keeps falling faster as fast as they're clearing it though, and they're not shoveling the walks or freeing up door..."

Jake:  "Be a bad idea to...  Snnff...  Drive a plow up to a door."

Alex:  "You know what I mean."

Jake:   "Right.  Snnnrrk.  Guess I'll take another nap."

Alex:  "Think I'm going to chance lowering off our balcony and trying to get something to keep us occupied.  If I have to play one more game of texas hold'em or go fish I swear I'm going to strangle you."

Jake:  "Snnfff...  There's all my books dude, just pick one."

Alex:  "Ha!  Yeah, right!  I'll try to be back with something less dweeby."