Mr Gamblin' Man. Good Lord, he is beautiful. Crisp white suit, hair slicked back, shining blue eyes. Oh man, they have tah be the lightest blue Ah'v ever seen. Man oh man oh man. Christ in a handbasket his lips! He's frowning, but man, that don't matter. Ah wonder whut it'd be like tah kiss him? Tah feel him close against me?
Ellis stood, staring at the man swaggering around of him. This was the first time he'd had a proper look at the other three people he was standing with. A heavy set man was to his left, wearing a yellow and purple polo shirt. He kind of looked like a football coach. He walked around to the cash register, stopping to grab a piece of paper that had been left on the counter. A small woman wearing a pink Depeche mode t-shirt was standing just in front of him, looking at a map that had been spread out on the table in front of her. And finally to his right was Mr Gamblin' man. This guy was the one who interested him the most. With his white suit, blue shirt, hair slicked back, rings covering his fingers, he truly was a sight. Ellis couldn't help but stare. Leaning over the register, he opened it using his pistol. It pinged as it opened, the gambler glancing up at him, a smirk on his face, and Ellis felt his heart hammer slightly harder against his chest. His thoughts were interrupted as the heavy set man spoke. "Report unusual behaviour. Barricade your homes. Avoid all contact with infected individuals. Wait for official instructions. Hah! Wait my ass!" he chuckled, reading aloud from the paper he held in his hand, biting a chunk out of the candy bar in his other hand. Ellis turned and walked over to the locker across from one of the shelves. Opening it, his eyes wondered over the array of weapons inside. Grinning he reached inside, grabbing several pistols, turning around and laying one on the table for the woman in front of him, nodding his head, smiling politely. He turned back around, facing the locker and pulled out a combat shotgun. Looking back to the heavy set man he grinned. "Kill all sons'a bitches." He paused, pumping his shotgun, now fully loaded, his eyes wondering to rest on Mr gamblin' man, who was now looking at him, a curious smirk on his face. "That's mah 'fficial instructions." Ellis finished, grinning.
The group loaded their weapons from the ammo stash in the locker, and walked towards the door. The heavy set man spoke, clutching his shotgun tightly. "We all ready to do this?" After receiving a nod from the rest, he nodded to Ellis, who was standing in front of the door. Moving back, Ellis kicked the door open, blasting an infected right in front of him. The heavy set man was also blasting away to his left, along with Mr gamblin' man, who was popping zombies down with his desert eagle with some serious skill. The woman was to his right, swinging her axe down heavily on anything that came near her. There was a hotel opposite the small store they had just exited. "People, let's head to the hotel!" The heavy set man hollered in front of him, the rest agreeing and jogging behind him, slashing and shooting anything in their way."I heard there's an evac station with a helicopter!" The small woman shouted over the hissing of the infected that were trying to kill them. After killing the horde and reaching the hotel doors, they entered, one by one, cautiously glancing around. It was quiet. Too quiet. Infected had managed to get in, it was obvious by the state of the main lobby. Papers were scattered on the floor, blood was sprayed over the walls, pooling on the floor. Several corpses littered the floor, the smell of smoke and death hung heavily in the air. "Okay. Where's this evac station miss?" The heavy set man had turned his attention from the corpses to the small woman. "Well." She spoke slowly, like she was racking her brains. "Joey said it was… I think it was the hotel's rooftop. Yeah. That's what he said, just before he…Just before they…" She stopped talking and began to chew her bottom lip. The heavy set man nodded understandingly. "Come on then people. Let's make our way to the roof." He glanced at the elevator, the others following his gaze. Mr gamblin' man walked over and pressed the button. "Let's get goin' then, shall we?" Ellis nodded walking over to stand next to him, the others standing behind them. Finally the elevator pinged and the doors opened, allowing them to step inside. "Only goes tah floor seven." Ellis spoke pressing the button, the doors slowly closing, the elevator jumping to life. They stood in the elevator silent, still trying to get over the shock of what was happening, or to put it simpler, what actually was happening. The elevator halted to a stop and the doors pinged just as they did when it arrived, the doors opening quicker this time. A group of zombies were waiting for them as they stepped out of the elevator, Ellis easily disposing of them using his shotgun. Together, they followed the signs leading to a set of stairs which took them to floor eight, taking out several zombies on the way. Once up the stairs it was silent. Just as quiet as it was in the lobby. Ellis didn't like it this quiet because he knew from all the video games and movies he had seen that something worse was bound to happen. Once again they followed the signs leading to the next floor which should be the rooftop, none of them uttering so much as a single word. Eventually they made it to the stairs, the woman running up first, followed by Ellis, than the heavy set man who was breathing hard, finally Mr gamblin' man just behind him. The heavy set man stopped and leant against the railings, breathing hard. "Who the hell…..Puts an evac station….Up thirty flights of goddamn stairs?" He panted, shaking his head. The gambler jogged past him up the stairs, turned his head and smirked. "Come on Coach, maybe the helicopter….Maybe it's made out of chocolate." He chuckled, also breathing hard, before continuing up the rest of the stairs, followed by the heavy set man who was twisting his face. When the other two had made it to the roof, it was deserted; the only sound that could be heard was the helicopter leaving. "Hey, where is everybody? Helllloooo?" Ellis shouted, circling the rooftop, looking for any signs of life. The woman raised her hand to her forehead in disbelief. "Okay, this is not happening." "Anyone here?" Ellis hollered, ignoring the woman repeating herself. The gambler walked to the edge of the rooftop and placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. The heavy set man that the gambler had called Coach frowned. "Thought they supposed to be savin' our asses?" He spoke gruffly, shotgun still in hand. "Looks like there's been a change of plans." The gambler answered, gazing after the helicopter in the distance. "That chopper looks like it's headin' over tah the evac station at the mall." Ellis muttered, also watching the chopper head away. "Gotta agree. Let's grab a weapon and head to the mall." Coach walked towards the weapons on the table. There was also a few first aid kits that had been left behind. The group restocked on ammo, grabbed the first aid kits and made their way back downstairs, hearing a loud bang and the shattering of glass, followed by the several inhumane shrieks, the smell of smoke getting stronger. Opening the door, a group of infected were running towards the door, screaming and hissing, ready to kill. Ellis ran into the room on the right, grabbing the pills that were on the table, the gambler close behind, disposing of the zombie that was about to take a chunk out of Ellis's back. He grabbed his arm and turned him around. "Kid, you better watch out." Ellis smiled and nodded thanks, his heart pounding as the gambler stared at him hard. Quicker than a flash the contact was broken, and the gambler had walked to the table and was looking at the map that had been scribbled over. Ellis stood and watched him in a trance like state as he spoke. "If that map's right, New Orleans might be the last place in America that can get us out alive." He muttered, concentrating on the map, tracing the lines with his finger. His head snapped up and towards the door as a loud shriek was heard. Louder than the general noise from the infected they had heard. "Shit. Reports say that there's something that is worse than zombies." The woman whispered, raising her axe high, staring hard at the door. Coach quickly loaded his shotgun and moved towards the door, peeking his head out. "I know what that is. I heard it on the news. They're calling it a hunter. Shit. It saw me." He cursed, quickly stepping back inside and raising his gun, ready to shoot. They heard it growling and banging its way down the hall, before stopping outside of the door, staring at them all. It was wearing a dark blue ripped hoodie, and had razor sharp looking claws, its eyes burning into Coach. "So that's a Hunter, huh? What's he gonna do, go for a jog at me?" the gambler sarcastically whispered to Ellis, causing him to chuckle quietly. The hunter rose onto its feet and threw back his head, letting out an almighty scream, and launched itself at Coach. It knocked him off his feet, sending him crashing to the floor; its sharp claws began ripping into his chest. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Coach shouted, wrestling with the beast on top of him. The woman ran forward and whacked the hunter off him using her axe and began helping him up, while the gambler walked forward and pressed the gun to its head before pulling the trigger, spraying the wall behind it with blood. Ellis stood mouth open. Dayme, Mr Gamblin' man has some goddamn style!
Coach walked out of the room and down the corridor, followed by the woman. The once clear path had now been blocked by vending machines and debris from the collapsing building. Instead, they headed right, into a storage room by the looks of things. Dead end. There were only a few shelves, a door leading to a cupboard, and two windows. Just as they turned to leave a small giggling made them stop dead. The woman's eyes widened. "Shit. Jockey." Coach grabbed her by the arm. "Girl, how yall know all this?" The woman smiled. "I work for the news. I was supposed to be reporting on the evacuation, until they got-." The window next to them smashed, and a small, ginger haired creature jumped inside, giggling maniacally, and jumped up at the woman, wrapping its arms around her head. "GET THIS THING OFF MY HEAD! OH MY GOD IT'S ON MY FACE!" She screamed, running around, arms waving wildly, heading towards the open window. Ellis sped forward and grabbed the jockey, hurling it to the floor, letting Coach pop it with his shotgun. The gambler walked over to the jockey, his head tilted to the side. "So, that's a Jockey huh? Cute little guy." Ellis felt a smile cross his face. Ah like him. Ah reaally like him. "Out here, let's try the ledge." He spoke, stepping out, gripping onto the edge of the wall, followed by Ellis, the woman and Coach. They finally made it to the next staircase without falling off the edge, a few zombies being thrown over, however. At the bottom of the stairs, the gambler walked behind next to Ellis. "Hey Mr gamblin' man. Ah got this fer yah." He whispered, handing him an adrenaline shot he had found under bed in one of the rooms. The suit smiled at him. "Thanks kid." A green jar on the floor distracted him from Ellis. "That can't be a bottle of puke. Is it?" He bent down, picking it up and reading the label. "Boomer bile. Oh great. Boomer puke. First of all, what the fuck is a boomer? Second, why is its vomit in a jar?" Ellis shook his head. "Beats me, Sir. We're almost at the elevator- shit." He pointed to the wall of fire that blocked their path. "Shit! This place is burnin' up fast!" The suit spoke, following the other two into a room on the left. "We can use this ledge to get around the fire!" he coughed, the smoke clogging the air heavily. Coach nodded, the rest of them following, cautiously stepping out of the window, a group of zombies trying to pull them of the ledge. "Shit! Ah need some help here!" Ellis shouted, a zombie grabbing him. Hissing, it lost its balance, sending them both tumbling over the edge. Luckily Ellis grabbed the ledge just in time. The suit turned, hearing him shout. "Fuck!" He cursed, making his way back to where the kid hung on, desperately clinging, slowly losing his grip, his hands getting sweaty. One of his hands slipped off causing him to cry out. "HELP!" The suit bent down, gripping him tightly and pulling. "Ah shit, come on, come on, come on!" he groaned, pulling with all his might. Finally he was up, both panting. "You guys okay?" The woman shouted from the room ahead. Ellis nodded and turned to face the gambler. "Thank you so much Sir." The suit wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled. "No problem. But uh, less of the sir, okay?" Before he could say anymore, Coach was beckoning them over. "People we gotta move, this place is on fire!" Slowly and carefully they made it over the edge, finally making it back to the elevator, the woman stopping to grab the containers of pills that were near an ashtray. Once inside, she handed one to Coach. He smiled and nodded thanks, pressing the button to go down to the bottom floor. The doors shut and Ellis sighed. "Holy shit. This is some sorta nightmare goddamn zombie apocalypse ahn' shit. Shit, shit, shit. Whut in hell we gonna do?" Coach spoke. "Settle down son. We gonna be okay. What's your name?" "Ellis. Mah name's Ellis." Coach smiled. "My friends call me Coach. I guess yall can do the same." The woman spoke up. "Hey, name's Rochelle, you?" She motioned towards the suit. "Name's Nick. But don't worry about learnin' it, cause I ain't stickin' around long." Ellis felt his stomach drop as the suit, now known as Nick, leant against the elevator wall. "Let's stay together a little while longer at least, okay Nick?" Coach suggested, Ellis's hopes rising slightly. He had only known Nick a short while, but he didn't really want to be separated from him. Nick sighed. "I bet there's gonna be somethin's waiting for us out there. So let's get ready." Ellis turned, facing the doors. He couldn't help grinning. Man, things ain't all bad!