Derrek poked his head above the hatch, his flashlight going left to right. The ladder came up facing the back of the house.Damn, can't see anything with all this stuff here. He took another step, the fold out ladder creaked beneath him. He grabbed for the edge. Better get off this ladder, I don't trust these janky fold up ladders for one bit. With a faster pace and some creaking later, he crawled through the hatch.
He stood upright here, the edges slanted with the roof, he'd have to bend there. All in all, there was a lot of room, but also a lot of stuff, which meant a lot of hiding places. It was well-kept, a bit of dust like every attic in the world, but nothing sneeze-inducing. It smelled dry, the roof itself was isolated from the inside too, held up by the occasional wooden beam. Not a patch of moist to be seen. Still looks pretty recent as far as I can tell.
The attic was one big open space. There was mostly stuff in the middle and the edges, natural paths remained for humans to hide away their boxes of random stuff.
Derrek wiggled his body left and right, up and down; the floor didn't creak. Sturdy. Could have been a help to give away Warren's location if he moved. I'll need to keep my ears open.
To the back of the hatch, in the corner were mostly cardboard boxes. Mostly empty he guessed, for guarantee or moving. Boxes for a television, sound system, airfryer,… Once upon a time these had been stacked nicely onto a tower. Close to the hatch, someone probably didn't wanted to come up fully and just threw it up. Classic humans.
Derrek shone his flashlight to his left, the space above the master bedroom. This part didn't go as deep as the other one. Easiest to reach the hatch, I'd hide there somewhere. Yet, not a lot of spots to hide yourself.
An old square wooden table was at the center, filled with boxes beneath and upon it. Old classical wooden chairs were stacked there. Both table and chairs were from the same kind of wood, a set. The chairs showed some burgundy fabric in the seating. Could be antique… or thrift shop. Around the edges were some more boxes, the white and blue banana box variety. Derrek could see most of the space except for the back. He walked slowly, keeping his flashlight in front of him with his left hand, drawing his rubber gun with the right.
The table was some four steps away from the hatch, he walked to the right of it toward the back. The banana boxes seemed to be filled with clothes and cloths. He didn't inspect them further, impossible to hide in of those, but held his flashlight to shine past them, lighting up every nook and cranny.
The back of this space had some built-in drawers, split into columns. As he reached the back, he looked around. No other spots to hide here. Seems unlikely he'd fit in one of these drawers… but still. Would be one hell of a disappearing trick. He grabbed one of the drawers and pulled it out. The flashlight lit up the white fabric of the duvet. Yeah, no one could fit in there. Hmm, that does smell like it's been closed for a while. They'd better air it out soon.
He heard the same sound he heard in the hallway, scratching, only lightly. It came from further behind him. Derrek closed the drawer and started moving.
"I can hear you. Come on, Warren, just come out and we can wrap this up." He came to the hatch again, shining his flashlight down the left row to the back. Only stuff.
He moved further so he could see down the right one. He shone down it, and was surprised to see the back of the left end light up too. He blinked two times rapidly, then made out a mirror to the back of the right row. Good thing it isn't covered. I've seen that one enough before. Other things were covered to the back of the long part. The mirror stood open though, only the mirror. Huh wait, but why isn't it covered? Why are all the other— No, no, Derrek. No questions, just find the guy and get down that janky ladder again.
He set a step toward the right row, but turned back toward the hatch. Better take the other one, so I can see the hatch more easily.