#67: Spooky Season #6 (Trailblazers)


Prompt: levitation, screaming, zombie

Starrk and Grimmjow are survivors of the zombie apocalypse, living in Aizen's compound and united under his command. But Grimmjow's as contrary as ever and Starrk's not exactly happy to have him tag along on a scavenging expedition.


"I can't believe we're following Aizen."

"Grimmjow…" Starrk's groan is quiet and he's not surprised when it's immediately ignored.

"I mean, he's a scientist! He's not even one of us! The fucker was probably just waiting to see who would rip whose throat out before...before whatever the hell he has planned…"

Starrk doesn't bother to point out that that's exactly what happened. Aizen waited until over 90 percent of the inmates in the prison had been killed or infected before deigning to step in and 'rescue' the rest. He'd known all along what was happening inside of their prison and waited until they were good and desperate and ready to take any offer of escape, even one so clearly stacked in his favor.

And of that ten percent, only about half of them made it out. The perils of being suddenly released into a prison overrun by hundreds of zombies.

Speaking of….

Starrk pauses in his slow trek along the high brick wall he's traveling across and looks down over the slowly moving, groaning crowd below. The zombies can hear and smell him and Grimmjow but don't have the intelligence left to look up the ten feet or so to actually see them so instead they are mindlessly bumping against the wall. Some of them are badly decomposed, reeking to high heaven and dragging themselves on nearly skeletal limbs that have long since decayed to almost nothing while others are fresh, still bleeding red from massive wounds. A young woman just joining the crowd catches his eye; she's so fresh that she almost looks alive…or she would if her eyes weren't dull grey, her mouth wasn't open in a slack gape, and there wasn't a bloody wound on her wrist crusted with dried brown and red blood.

Starrk sighs and shakes this head, feeling a touch of regret, then moves on. The shambling crowd inches their way along below, following the sound of Grimmjow's complaining.

"I mean, who does he think he is?! I beat the last guy that challenged me to death, and he think he's got the right to order me around? I don't know how you and these other piss-ass pansy bastards can stomach his high and mighty attitude. If I were in command, the zombies would be eatin' well tonight!" He snarls, smacking one hand into the other in threat. It seems he's completely forgotten who he's talking to.

Starrk rolls his eyes and does not respond. Aizen is in command because he got them out of their prison. And because he has the weapons and technology to keep their makeshift compound defended….and to keep the former prisoners in line. All of them are well aware that the guns aimed to protect the walls could just as easily be focused inside.

Scanning his surroundings, paying just as little attention to Grimmjow's ranting as the other man is to Starrk's long-suffering grunts of acknowledgement, Starrk notices a zombie lurching on a rooftop to their right. It was probably a survivor that climbed up after getting bitten and then couldn't get down; zombies don't have the coordination to climb in either direction.

With a grimace, Starrk frees his long hunting knife from its sheathe and gets ready to fight. The zombie is directly in their path and there's no other way to get to the convenience store where Aizen ordered him to patrol today. He hates it when he has to take the zombies out…they always look so human.

Grimmjow, predictably, does not notice. He follows behind Starrk as he steps off the border wall and onto the nearest roof, lost in the fury of his ranting. Possibly, it's a sign of trust that he isn't on edge in such a dangerous situation and he's relying on Starrk to keep him safe. Either that, or it's a sign of stupidity.

Stupidity wins out.

When Starrk skirts the edge of the roof and comes up behind the zombie he saw before it notices him, another one lurches out of a broken attic window just behind Grimmjow. It's not quiet, but he still doesn't notice it until it's literally lunging right at him.

"Grrrruuuuuuuungggggnnn…" It burbles a groan right before it grabs him and he spins, yanked instantly from his headspace, and jumps three feet in the air with a startled scream.

"Son of a bitch!" Instinctively, he lashes out with his fist and the brass knuckles on his fingers crack bone when they meet the zombie's cheek. It's flung to the side just enough for Grimmjow to jump away a few long steps to Starrk's side and the other man moves in fluidly to cover his back, slicing the new zombie's head off its body in a single stroke.

For a moment, there's quiet, just the faint panting of the two survivors and groaning of the zombies in the streets below breaking the silence.

Then…

"You see? You see?! I bet Aizen knew these guys were here and that's why he sent us out! That sonuvabitch has got to go down!"

"Grimmjow…"

"No, listen-!"

"No, enough is enough. I'm tired of listening to you." Starrk growls, finally fed up. He flicks his bloody knife to the side, both cleaning it and gesturing to the convenience store roof a few blocks ahead. A few blocks of expansive rooftops, some joined together, and plenty of them containing shambling zombies already turning towards the noise they'd made. "This is getting dangerous. Either shut up or go home."

Grimmjow huffs in apparent disgust but follows when Starrk continues, avoiding zombies where possible and killing them quietly when it's not.

The rest of the journey is made in sulky silence.


Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read and review! We're almost halfway there!