I do not own these characters
Chapter Two - Infestation
The day was Thursday. She had been unconscious for three whole days. And in those three days, the whole world around her and what she knew had changed . Nothing would be the same . She knew that much. In fact, she was having a hard time coming to terms with what all she'd been filled in on. It all felt like a bad nightmare and she did not want it to be real. But she knew the cold, hard truth. Her mind traveled back in time to days she'd spent with her sister and mother while their father was away for work. It almost felt surreal to think about it after seeing what the world outside was turning into.
'Are you okay?', Tadashi's voice brought her out of her bubble of thoughts.
'Just trying not to think about the pain.', Elsa lied , glancing down at her hand as he wrapped crepe tape around her injured wrist.
'Not gonna lie. This might sting a bit..', he mumbled as he rolled a balm over her hand before locking the tap in place with a hand pin.
'Thanks.', Elsa flinched, jerking her body as the burning sensation slowly crept along her arm.
It had been nearly half an hour since the little event up on the rooftop and Patchy Stabbington sat at the table, his hands till cuffed together with a scornful glare in his 'd found a bottle of whisky on the floor next to where he was standing , firing the gunshots-he'd been drunk. The moment his gaze shifted in her direction, she quickly looked away, too terrified of what he'd do.
'Don't mind him.', Tadashi remarked, having noticed.
'He's…not the most ideal guy you wanna have around. But—considering what we're dealing with now, we could use someone who's good with a gun.', he sighed as he sat next to her.
'So … he's a game hunter?', Elsa inquired , glancing at Stabbington who was glaring at his cuffs.
'Uh….not exactly.', Tadashi chuckled. ' Well—we're not really sure why but we found him in one of the APD cars keeping away those creatures trying to eat him with the officer's shotgun,while all chained up. So I'd say he's handy with a gun.'
Great. So she not only had to be wary of those satanic creatures outside but also had to keep an eye on a possible criminal . She half began to wish that she'd never woken up from the car crash. At least she wouldn't have had to wake up to—whatever was going on around her now.
Mister Haddock and Heather were standing at one corner of the room, talking quietly among themselves about something while Stabbington sat on the floor, darting his gaze around the room like a caged animal ready to pounce. Hiccup and Fred had gone out to try and find a way out of the building without attracting the attention of the creatures outside.
'So how'd you all meet up?', Elsa asked quietly, trying to keep her mind busy.
'Uh..Well. You already know Patchy. And we just met Fred a day before we found you.', Tadashi mumbled, rubbing his chin in thought.
'But I knew the Haddocks long before …y'know.. all this happened.', sighed, taking his hat off and rubbing his sweat hair out of his eyes.
'Hiccup and Heather stayed with their mom up in Sanfran. We… actually went to the same school together.', Tadashi said quietly, making sure he was not heard by the Haddocks who stood in the corner.
'Really?', Elsa remarked in a surprised tone.
'Yeah. He stayed like—four blocks down from my place. Needed my help in homework from time to time.', Tadashi chuckled.. 'Their dad wasn't around that much though. Their parents split up with Hiccup was eight, from what he's told me. He stayed back South while the kids and the mom moved.'
'Um.. So—where is she then?', Elsa wondered out loud. Tadashi did not speak but his face already gave away what had happened to the poor lady.
'She got attacked when all this began. Luckily was in town, visiting his children. He…he had to put her down after she'd turned into one of those things.'.
A horrified feeling gripped Elsa and she glanced at Heather and her father. She'd never have thought that they'd gone through such a thing . No wonder was so hostile to her when Tadashi had brought her in. He probably did not want what happened to to his ex-wife to happen to his kids too.
Then, a dark, horrifying thought washed over Elsa . What if the same thing had happened to her family? What if someone close to Anna had been bit ? What if Anna was attacked?
'I've got my little brother and Aunt up in Sanfran. They're holed up with another group—we managed to make contact before the phone lines went dead. We're heading back over there before all this gets any worse. ', Tadashi remarked before he turned to her.'What about you? '
She was spared from having to talk about her fears of Anna being attacked as the entry doors to the room burst open and a panting Hiccup and Fred hurried into the room with downtrodden expressions .
'We—we … tried to. There was this—and a girl—and gun—oh god—',Fred coughed , trying to catch his breath.
'We tried finding a way out but the whole goddamn street is full of those things!', Hiccup panted.
'We.. ran into a girl outside. She said she's been hidin down at the store down the street. We trad tuh help her and asked her tuh join us but she—she took Fred's gun when we weren't looking and… just shot herself …in the head. '
Elsa's stomach churned as she took in what they said. Looking around the room, everyone else seemed to have a horrified expression, even Stabbington, to her surprise, who seemed disturbed.
'The sound of the shot… it drew in all the creatures that heard Patchy's gunshots. They're.. right outside the building.',Fred completed as he gulped down some water from his flask.
'Goddammit!',Mister Haddock roared, punching hard into the wall next to him. As he walked away, there was a fist sized hole through which Elsa could peek into the neighboring room.
'How many?', he continued, once he'd calmed down.
'Ya might wanna see this yourself, sir.', Fred muttered despondently .
Seething in rage, the fifty year old man stomped past the others and vanished out of the door. Soon,all the others followed him through, making their way down the many floors of spiraling stair to the ground floor.
The office building was built in such a way that the rooms and corridors of the building encircled around the hollowed out center of the building. If you stood near the safety railing of the corridor, you could gaze down to view what was happening on the ground floor.
She'd only made it out to the first floor when the sound of the familiar, sickening moans filled her ears. Her breath began to shiver as she followed the others who were all gathered in the corridor, around the safety railing. The moment she edged forward and had a clear enough view of what the others were all staring at, she wished she had listened to her brain and stayed behind in the room.
The ground floor below was teeming with dozens of creatures similar to the ones Elsa had seen before. Their pungent, rotting scent filled the air, repulsing those who stood behind the railing, hidden from sight, watching them from above. More and more crawled in through the glass entry doors that lay shattered to pieces on the floor.
'Holy fuck!', Stabbington hissed in horror. 'Tha hell are we gon' do?!'
Haddock signaled for the group to head back upstairs . As they crept away, Hiccup , who'd be walking behind Patchy Stabbington, involuntarily bumped into the fellow, resulting in him turning around and shoving him hard, sending him tumbling into the glass cabinet behind him. Luckily the glass did not break but the sound of the collision echoed through the halls. Mister Haddock growled and grabbed a handful of Stabbington's hair, holding the barrel of his rifle close to his chin threateningly.
'Guys! Keep quiet!', Tadashi hissed hurriedly.
They watched as he slowly edged towards the corridor . Elsa's heart was hammering against her chest as they watched him.
Then, to their relief,they saw his shoulders relaxing .
'We're clear.', he sighed as he rejoined them.
'Make one more goddamn mistake and I'll stick this bullet up yer pie hole,yeh understand?', Mister Haddock growled at Stabbington before letting go of his hair.
The group made their way back up to the room and boarded themselves in, just to be cautious.
'Now how y'all goin tuh get past those things oussaide?', Stabbington chuckled deviously as he eyed everyone nervously pacing the room.
Hiccup glared at him for a second , as if mulling something over in his head.
'We could always use him as bait .' , he finally proposed.
'Hell naw !', Stabbington growled and made to get up, only to slide back down to his chair after catching 's eye.
'We've gotta work together. Fighting amongst ourselves isn't gonna help us. ', Tadashi said as he helped Heather pack all the remaining supplies into her backpack.
'An' who the fuck made yeh the sheriff of this town,eh?', Stabbington hissed mockingly .
Tadashi took in a deep breath and ignored his taunt. Elsa decided to help him and Heather pack the bags so that they were ready to make a quick getaway—assuming that it was possible.
'What about the sewer entrance in the alleyway outside? It's near the back section of the building .', Fred suggested.
'Are yeh friggin crazy, boy? You want us the strut out straight into a street full'o those damn monsters?', Mister Haddock roared.
'No dad. He's right . We've gone out through that alley before. For food supplies. Someone had blocked the alley from the main street with a dumpster.', Hiccup interrupted his father with a determined voice. 'It might be our only way out.'.
Mister Haddock glanced around the room , as if looking for anyone to back him up.
'It's… worth a shot.', Tadashi piped up.
As a last resort, glanced down at the handcuffed fellow in front of him.
'Don' look at me, old man.', Stabbington snorted indignantly .
Defeated,Mister Haddock let out a despondent sigh and pursed his lips.
' Fine. But we all stick tehgether.', he grunted, shoving Stabbington back onto his feet. 'Anything goes wrong, we can act fast then.'
The others nodded .
Elsa continued helping Heather finish up packing the bags while the boys headed out to try and find some item they could use to kill the monstrous creatures without drawing up too much sound.
It didn't take long for them to return and they didn't carry much of anything new with them except for one or two hatchets that Elsa guessed they would've taken from the emergency handed one to heather, who seemed to revel in being given the weapon and then held out the other one to Elsa, who merely gazed at it, wide eyed, as if it were a bomb that would go off if she touched it.
'It won't bite ya.', he remarked, noticing her hesitation.
'I've… never used one of these things.', she muttered quietly.
'And I've never used a gun on humans before, but everything's got a time a place. You need to be able to defend yourself if they catch you.',Hiccup responded .
Elsa glanced at Heather, who gave her an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath, Elsa reached out and wrapped her fingers around the cold metal handle . The moment Hiccup let go of his hold on the hatchet, Elsa almost dropped it to the floor. Not because it was that heavy or anything. It had more to do with the fact that she wasn't even holding it properly.
'You… want some help with that?', Heather offered as she noticed Elsa struggling with the hatchet.
'Yeah. Thanks.. I just..hope I don't actually have to use it .', Elsa replied weakly.
'Alright people. We're headin out! Stick together and don't make no unnecessary noises unless yeh want those things to chew yeh up!', Mister Haddock barked at them group as he placed his hand on the door knob.
With a final nod, he swung the door open, his gun pointed out in front of him, ready to take the shot. Fortunately, he did not need to use it. The entire hallway in front of them was vacant and there was no sound of any moaning in the vicinity. Gripping the handle of the hatchet a little tighter, Elsa followed the group out, with and Hiccup leading the way and Fred bringing the rear.
They hurried to the end of the long hallway, making sure their footsteps were not easily detectable. Once they neared the corner, Hiccup, poked his head out and then retracted it back in, his breath quickening.
'Two of em.', he whispered to his father who furrowed his brows, thinking hard.
'We have no other choice. We need teh keep moving.', Mister Haddock muttered. He turned to Elsa and Heather, grabbed the hatchets from their grip and handed them over to his son and Fred. 'Cut their bleedin heads be quiet 'bout it.'
The others stood as silently as they could , even going so far as holding in their breath as Hiccup and Fred crept out around the corner . A few seconds later, the dull sound of metal hitting meat filled the air. The sound came again. And once more.
'Clear.', Fred's voice called out and the group moved round the corner. Elsa almost threw up on the spot.
There in front of them lay the two decapitated bodies of the rotting creatures, their bodies unmoving while their heads, severed from their torso, still moaned and snapped as they saw the humans walking towards them. A thick, blackish liquid stained the white flooring and it continued to ooze out of their necks, where their heads used to be.
'That's just gross…', Elsa heard Heather whisper, pinching her nose as Hiccup and Fred returned the now bloodstained hatchets to gave Elsa a knowing glance as she caught her eyeing the hatchet repulsively.
'Let's get a move on before more of em turn up.', Mister Haddock grumbled hurriedly.
The group hurried through the rest of the corridor and made their way towards the fire exit door. They all hurried down the dingy staircase, most of them almost leaping three steps in a go until they all came to a halt when they neared the ominous exit door that opened out onto the ground floor of the and cautiously, Hiccup placed his hand on the door lever and pushed it downward. Taking a low breath, he slowly edged the door inwards and gazed out into the corridor outside through the small gap. As they watched, he shook his head, signaling that the view was clear and pulled the door open wider and poked his head out to make sure.
'Clear.', he muttered hastily and bolted forward .
The others followed him through and as Elsa brought the rear of the group, she almost squealed in fright as her eyes caught sight of the satanic creatures passively shuffling along on the far end of the corridor, behind the glass walls. While she had seen what the city outside had become, her brain still had a hard time coping with the sight of those things walking around in hordes. Clapping a hand to her mouth to stop herself, she hurried after the group, with Fred leading the way.
Fred led the group away from the main corridors where the creatures were shuffling around and into cramped stairway that led downwards from the ground floor . He led them into what looked to be the underground electrical storage unit of the building. The systems had all stopped whirring and there was not a single sign that an electrical current had passed through the mechanisms in the near hours. They could hear the muffled moans and groans of the satanic creatures moving around outside on the streets through the slim, rectangular windows of the room that offered them a view of the ground level outside.
'I ain't headin down there.', Stabbington grumbled as Fred, Hiccup and Tadashi opened the circular hatch on the ground. A strong, repulsive stink shot into the room, nauseating everyone present. Elsa pressed her palm to her face to try and stave off the repulsive scent.
'Ya got a better idea, smartass?', Hiccup growled .
'Is it safe?', Heather asked with her face hidden into her arm.
'No chances of us running into those things are lesser.', Fred answered with a shrug.
For a few silent seconds, the group stared down the black hole , no one daring to volunteer to head down there .
'You go first.', Hiccup remarked, his gaze fixed on Stabbington.
'You gotta be yankin my leg…', he mumbled as his face fell in shock.
'Yer the ass who fired off those bloody gunshots an' drew em here in the firs place, so it's only fair.', Mister Haddock answered as he walked over to Heather and opened up the backpack. Rummaging inside, he withdrew a flashlight and placed it in Stabbington's cuffed hands.
'Tha' hell am I s'pposed to do with this? Throw it at those damn things?', he chided .
'Get down there and signal to us when it's safe. I don't trust giving you a gun yet. You might turn on us and fire.', Hiccup remarked sternly.
As Stabbington stared around , hoping to find someone to side with him, they all took a step back, leaving him space to crawl down the ladder into the dark abyss. Mumbling curses fluently under his breath, the red head edged forward , scrunched his face in disgust under the strong smell before taking a deep breath and placing his foot on the ladder. The group watched as he crawled down the ladder with the flashlight in between his teeth. Soon, he vanished from sight , swallowed up by the darkness.
They waited and waited. But there was no sign of Stabbington.
'D'you think he took off?', Elsa whispered to Heather as the two girls stood close together, eyeing the black circle in the ground warily.
'Not likely. He's got nothin to defend himself with. Unless, as he said, he plans on throwing the flashlight at those things.', Heather replied .
Then, after a few seconds, a beam of bright light came out of the dark hole, blinking twice .
'Come on then.', Hiccup muttered and moved forward, crawling down the ladder and disappearing from sight. The rest of them followed through. Elsa waited for Heather to vanish from view and then pursed her lips, trying to ignore the pungent scent as she made her way down the ladder. Tadashi was the last of them to make his way down the hole.
'Fuckin 'ell.', Elsa heard Stabbington's coarse voice grunt through the darkness.
'Keep close.', Hiccup called out as Stabbington led the way, flashing the light out in front of him.
The suffocating darkness pressed down on them, not making it any easier to ignore the putrid stench wafting around them. The sound of droplets of water falling from the mossy ceiling down into the water below echoed through the tunnel. With each step through the disgusting water, Elsa felt the urge to throw up. She'd never been in such a situation before and was not doing a very good job of coping with it either. She found herself almost tripping over and falling into the disgusting waters thrice. Given the choice,this was not even on the list of things she'd wanted to do.
For long seconds that stretched into minutes, no one spoke and the only noise around them was the sound of their ragged breathing and their feet shuffling along in the ankle high waters .
'Not the most ideal place in the world for a chat, is it?', Elsa heard Tadashi say as he walked next to Heather.
'I'd rather not speak right now.', Heather coughed as they moved along. Elsa glanced behind her as they walked. Great. She was now the one bringing the rear. And she didn't like that.
'What about you?', Tadashi remarked , catching her attention.
'What?', Elsa replied.
'How're you holding up with everything that's goin on?'
'I dunno. I—' , Elsa began saying but she was cut off mid-sentence as she heard the familiar moan behind her and before she knew what was happening, she felt something scaly and boney to the touch wrap itself around her ankle.
'AAARGH!', Elsa screamed out in fright and turned around to find one of the creatures dragging it's body after her, barely two feet away, growling hungrily . Her mind was numb with fear and before she knew it, the thing stopped moving, Elsa's hatchet embedded deep into the crown of it's head. As it's grip slackened on her, Elsa backpedaled away from the creature , her chest heaving from the sudden fright.
She stared around at the others in the darkness and they all bore similar expressions of shock on their faces as they stared at her. Hiccup(who seemed a little shaken) made his way over to her and yanked the hatchet out from the creature's head, handing it over to Elsa .
'Are you alright?', he said, his gaze transfixed on the deep gash on the creature's head.
Unable to form words just yet, Elsa nodded her head hurriedly, almost shaking as she tried to calm herself.
'Stay close. We don' want ourselves another such encounter.', Mister Haddock panted with his eyes fixed on Elsa and the hatchet , as if surprised she'd actually used it properly. In fact, Elsa herself was feeling much the same way.
Tadashi and Heather approached her as Hiccup walked away back to the front of the group. They all looked down at the creature that attacked Elsa. It's skin was scaly looking, with parts of flesh peeling off and it's lower body was missing. From the looks of it, it looked like it had been ripped off the thing's body. Despite how repulsive it looked, Elsa couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just swung an axe straight into the head of the thing, which she knew had been a human woman like she was once.
'Come on.', Tadashi mumbled but she could tell he too was shaken from the encounter.
'Let's hope you don't have to do that again.', he added, as if he'd read her mind.
For the next half an hour, the group trudged along in the darkness, the single beam of white light emanating from Stabbington's grasp their only source of guidance in the humid , mossy tunnel. After what seemed like hours, they came to sudden halt after the flashlight shone onto what looked like a metal ladder that lead upwards vertically. Stabbington followed the ladder and pointed the flashlight up onto the ceiling, where a circular manhole opening came into view, along with the rats the scuttled along the surface.
'I'll go check if it's clear.', Hiccup mumbled ,signaling to Heather to hand over her hatchet .
'No. It's not safe.', Mister Haddock shook his head, only to have his son glare at him.
'Dad. I don't need your permission . And why do you care so much all of a sudden?', he retorted irritably.
'You watch yer-', Mister Haddock growled before backing off as Heather placed her hand on his arm.
The group watched as he began climbing up the slippery ladder until he was close to the manhole opening, nearly ten feet above them. He lifted the heavy iron cover and slid it aside as quietly as he could. The group watched with bated breath, staying as silent as they could as he poked his head out . Hiccup crawled out of the manhole and disappeared from view for a few seconds .As the group began to grow anxious , his head appeared back above the circle of white light above them and he beckoned them to come up.
One by one, the group crawled up the ladder and out through the circular manhole. As Elsa followed Tadashi through, the blinding light of the setting sun forced her to squint her eyes .As her eyes readjusted, she noticed the fact that they were standing in the inner compound area of an abandoned two storeyed motel. The parking lot around them, adjacent to the ground floor rooms were all empty and the flimsy front gates were closed shut from the outside, with it's padlock visible in the orange glass panes could be seen shattered, with it's shard strewn across the pavement. Stains of blood could be visible along the gravel, and it looked as if bodies were dragged along the ground. Elsa had an inkling that the blood belonged to the creatures that infested the city. Thankfully, there did not seem to be any sign of those things around, except for the two that lay on the ground, their headless bodies lying motionless on the ground and their heads missing.
'We could stay here for the night until we decide what to do next.', Hiccup remarked to his father as Fred closed the manhole cover shut after he'd climbed out.
'Not very secure..But at least no sign of those things.', Heather panted, shielding her eyes from the setting sun and glancing at the fencing that surrounded the compound.
'Hey guys. I was thinking. Since we're gonna prolly be runnin into those creatures every now and then, we should come up with a name for know those things are like undead beings. And they smell like a rotten corpse. So I was thinking—rotters maybe? ', Fred remarked with a serious face .
For a few seconds, nobody answered, simply staring at him silently, as if wondering what else was going to pour out of his lips.
'What?', Fred muttered, looking around at the group.
'We are not givin those things names,boy.',Mister Haddock snorted as he stomped away .
'I mean—come on! We can't just keep calling em—"those things"! It doesn't seem cool at all! Besides, it's what I las' heard the new channels calling em! ', Fred whined as he followed and Hiccup as they headed towards the reception office of the motel to make sure that they were truly clear of 'rotters'.
'You're a natural with that thing.', Heather remarked , gazing at Elsa and then at the hatchet in her hand.
' Believe me, It took me two whole months to even know how to swing an axe properly. Dad's not exactly the best teacher ya could ask for. Bad temper, ya know.', Heather chuckled, trying to ease the situation.
'Come on. Let's go take a look around. Wouldn't wanna leave all the fun to the boys now would we?', she added and the two of them moved away from the compound, heading towards where the toilets were located, just a few rooms away from the entrance gates.
Together, Elsa and Heather made their way around the abandoned lot, circling back to the rear area of the motel and thankfully, had only run into two rotters, both of them trapped inside one of the rooms. Heather proceeded to mark the door with the blackish blood that dripped from Elsa's hatchet, courtesy of the legless rotter they'd run into down in the sewers. The skies were almost inky black now and yet, no one had bothered to turn on the lights in the building.
'Is there…a power outage or something?', Elsa mumbled, looking around with the flashlight in her hand.
'The… electricity lines went dead nearly a day ago. No phones, no computers. It's back to the stone ages. ', Heather chuckled weakly. 'Besides, rotters are attracted to light—not just the sound. So we can never been too sure.'
'Right .',Elsa nodded, feeling a little stupid. Of course, among the many things she'd missed out on while sleeping inside a crashed car for nearly three days, this just added to the list. She had a feeling she had to be the biggest liability to the group at the moment, since she was the most ill prepared .
'So where ya from? I can tell ya ain't from round here from the accent.', Heather remarked, trying to make small talk as they began walking back to the central compound.
' My dad's Norwegian but my mom's from Michigan. I grew up in Oslo.', Elsa answered as she kicked a rotter body lying nearby, just to make sure it wasn't moving.
'Cool. Well, for the record, both ma parents are from Louisiana. But me an' my brother grew up in Sanfransisco .', Heather remarked with a smile. Elsa had heard from Tadashi about Hiccup and Heather's story but decided not to press it with the girl. She'd rather be on a friendly page with what looked to be the only human human beings she'd met since waking up.
'Anything new?', Hiccup remarked as the two girls rejoined the rest of the group.
'Just two rotters in room number fourty-three. I marked the door so that you're not stupid enough to go stomping in.', Heather replied with a snort.
'So we're really gonna start callin em that?', Hiccup chuckled .
Heather simply grinned at her brother and walked away towards Tadashi and Fred, who were checking the rooms on the first floor for any rotters.
'So how ya holdin' up? We should've been more careful with ya. Ya know, since this is all more new to you than tuh us.', Hiccup remarked , moving his hair out of his eyes.
'Well..I'm still alive.', Elsa replied with a small smile, trying not to let him now just how lost she was feeling at the moment.
'Don't worry. We're all … still new to all this. In fact, you're better off than we were when the outbreak started. You got a heck of a swinging arm. ', he chuckled , eyeing her hatchet as his father came stomping over.
'We stay here and rest fer the night. Get some sleep.', Mister Haddock grumbled, looking between them.
'Great. I wuz thinking me, Tadashi and Elsa go on a run to the trading outpost a few minutes down the road to look for supplies in the morn. ', Hiccup nodded.
'Me!? W-why me?', Elsa blurted out, her eyes almost popping out of her sockets at the sheer thought of being out in the open with the rotters again.
'Relax. You're not goin alone. Besides, I need Fred to keep watch while we're gone. Dad's the only one who's got a leash on Patchy and whatever she might've told ya, my sis ain't really all that good with a gun nor an axe.', Hiccup smiled at her.
'I-I'm not good with them either!', Elsa stammered, trying her best to point out the fact she had no intention to be out in the open so soon.
'Nonsense!',Mister Haddock boomed,' Ah seen yeh with that axe. Not easy takin out one o' those things in the dark like yeh did. Yeh've got a knack fer it, kid.'.
'So it's settled.', Hiccup nodded, turning to her. 'Get some sleep. We go out early.'
And just like that, Elsa was to head out on an expedition where she had no opportunity to voice her opinion.
'Hey! You comin or what?', Elsa heard Heather call out and the two girls headed up the staircase through the reception , deciding to pick the first open door they laid eyes on.
The entire room was dark so they couldn't exactly see everything around them but they could see the two twin beds with their blankets laying disheveled on the mattress. There was a mirror sitting on a cupboard who's drawers lay wide open. A bedside table sat between the two beds with a telephone set who's receiver lay on the ground, still attached to it's set by the coil. It didn't look like much and this was the first time Elsa had ever stayed at such a low budget motel but at least, given the circumstances, it wasn't dirty .
'I'll take that one.', Heather said immediately pointing to the bed furthest away from the door and headed over to place her bag on the bed, as if to claim the spot to be her's eternally.
Elsa walked over to the remaining bed and sat down, leaning her hatchet to wall next to her bed so that she could grab it easily should the need would've placed her bag next to her but it was lost, still hung onto the horse's saddle . It probably lay there, forgotten on the streets of Atlanta, amidst a hundred, maybe thousand rotters.
'You can take someoma clothes if ya want.', Elsa heard Heather's voice, as if the latter had read her mind or something.
'Thanks.', Elsa replied, giving her a small smile.
As Heather handed over a pair of skinny jeans and a sleeveless top, there was a knock on their door(even though it was open) and they turned to see Tadashi standing in the doorway , holding two lamps that gave off an orangish glow.
'Found these in one of the closets in the cargo room. Change up quick and come down. wants use to eat and turn in as early as possible. ', he remarked as he handed Heather one of the lamps.
Tadashi left as the girls nodded.
Heather placed the lamp on the bedside table between the two of them and they began undressing. Surprisingly, Heather's clothes fit Elsa almost perfectly, with only the jeans being a little shorter than she would've liked.
'Sorry. Got short legs, thanks to ma mom.', Heather chuckled weakly as she noticed Elsa looking down at the jeans in the mirror.
Together, the two of them made their way back downstairs and headed to the reception area where all the others were already present, with Hiccup,Fred and Tadashi moving the reception desk to the side so that they'd have more space to sit on the floor and begin eating. Mister Haddock was outside, having what looked to be a stern conversation with Stabbington, whose cuffs were now off of his wrists.
Soon, the group were seated on the dusty floor, with a lantern placed in the center as a substitution for a campfire, with everyone munching away at the food supplies that were left in Heather's backpack. Despite having wolfed down practically the entire refrigerator back at the old ranch house, Elsa did feel a little hungry—although it probably had to do with the fact that she basically threw up most of what she ate after she'd shot the bullet through the rotter that used to be Kai. Poor Kai. He must've been attacked by one of the rotters after the car crash, since Elsa distinctly remembered a chunk of his neck that was missing. Then, out of nowhere, a disturbing image of her younger sister as a ferocious flesh-eating rotter sprang up in her mind's eye. She almost swallowed the sandwich in her fingers as she tried to shove aside such dark thoughts.
The rest of the dinner went so quickly that before she knew it, Elsa was already heading back upstairs . Her eyelids were begging her to let them close shut and she did not know how long it took or how it happened, but the last thing she remembered was the feeling of her body crashing against the soft mattress .
The skies were a bright orange as the sun's rays began to creep along the pavement. The roads were all pretty empty and garbage and stray pieces of paper were strewn across the area as if a hurricane had passed through. The three of them walked as quietly as they could as they neared the abandoned trading outpost.
'Everyone be on guard.', Hiccup mumbled as he locked his shotgun ready. Elsa and Tadashi hid behind a stationary military tank as Hiccup made his way round the compound, making sure they were alone. A few seconds later, they heard him clap and the two of them came out of their hiding spot and walked over to him.
'I'll keep a lookout. You two head inside and take what you it 't wanna get to comfy out here.', he ordered and turned around, like a military commando would, scouring the landscape with his hawklike gaze.
Elsa and Tadashi walked away, creeping inside the cargo building that looked like a giant department store from the inside. Rows and rows of supplies and food stock, remaining untouched. It was like a treasure trove in the middle of a desert.
'You got this?', Tadashi mumbled as Elsa nodded, taking a deep breath and tightening her grip on the hatchet.
'Okay. So I'll go get the medical stuff and anything else I cn find. You check out the food supplies and meet me back here in five.', he remarked with a smile and the two of them split up.
The area was empty, with the only other sound being Tadashi's footsteps across the floor that began to grow dimmer and dimmer by the second. Making her way to the trolleys and yanking one out, she began flipping all sorts of food packet and containers; anything she laid eyes on. It was a wonder—she'd never been able to shop so freely when it was a world filled with living , breathing people. She didn't have to push against the rough crowd in the store;She didn't have to ignore the badgering shop assistant who kept asking her to test out their new products. No, ironically, it was a lot more peaceful than it was before.
Spotting her favorite brand of cereal on the shelf, she placed her hatchet in the trolley and reached out to the carton, checking the expiry date. The last thing she wanted under the current circumstances was food poising .
As she stood there, there was an sudden explosion of sound as the cartons on the shelf in front of her burst off from their spots, cascading to the floor noisily. Something red flashed in front of her and she felt ten, scaly fingers wrap themselves around her arm and she was looking down at froze to the spot in terror as she gazed down at the familiar face that was leaning towards her in an unnatural, horrific manner through the now hollow shelf row. But she did not look anything alike to what Elsa remembered of her. Her once big, curious blue eyes were now replaced with blank, white ones; her round face which always bore a bright, enthusiastic smile now sported a set of yellowing, gnarly looking teeth that were exposed due to a missing upper lip; her skin was waxy and sunken.
As she stood there in horror, staring at the shell of a body that used to be her sister, the rotter growled and sunk it's teeth deep into her arm.
Elsa sprang up in her bed, gasping for air. The room was not as dark as before and she could see the navy blue sky through the window—the sun hadn't fully risen yet. Her bed sheets lay strewn on the floor below her bed and her clothes were plastered to her. Touching her sweaty forehead with two clammy palms , she turned to see Heather sitting on her bed, hair stuck up in random directions, looking at her with what looked to be concern written on her face.
'You were … rollin around . Crying.', she mumbled as she handed Elsa a bottle from her bag.
'Thanks.', Elsa muttered as she gulped down some water and wiped her lips on her back of her hand, feeling her heart rate slow down.
'Don't worry. Yer not the only one having nightmares. I've not been able to sleep since … three thirty , ah think.', Heather remarked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
Just then, the two of them were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking softly on their door.
'It's open!', Heather called out and the doorknob turned and a dark silhouette , which they recognized to be Hiccup, walked inside.
'Are ya serious?', he chided with an irritable tone. They couldn't tell otherwise, since it was still mostly dark outside. 'There's a world full of undead monsters knockin on our doorstep and ya still can't bother to lock the damn door?'.
'Get off ma back!', Heather grunted and plunked back down onto her bed, hidden from view underneath her bed sheets.
Hiccup stared sternly at his sister for a little longer before his gaze shifted to Elsa.
'You wanna get ready quick. We're meetin Dashi outside the compound in ten.', he remarked before walking out the door .
Elsa glanced over at Heather and remarkably, she'd gone back to sleep. Her soft snores now filled the room as Elsa got up and pulled the top Heather had given her and grabbed her denim jacket. Looking around to make sure Heather wasn't watching, she tiptoed over and rummaged inside, searching for any sort of perfume or anything she might have to get rid of the horrible stink on her clothes. Having found her target, Elsa quickly sprayed it over her neck and on her jacket before placing it quietly back inside the backpack. She then headed over to the wall next to her bed and picked up her hatchet. Turning to the door, she checked on her roommate once more before shutting the door behind her.
The skies were still mostly dark, with a soft tint of blue coating the inky blackness. Even though the surrounding area experienced moderate temperatures during the day time, it was mostly cold, freezing breezes that blew at Elsa as she made her way through the empty central compound of the motel. She found Hiccup standing near the front gate of the compound, sharpening what looked like arrows . And the fact that he had a crossbow slung over his shoulder didn't help either.
'D'you think we'd really need that?', she inquired as she drew nearer to him, trying to ignore the shivering cold air simultaneously.
'Can't be too slack. If it comes to it, this guy's our best defense out there.', he answered, giving her a nod.
Placing the final arrow into his quiver, he locked it in place and slung it over his back before rummaging inside his jeans pockets and withdrawing a circle of keys.
'Dad found it yesterday in the one of the cubicles, attached to a rotter. Must've been the caretaker of the building. Poor bloke. ', he remarked as he unlocked the side gate , which was large enough to merely allow people or motorbikes through.
'So… where's Tadashi?', Elsa remarked as she walked through the gates.
'He went up ahead to pick a vehicle for us to move around quickly. Should be back any minute.', Hiccup answered as he locked the gates shut behind him.
'So any comments from my sister dear after I left you two?', he inquired inquisitively.
'No.', Elsa chuckled ,'She was already asleep by the time I got dressed.'
The two of them laughed for a few light-hearted seconds. Something she hadn't done in a while. It felt nice.
'Yeah… that's—that's Heather. ', Hiccup snorted.
'This one time—I remember when I wuz , maybe eight or nine—mom and dad were having another row at each other downstairs in our living room. Me'n Heather shared a room , which was…on the top floor I think, next to our parents'. So anyway… there I was, rollin around tryin to block out the sound of em and mah sister jus' slept through the whole damn thing like a log.'
They continued chatting like that for a few minutes, keeping themselves busy until they caught whiff of two sets of headlights heading in their direction from down the road. The two of them crept and hid behind the motel dumpster, just in case it wasn't someone they were expecting. Luckily, the familiar face of Tadashi smiling at the dumpster was what met their eyes a few seconds later.
Tadashi had managed to salvage what looked to be an ancient looking blue ford anglia. It's windscreens were all dusty and there were scratches and dents along the car's body frame. Hiccup threw himself into the set next to Tadashi while Elsa found herself sitting in the backseat, her precious hatchet still in her grip.
The trip to the outpost was fairly quiet, with Hiccup trying to tune in to find a radio frequency to no avail. Elsa spent the trip gazing out the window. She'd never seen a place so empty. They'd drive right through an entire neighborhood of quaintly furnished houses and there was not a single soul in sight. Leaves lay strewn on the vacant road , crows and other scavenging animal roamed the area. There was no sound or motion . It was like the place was frozen in time.
It took them nearly twenty minutes to reach the trading outpost the Hiccup had scouted from the map at the motel reception. As predicted, the compound looked abandoned. Nothing seemed to be moving in sight, save a for the occasional crows and rats that were scavenging the drove towards a short, squarish building near the center of the abandoned compound. It's maroon pain was decaying in many places and it's windowless exterior body didn't seem like it's been looked after that carefully. There was a rickety looking metal fence around the building , though what sort of security it offered against trespassers, Elsa didn't know.
The three of them got out of the car and walked over to the building, staying as quiet as possible. Hiccup drew out his crossbow and held an arrow in his spare hand, ready to fire just in case they were to attract some unwanted attention.
'It's locked.', Elsa remarked, holding the padlock in her hand.
'I always come prepared.', Tadashi remarked with a smile and headed back to the car, opening the trunk and retrieving a set of large, adjustable clippers.
'Found it at the garage I got the car from.', he mumbled as he opened the device and placed the chains of the padlock in between and using all his strength, clamped down on it. It immediately cut the metal chains locking the fence in two and it cascaded to the floor in a small heap.
Hiccup swung the fence gate open and the three of them walked in. Tadashi made use of the clipper once again, unlocking the padlock that secured the twin metal doors of the cargo warehouse . Together, they swung open the door and leapt back, weapons at the ready in case they were bombarded with rotters. But nothing came. They stood there, staring at rows and columns , unmoving and passive in the dark. Tadashi drew out a flashlight from his pockets and pointed it ahead of them. Once the area looked safe enough, Hiccup turned to the other two , his eyes darting around the area.
'I'll go look for munition and any ammo.', he remarked before turning to Tadashi.
'You handle the medical stuff. And Elsa , try an' find any food supplies.'
Elsa and Tadashi nodded and the trio split up, heading off in different direction.
Elsa pulled out the flashlight Tadashi had given her and shone the light on the nearest shelves. Books. Hand-phones. Dog food. On the fifth shelf from the main entrance, her eyes caught sight of a packet of rice with specks of dust collected on it. The place hadn't been open for a while longer than five days. That much she knew. She opened her backpack and began gathering all and everything she laid eyes on. Whatever she managed to grab, was valuable for the group with what the world was outside, stuff like that was hard to come by. If anything , she knew that, since she'd seen how the department stores were all pillaged back in the city. She began to wonder how many cities like Atlanta had been hit. The others said that there was no electricity and all the phone lines were dead so that had to mean at least the seaboards were hit.
Having cleared one of the shelves , she turned on her heel to head to the next set , but what stood inches away from her made her heart lurch up into her throat. Standing a bare four feet away was a male rotter, it's blank, pale eyes staring into Elsa's own blue one . Within seconds, it was on top of her, clawing at the air and snapping it's yellowing , scabby teeth at her.
'AAAARGH!', a horrible scream of terror shot out of Elsa's open mouth as she struggled to keep the monster at bay. Clenching her teeth, she swung her hatchet around and sunk it deep into the rotter's neck. But to her complete shock, the thing did not die, nor did it seem affected in any way. No, it kept growling and snapping at her, now with the hatchet embedded halfway into it's neck.
'PLEEASE! HELP! Ngh—', Elsa cried as she tried to fend off the creature but it was of no use. It's snapping teeth were mere seconds away from tearing away at her neck when all of a sudden, there was a flash of wood and a second later, there was an explosion of a thick, blackish liquid and the rotter collapsed on top of her, moving no more.
Pushing the thing aside, Elsa lay there on the ground, her chest heaving, staring at Tadashi who seemed to have lost the color in his face. A baseball bat was locked in his grip, with it's striking end coated with the blood of the rotter, dripping to the floor.
'T-thanks.', Elsa panted as he helped her back up.
'Why the hell was it targeting you?', Tadashi mumbled, gazing down at the rotter.
'I.. I think It could smell my perfume.', Elsa muttered weakly as Tadashi gave her an incredulous look.
The sound of hurrying footsteps echoed through the warehouse and seconds later, Hiccup charged into view from behind one of the many shelves, his crossbow armed ready. He only relaxed when he saw the two standing there with the unmoving rotter at their feet. From the looks of it, the man whom the rotter used to be must've been an employee or someone related to the compound, since he was still wearing his government uniform .
' It just came outta nowhere. I tried killing it but it didn't seem affected!', she panted in residual shock as she yanked the hatchet out of the creature's neck.
Hiccup nodded and walked towards the rotter, examining it closely like a scientist would to his test subject. He nudged the creature's head lightly with his boot and pursed his lips.
'I think I know how tuh take these things out.', he mumbled as the other two glanced at each other in confusion.
'Remember tha' rotter we ran into down in the sewers? It only stopped after she hit the bastard in the head.', he remarked, glancing at the other two. 'Same as this one. And the ones Fred shot back in the city. One of the bullets must've hit the rotter's head by accident.'
The three of them stood there in silence of a few prolonged seconds as the revelation dawned on them. Now it made sense why Kai—or rather, his reanimated body , had stopped the moment Elsa had accidentally fired him in the head.
'Well come on! We gotta go tell the others!', Tadashi exclaimed in exhilaration .
The other two agreed but Hiccup decided to gather a bit more food supplies before they packed up and headed towards the front door. They must've been inside the warehouse and lost track of time, since the sun was already up in the sky when they finally made their way out of the building and began piling their findings into the trunk of the car. Making sure there was no one following them and no rotters in the path, the trio set off, driving back the way they came along the long , deserted road.
As they drove back to the motel, they began to sense that something was wrong. The more closer they got, the more and more rotters they seemed to be running into, most of them limping across the winding road, growling and stretching out their limbs at them as the car passed by. Hiccup even drove over some of the stragglers, striking them head on and driving over their rotting bodies. But the number of rotters just kept growing. What was happening?
'Oh shit….', Hiccup breathed and saw him and Tadashi staring forward through the windscreen up ahead.
Wondering what had caught their attention, Elsa leaned forward , only for her eyes to reel wide open as she caught sight of a whole horde of rotters, maybe at least fifty of them, clamoring outside the gates of the motel, their claustrophobic moans hanging precariously in the air. The trio spotted the rest of their group behind the gates, shooting at the few rotters who'd managed to climb their way over the fencing. But they were attacking the creatures at anywhere but the head. There were a few accidental shots that caught the rotter in the head and killed it but it was clearly evident the group had no idea what they were doing and were struggling to keep the creatures at bay.
'How the heck did they find us?', Tadashi muttered in shock as Hiccup bent down and began rummaging inside his rucksack, checking out the weapons. He pulled out four or five magazines and put three of them in his own jacket pockets before handing two to Elsa, who merely stared down at the clips and then back at Hiccup, not understanding what he wanted .
'They don't have much ammo left. We gotta get there and help em.',Hiccup explained as he zipped the ammo bag shut and slung it placed it on his lap before yanking back the handbrake, keeping the vehicle stationary.
'Me and Elsa can try and get inside through the back. I don't see much of rotters there. But we need you tuh create a diversion. Something really loud to get their attention. ', he remarked as he looked around to make sure that there were no rotters in close proximity.
As she followed Hiccup out of the car, Elsa grabbed her hatchet and the bag next to her and together, the two of them hurried across the road , barely twenty feet away from where the horde of rotters were gathered, and crouched behind a nearby dumpster.
Barely a second after they'd made it behind the dumpster, the sound of a vehicle horn exploded through the air and the two of them turned to see Tadashi slamming his palm into the steering wheel .
'What the hell's he doing!?', Elsa hissed in shock , attempting to run over back to the car,only to have Hiccup yank her back down . He nodded towards the front gate and to her surprise, the rotters had begun turning away from the gate and were slowly making their way towards the car where Tadashi sat waiting.
'He's drawing em away. ', Hiccup muttered and the two of them waited as the rotter crowd began to thin out .
When the found their opening, the two of them made a dash towards the fence, slashing at the heads of straggling rotters on their way. Once they'd made it over the gates, they hurried over and rejoined their group, who looked like they'd just run a mile long marathon.
'Everyone okay?', Hiccup asked as he hugged Heather .
'Dad's at the back takin down the few that managed to get over the back fencing.', she panted.
Everyone was so caught up in the relief that it took Elsa a full minute to register that they had a new member in the group; he was a plump, peachy looking fellow who had the size of two baby rhinos put together. His eyes were small and squinty and his non-existent neck was turning around nervously In every direction, as if expecting rotters to fall out of the sky again.
'And who's this?', Hiccup blurted out, now having noticed the new guy.
'We saw him down the street. He was cornered by a group of rotters and he began firing at them—we couldn't just leave him out there to die.', Heather answered despondently .
The fellow wiped his short blonde locks out of his eyes and nervously placed his pistol in his pocket, holding out a sweaty hand for Hiccup to shake.
'HiI-I'm Chris. O-or you can call me Christopher. Both's fine really.' , he stammered . He looked like the guy who'd never even gotten into a fight with anyone before. Like those kids in the school yard that the bully would pick on. His unathletic figure only accentuated his demeanor.
Just then, the distinct sound of metal colliding against gravel echoed through the air and the familiar voice of boomed through the air.
' WE GOT A BREACH!'.
The group bolted back towards the back end of the motel to find that the back gates had given way , unable to hold against the collective mass of the bodies and at least thirty rotters were clamoring in, snapping their jaws . Mister Haddock stood before them, firing his rifle at their bodies in vain.
'Dad! Listen to me! Aim for their heads!', Hiccup yelled out as he pointed his crossbow at the oncoming rotters.
'Get back, son! Ah know what I'm do—', Mister Haddock began in a assertive tone.
'JUST SHOOT AT THEIR GODDAMN HEADS! IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT STOPS EM!', Hiccup yelled over his father's voice as he began firing his arrows and watched as the arrows impaled the rotters in the middle of their foreheads and almost instantaneously, they dropped down to the ground.
Understanding what they had to do now, the others followed Hiccup's leads, shooting at the heads of the rotters. Elsa, who didn't have a gun on her, began swinging frantically at any rotter within reach. Through all the chaos , she managed to catch a glimpse of more rotters appearing round the building blocks, as if dragging themselves towards a viable feast.
There was no time to think. The second she'd taken one rotter down and had unstuck her hatchet, another one would come stumbling to her. All she could do was hold on to the piece of metal in her grip and swing blindly, hoping she'd not catch one of their own by mistake.
Then, a sudden bloodcurdling scream of pain exploded through the air and she whipped around to the source of the sound. As her brain registered what she was seeing, her heart dropped to her stomach. There in front of her, stood Mister Haddock , struggling against the horde of rotters with a mingled look of terror and pain on his face, his eyes fixed onto a rotter that clung onto him, it's teeth embedded deep into the back of his forearm .
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