The heat of the city during the day was despicable. The leather armored uniform literally had coils of heat rising off it as the Judges took to the rooftops for ease of shooting at the zombie civilians that had recently become zombies.
With all the drugs, poisons and radioactive material that polluted the cities, Dredd had decided that a zombie apocalypse was bound to happen. Judges and a few civilian survivors were left. They had raided the former 'Hall of Justice' for more weapons, and had groomed another sector for non-standard civilian weaponry as well.
The worst thing about this hell hole was that the zombies ran.
However, they were rather dumb as climbers so anywhere high was normally an advantage. Having very few ways of having fun or relaxing, Dredd and Anderson were taking watch on a random rooftop, shooting at a mosh pit of zombies trying to get at them from below.
The stench rising from the walking corpses was ghastly in the heat of the day. The first time Anderson caught a whiff of it she violently heaved up her stomach contents for an hour or so, but by now she was getting used to it and even finding ways to prevent herself and others from having to smell it. She started off with tying rags around the civilians faces, and using a scarf for herself. Dredd was another story, he insisted the smell didn't bother him but when Anderson found a stash of gas masks it seemed he couldn't wait to get his hands on one.
Anderson couldn't stand the silence, besides the shooting, so she decided to make conversation with Dredd above the noise of their guns. Surprisingly she hadn't lost her Lawgiver yet, it was nestled in its holster on her hip - patiently waiting to be used.
"Supplies wont last much longer. We will have to go out and search for food and ammunition soon, sir. I suggest we preserve as much ammo as possible…just in case we run into trouble when we leave." She knew they would run into trouble though, they always did. The radioactive, running cadavers were everywhere. She had added the last bit more for the civilians who were with them, that might over-hear her.
Dredd cracked his neck. "You're right…need to move soon while we still have ammo. The amount of zombies is as endless as day one, they don't seem to go away." He growled heavily, checking ammo in his twin pistols before standing up.
Dredd never minded violence but he was getting fed up with constantly having to avoid being bitten, and was tired of running. Luckily the tough leather and helmet made it near impossible to bite them as it would be for any normally dressed citizen.
"We can stick to the roofs I believe, done it before, its safer dropping in from above where they have trouble reaching." Dredd was glad these fuckers couldn't climb.
"Alright." Anderson stood up and stretched her arms high above her head then slung her 'stolen' sniper over her left shoulder. Unlike Dredd, she didnt have her helmet to protect her head and neck so she made sure it would be difficult to be attacked from behind. The attacker would have a hard time stabbing her from behind. She grabbed a bag full of weapons they found and heaved it over to the huddled group of shaken civilians. A mother held two children close, one of them was not hers but she had taken it upon herself to become their new mother. She had lost her daughter to this disease that plagued the city, and the child lost her father to a thug who mugged him. The rest of the civilians seemed to be alone, though Anderson knew they all wondered if their loved ones were okay. As well, they had makeshift weapons for self-protection, none of them looked strong enough to hack off a zombie's head though.
"Okay everyone, we are going to have to move out." Anderson said as calmly and with as much authority she could muster. She was met with groans and complaints of 'why cant we just stay here?', 'we're going to die if we leave', and her personal favourite 'drokk you! Why should we have to listen to you!'. Anderson knew she was becoming hardened by this whole mess. It had been 6 months of killing the living dead, being chased, losing people - not only to the zombies but to injuries and lack of food and clean water. The only thing that kept her going at this point was the thought of Dredd kicking her ass, and losing him. She felt as though she needed him as much as he needed her.
Dredd turned to the group, as usual his helmet hid much of his expression. As well, a typical scowl lingered on his lips as he stared at those that followed Anderson.
"Remember," he grunted. "Its your choice if you want to follow us. If you want to go your own way, so be it. I'm sure you've got the smarts to stay alive without us." Dredd didn't have full intentions of being rude, but it sounded that way when the words were delivered with his usual tone, which of course often sounded pretty grumpy and uncaring to those that didn't know him.
His shotgun and what looked like an AR15 were fully loaded for their next supply run. The AR15 was at arms and ready for use. Supplies were always running low and while there was more than enough to go around for their group, accessing those supplies was a problem. If you weren't in peak cardiovascular shape you were probably already dead.
"Let's move. Try not to fall behind if you want live. Anderson, you can take the lead, I'll stay behind the group to watch the rear." He offered since she knew the routes they usually took. Dredd and Anderson often switched roles when their skills allowed it. They had often moved in this fashion. Since many of the civilians had weapons too, that kept their chances of survival higher than they could be.
Anderson lead them down the fire escape, knowing full well that there would be no zombies in it. The damn things still didn't figure out how to use doors, luckily for them. When they reached the bottom Anderson motioned for them to halt while she scouted the area to make sure there weren't any zombies lurking around, that might try to catch a quick bite. When it was all clear she came back for the others, only to be met by an oncoming horde. The zombies didn't seem to notice her at first, they just kept dragging their useless bodies forward. At least until Anderson tried to warn the others to stay inside.
"You guys, stay inside with Dredd! He'll protect you! I'm going to try to lead these creeps away. I'll double back and make sure you guys make it out after." she said in a hushed call but it was no use, the zombies heard and now had her locked in their sights. Excited groans began to rise from the horde as they picked up pace towards her. So Anderson did what she learned to do best in the past couple months, run and don't get bitten.
"Drokk," Dredd swore aloud to himself as he watched Anderson bolt ahead. Sometimes, each of them did something they weren't expecting, but now it was becoming a theme where they could expect it to happen sooner or later. Dredd had wanted them to stay together, not have Anderson zip ahead and risk her life again. Part of him considered giving her a brief lecture on that later when they had a new place to settle again, but now there was no time.
Dredd had the options of staying back for a bit or moving forward as planned. Anderson doubling back could be a great risk.
"I said we move together as a group." He growled to himself as he watched some of the zombies move after her. It was too risky, and he didn't like it. If he took the lead, the group was often behind him. It was never smart to go out alone to keep the zombies busy. Having at least one other person was the way to go. Having a buddy system was essential, and that was probably what irritated Dredd the most. Yeah, a little talk is needed later.
He waited until the ominous figures of the zombies running after Anderson began to diminish in numbers, though some that had noticed the group began to move after THEM, as Dredd had expected. He hoped they would be able to hold their ground until Anderson drew off more of the zombies, but the chances of that were maybe 70% if luck was on their side. If. There were so many zombies, that many of them would start finding the group, especially if blood began to fall.
Now Dredd was forced to move to the front, and as the number attacking increased, he was forced to use a lot more ammunition. However, the numbers STILL weren't as bad as they could be thanks to Anderson. In the back of his mind of course, he hoped Anderson wouldn't fall into a 'trap' somewhere and get hurt, because he could only see so far ahead, especially since they were just now making their way outside.
Anderson sprinted down the street, hoping to outrun the quickly gaining brain-munchers. She took a turn down a winding back alley littered with corpses, her lungs burned from the stench and how hard she had been running. Anderson could feel the strange emotions from the zombies; hunger, adrenaline, excitement, and something that was scarily similar to joy. Luckily for her, they had no thoughts and no proper thought process. They just roamed in search of any form of food, she had even seen a group of them feeding on each other. Take note Cassandra, study these freaks when you get back to Dredd and the group…if you make it back at all!
The alley was a dead end, blocked off by a rather large and formidable brick wall. "Shit!" There was a door and a fire escape.
"Well, I'm fucked either way, right?" Anderson said, taking her brief moment of solitude to look at her options. She couldn't take the fire escape simply because it was too high up, she could go in through the door but it was dark and probably hid plenty of zombies - like walking into a trap, or she could stand her ground and kill as many freaks with a less than 14% chance of survival. Looks like I'm taking a chance and going through that door.
Dredd hated having to hold his ground here - as the zombies kept finding them with each gunshot going off, the worse the situation got. He began to have the group actually back up as he considered the use of explosives or the Lawgiver. Minutes passed and Dredd was getting VERY impatient - even for him, who could be rather patient at times; such was an advantage and second nature for Dredd.
The civilians were complaining about the situation now, but they were doing their best to help. If a zombie swung too close, Dredd used his free arm to slice off the head and a couple other good gashes. It was a good work out for everyone, but eventually they'd tire. Dredd inwardly began to panic when more and more zombies began to get too close, but somehow they began to push out.
"We may have to use explosives, keep pushing through them," Dredd ordered in his usual calm voice.
"Aaah drokk," yet another civilian complained as he heard the Judge.
Anderson cautiously ran into the open doorway and made sure to lock and bar the door behind her, in case any of the creepers had seen or heard her go in there. It was dark, but light from outside poured in through the front windows. She was in a store, a general goods store to be exact. Someone had obviously made an effort to defend it but didn't secure the back door by the looks of it. The manager's corpse lay on the ground, bloated from days in the humid building, the stench rolling off in waves of nauseating plumes. It appeared as though he was attacked from behind, but it was hard to tell from all the rotting, torn, sickly yellow flesh. He lay in a pool of his own dried blood. Maggots and other insects had already made homes in all the orifices of his body and wriggled around unbothered by Anderson's presence. She slowly and silently walked past the corpse and further into the store. Whatever had killed him might still be here.
Anderson checked the perimeter and secured the other exits before going about the isles looking for supplies. Things were scattered everywhere. Toeing some bottles of shampoo to the side, Anderson decided to scoop a couple bottles up for the mother and anyone else who might feel the need to shower if they ever got the chance. Further into the store Anderson found plenty of food and stuffed her bag full of it. A few isles to her right she found bags and stuffed those with more food, clothes, and medical supplies - seeing as there was plenty and no obstacle preventing her from obtaining it. Gotta keep in mind this place is here. Maybe Dredd-…I need find something and fix my damn comm. I hope everyone is alright. And boy, are they going to be so happy I found this place! Anderson went about searching the store for possible tools to fix her comm but instead came across an old CB radio.
"Oh god, this better work" she whispered to herself as she clicked through the channels until she found the one Dredd and her operated on.
"Anderson to Dredd, do you read me? Anderson to Dredd, do you read me?" she repeated a few times but only heard static. She tried one more time. "Anderson to Dredd, are you okay?"
"Copy" Dredd replied with the faintest sign of surprise, shouldering his other primary weapon since the blade didn't require additional ammunition. "Holding- get back here stat." he growled- unable to prevent hiding some of his anger as he let go of the communicator button to take a single handed swing diagonally clean through another zombie's head - then another that ran at him behind it. Pivoting, he kept back another from a civilian near him. We were supposed to transition together. As the seconds passed endlessly, he got angrier, but he tried not to let it show.
Dredd proceeded to move through some of the zombies with the machete in one hand and the Lawgiver on the lowest mode possible with armor piercing rounds so they would go straight through the head and stop them short immediately. Dredd lived to fight- and that much was obvious now. It was as if his world was fading away as the adrenaline continued to flow through his veins, and for a moment he even forgot about the rest of the group when a zombie charged from the side. Luckily for him, just as he crossed arms to point the Lawgiver to the left another civilian saved him the effort. The mother and adopted child were still safe- and none of them had been bitten yet.
The group was capable of defending themselves, which was helpful, but regardless they needed more ammunition, and it wasn't like Dredd was going to share the Lawgiver. He could give up the other shotgun- which resembled something similar to a Benelli, but no way was he giving up the AR-15. That fired faster and suited his style better.
"Yes, sir, right away, sir." Anderson replied, relieved that he was still alive. She didn't doubt his combat or survival skills but now-a-days you could die at the drop of a credit, despite how good you are with a gun. One wrong turn and you could be bitten.
Anderson made sure all the exits to the store were shut, locked, boarded up, and reinforced. She was still hoping to show Dredd her nice little find when they got the chance.
She cautiously jogged down the streets, weapon at the ready. She decided to go with her own Russian Shasqua that she had pulled from a burning pile of rubbish. The blade hadn't warped and it was still sharp, if slightly rusted. Anderson assumed the sword had come from some sort of illegal antiques dealer. A handful of zombies had been in her path so she simply slashed her sword, it went through them like a hot knife in butter. The bodies crumpled to the ground, fluids squirting a little, bones finally snapping, and heads rolling away with a sick wet thud.
Anderson had finally made it back to the rest of the group. Smiling as she came up to Dredd, she still had blood in her hair and on her face. "Sir, I have a surprise for everyone!"
Dredd turned his head at the sound of her voice. Tense, he glanced the other way and checked his peripherals, still in his last fighting stance. "We need to keep moving, it's not safe here." Dredd commented flatly, knowing full well they had made too much noise from gun shots. He'd grabbed a grenade at his side literally right before she showed up - the grenade had been in his hand, the pin ready to be pulled just as the group of zombies he had his eye on were slayed by the returning blonde. Even amidst all the blood and guts of the ravenous zombies, Dredd still found her beautiful, even if he wouldn't admit it- especially not in front of the others.
"If you're ready to move as a group, at least to a higher level, then we can relax again." he glared at her through the helmet, only the scowl from his pursed lips visible for any readable facial expression.
Anderson was glad to see his scowl again, even though she sensed he was irritated.
"Yes, sir, I'll make sure everyone is ready to move out." she said happily, unable to hide her joy. She went about rounding everyone up and checking for wounds along the way.
This time Dredd lead the way and Anderson watched the rear of the group. The mother walked with Anderson and made small talk, which she found nice as opposed to the silent walks.
"My name is Lucinda." the mother said, "Thank you for leading the zombies away from us." she said, looking at the ground shyly.
"Mine is Cassandra." Anderson said politely. Deciding to take a quick reading on Lucinda, she found that one of Lucinda's children had been scratched a couple days ago. Being afraid of what the group or Judges might do, she kept it a secret but it wouldn't last for long. Her child was getting more sick by the day.
Looking Lucinda square in the face, Anderson had to ask her about it, "Lucinda...your daughter…"
"What, what about her?" Anderson could feel Lucinda's mind racing, hoping Anderson hadn't found out. She was getting scared for her child.
"Why didn't you say something sooner about her?" she whispered to Lucinda. Going on the defensive, Lucinda said "There is nothing wrong with her." and stormed ahead with the group.