Hi guys, here's Chapter two, started almost immediately after the end of the first one. Hopefully y'all enjoy it, and remember, Francis is not a cop!
"BE CALM. WE'RE COPS.", Zoey was sure she'd heard Francis talking to someone, but he wasn't on their usual side of the bridge. Despite her earlier outburst, she decided whatever or whoever he was talking to would be a welcome distraction from him. Focusing momentarily, she followed through the sound of his voice through the early evening fog of Raymond, off in the direction of the opposite side of the bridge.
"I'M TELLIN' YA FOR THE LAST. GODDAMN. TIME. LOWER. THE. GODDAMN. BRIDGE, YOU GREASY VEST WEARING MONKEY." An extremely pissed off conman shouted, his companions letting out a collective sigh, with Rochelle attempting to defuse the situation. "Nick, getting pissed off isn't going to sol- ", she was interrupted by a voice from up onto the bridge; "Pfft, go to hell, Suit.", the man from up top retorted. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Rochelle practically shoved Nick aside, turning her head to regard the biker. "I'm sorry about him, can you lower the bridge, please?", she asked. The biker seemed to immediately compose himself, straightening his posture, before replying in a more thoughtful voice, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't.", before he could elaborate, another figure walked up beside the man, already beginning to grasp the situation. Ellis, who for the most part, hadn't been really focusing on anything, except for the various scratches and slightly bent up hood of the Jimmy Gibbs, happened to glance up towards the bridge, having taken in the new face that appeared beside that biker man. Within mere moments, Ellis was completely dumbstruck, standing there, mouth slightly agape; Standing before him was what must have been an angel, the most beautiful girl he'd ever laid eyes on, rendering him speechless. Up on the bridge, Zoey slightly cocked an eyebrow at the group, having now taken in the fact that one was staring at her like a deer in headlights, she returned the glance, causing the young man to panic, and hide beneath the brim of his hat. She couldn't tell from here, but he appeared to be the youngest in the group, appearing to be in the somewhat same age group as her, however, rationality took over, reminding her there were much bigger problems to worry about rather than drooling over a boy. Her newly developed leadership side took over, the side created to fill the void of his absence, allowing her to immediately take control of the situation. "I'm Sorry, but there's no way for us to lower the bridge, we have injured, and the generator on the other side is out, however, if you all can reach the other side and reactivate it, we'll cover you, and help where we can.", she finished. Ellis was further overwhelmed by this girl; Damn, she had the voice of an angel too, he thought he ought to say something, but just couldn't muster up the courage, and simply let Rochelle thank them, despite being in his current baffled state, he noticed how Ro' looked when she talked to that biker man, and how a certain man in a suit reacted with an annoyed facial expression, he wasn't gonna lie, it was pretty amusing to see. Coach, who had, for the most part, paid attention to the conversation, was now focused on their surroundings, taken note of a sign that offered beneficial information, he began to read aloud. "Historic Rayford scenic under the river tour…", before finishing with, "Guess'n that's our ticket to the other side, folks. Let's roll.", he called to the others. The group at this point, was running low on ammo after the nightmare that was the mall, armed with only a fire axe and a Desert Eagle, the four turned and began walking in the direction of the tour, Coach having taken note of Ellis' behavior, "Why didn't cha' introduce yourself, young'un?", the former coach asked. "U-uh, Oh, well, I just couldn't Coach, I mean, did you see her? She is an angel, I ain't never seen a girl like that.", Coach, with a raised eyebrow replied, "Boy, you've been killin' zombies for the better part of two weeks, you can talk to a girl…". Ellis turned away, scratching at the back of his neck, "Nah man, I can't, she'd probably never go for a dumb country rub like me.", and with a collective sigh from both Coach an Rochelle, and a snicker from Nick, the group trudged into the depths of downtown Rayford.
It'd been an uneventful thirty minutes, the dreary atmosphere could almost be considered peaceful, if not for the cries of the common infected as they charged at the survivors in murderous rage. For the most part, conversation was absent, minus the occasional call out from on the group's behalf, alerting each other of any nearby special infected, it had been a silent trip. The finally came up to something different, an open door, with a neon lit sign advertising the building's status as a bar, just as they began to step into the building however, there was a sudden rush, and sound of a horn to the left, quickly turning, the speeding object tore down the closed off road at break-neck speed. Ellis piped up, "…Was that...?", having taken note of the color scheme of the Midnight Riders' tour bus, or at least he thought it was, it was moving way too fast to be sure. Coach replied with, "Nah, it couldn't a' been. Must be seeing things…", Ellis attempted to answer, but was quickly cut off by Nick. "Hey, chop, chop, let's move, I'm bored of this boring ass town already, plus, my suit's getting drenched!". Rochelle scoffed, before looking him up and down, noticing how ruined the once white, now off-white suit was, but decided against stating the obvious, to avoid anymore delays. Coach and Ellis obeyed, turning back to head indoors. "Alright, guns!" Coach called, reaching for his signature favorite, a Remington 870 Marine, checking the amount of ammo left, and was then dissatisfied by the 8 remaining shells, "Best make 'em count...", he said more to himself than anyone else. Nick was delighted to finally have a weapon himself, reaching for a long-forgotten Uzi, pleased to find a few spare magazines, he loaded one in, and proceeded to rack the slide. Upon headed upstairs, Coach taking point, they entered what seemed to be an average room, minus the object on the mattress placed on the floor. "...A suitcase full'a pistols n' money...!", Coach sang out, chuckling to himself. Inside was indeed an assortment consisting of a Desert Eagle, a couple of P220 SAO's, and a Glock 26; and, less important, several stacks of hundred-dollar bills. Nick let out a low whistle when noticing the cash, but all things considered, was glad to take a sidearm. With everyone in the group armed, they moved on. It was comforting having something more than just an axe in his hands, Ellis wasn't exactly going to take a swing at that witch they'd successfully managed to sneak by earlier, he just couldn't get his mind off that girl, man was she something, he belittled himself for not speaking up, hoping it would not be a costly mistake. Lost in thought, he was quickly snapped out of it due to bumping into Nick, not knowing he'd stopped, eliciting an angered response from the conman, "Wake up, Cletus.". "Sorry Nick, I was goin' into my own head I 'spose.", Ellis replied. Nick didn't even bother, too preoccupied with getting to the next Saferoom, he was tired from walking. As luck would have it, a sturdy door consisting of a mass of rivets and red painted metal appeared before them. "Everyone, inside!", Coach ordered, the rest of the group happily obliged, slamming the heavy door behind the last person.
Back at the bridge, Zoey had, with nothing besides Francis' constant rants about how vampires were 'totally real', she delved back into her thoughts. She was beginning to accept it, what good would it do her to keep sulking, she needed to pick herself up, with Bill gone, she couldn't show weakness, she had to step up. Zoey looked blankly towards the direction the new faces had left, she wasn't going to lie, she hoped they'd make it back. She wasn't like him, though she wanted to look after their own, protect her flock, she couldn't just abandon those people, that side of her had not gone away, though not as prominent anymore. Letting out a long sigh, this caused Francis to pause and glance towards her. "Zoey, are you..?", before he could finish the thought, "Yeah, Francis, I'm good…We have to help those people, they could be back soon, we should make sure we're well stocked up on ammunition so we can help them.", she glanced at the building where Bill was, and cringed, ever so slightly. She turned and headed inside to an extremely confused Louis. There, she proceeded to explain the story, the survivors, and their agreement. Louis, of course, accepted this and met it with positivity, despite his injured leg, he wanted to help, and would do so in any way he could.
Elsewhere…
"This is the tour?", Ellis groaned, "I was hoping it'd have rides…", earning him a confused look from his fellow companions. "Ellis, sweetie, It's a tour, not a carnival. Though I won't lie, it's not a very impressive tour." Rochelle stated. Indeed, it wasn't all that interesting, looked more like someone's basement, rather than anything interesting, just old wooden pillars, and pipes. Soon enough, they'd reached the end of phase one, entering a doorway with a sign posted next to it labeled, 'Phase two'. "Man, I hope phase two is more interestin' than phase o- ", before he could even finish the thought, the metal stairway they'd been descending, ended torn apart, leaving a good ten feet or so drop, directly into sewage water. Nick was the first to object, "Are you serious? Nuh-uh, no way in hell am I going down there.", Coach rolled his eyes, "Nick, now ain't the time for this shit, we gotta get movin'.", This, didn't work, "Coach, do you know what could be down there? God only knows what the hell is under that wate- ", Nick was interrupted, surprisingly, by Ellis, leaving everyone baffled, and Nick, pissed. "AH, JESUS CHRIST. OVERALLS.", the conman spat, his words dripping with white lightning. "Sorry, Nick, but I wanna get back to her man!", whether Ellis was referring to the car or girl was unknown, but it had worked, the others jumped down after Nick, who was on the verge of drowning the southerner in the knee level filth. Coach, catching his glare warned, "Nick, kill the boy later, not gonna lie though, you look like shit.", he snickered, causing laughter to erupt from everyone except Nick, who retorted with, "Yeah, Hahah, very funny.", despite this, the survivors trudged forward, ascending a ladder to solid, concrete ground, to Nick's relief, which was temporary, when he realized that not only would they have to get back in the sewage water to continue, but now there was the added annoyance of an alarm. "You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.", he growled through clenched teeth. A few minutes of preparation left, the alarm button was hit, the horde incoming, and the survivors back to sloshing through knee deep shit water in an attempt to reach the safehouse, which seemed so far away, but eventually, they'd made it, the door, slamming behind them.
A/N Well, that was surprisingly not much longer than the last chapter, really felt longer to me, Huh. It was a really small detail, but I tried to keep from using Bill's name often in the beginning, attempting to show that Zoey had yet to accept it, though if you noticed, she did eventually use it, showing she'd come to terms with what happened~ Also, I just wanted to state that this chapter marks the end of canon events, next chapter will veer off course, leading to a different storyline than the one we got, still gonna follow the campaigns order. Another thing is, I did leave out some parts of the Passing Campaign here, I felt like narrating all of the sub-levels in the campaign was just pointless, so I summarized it, with hints to what occurred, such as the dreaded witch wedding! Anywhos, that does it for Chapter two, I hope y'all enjoyed, expect Chapter three sooner or later. Until then, see y'all later :)
