I mean, plenty of things happened on a daily bases. Things that involved trolls, monsters, werecats, vampires, anything you could possibly imagine to take place in the supernatural world.
This was Hanna's job. It was what she did. What she's been doing for years, now.
But this was truly unexpected. It really was. Even for her- and she ran across the weirdest shit. But these were creatures she didn't even know existed. These were the type of monsters you only stumbled across in those cheap ass horrer movies from, like, a thousand years ago.
So what the hell was she doing getting ready to face them? and not just one, mind you: but, from the sound of it, over twenty of them. And the numbers were still climbing.
This was stupid. A waste of time. Hanna knew all she was doing was walking right into a death trap- and no, she wasn't scared. Not even the slightest. She knew how to do her job, there was nothing to be scared of. Hell, she was... excited to confront them. She's never seen one before, I mean, what was there to lose?
Other than her life, of course.
But that was a small price to pay, now wasn't it?
"So. Let me get this straight. We're about to walk into a house full of zombies?"
The redhead flung her bag over her shoulders and glanced back, her eyes narrowed slightly. The shark boy she was adressing couldn't tell if it was fear, or annoyance. He was guessing both. Today she was wearing a short yellow skirt, with a light pink tanktop and shoes that looked way too big for her feet. Her short, curly red hair held back with a small headband.
She was always the type to wear super flashy colors when working, and it was pretty distracting. Veser was sure she knew what she was doing, and did it on purpose. She was just the type of girl.
"Yes, zombies. And damn, there's a lot of them, bro. Are you sure you're not scared shitless?"
He flashed her a toothy grin and zipped up his jacket, but she ignored his remark, flying out the door with as much fake confidence she could possibly muster.
Of course she was scared shitless. But thats what made this whole thing so much better.
"You're not having fun unless theres something to be scared of, Veser."
Hanna giggled and ran ahead, ignoring the rude comeback her partner threw at her- its not like she could hear him anyway. Besides, knowing Veser, it probably centered around some lame sexist joke.
She's heard them all by now.
Incase you're confused, lets just take this whole thing from the top- to the beginning of this mess they were about to dive head first into, the reason this case ever came about in the first place.
Hanna wasn't the type to turn down a case, no matter how extreme or ridiculous it sounded. And this one sounded pretty damn ridiculous. The man with the problem this time around was a middle aged guy. He didn't like using his first name, so he just went with the name 'Rick'. Whatever, names didn't really matter anyway. Because the way he described the crisis caught Hanna's attention. Not that it was hard to do that, but this really got her head turning. Her stomach doing cartwheels with fear, her palms sweating, her knee's shaking.
Fucking awesome.
Rick went on and on about a strange building. It was larger than most, and it didn't help that the place looked extra creepy, and the lawn looked as if it hadn't been stepped on in years. But thats beside the point- it really dawned on Hanna when he mentioned the part about the typical highschool dare his buddies pestered him with, since he happened to be lucky enough to live a half a mile from this hellhole.
According to them, he was the only one interested enought to sneak up during the daytime hours and ring the doorbell. I mean, why not? all the cool kids were doing it, and he liked being the cool kid.
Yep. Typical moron. Hanna never seemed to meet enough of them on the job.
So, he did it. His buds hiding behind the large tree that grew in the front yard, watching, ready to boot it if something were to go wrong. Rick had the balls to do it, of course- but he wasn't prepared for the reaction he would get from the owner of this particler house. His friends ran like hell as soon as he finished the dare, giving him little time to run as well: but it wasn't enough time. He managed to back away from the front door, but as soon as he was on the last step, all hell broke loose.
And by hell, he meant zombies. A total of three- bursting out of the door and on his trail, because he had the brains{shut up} to scramble out of there as fast as fucking possible.
He didn't get enough time to study their features, but he said they weren't as rotted and nasty looking as most would describe three zombies about to tear them apart. But then again, he didn't have a good amount of time to look.
Hanna was dissapointed, really. Okay, sure, her deepest, darkest secret was always on the back of her mind, even now- but she was still curious as heck.
What secret?
Her phobia, of course.
Yes, her first phobia was ghosts. But that wasn't really a phobia, it was more like something she just had to avoid for personal reasons. But that was another story.
But she promised Rick she would check it out. He seemed way too happy, thanking her over and over, and over. He admitted, since it happeend, the nightmares wouldn't leave him alone. He lost way too much sleep over them, zombies of all kinds: tormenting his mind. She felt a little bad for him. She knew what that was like, and it wasn't really fun.
"Don't worry, we've got this. As soon as he get some imformation, I'll let you know."
She gave her best customer pleasing smile and moved on, dragging Veser by the arm before he bugged the poor man with more questions about flesh eating zombies he clearly knew nothing about.
"Okay, listen, we need to be mature about this one Hanna. That means no running off without telling me, and no magic tricks or whatever the hell it is you do. Unless you have the time to figure shit out first- because I'm sick and tired of cleaning your bloodstained shirts."
Veser made sure to give her the 'lecture' on the way back. He shoved it down her throat every single time they got a new case, and she just nodded her head and made sure to answer with a 'yes Veser' or 'okay, whatever you say' every few minutes to act like she was paying attention.
Bloodstained shirts. He was just being dramatic.
"And aren't you, like, scared out of your mind of zombies or something?"
Hanna was pretty sure her face just got redder than her damn hair.
"Wha- no! I'm just... a little new to this, okay? and besides, thats when I was little and stuff, so I know what I'm doing now! you don't need to treat me like a kid, Ves. Jeeeez."
So much for her dark secret.
But there was nothing to worry about, she was older now, and the fear thing made her braver. Yes, it was odd, but it was just something that happened with her: everytime there was something that made her wanna curl up in a ball and just give up, she worked harder to over come it. She kinda trained herself to do things in that manner. It was easier, and she got more things done that way, anyway.
But Veser just loved pointing it out every single goddman time.
Now, back to where we started.
"So where is this place, anyway? my feet hurt."
"Veser, we've only been walking for ten minutes."
"If you had a car, this wouldn't be a problem."
Hanna huffed, punching him in the shoulder and hurrying along.
"Fuck off."
She couldn't hide the amusement in her tone, throwing him a grin. He smirked back.
Sure, there were moments they wasted more time going at each other's throats than actual cases, but Hanna honestly didn't know where she would be without her partner. He was the one who kept her from killing herself most of the time, and he gave her a good laugh when things got too hard. They were Ying and Yang, more different than alike.
But without Hanna, Veser would be on the streets.
And without Veser, Hanna would be insa- wait, wrong term.
Without Veser, Hanna would be more insane. Yeah. That sounds a bit better.
Anyway.
"Well, looks like this is the place!"
The shark boy pointed, and Hanna followed his finger towards the direction- and he was right. This was the place. A run down dump, the yard way too big, taking up most of the freaking driveway. The roof caving in, and the wood holding the house together falling off. The windows were covered in what looked like black tape: and the door was hanging off its hences over so slightly.
This place looked worse than the last time Rick was here. It had to be. If there were zombies living here, they did a pretty good job.
Hanna gulped.
Veser blinked.
"Wow."
Wow indeed.
Hanna grabbed his arm and hurried them along, ducking behind the same tree Rick described. She shushed him and waited, knowing the door would be open anytime now.
Rick had said this was about the same time the zombies attacked. Which must have meant they had certain times they were allowed to walk around.
That was comforting to know.
The door, as expected, creaked open- but nothing came out. She could feel her partner's body tense up, getting ready to hightail it out of there at the first sign of trouble, but she held him tight, her blue eyes narrowed with concentration.
They waited, and waited. Veser shifted, mumbling something under his breath- only to be shushed again and smacked on the shoulder. He grunted and shut up, but she could feel his electric green gaze burning into her back.
He was such a grump sometimes.
She focused on the way the place smelt, noticing for the first time how much it resembled musk, or a strong scent of something old and worn down that hasn't been taking down from its shelf yet. It was hard to tell, but it made her nose burn. Not that it was a bad smell, but it wasn't good. Just another thing to add to the list of confusing shit in her head. She'd figure it out later.
The door opened fully, the shadow of a tall figure forming over the porch. Hanna perked up, forgetting for a moment that she was supposed to be staying low. Veser reminded her with a low growl, and she flashed him a glare of her own and ducked back down.
Whatever it was peeked out, half its body hanging out the door, the other end still inside. It didn't seem to be taking a stroll around the yard, but more or less just scanning it for visitors. After Rick, there was reason to make sure.
It was a zombie, of course- but it wasn't what Hanna was expecting. It wasn't the brain dead, rotting, disgusting zombie she had pictured in her head... but the opposite.
He was tall, from what she could tell at a safe distance. Green flesh, black hair, eyes that fucking glowed, and what looked like stubble dotting its chin. Since when do zombies have stubble?
The thing looked more human than monster. And the sense of emotion Hanna got from it came in waves- its orange, glowing eyes looking around, before going back inside with the simple click of a door.
Hanna swallowed again, but this time, not in fear: but in wonder. For once, she didn't know what to say. That wasn't even a zombie, it couldn't have been. It looked so much like another person, another living thing. Something that could love, talk, laugh and smile. There was no lust for blood in its eyes, no urge to kill. Or destory.
The feeling it gave her was far from fear or worry. That was the first zombie she had ever seen, and she had a phobia of the things so large anybody could tell right off the bat.
But here she was, almost wanting to see it again. Almost wanting to go up and ask what its name was, ask if it could speak. If it even wanted to be here. She wanted to understand it. I mean, were those wing shaped tuffs she saw on its head? those were for angels, not monsters. There was just something off about-
Wait, what the fuck was wrong with her?
That was a zombie, a creature that could rip her limb from limb. Not just another guy you would see walking down the street. Any urge to get to know the thing was the stupidest idea she had yet. And trust me, she was full of stupid ideas.
This was the first day on the case, and she still had so much research to do on them. There was no time to just walk right up to one.
Then again...
"Hanna? Hanna, I'm talking to you- Pay attention, blondie."
Veser poking at her arm ended the inner struggle for her. She shook her head and sighed, getting up.
"I think we should get out of here. We have things we need to look up. But don't worry, I AM coming back tomorrow, Ves. This place is pretty... heh, interesting, yanno?"
She grinned and tiptoed until they were far enough away, grabbing his arm and taking off down the street, laughing. He followed, whinning about how much his feet still hurt, and she was doing this on purpose dammit Hanna you KNOW I hate running-
But she blocked the rest out. This case served its purpose on being pretty damn interesting so far, and she was eager to look more in on it. More about the house, and zombies.
And more about the strange one she happened to see. Not that it was that big of a deal or anything. But once something caught her attention like that, she had a hard time letting it go.
Eh, nothing wrong with that. At least there was a good chance they would get this done with as little broken bones as possible. The last thing she wanted was to piss Veser off like last time, when she busted up her leg.
Hahaha, funny story, that one.
"So, what do you have planned for this one, gingersnap?"
Veser smirked, he knew how much she hated that name. But this time, she laughed some more and stopped to slip the key in her door, turning to pat him on the back, a knowing look in her eyes. Smoothing her ruffled skirt down with a hand.
"Hey, I've got this one handled, man. Now order some pizza, I'm starved to death over here."