[ elena has ... some experience with knives and daggers and stabbing, but it wasn't until today that hacking anything with a machete became a necessity for survival. (ironically.) she drops the shovel she's been sporting (it was getting dangerously heavy) and takes the machete with slightly rounded eyes and a grave nod.

glass breaks somewhere to their left; the gurgled wails suddenly louder as a rotting hand blindly grabs at nothing over the desk they pushed flush to the potential entrance moments before. somehow that more than anything jumps elena's heart into action. ] We can't stay trapped here. There was a fire escape outside. If we make it upstairs, that alley could be clear while we're drawing them in.