Carlos Oliveira
Nathan stood straight as the creature emerged from the darkness into the light.
(God dammit won't that thing ever die?!?) he thought as he reached back moving Sam away from it. Jarred and John both bolted from the RV as did David and Alex from their makeshift bed.
"Jesus Christ!!" yelled John as he saw Nemesis take a solid step towards them.
Jarred rushed over to Vanessa and started walking slowly backward away from it. David grabbed Alex's hand and started running towards the mountains where the factory was. The Nemesis ignored them and kept it's sights on the others.
"Let's get the hell outta here!!" yelled John as he took off running after David and Alex. Jarred and Vanessa bolted right after him.
"Nath?" said Sam with a chill in her voice.
"Don't worry just step back slowly," he replied.
They were in a bad spot. The Nemesis was in between them and the others who were shouting for them to run but Nathan knew they couldn't out run it. It took another step towards them.
"Sam. I'm going to draw it's attention. You run past while I distract it ok?"
"No. I'm not leaving you!" she replied flatly.
"Sam this isn't the time now.."
"NO!"
"Alright then follow me," he said as he started off towards the RV.
They climbed inside and Nathan ran to the back. Looking up he saw the air vent and started to push it up. Sam watching the creature stalking slowly towards the RV.
"Hurry Nath!" she pleaded.
"Almost,...Got it!" he said as it slipped from it's place.
"Up ya go," he urged as he held his hands down for her to step on. She boosted herself up and turned back to help Nathan as the creature tore into the front ripping the door off and ducking inside. Nathan leapt up and caught the edge pulling himself up with the aid of Sam. Together they jumped from the roof and to the ground taking off the second their feet hit the ground.
"Com' on!!" screamed Jarred as he paced backwards with his gun drawn on the RV.
There was a loud cry from inside as the Nemesis tore it's way out and started towards them with building speed. A horn sounded and Sam saw that David had found a truck and somehow managed to get it started. Everyone leapt into the box as Nemesis bore down on them. Nathan being the last to jump in turned and fired a few shots from the D.E. hoping to buy them time. David slammed on the gas and the truck too off like a bucking bronco. The Nemesis howled in rage as they narrowly escaped,...again.
David had the peddle down to the floor and wasn't taking it off for anything. Twice someone had yelled at him to stop but he refused too listen.
(We aren't far enough away yet.) he thought as he clenched his teeth and sped down the road. Nathan tried to walk towards the cab to try to talk some sense into David and get him to stop when David turned suddenly tossing Nathan from the truck.
"SHIT!" Nath yelled as he was tossed out.
"NATHAN!!" screamed Sam as she tried to grab him but missed.
"God Dammit David Stop you tossed Nathan!!" yelled John but David kept going.
He needed to get away. Far away!
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Nathan felt the sudden weightlessness as he was tossed out. he saw a blur of trees and thought silently to himself that he was definitely going to die. Suddenly he was seeing bubbles,....lots of them. Realizing he must've landed in the river he tried to swim but the pain in his shoulder and side made it difficult. Finally breaking the surface he cursed David and prayed that someone would shoot him before he killed anyone. Swimming to the bank he laid there for a moment catching his breath while holding his side. He wasn't bleeding but it hurt like hell. Looking up he realized instantly that he was in trouble. He was staring............into the barrel of a gun!
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Dwayne didn't know what he saw but it looked like a truck ripping down the road. He tried to make it to the road first but the truck was going too fast. Suddenly there was a body flying from the truck and heading for the river.
(Whoever it was would live. If it was a zombie, he'd fix that problem soon enough.) he thought as he ran towards the figure. He thought he heard it talk but realized that the river was probably masking the moan that the zombies made. He watched as the figure actually swam to the shore. (Can these things actually swim) he thought but immediately dismissed the thought and strolled up to it aiming at it's head. As the figure looked up he was caught off guard. It looked like Nathan Law! His friend from school. He had become quick friends with Nathan when he moved to Gaines. They had both been there for only a short while but found a common bond about family that kind of made them understand each other and become quick friends. He felt sorrow now that his friend had become one of them and was about to end his suffering when suddenly it spoke.
"Dwayne?"
"Nathan? Your not a zombie!"
"No shit! Neither are you! Christ man I thought you were dead like everyone else!" said Nathan as his friend helped him up.
Dwayne was one of his close friend since he had moved to Gaines. They hung out together and both had similar pasts.
"Shit Nath! What the hell is going on man?" asked Dwayne.
Nathan explained in a rather quick fashion how the crisis came to be and who and what was involved. Dwayne stood transfixed by what he was hearing.
"My GOD! What the hell man? This is fuckin' messed up bro!" said Dwayne as Nathan finished his tale.
"Your tellin' me man. We have to get out of here though. That creature I told you about wasn't far from here and came for some stupid reason, find us anywhere we go!" replied Nath.
"I was hopin' to find a car and get the hell outta here but then I saw you playing superman," said Dwayne with a chuckle.
"Ha ha, very funny. Seriously though we need to find the others man. We need to get out of here!"
"You know me Nath. I'm always up for a little shit disturbing," he answered with a sly smile.
Together they took off down the road until they found a car abandoned on the shoulder. The driver appeared to be laying in front of it, but the both knew differently.
"You wanna drive or me?" asked Dwayne.
"I'll drive! I've seen you drive! If I want to die I'll go play with the corpse," answered Nathan with a smile.
Dwayne punched him in the arm in fun but immediately cringed when he heard Nathan cry out and saw the blood start flowing.
"Shit! Man are you ok? What the hell happened to you?" he asked.
"Ah Fuck!! Don't worry I'm ok. Shit man be careful I'm fragile," Nathan replied with sarcasm.
"Always said you were a pansy," laughed Dwayne as he helped hold the wound closed.
"Just pick the lock and start the car man," said Nathan.
"What makes you think I can pick a lock?" asked Dwayne.
"Do you forget the time we took Miss Ferman's car for a 'ride'?" Nathan replied.
"Oh yeah," he answered with a sly grin.
"Almost forgot about that," Dwayne laughed as he took out his tool kit and selected a small bar from it picking the lock with ease.
Seconds later the car roared to life and Dwayne slid over as Nathan climbed in turning the wheel and giving it a lot of peddle spinning it back around in the direction of the mountains.
"If we're lucky the managed to stop David and just maybe we'll catch them before they get there," said Nathan as he lit a smoke.
"Well if not we'll just have to crash the party like usual," laughed Dwayne.
For the first time since the whole thing started he felt like he was going to have some fun. Him and Nathan always found some kind of trouble to get into but this seemed like a playground made just for someone like.........Dwayne Summers.
Dante
"So David's a traitor then?" Dwayne asked staring out the car window watching the
ravished city come speeding by.
"No, he's still cool just getting a little edgy, can you blame him?" Nathan answered and
Dwayne nodded in return.
"Well I've told you my side of the story now lets here yours, how come you weren't at
school today?"
"My parents are on Holiday so I get the wide screen TV and all that shit so I just stayed at home for the first few days, and that's much better than having to put up with Mr. Fenders crap," Dwayne said pulling his face into a scowl. Mr. Fender was always barking orders at the class and if there was one thing Dwayne hated it was being told what to do.
"Like you put up with it, telling Fender to stick the text book up his ass heh heh God
knows how you weren't expelled for that," Nathan chuckled but still keeping his eyes
on the road.
Suddenly a large towering shadow appeared on the road that as Dwayne and Nathan came closer to, took on the shape of a tall bulky man.
"Who's that?" Dwayne asked leaning slightly forward for a better view of the figure.
"Shit! It's him!" Nathan shouted pulling the steering wheel firmly to the right in an attempt to swerve past the Nemesis.
However, the Nemesis saw the car approach and prepared to deliver a solid punch to the side of the car but it was met by Dwayne's magnum.
The Nemesis stumbled back after receiving a Magnum shot at point blank range, it's face dripping slightly with blood.
"Christ! You managed to hurt it!" Nathan said in disbelief watching the Nemesis clutch it's face out of the rare view mirror.
"Well yeah, It doesn't matter how big and strong it is, at point blank shot with this brute I'll hurt it for sure."
Dwayne then began rubbing his fingers.
"Recoil hurts like hell though," he added.
But the Nemesis wasn't hurt as bad as Nathan and Dwayne liked to think it was just stunned really and now very pissed off.
The Nemesis drew it's massive Rocket Launcher that was so big a normal man would struggle to carry it but the Nemesis wielded it as if it was light as a feather.
It cocked a fresh missile into the cannon and aimed at the car as sped away and fired.
Nathan saw the rocket coming and tried to swerve left.
After a huge explosion caused by the rocket Nemesis gave a victorious roar before turning and walking away.
But after the dust settled Dwayne and Nathan sat in the car coughing at the dust clouds that appeared when the missile hit the road.
"Man..that was close," Dwayne spurted before returning to coughing.
"Yeah..too close," Nathan replied watching the shadow of the Nemesis disappear into the background.
Dr.William Birkin
David finally slammed the brakes on, throwing the truck to a halt. Total silence enveloped the startled group of survivors, and then David suddenly found himself on the wrong end of four different sets of gun barrels. "Care to explain what THE HELL YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" yelled Winsor, furious at David's incident earlier. "Trying to save YOU people..although god knows why..." he replied, calmly looking at the stunned and enraged faces of the group, "Well? You people just going to glare at me all day?? Come on..SHOOT ME..," David began laughing, insanely, as if the situation he was in was the most hysterical of jokes. "Fine..look..we need to go back for Nathan..." interjected John, staring in confusion at David, Jarred and Vanessa nodded in agreement, and exited the truck. "God..do you people ever learn? HE'S DEAD...GET IT...DECEASED..the nemesis is back there..now, rather than spend our time searching for a body, I purpose we get on with this...we can't be that far from their backup hq or whatever the hell there hiding in..." David cynically observed, loading the Beretta m9 and the mp5a2. "How about we just shoot you huh? What good are you anyway..all you do is drool over Alexandra and say how we should leave people behind," yelled Winsor, pressing her handgun to David's head. David's eyes took on the same murderous look they had back in the tunnels, as he responded by pressing the barrel of his weapon against Winsor's face, "You don't know when to shut up do you, you stupid bitch..." "David..come on, she didn't mean that," said Jarred, glaring at the two of them. "No..I want to see how this slut reacts when she's been shot..I want to see her bleed..I want to see her BEG...," David began laughing again, removing the safety. "Fuck off you bastard..I AM GOING TO LAUGH SO HARD WHEN YOU'RE DEAD AT MY FEET..." screamed Winsor, shaking in anger, "YOU AND THAT STUPID TRAMP OF A GIRLFRIEND YOU HAVE..." Winsor then motioned the gun towards Alex "WE DON'T NEED MORONS LIKE YOU TWO SLOWING US ALL DOWN.." "You shouldn't talk. All you do is insult us all!" replied Alex, reaching for her own weapon. "Come on Samantha..." David smirked, uttering her name with a voice of total contempt, "Pull the trigger..unless you're too scared...and that's all you ever were, a scared little girl who somehow managed to keep herself alive..." "GOD DAMN YOU! WHY THE HELL CAN'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY..." Winsor began to pull the trigger. A gunshot sounded from behind the armed and irate group. "OKAY CHILDREN....lets all calm down, we've still got someone to find.." shouted Vanessa, glaring at the three of them...
"SIR, SIR! THE NEMESIS! I'M READING SOMETHING!!", the frantic cries of one of the communications officers startled Markenson, "Well..get it on a screen.." he said, staring at the fuzzed out, disjointed transmission from the small camera installed inside the eye of the nemesis. A blackened crater could be seen, smoke rising from it, a message repeated itself over and over, "TARGET ELIMINATED, TARGET ELIMINATED." "YES! FINALLY!!!!!!" Markenson yelled triumphantly, laughing giddily. Unaware of the fact that his troubles were anything but over....
Jill Valentine
Vanessa pulled her hands over her head and shook it abruptly.
"Okay! I am sick of hearing you guys bicker all the time! Just listen to yourselves! It makes me sick just to sit here and have to put up with this shit as well as having to stay in a Town full of zombies and mutants, you think we are not already insane? So just shut the hell up and lets go back and look for Nathan."
David opened his mouth to protest, but Vanessa refused to let him respond.
Taking the gun from his hand she disengaged the clip from it, and threw the gun out into the open. Handing him back the clip, she silenced him once again with her hand.
"I want to hear nothing else from you either. Give us all a break and act your
age."
Winsor didn't dare open her mouth, not even to mutter a sarcastic comment, for she understood that now was not the time or place to piss Vanessa off. She had really gone out of her mind. Although Vanessa felt bad for what she did, she couldn't change it all now. They had to get out of here; alive, healthy, and sane...
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Dwayne and Nathan sat silently in the dry seat of the old car, their ears numb from the rocket blast that had been launched at them minutes before. Starting up the engine, they resumed their trip, trying to avoid the large fiery hold that had stretched wide across the long Bitchumen highway.
"How long has it been since this whole thing started?" Dwayne asked, glancing over at Nathan in the driver's seat.
"Well, I'd say about 5 days...even though it feels longer."
Dwayne nodded, for his attempt to initiate more conversation was failing, and from what Nathan had seen in the past few days, he could understand why.
"I don't understand why this happened. I mean...Why us? Why Gaines?" Dwayne questioned again.
"Well, it's a long story. I know a lot about this whole situation. My dad used to be a part of this whole..thing..."
"Where is he now then? Maybe he could help us?"
"He's dead. I killed him.." Nathan replied flatly, turning away from Dwayne's concerned facial expression.
"I'm sorry man...Didn't know," Dwayne replied, apologetically.
"It's all good man. I know it isn't the best thing I've done in my life, but I know it's made me stronger."
------------------------------------------------
David once again started up the old pick up truck. Jarred, John, Winsor and Vanessa hopped into the back, and Alex sat next to David in the driver's seat.
"David..." Alex stuttered. "Are..you okay?"
David turned to her and stroked her blazing red bangs out of her face.
"Yeah, just tired. As usual."
Alex felt relieved by David's smile, as she leaned back in the seat, staring out at the hot sun, shining bright over the road.
Winsor sat in the back seat, peering out of the gap that once held the truck door, hoping, and wondering if Nathan was alright. She knew somehow that he was going to be fine, being the strong person she is, but then her negative side began to show.
He's dead. Every person you've ever loved always dies right? Damn you Winsor, you should of never fallen for him...now he's dead..he's dead damn it!
Winsor wiped the tears from her eyes, hoping that no one else saw her cry.
Jarred sat silently, watching Vanessa stare expressionlessly out the window; watching the dusty, rugged landform rapidly pass her by as the truck zoomed on down the highway. He wondered if she was okay.
"Hey," he finally asked out of his thoughts. "You alright Vanessa?"
Vanessa kept on staring out the window, muttering back a "yes" in response.
Although he wasn't so sure she was telling the truth, there was nothing else he could do to comfort her. Putting his arm around her, he held her close to him, feeling her cold cheek against his.
"There! I see some one!" Alex yelled from the front seat, as David began to press down hard on the brake.
Another car slowly pulled up beside them, two figures sitting inside, only one in which they could recognize. It was Nathan, he was alive.
City of the Dead
Winsor leaped out of the car and ran over to Nathan, nearly tripping over her own feet. She wrapped her arms around him, making Nathan flinch in pain from his injuries. Dwayne looked on in confusion, he had seen Samantha around before, she was one of those girls that dressed in black and never talked to anyone, why Nathan and her would ever have something to do with her was beyond him.
"God, I thought you were dead," Winsor sobbed.
"Nah, I'm very much alive," Nathan replied.
"Hey Nathan, what's up?" Dwayne asked.
"This is Samantha, she's...Well, you know," Nathan smiled.
"Ah, I see," Dwayne said.
He didn't really understand the whole situation, apparently, Nathan and the others have been going through a lot the last few days, but Nathan and Winsor were not the type to end up together.
Well, they say tragedies bring everyone closer together.
He looked at the other survivors and recognized almost everyone there. There was John, who was Warren High's only real skater kid, he was okay, kind of rude at times. Jarred, who always came off as a sissy and never said anything, made him an easy target for everyone's abuse, that and he never defended himself from it. There was Vanessa, who was beautiful and a little bit of a smart-ass to everyone, she was one of those girls that was different from all the others, but you wouldn't know that unless you actually knew her. There was Alex, who was a freshmen and wasn't very well known. The guy in the driver's seat must have been David, that Blair operative supposedly turned good. All in all, he was glad to see a lot of familiar faces, even if he didn't like most of them.
"Hey guys, this is Dwayne," Nathan said.
"I know Dwayne," Vanessa smiled.
"Yeah, so do I...unfortunately," Jarred said, with a hint of contempt in his voice.
"What is the plan now?" Dwayne asked. "We getting out of here, or what?"
"We have a score to settle, up at the Blair Headquarters, a madman is holding Ryan Bartlett hostage, and we're going to go get him," Nathan said getting into the car with the others.
"Ryan is alive too? Hmmm, well, lets go get him," Dwayne said, getting into the vehicle.
David started up the engine, he didn't want to speak to Nathan, and that was just fine because Nathan didn't want to speak to him either. The car kicked into motion and sped down the road. The subway tunnel had taken them to the other side of uptown; the industrial district wasn't far. Smoke stacks and large buildings could be seen rising above the forest that bordered that side of the city. Most of the factories and buildings were located deeper in the mountain, and Blair's pharmaceutical plant was near the top, it would take them about half an hour to get there.
The creature that had brutally slaughtered the guards was still wandering around the room, apparently from the crunching noises Ryan heard, it was dining on its victims. He raised his head up a bit and looked around the room and got his first look at the creature. From behind it looked like a nude nemesis, it had the same yellowish skin, but it was a lot smaller and its body had a sloppier frame. It's only arm was a lot longer than it should have been, and seemed to weigh the creature down.
Ryan ducked back down to think of a quick plan, he could make a run for it and pass the monster before it had time to react, or he could try to take it out. In the end, he determined that running was a safer option. He took in a deep breath, and ran out from behind the console, charging past the creature and the eviscerated guards that lay on the ground. As he neared the door, the monster let out an angry scream, then all of a sudden, what felt like a mallet hit Ryan in the back, shooting him forward. He flew out of the door and into the wall of the hallway.
"AHHH, Godammit," He yelled in pain.
His head had slammed into the wall; the pain enraged him to the point of no control. He got up and ran after the creature, unloading round after round into the monster's rubbery skin. It retaliated by swinging it's arm towards him, narrowly missing as Ryan continued to fire. Huge globs of red and purple fluids spilled out of the bullet wounds as the monster stumbled backwards. Ryan put the barrel of the pistol right on the creature's forehead and pulled the trigger, sending a wave of gore all over the wall.
"Son of a bitch," Ryan whispered, staring down at the twitching carcass.
He shot a glance over towards an open stasis tube, obviously the one that contained the hideous monstrosity. He walked over to it and read the label on the side.
"Bandersnatch, eh?" Ryan said out loud, once again eyeing the dead creature. "Well, Bander, you are one ugly fuck."
He kneeled down next to the bloody mess where the four guards once stood. A severed arm still had a tight grip on an assault rifle. He picked it up and took the clips from the others.
"Now Piers, lets have some fun," He chuckled, leaving the room.
From what he's seen before, the factory was gigantic, at least four or five stories. The school had taken a field trip there a long time ago, back when Blair was trying to sell a positive image to Gaines, before they began using the city for their hideous research. From what he remembered, there were huge chains of offices and gigantic rooms of machinery, not to mention areas outdoors where certain chemicals are stored in huge pools. Finding Piers would prove more challenging then he first thought.
Well, when I do, your getting a face full of bullets my friend
Ryan proceeded down the hall and began his search...
CNN News building, Atlanta, Georgia
November 24, 2001
9:15 A.M.
The day was growing even more hectic with each passing minute, even though, technically it was a new day, everyone had stayed in that night and worked overtime, trying to find any information they could on Gaines, Colorado before pursuing the story. Laura Andrews knew that a huge story was probably unfolding. And now they have eyewitnesses saying they heard a huge explosion while camping in a forest near Gaines, so they went to a lookout point that stood high above the city, and saw billowing smoke coming from where the city's clock tower once stood. They also claimed that they could see what looked like people aimlessly wandering around the streets, but since the view was from high above the city, actual confirmation couldn't be established.
She had been running around for hours, checking in with several employees to see if there were any new leads. As she turned the corner past a cubicle, she nearly collided with Greg.
"Mrs. Andrews, we've got townsfolk up in Colorado saying a massive convoy of military vehicles and helicopters are heading in the direction of Gaines, about three transport helicopters were also spotted heading that direction a few hours ago," Greg said excitedly.
Laura stood still for a second, amazed and perplexed by the news. What was happening? Had the town gone under mob rule or something? She had all the information she needed; she had made her decision.
"Get our people up north, tell them to get down there and find out what's going on, they should arrive at the town's border in a matter of hours...Cities don't just cut contact with the outside world Greg, that and the army heading in that same direction is no coincidence, lets get to the bottom of this...I have a feeling that something has gone horribly wrong," She said.
Greg scrambled away from her and ran down the hall. Another thought crossed her mind; some townsfolk from a neighboring city had called up, spouting things about chemical spills that had altered the minds of Gaines' citizens, making them extremely dangerous. She had dismissed them as crazy rumors, but then, she thought about the transmission, the one that showed, what looked like zombies. Was that video from Gaines?
You don't know that Laura; it could be anything, anything at all.
Then she had another conflicting thought.
They said the citizens became extremely dangerous, maybe that has something to do with the clock tower explosion and the military moving in..... Maybe those zombie things were the citizens of Gaines, No, nonsense Laura, zombies don't exist, pull it together.
She went back to her office and leaned back in the leather chair, closing her eyes. She was extremely tired and needed a bit of rest. The situation with Gaines was confusing. She began to doze off, comfortable with the thought that in a few hours, they would have all the answers...