A/N: It has been a while (albeit a short while) since I've updated. Enough of me, though, I just want to take a moment to thank all of submitters so far: MiniFruitbat for submitting Isabel and a few of your minor characters from your story, Earthdude for Grant and his grudges, Goat13 or whatever your online name may be for Jake and his protectiveness of his property, Insert name here for Allen and his common sense (gods know it is lacking in zombie stories), Sons of Napalm for the awesome trio of Josiah, Kaida, and Saxen, and finally DragonLoverss for Cyril and his irritating personality. Thanks for all the help! (To all other readers, I advise the rest of you only submit one person, otherwise it will be very hard to keep track of all of the characters. If you are the one who asked me the question if you can submit another person, I advise you to do it damn quick. Thanks in advance.)
(General POV)
About thirty miles south of Binghamton (NY) there was a clearing which contained a indiscernible number of people, all of whom attempting to find out another poor soul they could relate to. In front of this crowd stood a young man whose name was Steven, and to his back was a small ravine.
"People, please listen!" As the crowd gradually calmed down Steven continued his speech, emphasizing every word with a jerk of his right hand which happened to be grasping a torch.
"I have two incredible things to report. First, the dead have risen—". The remainder of his statement was broken when a person by the name of Jake Thorns shouted out "No shit, Sherlock!" This statement alone was humorous enough for several people to bust out laughing, which in turn made the crowd unruly again for several expensive minutes.
"Yes, yes, quite humorous. Anyway, we should not be heading north."
The reaction to this statement was incredible, the silence almost palpable. This was unexpected, to say the least.
"What makes you say that?" questioned a voice belonging to a teen whose given name was Allen, "We're in New York already, why should we pack our bags and leave the closest thing we have to safety?
"Because, the U.S'. soldiers have stationed themselves in the west, making that the safest area in about the entire U.S. Also, think about how many people there are already in the north. The only way that some of them will survive is if they start going cannibal. Besides—"
This time, Steven did not have the fortune of being interrupted by a person. As several fetid hand gripped his shoulders, chest, and throat he had time to only rasp "Oh shit", before the hands dragged him backward. His hands flicked out, as if begging for help causing the small torch in his hand to fly forward, directly into an unfortunately parked Porsche Carrera.
(Jake's POV)
He was starting to get pissed with the shady looking people staring at his car. A few of them even tried to touch his automobile, and quite simply, they looked more likely to commit grand theft auto then to merely gaze at his beautiful Porsche.
Jake was dividing his attention between listening to the speaker and keeping potential car thieves away and he barely heard the phrase 'the dead have risen'. Of course, he had to make fun of that comment or someone else would, and with a smile shouted out "No shit, Sherlock!".
Jake was still grinning when he turned around to find that a sub-group of three staring at him. From what he could tell, two of them looked related in an older brother, younger sister way, while the third was constantly trying to bring up a conversation with someone, be it stranger or friend.
"Yes, peons that will never be better than me, what do you want?" stating the question in such a pseudo-serious manner that they smiled.
Suddenly all hell broke loose. Jake heard the words 'oh shit' before in the zombie outbreak to find that they were normally a herald of doom. He quickly turned around to find that not only was his car on fire, but that the speaker had also been grabbed by zombies. He started to run toward the young male before remembering that all his weapons were still in his inferno of a car
"Damnit all to hell!" he bellowed before twisting around, this time for his weapons. He thrust both of his hands in the car, pulled out his twin 1911s and found that he now had to travel near the ravine just to see the Zs that had but a few minutes ago been so visible. Cursing, he went to the ravine.
(Josiah, Kaida, Saxen POV)
"You know, it is going to be hilarious to see you swing that pole arm around." stated Josiah matter-of-factly.
"I like medieval weapons," said the 14 year old Kaida. "Besides, I always have two daggers if the going gets rough."
"Aye," said Saxen, "but you know as well as anyone else that you, quite simply, suck when it comes to killing Zed heads. Not for lack of trying, of course!" He said the last sentence quickly because it was somewhat of a sore point for Kaida that she was a poor fighter.
"Anyway," said Josiah, "I saw this Porsche on the way here, and it looked absolutely loaded. I think I even saw a Benelli in there. Oh, and Kaida; who gave you that bar of chocolate?"
"Someone called Allen."
"Oh. Well, let's go look at that Porsche, shall we?"
On Josiah's beckoning the small band of friends neared the Porsche and its owner. The fellow made a small joke at the expense of them but it lacked the seriousness to actually be insulting them, and they smiled. Or, rather, Josiah and Kaida smiled. Saxen was so busy trying to talk to people that he might have been grinning at the expense of someone else.
Suddenly, the group turned to find that the speaker had managed to be gripped by several zombies. They were still running toward him when, as if in slow motion, Steven was pulled over the edge of the ravine, flinging out his hands in a movement that only managed to set fire to the car.
Josiah, turning his head slightly to watch the now burning Porsche, felt a strong urge to just stop and watch the burning wreckage. He loved fire; he loved burning, incinerating, just about anything so long as fire was involved. But Josiah shook off the feeling and continued on his path toward the fallen speaker. There would be time to watch the burning later.
(Allen POV)
As soon as Allen heard the voice in the audience shout 'No shit, Sherlock' he realized that some jackass was going and preventing the spread of useful information. He, at that point, decided to make it his mission to quiet the crowd as much as possible.
As he passed several people he became conscious of the fact he was being watched. He quickly located the person who was staring at him and found his sister gazing at him. No, not his sister, but another 14 year old girl, similar enough to fool him temporarily, but different enough to recognize his mistake in less than a second.
Still, he liked kids (in a completely non—disturbing way). Smiling, he reached into his backpack and pulled out the last Hershey bar he had and handed it to the girl.
"Here. My name's Allen. You look hungry."
"Thanks. I better get back to my brother."
He was still smiling when he heard from the speaker that they were going the wrong direction. To Allen, this was the equivalent of heresy. His family might have gone to gone to the north and here was this, this bastard that was saying 'Nope, the north is a not very safe, safe zone.' Of course, he loved his siblings, but he was irritated when his family took him for dead on face value, just because his school was attacked and wanted to give them earful when he met them again.
He refrained from saying all this when he asked his question, however; it may make more people dislike him more than like him.
"What makes you say that? We're in New York already, why should we pack our bags and leave the closest thing we have to safety?"
The response was good enough for Allen to accept, and he was almost off guard when Steven was grabbed. Shouting wordlessly, he slipped his shotgun from his back and sprinted toward the ravine, barely noticing the burning car in his haste.
(General POV)
Five people definitely sprinted toward the ravine; more may have been following but Allen, Jake, Josiah, Saxen, and Kaida were definitely in the lead. As they reached the dip in the earth they had enough time to see a completely unharmed Steven become a grievously harmed Steven in less than half a second. There were three zombies; two of them were large men, the third a child that looked to be about nine. One was holding Steven's hands and the child had taken a bite out of Stevens shoulder. On closer inspection it was obvious how they had managed to grab Steven unawares. All three were missing most of their throats, thus being unable to produce the tell tale moan.
Steven, of course, was screaming wildly. The bite mark was obvious, and he knew, without a doubt, that he was as good as dead.
Of course, Steven was screaming wildly. One of the larger ghouls had managed to rip his jaw clean off with a well placed bite moments later.
At that point, the zed heads were as good as dead. They were still bent over Steven when Kaida tried to kill them with her halberd, having to swing it several times before actually connecting with a zombies head. As she smiled at the fact that she had killed a zombie the others were trying to decide how the other two should be killed.
"We can't shoot the zombies, damnit!" hissed Allen
"Why the hell not?!" murmured Jake angrily
"It might bring an entire horde on us."
It was eventually settled that Saxen and Josiah were given the honor of killing the other two Z's, and quickly, too.
"Should we burn them?" asked Josiah, perhaps too eagerly, to the rest of the group.
"Maybe we should focus on the important facts, you know, like if we should go west?" replied the rest of the group "and who should tell the crowd our decision, and finally, we should, you know, kill Steven before he reanimates."
They slowly thought about everything until they reached an uncontested conclusion. Steven was right to urge them west, and west they would go. Even the crowd of people, tired from their travels decided that the west probably held more opportunity than the north. Besides, most of them did not want to eat moose burgers anytime soon.
A/N: Hello people. Damn, this chapter took an eternity. Anyway, I want you to know that even if your person was not used this chapter does not mean that they will not be used in the future. On a special side note, could you guy answer a question for me in your reviews? I want to know if you think I should continue using the somewhat tedious POV's per character or if I should stick with a general POV through and through. On one final note I want to say that I am appreciative but I must decline the offer of a Beta for this story. I am honored, but I have some friends that check for mistakes, and I think they feel useless if they don't check over my stories. Send some Review love, please.
