Rise From The Grave

Karin and Alice charged at the undead horde, knowing full well that their only escape was the ladder to the upper levels. If they hesitated then the ladder would be blocked off and escape would be impossible. They had to go immediately, running for their lives.

Alice took the lead and barrelled into a large man in a construction uniform. He stumbled back and in turn knocked others down like an obscene row of dominos...Rotting, disgusting dominos. Alice vaulted over his snapping jaws and slammed her elbow into a teenaged girl with maggots for hair.

Karin followed close behind, hopping over the writhing bodies and stomping on those that got too close for comfort. Their lack of weapons was a problem but it did not concern them much right now. All they had to do was make it another few metres to the ladder and everything would be ok. They could find weapons in the upper levels. They could fortify their own little area and defend it from the undead. They just had to climb up the rusted metal structure and get the hell out of there!

The undead shambled forward, forming a solid wall of rancid meat the colour of mouldy bread. They moved as one, a single undying entity sharing one hollowed out, shrivelled brain between them. Their unseeing, vacant eyes stared at the two intruders, as if the word prey was written in human sauce all over their thriving, living flesh.

Alice braced herself for the gauntlet of resurrected ghouls. Every muscle tensed within her and she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. A battle-cry was welling up within her and she couldn't hold it off. She screamed as she threw herself into the horde. She knocked down many of them, but in the process she too was felled. Trapped amidst a sea of writhing corpses she lost her footing and was tripped. She cried out in alarm as she tumbled alongside them.

"Alice!"

The smell was horrendous, like a long-abandoned slaughterhouse, still full of the festering pools of excrement blood and stale flesh. It was toxic. Alice couldn't think straight, her head spinning. She knew she was in danger, she could feel their writhing bodies all around her; feel their hands grabbing at her like a bunch of shoppers at a big sale. She was free to those who could get her, or so the undead thought.

There was still able to fight back. In a fit of panic and fury Alice kicked and clawed away at the creatures around her, lashing out at all who got too close. She felt her punches breaking hollowed out bones and some kicks sank through soft skin. Unfortunately there were far too many of them to defeat unarmed. She needed weapons. Needed them immediately.

Karin tried to break through to her friend, pummelling those who stood in her way, but she too was soon enshrouded in the growing mass of dead meat. She squealed and cried, but it only drew them closer. They grabbed her hands and feet, held her back, restrained her. Others moved to sink their foul malformed teeth into her body, to drain the essence of life from her and satiate their unnatural hunger.

As the undead circled around them like hungry sharks it became apparent that escape was quickly eluding them. Survival was becoming a distant dream in an imaginary world. All that was reality was tattered scraps of skin and hollow, soulless eyes. Teeth and claws, blood and gore, fear...It would be the last sights the unfortunate girls would ever see...

It seemed that surviving the apocalypse twice was impossible...

The undead swarmed over the two trapped humans. Their screams were deafening.

Rukia stared at her hands. They were...Normal...Why? She was dead! She knew she had died. She had become one of them! So why had she suddenly returned to normal? She tried to speak but it seemed the ability was not yet memorized by her formerly dead brain. It was only just beginning to fire up again and memories were returning to her rather quickly. Her grim fate in the old school building flooded back and she remembered her tragic end at the hands of the undead.

"Well Eve, how do you feel?" It was Mayuri. That name returned to her then. That insane psychopath! What had he done to her! Why had he kept her as a pet while she was a ghoul? She wanted answers, but firstly she had to learn how to ask them.

Her tongue moved of its own accord, buried instincts rising within her. "Ma...Mayuri..."

He smiled at that, as if he were watching a child speak their first words or take their first steps. He seemed far too over-joyed. But as far as her fractured memories could tell he had never been anywhere close to normal.

"Yes, my dear. Now what is your name?"

"Ru...Rukia." she whispered. The creepy doctor clapped and laughed.

"Marvellous! And now, tell me. Who is the enemy?"

Rukia thought for a moment and then uttered ever so softly, "Ghouls..."

"Wonderful! Now, one last question...Who is your master?" Mayuri leaned forward expectantly.

Rukia fell silent and stared at her feet. She waited for a moment while a stream of mixed thoughts spilled through her subconscious, all screaming out for her attention. She contemplated her answer and then straightened. "Mayuri...I have no master. Especially not you!"

That made him angry, very angry. Mayuri's alarmingly large grin upturned into a hideous frown and the flesh around his eyes was scrunched up as his face contorted into a most hideous scowl. "What? How dare you! I created you!"

"You kept me alive when I should have died. I don't know what the hell you're planning but I won't be a part of it and neither will Ichigo. Experiment on someone else!"

"You witch! I saved you from damnation and gave you power! You would still be a snivelling, brain-dead dog if I had not taken you! Know your place!" Mayuri's hands were flexing awkwardly, every few seconds his hands spasming and stiffening as if he were suffering fits of rigor mortis.

"You misunderstand your place Mayuri! You are not a god, you are a captain and not even my captain at that. I'm sure captain Ukitake doesn't agree with this."

"That fool does not know and I won't have you spilling my secrets from your deceitful tongue!"

"I am returning to my post and I shall be taking Ichigo with me."

"Never!" Mayuri snapped. "I may have lost my Eve, but I still have the Adam of the new breed! I can just find a replacement for your worthless self!"

"What?"

"Yes! I shall dispose of this failed experiment and try again! I have learned from my mistakes. I will make sure not to choose such a brat as my subject!" His laughter was utterly inhuman. Rukia felt uneasy. She turned to leave but Mayuri flash stepped behind her and grabbed her by the throat.

"Hey! Get off of me! Someone! Help!" She writhed about but Mayuri was strong. She drove her elbow into his ribs but he still held her tight. He took out a syringe and stabbed it directly into her back. Rukia blinked rapidly and collapsed. The crazed doctor looked down at his rebellious test subject and cursed.

"She disobeyed me...It seems she was too arrogant for her own good. I had better dispose of her. I won't have her causing problems for me here...Not when I am making such progress!" Mayuri pondered his dilemma and was soon struck by an idea. He grinned wickedly and opened a senkai gate.

The dead swarmed through the sewers, drawn by the delectable and irresistible scent of fresh meat. Karakura Town had become a wasteland and all that had once lived had been quickly drained of life. Only a rare few existed and out of the fractured pockets of resistance, many had fallen. The ghouls had left certain areas alone during the early days of the outbreak, take the sewers for example. It was an abandoned fortress for humanity to hide...

...But no more is it so.

When meals above ground turned scarce the undead followed the only traces they could find, those washed down into the putrid filth of the sewers. It had taken some time to find a way in but once a break was discovered a flood of inhuman rot streamed through.

The resistance had failed to defend against the attacks and so the rare survivors had now been halved. The battle against the undead was an uphill battle and humanity was losing.

Two of these aforementioned survivors had come face to face with defeat. A desperate break for freedom had ended in disaster and they had been overpowered by the horde. Karin Kurosaki and Alice. Two brave young warriors, survivors of the first wave. Now they too had fallen to the shambling masses of the undead.

Alice fought against the cold dead hands that reached out towards her. She kicked and screamed, crawling like an injured animal out of harm's way, only to find her surrounded once more. She could not hold them off forever. Rigid fingers clasped around her arms and legs, dragged her, and restrained her. She writhed about in a frenzy of panic and rage but she only managed to get herself entangled in a decaying web of desiccated meat.

Karin had been buried under an avalanche of pale human flesh, lost under them all. Her weak cries could only just be heard over the snarling of the undead beasts.

The end had come...

But death had other plans.

A senkai gate opened before them like the gates of Hell, spewing unnatural light into the darkness. Before any of the undead could even crane their fragile necks, a blur of movement flashed through the light and into the sewer. A great roar escaped from everywhere and no-where at once, the bestial snarl bouncing off the cracked walls and echoing tenfold.

Blood and tattered scraps rained down upon the scene of confusion. The ghouls, distracted by the foray hesitated in their fest, slowly turning as one entity in search of the intruders. While their hollow eyes scanned the darkness a second attacker moved forth. With a gleaming katana in one hand the second assailant descended from the senkai gate and cut down anything that came too close.

The mysterious figure dragged something behind him and laid it down on the ground. He then fell back to the gate and called out into the storm of bloodshed to call back his attack dog, "Ichigo! Return now!"

The orange-haired demon bounded back to his master like an obedient pup, his body smeared in dark red blood. The boy looked over his shoulder to the remaining undead, all of whom had backed away from the attacker, awe-struck by his power and terrified of the enemy who once walked among them. The traitor was a fearsome entity to them and so they all backed away cautiously.

Mayuri clipped a thick chain onto the boy's throat and dragged him back towards the senkaimon. "Come now! We have done what we came for!"

The monster tugged on his leash but Mayuri pulled on the chain until the beast let out a strangled cry. It was then that it obeyed its master and followed him through the gate and back into the other world.

Alice watched on in shock. Ichigo had saved them once again...But more importantly, what had Mayuri dropped off? While the undead were still reeling from the surprise attack Alice quickly scooped up Karin in her arms and ran over to the mass on the ground. She kneeled down and stared at it. It looked human. It was pallid but not sickly. There was still a hint of life within the exposed flesh of the body.

Alice gingerly prodded the body and rolled it onto its back and with that she let out a horrified gasp. The body belonged to none other than Rukia Kuchiki!

"W-What? That's...That's impossible!"

A collective growl stirred amongst the undead. It seemed the trance of fear was wearing off now. But with their hasty retreat they had created a wide enough gap for the trio to reach the ladder. Alice dragged Rukia's unconscious (Or so she hoped) form to the base of the ladder, and then she gave Karin a helping hand and lifted her up to the broken frame. As the young girl climbed up Alice hefted the body of her old friend, placing it over her shoulder, and jumped up towards the ladder. She didn't have to jump high to reach it, fortunately, and so she was able to scurry up out of the way just as the snapping jaws of death swarmed beneath.

When they were on the next floor Alice and Karin wandered a short distance before collapsing once again. The fight and the flight had worn them both out and now rest was more vital than any weapon. Alice leaned against the wall of the tunnel and stared at Rukia. It wasn't right. Just yesterday Rukia had been a vicious beast. As ravenous as Ichigo. They had saved them from Kirk and his accursed companions as well as the horde of death. It felt like it had been so long since then, but it had only been a day...So much had changed in so little time.

"Rukia...What the hell happened?"

Rukia's eyes flickered for a moment and Alice jumped, startled. She let out a cry of alarm and Karin quickly awoke from her rest to assess the situation. When she saw Rukia's eyelids fluttering...Saw the dazzling deep blue orbs behind them...Her jaw dropped.

Rukia was alive...No, not just alive...She was human!

Alice's eyes narrowed as Rukia looked over to her dazedly. The two met each other's gazes and held them in silence.

"A-Alice? Is it...Is that you?" Rukia's voice sounded weak, dry, but still it was just like it had been before the nightmarish events in the school building. Before the undead had claimed her.

Alice felt tears streaming down her grimy cheeks and she couldn't suppress her weak little smile. "Yes...It's me alright..." Unable to control her joy, nor hold back the rampant explosion of emotions within her heart, Alice lunged at Rukia and hugged her, "Welcome back!" she sobbed.

Rukia joined her.

The tired, terrified, traumatised trio held each other close and basked in each other's radiant warmth. Together they slept, fighting the nightmares that haunted them and always keeping an eye out for the silent ghostly killers that stalked this world.

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