A/N: So here's a new chapter, a lot longer than I expected it to be, but there was just so much I wanted to put in. Tell me how you like these apples! :D
Chapter Three: Plans
"THIS-THINGS-GOT-ME!" Nick's strangled call came through the grogginess that refused to lift right away. I saw Rochelle hop up, as if she hadn't been asleep at all, and cut Nick free from the Smoker's grasp. "Man I hate those things...Thanks Ro...Guess I fell asleep..."
"Nick, thanks for trying...you can go to sleep if you'd like." Rochelle offered politely, the kind of polite that occurs when you feel obligated to be polite...rather because you want to. Rochelle gave a small, suppressed yawn. Nick gave a small nod as he flopped on the armchair Rochelle had been snoozing on.
"Hey, Ro...I can stand watch...You look tired." I offered, since I had a good few hours of sleep.
"If you really want to..." Ro yawned once more, "I guess I could use some more sleep...Thanks, kid."
"No problem." I sat on the chair beside the metal door and kept an eye on the bars. A machete was set neatly by my feet, which I picked up and fiddled with, wondering why it was so quiet. There was the occasional infected that stuck their arm in between the bars. I made some gross fun of slicing bits off of their arms, or trying different ways of stabbing them. Turns out, it took two or three punctures to successfully kill a common infected; one gunshot as long as you hit its legs, chest or head, and four really hard punches if you had the strength to do so. Out of boredom, I let the next infected prod at the still air that stank of decay. It's grey limb gave a small crack as its arm bent awkwardly down and gripped at the metal bar holding the door shut, at least until the infected pulled it out of place. I almost panicked, but remembered that the zombies didn't know how to use a doorknob, and the door was metal. After stabbing the zombie and peeking out, I noticed that something was wrong. How were these zombies getting inside? I opened the door, which didn't make a sound, to my relief. I felt a small breeze brush against my skin. I looked down at myself.
"Well, there goes the rest of the 80s." I sighed, noting how dirt and blood ridden my dress had become. I lifted the machete in a ready position. Feeling more secure, I wandered down some ways away from the door and noticed a window was missing. Finding the shrapnel scattered on the floor, I looked out cautiously to see a couple of zombies wandering aimlessly, or sitting and lying down, bored of doing zombie things. I looked around, trying to remember where the teacher's lounge was. There was another red safe room door near the end of the hall, but it was open and feet were sticking out of the doorway, surrounded by a thick pool of blood. "Hey, Mr Janitor-dude? You there?"
I knew nothing but silence would answer my call, but hey, can't say I didn't try. Gripping my machete and recalling what normally happened in all horror movies, I didn't go to check it out...that never ending anything well, but a life. I crept back into the safe room and replaced the bar, and looked at the sleeping group of people, scattered about the library. I was struck with the feeling that we were the only ones left, minus one.
... ... ...
Nick was fidgeting in his sleep; he made a small noise and sat up straight, looking around in confusion. He looked up at me, and not being the expert in comforting people after a nightmare, I waved. His expression was indiscernible as he flopped back on the armchair and put a hand on the side of his face as he looked at the ceiling. I tried to find something to say, but couldn't decide if I should even talk.
"...nightmares?" I spoke in an awkwardly soft tone, which made me clear my throat a little.
"Nightmares are for kids." Nick spoke flatly. I just shrugged; I knew he didn't want people to dig into him so much. Nick sat up again, gave a slight frown as he leaned back into the couch, as though he was never awake. Shrugging, I decided to poke Ellis awake, since I was getting sleepy watching everyone else sleep.
"Hey, Ellis." I prodded at his shoulder and smiled slightly at the sight of him frown in sleepy crankiness. "Elle! Oi, wakey wakey!"
"Where is it!" Ellis sat up, stood up, and aimed his handgun in various directions in a matter of seconds. I put my hand on the pointing gun and lowered it for Ellis, who was more awake by then.
"Ellis...it's just your turn to keep watch." I said calmly, as if soothing a little kid that had a nightmare.
"Oh...oh right. Sorry 'bout that." Ellis slapped his hat on and gave a small nod before sitting down on the chair by the door and giving a small yawn. "Man, I'm still tired...y'know what time it is?"
Glancing down at my wrists, I gave a small sigh of annoyance that I forgot my watch. I just shrugged and then remembered the Janitor before I flopped on the mat I just sat down on.
"Hey...the janitor guy...I think he's done for...I went out-" I started.
"You went out by yourself? Kiddo, we're all 'sleep...what if-" Ellis' eyes widened slightly, "Wait, he's dead? Damn..."
"Anyone know his name?" I asked, feeling kind of bad that not a single one of us tried to get him to stay in the library, I mean; he didn't have to let me and my friends in too. Ellis shrugged with a saddened face and took his hat off, running one hand through his hair. "Well, I'm a get some sleep...just yell if you need any help."
"G'night, miss." Ellis smiled, putting his hat back on and getting more comfortable on the chair. I fell into an uncomfortable slumber; listening to the zombie's guttural noises weren't exactly the most relaxing thing to fall asleep to.
"We can't stay here forever,"
"I know, but I don't wanna go out there,"
"Jude, look, I know you're freaked by the whole apocalypse idea, but you don't really want to wait here to die, do you?"
"It seems easier than getting my fucking brains sucked out of my head like juice in a fucking juice box!"
I sat up and saw Jude and Bandit squabbling about leaving the safety of the library.
"Hey, dying like that shows you tried to survive...'stead of pussing and waiting for death." I interjected tiredly.
"Agreed." A semi-unison answer came from around me.
"So, what's up?" I asked in general.
"The janitor's dead, we're out of food, and that thing," Rochelle pointed down at a witch's body that lay limp in the middle of the room, "got in somehow. It's not safe to stay another night, let alone another week like this kid wants."
"Well, Jude, you heard the nice lady. We're going." I hopped up off the mat that gave me a sore back and picked up the machete I had claimed the night before. I wondered just how I had slept through the alleged witch attack. Jude gave me a look of defeat.
"Dude...don't do this..." Jude gave in by picking up her baseball bat.
"Is that all you guys brought? No guns or anything?" Ellis questioned, answered by shaking heads, besides Kay. He gave a sly grin, "Oh...right...we're in Canada..."
"Well soh-ree, Canada don't sell guns at e'ry corner store, no siree!" Bandit answered, having fun with a southerner accent.
"I got one, but...no more ammo, just a cricket bat I found." Kay held up her bloodied bat and empty gun.
"Ammo's right there, we need a plan y'all..." Ellis looked around the library at the remaining faces. "Y'know this place better than us...well, wherever we are."
"Prince Rupert...shitville, whatever...hey, where should we go for now?" Bandit was ready as she'd ever be, but we needed a plan.
"Well...we could always go to Roosevelt...big library with no windows, steel outside walls." I decided our best bet would be schools, since they shouldn't have had people in there.
"Dude, that's good actually...which way's quicker?" Kay was practically hopping to-and-fro with her pistol and cricket bat in each hand.
"Well, down the street is pretty obvious...maybe...there will be an evac by the hospital...since there's a helicopter landing place." I pointed out.
"...And if there isn't?" Nick put in, with his permanent scorn in tune. Rolling my eyes I answered.
"How about we have a good outlook, Nick." I replied; getting annoyed that Nick was always annoyed.
"Whatever..." Nick remained passive, "you guys lead the way."
"Okay, well, anything we need here?" Bandit asked, surveying her surroundings, and picking up a red pack with a cross on it. "Med-kits help, hey?"
"Yeah...take all the ammo you kin get." Ellis spoke in a half-businesslike manner, "Oh, don't ferget these babies here...pipe bombs...real handy little 'splosives."
"What. Is. That." Jude looked grossed out as she pointed at a jar on the librarian's desk, filled with green slime that probably didn't smell any better than it looked.
"Boomer bile." Rochelle explained grimly, "Boomers are these fat guys that run around puking on shit, their bile attracts hordes to attack whatever's covered in it."
"EW, why the fuck do we have that here then?" Jude was even more grossed out, picking up the jar and getting ready to throw it somewhere.
"Don't!" Coach piped up for the first time since the night before, causing Jude to freeze. "You don't get it? If we throw that while a horde's comin' t'wards us, they chase that 'stead of us."
"Oh! I get it now." Jude quickly put the bile back on the floor, frowning at it one last time, "C'mon guys...I'm as ready as I'll ever be..."
"We need ta find somethin' to eat, I'm gettin' hungry." Coach spoke in a calm voice, like he was used of these zombies by then.
Opening the door, our group kept their guns or melee weapons out and ready. What surprised us was the pretty dead silence; there weren't any zombies in sight, which got Jude's hopes up for awhile.
"Hey, this isn't as bad as I thought'd be." Jude sighed in semi-relief.
"Knock on wood." Bandit grinned at her friend. "This way, lil' Spanish girl."
"Fuck you, too." Jude grinned back, cursing at the dress comment. Passing through the empty street never felt creepier, just knowing there could be a little more than one undead fucker lurking around. The sun was out and bright, which was a relief from the night's chill without a blanket. "H-hey...anyone else hear that?"
Crying. What a great way to start the day.
"Oh for the love of God..." Rochelle spoke quietly and looked around for where the crying was coming from, since the crying was echoing off of the concrete walls of the nearby buildings. "If you see the scrawny pink chick with no clothes on and long talons, let me know and for God's sake, don't shoot it!"
"Why?" Jude was never much of a Left 4 Dead fan and didn't know much about the infected or special infected. She watched it being played, tripped herself out by trying to believe a zombie apocalypse was happening, and then ran away to the safety of her room and watched stupid things on YouTube.
"'Cause she'll tear the shit outta ya, if you're not careful." Ellis warned while pointing at the staircase by the hospital. There was the little scrawny thing that was pink and had long black talons. "Witch, witch, witch!"
"Well there's always the road...around...the hospital...Never mind." I sighed, seeing the giant pile of bodies both of humans and zombies alike, and cars. Like a big barricade that just didn't look safe climbing over. "Kill the witch, I guess."
"Oh man...her crying attracted some friends." Kay sighed, releasing a stream of bullets from her little handgun, aimed randomly in the horde that was now charging at us.
"See! I told you this was a bad idea!" Jude was half in tears, "DUDE, fuck! That's my drama teacher!"
"I see he taught you well, you drama queen." I joked blandly as I swung my machete, feeling the cold, gooey blood spray everywhere. There was the distinctive growling of the witch of someone getting too close.
"Not the time, Rikki!" Jude yelled over the horde that separated the group.
"SHIT, I think I really pissed her off!" Kay screamed, running and swinging at the common infected as she cleared the way to get away. I felt a sharp pain that stunned my movement as the witch passed. I regained some composure to keep killing zombies. I heard her scream, or maybe it was both Kay and the Witch. "FUCK SHE'S PISSED OFF, GET HER AWAY! KILL HER!"
Everyone else was preoccupied with the massive horde that made it hard to see where we were standing. Nonetheless, I made a try to where Kay's voice was screaming from, slicing and stabbing zombies as I went. I saw Kay lying in a collecting pool of blood, but she wasn't dead. Stunned by the sight, I didn't think as I jumped on the witch.
"LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU BITCH!" I drove my machete through the shoulder blades of the witch, dismissing the threat of her talons. She fell forward, my knees collided with the cement hard, but overrun with adrenaline I continued my witch hunt. I dropped my machete when we fell, so I improvised by grabbing two fistfuls of greasy, cold hair and started smashing the witch's head as hard as I could into the cement. It seemed to be working until she kicked me off of her. More angry than I was hurt, I hopped back up and took my fallen machete and drove it through her open mouth, silencing her annoyingly piercing cries. I turned to see Kay leaning on Bandit for support, along with the rest of the group staring at me with wide eyes. Panting, I put my hands on my knees, and gave one last kick at the witch's body as I withdrew the machete from her head. "...what? She was killing Kay...had to do something..."
"Thanks buddy." Kay smiled gratefully at me as Bandit wrapped temporary bandages around her stomach and arms. The rest of the group just shook their heads, as if to dispel their disbelief of how I took on the witch. I didn't think I could do that, but made a mental note to have everyone kill the next one. That took a lot out of me. As if on cue, just like the game play a very audible gurgling could be heard as a fat figure disappeared from sight from the top of the stairs. Bandit just smiled and ran up the stairs with surprising speed.
"C'mon guys, hurry up!" Bandit's voice seemed to be fading, when we reached the top of the stairs we could see Bandit climbing up the side of a dumpster, steadied above a boomer.
"Bandit, don't!" I yelled as I tried to run over to help, hoping the ones with guns would take it out before anything dumb happened. Knocking on wood wouldn't have helped anyways. Bandit hopped on the boomers shoulders and started laughing maniacally as it ran wildly through a horde of zombies that seemed to appear from nowhere. She pulled at the boomer's ears, which seemed to cause him to puke on the zombies ahead of it. I couldn't help but laugh; neither could the others as we ran to clear the horde that was attacking each other. The smell was horrid, almost beyond description, as the group swung and shot at random, clearing the way. Bandit continued pulling at the massive bile spewing monster's ears, leading the hordes that accumulated around us in other ways.
BOOM!
"Holy shit! SORRY BANDIT!" Ellis yelled, but Bandit wasn't there, she was going up fast. Maybe by the second or third level of the hospital, she started falling fast too. "SHIT!"
"WHOA!" Bandit screamed, I couldn't tell if it was from fear or excitement.
All of us were scrambling around, trying to line up with Bandit's descent, when she flattened out Nick. Nick's face was sideways on the ground from Bandit's weight that was on his back. She looked down, as if she was wondering if she broke his back or something.
"Hey, thanks Mr. Sanders!" Bandit proclaimed happily, hopping off of the man's back; who groaned in both annoyance and pain.
"I hate kids." Nick spat as he stood up with a flinch from the pain of cracking his back into place.
"Are you ok, Bandit?" Coach asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Bandit just nodded with a huge smile.
"Are you kidding? That was the most fun I've had all week!" Bandit proclaimed excitedly, "Hey! I hear a helicopter! It's up there!"
The group looked up at the cliff above the hospital, where the whirring of the blades could be heard. The quickest way up, it seemed, was to climb up the ladder on the side of the building on the second floor, and hop onto the cliff from the fifth floor of the building. It wasn't smart, or safe, but it beat hoping there'd be another helicopter if we missed that one.
"Up the ladder we go!" Ellis declared with a note of excitement.
... ... ...
On our way to the ladder there was a horde that evacuated the building at a frightening speed. Among them were zombies in long white coats with stethoscopes hanging around their necks and scalpels in hand. A spitter could be heard as we entered the first landing of the hospital. Suddenly, there was a burning hot feeling rising up from my legs as I heard my teammates cry out in surprise.
"OW! That thing spits burning shit!" Jude announced in sheer fright as she hopped back and forth trying to avoid the green goo surrounding us. Rochelle fell first.
"Hey! Better not leave me here! I need a little help, guys!" Rochelle cried out as she lay in the dissipating goo. Nick ran over to help her up after shooting and killing the spitter in one shot.
"Now is not the time to be lying around, Ro!" Nick yelled over the screeching of the hordes flowing in from every direction, as he pulled the woman in pink to her feet.
Reeling the corner, I held my machete with my right hand, and a pipe I found sticking out of a doctor in my left, I started swinging at random and clearing a sort of path for the teammates scurrying around behind me. Then there was a split second of pain as I felt my weight thrown against the wall, as if I were nothing. Clearing the fuzz from my head hitting the wall, a giant orangey-red thing gave an ear-deafening roar as it picked up a chunk of cement and chucked it with no effort towards me and the group that caught up with me.
"TANK! Shoot the Tank!" Ellis yelled and shot simultaneously. I stood up and ran behind the behemoth, stabbing and slashing as hard as I could. Admittedly, that was not the smartest thing since the witch ordeal. It reached back and smacked me; but instead of the anticipated wall, I felt a sharp pain of hitting something and flying backwards again. Small slivers of glass could be felt as they slid into my arms and back. "Hey! Someone get her!"
I felt a warm hand wrap around my arm and pull me up.
"I can't believe you Canadians, here." An AK-47 was shoved into my hands as I stared at it for a few minutes, having never touched a real gun. I looked up to see the stern face of Nick. Nick's voice was gruff, and he held his arm to his side limply.
"Thanks" I found that the gun was loaded and started shooting at, mostly hoping I was, the Tank that was charging at Ellis and Kay. "Do guns even hurt that thing?"
Eventually, the tank succumbed to the barrage of bullets and flopped onto its face in a bloodied mess. Staring at the giant's body made me feel less safe while clutching the AK-47 to my chest. A door was opened at the end of the hallway. Kay hopped through it.
"Hey, the ladder's here!" Kay was excitedly pointing at the wall just outside of the door. We ran onto the roof of the first floor wing, panting and recuperating from the tank. I felt something cool pour onto my shoulder, which stung a lot. I turned to see Ellis' smiling face, and holding up a med-kit.
"Just hold still, I'm a fix you up, m'kay miss?" Ellis' fingers were surprisingly gentle on the wounds that accumulated on my shoulder, the only part that hurt was getting the glass out. Nick and Ro were helping Kay and Jude out with their wounds.
"You guys! C'mon!" Jude was climbing up the ladder with a surprising speed. I guess she really wanted out of the town. We all followed her up, until there was a loud unearthly growl of a Smoker. Suddenly, my grip with the ladder was lost as I scrambled to stay on the ladder, with futile results.
"Smoker's got Rikki!" Nick hollered after I was already dangling from the cliff by the hospitals third floor, in the smokers grasp. "Shit...this is gonna hurt!"
"Don't you dare-" I yelled as best as I could, struggling to keep air flowing into my lungs. There was a loud popping sound as the tongues grip loosened and my stomach did a flip as the ground was coming closer. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would at first. There was a burning feeling in my left arm before I drifted off into unconsciousness. Then there was yelling, and more yelling. I came to within a couple of minutes, and raised my head to see the last glimpse of the helicopter, which decided to leave. I flipped onto my back and stared at the bright, empty blue sky above me. "Shit."
I heard footsteps approaching me. There was the group; Bandit with an axe she found, Kay with two pistols, Jude with a baseball bat, and Nick, Rochelle and Ellis; all were covered in blood and whatever else those zombies had in them. I didn't see Coach until I felt my body get lifted and thrown over a pair of sturdy shoulders.
"Okay, Ellis...now she might be dead." Nick's voice could be picked out of what little consciousness I had left. Then there was a flurry of voices, probably the group getting mad at Nick for his dry jokes. I hurt all over, mostly my left shoulder blade, but I felt okay enough to walk, though I didn't know where we were.
"Hey, Coach? You can let me down now." I spoke through a dry mouth. I looked around to see the woods surrounding the group. It would've been a peaceful day to just sit on a nearby stump, just listening to the silence. But now, it was creepy and everyone seemed to think so. "I think that was a heinous failure...my shoulder hurts but I can walk."
"You okay, Rikki?" I nodded at Coach, who gave a disdainful look at Nick as he put me down, who just gave a small lopsided grin of annoyance. "Say you're sorry, Nick. You coulda killed her."
"H-oh my god...I'm sorry I almost killed you...there, feel better?" Nick rolled his eyes and started walking through the tree-ridden landscape, then stopped and looked around. "I don't know where the fuck I'm going...Why is there so many goddamned trees?"
"It's just a patch of them...not really a forest. We can walk straight...should take us to the parking lot of Roosevelt." I pointed straight, hoping I was right. Everyone nodded and started weaving their way through to the parking lot. Just as I expected, there sat a very vacant looking Roosevelt Elementary School.
There was a loud growl as the group was alerted of a nearby hunter. Then the cry of it pouncing. One gunshot could be heard off in the distance, as the hunter that had almost got Bandit fell in its tracks.
"Jesus Christ!" Bandit's eyes widened at the hunter's body that lay limp at her feet. "Where'd that come from? The gunshot, I mean."
We looked around and saw two small figures on the roof of the library; one was holding what looked like a hunter's rifle or something with a scope. They waved at us to come towards them.
"See, told ya there'd be someone there." Bandit smiled widely as she made a run for it towards the door of the school, with the rest of us following close behind.
A/N: So this is probably one of my longest chapters I've ever written, so yay me! :D
It'll be 'yay you' if you review! :3