Apocalypse: Dawn of the Dead
Chapter 3: The Artifact
"Humor is one of the best ingredients of survival."-Aung San Suu Kyi
Wal-Mart Parking Lot:
"Jess!" Judith said in an amazed tone as she ran forward and hugged her friend. Jessica was a fellow band student and friend of everyone in the group, save Andrew (who she didn't like at all.)
"It's so good to see you guys! How've you been holding up?" Jess asked the others.
"You know, killing zombies, blowing up Wal-Mart, the usual." Nicholas said with a grin while Andrew and John laughed in response.
"So, who blew up the Wal-Mart?" Jess asked.
"Andrew did that. He shot a bunch of propane tanks with a pistol and blew the place sky-high. It took out more than half of the zombies, but the rest cornered us at the bus. Which somehow burst into flames…that was weird…" Nicholas trailed off, still puzzled by that.
"Yeah…weird." Joe said as he started to walk away a little, trying to look innocent.
"Anyway, you saved all of our hides…even Nick's. So thanks for that," Nicholas said to the small girl.
"Yeah! I lived too!" Nick cheered, pumping his fist into the air.
Everyone swore at once, except Nick. Jess then said "So do you guys need a ride? My monster truck can carry all of you guys, plus any supplies you've got. I only managed to grab this AK-47 because I found some dead people who had managed to get some weapons before they...met their end."
"So you looted their corpses?" Liam asked, causing Jess to flinch.
"I…I didn't mean to steal…" Jess muttered. Judith punched Liam in the arm and glared at him, and after a moment he said, "Hey, it's not stealing. I'm sure they would've wanted their supplies to at least help someone else survive. If you hadn't found their supplies, you'd be dead. No use feeling bad about it."
"Right…" Jess nodded, looking moderately less depressed.
"Can I drive?" Liam asked, jerking a thumb at the truck.
"NO!" Everyone screamed at once.
"Why not?" Jess replied with a shrug.
"Awesome!" Liam said hoping up to the truck.
"Shotgun!" Jess proclaimed.
"Damn!" Nicholas growled under his breath.
"Come on, let's go to Sam's Club. We can get more weapons, as well as anything else we need there. Mainly supplies though," Nicholas said to the others.
"Are you the leader Nicholas?" Jess asked the older teen.
Nicholas looked at everyone, who nodded in a reassuring sort of way, and he shrugged and said, "I guess so Jess."
"Cool. All right, let's go." Jess said as everyone loaded the supplies onto the truck.
"So why Sam's Club? What makes you think we'll find anything there?" Nick asked Nicholas as he handed them the ammo bag.
"Sam's Club has even more stuff than Wal-Mart, and even if the place was somehow half ransacked we'd have enough stuff there to last us a while. We got weapons, we just need more supplies. And we can get that and more in bulk there." Nicholas explained to Nick. Everyone hopped in the Monster Truck, squeezing in. Liam had a grin on his face similar to Nick when he found a new Chuck Norris fact as Jess got up in the shotgun seat.
"You're psyched to drive a monster truck, aren't you?" Nicholas laughed.
"Oh hell yeah. This is going to be epic." Liam said as he slammed on the accelerator. The group yelled out as one as the truck peeled out of the parking lot and back onto the road.
"So what happened to you guys?" Jess asked.
"We were able to hotwire a bus after escaping the zombies at the game, but we ran into a lot of zombies. It took an hour to get to Wal-Mart because we had to keep taking detours and stuff. We got a bunch of supplies from Wal-Mart, but we were attacked there too. After that we met up with you." Nicholas explained to Jess, who nodded.
"So, how did you escape Jess?" Joe asked as he leaned back in his seat.
"It was…well, it wasn't pretty. A lot of people died back at the school, and most of the band members got turned into zombies…" Jess began. The group winced and remained quiet for a few minutes, holding a moment of silence for their fallen friends and student. Jess broke the silence by saying, "Several small groups escaped into the forest by the school and were able to get into cars at the game…so basically, we got lucky. I got away with a few other students, but we got separated at a Donut King. Luckily we had weapons at that point, so I fought off the zombies until I found this awesome truck. The keys were already inside, so I just turned it on and went to crushing zombies." Jess explained, patting the dashboard of the truck with a cheerful expression.
"Awesome!" Everyone said.
"Yep. I got separated from the group I was with though. I hope they're OK," Jess said in a softer tone.
"They'll be fine," Nicholas said reassuringly.
"So did you bring us any doughnuts?" Nick asked hopefully.
"Yes, but the Zombies had dibs on the crème filled." Jess said.
"How can a Zombie have dibs?" John asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, but a really, really fat Zombie grabbed the box and ate all of the doughnuts…except for the glaze." Jess explained, pulling out a box. Everyone grabbed a donut, except for Judith who claimed she didn't want one, so Liam ate hers.
"So…Sam's Club? Why are we going there?" Jess asked. Nicholas sighed, but decided to explain again.
"At Sam's we can get a lot of different supplies there that we couldn't find at Wal-Mart, plus they have stuff in bulk. There's literally too much stuff there not to go there," Nicholas explained.
"But we need a membership card to get in," Judith pointed out.
"Zombie apocalypse." Joe stated, causing Judith to blink for a moment before she understood.
"Oh, right."
"I want a slingshot as my weapon!" Nick said excitedly.
"An exploding slingshot?" John asked, thinking of the crossbow in Black Ops.
"No. Why would I want an exploding slingshot?" Nick asked as though that was a stupid question.
"Because-you know what, I don't care anymore." John said lying back in the seat with a groan.
"I've got enough points for a shotgun, so that's what I'm rolling with," Nicholas said taking his shotgun out with a grin.
"Points?" Jess asked.
"Don't ask," John said in an annoyed tone.
"What model is that?" Judith asked.
"It's a Stakeout, or an Ithaca M37," Nicholas said.
"Nice one man, can I hold it?" Joe asked.
"Hell no!" Nicholas replied, holding the shotgun close to him.
"Heh, worth a try," Joe shrugged.
The crew continued their way to Sam's Club, hoping to get more supplies to help them survive whatever was going to happen next.
1 Hour Later:
Location: Sam's Club
An explosion rang out into the night, and flames billowed through the air. Meanwhile, a group of teens stood in a parking lot admiring the charred remains of a Sudan left abandoned at the entrance of the store.
"This is the 2nd car you've blown up Joe..." Andrew said in an exasperated tone, shaking his head.
"I didn't think I'd actually hit the gas tank!" Joe laughed nervously, putting away his pistol.
"Come on, let's get inside before the Zombies come, even though this car is basically a giant flare." John said.
"Oh come on man, cut me some slack." Joe whined as John crossed his arms.
"No, I won't," John replied angrily.
"Shut up, the both of you." Nicholas said in an irritated tone, causing the two to look at him. Nicholas was scowling at them and said "I wish for once, you both would stop bickering. Seriously, it gets old."
Joe and John exchanged a look, wondering why their friend was suddenly so angry at them. Normally he found their squabbles humorous to some degree, so why was he so irritated now? They both chalked it up to the stress of the situation and looked over at the truck as Judith jumped down, holding a newly acquired rifle.
"Nice! Was that one of the guns we got from Wal-Mart?" Joe asked, walking over to her. Judith nodded and said, "I figured we may as well use some of the weapons we got there. I've always wanted to use a rifle like this one."
"Looks like a Ruger 1103" Joe said as Judith tested it out. She awkwardly managed to fire the gun, shooting a nearby car and said, "OK…let me test it out a bit. I'll get it eventually."
"You mean like this?" Joe said as he walked over to the bag, pulled out another rifle, loaded it with ammo and fired a shot at the same car, shooting the mirror off of it.
"Nice…" Joe muttered as Judith looked at him in surprise.
"That was awesome, even for you, Joe!" Judith said with a laugh.
"Not bad." Liam said with a nod, letting Joe have this small victory.
"Looks like a Savage 64F. Not bad…though we don't have a lot of ammo for it." Joe said with a frown as he clipped more ammo from the gun to his belt.
Let's go. We're on a schedule folks," Nicholas said as the group made its way towards the store.
There was a zombie, probably an employee at the store, at the front door devouring a man with his head chewed off. It raised its head with a growl and charged at them, being halted mid-sprint by several shots fired by Jess and Nick. The zombie was amazingly still standing after 9 shots, but was riddled with holes and was missing an arm. Nicholas walked up with his Stakeout and blasted it in the face. The zombie fell to the ground and Nicholas said, "I never did like those store greeters…meh."
They walked into the store, and all of them nearly slipped and fell. The floor was slick with blood, and gore covered the entryway of the store John ran outside and threw up while Jess whispered, "Oh my god…"
"Maybe we should be quick about this…Everyone split up, look for whatever can be used as a weapon, and any sort of supplies you think we'll need. Let's meet in the electronics section in 15, let's go!" Nicholas said to the group of teens, who nodded and split up.
Meanwhile:
5 Minutes Later:
"Jeez, they have stuff stacked to the ceiling…" Judith said, eyeing the packages upon packages of water bottles stacked on top of each other.
"I told you they have everything here." Nicholas said laying down on a waterbed. Liam was testing out a butcher's knife, testing to see if it was sharp enough for him.
"They've got enough stuff here that we could just bunker down here and be set. There's plenty of food and all sorts of other stuff here." Liam said as he flipped the knife in his grasp and slashed forward with it, killing an invisible enemy with a yell.
"We could, but it's best to stay on the move. Zombies can sense where people are, more or less, so we'd be overwhelmed by the end of the week. We should keep moving until we can learn more about what caused this…" Nicholas pointed out as he closed his eyes.
"Good point," Liam admitted.
" So…Judith, you're going with a sniper rifle?" Nicholas asked as Judith took aim with her Ruger and fired at a nearby shelf, missing her target by a few inches.
"Yeah, I've always wanted to use a sniper rifle. It just feels right." Judith said as she lowered her rifle and strapped it back on her back.
"Ballin'. So how much longer should we wait for everyone?" Nicholas asked as he sat up, rolling his shoulders.
"Another 10 minutes. But there's so much stuff here that it'll take a while for them to look for useful things. Who knows when we'll be able to stop again?" Liam said.
There was groan from the end of the aisle and the three of teens looked to see five zombies walking towards them. Judith aimed her Ruger 1103 and fired at the lead Zombie, a former Sam's employee turned undead. She missed by a about a foot and the bullet hit a display shelf full of pickles, causing the jars to fall to the ground and shatter.
"Crap!" Judith yelled as the three of them ran towards the other end of the aisle.
Three zombies suddenly came from nowhere, blocking their escape. Nicholas fired his Stakeout, killing one zombie while Liam decapitated another zombie with his knife. The 3rd zombie swiped at Nicholas, who ducked and rolled to the side.
"Judith!" Nicholas yelled as he stumbled to his feet.
"On it!" Judith said taking aim again.
She fired her sniper rifle, and it was a perfect headshot. The zombie's head exploded in a shower of gore and flesh as it's body crumpled onto the ground. Nicholas ran past the zombie's corpse and yelled, "Come on!"
Liam pulled out his pistol and fired several times at the five zombies, hitting them in the chest and killing one with a headshot. Liam turned around and ran out of the aisle with Nicholas and Judith, the zombies hot on their tail.
Meanwhile:
Andrew grinned as he twirled two newly acquired machetes, which he found on the corpses of a group of survivors found dead at the back of the store. Apparently a shipment of them had come on as a part of some special going on at the store that week.
"I still can't believe they have all this stuff here! I mean they have machetes…in bulk!" Andrew said happily as he hacked and stabbed at an invisible enemy.
"Who would need a crate full of machetes?" Joe asked curiously.
"Me! And probably people who like to camp and stuff. Having a huge blade is useful, bro. And they even come with sheaths! Awesome!" Andrew said taking two sheaths and strapped them on his back. He then put the machetes in their holders and said, "See? Now I can get them easily and still have a free arm to shoot. We should each have a melee weapon, you know, a weapon for not shooting or anything."
"Sounds like a plan. Hand me a machete." Joe said with a grin, walking over to Andrew
"By the way, where did Nick go?" Andrew asked while Joe grabbed a machete and a sheath.
"No clue, probably looking for a slingshot." Joe laughed.
"Yeah, or a Chuck Norris fact book!" Andrew snickered.
"Or maybe he got the hell out of here because there's zombies attacking!" John yelled firing his pistol repeatedly.
"What?" Joe and Andrew said looking behind them.
There was indeed a group of zombies behind them, being held at bay by John. Some were missing limbs and some were even missing their heads, and when John reloaded his pistol they surged forward.
"Huh. So there are a bunch of zombies behind us." Joe said in a casual tone.
"Wait…" Andrew said slowly.
"ZOMBIES!" Joe and Andrew yelled loudly, pulling out their guns.
"YES YOU BRAINDEAD MORONS!" John yelled while pistol-whipping a zombie's skull in.
"We've got 'em!" Andrew said running up and stabbing a zombie through the skull, and then slashing downward through its chest. Joe aimed his Savage and fired, killing two zombies at once with an accurate shot from his rifle.
"HELL TO THE YEAH YOU CORPSE RIDDEN MAGGOTS!" Joe yelled as he took aim again.
"Get as many machetes and sheathes as you can and meet Nicholas and the others in the Electronics area!" John said to the two other teens, who nodded and followed him away from the undead horde chasing them, their arms laden with the blades.
Meanwhile:
Nick continued to walk the aisles, observing the contents of the shelves in a rather bored way. He hadn't found anything of particular interest, and probably wouldn't at this rate.
"…come…"
"Hmm. What was that?" Nick said in a low voice, glancing around. He could have sworn he had heard something…
"Come…and allow your true potential to come forth…"
"OK, I know I heard something." Nick said firmly as he prowled the aisle, looking for the source of the voice. He eventually found a large box lying behind a mattress display and opened it up, but he frowned at what he saw. Upon seeing it, and voice softly said, "Finally…after all this time."
"What the hell?" Nick said in soft tone as a pressure filled his head. He stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground, twitching as a sharp pain seared in his head.
"Yes…so much potential…so little time…"
"What…what are you?" Nick hissed as he got into a sitting position. Nick yelled out as the pain redoubled and he fell to the ground senseless.
"Listen and listen well, mortal. I am an artifact, one not of this world but rather one found among many worlds. I have awaited your arrival, invisible to others, for centuries."
"W-what? Me?" Nick muttered as he tried to set up again but failed. He could faintly hear the sound of shooting and yelling in the distance.
"I am now bound to you, and even though you don't understand now, you will in time…you will in time." The voice said to Nick, who gasped in pain and said, "What are you talking about!?"
The voice sighed and said, "There is a great evil spreading throughout this world, and if it is left unchecked, will undo everything this world stands for. It is not just coincidence you have found me, but fate. I will help you stop this evil, as much as I can."
"This is sounding like something out of a bad fanfic," Nick groaned as he head spiked with pain again.
"OK…Perhaps a different plan is in order. Perhaps if I take on the form of something you know…"
"Something I know?" Nick asked as the pain began to fade.
"All memories of me will fade as new ones fill your mind. I will help you and others find your true potential. Limitless power…unparalleled strength…an unstoppable spirit…untapped potential, that I will unlock over time. And not just you, but others as well."
"Others?"
"You're but one piece in a very large puzzle…all will become clear in time" the voice said before Nick felt another pressure in his head. Nick shivered for a moment and then-
Nothing.
"Wait…what happened? Why am I here?' Nick muttered, shaking his head. He had walked down the aisle looking for…something.
"Yo, asshole. Over here," a gruff voice said to Nick, who blinked. He walked over to a faintly familiar looking crate and flipped it open. Nick let out a shriek of joy and said, "Oh my god…so…awesome…"
It was a large figurine, about three feet long and made of a strange material that Nick couldn't name off the top of his head. The figurine was wearing a cowboy outfit, complete with a hat, and had a rugged beard.
"It's a Chuck Norris figurine! Awesome!" Nick yelled cheerfully as he admired the statue.
"Like I said, you're only going to something you know." A gruff voice said in his mind. Nick shivered and said "W-what was that?"
The statue was glowing white now, and the gruff voice said, "Me, smartass. I'm talking to you."
"Chuck Norris is talking to me. I am not worthy, oh awesome one," Nick said as he set the statue on the ground and knelt before it.
"So, Chosen One…are you ready to embrace your destiny of being the one worthy of holding the scared weapon? Are you ready to unleash your true potential?" the gruff voice asked.
"The Sacred Weapon? It's a statue of Chuck Norris, how is that a weapon?" Nick asked as he picked the statue up. It was incredibly light, weighing no more than a butter knife.
"This statue was made and blessed by me, Chuck Norris. Therefore it has powers beyond your imagination. It's the ultimate melee weapon, so use it well. I know of your fight against the zombies, and I'm going to help you in my own way. By protecting you, and watching over the others. You all have a great destiny before you, and you'll be hard-pressed to survive, Nick," the statue said to him seriously.
"Really?"
"Yes. You need to head north and confront the creator of the zombies, an insane and evil doctor who's wickedness is tempered by misfortune and hatred," the figurine explained patiently.
"Wow, so we…wait…so I'm talking to Chuck Norris?" Nick asked in an awed tone.
"Yes." The statue said after a moment, a bit annoyed that Nick had ignored the rest of his speech.
"AWESOME!" Nick yelled excitedly.
"Indeed. By the way, zombie's are coming from behind you." The statue said coolly.
Nick spun around and saw that there were four zombies walking towards him, not quite running but not exactly taking their time either. Nick grabbed his pistol and fired it at the lead zombie's head. The bullet tore through his skull, but he continued to walk. Nick fired until his gun began making a clicking sound when he pulled the trigger. He realized he was completely out of ammo.
"Crap, I forgot to grab more from the supply bag! Now what am I going to do?" Nick panicked as he took a few steps back as the zombies advanced.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe use the sacred weapon to kill these undead pieces of filth," the statue remarked sarcastically.
"So I just swing you at the Zombies? What happens next?" Nick asked.
"Something cool. Now go! Attack!" the statue commanded Nick, who nodded and ran towards the horde coming at him.
Nick tightened his grip on the statue and swung it at the lead zombie who was riddled with bullet holes and drenched in blood. The statue connected with the zombies skull, and the zombie suddenly went limp and collapsed onto the ground with a groan, the blue lights in its eyes fading as the life faded from its undead shell. Nick looked at the statue in wonder, and then killed the rest of the zombies in a similar manner.
Nick examined the Statue and saw a wicked spike protruding from the statue's shoulder, where the statue had made contact with the last zombie he killed. The spike shrank back into the statue of Chuck Norris and Nick stared at the statue in amazement.
"I told you something awesome would happen. So get back to your friends, the zombies are breaking in, and they could use your help," the statue said quietly.
"Sure. Hey, what should I call you? Chuck? Mr. Norris? The Almighty One?" Nick suggested.
"Call me C.N. Now get going." The statue commanded the small boy, thankful it had finally got through to him.
"Yes sir!" Nick said.
Meanwhile:
Jess jumped on top of the lower shelf and grabbed her AK-47 off her back, firing it into the horde of zombies behind her. Jess yelped as the zombies began to climb the shelves and ran along the shelf, firing behind her occasionally. Jess saw Andrew, John, and Joe fighting a group of zombies ahead and aimed her gun at a large sign above a group of zombies coming towards them. She fired at the chains supporting it and after a few moments the whole sign fell to the ground, crushing the zombies.
The three guys looked up at their savior, who leaped down from the shelf and said, "Run! Run like a pack of monkeys are attacking your heads!"
"What?" all three of them asked at once.
"RUN!" Jess yelled loudly, pointing at the forty or so zombies walking through the aisle. All four of them began to sprint as fast as they could to the entrance of the store.
"HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF GOD! RUN!" John yelled as he pounded down the aisle.
"WOMEN AND CHILDREN LAST!" Joe yelled as he grabbed a cart and pushed it towards the zombies, knocking down a few of them.
"LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Andrew yelled, sprinting as hard as he could.
"I LIKE DONUTS!" Jess yelled happily as she skipped ahead of them.
A zombie rushed out from another one of the aisles, and Andrew drew a machete and slashed it from hip to shoulder, cutting it in half in one fluid movement. Jess jumped over the zombie and pulled out her AK-47 and fired a barrage of bullets at a group of zombies that had burst out of another aisle. Two of them fell immediately and John added shots from his twin pistols to the onslaught, downing the rest of them. Joe ran up and blew apart three zombies with two shots of his Savage 64F. With the path clear, the group made their way to the electronics section, where they heard gunshots and shouts from the rest of their group.
Meanwhile:
"ENJOY HELL!" Nicholas yelled firing the Stakeout and killing two zombies in one shot. He quickly retreated further into the aisle and reloaded as he quickly as he could, fumbling with the shotgun as the sound of undead screaming became louder.
Nicholas jumped forward as a two zombies lashed out at him from the end of the aisle he was retreating down and he turned around to face them. Nicholas grinned as he killed both of them with his Stakeout, and then ran back to where his friends were, Liam giving him cover with his pistol as he changed position. Liam had grabbed another pistol and was firing both of them into the horde attacking them.
Judith was at the back, reloading her sniper rifle with a snarl on her face. It was obvious the rifle was giving her a bit of trouble, but she was quickly learning and was getting better at shooting, her shots becoming more and more accurate as the fight went on.
Liam growled as he moved to reload his M1911 and a zombie charged at him, but as it came within five feet of him it's shoulder exploded in a shower of crimson and the zombie fell backwards, allowing Liam to lunge at it and stab it in the face, killing it. Liam gave Judith a thumbs up before reloading his pistol
"Where are they?!" Nicholas yelled as he slammed the butt of his Stakeout into a zombie's skull, killing it. He ran towards the front of the area and got ready for the next wave. Judith let out a yell as a zombie broke through one of their makeshift barricades and stumbled towards her, causing her to run away. She then turned around and took aim before shooting, headshotting the zombie to her delight.
"Guys! Hold on, we're coming!" a familiar voice yelled.
"Who is that?" Judith asked as he crouched next to Nicholas and Liam, who eyed the stumbling horde coming at them with apprehension.
"Don't know, but we're not gonna last much longer!" Liam muttered as he reloaded, with Nicholas covering him by shooting the lead zombie in the chest with his Stakeout.
"Hey! Help us!" Nicholas yelled loudly as the zombies began to run towards them.
"You've got it! C.N, go for it!"
"FLAMETHROWER!" the gruff voice yelled loudly, sounding distinctly ethereal.
All of the zombies suddenly burst into flames and fell to the ground, burning to a crisp as red and white flames incinerated them into nothingness. Liam, Nicholas and Judith shielded their eyes with their hands as the blaze momentarily blinded them.
When they recovered a few moments later, they looked over the burning bodies of the Zombies and saw Nick standing there, grinning widely. He was holding a Chuck Norris statue in his hands, and all three of them were looking at him like he was crazy.
"Nick, where did you get that?" Liam asked Nick, who shrugged.
"I found it in the store. Chuck Norris is inside of this statue, and with him I can kill anything! He also said something about unleashing my true potential, but mainly the killing stuff bit," Nick said cheerfully.
"He's lost it. Permission to kill?" Liam asked Nicholas, taking aim at Nick.
"Permission denied." Nicholas said in a tired tone, though he had a relieved smile on his face as he walked towards Nick with a small sack of supplies hanging over his back.
"Heh, had to try," Liam remarked with a shrug.
"I bet," Nicholas laughed softly.
"What's that C.N.? Jess and the others are coming this way?" Nick asked the statue.
"He's lost it." Liam repeated, shaking his head.
"When did he have it?" Judith asked Liam, who's mouth twitched into a grin.
"Touche. Hey Nick, stop talking to the statue and come on." Nicholas said to the shorter teen.
"Sure." Nick said strapping the statue to his back as he would a shotgun. The other three looked at each other, and then shrugged, accepting the weird development as it was. A moment later Jess burst into the aisle, out of breath and looking cheerful. Joe and Andrew, panted their way into the aisle a few moments later, followed by John who was practically crawling.
"Guys! Are you OK?" Jess said leading the group and holding her AK-47 in front of her, quickly glancing around for any enemies.
"Yeah, Nick made the save. Apparently he can talk to Chuck Norris and he's got an awesome weapon. We need to get whatever we need and go!" Nicholas said to the others
"Alright, I think were good for… what the hell is that thing on Nick's back?" Joe said as he realized what Nicholas had said.
"Chuck Norris." Liam said with a disgusted look on his face.
"No seriously, what the hell is that?" Joe asked again, not believing him.
"Apparently Chuck Norris is inside that statue." Nicholas said to Joe, who frowned and shook his head in silent disbelief.
"Yeah, and Zeus is my homeboy grilling burgers at Steak n Shake," Judith said sarcastically.
Joe then walked over to Nick with an expressionless look before he slapped Nick upside the head, slapped the Chuck Norris statue out of his hand, and shot the thing with his Savage rifle. The bullet bounced off the statue and hit ten approaching zombies through the head with the rebound.
"Wow. Even with the rebound I can still own those flesh-monkeys." C.N. said mentally to both Nick and Joe.
"What…the hell…was that?" Joe said, clearly startled at the strange voice in his head.
"You can hear me too, numb nuts." C.N. said with a cold laugh.
"Yeah, now you know I'm not crazy!" Nick said with a triumphant yell.
"What the hell is going on here?" Andrew asked, throwing his hands in the air.
"I have no idea." Joe said with an angry expression on his face.
"Yes you do, you can hear C.N. too," Nick protested.
"No I can't. You're crazy man!" Joe yelled.
"Hmm…denying my presence. That's a new one. Usually people bow before my awesomeness. Well played mortal," C.N. said with an impressed tone.
"And you're not one?" Joe yelled at the statue.
"Nope," C.N. said.
"The hell? Joe, stop talking to that statue. We've got bigger problems than Nick's Chuck Norris's statue," Nicholas said.
"And I thought I'd never hear those words," C.N. snickered.
"Enough. We need to get whatever we can and get out of here. Anyone got any plans for where we need to head next?" Nicholas asked.
"Well, we need to get out of here." Judith said, firing a shot with her rifle to get everyone's attention.
"Why? We're fine for now" Nick said with a frown.
"Because that," Judith said pointing at a massive horde of zombies coming towards them. Everyone just stood there for a moment and then Joe said, "Everyone take a machete, and a sheath too. You'll need them."
As the weapons were given out, Nicholas said, "We need to go in pairs and make our way to the front of the store, and get to the truck. Judith and Liam, Jess and Nick, Joe and John, and Me and Andrew. Let's go."
Each of the groups split up and ran towards the exit, killing zombies as they went. Liam held a pistol in one hand and a machete in another, dismembering zombie and after zombie and shooting them point-blank to make sure that they died. Judith aimed her Ruger 1103 and fired in Liam's direction, killing a zombie that had been about to swipe at him. She continued to fire over and over, scoring multiple headshots, meaning multiple deaths. Judith kept the zombies off of Liam as he killed the zombies with his machete and pistol, coating the floor in undead blood.
"Watch out!" Judith said running up to a zombie coming from Liam's blind spot and blasting it apart with a spectacular headshot from twenty feet away. Liam smiled proudly and said "Nice shot."
"Oh you know, it's a gift." Judith said with a blush.
"Killing zombies with sniper rifles? That's your gift?" Liam asked with a laugh.
"Yep."
"Works for me. Now let's keep going." Liam said as he darted down the aisle, his girlfriend close behind.
"You don't need to tell me twice!" Judith said with an amused smile as she followed Liam through the store.
Meanwhile:
"DIE YOU SLIMEY FLESH MONKEYS!" Joe yelled firing his Savage 64F, blasting anything that came into sight with the rifle.
"Jeez Joe, calm down. It's just an ombie attack where the very fate of the world could hang in the balance. No pressure," John said mockingly as he shot a zombie in the face and knifed it in the throat, killing it.
John had refused the machete, saying anything that Joe had given him would probably be booby-trapped. The Machete had promptly burst into flames somehow when John threw it on the ground.
"Why do I even bother, if you expect it before I do it?" Joe had complained.
Joe stabbed a zombie through the head and swung to the side, cutting off a chunk of its face before stabbing it in the throat. John noticed that there were a few bottles and a strange looking machine nearby on a nearby shelf, and went to investigate.
"Joe, come look at this." John said examining the machine.
Joe decapitated a zombie and blasted through a few more zombies with the Savage 64F before turning towards John.
"Yeah, what's up Zombie Bait?" Joe said as he walked over to his friend.
"Look at this. They really do have everything in this store." John said holding up a bottle.
Joe smiled as he picked up two bottles and said, "Oh, this is going to be epic."
Meanwhile:
"Aim for the heads!" Nick yelled out.
"Really? No dip Sherlock!" Jess said with a laugh as she fired repeatedly into the horde, killing dozens of zombies.
Nick used the statue of Chuck Norris as a battering ram, and every time a zombie was hit by the statue, it fell to the ground dead…er. Jess and Nick mowed down several waves of zombies before realizing that they were surrounded. The zombies stood there, seemingly waiting for them to make the first move.
"Do you have any ideas?" Jess said as he stepped back, frowning at the number of undead around them.
"Yep. C.N., care to do the honors?" Nick asked the statue casually.
"With pleasure, just place me headfirst on the ground. SHOCKWAVE CANNON!" C.N. yelled as a massive burst of emerald-colored energy shot out from C.N.'s head and hit the zombies, who snarled for a moment before exploding in a shower of gore.
"Nice one, but you missed a zombie." Jess said skipping over and stabbing a crawler who was making his way towards Nick.
"Oh come on, that was awesome. Aren't you going to say good job or something?" Nick said indignantly.
"You're right. Thanks C.N., you did a great job." Jess said patting the statue on the head.
"Thank you," C.N. said smugly.
"What?! What about me?" Nick said in an annoyed tone.
"Sorry, but C.N. did all the work. Let's go!" Jess said running forward, Nick trailing behind her with a frown.
Jess saw a large group of zombies heading in one direction, so she decided to hop on top of a T.V. stand and got onto a lower shelf, running swiftly along it like a ninja. Nick ran through the aisle, close behind her.
Nicholas and Andrew stood back to back, fending off zombies that came at them from all sides. They had gotten surrounded when Nicholas saw something strange, a weird looking zombie of some sort. When the two teens went to investigate they were surrounded. Nicholas fired his Stakeout a final time and then reloaded while Andrew stabbed a zombie with both machetes and pulled them out and stabbed another zombie in the chest. Nicholas saw a zombie coming from the side and yelled, "Duck!"
Andrew ducked and slashed two zombies' legs out from underneath them, making two crawlers. Nicholas fired his Stakeout as Andrew moved out of the way, scoring a beautiful headshot on the zombie woman that was less than a foot away from Andrew.
"Thanks bro, now watch this!" Andrew said, stabbing an employee zombie clear through the chest and tearing him in half while he decapitated another zombie with his other machete.
"Nice one, watch out!" Nicholas said firing at a zombie and killing both it, and the zombie behind it.
"So where would you say we're at in terms of rounds on Black Ops?" Andrew asked.
"Maybe round three or four? Not sure, but since they're going down pretty easily with a blast from my Stakeout it's still pretty early on. Let's discuss this- crap- later!" Nicholas said as he was trying to talk, dodge, and shoot at the same time.
Suddenly there was a large explosion in the back part of the mall, and part of the shelves burst into flames. Nicholas and Andrew, along with all of the zombies, looked up in surprise. Nicholas and Andrew ran towards the explosion, escaping the momentarily distracted zombies.
"What do you think that was?" Andrew said to Nicholas as they ran down the walkway.
"No clue! Run faster though!" Nicholas said turning around and aiming carefully.
Nicholas shot at a box that held orange juice jugs. A huge gush of orange juice shot out of the box and spilled onto the floor behind the teen duo. The zombies stepped on the liquid and fell over in a rather comedic fashion. They groaned and tried to get up, but they kept falling over themselves.
"Nice one man!" Andrew said stabbing a zombie that came out of the aisles towards them.
"Thanks, now let's see what the hell made that explosion." Nicholas said as he followed Andrew towards the source of the explosion.
"No you idiot, you don't drink it!" came a voice from up ahead.
"Why? It's got alcohol in it." Another voice asked.
"THAT'S WHY IT BLOWS THINGS UP ASSHOLE! YOU CAN'T REALLY DRINK WHAT LITTLE ALCOHOL IS IN IT!" the first voice yelled angrily.
"Is that…?" Andrew began.
"John and Joe, yep." Nicholas said with a nod.
"And they're talking about alcohol?" Andrew asked.
"Apparently. Let's get there before they burn down Sam's Club," Nicholas said as the two teens put on an extra spurt of speed.
John and Joe were bickering next to a Make It Yourself Molotov Cocktail Machine. Nicholas wondered how that was even a thing, until he saw that it was part of an exhibit for part of something else they were selling and from there he simply stopped caring. Joe was holding a bottle and John was shaking his and yelling, "No, no, no, no, no, no! You are not blowing the whole place up!"
"That actually sounds like a good idea to me." Nicholas said walking up the group with a smile.
"Figures it'd be you two bitching. Why did you throw that Molotov?" Andrew asked.
"John knocked it out of my hands and it went flying. Come on, grab one, it'll come in handy." Joe said while John sighed and called Joe an unprintable word…
OK, he called him an asshole. Happy now?
Nicholas and Andrew grabbed one of the alcoholic bombs each and grinned, and then looked over at the huge horde of zombies slowly making their way towards the group of teens.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Andrew yelled hurling his Molotov.
"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" Nicholas yelled throwing his Molotov into the horde as well.
An enormous explosion rocked the entire store as the zombies were consumed in an almighty inferno. The four teens were thrown backwards and crashed into a shelf, and then fell to the ground.
"Damn, that hurt." Nicholas said getting to his feet.
"See why I didn't like this plan?" John said in a painfully smug tone.
"Shut up, it worked didn't it?" Joe said with a groan, pointing to the crumpling Zombies that were on fire in front of them.
"Those things had some KICK to them. Either that was some grade A alcohol inside those bottles, or someone doesn't know as how Molotovs work." Andrew remarked, getting a slap upside the head from Nicholas in response.
"Let's get out of here. We've got plenty of supplies for now, so grab what you got and get to the truck. GUYS! GET OUTSIDE TO THE TRUCK!" Nicholas shouted across the store to his friends.
"Got it!" Liam and Judith shouted together.
"Roger that!" Jess said loudly.
"All hail Chuck Norris!" Nick called.
"Guys get the stuff, let's go!" Nicholas said reloading his Stakeout.
Joe grabbed a supply pack and grabbed a box of food from the little restaurant in the store and put it in the bag and hoisted it onto his back. The group of four ran to the front of the store, killing zombies all the while. Suddenly a zombie's head exploded in front of them, though none of them had killed that particular zombie. Judith and Liam suddenly appeared out of the nearby aisle with identical grins on their faces.
"Where's Jess and Nick?" Judith asked the group.
"RIGHT HERE!" Jess said cheerfully, jumping off a shelf with a back-flip and landing in a crouch in front of them before sprinting alongside them.
"The hell…since when could you do that?" Andrew said in a questioning tone
"Since like forever, kind of a big deal." Jess said with a grin.
"Where's Nick? Did he die, please tell me he died, he died didn't he!" Liam demanded quickly.
"Nope!" Nick said bursting out of an aisle, panting as he ran alongside his friends.
Liam swore angrily and fired his gun at a zombie in frustration. Judith aimed her Ruger 1103 and fired an entire clip of her rifle, killing four zombies at the front of the store from afar. John and Liam pulled out their pistols and fired repeatedly into the horde coming at them from all sides, damaging, but not killing, most of the zombies around them.
"Everyone! Reload with fresh clips. We're going to make one last rush for the door!" Nicholas yelled as he reloaded his Stakeout. Everyone reloaded and aimed at the zombies ahead. The entrance to the store was about thirty yards ahead, and there were about a hundred zombies in between the groups of teens and freedom.
"Ready…" Nicholas said slowly as the zombie stumbled closer.
"Aim…" Liam said with a grin.
"FIRE!" Everyone yelled as they opened fire.
John and Liam damaged more zombies with their pistols while Judith killed a zombie with each shot of her Ruger, with Joe doing the same with his Savage 64F. Jess fired while laughing like a maniac, never laying off of the trigger. Nicholas used his Stakeout, killing two or three zombies at a time with every shot while Andrew hacked and chopped at zombies with surprising ease. Nick bashed zombies with the statue of Chuck Norris, dealing death blows left and right. After killing about seventy of them, there was a breach in the zombies, where the entrance to the outside was visible.
"Run!" Nicholas said dashing towards the exit.
Everyone else ran after the dirty-blond haired teen and into the cold night air. The forty-degree Florida autumn air swirled around the teens as they ran towards the truck.
"Get in, I have an idea." John said as he turned around, walking towards the store.
"John, don't be a hero!" Liam yelled angrily as he stopped next to the truck.
"Go John, it's all you buddy!" Joe yelled, giving John a mock salute. John walked over to the front of the store and pulled out four familiar bottles from the inside of his jacket and lit them all with a lighter, chuckling evilly under his breath as the zombies made their way towards the front of the store.
"OH YOU FILTHY HYPOCRITE!" Joe yelled as John tossed all four Molotovs into the store. As John began to sprint back towards the truck, a massive burst of flames rocked the front of the store, incinerating all of the undead inside and torching the entrance completely. John laughed manically as he stumbled towards his friends, who were patting him on the back.
"I couldn't let you guys have all the fun." John said fist bumping Nicholas as they quickly got into the truck. Liam slammed on the accelerator and the truck sped away from the store. A lone figure watched the group speed away, admiring the flames spilling out of the store with a small laugh.
"I like their spunk. I wish the others had their…what's the word?" the voice asked the figure, who shrugged.
"Cheerfulness? Hope that they'll escape this hellhole?" the figure asked the voice, who fell quiet.
"Well…whatever it is, it got them out of that scrap. But they keep getting lucky…luck won't keep them alive forever."
"And that's when we step in." the figure said to the voice, who replied "No…we have to wait. I don't know yet…we have to wait and see."
"If you say so-"
"Wait! Someone else is here!" the voice yelled to the figure, who jumped to their feet and pulled out a gleaming Ray Gun and pointed it behind them. The figure sighed, eyeing the empty parking lot behind him with a look of annoyance and said, "You're getting jumpy again…"
"No…I know what I felt…let's move."
"Right," the figure said as it began walking out of the parking lot. While the lone figure continued to talk to the voice only he could hear, a man observed them from afar, grinning widely as he became visible once more.
"Well played…but you see so little of the full picture…" the man said with a small laugh before vanishing in a flash of green light.
End of Chapter:
OK, so you may be wondering, what the hell am I doing putting a Chuck Norris statue in a Zombies story. Well, that was a suggestion I took by the real life Nick, and I went with it.
Oh well. At least the rest of plot is decent. Tee hee.
Please review and show your support!
Until next time, FlygonNick out!