…, …
Time seems to stand still, but only for a moment. The screech of the limousine's tires fill the tense air as blood splatters onto the ground.
"…" Anne's mind and voice freeze, the image of the unstoppable Jotaro toppling to the ground lodged in her brain. However, a flame starts to burn in her eyes, hot tears streaming to her chin. The inner fire spreads to her face, then her chest, and finally to her lungs.
"JOTARO!" With her heart beating up through her chest, she starts to sprint to Jotaro's fallen, bloody body. As if everything were moving in slow-motion, Anne sees the limousine speed away through the entrance, then she sees the figure standing over Jotaro. A man in a macabre chauffer's outfit, though his apparently dark skin is mottled with sickly green and pale spots.
…Is that… a zombie?
Still sprinting towards Jotaro, Anne breathes in deeply, though her rapid heartbeat and scattered thoughts generate much less Hamon than usual. With a flick of her wrist, she takes out her knife and flings it at the limo's back window. The blade soars through the air, crackling with energy, until it pierces the glass of the escaping limousine. Though she can't make out if she hit anyone, she does see the vehicle veer a bit…yet it continues to drive away.
Damnit! There's no time to try and chase them, I have to get to Jotaro! Please…please be alive!
The man from the limo cranes his head downward, a hellish grin plastered on his face. His eyes open wide, the eyeballs almost popping out from the contortions on his face. A freakishly long tongue spills from his open mouth, licking his lips as drool drips onto blood-soaked pavement.
"Tch!" Anne stops short about ten feet from the apparent zombie. The difference between the real deal and the corpses from the airport are utterly nauseating. It isn't just the scent of caked on blood anymore, it's the atmosphere of absolute bloodlust radiating from the disgusting creature. Watching it contort its body and writhe around…Anne has to grit her teeth to bear it.
"Hehehehe…flesh for me…" The zombie reaches down and picks up one of the dismembered pieces of that woman from the limo, and sticks two fingers in like drinking straws. Anne can only stand paralyzed in horror at what she sees: a far more gruesome scene than her late night horror movies. The chunk of flesh shrivels as the man's spots fade back to their original color, energy seemingly coursing through him.
"Hey, bastard." Anne stomps a foot down, hoping some bravado will calm her nerves. "Run into the sun and die, or have a personal shot from yours truly."
Jojo would say something like that, right? Not let on how scared you are?
"Hehehe…a little girl playing hero. I'll just drain the Joestar, then kill you. A light snack before I rendezvous with Master N'doul."
"I'll send you to meet him in, uh…" Anne sweats a bit as she looks down at Jotaro…he appears to be breathing. Maybe. "Uh…in hell!"
"Hehe…Save the one liners for the afterlife, kiddo." The zombie starts to kneel down to reach for Jotaro as Anne lunges forward. She kicks off into a spinning jump kick, aiming to connect her shin directly to the abomination's temple. Hamon bristles throughout her body, spiking up and down as her breathing grows erratic with worry.
Just as she's about to connect the hit, she feels a sharp twinge of pain in her shoulder as she's knocked back about five feet, landing hard on her back. Looking at her shoulder, she sees what appears to be a fragment of a shin bone lodged in her should like a large splinter.
Oh fuck! Oh god that hurts!
She tries to breathe in to calm herself and numb the pain, but her heart continues to rattle in her chest. The zombie cackles in the distance, as it rises to its feet to point at Anne. She notices its leg has gone a bit limp below the knee… presumably it had fired its own bone from its leg.
"You'll find I'm a little hard to touch, dearie. Hehehe…If you want to be a pincushion, feel free to try that again. It'll make it easier to drain you dry…hehe-"
"STOP LAUGHING YOU COCKY SON OF A BITCH!" All of Anne's anxiety evaporates into pure rage.
This lowlife scumbag of a zombie thinks he can clown on me? He thinks he can lay a hand on Jotaro like he's some goddamn roadkill?
Ramming her elbows into the concrete, she jumps up to a fighting pose. Her teeth are gnashing in her mouth, her eyes tunnel visioned on her opponent.
"I've been through too damn much today! Fighting god knows whatever that invisible Stand was, letting down Jotaro, then tucking tail and laying low when he told me to! I'm sick of it! Now the enemy I CAN see is telling me to go run into a spike and die…" Anne clenches her fist, breathing in deeper than she ever had before. Pulses of energy match her slowing heartbeat, rippling as intensely as her anger. "Hey bastard. I'll say it one more time. Run out into the balmy sun and die a peaceful death, or watch as this little girl is going to demolish your undead ass."
"That's a lot of talk for someone bleeding as much as you are…hehe-" The zombie tries to intimidate back, but is immediately cut off by Anne.
"STOP IT with that goddamn creepy laugh, you knock off Romero prop! I'm going to…" She reaches for the bone lodged in her shoulder and, as soon as she tries to grab on, it crumbles into ash. Her eyes widen a bit in shock, but its mostly still rage and fury in her eyes.
"You were thinking about outranging me with my own bones? They're a part of my body, enough of that pesky Hamon and it'll fade to ash. And trust me, you'll be dead long before I'll run out of bones…" The zombie casts a downward look at Jotaro below him, his smirk decorated by his still undulating tongue. "I have some fine replacements right here. Hehe-"
"WHAT did I tell you about your damn laugh!" Anne pats her hand against the wound, a fairly deep hole in her shoulder. A combination of adrenaline, cortisol, and Hamon have made the pain merely a memory, but she still feels the slickness of her blood on her palm. "I don't need your diseased bones for this one!"
Okay, hope this works or I'll look like a massive idiot!
Focusing her breath, Hamon pours from her body into her palm.
Positive Hamon, Anne. Positive…
The blood on her hand begins to pool and ripple, crackling as it begins to change shape. Extending outward, the pool of blood transforms into a red needle of sorts, only a few inches long. She grasps it in her hand, holding the base in her palm while the needle extends between two fingers. Coiling down, she once again pounces forward, this time throwing the needle as she jumps forward.
"Crimson Needle Overdrive!" Just like before, she feels another sharp pain in other shoulder, a small arm bone embedding itself there. This time, though, she doesn't reel from the pain, and the blood needle flings straight from her hand to the zombie's head, though it blocks it with its other arm. Like a syringe, Hamon pours from the blood as it impales the zombie's arm, the needle slowly losing rigidity as the Hamon drains from it. The zombie screams in agony as it hops backward on one leg, its arm melting off of it.
"Hah! I told you!" Her furious expression shifts into a smirk, though it fades quick as the zombie launches its melting arm like a dart directly at her forehead. "Too bad you told me your weakness, bozo!"
Pulling at the arm bone already stabbed into her, her hands grip only ash and blood as she still crackles with Hamon. Using her fingers, she digs into her own wound and flicks her pointer and middle finger horizontally, forming a band of splashed blood in front of her. Energy crackles from her fingertips and the blood begins to light up with Hamon. Just as the incoming bone starts to collide with the blood, it starts to fade into ashes.
"Real useless projectiles you have there! You just made me bleed enough to be immune to your shitty technique." She confidently walks forward to pursue the zombie as it desperately hops away to a nearby vehicle. "What was that you said? You weren't gonna run out of bones? I have to 'hand' it to you. I thought you were pulling my 'leg'." She chuckles as she watches the zombie try to bash in a window of a mid-sized, sand coated SUV.
Alright bastard. Time for the punchline.
She takes off into a sudden sprint, Hamon rippling across the concrete below her with each step. Spinning around at the sudden noise, the zombie looks in agape fear as it leans against the SUV. With one final effort, its jawbone dislodges and busts through its skin, launching like a discus at Anne's neck. Her face barely reacts, only a small smirk forming.
"OVERDRIVE!" Hamon sparks off of her fist as she reels it back and leaps towards the zombie. The spinning jawbone comes within a single foot of her, but a lightning fast fist meets it. The energy pouring from her fist disintegrates the jawbone before it even connects, the searing punch ripping through the air directly into the zombie's sternum. Screaming until it fades to ash, the zombie writhes against the side of the SUV as the Hamon crackles through its body.
It takes a few moments for Anne to come out of her tunnel vision. Her breath once again becomes ragged, though a big smile plasters her face as she leans one armed against the car next to her.
I did it! I beat something! Wait 'til I tell-
A sudden realization crosses her mind.
"Jotaro!" She rushes over and slides on her knees up to Jotaro. Tossing away some fleshy bits she doesn't want to think about too much, she presses her head against Jotaro's chest.
Shallow heartbeats…barely breathing. Hang in there…
She steadies her breath, then begins to pump Hamon into Jotaro's wounds.
His arm…his chest… his leg…he was protecting me…all because I can't protect myself from Stands…
Using one hand to apply her Hamon, she clenches her other fist and pounds the ground.
"Dammit. Am I supposed to just sit around and watch you get hurt? I'm such a-"
Her spiraling thoughts are halted by a hand on her shoulder. Looking down, she sees Jotaro's stoic and bloodied face looking back at her. His hand is shaky, uncharacteristically weak for the giant of a man. The glaze on his eyes clears a bit as he opens his mouth.
"Anne…"
"Jotaro! Save your strength, you've bled out pretty ba-"
"Yakamashi!" Rather than following his command, she's just stunned.
How can he shout when he's this weak?
"Anne. You saved my life many times today…" He coughs up a bit of blood, red lines flowing on his already bloodsoaked cheek. "I'm only going to say this once: thank you. You're the only reason I'm ali-"
And with those words, Jotaro passes out once more. Silently, Anne continues to heal Jotaro's wounds. The hot desert wind rolls in through the parking area, gritty sand brushing against Anne's cheek. Hot tears drip onto her hand as she thinks to herself.
…Couldn't even say thank you without sounding like a jerk…
She sniffles a bit, the dull throb of pain still weighing on her shoulders. Shaking her head of some sand, she remembers how short her hair is now. She hasn't seen it yet, but it reminds her of all those action heroines in the movies…Still, her thoughts drift to what Jotaro said.
I really saved him, huh…Jojo will never believe me…
She looks around at the empty concrete populated only by cars and the both of them. Her eyes go wide for a moment before she shouts:
"Shit! No one saw the cool stuff I just did!"
END of CHAPTER 30