Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop or any of the characters.
A/N: Don't be mad but for some reason I thought it would be fun to put Spike and Faye in a zombie like civilization so bear with me while the story unfolds
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Faye's breaths came in shallow heaps. Long distance speed running had never been her strength. Much to her displeasure as soon as she exited the glass skyscraper, she lost sight of their bounty. She sharply looked to the right before whipping her head to the left. No sight of the bounty. She glanced behind her to where Spike had barely managed to stop before colliding into her. He also seemed to be searching for the bounty.
"Did you not see which way he went? You're a foot taller than me, so you really don't have any excuses." Faye muttered, closing her eyes and crossing her slender arms in annoyance. Jet was going to be pissed if another bounty got away.
Spike scratched the back of his head with the tip of his gun before retorting, "I couldn't keep an eye on him because someone's slow running was in my way."
Faye's eyebrow twitched, "If I had a nickel for every time you blamed me for your failures I'd be ri-," her complaints were cut off by an awful scream.
Faye and Spike locked eyes for a second before both rocketing off in the direction the scream came from. Much to their luck, which is usually nonexistent, about a block away they came to a small crowd hovering in front of an alleyway. The crowd being too scared or shocked to put up much of a fight, Spike and Faye were easily able to push their way to the front. Neither too sure how to react to the scene displayed before them.
They're would be bounty was growing stiller by the second as a man chomped away at the flesh on his neck. Crunching sounds of the skin being torn resounded in their ears as blood splattered in small pattern, decorating the trash filled ally.
"What the hell?" Spike was the first to snap out of the trance, quickly leveling his gun at the crazed man. It was then that the man that had been eating the bounty looked up, as if for the first time noticing he wasn't alone. He dropped the bounty carelessly, not bothering to wipe the blood from his face as he slowly made his way towards Spike.
"What's he doing?" Faye whispered.
Not liking the way the man was looking at him as if he were his next snack, Spike fired off two rounds into the guy. The cannibal let out a grunt before falling to the ground. Spike lowered his gun as Faye rushed past him and the cannibal and to the bounty, quickly checking the pulse.
"Damn it, he is dead." She whined as she remained next to the dead man.
"Yeah, no shit. That freak took a huge bite out of him." Spike muttered, lightly kicking the cannibal man that had been a mere foot away from him.
Faye stepped around the bounty to look at the crazed man's head. She rested her hands on her knees as she loomed over him, taking in his ugly features. His skin had an unnatural tint to it, almost green. And much to her surprise, the bullet wounds barely bleed. Like his blood had already been clotted.
"You think he had rabbis? He looks kind of…ill?" She titled her head up a little to look at Spike.
Spike shrugged.
In a flash the cannibals hands shot up and wrapped around both of Faye's wrist. Unprepared, she stumbled a little before gaining her footing, trying her best to keep her arms as far away as possible from the man's open mouth and doing her damnest to remain standing.
"Let go!" She yelled for lack of anything better to do. She desired to give him a good kick in the head but was unsure if she could keep her balance.
Spike watched the scene play out in a blink of an eye. On reflex he had his gun pointed at the cannibal but was having a difficult time finding a good shot. Gritting his teeth, he aimed at his neck, unloading the rest of his gun there. Faye instantaneously went flying backwards, landing next to the dead bounty with a loud thud. Spike looked over at Faye, although clearly shaken; she seemed fine before looking back down at the flesh-eater. Spike cocked his head to the side while reloading his gun. He couldn't be sure but it looked like the dead man's fingers where twitching.
"Just to be safe." He muttered as he shot off one last bullet into the attacker's forehead.
"Yea, that guy seemed to have nine lives." Faye murmured as she pushed herself off the concrete ally, dusting her hands off on her shorts.
As the action seemed to have died down, the on lookers began to draw closer to the two dead bodies, everyone curious to get a look at the man who wouldn't die.
"Let's go, the police are bound to show up any second now and police make me nervous." Faye motioned for Spike to continue with her down the other end of the ally.
"Right." Spike smirked. He would just chalk this up to another weird ass incident he witnessed.
"Could this day get any shitter?" Faye lamely rolled the ice around in her whiskey glass.
"Probably." Spike threw back another shot.
The two "comrades" remained silent, more or less watching the other people in the cramped, smoky, hole in the wall bar; the creepy man in the corner who was sending one too many glances at Faye. The pretty but obnoxious woman surrounded by a small group of guys, making way more noise than necessary, in the other corner. The couple, who couldn't keep their hands off each other sat closest to Spike and Faye, but where completely oblivious of them.
"Did Jet say why the officials grounded all aircrafts?" Faye peered over at Spike now, who was blankly staring at his empty glass.
"Nope. He said he would try to contact his police friends and see what's up." Spike remained motionless.
"Correct me if I am wrong, but his friend is nowhere close to this island. Isn't he on a different planet or something?" Faye arched a questioning eyebrow.
Spike let out a loud sigh before lighting up a cigarette. He glanced over at Faye who still had the puzzling look on her face directed straight at him. "I don't know. ISSP are all connect one way or another."
"Okay." Faye spoke slowly, unsure if she liked that answer.
Spike motioned for two more drinks to the bartender before returning his attention to Faye, "I'm sure it's nothing. Jet's just outside the atmosphere and as soon as he gets clearance to land or for us to leave we'll be out of here."
"Good, these island people just give me the creeps." Faye whispered before finishing the last of her drink.
A slow creaking of the front door sparked Faye's attention. She couldn't help but hold her breathe as she waited for the new arrivals to step all the way through the doorway, her intuition telling her something wasn't right. Three men trickled in with slow and heavy steps. She swallowed hard as she squinted at the men. Though it was dark, she could tell that their skin was a similar color to her attacker's earlier. And she swore she could almost smell them; not a pleasant scent.
"Spike, they are sick." Faye clutched Spike's shoulder hard, making him wince slightly in pain.
"You are being paranoid." He turned to face her.
"Bullshit." She muttered as she reached for her gun.
"Faye," Spike grabbed her wrist, "You can't just go around shooting "sick" people."
"Hey assholes, we are standing here." One of the men surrounding the lady yelled to the new arrivals, turning around to face them.
Faye and Spike paused their disagreement to focus on the commotion. The new arrivals paid no attention to personal boundaries as the continued to close the distance around the rowdy group. Faye tensed as she could nearly predict what was about to happen.
"Get away from them, they are sick!" Faye snatched her wrist away from Spike and shot up.
Her warning came too late as the all too familiar sound of teeth tearing flesh from the man echoed in the bar. There was a moment of silence, as if everyone was waiting to wake up from this bizarre dream. The blonde was the first to scream as she scrambled away from the center of the group, watching as two more of her friends began to get eaten.
Although Faye had known what was coming, Spike reacted a lot quicker, shooting the three men in the heads. He shot Faye a warning glare, 'don't want to hear I told you so' before walking over to the bloody mess.
"Mike is still alive; he needs to get to a hospital quick." The blonde woman kneeled next to the guy who was first attacked. Her big brown eyes scanned over Mike as she tried to put a piece of skin back on his neck, her hands getting soaked with his blood in the process.
"Try not to get his blood on you, he could be sick too." Spike warned before motioning for Faye to follow, though he didn't actually wait for her.
Faye slowly made her way towards the exit as well. She was almost home free before a wet hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She looked down to see the woman's brown eyes staring at her questioningly.
"What do you guys mean by sick?" she grasped Faye's wrist tightly.
Faye looked down at her wrist which was encircled by the woman's bloody hand, the blood being smeared all over her wrist. Disgusted, Faye sharply pulled her wrist out of her grasp, harshly wiping it on her shorts, "I'm not sure."
The two women stared at each other, Faye just wanting to leave and the woman being unsatisfied with the answer. Faye was the first to break the stare down and hastily made her way out the door, praying that for once Spike hadn't been a complete asshole and left her all alone.
Spike sat up in bed, sweat dripping down his temple, his heart rattling in his chest. He looked around the dark hotel, trying to figure out what woke him up with such a start. He glanced down at Faye. She was still sleeping peacefully, over the blankets of course since he had beaten her under them. He couldn't help but smirk at her stubbornness. Chuckling to himself, he moved a stray piece of hair out of her face.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Spike swiftly jumped out of bed, snatching his gun and heading towards the locked door. He peered through the peep hole but the halls where empty.
"Look out the windows." Faye yawned as she sat up in bed, waiting for her eyes to adjust.
Spike remained silent as he crossed the room, peaking through the curtains. The outside streets seemed as equally quiet as the hallway of the hotel had been, although cars were littering the street in odd ways. The sudden ringing of Spike's communicator made both bounty hunters jump slightly. Faye being the closest snatched it off the dresser and answered it with a not so polite hello.
"Bout damn time. Where the hell are you two?" Jet's voice boomed.
"Asleep." Faye responded. She glanced at the clock that read six in the morning.
"I've been trying to get a hold of you. The island's on lock down because some virus was exposed to the public. It seems to be having dangerous side effects." Jet grew quiet.
"So, did they get it under control?" Faye dumbly asked.
Spike had a feeling he knew the answer to that. He quietly took a seat next to Faye, waiting for Jet to reinforce his theory.
"No and to speak the shit has hit the fan. There is not much known about the virus right now but it gives people high fevers, loss of speech, and a healthy appetite for flesh. You guys watch yourselves. And answer your comms. I'll keep you up to date. Get somewhere safe." And with that Jet hung up.
"This sucks." Faye whined as she stretched back on the bed.
"What interfering with your plans to visit the ponies?"
Faye shot Spike a nasty glare before getting up and heading towards the bathroom.
Spike walked back to the front door and carefully swung it open, scanning up and down the hallway. Faye and he had definitely slept through something. Spike took a step into the hallway, letting the door close shut with a quiet click. Spike wandered down the hall, only pausing when he came upon an open door. A blood trail leading the way as he slowly made his way into the room. He could instantly hearing the smacking sounds and almost made him want to turn around, having an idea of what the sight would be as soon as the bed came into view. Taking a steady breathe, he raised his gun as he rounded the corner.
Spike had not been prepared for the sight before him.
A young boy, around the age of eight, was tearing into what appeared to be a woman, her insides where now clearly her outsides and the boy was savagely ingesting them. Spike slowly took a few steps back, unsure if he should just shoot the boy or not.
'What if there is a cure. He is just a child,' Spike solemnly thought.
Spike suddenly found the room to quiet. The snacking sounds had stopped. Replacing it was the sounds of heavy sniffing followed by shifting on the bed then heavy footsteps.
"Shit." Spike muttered as the boy quickly spotted Spike and made he's way towards him.
"I'm going to shoot, damn it." Spike held up his gun, hoping that by some miracle the boy would understand and snap out of it.
To Spike, it seemed the boy almost grinned at his words. Three giant, quick steps forward from the boy was all Spike needed to pull the trigger, sending a crippling shot into the boy's forehead. The boy fell backwards and landed with a surprisingly hard thump. Spike quickly turned out the door, shutting it behind him in case for some odd reason the boy didn't stay down. He swiftly made the few yards down the hallway and back to his own room. He wrapped on the door lightly, praying that Faye wasn't still in the damn bathroom.
Right before he could let out a string of curse words, Faye swung open the door and yanked Spike in by his tie.
"We've got a problem." Faye dragged Spike behind her. She led him over to the window, barely peeking out the curtains. Spike did the same.
Slowly but surely a small heard of the "sick" where making their way to the hotel.
"You shoot your gun off?" Faye looked accusingly at Spike.
"For good reason." Spike spat back. Not caring to share the details on his little escapade.
"Hope so, cowboy. Cause we have been found out." Faye muttered as she took a step away from the window. Spike did the same. The hotel was small, with only two floors. They were currently on the second. They both knew it but neither wanted to say it.
It wouldn't take long for them to be found.
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Please review and let me know what you think. Trash it? Keep going? Any ideas welcomed. Ok thank you.