Francis ran through the depths of the garage. All he could hear was screaming and the Tank's roars from back outside. He looked around quickly then caught up behind Beth when they were in sight again.
A loud boom erupted from somewhere on the streets, causing the building to shake. Followed by even more gunfire.
"Beth! Kayla! What are you guys doing!" He yelled as the two disappeared through a dark room. The biker was about to go in, only to be stopped when they came running right back out. An infected with its jaws wide open threw itself into his face. Francis stuck the barrel of his gun into its mouth and blew the head off, splashing the walls behind it with pieces of skull, brain and blood. He looked to the side in confusion and seriousness before asking again.
"What are you up to?!"
He ran to stay close to them. Panting, he found both in another room with Kayla looking through equipment and tools, both on walls and tables as Beth leaned against some shelves with her arms crossed. They could feel his stare on their backs.
"Can someone answer me?"
"Squire! What about this one?" The older sister held a medium-sized chain out to her.
"No, something bigger. I can't believe you're gonna do this with how your shoulder is and all. And I'm not a man!"
"Ah, it's just a flesh wound. You wouldn't be standing here, if you didn't want to do it too. And you act manly at times. Yahaha."
Francis raised his eyebrows eagerly and held his hands out a little, glancing between the two. "Hello?"
"Hm?" Beth looked at him from rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Oh," she started, as Kayla yelled an "aha! No." And continued to look through the wall of chains. "Well, I guess you'll have to see for yourself. Because it's kinda too bizarre to explain."
He stared at her unblinking and mouth ajar. "What is?"
Suddenly, they could hear a riot of laughter.
"You sons of bitches! Get out here and-and see-he this! Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Came Bill's voice.
"Yes!" Kayla held the perfect chain up in her hands and snapped it. The length and thickness made her try to hold back a snicker.
"You sick son of a bitch!" Beth criticized when she saw a cocky smile on her face. Francis' contorted in disgust. "Really?" He overlapped Beth's words.
She looked back at them. "Let's go."
Beth shook her head and Francis felt concerned before they jogged towards the front of the garage together. He had no clue what was happening. Why did they need the chain and why was everybody laughing like mad outside?
They were just attacked by a vicious pack of Dogs for God's sake!
Now there was a Tank outside.
And everyone was laughing? What is happening?
Francis was too confused.
Little did he know one of his questions was about to be answered. They ran outside, "what the fu-"
He stopped when the Tank's roar boomed closely. Wind from the bellow blew through the girls' hair as the three of them closed their eyes and leaned away. When they opened their eyes to look at the brute, they saw the most bizarre thing ever. Though they couldn't help but explode in laughter like the others had.
Zoey, Amber, Ian and Louis, with his fists clenched tight and eyes squeezed shut ran by while having a good laughing fit.
"Hey! Nice blouse!" Jordan howled from over his shoulder.
The Tank was indeed wearing a multi-pastel colored, tutu skirt. It was also wearing a pair of light blue ballerina shoes and a white bra.
Beth dropped to the ground as Kayla leaned away. No one heard the Hunter's scream as Francis leaned down and rested his hands on his knees at the same time it leaped at him. It soared right over him, crashed through a window, and kept crashing through things inside. Screaming in pain.
The Tank bellowed again, raising its meaty fists above its head and twirled forward. After some spinning, the special infected brought one hand down and punched a car nearby.
"I-it's dancing!" Kayla chortled and pointed with tears in all of their eyes. She leaned against Francis as he and Beth continued laughing, while the Hunter crawled up from behind. It went to swipe at them with a shriek; so without looking, Francis punched it straight in the face, breaking its nose and knocking it over.
"You guys! Lo-hok ou-hout!" Keirstan cackled from the other side, as she and a laughing Bill held an arm over the other's shoulders. They heard the strangled warning and moved out of the way. All but Louis, who quickly bent backwards and the car flew just mere feet over him in the distance. The analyst staggered throwing one hand up and the other to support his back.
"Augh…"
He stumbled around trying to find something to help correct his posture. "Ok, OK! Ok…"
"Alright, let's go." Kayla giggled. She ran off with Beth in tow and vanished around a corner.
"Wait! Where ya going?" Francis called between laughs and wiping his eyes.
He blindly ran for them but met up with Zoey and Amber instead. "What are they doing?" The college student asked.
"I...I don't..." he howled in laughter once more.
"I know what and it's fucking crazy." Amber answered.
"Well what then?"
"Just watch."
A Charger then appeared from another street, commons rushed forward from behind it as the special stopped. It was confused from what it was seeing. Among the bodies, Bill, Keirstan, Ian and Jordan were running off and blasting infected away in hysterics. A man was bent backwards, there was a manly Tank in girl's clothing raging around and three others were dying of laughter as they sprinted in the other direction. It traced its eyes around until they settled and narrowed on Louis, then raced forward.
Louis wildly staggered backwards until he tripped over a body and fell against a car. His spine cracked loudly, "OH! Oohh…" the analyst supported himself with his hands as he was able to stand up straight with squinted eyes. He then cheerfully threw his fists in the air. "I'm al!-"
The Charger howled and slammed straight into him. All four of his limbs splayed as it carried him away.
"Louis! Don't worry bitch we're coming!" Ian shouted as he and Keirstan chased to rescue him. But that was not needed. The Tank ran up to the Charger brandishing part of a telephone pole. It swung the thing like a baseball bat as hard as it could and sends the second largest infected flying across the concrete land. The Charger released its victim, and Louis sailed through the air in a daze. Meanwhile, the Tank resumed its ballerina dance. Hopping and prancing around.
The Charger violently slammed against a Boomer, causing it to fly backwards and project vomit into the sky and all over commons. Which made them start fighting each other.
"...Ew..." Ian watched in disgust.
"I fucking wish we had something to get this on video!" Zoey shrilled, her eyes bright with laughter.
Bill, Jordan and Francis made themselves busy fighting back other infected, although it was a bit harder to stay focused with what was going on behind them. They chortled until Jordan caught a Smoker's tongue freehanded. Scaring it badly.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
The Smoker panicked while coughing and yapping uncontrollably in protest as the survivor started to pull its tongue in with an evil, excited glint in his eyes. It tried to resist and hold onto something from where it was as Jordan laughed, "yeah! C'mere you cunt sock!"
'Where the fuck did those two go?' Francis wondered in his mind, running through the madness. He still couldn't find them.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
The scream made both Francis look up to see Louis falling from the sky. The biker caught him, and Louis breathed a sigh a relief. "Thank-" he immediately dropped him.
Laughter from above caught their ears the group looked up again. The sisters stood on a roof of a two-story building, having a good time with what they were seeing from where everyone else was. Kayla held the chain, making Francis look from it, to the Tank, then back to the chain.
Finally it clicked. His eyes widened.
Oh no…
"Hurry the hell up if you ever so desperately want to do it again!" Keirstan sarcastically called up to them.
"Why are you encouraging!" Amber yelled at her bewildered, "it's dangerous!"
Beth slid down out of sight having another episode as Kayla hollered. "Lead the bitch over here then!"
Francis' full attention was on them now. The Tank was twirling again with its arms spread to the sides, holding a car in each hand.
"No! Get back down here now!" He shouted, causing her and Beth to look at him when she pulled herself up. Keirstan, Ian and Amber began shooting at the huge beast as Zoey ran over to the boys with a Jockey not far behind.
"Fucking piss off!"
Louis laid limp on the ground, with his head hung back as he raised his submachine gun lazily and fired without looking. The bullets tore up the ground and Zoey had to jump away. She yelled angrily at the analyst as the Jockey scurried for the cover of other infected.
"We'll be down there in a second!" Beth hollered.
"Use the stairs!"
"But this is much more fun!" Kayla retorted.
When the bullets entered its flesh, the Tank immediately grew furious. It released the cars, and everyone had to scramble to get out of the way. It pounded its chest much like a Gorilla then the ground as its assaulters continued shooting. So it dug into the cement, tearing it up from the ground with ease and chucked it at them with an angry growl.
"And you were just yelling at me not to encourage!" Keirstan laughed. Amber rolled her eyes as they all raced out of the way. "I'm shooting to kill it!"
The Tank charged for them, "are they insane?!" Bill cried when he saw Kayla whip the chain in both of her hands. "A little closer!"
"This is close enough!" Ian exclaimed ten feet away.
Francis ran over but kept a safe distance. "Kayla don't! Please you both are gonna get hurt!" He begged. The stress he could feel was overwhelming. She was defiant, that was for sure.
The sisters looked at each other, "ready?"
Beth nodded, "as always!"
Kayla started yelling. "By the power of America!" Her voice was echoing. "I! HAVE! THE POWER!"
Together they skydived straight off the building. "What the fuck's going on?!" Zoey shrieked as all watched them fall.
"Hoooooly shhhit!" Jordan was equally surprised, this is not how it happened last time. He watched with wide, concerned, shocked eyes and his mouth hung agape. He held the Smoker in a chokehold, who was watching the scene as well.
"Ughnhgh?" Louis slurred.
Beth wrapped her arms around her sister's waist, laughing and grinning as they fell.
"That's right!" Kayla whipped the looped chain down around the Tank's head. She pulled them in and they landed perfectly on their asses on the Tank's back, using the chain as a halter.
Once it felt the two survivors sitting on it, the Tank raised its arms roaring. It tried a few times to grab them but failed at each attempt; as both ducked away. They laughed as it arched backwards with Beth holding an arm in the air.
"TANK RO-DE-O!" Both cheered.
Bill and Francis stared in stupefied wonder. Then Bill walked off. "...I need a cigarette." He pulled one out and lit it.
A gaping smile spread across Zoey's face in astonishment. "Fuck, let me on! I wanna try!"
Amber nudged her shoulder gaining her attention. "No. This is when we run."
The Tank pounded its fists into the cracking concrete again and ran around screaming in blood-curdling fury. Trying to throw them off. Everyone scattered and the infected, including the Charger who survived the assault started to retreat as Louis finally returned to reality with a groan. It took a moment for him to process what was going on as he shakily rose to his feet. "Augh...oh hey, your girls are riding the Tank," he sniffed and smiled pointing. A moment passed, his smile quickly dropped and his eyes grew big at the realization. "YOUR GIRLS ARE RIDING THE TANK!"
"I see that!" Francis hollered as he ran, so Louis fled too.
"How?! Why?!"
"Ask them!"
Next Ian ran pass the two, "this is not how it happened last time!"
"What do you mean last time?!" Both yelled to him in unison.
The rest of the group burst out laughing again. The brute looked absolutely ridiculous. It thrashed and flailed and crushed unfortunate infected. Also it used ballerina moves in an attempt to be rid of the survivors who were just laughing away and holding on tighter.
"Faster you hairless, naked Ape!" Beth ordered.
Kayla whipped the chain harshly and the Tank barked before making sounds like it was sobbing. It skipped ahead throwing its arms out. She steered the infected while it bucked and barreled down the street chasing everyone at once. Both infected and survivor.
From behind them all the beast continued its ballerina skills, swaying its arms and such. Everybody was panicking and shouting over each other in either gibberish or infected spluttering; while some bullets were fired into the crowd at random. The sisters cheered and hollered to spur them on.
From an alley, an agitated Witch stormed out from where she was hiding to investigate why there was so much fucking noise. It sounded like the world was ending all over again. Or Jurassic Park in the apocalypse. She halted in surprise to see what was happening while a dump truck was hurled through the air, then bounced across the road. She was further shicked to see a couple of survivors on the huge infected. The Witch's eyes followed everyone as they passed, and when they were gone, she just blinked in stunned silence before turning around and headed back to hiding. Questioning what she just saw.
"How long is this gonna go for!" Zoey screamed.
"I don't know! Until they decide to get off I guess?!" Amber panted.
Suddenly, a bullet was shot straight into a gas tank sitting in the bed of a truck. The explosion made the survivors dive for the ground to avoid being set aflame.
The Tank also staggered violently. So violently the girls couldn't hang on and were sent flying off its back.
"Now who the fuck did that?!" Keirstan shouted as the sisters flew overhead. They crashed into a cardboard dumpster some yards away.
The infected all screamed in pain as they were burnt alive, flailing about and dropping to the ground. The Tank released another earth shaking bellow and ran from the fire, looking much like a hellbeast while its odd costume began to burn off. Revealing its all naked glory. The disgusted confused group all scrambled up and away from it. Firing their remaining rounds into its body. However, it didn't charge after them like they thought it would. Instead, it made more sobbing noises and pounded its chest again before running over to a building and started slamming its head face first into the wall repeatedly, driving them into deeper confusion.
"What the hell is it doing?" Jordan questioned.
"I can only guess being burned alive doesn't feel great." Bill replied.
Finally, with one last groan, the Tank dropped heavily on the ground. The flames continued to lick its skin and sent a nasty smell in the air.
At last, at long glorious last, everything was quieting down. For now. Aside from the crackling and popping the fire made. Everybody looked around to check if anything else was coming for them. Which was confirmed as a temporarily all clear. Tired and shaken up, the group tried to take everything in that has happened in the last few hours or so. Gathering their thoughts, they stiffly moved on. Kayla and Beth rested on a bench not far away, without anyone noticing they had moved to it. Francis shuffled up to them with a soft look on his face. They watched each other, until he gestured with his hands.
"...Tank rodeo?"
"Uh-huh." Beth replied.
"That's what you're calling it?" Louis called over with a tense look.
Kayla burst into another laughing fit at the thought of the Tank. She curled in herself giggling hysterically. "I've never seen anything wear somethin' like that!"
The biker sat down in between and held them close, "don't scare me like that again." He very gently swatted the backs of their heads.
"Francis, was that your first time you've seen a Tank?" Beth asked as she leaned against him.
He shook his head, thinking about his first encounter with the brute.
A car was sent flying through the air. It rolled at a high speed at the four, squishing swarming infected in its way and taking down a chain link fence. Louis, Bill and Zoey looked at it then over their shoulders in alarm from behind him as Francis gravely stared ahead.
"The one I met almost got me."
"...Oh."
He went to say something else until Ian spoke up and pointed a finger.
"Kayla you piece of shit you're bleeding!"
Francis narrowed his eyes at him in defense, but noticed she didn't take any offense to the name and all looked at her shoulder. Through her jacket and now ripped shirt they could see red staining the gauze. Bill walked over, and she tensed. "May I see?" He asked, knowing she still wasn't too trusting.
She watched him quietly.
"It's ok," she heard her brother soothe.
With a little more coaxing, she eventually relaxed slightly. But kept her eyes on him as he went to check on the injury.
"You said last time," Zoey reminded as Jordan looked at her from his spot next to Beth. "What the hell happened last time?"
He traced his eyes away. Then softly laughed at the memory before he started telling it.
…
It was cold, it was raining and the group of six were having none of it.
They were looking for shelter.
Kayla, Beth and Amber were trying their hardest not to slip off a staircase they were on, but that's exactly what happened. With a cry, Amber fell into the sisters, making all three of them tumble down the hard steps towards something that looked like a large piece of cement. They didn't know, it was just right by the front of the staircase. And the trio fell on top of it.
"Goddamn rain," Beth glared to the side.
Amber groaned, "sorry. Are you two alright?"
"Told ya you should've taken the other way!" Ian called.
Kayla felt around what they were on with her eyes cast aside suspiciously. "Guys, this doesn't…" her voice trailed off when the thing beneath them began to move, alarming them all.
The Tank rose from its slumber to its feet with the alarmed girls still on it. As Keirstan peered around a corner to see what was going on as it roared in anger.
Jordan and Ian stared up at it for a moment in question. Then they recoiled, screaming in horror like little girls.
It began chasing after the boys as the Tank's passenger's cries of fear turned into ones of enjoyment while they held on tight.
"Hey, whatever this fucking thing is it's like some kind of rodeo!" Beth laughed.
"What?" Ian cried, "get off that thing!" He shouted as they shot bullets while running.
"Hell no! Whoo!" Kayla whooped as the Tank thrashed and rampaged after them. "One of you! Toss me that chain up here!" Kayla hollered, pointing at it from the back of a tow truck they were about to pass by. "Why?!" Jordan replied through heavy breaths.
"I need it!"
"No you don't!"
"Yes! Just throw it up here!"
Jordan looked away and groaned in defeat. He sprinted forward, grabbed it and chucked it as hard as he could behind him.
Kayla caught it, then quickly wrapped it around the Tank's head as it bellowed in protest; she began steering the infected, hollering in excitement. Beth and Amber shouted out in surprise as Ian scowled Jordan.
"Senpai! Come and try this!"
Keirstan leaned against a wall with her hood up and hands in her hoodie pouch observing the scene in quiet amusement. "Nah," she replied, closing her eyes and looking away with a smile. "I'll pass on that."
The sisters continued to laugh and cheer while the guys yelled in protest.
"Who raised you two?!" Amber shouted as she too held on for dear life.
…
The group of six all laughed lightly at the experience as Bill and Louis stared at them in shocked silence.
Francis shook his head in disbelief.
"I have to admit, it was kind of fun." Amber said.
"And that was how Tank rodeo was invented." Jordan finished.
"So you've taught them it's fun to mess with dangerous things?" Zoey teased.
"Hey! Not as dangerous!" The biker defended.
"That's-what?"
Bill rose again. "It'll be fine. Just a couple popped stitches that can be fixed. But as of now," he looked around, "we should find some ammo and get inside somewhere. I'm sure none of us want anymore company. Especially from those Dogs."
They all silently agreed and collected their things. Francis rubbed Kayla's head with a smile, seeing how much she enjoyed it by the serene look on her face before they got up to leave. He playfully punched Beth's shoulder, and she kicked him in the shins.
"Hey Francis," Keirstan piped up.
"What?"
She smirked, "since the infected are 'vampires', than what are the Dogs?"
He looked at her quietly until he trailed his eyes away. "I...dunno. Hellhounds?"
"Mm," she pursed her lips and nodded.
"That I'm sure we can all agree with." Louis said.
"But they don't have fire." Zoey reminded. "So what not all hellhounds have fire." Francis started.
"They come from hell, they all have fire."
"Whatever."
The veteran sighed with a groan. "Don't start."
"Well! She asked, I answered, he agreed, she don't! How is it something not to agree with?"
"Thanks Keirstan."
"You're welcome."
They continued on down the street, now with a new topic to bicker about with each other. What the Dogs were, as they left the destructive mess the team barely escaped from behind, and resumed the trek further through the city.