Aaaand here's Chapter 2 remade! Again, changed to a less confusing first person point of view, reworked what happens, and made their run-in with Lance a bit more interesting. Worth rereading, and I'd appreciate reviews and follows!
Enough talking, here's Chapter 2: Loose Ends!
~Jason~
My eyes opened, and I slowly pushed myself off the bed, forgetting I was on the end of the bed. I rolled over, only to fall face-first onto the ground, groaning.
A human scent flooded my nose, but I reminded myself that it was the girl. I can't remember why I didn't kill her, but there's a faint voice in the back of my head telling me not to harm her. She wasn't in the room, which was pitch black, but I could smell her outside. I went over to scratch on the door so she could open it, when I stopped and saw the light coming through under the door. That's why it was shut.
Wrapping the cloth back around my eyes, I smelled something else...
She probably had a mini-heart attack as I smashed the door open, and dropped the thing in her hands. I didn't care.
She barely managed to move away as I tackled the meat, chewing into it. It wasn't human, but it would do. After calming herself down from my scare, she started talking about how she found it in a "fridge," but I tuned her out until I was done.
"...and I was thinking about cooking it, but I guess I don't have to for you," she finished. I knew there was more of this stuff in the fridge thing, and licked my lips as I got closer. There was blood dripping off my chin from the raw meat, but my tongue couldn't lick it back up, so I whined for another one. "You... Oh, you want more?" she asked, and I nodded. I heard a metal door open, and a cold gust of cold air hit me.
And the smell of meat.
I made a mental image of what a fridge was as she left it open.
"Help yourself, I'm a vegetarian," the girl said, leaving the meats on the table. She was apparently "letting them thaw out" if I got hungry today, but this was enough for maybe the morning. I devoured most of it, and picked at the rest, although it was gone eventually. When I had finished, the girl was pulling a bar out of the thick door, which was keeping it closed. "I'm not sure if you remember," she started, getting down to my eye level, "but we knew each other before... this. I'm Katelyn."
Katelyn... Katelyn... I felt like I knew her, but I could never think of why. It was the same feeling I got when I found her with the Lance guy. Although I mostly let her live because I couldn't stand how he was chasing her in an attempt to kill her. They may be my food, but I still wished the guy was a bit nicer to... Katelyn.
I snapped back as I heard the heavy door swing open. Katelyn held it so I could get out, and I heard the bang of it close as she stepped out with me. The scent of humans flooded my nose, and I pulled at her clothing to get her attention. She was wearing a hoodie too, but probably kept the hood above her eyes instead of over them so she could see.
"What is it?" she asked, but the sound of nearby gunfire made her understand.
Katelyn led me down the hall to... oh no.
Not this thing again.
I whined as I stopped short of the two steel doors. I expected another one of those big armed zombies to come out and smash me through it again. "Are you claustrophobic?" Katelyn asked, and I nodded, although I had no idea what that meant. "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen," she said as the doors opened by themselves. I expected the bottomless pit, but instead it was another room inside. I cautiously got in, but Katelyn calmly went inside like she owned it. The steel doors closed again, and I sat in the small room, waiting for something to happen as she pressed something on the wall.
The room began to fall slowly, and I panicked, breathing unevenly and grabbing the first thing I could, which was Katelyn's arm. What if a one-armed comes through the doors, or if this room falls faster?! How could she be so calm about this?!
The moving stopped, and the doors slid open. I flung myself out, sobbing. I barely knew why, aside from freaking out. "Hey, it's ok, Jason," she said, "It's just an elevator."
It could of been called anything, I was still freaking out. What if that thing suddenly dropped while moving, or caught on fire, or just stopped with the doors stuck shut... ANYTHING, in that small space, was dangerous.
Maybe that was what claustrophobic meant.
~Katelyn~
After Jason's "episode" in the elevator, he pulled himself together, and we were able to carry on. I mostly scaled buildings while he would just leap up them. We walked on the rooftops, looking for either friendly survivors for us to take shelter with, or hostile ones for him.
As I landed onto a lower building, I saw a body near the other side. I ran over, curious as to what it was.
It was another leaper, shot before he could attack. I noticed he had duct tape wrapped around the sleeves of his hoodie and pant legs in certain spots. Jason poked at it, probably wondering what it does.
"I think that's so they can leap farther without being dragged down or something," I said, and remembered I had a roll in my backpack. I pulled it out, and asked Jason to sit still. He did, and I wrapped the duct tape around his arms and legs, like how the leaper had it.
When I was done, his head shot up, sniffing the air. A survivor. He leaped onto the next rooftop in a hurry, and had to stop to wait for me.
When we got there, Jason began to growl at whoever it was, and I looked over the edge to see.
It was Lance, and he was quietly walking down an alley, a shotgun in his hands. I couldn't see exactly what kind it was, but my guess was it was a Remington.
He looked up when he heard Jason's growl, and saw me. He aimed his shotgun up, probably guessing I was a leaper. He realized it was me, and lowered it. "What do you want, Freeruner," he demanded. I chuckled, holding up the Glock at him. I fired a few rounds, but he moved just before he could get hit. He ran into one of the building doors, shutting it behind him. I jumped down, slowing myself down with the wall along the way.
I wasn't scared of him anymore. He probably expected me to cautiously open the door, because he looked shocked when I kicked it down, holding my Glock and P226 to his face. He immediately ducked, kicking my legs out like I did to him, only I expected it and shoved my elbow into his face as I went down.
After a nice, sickening cracking sound, he rolled away, barely getting up as I jump kicked him square in the chest. He pulled back, blood flowing from his nose, but he barely notices it.
He grabbed a machete off the wall, and charged towards me, swinging it wildly. I knew he wasn't one for aim once he was pissed, so I ducked, landing a good blow in his stomach with my head as he kept going. I heard the air leave him as he collapsed to the ground.
I was about to grab the machete, when I noticed something about his posture. Despite almost being knocked out, he was tense, like he was waiting. Before I could get back, his leg shot up, connecting with my chin. I fell back as everything became a blur. I had almost blacked out, but stayed awake as he shoved his foot on my chest.
"Any last words?" he asked, breathing heavily. It sounded like he was miles away.
"Go to hell," I muttered, and he snickered, causing more blood to seep out of his nose. "See you there."
A loud, high pitched screech caused him to get off, searching for the source, until a small blur tackled him.
FROM THE CEILING.
Clever little bastard indeed...
Lance began to scream as Jason carved into his chest. He was going to die slowly. Lance looked to me, pleading, but I just stared daggers at him as Jason found his trachea and chewed through it.
Eventually, Lance's body was limp, and Jason started to eat his heart, but spat it out, confused. I wasn't a doctor, but I could tell he had some heart disease. "Yeah, you don't want to eat that," I said. Normally, I'd be sick at the sight of something like this, but instead, I was relieved. It was like a weight off my shoulders, and I don't have to look behind me every second in case Lance comes out and tries to kill me.
Eventually, however, the natural nausea to seeing something like this kicked in, and I had to turn away to not throw up. I heard Jason crawling over, his claws making small taps on the ground. After a few deep breaths, I got back up, and we returned to the apartment.
It was surprising the day had already gone by, but I barely managed to get into the safe room. One of the large armed Pounders had destroyed the elevator while we were gone, and the stairs were either completely blocked off to the point where Jason couldn't get past, or partially collapsed. I had to pretty much redo what I did escaping Lance, and busted through the window to get back in. I was too tired to board it back up, and almost instantly fell asleep.
~Jason~
I was watching Katelyn's sleeping, surprised how soundly she slept. I woke up about 4 times at the last darkness, each time from a different nightmare I couldn't remember, but Katelyn's breathing was even and silent.
A screech interrupted my thoughts, and my eyes darted towards the window. The bright sun that comes out during the darkness wasn't in the sky, so I had taken the wraps off my eyes. I leaped out the window, watching for the source.
Nothing.
I could of sworn the leaper was close by, but there was no scent. Giving up,
I curled up next to Katelyn, dozing off into my next set of forgotten nightmares.