Dead Rising: Alex and Jack
Frank had just received the call from Otis as he ran off to entrance plaza, avoiding zombies as they hungrily lurched towards him. Frank quickly found a safe spot, the bathroom to take the call in, putting the radio to his ear as he sighed a breath of contentment, surviving another zombie run as it were. Nearly fourteen hours had passed since Frank arrived to Willamette Mall, and already he was an avid zombie hunter. He may have to try out for the Olympics if he kept on his toes anymore than this. Surviving was the first priority.
"Frank, you there? Listen…"
Frank listened closely as Otis began telling him of the location of the newest survivors.
"I noticed a pair of men fighting down by the book store in entrance plaza, if something isn't done, they'll probably kill each other. By the looks of it, they're both good survivors and would be willing to help you out if you convinced them to stop. Hurry over there."
Frank thought for a moment. He was already at Entrance Plaza, so he could make the trip rather quickly. He peeked out of the men's bathroom, seeing how many zombies were in the way of the stairs up to the bookstore. Luckily for Frank, he had snatched a pair of handguns and a shotgun from the gun shack after the defeat of Cletus. He put one of the handguns in his hand and shouldered the Shotgun, running out quickly of the bathroom and bolting for the stairs. He easily evaded the zombies not directly in front of him, only shooting down the ones that were in his line of sight. Shot after shot rang out, and before he knew it, he had made it to the steps leading up to the top tier, breathing heavily as he looked back down. Some zombies made a stumbling attempt to follow him, only to fall over. Others attacked the newly dead corpses Frank had laid out for them. He smiled and turned…
…directly into the arms of a security zombie. Frank stepped back in surprise, nearly falling down the stairs, but he quickly recovered, only to have the rank smelling corpse lunge for him again, but Frank just stuck his leg out, watching as the creature fell down the stairs in a rather comical manner. He took a breath, sighing again. He had come so close to death here so many times that he began judging how long his luck would last. His thoughts were distracted as a blasting sound rang out. Someone had just fired a shotgun near here. Frank bolted up the stairs, happy to see that the zombies surrounding the bookstore were dead, only to see that he had found the two fighting men. Not wanting to waste a good picture, he knelt down, trying to catch the two of them in focus. His camera caught something move, and before Frank realized it, he had dived forward, behind the semi safety of a book rack as another shot rang out, this time deafeningly close to him. He looked back to the bullet marks where he had just been standing.
"Stay down! We're dealing with a murderer pal!" Came the call of a man's voice from behind the cash register and counter. When Frank looked over, he saw the cop Otis had previously warned him about. He was an athletic looking man holding a .50 Magnum Handgun, dressed in formal S.W.A.T. team attire. His slicked black hair and solemn eyes said he was maybe 20 some years of age.
"Ya ain't no bettah 'an me and ya know it mate!" Came the yell in retort to the police officer's comment. By the accent, Frank could tell it was some Australian man who apparently had a beef with the officer. He peeked through the open spaces of where books were once sitting to get a look at this man. The hair was brown and partially hung to one side of his face, the remainder of it pulled into a ponytail. He had a wife beater on as well as some large khaki pants that held a belt full of ammunition. Frank shuddered slightly at what he might be capable of. Frank had ducked once more only to barely escape another shotgun blast. He sighed, his luck was amazing sometimes.
"What's going on!? Why are you fighting?" Frank yelled out, demanding an answer from one of the two men.
"He's a criminal and I'm doing my job!" boasted the police officer.
"Yeah right!" Came the criminal's retort. "If ya were doin' your job a'fore, then why'd ya kill 'at young 'un that came 'ere a'fore us?" Frank turned his head back to the criminal's position, shocked to hear that.
"He was resisting arrest and got attacked by a zombie as a result! I HAD to put him down! Unlike you, who slit that woman's throat wide open!" The officer growled out at him.
"Keep on talkin' ya evil buggah, Ya know as well as I do that if I hadn't, that group we were with would have been keeled right of the bat!" Another shotgun blast rang out, distracting Frank. Slowly shambling up to him was a zombie woman, a large slit in her throat as well as bite marks on the side.
"Watch out!" Came a sudden yell, and both the officer and the criminal fired at Frank, not hitting him, but nailing the zombie right in the head. Frank shuddered, then collapsed to the ground, in shock about what happened. He quickly regained his composure and stood back up.
"Why are you two fighting now!? There's a crisis going on and we could use both of you to help keep the remaining survivors alive! We can survive this if you're willing to cooperate." Frank tried reasoning with the two of them when a shot rang out from the handgun of the officer, hitting the ceiling.
"I'm the LAW! I will not rest until I put this man to justice!" Came the man's shaky and demanding voice.
"Tha's the law for ya, wavin' a piece about with no regards to other's safety…"
The two men raised their guns again for one last match…
Jack wins
The officer fired quickly at the aussie criminal, trying to take him by surprise. He wasn't taking any chances. The criminal quickly ducked down to avoid such shots. His barricade was several boxes filled with mall items to keep the bullets and zombies away. Frank had made his decision that the criminal was far too dangerous to leave with that gun, and had to be disarmed. He put away his handgun and pull out his Shotgun, quickly running over and ramming into the box's, causing them to collapse inward on top of the criminal. He yelled audibly as he erupted from the box's only to be shot in the arm holding the shotgun. The man reeled back in pain, dropping the weapon. Frank grabbed it and moved out of the way as the criminal ran out of the store.
"FREEZE!"
The man stopped as the officer had hopped the counter to go after him, and now held the gun at a point where a shot would be deadly. He walked slowly towards the criminal.
"Get down on the ground, you're under arrest for endangering a civilian, several murder counts, and uncooperative behaviour with an officer."
"Screw ya! You an' your 'laws' are fulla shit!" The criminal was angry, but only backed up to the railing, looking over the edge at the mass of zombies that seemed to gather just for him. The officer yelled loudly, running at the man and delivering a devastating round house kick directly to his jaw, the force alone sending the criminal hurtling over the edge with a sick thwack as he hit the ground. All that could be heard from Frank's point of view was the sound of a dieing man as the zombies tore him apart. The officer sighed and ambled back towards Frank, grabbing a seat on one of the boxes.
"Glad that's over…"
Frank cautiously wandered over to the officer. "Did he really deserve that?" He asked him, a little concerned. "Even if he was a murderer, I wouldn't wish that on anyone…"
The officer looked at him appraisingly, taking in his reporter-esque getup. He only sighed. "Alex did have a point earlier…" He pointed to the zombie female on the ground, now decapitated. "He did slit her throat… but it saved me and a whole group of people." He said, pulling out a cigarette and zippo lighter, lighting up the end of his cancer stick and taking a deep drag. "But that look of malice and pleasure in his eyes when he did it… I couldn't stand it."
Frank nodded, leaning up against a wall as he took in all that was said. "What was it he was saying about you shooting a kid in the head…?" Frank was curious about this, only hoping he made the right choice before.
The officer didn't say anything at first, only taking another drag of his cigarette. After a moment's more of silence, he finally began talking. "We found a kid in here, and accidentally spooked him, causing him to run right out into the grip that we had shrugged off as unimportant…" The officer went silent again, looking away. "…I shot the zombie after it had a nice chunk of the kid in it's mouth. When I went over to try and help him, the kid was fading fast, but I'll never forget what he said to me."
Frank listened, intent on hearing the end of the tale.
"Please… don't let me end up like them…"
The officer sighed a final sigh and dropped the remaining cigarette to the ground.
"I told him it would be ok… I pulled out my gun…"
Frank put up his hand. "I understand, no need to go on. I'm Frank, it's a pleasure. Come on, there are more survivors in another room, we could use someone with your skills."
The officer nodded. "I'm Jack, sorry if I seemed brash before."
Alex wins
Frank could see now that the police officer was out of control, and stood fire at him with his handgun, the gun clicking five times before emptying and falling from Frank's hands. The officer was hit all five times, but only two shots had hit his flesh, which was his shoulder and right arm, the rest nailing into the vest. The criminal took this as his chance and blasted the officer, tossing him right over the counter by the force that impacted and annihilated his vest. He had dropped his magnum from the shotgun blast and was trying to quickly scramble to his feet outside of the store, but another blast from the criminal took out one of the officer's legs, and he collapsed against the railing, screaming in pure pain. The aussie criminal hopped out of his barricade made of boxes and meandered over to the bleeding man, smiling. He shouldered the shotgun and stood over the man.
"I shoulda done this a looong time ago…" He spoke with questionable pleasure in his voice and suddenly hoisted the officer off the ground, holding him by the head and waist, before hurtling him across the railing and watching as blood splattered across the ground. He was dead before the zombies even reached him.
"That was…" Frank put a hand to his mouth, even he thought that was gruesome. He shuddered once and looked over to the criminal, who had been wandering over to him.
"G'day mate, sorry 'bout that, damned cop was tryin' to pop me one." The aussie man said, stretching out and smiling as though nothing had happened.
"Er… Right, anyway, what was it he was talking about before? About that lady you killed…" He pointed to the decapitated zombie female on the ground. "You didn't just kill her in cold blood, did you?"
"a'course not! I did it because she was infected and if the zombies that were attacking us had something to distract 'em, we could make our escape!" He nodded to Frank, taking the shotgun out to reload before shouldering it once more.
"Did he know that?" Frank asked, looking back to the railing.
"Nope, he went and did the same thing though, shooting that boy in the brains and what not. He just thought he was bettah 'an me is all." The criminal seemed to lighten up a little, not seeming so intimidating. "Still… I woulda dune the same. Poor kid, got spooked into the zombies arms…"
Frank nodded. "I understand… There are some survivors that could use your help in another room, will you come with me?"
The criminal nodded to him. "Sure, I'm Alex, nice to meetcha."
"Call me Frank."