Untoten Kreuzung
Chapter 21
Aww...I tried not to cry when I wrote this, but I just couldn't help it.
As soon as dusk came upon them the sounds of guttural growls and watery hissing brought the five's senses to their heights.
"Zombies, already, but how did they find us so fast?" Rune asked while picking up her MP5.
"They were probably already here and now they're stirring for a nighttime snack." Dempsey proposed.
"I really didn't want to have to do this." She groaned.
"Vell it's a bit late for zhat now. Trust me zhis is going to be getting more und more often." Richtofen replied.
Outside the windows the glare of the zombies' sickly yellow eyes put them on edge. At first there were at least three, but as the sun sunk behind the horizon more appeared and the five soon realized that this was going to be a full fledged fight to survive.
"It is time to send those demons back to their graves." Takeo stated before firing the first shot. The zombie that he hit replied with an unholy shriek that caused most of the undead to start charging at the building.
"Dammit Tak!" Dempsey yelled quickly firing at the zombies closest to the building. They all opened fire on any zombie in sight causing the undead to freak out and start running at them. They were all runners and they were difficult to kill as well. The clunking and breaking of the boards on the back windows made the five nervous.
"Whose got the back windows?!" Dempsey shouted over the gunfire.
"On it!" Nikolai replied quickly darting to the window next to the bathroom and unleashing a flurry of bullets to the four zombies clawing their way in.
"I'll take the other back one!" Rune yelled. She hastily reloaded and made a beeline to the back room of the store.
Just before one of the zombies could get in Rune blasted its brains out with a well placed headshot, the other two that were outside were dealt with quickly after. At the front of the shop the zombies just kept coming and with more and more encroaching upon them there was no time to aim, they just shot what they could.
"Schtay avay child!" Richtofen screamed pulling his arm away from a zombie that had just tried to grab him. Instinctively he turned and shot it three times before it collapsed.
Dempsey grabbed one of the grenades he'd been saving on his bandoleer and pulled the pin.
"Eat this you fucking marrow jockeys!" he yelled tossing it into the undead mass. The resulting explosion killed at least six of them, and made three more legless.
"Oorah!"
It seemed like an eternity, but the horde was beginning to thin out. At the back of the store Nikolai and Rune had kept the zombies at bay pretty well. All that remained when true night descended were just four crawlers.
"Hey Nik, Rune, you guys good back there?" Dempsey asked lowering his AR15.
"Yep, I killed them all at my window." Nikolai responded proudly.
There was no response from Rune which worried the other four, they went to the back room and saw an unfortunate turn take place. She was sitting in a corner with her eyes wide and her MP5 clutched tightly in her hands.
"Rune what is wrong?" Takeo asked kneeling beside her. She said nothing and stayed in her terrified state.
Richtofen looked over at the zombies she had killed and noticed that one was just barely alive, still reaching for Rune.
"That one's a twitcher." Dempsey commented and aimed his AR15 at the pitiful thing.
"Dempsey, no!" Richtofen halted him. On closer inspection the zombie had a striking similarity to Rune, it had the same dark brown hair, and facial structure but it was distinctly male.
"Just vatch it, don't kill it…not yet anyway." Richtofen ordered. Dempsey lowered his gun and just stared at the pitiful mass of decaying flesh. Richtofen kneeled beside Rune on the opposite side that Takeo was on.
"Rune, I need you to cooperate vith me. I vant you to nod your head for 'yes' und shake your head for 'no'. Do you understand?" he asked slowly and calmly.
She nodded slightly, but otherwise kept the same position.
"Is zhis one of your family members?"
A nod for yes.
"Is it a brother?"
She shook her head.
"A relative?"
Another shake of her head.
Richtofen sighed compassionately and pried the MP5 from her hands.
"It's you father…isn't it." He concluded. Rune's eyes filled with tears and she let out a shrill and painful cry.
"Daddy!" she cried and then buried her face in Richtofen's chest.
"Easy now Rune, be still, shh." He hushed.
"Daddy, why?!" she sniffed.
"It's not easy I know. Just let it out." He calmed brushing her hair and rubbing her back. He turned to Dempsey and gave him signal with his eyes.
Richtofen kept her calm as he fiddled around in one of his pouches.
"Everything vill be okay Rune." He continued pulling out a small syringe with clear liquid inside.
"Edward what are you….?" Takeo tried to ask, but he was cut off by a harsh look. Richtofen pushed the syringe through her sleeve and into her arm.
Rune cringed a bit, but still cried into his shirt.
"Just go to sleep. Everything vill be all right in ze morning." He assured. Her crying lessened and soon she was completely silent with her arms no longer straining.
"Why'd you do that?" Dempsey questioned him grimly.
"It vas either zhis or shot her father right in front of her, vhich vould you have preferred?" Richtofen replied.
Dempsey just stayed quiet and turned his attention back to the nearly dead zombie.
"So should I finish the deed?" he asked. Richtofen nodded to which Dempsey aimed his rifle at the zombie who was still reaching for his daughter. He pulled the trigger and let loose a single shot that put him to rest.
"We should move…when she wakes up she will not like this." Nikolai suggested after a long silence.
"I agree, she doesn't need to see this when she wakes up." Dempsey entered.
"Vhere do ve go? Another building, another town, vith those zombies out zhere ve von't last very long." Richtofen asked.
"We could go to one of the buildings we found earlier, that would be best." Takeo suggested.
Dempsey nodded and slung his AR15 behind him. Nikolai finished off his bottle of vodka and wiped his mouth. Takeo stood back up and offered to help Richtofen with Rune.
"I can handle it Takeo." He responded to his gesture. He lifted Rune with one arm under her legs and another at the crook of her neck, and then proceeded to stand up with a little difficulty.
"All right then, let's go." Dempsey urged. They walked out of the battered store with Takeo holding the door for Richtofen. They rushed across the cracked street and hurried along the sidewalk to a simple one story house that had the windows broken in. At this point it didn't matter where they stayed, as long as it could offer decent protection and a place to sleep.
The door's lock was already broken so they could easily open the door to get inside. The living room was small, but it still retained it's furnishings as old as they were. Richtofen placed Rune on the dark blue couch and took a seat next to it. Takeo turned on the lights and closed the door, but he opted to stand next to the door rather than take a seat.
It was another long quiet before anyone did anything of note. Nikolai headed into the kitchen to scavenge for more alcohol.
"Nikolai it is not wise to pillage the houses of the dead." Takeo warned.
"Shut up Takeo, is not for me." He replied gruffly.
"Then who's it for?" Dempsey joined in.
Nikolai opened the cabinet quite noisily and grabbed a half empty bottle of Budweiser. He came in and sat back down in the rocking chair next to the three legged coffee table.
"This is for Rune when she wakes up." He answered.
"Are you serious, Nikolai?" Dempsey asked in disbelief.
"Trust me Tank. She will need something strong to douse the pain."
"That doesn't mean you need to kill her brain."
Richtofen shushed both of them and took out the syringe that he'd used for Rune. He got up and disposed of the syringe entirely.
"It's however she vants to deal vith it Dempsey. If she vants to drink to ease her sorrows let her, you're not going to stop her." Richtofen entered.
"Who is going to stand first watch?" Takeo asked. The other three looked at him then stared at the ground. Dempsey shook his head and got up.
"I'll take first watch. Nikolai you're next." He volunteered.
"Fine, but I'm not going to like it." He replied childishly.
It was uncomfortable to sleep that night, the heat of the day was still with the night and with no air conditioner it made it much worse. That wasn't the least of their troubles. What would they do when Rune woke the next morning, and how would she take the news? Whatever happened they had to follow the plan to head to Ste. Genevieve.