Chapter 4
Walter and Axel said nothing as they searched the theatre for weapons. Partly so that the zombies didn't find them, but mostly because they had nothing to talk about. They didn't have a lot in common.
Searching for weapons was far from easy. I mean, it was a theatre, there wasn't much there that was exactly deadly. Walter and Axel came up with nothing, until Axel had an idea to look in the sports part of the prop closet. There were bats, racquets and balls of all kinds.
Walter picked up a foil used for fencing, and grinned. "I remember when Gonzo used this thing to fence against a crab."
"Did he win?" Axel asked.
"Nope."
They went back to searching through the boxes, when Axel uncovered something, and leapt back in surprise.
"Crazy Harry's explosives! Oh, boy."
"Why don't we use them?" Walter asked.
Axel gave him a look. "Do you know the first thing about explosives? Because I don't, and I don't fancy trying my luck and getting blown apart."
So they left the explosives aside.
They were quiet for a while, having run out of things to talk about. But after a bit, Walter stopped what he was doing, suddenly.
"What is it?" Axel asked.
"Can you hear something?" Walter said.
Axel strained his ears. "Yeah, yeah I can."
It sounded like distant voices, and suddenly, there was a girl's scream.
Axel abruptly dropped everything he was holding, and rushed out of the theatre.
"Don't worry, Jas, I'm coming!"
Walter stared at him as he disappeared into the distance.
"Wait, Axel, what are you-"
"You stay there!" Axel called back. "I have to save my sister!"
~::~
Jasmine and Robin were surrounded by at least five zombies. They had given up on rescue, when out of the distance, came Axel, wielding a baseball bat.
The zombies didn't stand a chance.
"Are you alright?" Axel asked. "Jas? Robin? They didn't get you, did they?"
"Axie, you saved me!" Jasmine threw her arms around her brother.
Robin was less happy.
"Jasmine, you were supposed to be protecting me! I almost got killed!"
"Hey, I tried my best!" Jasmine defended. "There were too many of them!"
"I could've got us out of that mess!"
"Well why didn't you?"
"My foot! Isn't it obvious?"
"You shouldn't have jumped out the blooming window, then!"
"You're getting away from the point!"
"What is the point?"
"The point is that you can't do anything without the help of your big brother!"
Jinx, who had been watching the scene silently for a few minutes, couldn't keep quiet after hearing this statement.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she cried. "Having an older brother doesn't make you any weaker as a person, so just shut up!"
"Make me!"
As the argument descended into chaos, only one thing would stop them now.
"QUIET!"
It was Walter.
"Walter, I told you to stay in the theatre," Axel said.
"I could hear your arguing all the way from there. What did you expect me to do?"
Jasmine sighed. "Look, Robin…I'm sorry…I guess. I'm not much of a fighter, although I pretend that I am."
"Aw, Jasmine," Jinx said.
"Look, we don't have time for all these arguments," Axel said. "So everyone just – wait, is everyone here?"
Several people nodded.
"Where's…?"
"Hazel?" Jinx said. "She's…one of them now. My fault."
"Jinx!" Walter said. "How did it happen?"
"I didn't mean to! I just…gave her a little push – you know, the friendly teasing kind – and…she got jumped by three zombies."
"Alright," Axel said into the silence that followed. "We've already lost Hazel; we don't want to lose anyone else."
"But this is impossible, Axie!" Jasmine whined. "No-one can get on!"
"You're right. We'll have to rearrange the groups. Jinx, you go with Robin, that'll work. And…Walter and Jasmine, you can watch each other's backs."
"What about you?" Jasmine asked.
"I'll be fine."
"You'll be by yourself."
"I'll be fine. We'd better get back to work, good luck guys."