As a zombie invasion occurs and hell breaks lose in Haven City, Jak and a few of his comrades are forced out on the run for survival. Will include some TornxJinx
Survival of the fittest
It was an ordinary friday night in Haven City. The only people who still remained at the popular Hip Hog Salon this late were three krimzon guards, a random guy and a girl and of course, Jak and the gang. Believe it or not, but Krew was not around at the moment. No one really knew what kind of business he had outside the bar he always stayed at otherwise. Even though they were curious, they didnt care that much anyway, cause they were just generally glad to get rid of him. Some time passed, and eventually, the guy and what seemed to be his girlfriend, left for the night. Sig was seated by one of the booths, polishing his beloved peacemaker, while Jak and Torn were seated by the bar, chatting with Tess, who was busy making drinks and cleaning, all the time having Daxter all over her. Which, after some time, could get pretty annoying, even for her. Jinx on the other hand was standing, leaning against the bar with a beer in his hand, daringly teasing the three krimzon guards who were seated by the booth on his side of the bar. They growled at him every now and then, especially when he stuck his tongue out at them. The reason that Jak and Torn had come here to meet up with Jinx and Sig was because they had a mission together. A very important one at that...
"Hey punk!" one of the gaurds got up slowly, approaching a smug looking Jinx and the other two followed as well. Both Jak and Torn turned their heads, curious at why the krimzon guards were coming over, and tensed up a bit. Jinx watched as they surrounded him, keeping his cool and the guards glared at him.
"I'd show some respect if I were you", the 'leaderguard' growled and leaned against the bar, close to the dirty-blonde. "You dont want to mess with a krimzon guard", he warned. The explosives expert raised his eyebrows.
"Oh but I do", he gave the armed man a confident grin. The guard to his left grabbed his arm roughly, making him lose his balance slightly.
"I suggest you shut your mouth if you dont want to get into trouble", Jinx eyed him for a moment before pulling his arm out of the man's grip.
"I'm not afraid of you", he stated. "Or the baron. He can shove that throne of 'his' up his ass!" this resulted in him ending up on the floor.
"I could arrest you for that!" the first guard shouted, glaring down at the man.
"Hey!..Just leave him alone", a voice came from behind them and all three guards turned to a slightly aggravated Torn. The redhead glared at them in silence and a few minutes passed by where no one spoke. A low rasping sound caught all of their attention and everyone turned to the door, listening carefully. They all expected someone to walk right in but nothing more happened. The scratching on the door resumed after a while and even Sig looked up from polishing his gun. Jak got off his barstool and approached the door slowly, feeling the need to know who was the hell the person at the other side of the door wanted. The guards threw a glare each at Jinx before rereating back to their booth and the others went back to whatever they had been doing before the tumult. As Jak reached the door, he simply pushed it open, expecting someone to be there, but when no one was around, he thought of it as a prank or maybe an animal had used the wood to polish its claws.
"Hey buddy!" Daxter came running behind him, stopping to peek outside. "No one here?" Jak gazed down the street, narrowing his eyes as a weird sight caught his attention. Less than ten meters away, a slightly ill-looking guy stumbled towards the Hip Hog Salon. Both Jak and Daxter stared at the man for a while. It wouldnt have appeared so strange if it wasnt for the fact that a bunch of other people came sauntering around the corner, following the man.
"Uh...what the hell are those people doing?" Daxter stretched his neck out a little, trying to get a better view of it all. The only thing Jak could do was to stare at the crowd that was just growing bigger and bigger, but eventually snapped out of it as he heard muttering behind. Torn appeared at his side, accompanied by Jinx.
"When's that slimeball going to come back and inform us about this stupid.." Torn stopped in the middle of the sentence, staring at the people approaching them slowly. "What...the....what's wrong with them?" Jak glanced at him for a moment, then shook his head.
"I dont know...but...", he was interrupted as a girl in the group of ill people let out a long horrifying moan. A few others followed, made by other people. The friends looked at each other.
"Uhm...maybe I'm just being a little paranoid..but those guys look awfully much like zombies to me", Daxter's shivering voice came from somewhere behind Jak's feet.
"Zombies?" Jak and Torn looked at each other and then at the crowd.
"Hey lady", Jinx stepped forward, trying to get contact with a random woman. She stumbled towards him at what seemed to be her max speed, letting out strange noises. "Hey lady..", he repeated. "Mind telling us what the hell is going on here?"
"Uh.." Torn's chin dropped as more people could be spotted around the corner and they backed away slowly. "Where do they come from?"
"I dont know, but I think we should get back inside..", Jak said warily and glanced over at Jinx. For the moment, the zombie woman was moaning loudly, touching the man's arm with her slightly sticky hands.
"Get away from her!" Torn ordered and pulled Jinx back, a disgusted look on his face. The four of them retreated back into the bar, closing the door, locking it for safety reasons. Jak looked around the bar, trying to act like there was nothing wrong, but somehow the stares from the guards and from Sig made him doubt that it was gonna work. Daxter had made his way up on Jak's shoulder, looking pretty nervous as his friend walked back to the bar, pretending that everything was fine.
"Were those people rude or what?" Jinx commented, still remaining by the door. No one answered him and Torn threw a glance behind him, feeling slightly bothered and the explosives expert studied his sticky arm for a second before wiping it off on his pants.
Both Torn and Jak jumped as a loud thud could be heard outside. Someone was obviously trying to get in, but seemed unable to use the knob. The continued pounding on the door soon alerted the three gaurds.
"Damn kids", one of them said suddenly, glaring at the door. "They always play tricks..lets show them not to mess with us", the other two nodded and they got ut.
"We need to get back to work anyway", one of the other two commented as they walked across the room.
"Hey, wait!" Jak followed them quickly. "Dont go out there." The 'leader' of the guards turned back and stared at the blonde, clearly suspicious. "This might sound silly but...uh....we believe that something is seriously wrong with those people.."
"What people?" came the angry reply and Jak had to ponder on this for a while.
"The people outside...everyone", Torn put in, crossing his arms as he threw a glance at the door. "It was like..they were some kind of zombies.." he continued without taking his eyes off the entrance to the bar.
"Wait a minute..", Sig joined the conversation, putting his beloved peacemaker back onto the table in front of him. "What exactly are you talking about?" An uncomfortable silence spread through the bar as everyone listened expectingly. Tess had stopped polishing the glasses for a moment, feeling that something really bad was going on.
"Zombies! Rotten, flesh-eating...dead..things!" Daxter shouted from his place on Jak's shoulder. "That's what we're talking about!" The pounding on the door made its prescence known again and everybody turned their attention towards it.
"Pff..zombies? No such things exist!" the leader guard shook his head slowly as he finally reached the door and turned the knob. He was mighty surprised at the sight that greeted him. The streets outside were full of people. They had all gathered, stumbling around like a bunch of...yes, zombies. A couple of them made an attempt to grab onto him but he waved his gun, hitting the poor man straight over the head.
"Retreat!" he backed into the bar again, urging on his fellow guards to make way for him, and then closed the door shut, locking it again. The bar was drowned in silence once again, except for a barely audible gasp from Tess.
"Woah..a real zombie outbreak? Well..I'll be damned", Jinx's slightly annoying voice broke the silence.
"We need to get out of here!" the guards ran across the room to the emergency exit, but didnt have much luck over there either. The alleyway outisde was crowded with hungry, moaning, ill-looking people, who wanted nothing more than to tear the flesh from every living creature in the nearby area. They closed the door shut again.
"Alright! Keep the damn doors shut!" Sig ordered and stepped out onto the floor, keeping his gun close. "Whatever those things are, we are not going to let them in." The others walked to him, gathering in the middle of the room, wanting to be as far from both exits as possible.
"And what do you suggest we do?" one of the guards growled, unhappy with the situation.
"Well", Jak put in. "We cant get out of here as long as those...zombies are guarding the doors.."
"True..", Torn nodded, leaning against the wall.
"Then what do we do?" a desperate Tess wanted to know as she removed Daxter from Jak's shoulder, hugging the little ottsel tight to her chest.
"Lets blow them sky high" Jinx suggested.
"Lets not", the closest guard growled, glaring at him.
"We stay here for the time being", Sid explained and looked around the room before turning back to the others. "We should get some rest. Two of us could keep guard."
"And who do you think you are, ordering us around? Huh? We're under the direct orders of the baron." The third guard spat.
"The baron isnt here, is he? We're all in the same situation. No one orders anyone around, so stop your whining.." Torn put in, tired of arguing with these guys. Scratching noises from the doors interrupted the conversation temporarily.
"I cant sleep like this..", Tess whispered and sat down on the floor. Jinx followed her example and begun lighting a cigar.
"Dont worry Tess baby, I'm here. I'll protect you", Daxter promised, sounding slightly hesitating.
"Ok..you guys get some sleep. Me and mr. Krimzon guard here will keep everything under controll", Sig exhanged a look with the 'leader guard' as he said this.
"You sure Sig?" Jak asked, worried as he sat down next to Tess. The big man nodded, winking at the blonde.
"I'll be fine. I'm pretty tough." They exchanged smiles and seconds later, Torn joined the on the floor as well.
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An hour had passed since they had noticed the outbreak and most of the gang was trying their best to get some sleep, but all the time got distracted by the repeated pounding on both doors. Sig and the krimzon guard leader were keeping an eye on the one door each, while the two remianing guards kept their distance from the group. Jak was lying on his back on the cold floor, staring up at the dark ceiling, lots of thoughts running through his mind. To the right of him, Tess and Daxter seemed to have managed to fall asleep after all, probably due from exhaustion. He turned his head slowly to the left. Jinx was lying with his back to him, seemingly breathing heavily, but Jak couldnt decide if the man was alseep or not, and on Jinx's other side was Torn. He was lying in the same position as Jak, empty eyes staring at the ceiling above.
"Cant sleep?" the blonde asked, turning back to stare at the ceiling.
"No...you..?" the redhead replied. A long time passed by before Jak answered.
"Nope....not a chance.."
"Hey cherries", Sig turned, looking back at them. "Get some rest now...You never know when you get any next time." After that statement, the room fell silent again, except for the heavy breathing of Daxter and Tess.
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When Torn awoke, the whole place was dark and his heart jumped as the memories of what had happened earlier returned to him. He didnt know how much time had passed by or if it was still night, but he knew one thing- he just had to change his position. His right arm was all numb and seemed to have fallen asleep. He pulled a little at it, but noticed that it was stuck and turned his head, wondering what the hell was going on. As his eyes had gotten used to the darkness, he could make out the form of Jinx, lying on his arm, with one of his arms wrapped around Torn's chest. The redhead was stunned shortly, before attempting to pull his arm free again and this time he succeeded and grabbed the blonde's arm, lifting it off himself. He carefully put it down next to its owner and couldnt help but smile a little. Right when he was about to lie down again, a loud thud and what sounded like wood getting smahed, reached his ears and he sat up quickly, staring wide-eyed at the slightly broken door.
Cliffhanger! Yes, finally I managed to make a cliffhanger XD So what do you think? Anything worth reading?
