"Oh no... oh no oh no oh no..."
There we were, standing on a cliff, hordes of zombies before us, watching us with hungry eyes. The stench of zombie was over-powering... kind of like the scent of rotten flesh and human sweat. Behind me, Tallahassee was looking around for options, and Wichita and Little Rock? They were just keeping the guns pointed.
Well, we were not really in a cliff. More like a mall. A very big mall. Tallahassee's hunt for twinkies continues, and he asked us to stop by this mall to find his twinkies and other weapons. Unfortunately, like everywhere we've been to, the place is packed with mindless zombies who smelled our blood and were really, really hungry. I figured it was because the humans were running low. It's been a while since our small group of survivors has seen another human, and well, I ended up shooting him because he was an actor who looked like a zombie. Three guesses who that is.
Anyway, Tallahassee wasn't really that worried when we came into the mall, mainly because he thought we had enough ammunitions. But as it turned out, it was a huge mall, with a huge populace of zombies wandering. We ran. We shot. We ran some more. We shot some more. And soon enough, we ran out of bullets. And now we're backed up against an elevator door, with the zombies watching us.
"Well, this sucks." Tallahassee said as he looked around, "Never thought I'd see the day I'd lose to zombies."
"Don't talk like that." Wichita said behind me, "We have to make it. We've gone too far to be zombie munchies."
I swallowed, "How many bullets does everyone have?"
"Not enough." All three of my compatriots said, and I nodded, "Same here."
"Is this the end then?" I asked myself, and just a second later, the elevator door behind us rang. And she stepped out.
The most kick ass woman I have ever met... next to Wichita, that is.
I think I need a very long description of her, just so you guys can appreciate her awesomeness.
She was a tall lady, around her forties, I think, clad in what seemed like an all leather outfit with matching corset... like in those fetish shops my classmates kept talking about in college. She had high heeled, leather boots that got up to her knees, with handgun magazines strapped to her calves. There were those... what you called them... sai swords sheathed to the inside and outside of her boots and on her thighs there were more magazines strapped on them. Her waist held 2 sheathed katanas, a couple of holstered UZIs and handguns. She had a corset that covered her stomach. Her hands were encased in leather gloves that had steel spikes on the knuckles, and what looked like gauntlets in each forearm. On her upper arm, were a few more UZI magazines. On her back were two more sheathed katanas, and a couple of sai swords at her lower back. She had a silver cross on her neck, and her bright red hair was bunned up at the top of her head, with some strands burling down her neck and shoulders. The bun itself held at least 6 steel chopsticks, each with a different design that made her look oriental. She was wearing a pure white face mask with holes for her eyes and nose, but when she looked at us, I saw that she had brilliantly green eyes.
With all the leather, magazines and swords, I was beginning to this woman was some warrior princess.
The four of us divided as she got off the elevator, carrying a bag that she dropped down the floor. I looked down, and I realized it was a bag full of ammunition. She pressed the button so that the elevator stayed open behind us.
"Reload, quickly." She said, her voice low, "I'll distract them." And with that she unholstered her UZIs.
As she pulled the trigger, we quickly bent down and got as much ammo as we could, and we reloaded. The lady ran, clearing a path for her with her UZIs raining bullets, reloading quickly from the magazines on her thighs or upper arms. I could hear Tallahassee cheering as he got bullets again, and I pulled Little Rock and Wichita to the inside of the elevator, and started shooting as well. Wichita made some room beside me, and together we shot some zombie heads. Even Little Rock joined in, shooting at zombies from a gap between Wichita's legs.
It turned out that most of the zombies followed the lady, and soon enough she ran out of bullets. She pulled out her katanas as she stood in her battle stance. The zombies charged, and she launched a bunch of kung-fu moves that I've only seen on Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Our share of zombies were soon dead, and Wichita and Little Rock looked on at the lady as she fought.
"Whoa." Wichita said as she watched the lady, slashing zombie heads left and right, in a flurry of steel and leather, "That looks so awesome."
"She must be, like, some super soldier or something." I said as I watched her, kicking and slashing. "She's cool... but she's kind of scary."
"AHHHHH!"
Little Rock screamed as one of the zombies we shot grabbed her ankle, but before we could do anymore damage, a steel chopstick with a silver dangles embedded itself into the zombies skull, killing it instantly. Wichita stepped on the zombies hand to get it's grasp of Rock's ankle off. She looked back at the lady, to see that the floor was littered with heads and bodies of zombies.
She walked towards us, but when she was near, she raised her sword to her left, and I looked to find that Tallahassee had aimed his gun at her, but she was aiming her sword at his neck.
"Who are you?" She asked, the tip of her blade pressing at Tallahassee's chin, her voice muffled by the mask she wore, "What are you doing here?"
"Might as well ask you the same thing." Tallahassee said as he kept his gun pointed.
The lady removed her mask, and smiled disarmingly. She was really beautiful, with a heart shaped face, a pretty nose, and blood-red lips. She didn't look like she was forty at all. "You would be dead before you could pull that trigger."
Tallahassee seethed, "Wanna find out sister?"
"Hey, hey, HEY!" I said as at stood between them, carefully avoiding the blade, "Tallahassee, this lady just saved us, man. Besides, if it weren't for her, we'd be zombie food. Can't you... can't you just calm down a minute and listen?"
Tallahassee and the lady stood staring for a while, and soon he lowered his gun slowly. The lady lowered her sword as well. "Fine, but we ain't takin' her with us."
The lady raised her eyebrow, "I didn't ask."
I stepped between them as Tallahassee walked away, and I opened my palm for a handshake. The lady looked at it for a minute before taking it. It was a little sticky from the zombie blood, but I shook it just the same.
"I'm Columbus." I told her, and pointed at the others, "This is Wichita, Little Rock, and... Tallahassee. We... thought we'd stop by here and get some supplies. We didn't know it was this infested. So... uh... what's... what's your name?"
She looked at me for a moment, and then down at my zombie-stained hand. She reached into her boot and pulled out a handkerchief that smelled strongly of alcohol and cologne, and gave it to me. "Sorry about that." She said as I wiped by hands and gave it back to her. She took it back and wiped her blades as she walked back to where she lost her UZIs.
"My name is... Las Vegas." She said as she cleaned her guns, and looking down, she realized that one zombie was still moving. She raised her foot and stepped down hard on it's head, boring a hole into it with her heels. "I stopped by here to scavenge some food, medicine and weapons when I heard you shooting. Luckily I was able to clean out a couple of gun stores here."
"Oh, are you going somewhere?" I asked as she pulled out the chopstick from the zombie that held Little Rock, cleaned it thoroughly, and pinned it up her hair again.
"Yes. I'm heading for Miami." She replied as she took the bag back from off the floor, counted the bullets and magazines, and started dividing them. "I can give you weapons and bullets, if you want them. I've cleaned out a lot areas here..."
"Well, why don't we come with you?"
Wichita, Little Rock and Tallahassee looked at me incredously, "What, go all the way to Miami?" Wichita said, "Are you kidding us?"
"Well, yeah." I said, "I want to go someplace else and... I want to see the ocean. I've... never been to the ocean."
The three of them looked at me. Finally Wichita smiled, "You are such a nerd. I'm in."
Little Rock looked over to her sister, and shrugged, "Well, I guess if she in, then I'm in too."
The four of us looked over to Tallahassee, who was watching what was happening. He looked at the four of us incredously, before squinting at Vegas, "Why are you going there? There is a zombie infestation there you know. And there'll be more. Much, much more than this. Miami is a big place with lots of people."
Vegas shook her head and shrugged, "I don't care." She said, "I have to go to Miami. My family lives there."
Wichita opened up her mouth to speak, and I nudged her, shaking my head. She almost did what she did to me... telling me that my hometown is infested and no one was alive, and making me rather sad. As I looked at Vegas, she does look strong physically, but something in her made me think twice.
Tallahassee was looking at her too, but he had a strange look on him, like he was trying to remember something. Finally, he shrugged and raised his hands in defeat, "Fine. Fine. Let's pack up our gear and head out."
Vegas nodded and pointed out the door, "I'll meet you outside. I have some things to get." And she started walking.
The four of us left to head for our car, and Tallahassee and I stood outside as Wichita and Little Rock stayed inside the car, warming up due to the cold weather. Our breaths turned to mist we talked.
"Now, I'm pretty sure I've seen that lady before." Tallahassee said as he looked at the entrance of the mall. "I just can't remember where."
"Really?" I said, as I looked around the parking space looking for zombies. "She was awesome though, she finished all those zombies, almost by herself..."
Tallahassee looked at me, "Now are you telling me that you find this chick a better killer than good ol' Tallahassee?"
I shook my head, "No... no... no! She just... cleared a lot of zombies for a woman."
He shrugged, "Yeah, I guess so." And then he squinted off into the horizon again, "I swear I've seen that woman before…"
Suddenly, a big Army jeep rounded on the corner, and looking at the driver's seat, I saw Las Vegas, driving with a cigarette in her mouth. As she stopped, she opened up the door and stepped down, looking at our, well, transportation.
Wichita and Little Rock's mouths fell open at the sight of her ride and Las Vegas nodded to Tallahassee as she blew out a puff of smoke, "So… your ride or mine?"