Garrick was fairly close when the bird started shooting. It would have come as a greater surprise if he hadn't heard the shout of something<span style="font-style: italic">inhuman</span>in the distance mere moments before, but he still thought to dive for cover in response. The middle of the street had regrettably little to offer by way of protection, however, and all he managed to accomplish was slowing himself down and scuffing the front of his coat. It was more of a reaction than anything - he already knew that he wasn't the target. When he picked himself up, it was just in time to watch the bird leap from his post and glide down to street level where the two of them could talk.<br/><br/>Up close, he didn't look like much. There was some irony in the fact that such a timid little thing was working to save a hardened soldier, if his intentions were even honest in the first place.<br/><br/>"Hello. We really need to go, okay? My name is Taka, I guess we both do the whole... sniper... thing. I’d shake your hand but... wings."<br/><br/>Garrick raised a hand to try and buy himself a moment, but the bird wasn't listening. "How the hell did you know-"<br/><br/>"We have a few blocks to cover before we head down towards the sea. We’re held up in the lighthouse. It’s defensible, but the monsters don’t ever try to come for us there. Just don’t, ah, try to shoot me. That happens sometimes with newcomers. I know you can’t remember much and you’re confused, but we all are like that at first."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Monsters?</span><br/><br/>Another identical shout answered the question before he could ask it. It was closer, and carried with it the sounds of screeching metal and worse things that he could not even begin to identify. The questions would need to wait, save for one.<br/><br/>"What did you just draw the attention of!?" he half-shouted, taking off down the road without hesitation.<br/><br/>"It was coming anyway." Taka responded, keeping just ahead of the newcomer. "I'm just trying to buy a friend a little space to get away. It's big and metal, and that's mostly all we know."<br/><br/>"How big?" he demanded of the bird. Glass shattered as the thing broke through the front entrance of a building a block or two away. "<span style="font-style: italic">How fast!?</span>"<br/><br/>"Way too big, and faster than us. Gotta hope he gets distracted, otherwise we need to duck off the main road." Taka offered in response. "It's not too far, though."<br/><br/>The two survivors didn't manage to run far before the thing found them. It was still quite some distance away, but they were plainly in view while moving down an empty street, and it took after them without hesitation. Garrick only managed to steal a brief glimpse at it, but he was shaken by what he saw; a human figure, but easily twice his size and completely covered in - or composed of - pristine, silvery metal. It was sprinting his way at a speed that he couldn't match even unencumbered. He knew there would be no way to simply outrun it.<br/><br/>There was only one thing he could think to do, and he had no guarantee that it would help. He looked to Taka in desperation.<br/><br/>"I hope you have a plan, feathers, because I don't think that distraction is coming any time soon."