[center][h3]Barney Rynsburger[/h3][/center]

Even with his strength flagging and the loose, shifting terrain of discarded memories making forward progress tricky, Barney followed the trail taken by the others as quickly as he could. Maybe it was just a byproduct of stress, or prolonged existence within this twisted shadow of reality that Spindle called the Metaverse, but he couldn’t shake the sensation of impending doom that gnawed at the back of his mind. If the police girl’s guess was on the money, then even right this second, one of the other guys could be embroiled in a deadly encounter with his own Shadow, a monster that evidently represented all the worst qualities of someone and would be only too happy to slaughter the original.

As he went he didn’t waste any time with guesses as to who the unlucky fellow might be between Vincent, Nick, and Caelum, although if it wasn’t the latter, the rich kid would find himself in the unenviable position of having to survive the process of helping yet another stranger through his problems. Instead Barney couldn’t help but wonder...if these people were all here, like him, did that mean they harbored a struggle in the same way he did? If so, he wasn’t so alone after all. In fact, he couldn’t deny the tantalizing (and maybe optimistic) possibility that this experience might lead to a coalition of real friends, fresh bonds forged in the crucible of shared struggle and triumph. The thought gave him the power to push through his soreness and fatigue. If everyone was going to get through this, and come out better for it, he needed to be there for the others right now no matter what.

Only a minute or so later, he and Dakota found their fellow men. Despite their best efforts they would have walked right by the ominous husk of a home poking out from the general wreckage if not for Vincent on sentry duty, then the frenzied yelling that issued from within the house, followed shortly by Caelum and Nick running fast enough to beat the devil. For a brief moment the five dudes were reunited amidst the heaps of junk, but there was little joy or reassurance to be had, since even those who hadn’t laid eyes on the new abomination knew that something awful must be coming. Sure enough, the facade of Nick’s home exploded just a brief moment later, scattering chunks of wood, drywall, and other such materials far and wide. The berserk Shadow did not venture beyond the house’s confines, which cast a concealing shadow over its mass, but to Barney’s chagrin it did little to hide the monster in all its putrescent glory. An amorphous mound of sinuous flesh, Shoggoth-like, riddled with out croppings of arms and mottled with twisted faces, the nightmare released a wretched bellow as it loomed over the five with weapons at the ready. Its outburst provoked a change in the environment, causing wellsprings of red-black Curse to well up from the surrounding heap. The malignant fountains formed a wide perimeter around the group, cutting off escape.

“Oh my God,” Barney groaned. He took a deep breath and pulled out his flamethrower, ready to do what he could with what little he had left.

He looked up to see Spindle as she descended, soaring down atop her kite-like Odradek to join the others on the battlefield. The height at which she stopped made it clear she wouldn’t be playing a starring role, but the police girl meant to offer all the support she could, staring with some advice. “Sorry folks, looks like there’s no way outta this one. Hey, Skinny?” she addressed Nick. “I know yer brain must be screamin’ atcha t’run right now, and I don’t blame ya even a li’l bit, but ya ain’t gonna get by runnin’ away from or ignorin’ it forever. Gotta face it down! The rest of us can help a touch, but takin’ it down’s up to you.”

Even before she finished speaking, the Shadow let out a yell and attacked. It hurled a weapon with incredible force, and though easy enough to dodge at first, the armament exploded with Curse shortly after touching the ground. “Crap, crap!” Recognizing the element that Spindle called his weakness, Barney got the hell out of there, leaving the opening move for the others to make. As long as didn’t have aggro, planned to roast the thing with his Nuclear flames.