Chapter One: After the End
November 21st, 2018
T+286 days after Z-day
3:00 PM- Downtown New York
"How are those barricades looking Tim?" asked the police officer while he reloaded his shotgun. His faded, dirty and bloodied uniform was beginning to fray at the edges. His name badge was all but destroyed. If one looked at it closely however, they would be able to read the stenciled name: Ortega.
"It'll hold for a while longer" His partner replied reentering the room with his pistol in hand. Tim's blues are in better condition then his, Ortega thought. Tim finished brushing his blond hair out of his eyes and sat down next to Ortega.
"We're running out of wood and supplies. And Orton's taking too long to get back here; he left over three hours ago…" Ortega said quietly, pausing for a second to gather his thoughts. "The main concern though is ammo. We raided the Seventh regiment armory two weeks or so ago and that's almost been eaten through."
"How much is left Max?" Tim asked peeking through one of the window barricades.
"Enough for a couple of days, unless we have another siege like last night." Max replied sourly remembering the amount of attackers the night before.
"Yeah, they've been getting really antsy over the past couple of weeks. I can't make heads or tails of it." Tim muttered crossing his arms, scowling at the ceiling. Getting up suddenly he walked over to the metal basement door. "I'm going to check on Manny and the girls, be right back."
Nodding once Max turned back to the open street where bodies of the fallen attackers still lay undisturbed. No signs of movement or sound. Check the roofs, Max thought looking at the nearby buildings. Clear. Stupid pricks had started to use the roofs in an attempt to reach their building last night. The splatting noise had alerted Tim and Manny in time to get to the roof to dispatch the ones that had made it across the thirty feet between buildings. Then morning came and they had stopped their assault, beginning to mill around in the street like they had done every morning. Assuming that it wasn't a sham, Orton had led four other men out in an attempt to get supplies.
And that had been three hours ago, Max thought to himself sourly. Then his mind went back to the noise he had heard earlier that day. About two hours after Orton and his men had left; Max would swear in front of God himself that there had been a helicopter in the area. However, when he had quieted Manny and Tim down, the noise was gone. Both had said he was overstressed and needed sleep.
"I know what I heard." Max said to himself playing with his shotgun. Looking at the ceiling he closed his eyes and tried to catch some sleep.
"HERE HE COMES AND HES BRINGING FRIENDS!" Tim's yell made Max jump to his feet, shotgun at the ready. Manny and Tim appeared, barreling off the steps from the roof, guns in hand. Max removed the barricade from the front door as Manny took up his position at one of the windows.
"Clear!" Tim yelled as Max opened the door and moved onto the marble steps of their safe house.
"Oh that is so not good." Max muttered as he saw Orton and a second man running flat out on the street. And not twenty feet behind them was the horde.
"Jeeze." Tim breathed next to Max as Manny opened fire with his hunting rifle.
BANG! The shot echoed in the street as the horde began to yell in their usual angry voices whenever something loud occurred. BANG! Manny's shots were scoring hits as several zombies went down missing heads, tripping several other pursuers. The zombies continued the pursuit gaining on their victims.
"DROP THE SACKS AND MOVE IT!" Max yelled to the two fleeing men who immediately complied and ran faster. The second man half stumbled but regained his balance immediately, attempting to keep up the pace. BANG! Manny fired again and again taking out multiple zombies per shot. But it wasn't going to be enough, Max thought. "Tim, get ready to hit the claymores."
"I thought they were only to be used in emergencies." Tim said.
"So what does this count as?" Max asked pushing Tim into the house quickly. Tim rolled his eyes but ran to the detonators in the underground bunker.
Fifty feet, Max thought, come on! Come on! His mind screamed, the zombies were fifteen feet behind the two and closing. BLAM! BLAM!
"ON MY MARK TIM!" Max yelled to Tim. Thirty five feet, thirty, twenty five, the two men passed the claymores-"NOW!"
The explosion seemed to suck all the air out of the street. Eight simultaneous explosions rocked the avenue as the zombies were engulfed in fire and steel. The shockwave blew out dozens of windows along the street front, setting off multiple car alarms in the vicinity.
Fifteen feet, ten- a blur of movement to Max's left caused him to swivel the shotgun in that direction, and fired out of reflex. That saved his life, the zombie was blown backwards several feet, collapsing in a heap on the sidewalk. Several feet away something lunged out of the alley way towards the exhausted two men. Max reversed the shotgun in an attempt to blow the thing away, but his shot went wide. The zombie slammed into the two men with surprising force, knocking them into the ground. The second man was on the edge of consciousness as the creature grabbed him roughly. Coming to his senses he yelled in fear punching the zombie in the head, who immediately slammed the man's head into the concrete. Crouching quickly, the zombie sprung away with the man yelling all the way down the street.
"MANNY! SHOOT IT!" Max yelled moving to assist Orton to his feet. Manny fired several shots at the jumping zombie, missing with every shot. The zombie was gone with the yelling man as Orton made it to his feet. Moving quickly for the door another blur darted out from the alleyway towards Max. "Son of a-"
POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! The zombie's corpse crashed to the ground and slid past Max. Looking at the doorway, Max saw his savior: Tim, with a still smoking 9mm.
"How many times do I have to come and save your sorry behind Max?" Tim asked grabbing Orton's other arm.
"Every single time Tim buddy." Max responded as twin explosions rocked the street. Snapping his head around Max saw twin fireballs, as two cars simply ceased to exist.
"DOH!" Max said rolling his eyes as he heard another chorus of angry horde coming for them. In the distance Max heard dozens of car alarms sounding off, adding to the din of approaching horde. "Doh, doh, doh, doh, DOH! EVERYONE INSIDE NOW!" Max shouted slamming the door closed. Moving the barricade back into place, he grabbed a supply crate and dragged it as fast as he could to the basement door. Handing off the crate to Manny, Max fired his shotgun at the first zombie that broke through the window. Knocking it back through the window, Max turned and swung the solid metal door closed behind him. Swinging the dead bolt into place he heard the outer door give way in a loud crash. The upper and lower locks slid into place as the thumping on the metal door began.
"Bloody pricks all of ya." Max muttered loading three rounds into his combat shotgun. Max waited for several minutes until he was satisfied that the horde wouldn't be able to break the door down. Sighing once, he walked slowly down the steps into the basement where everyone else was in defensive positions. "The door will hold them, its clear." Max said placing his shotgun at the bottom step. Max eyed the haggard looking group as they put their guns down and moved back to what they had been doing before all the excitement had occurred.
He saw Ashley and Sarah move to assist Orton to one of the group's two beds. Both women began to fuss over him, looking for any scratches or bite marks. Tim stood in the corner with his 9mm ready for anything. Sitting down on the steps next to his shotgun, Max watched the examination without interest.
Max's thoughts wandered back to the day this had all started. He and Tim had just come on duty when they had received an assault and battery call on 58th street. Upon reaching the scene, they had found seven people all of which, at the time, were dead. Tim had gone back to the patrol car, calling in for several ambulances. Tim had made a comment that HQ wasn't responding on the horn when it had happened for the first time. All seven corpses had stood up slowly like something out of a really bad sci-fi movie and had looked straight at him. Staring in shock, Max had told them to stay back, which in retrospect was a really stupid move, Max thought to himself. Tim had saved his life, firing his pistol into six of the seven zombies head's. The seventh one had closed the distance and had grappled with Max for several seconds before he was able to put the corpse down with six shots to the chest. Max had then unloaded a second clip into the things head to make sure it stayed down. After that, both men had high-tailed it back to their patrol car and made best speed back to HQ; only to find upon reaching it that the doors had been knocked off their hinges. Sitting in the car for several seconds both had decided to leave when they saw a dozen of their colleagues, former colleagues Max amended, pore out of the open doors. Speeding through downtown, they had located about two dozen other normal people. One of which had died and turned into a blood thirsty hooligan, which Orton had put down.
Whatever had made the people into the living dead had spread very fast through the city. After finding this bank to hide in, the group had decided to raid a National Guard depot; which they found crawling with the dead. Sandoval and Jenkins had died in the raid, both putting bullets into their own brains before they were made into zombies. The zombies had chased them all the way back to their hideout, and had been giving them trouble ever since. Each night it got worse. It seemed almost like-
"They knew we were coming." Orton's voice snapped through Max's thoughts. Looking up at Orton, Max leaned forward raising an eyebrow.
"What? How so?" Max asked perplexed, afraid that what Orton was about to say would confirm his thoughts.
"He's clean, no bites or scratch marks." Ashley reported before Orton could respond.
"They knew we were coming…. or that we would return to that store." Orton said slowly. "Remember when we cleared that store, the one about a mile out from here."
"The Food Lion?" Max asked, remembering the only food store within a mile of the "safe house".
"Yeah, they had set up an ambush inside the store." Orton said, emphasizing inside. "I don't know how but they must've figured out that we would be back for the stores of food in that place and waited for us."
"But that's not possible, we barricaded that place exceptionally well, they wouldn't have been able to get in by the front or rear doors." Max said thinking quickly.
"What about the roof, you saw those jumping guys last night. They could've gotten to the roof and destroyed the barricades to let the other ones in." Tim suggested.
"No. All the barricades were intact when we got there. We had little trouble getting to the store, a couple of isolated groups but that was it. Once inside nothing seemed out of place. I had Rodriguez and Arty sweep the aisles while Boyer and Chandler grabbed supplies." Orton said stopping for breath. "If Arty hadn't called out a warning, we would never have gotten out of there." He whispered shaking his head recalling the event. "Arty went down first, how I don't know; Rodriguez made it all the way to the front of the store before he was taken down. He was dragged away right in front of my eyes, a dozen of them all over him, ripping him to shreds."
Closing his eyes Max saw the scene playing out in his head. Max could see the frantic flight for the door and then Rodriguez being tackled to the floor. The three remaining men were running for their lives trying to escape with the horde right on their heels.
"Then something big, and I mean BIG, got Chandler. It was faster than any zombie I've ever seen. I don't know what it was…" Orton continued and paused.
"What was it? What did it look like?" Manny asked from his seat on the ammo crate.
"The best way I can describe it, was that it gave off this high pitched growl… ever hear nails on a chalk board? It was like that, except it gave you the chills like no other… Boyer and I managed to get out. And you guys know what happened to Boyer…" Orton said trailing off.
"So they set us a trap? Knowing that after we cleared the store the first time we would be back." Manny said as the girls busied themselves with organizing the remaining supplies. The four remaining men moved closer together talking in hushed tones.
"That means they still have some cognitive abilities. And I don't want to think of the ramifications if these guys are thinking." Tim said looking worried.
"Well it would explain their strange behavior of late. Past month they've been acting weird, even last night they started using tactics. They were getting onto the roof, which before yesterday, has never happened." Max said darkly. "But…. have you guys noticed that the day zombies and the night zombies are acting differently?"
"What are you suggesting Max?" Orton asked.
"Well, that the night zombies may be the only ones that are thinking, as weird as that may sound. Think about it, starting with a month ago when Patrick and Caleb were on guard duty. The zombies took out the defenses during the night, compared to the day ones that mindlessly attacked over and over again. The day ones couldn't beat them, but the night ones could. Then two weeks ago when you and I were on recon around the area looking for more barricade material, the night zombies took us by surprise by being in a building that had previously been cleared and barricaded shut. And then last night they were getting around our barricade by jumping from roof to roof to get to us." Max said thinking fast. "If I'm right then our friends upstairs should continue being themselves and beat on the door till their hearts content. When it gets to being night however, if they try something different, then we know I'm right."
The three other men nodded slowly digesting Max's theory.
"Well, if you're right that means that we will probably need to relocate. I mean it wont take them long to find someway to break down the door up there." Orton said pursing his lips.
"Hmm, I guess the first thing to do is see if the boys upstairs do anything tonight that's out of the ordinary." Tim said thoughtfully.
"Agreed." Max replied looking at the stairs for several seconds. "Here's the plan: we set up a rotating guard at the door for four hour shifts. I'll take the first shift, Orton how you holding up?"
Orton looked at Max with a wide false grin moving to his feet. "Me? I'm fine I guess. Never better, I can take the second shift." Max saw Tim flash a warning look which Max returned with a half nod.
"Tim, Manny and I can take the first three shifts; you can grab the fourth one. I want you to get some sleep before your shift so you'll be one hundred percent. Ok?" Max said looking at Orton directly in the eyes. Nodding slowly, Orton returned to his sitting position and tossed a half salute.
"Alright, sounds like a plan." Orton said as he lay backwards onto the bed.
Nodding towards the steps Max picked up his shotgun as he began climbing back up to the top leaving Orton and the girls downstairs. Manny and Tim followed close behind him with their weapons at their side.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Max could hear the pounding on the door clearly.
"Tim, what time is it?"
"5:26" Tim replied looking at his watch.
"Almost night, they should be starting soon." Max said sitting down on the top step as the beating became quieter and quieter. "They know we're here, but can't get to us. These guys aren't the ones scheming our destruction."
"Scheming?" Tim asked amused.
"Scheming, thinking, planning, all the same to me." Max muttered. "You guys go get some sleep. I'll wake you up Manny when your shift's up."
"Heard that boss, looking forward to it." Manny said sarcastically moving back down the steps with Tim close behind him.
Sighing softly, Max looked at the door behind him and snorted. Stupid pricks, more trouble then they're worth. Moving into the corner next to the metal door, he crossed his arms and dug in for the long haul.
"Max! MAX! Wake up!" Tim whispered harshly. Max opened his eyes blurrily and in the dim light could see a grim faced Tim looking down at him.
"My turn again already?" Max whispered grabbing his shotgun next to him groggily.
BONG!
Snapping straight up, Max looked at the stairs with worry evident in his eyes.
"That doesn't sound good." Max said jumping to his feet with his shotgun cocked.
"What was your first hint? Me waking you up or the gong like sound from upstairs?" Tim asked sarcastically.
"Not now, wake Manny and Orton up." Max said rushing up the stairs two at a time. Max reached the top of the stairs and listened intently. Several seconds later the three other men reached the top of the stairs, all battle ready with weapons in hand.
Max waited and heard deep breathing on the other side of the door, followed by shuffling of feet. Then a soft grunt as something hit the metal door again like a gong. Oh there is no way our luck is that bad, Max though annoyed.
"It's a tank!" Max whispered.
"Of course it's a friggin tank, who you expect? The bloody muffin man?" Tim asked even more sarcastic then before.
"Not helping here. This is really not good." Max said looking at their small assortment of firearms.
"Na, ya think?" Tim said again smiling.
"Not often, but just enough to be annoying." Max retorted as another BONG resounded throughout the basement.
"I thought tanks hated to come indoors." Manny whispered harshly as Orton nodded in agreement.
"They do…or they did at least because this one obviously doesn't mind." Max responded. WHAM! The metal began to give way slightly a large hand print becoming evident in the center of the door. Thinking fast Max looked at his shotgun and then at the door as another hit caused the dent in the door to grow even larger. "Okay, that's not good… um… we need to get the tank away from the door."
"And how the heck do you suppose we do that captain obvious?" Tim whispered back raising an eyebrow. WHAM! The dent grew to the size of a soccer ball.
"Bait." Max said looking at the other three men who's faces fell at the single word.
"And who gets to be the unlucky SOB who gets to play with the tank?" Manny asked softly.
"Me of course." Max whispered back as he began to steel his nerves. "This is going to be very ugly." Max muttered to himself as he moved closer to the door as another hit made the door groan. "We don't have much time; I'll distract it and get the tank away from the door. Just be sure to close the door behind me. Don't want it seeing you guys and think you are a better punching bag."
"And you know this is going to work… why?" Tim asked his partner incredulously.
"I don't." Max said grinning as the door bolts unlocked and Max slipped through the open door into the night beyond.
"He's suicidal." Manny whispered shutting the door quickly as a shotgun blast echoed in the room beyond.
"Yeah but that's Max for you." Tim said softly. Good luck partner, I won't be there to get your back this time, Tim thought.
From the tanks point of view, the sudden appearance of Max presented an interesting predicament. Chase after the thing that had just appeared in front of it and beat it to smithereens or, continue beating on the door until it gave way. However, it didn't like being in this building one bit, but the scent had driven it into this place and to this door. But the desire to beat this small person into the ground was very strong, but the scent was just as powerful. It stood there watching in indecision as the thing paused less then four feet away and pointed something straight at its chest.
BAM! CHUNK-CHUNK!
Abruptly a searing pain shot through its chest, causing it to completely forget about the door and the scent. It saw the figure run out of the open door and disappear into the night. Roaring in fury it burst out of the room and into the darkness in hot pursuit of the figure.
Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Max thought running flat out down the darkened street. Passing intersection after intersection, Max was surprised he couldn't hear the tank. Is it even following me, he wondered suddenly. As if in response a stop sign came hurtling past his head and into a cars windshield on his right.
WOOOOOOOOOO!
The car's alarm suddenly barked to life as Max ran past it and took a right onto the next street. Several sky rise buildings were on the street, good place to lose this guy, Max thought, passing two almost immediately.
Max heard it then: the horde was coming.
Their angry chorused yell echoed throughout the neighboring blocks. From behind him the car alarm was silenced abruptly with a loud CRUNCH! Ahead of Max, several hundred horde pored in from the intersection further on causing Max to groan.
Coming to a halt, Max looked around for an escape knowing none was going to be found. The horde and the tank were closing, less then a dozen yards away. All the cars were dead, no alleyways to dive into, no windows to open in time, the doors-
One of the doors to his left was open! Running as fast as he could Max reached the doorway less then five yards in front of his closest pursuer. Slamming the door behind him he knew he had less then three seconds before they came in after him.
Three. Max scoured the room with his eyes, and found no zombies ready to come out and kill him.
Two. Stairs leading upwards caught his eye as he took three great strides and reached them.
One. He had made it to the top of the first flight when the door came flying off its hinges in a loud BANG-CRUNCH! The tank roared not even slowing down as it came flying into the room and through the reception desk.
Max took the steps two at a time, he noted in the back of his mind that the horde hadn't come inside after the tank. For some reason they had remained at the doorway. The tank however, had skidded to a halt and had located its target climbing up the stairwell. Roaring, it immediately thundered up the steps causing much more noise in the building then it had in the street.
The two antagonists climbed the stairs quickly their breathing echoing throughout the stairwell. Max looked down as he rounded another bend and saw the tank a single floor below him. The tank was gaining.
Max saw up ahead a sign that said: Floor 13. Lucky number thirteen don't fail me now, he thought to himself. Ramming through the door, he was greeted by a floor of dark and dusty cubicles. Running like all hells was behind him, which it was; Max weaved in and out of the maze towards a glowing EXIT sign on the far side of the room.
WHAM! CRUNCH!
Max heard the door come flying off its hinges as the tank came careening into the room like a tornado in a trailer park. Crushing the door into the floor it saw its prey less then a dozen feet away and immediately gave chase. Completely disregarding all obstacles in its way, the only thing it cared about was killing the retreating figure. Max heard the tank barrel through all the cubicles behind him as he slammed the door open onto the stairwell.
Only to find the stairs only led up.
"What the-" Max said leaping up the stairs quickly, the sound of the tank very close behind him. He had made it to the fourteenth floor stairwell when his pursuer came through the door below him.
BONG! The door flew open and stuck into the wall. Crouching quickly, the tank launched itself upwards, its hand catching hold of the rail. Max dodged its second hand that lashed out as he pointed his shotgun directly at the tanks head and fired.
BAM!
The tank was suddenly on its feet in front of Max as the gun fired! The round again found the chest as the tank grabbed the shotgun from Max's hand. Max let go and ran up another flight of steps as the tank crushed the shotgun in its hands. Realizing too late that the gun wasn't part of the figure, it rushed up the stairs behind the fleeing figure.
Barreling through the fifteenth floor door, Max made it three steps before the tank came through the same door.
CRUUNNNCCHHH!
The door came flying off, hitting Max squarely in the back and caused him to fly directly through two cubicles. Landing on a desk with the door on his back Max felt pain fly through his chest.
"OOWWWWW" Max yelled in pain, knowing at least one of his ribs was broken.
Suddenly the door was gone off his back, and felt the tanks hand seize his leg. Picking him up, the tank spun Max around in a circle and threw him through an office door.
More pain shot through Max's skull as he rolled through a desk and hit the wall hard. His head whiplased against the wall as he hit, sending more stars through his field of vision as he looked up at his attacker.
"Ish dat all youuuuuu gawt?" Max asked slurred as he pulled out his 9mm and fired it in the tanks general direction. Max heard three grunts as the tank entered the room, giving him some satisfaction of at least hitting the tank in his current state. The tank grabbed Max's extended hand and crushed the gun. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Max yelled in pain feeling an intense pressure on his wrist as it thought about breaking.
Max's vision cleared enough to see the tank picking him up and holding him less then a foot away from its own face.
"If you surrender now, I may spare yer-" Max began as the tank slammed Max's back onto a second desk in the room. Pain screamed through Max's skull as the tank brought him back up to eye level. "Guess not" Max said through the pain. The tank snorted once and prepared to throw Max threw the window three feet away.
Max suddenly thought his vision was playing games with him as he saw hands grab the tanks feet through the floor! The floor suddenly disappeared and Max had a curious feeling of free falling as the ground came up to meet him
WHUMPH!
Max hit the floor with the tank right next to him as an office chair landed on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Trying to breathe Max saw something massive duck back into the shadows.
And a new sound greeted his ears.
The sound similar to nails on a chalkboard. A high pitch whine, exactly like the one Orton told us about earlier, Max thought as his breath slowly came back to him. No, more like a growl, a very pissed off growl, he amended to himself as he tried not to move. Like it matters? He thought to himself, this thing ain't a T-Rex. It can probably smell me a mile away.
Suddenly there was a second growl that complimented the first, and then a third one. The tank had finally struggled back to its feet and gazed into the darkness as if uncertain of what to do. Roaring in what Max would later describe as something akin to fear, the tank beat its chest in defiance.
The tank's spooked, oh that is fucking great, Max thought annoyed. As if on cue, something detached itself from the wall less then a yard away from Max, making him freeze all movement and breathing. He heard it sniff the air, as if sampling what was in the room and its growl became deeper. More sinister.
Giving off a roar that would have split the heavens, the thing launched itself out of the dark corner, and out into the center of the room. Max saw two other things mirror the first and begin to engage the bellowing tank.
Max saw the four combatants join in the center of the room as a battle of life and death ensued. The three beasts were much quicker then the tank as the darted in and around, searching for an opening. One of the creatures gave a roar and launched itself at the tanks back in an attempt to bring it down.
In a blur of movement, the tank grabbed the creature in midair and judo flipped it through the wall. The creatures snarl turned into one of bewilderment as it flew upwards through the air, until it realized that there was no ground below it. Max saw it simply disappear from view as it fell fourteen stories to the ground below. Its howl suddenly and abruptly extinguished in a loud thud.
The distraction however, was enough for the second creature to get past the tanks guard and spear it into the wall. The force of the hit sent both combatants through the wall and into the next office, disappearing from sight. The third creature stopped and sniffed the air suddenly, then looked directly at Max.
Oh son of a-
He never finished his thought.
As the thing began to move in his direction, the second creature came flying back into the room! The two creatures collided as they both sprawled to the floor with a very angry tank right behind them.
The tank roared in fury, blood covering its body from head to toe from multiple deep gashes on its chest and neck. Max moved his body into the sitting position, causing pain to explode through his chest. Clenching his teeth, he finally saw what had created the gash marks on the tank, as the nearest creature moved into the moon light allowing Max to see it clearly for the first time.
Sweet Jesus, Max thought seeing the creature. The creature went into a crouch, seeming to coil its body tight as if to pounce onto the tank. Its muscular legs were tense, waiting for the tank to make a move. It flexed its hands revealing the short claws at its fingertips. Its face, had become slightly elongated, giving it a feral look. As it growled, the thing revealed its razor sharp teeth. Its whole body seemed to be made of muscle, and the creatures sole purpose was to kill.
Max looked for the third creature, to find to his dismay had disappeared. Looking around quickly he couldn't find it anywhere; just as the second creature leapt from its position directly at the tank. The tank shot forward and met the thing halfway into the room, both sides grunting as their bodies hit.
From his position, Max saw the two combatants lock hands, both parties locked in a test of strength. He watched in awe as the creature held its own and began to even push the tank back step by step into the rear wall.
That's when the third beast pounced. Flying out of the shadows, its razor sharp claws sliced into the tanks left arm, cutting muscle to ribbons. The tank roared in pain as suddenly its left arm became useless.
The beast in front of the tank overpowered it, slamming it roughly into the ground. The third beast was on top of the hapless tank immediately, slashing with its claws as the second creature ripped at the tanks chest.
Max sat there in stunned silence as the tank continued to fight even when it was down. Bashing one of the creatures with its good hand, the tank sent the shaken fiend flying into the nearby wall. The second creature slammed the tanks good arm into the floor pinning it there as the third creature returned to the fray.
This isn't good, Max thought as he glanced at the door assessing his few options at the moment.
One: run out and leave the tank to die and probably get one of those things chasing his sorry ass down and die.
Two: help the tank and die in the process.
Three: sit here and die anyways.
Four: jump out the hole the first creature had made and die.
Hmm, die, die, die or die. Great choices, he thought. He saw the tank rip his hand free and bash the creature to the floor, who rose quickly and flung itself onto the tank. Oh this is so going to hurt, I'm glad Tim's not here, he thought to himself rising quickly, ignoring the pain shooting through his body.
"AAARRHHHH!" He yelled running full speed into the two creatures on top of the tank. Using his two hundred pounds to forcibly remove the two creatures, he sent all three of them sprawling onto the floor. Pain shot through his chest as he felt something hard rub against each other. He stopped rolling and found himself on the back of one of the creatures.
It looked at him over its shoulder as if to ask: And what are you doing exactly? Snarling at him he felt its whole body tense.
Max locked his arms around the things big neck in a headlock and held on for dear life.
The thing shot up lightning fast and began shaking like a dog in an attempt to break Max's hold. Got to hold on, he thought. The tank was back on its feet, blood flowing from open wounds on its arm and chest, visibly weakened. But it wasn't close to being out yet.
The third creature was back on its feet and saw Max on its comrades back. Max saw it dart in for his exposed back and braced for the searing pain of its claws.
A loud pain filled yell split the air.
But it wasn't Max screaming.
The third creature stood pinned to the rear wall with a metal rod sunk through its shoulder. The tank stood at the other end forcing more of the pole through the beasts shoulder and through the wall. Roaring in pain the beast slashed its claws through the pole, easily slicing it in half. Max saw the tank glance at him, and the other beast, before launching itself towards the one he had pinned.
Now Max would have almost sworn in any other situation that the tank knew he was helping it; and that it knew that the only way they were getting out of this situation was if they stuck together. But then again this was a tank that had moments before tried to kill him. Either way, Max was just fine with the tank not backhanding the two of them through a wall.
Max saw the tank rip the struggling creature off the end of the pole and roughly throw it through the nearest desk. The beast's momentum carried it into the next room where Max lost sight of it.
Roaring in victory, the tank turned to Max and his combatant, who had taken up a new strategy. The beast, unable to shake Max off, turned to the nearest remaining wall and slammed its back into it.
Pain shot through Max's back and skull as his hold slackened. Sensing his weakness, the beast turned around quickly and flipped Max through the already breaking wall. Unable to slow his passage, the wall crumpled on impact. Max flew unabated until he hit the wall outside the office.
Stars flew in front of his vision as he saw the beast leap through the hole to finish him off. That's all she wrote, he thought seeing its claws fully extend, aiming for his throat, its mouth open in an angry snarl.
Max felt the tips of its claws touch his flesh.
He saw the creatures eyes go wide suddenly in surprise as it was whipped back into the room by its leg. The beast connected with the metal desk, its head breaking it with ease. The tank planted its foot onto the creatures exposed back and put its hands on the things chest. What happened next made Max wince in pain.
The tank mustered all its brute strength and pulled the creature straight up so that its upper back was perpendicular to its lower back in a v-shape. It was over in one swift motion, the snap of the creatures spine reverberated in the air as the creatures body went instantly limp. Breathing hard, the tank threw the body down and stepped forcibly on the things neck, crushing it for good measure.
Max sat there looking at the tank, his own body exhausted, bruised and battered.
The tank turned to Max as if sensing his eyes on its back. It stood there for several seconds, both combatants staring at each other. The blood was still flowing out the tanks body in a slow steady stream. The tank began to move closer walking purposefully towards Max.
Its hopeless, I am so going to get wacked right now…ah to heck with it anyways, I've given it my all so far, and I've survived this long. If only I had a little more time to get up I might be able to get away, he thought. Yea, a lot of good that would do you, he'd probably track you down and kill you anyways. Stop being so pessimistic you pansy and get UP! Great I'm yelling at myself, He thought to himself as his body responded sluggishly. Pain shot through his leg and he remained sitting for several seconds as the tank came within two yards of him.
Max saw the tank stumble suddenly, its weakened state becoming apparent as it breathed heavily for several seconds before it regained its feet.
WHAM!
Max saw the tank come flying straight at him with the third creature on its back.
OH CRAP! The thought screamed through Max's head at a thousand miles an hour as he rolled to his right, not a second before the two fighters smashed into the wall where he had been moments before.
Max saw a flurry of limbs, and grunts as the tank threw the creature off with a visible effort. From his position, Max could see the gash marks lining the tanks face and neck. Blood was flowing unabated from the wounds as the severely wounded tank managed to move to its feet in time to deliver a solid punch to the creature's rib cage.
The blow connected causing audible cracks to be heard as several bones gave way. The creature however, instead of yelling in pain, seemed to almost grin as it grabbed the tanks arm and lifted the entire tank off the floor. In an unbelievable show of strength, the creature sent the tank into a one hundred eighty degree arc over its own head and back into the ground by just holding onto the tanks arm!
Max saw the tank's head slam into the ground and then its body be whipped around in a complete circle. The creature completed the circle and launched the tank back through the only remaining intact desk in the room.
The beast howled in victory and pounced on the immobile tank.
Only to find the tanks foot planted in its gut. Grunting in shock the beast fell back several feet before it regained its footing. The tank was on its feet and charging directly at the beast!
The creature looked up just in time and dodged left, right as the tank steamrolled past directly into the far wall.
SHLUNK!
Suddenly the tanks body went still. Max watched it closely, and saw it twitch slightly as it fell backwards.
The cause was obvious just as the tank hit the floor.
The tip of the metal rod the tank had used earlier, had been implanted into the wall so far that when the tank had ripped the creature off it, the rod had stayed firmly imbedded in the wall. The foot long metal piece had cored directly through the tanks eye and into its brain, killing it instantly.
Silence.
It seemed like an eternity since the fight had started, but it was finally over. Max looked at the tank sadly. It had given everything it had, and had, in the end, killed itself.
A deep growl suddenly snapped through Max's thoughts as he looked up to see the creature staring directly at him.
Run Max. He sat on the floor for a second. RUN MAX! His body yelled as he got to his feet in one motion and ran like all hells was behind him again. For the second time.
Pain shot through his body with every step he took, but he dared not stop as he heard the thing give chase with a howl.
Running, running, running, running! He thought as he rounded another corner passing several cubicles and offices. He could hear the thing gaining on him as he pumped his arms faster, feeling his sprained wrist throb with pain.
Come on you've had worse, just keep running! He thought as he rounded another corner as the thing blew past the area he had just left. Max heard the thing bowl through an office door and slam into a desk at full speed. He didn't even pause to look back as he ran flat out for the next turn in the hallway. The thing wasn't slowed for long as he heard it come barreling out of the room in hot pursuit. Turning the corner he knew he was going to make it. Against all odds he was going to get to the exit sign at the end of the hall way and get the heck out of this building.
Max suddenly came to a complete stop.
Dead ahead of him the door had opened to reveal another large figure standing in the doorway. Gazing back he saw the creature round the corner, slamming into a wall it saw him. Letting loose a howl it pounced down the hallway as the figure from the doorway sprang into action.
The thing moved with surprising speed as it covered the distance from the door to Max in a second. Max saw it was made of solid metal, and humanoid in appearance. Max saw the thing stand protectively over him as it caught the creature in midair!
The figure sumo slammed his pursuer into the ground several feet away and jumped onto the creatures back.
"EMMA! NOW!" The man's yell startled Max as he watched the creature easily break its captors grip. The thing squirmed free and raked the man's chest with a quick swipe. A squeal of angry metal was heard at the man jumped back quickly avoiding the full swipe; however, claw marks had dug into the suit almost an inch. "HEY! You scratched my suit! Do you know how much these things cost?" He yelled avoiding another swipe as he grabbed the arm in mid arc. Then he pulled the thing close with everything he had as he slammed his other hand into the creatures arm.
SNAP! The creature howled in pain as he broke its arm.
"How do you like me now?" He asked it. The creatures other arm came from the other side and nailed the man in the back sending him flying through an office door. The thing turned to finish him off as Max leapt into the firing line.
Max slammed into the creatures waist, spearing it into the wall, allowing his would be savior to regain his feet. He rolled away in time to avoid the retaliatory slash as the suited man reappeared.
A flash of silver suddenly erupted from the creature's stomach and sliced upwards, ending at the things chest cavity. The beast gave a death gurgle and fell to the ground in a heap.
Max saw the figure behind the corpse holding a samurai sword in their right hand. The women produced a cloth and wiped the blade clean as she sheathed it.
"Nice save Emma." The man said giving the women a thumbs up.
She bowed as her visor became transparent revealing her stern face.
"I thought I told you to wait to engage the vizerdrix Carl." She responded coldly.
"Really?" Carl asked looking sidelong at her. "Must've missed that one. And that was a nice spear buddy." He said looking at Max, who was gone. "Where did he go?"
"Put your hands on your head… where I can see them." Max commanded holding his second 9mm in hand. The world was spinning for him but he was able to concentrate enough to hold the gun at the ready, pointed directly at the two figures. "I don't know who you guys are, or where the hell you came from. But if you don't mind, I'd like to know pronto." Max's breathing quickened, and he felt very hot. His thoughts began to become jumbled as he tried to make sense of everything that had happened.
"Is he serious?" The one called Carl asked his partner incredulously.
"Apparently." Was all Emma said.
Max swiveled the gun from Emma to Carl as he blinked several times trying to clear his vision. Max's world began to spin faster and faster, as his concentration began to slip. He felt his arm go numb and control over his hand became nonexistent as he felt the gun slip from his fingers. Suddenly Max saw the ground coming up to meet him as everything went black.