2 weeks after the Infection. ( Minus about 3 hours)
" Ok.. the Southstreet blockade should be just about a block from here, all i need to do is take this right and-" Suddenly The screams and shrieks of a nearby group of zombies makes their presence known. She knows that a whole block is too far to run, as all the infected can run faster than her anyways. She banks right and into a nearby apartment complex and heads up stairs, several floors up, the zombies in tow behind her.
The young woman slams the door behind her. Her dainty fingers slip around the knob of the door, her finger tips clasp tight and turn the knob slightly harder to the right to lock the door. She takes soft steps trying to find a place to stay hidden from these almost zombie like people. Her eyes eventuallybegin to adjust to the dim lighting. " At least the Power's still on."
Without warning she hears what seems to be a large thunk slam into the wooden door. A sharp breath escapes her breath as she realizes shes out of time. She continues to walk , her body facing towards the door. Her focus so strongly on the door she ignores the area behind her. Her hip collides with the nearby table, bumping the lamp. "SHI-" She hurriedly turns around and grips the lamp , preventing it from falling over. The room's dead Silence is interrupted by a soft confused grunt from a voice on the other side of the door. " Nrrgh?" " Nrr"
The silence is even more quickly destroyed by the sounds of a piercing shriek and the thuds of fists banging through the wooden barricade. The young woman turns around and bolts for the nearest escape. She peaks her head through a broken window only to see more infected crowding the area around the fire escape. The hapless bodies stumbling back and forth, walking around aimless bumping into each other, slouching against walls, covering the ground with their vomit. Another large thud as another fist RIPS through the door almost breaking it from the hinge.
In a state of panic and rush she finds the nearest door, though with no working light, she slips in and locks the door behind her. After taking a step or two, she steps on to something on the ground, the object gives out from under her and slides away, her body landing somewhat softly not hitting the ground but landing directly on the object that tripped her up. After several seconds her eyes begin to acclomade to the light, and to her horror she was able to make what it was that tripped her up.
A gasp leaves the young girls lips as her mind pulls together the collection of information shes received so far. She had fallen on a dead body. The skin cold clammy, and pale. The right ride of the cadaver covered in a dried red stain, that traveled from his head to the pool of blood on the floor. In the crimson puddle , lies a almost shiny object, resting in the cadavers loosened grip.
" I dont blame him. " She thinks to herself, trying the best to keep quiet. Not much longer after the thought reaches her, the sounds of the wooden barricade collapsing fills the room. Her heart sinks as she knows shes down to her last stand.
The foot steps rushed in her direction, the sounds of 3 or 4 sets of feet gathering in a great hurry to her. She hurriedly dislodges the pistol from the dead bodies hand and aims it at the door. Her hands quivering, causing the pistol to shake and rattle as she points it the direction of the sounds of the zombies now tearing down the door in front of her. Her breaths pace quickens as the hands of the attackers pour through the door, clawing and tearing at the wooden blockade.
As the first zombies head became visible she fired her first shot. The shot rang out louder in her head. The Bathroom's acoustics sent the sound waves rushing back to her eardrums in an almost painful manner. The bullet scoured the door missing the zombies head, but hitting one of them in the shoulder. She was rewarded with the painful "narrgg", but the pounding continued. She remembered the bit of training with weapons she had received when she was a child. Flashes of memories, went through her head , all in a split second. Her younger brother with a small toy potato gun aimed at a homemade target of theirs. " Each Gun has its own "sight", and all you need to do is look down the sights, and put your sights right on the target and then fire." The young woman is interrupted from her pleasant daydream as a zombies first rips through the door. With a new resolve and bit more confidence, she squares her shoulders and raises the gun, looking down the sight on the barrel of the pistol, lining the zombie head in it. After a few seconds, she fires, the bullet splinters the first zombies forehead just above its left eye and falls limp to the ground. It's head sinking slower and slower, before hitting the floor. A small smile spreads across her face, but is interrupted once again by the other raging zombies tearing down the door. She fires the remaining shots through the door, and the open holes hitting the zombies in the head and upper torso, bringing them to their knees. She exhales sharply several times until her heart begins to slow down allowing her to breath normally. Her pale fingertips, form a " C" push her hair from the front of her face to back behind her ear. " Why'd i get rid of my bandana?" She looks back to the dead body. She finds a small stash of clips for the pistol laid halfway covered in blood. She hurriedly grabs the clips and stores them in her pockets and with new resolve heads out the door.
The clamor of crying children , barking dogs, and complaints of hunger,thirst, and pain, pour through the makeshift shelter. " I hate this place." sighs out the tattoo covered, muscular biker. He raises his hand to the side of his face and wipes the sweat and dirt from his cheek. " They just keep coming" a voice rings out from the wall behind the biker. " The West Hollowbrook Shelter must've been over run."
A shot from a gun rings out through the air in the distance, just barely audible.
" Did anyone else just hear that. It sounded like gunshots."
"Other survivors?" a voice in the crowd rings out.
" It would have to be, the infected cant use guns"
" I sure hope not" replies the same voice.
The biker picks up his shotgun leaning up against the wall, as many shells as he can hold in his pockets and then fills up the barrel. " Ill be back in a second.
" Alright who's coming with me" shouts the biker.
Most of the citizens become quiet , turning their heads away trying to not Draw attention to themselves. The area so quiet , if there were any crickets still alive, they could have been heard.
The silence is interrupted by the pulling back of the top of the lighter, as an older man lights up a cigarette, slouched slightly forward, cupping the end of it to keep the winds away. " Ive had enough of these God-Damned zombies, I'm staying Right here. He takes a drag from his cigarette and puts his lighter away. " If you wanna risk your necks for someone that could already be dead, thats none of my business. You young people go risk your lives, ill stay here and hold down the fort."
" Alright Ol' Man." Replies the biker. A young black man wearing Business attire steps forward. His clothes tattered , out of place , torn and one of his pants legs raised up slightly revealing a very off color pair of socks. He grabs a few clips stored up from the ammo cache in the reserve and loads his weapon, proudly brandishing his uzi. " I'm coming too."
The Biker looks the young man over with an inquisitive look, and then just slightly shrugs it off. " Whats your name?" " Louis" Replies the young black man, " You?"
The biker turns around and begins to walk away without a word. " Hello? your name?" yells Louis as the biker walks away from him, without acknowledgment.
The young girl looks out the window below her seeing that most of the infected have left the area. She slips out the window and steps on to the fire escape. The rattle of each of her steps as her sneakers press on the rusty metal, makes her face cringe hoping they wont attract attention. After traveling the flight of stairs she gets to the 2nd story. " Not good" she tells her self as she looks down to see the fire escape has been pulled up. She grabs the latch and the escape ladder and lets it fall, slowly as possible to make as little sound as possible.
A shriek fills the alley as one of the infected spots her. The sound of the shriek scares her, and she drops the ladder. The whine and grind of the metal as it slides down and the loud impact as it hits end, reverberating letting the area know of her presence. The infected cry out in a rage and begin rushing her , and now using her only escape to reach her. The young girl having her elevation as an advantage aims straight downward and fires round after round on the steps as the zombies begging to climb up the ladder.
" Did you hear that" said Louis. " Sounds like its not far from here." The young biker grabs his shotgun placing it on his shoulder , checking the area around him.
" There's not much time, we need to get over there." says the biker. " You think thats a good idea? There could be a lot of infected out there." replies Louis.
There " WILL" be a lot of infected there, which is why were going , we have to help. " He says as he runs forward leaving Louis behind. " Hey, dont leave me here man, thats not cool." The duo travel half a block and make a sharp right turn to find several infected climbing up a ladder, before reaching the top they are aptly shot down falling limp to the ground. The biker looks up to see a young woman firing a pistol from the fire escape raining bullets down on the infected. " Young, attractive, able to use a gun, thats my kinda' woman." The duo run forward, their shotgun and uzi blazing, firing at the zombies coming in from their west, while the biker keeping a close eye on their backsides.
After shooting down several zombies as they attempt to climb the ladder, she thinks to her self. " They just wont give up. I cant do this forever." The sounds of a shotgun and another automatic weapon fill the alley way, followed by the deathly shrieks and groans of the infected as their bodies fragment due to their power. " What the.. whos-" She says to herself and looks down to find a young black man his fire sporadic but still able to dispatch of the oncoming hordes. " Wheres the shotgun coming from?" she thinks to her self. She peers over the edge of the fire escape to find an attractive, but rough and tumbled individual wielding the powerful weapon, tearing through the infected hordes, like paper.
She stops to reload her weapon. " I dont know who you are, but Than-" Before the word could leave her mouth a giant tongue wraps around her waist and pulls her in to the apartment building. " NOOooo!" she screams. The biker quickly storms up the ladder and climbs up , while Louis continues to pour bullet after bullet into the remaining infected. After reaching the top he points his barrel just over the young girls head. " H-Help me" cries the young girl. He not having a clear line of sight, rushes forward and throws his body into the creature and slams it into the wall, the tongue now released from the young girls body, she flops to the floor. He fires one shell directly in the chest of the creature.
The creature explodes in puff of smoke, the toxins filling the room causing both to choke and their vision filled with gray hindering their ability to see. The biker grabs a hold of the young girl and slides her out of the window on to the fire escape. They both rest down on the fire escape and catch their breathes. " Francis" the biker says softly to the young girl. " Sorry?" she replies. " You said you didnt know who we were."
The young girl gives a small nod and a cough. " Zoey.." she says. " Oh so you'll tell HER your name, but not me."
cries out Louis, as he reloads his weapon. " My jealous friend here is Louis." Says Francis.
Francis grabs a hold of Zoey's hand and lifts her to her feet. " Ladies, first " quotes Francis as he points to the lowered fire escape ladder. She smiles softly to him as their eyes meet for a second, they both fall into a staring contest, eyes locked onto eachother for several seconds, but becomes interrupted by the voice below them. " Can we get going back to the shelter ,NOW please. This place is giving me the Creeps." " Alright , Louie, were going" Replies Francis. " My names not Louie its Lou-" his voice is interrrupted by the moans and shrieks of a horde of infected drawing closer to them.
Hiding behind dumpsters and delapidated walls they peek from around the corners watching the infected run by, that seemingly are ignoring them.
" Where do you think they are going" Said Zoey.
" I dont care as long as it its not towards us" replies Louis.
Francis pumps a few more shells into his weapon." They're headed to the Shelter".
" We have to help them" Zoey insisted.
After the last few infected passed by, Francis takes the lead checking the area, to make sure its clear. After making the block, the group comes back to seeing the crowds of infected, converging on the shelter.
"Were too la-" Zoey's words become muffled as Francis palm slips over zoey's mouth and pulls her back into the alleyway. As the trio steps back and retreats to a safer position, Zoey cant help but wonder. " mff-mff why'd you mff mff , whats going on." Suddenly a low rumble of steps coming closer and closer the vibrations getting deeper and deeper, the dumpsters and fire escape ladder begin to slightly tremble during the series of quakes.
"...tank" Francis whispers.
The hulking muscular mass standing at double their height. A giant beast of a man with arms three times as thick a humans whole body. His tongue hanging out low, walking on his fists rather than his legs. The group pulls forward out the alley way and watch as the bands of human survivors face the hordes of zombies.
The old man finishing his 2nd cigarette, raises his hand with another touching the lit end of the cigarette and lighting the other. He drops the butt off the cigarette to the ground and puts it out with his boot. He lifts up his own weapons and looks out to the horizon spying the 3 dozen infected head his way. " Hold down the fort, eh? Thats what an old man gets for making a promise he didnt wanna keep." " Alright everyone its obvious this place wont last for long, get everyone outta here. I'm gonna need some help" He points out several of the men in the group. " Ok you 4 with me, the rest take you some ammo, and get out of here, bring them to Mercy Hospital, there should be a helicopter waiting on you there.
The group of 5 men stood with their shotguns, pistols and uzis in a straight line, side by side. " I am too Damn old to go out this way, if im gonna die, its gonna be by lung cancer." He says as he unloads his weapon while the others do the same. After dispatching the first dozen or so hordes , the group's line begins to waiver as several of the survivors spot the tank drawing in closer.
" DONT YOU GO ANYWHERE, were not DONE yet.!" the old man barks out the order, the remaining survivors fall back in line. After unloading rounds and rounds the zombie rush finally dwindles down to nothing, as the group lets off a small victory cry, before remembering the tank is coming. " OK everyone split up, and get him to chase after you. " barked the old man. " Split up?" cried out a voice from the 4. " Screw that im outta here"
The less than loyal individual is followed by 2 others, leaving one and the old man.
" Looks like its just you and me Kid... alright head out that way and were gonna split up. The tank is gonna follow one of us, just run and shoot, got it, Ill head right, you head left. GO!
The hulking, muscle-engulfed infected continues his descent upon the the 2 lone survivors. His eyes fixated on the target moving to His right. The bullets of both their weapons piercing his massive chest and body but his resolve to crush anyone in his path wouldnt waiver.
The survivor continued running backwards and firing his pistol into the massive hulk, his anger and rage filled eyes begin piercing the survivors eyes. After running for a little bit, the tank's giant arms swing from its side, slamming into the survivors body launching him off his feet , sending his body into the wall of the main building of the shelter.
The survivor shakes his head for a moment, his body growing weak, the feeling of the fist colliding with his body and hitting the wall nearly knocked him unconcious. He gropes the area around for his weapon, but to no avail, several feet aside the oncoming tank , he spots the glimmer of his pistol. He in a last ditch effort to survive heads inside the rickety building crawling on his hands and knees. He is followed shortly after by the tank as he tries to force his hulking mass into the door.
The old man still laying down fire from the side , shooting him in the back, he steps closer and closer to the tank as he yells " HEY! UGLY! over here! come get me, im over here!" The tank pays little mind to his screams but swings his right first out, knocking the old man off of his feet and bringing him about 20 feet back. He slides against the ground for the last few feet. He tries with all of his might to stand back to his feet but the blow was too much for him. He reaches to his side and pulls out his pistol and slowly begins to fire round after round into the tank as it tries to force its way through to the other survivor.
The survivor crawls on his hands backwards tryin to slip away and hide from the tank for just a bit longer. " I sure hope this works" he says to himself, as he brings himself to his feet.
The tanks massive shoulders squeeze through the tiny frame , crushing it as he forces his way through. He swings his massive fist at the Survivor, missing and punches a massive hole through the concrete wall. The tanks eyes and fist follow the survivor again swinging heavily to the right, he rolls to the ground and dodges the titans fist. The massive beast creates another hole in the structure. The building begins to creep and moan, its support wavering and beginning to fail. The survivor puts himself directly in front of a giant column based at the center of the structure and stands proudly to his feet, glaring at the tank as it draws in to him. " Over here big boy!" he yells to the beast. The Tank turns and swings crushing the mans ribs and sending him through the column into the back wall of the shelter.
" huff huff" He points up to the ceiling above him. " Catch!" The beast looks up to the ceiling as the building collapses down on both of them.
Francis, Louis and Zoey make their way to the shelter, watching as the tank continues its relentless pursuit.
They watch in horror as the tank sends the survivor flying into the wall of shelter.
" Whats the old man Doing, Now!...." Replies Francis, as he watches the old man step closer and continuing to fire. They all watch and give a giant gasp as the old man gets tossed effortlessly to the tanks side several dozen feet away.
" Come on! we gotta go help them" screams Zoey.
The group runs forward as they randomly fire into the distance firing at the tank as it forces its way into the building.
" You alright, old man?" says Francis.
Louis makes his way over to the old man. " Come on old man, lets get up before it comes back."
"Will you quit calling me OLD man, i have a name you know. I fought too long and too hard to be treated this way." He says as he crawls up to his feet hanging on to Louis as he helps him up. After standing up he grabs another cigarette and puts it to his lip and proceeds to light it.
Louis states " You know Sir-"
" William" says the old man.
"Right.. er uh. .William, im sure those cigarrettes arent helping any"
" Son.. when youve fought in a war, like i have, come back to me and tell me if you havent started smoking"
" Allright Bill , you can share your pearls of wisdom later, we have a tank to worry about." Replies Francis.
" My names not BILL its Willi-" The loud crashing of the shelter as it implodes interrupts the old mans words.
The group steps forward to the house house, while Bill opens the small bottle of pills and throws them down his gullet. " He gives a sigh of relief and steps forward with the group.
" Do you think its dead" says Zoey.
" Its gotta be, the whole building collapsed on top of it" replied Louis.
" I hope so, i sure as hell wasn't in the mood to fighting a tan-" Francis words were cut off by movement in the rubble. " You've got to be FREAKING kidding me!"
With a mighty roar the tank throws the debris from off his back.
" GET DOWN!" yells Bill. The group drops low to the ground as the pieces of steel and Concrete debris fly over their head.
" This shit was definitely not in my plans" cries out Louis.
The tank looks over to the group of 4 and begins his charge. " SCATTER!" yells out Bill.
As the group begins to split up, Zoey looks down to the ground and notices the pistol the survivor dropped earlier. She runs over picks it up with her spare hand, as she continues to run. The group of 4 continue to unload round after round as he begins to swing randomly swinging at the 4 as the circle and evade his swings.
After what seemed to be an eternity, but was only about 20 seconds, the tank finally drops to his knees and keels over.
"huff.. huff.. I really hope we dont see one of those ever again" sighs Louis.
Bill brings his hands to his face and wipes the debris dust off his face and lets out a tired groan. " I am getting too old for this Shit."
Zoey replies. " What now? We cant just sit here all day. "
" Youve seen the writings, theres no other shelter between here and Mercy Hospital, rumors are they are trying to set up an evacuation zone. That seems to be our best bet. " says Francis.
Bill adds his two cents in by stating. " Well then were going to have to move."
"I've got a bad feeling about this guys." Louis says as they grab for extra ammunition.
" Everyone make to grab whatever we need. Grenades, first aid, anything you can shove in your pockets. It'll be night soon, were gonna have to move to get as much ground covered as we can. Lets take this road, we have several miles to cover and this is the quickest way back on route to Mercy Hospital. " states Francis.
A mixture of Lets go!, right!, and Nods acknowledge Francis's command, and encourage the group as they move on, their destinies uncertain, but with no option left but to trust eachother if they want to make it out alive.