The guard took a puff of his cigarette calmly. The heavens had opened and rain was hammering down all around him. He crushed out the embers with his military issue black boot and he shook rainwater off his back. Rainy days out front were depressing. Glancing down momentarily his attention was quickly drawn when a truck pulled into the gate at the front.

Parking itself in front of the entry-way, in between the four guard towers, the truck ground to a crunching halt. The guard raised his rifle cautiously as the driver nodded to him, waving an ID badge. Sighing with relief and slight disappointment that there would be no trouble, he queried the driver despondently as soldiers milled out of the towers.

"What you got in there?"

The driver glanced back as the soldiers eased open the cargo area of the truck. The driver paused for thought.

"That there be some kind of a sick bastard. Local townie gone rogue. He went rogue on his wife and kid before they called in the cops. Apparently they were lucky to survive. Guy's whacked off his face on some kinda shit."

The guard frowned as the soldiers eased out the recumbent figure. Armed guards in the truck sat by attentively. They were fully armed. The guard looked at the driver a little baffled.

"Don't look that nasty to me. Do ya really need all this firepower? And since when were we an institution? Take the sick fuck to the nut-house."

The driver shrugged.

"We're under special orders. I think they want to run tests on the bastard. Scared he might have some kind of new virus or something and don't want it to go rogue on the population."

The guard knew they were interested in more than just the public safety. A new virus could mean a new weapon. And a guy who needed a squadron of armed guards to escort him out cold had some kind of a virus...

He took a new cigarette out of his pouch and walked over to the fallen man. He was rather clean looking, average build. He had a bit of stubble from his stay over in the station but he was just an average Joe. He shrugged and reached down for his light. As he did there was a flicker from down below. The eyes were opening. He glanced....it glanced....and all it saw was red.

With a roar and a bound, it leaped onto the smoking guard. And the world turned black for everybody.

The world came into focus. Kristoff rubbed his head forlornly. He was on the floor of some bus and he felt like hell. Where was he? Groaning he lifted his head up as two gunshots rang out above. The eyes of the passengers were glued to the ceiling. They were scattered all across the floor.

There were what seemed like bullet holes in the window. Rubbing his head Kristoff reached for the bottle. It was gone. He looked around bleary eyed to see a floored passenger drain the bottom.

"You drunk my booze man!" Kristoff yelled at the figure of Wikey who shrugged.

"Desperate times call for drunken measures."

Roth was sat calmly, ignoring all the commotion when he yelled out to Ari.

"We're here! Stop!"

Ari slowed the bus down. How the hell could the old man tell? There was nothing but inky blackness in the sky. As he slowed the blackness subsided slightly and the full beam headlights picked up the road ahead. It was leading to a gate with a guard booth. The booth was empty.

"Floor it." Said Roth determinedly.

"Wait!" Boc yelled. Roth looked perplexed before realising.

"Ah...Natalie...almost forgot...right..."

He clambered out of the bus with a few of the others. The damage out here was a lot worse than it looked on the inside. It was a wonder they'd made it through. Cowering on the roof, waving a gun above her head and shaking all over, a damp and depressed Natalie sobbed.

There were awkward glances as Drr and Dutchiee climbed up to the roof. They passed her down into the waiting arms of the others. She glared at Roth who coughed. Helping her back on the bus, everybody took their seats.

"As I was saying, floor it."

Ari sighed and slammed on the gas pedal. There was a look of horror amongst the rest of the passengers. Henry snarled and stormed over to Roth before being flung on his face. With a sickening smash, the metal gate was flung forth. And the bus span with a series of heart-wrenching pops.

When the bus finally ground to a firm halt, there was nothing but the sound of pain. Slowly everybody rose to their feet and massaged their joints. Henry dived up and grabbed Roth by the collar.

"As I was ya bastard. It's time to clean up the streets. You're gonna get us all killed and I'm not ready to die. Not today thanks. I'm gonna smash your goddamn face in."

Roth sighed.

"We're here though."

The passengers eased towards the shattered windows and glanced outside. It was a military compound alright. Kristoff swaggered off the bus first before throwing up all over the ground. Roth dashed after him as the pained other passengers came along.

At least they all survived.

The grounds of the base were flanked by four guard towers and a heavyset sealed main entrance. There was no sign of any guards. The bus lay shattered and crumpled in the middle. The wheels all popped by spikes below the gate.

Dylan crept forward and glanced at the door. Sealed. Perfect.

"The switch is in one of the guard towers." Said Roth absent-mindedly. "Just waltz over and push it, we're good to go. The guards are long gone."

Ari and Curtis sauntered over to one of the towers and frowned.

"They're sealed with combination locks. What are the combinations?" Curtis yelled.

Roth blinked.

"I'm sure those weren't there before."

There was another groan. Today was a good day to complain. On the horizon, the inky blackness settled and lingered. The eternal night was beginning.

Objectives:
In this forum there will be four sub-forums posted for each guard tower. These forums are password protected. To obtain the password, you will have to solve a different puzzle. Details of each puzzle are listed on the subforum description.

Inside each forum is a 16 digit code. The first to post the 16 digit code in their journal will obtain the contents of the guard tower. One tower contains the switch to open the doorway. The contents of the other towers are a mystery.

Phase 2 ends in 24 hours

Roth crept towards the fourth tower. There was a piece of paper under a rock. He picked it up carefully and glanced at it. That was probably the code...

He looked back as people milled towards him. As they did, there was a blast of some kind of energy from the sky. Dark shapes flew and flittered overhead, occasionally spraying down the matter which pelted against the ground in a fiery haze.

"GET BACK!" Roth yelled. The collected group dived under cover of the guard tower. A blast of energy came down from the sky and tore the paper into pieces. As the shards of parchment blew in the stormy wind, the collected group leaped in the air to grab them.

Roth signalled towards the main entrance as everybody sheltered just outside the metal gate. They had to get in fast.

Roth glared at the crowd.

"Who got the paper. I didn't see what the code was..."

Eyes glanced in all directions. A lot of people had grabbed bits of paper. Whether they shared them was another matter entirely.

what happened at the end of last phase? Last time i checked there was a crazy ass beast.

Because i dont have time to finish im on the run bagshot, malarkey, aspen and ninefingers are 4 of the names.

I thought I had the first one but :sad:

jigsaw wont load yo !

Yeah I updated Java like it wanted but it still wouldn't load for me either.

I'm feeling pretty lost. I was blocked out of all discussion for the end of last phase. Can someone catch me up a little bit?

Are names backwards in puzzle 3?

Natalie @ 8/9/2012 23:24

I'm feeling pretty lost. I was blocked out of all discussion for the end of last phase. Can someone catch me up a little bit?

Not much really happened. More arguing about not getting the gun. You shot the gun twice? How many bullets does it have?

Did Ari ever clarify what the bus driver actually does?

No just avoided it. Unless it was at the very end of the phase.