Great. Wolverine.
There are certain heroes you don't want to mess with. Well...you really never want to mess with a hero, period. Doesn't matter if it's a god like Thor, or a scrub like Turbo. They always seem to have everything on their side. Powers, abilities, or even just dumb luck, it all seems to come together to halt a bad guy like me in my tracks. Among the supervillain community, we tend to call it "The Luck of the Good," when everything comes together to stop a bad guy cold and get him or her sent up the river.
Wolverine, though...you can break out the standard clichés. Rebel, loner, doesn't play by the rules, etc, etc. The fact of the matter is, some heroes just have..."it." Iron Man has his power armor and gobs of money. Daredevil's brave. Spider-Man doesn't know when to quit. Wolverine's quality is tough to put a finger on, but if I had to quantify it...it was his look. He may be short, and he definitely has a stupid looking head of hair. But one good glance at him and both the conscious and unconscious parts of your brain tell you, in stereo, "do NOT get into a fight with this man, he'll gut you without blinking."
I've never had the pleasure of...tangling...with Wolverine. We've crossed paths once, when I was locked up in the Vault, and a bunch of superheroes were running through the place for some reason. One of them said something about collateral damage, and Wolverine happened to be passing by my cell at the time. He shot me a smirk and said something along the lines of "oh, yeah, the Shocker could bring this whole place down, makes me quake in my boots."
Most villains, now that they're confronted with a superhero, who slighted them once upon a time, would probably be screaming about payback, charging up their powers, making a big scene, and throwing themselves at Wolverine with dreams of karmic justice dancing in their heads. Not me. I remembered the slight, and yeah, it bugged me, but...
...this was freakin' Wolverine. Who, without warning, had just put down Tombstone without fanfare, quickly and easily. No way was I dumb enough to tangle with him, or even antagonize him...
"Well, you two kids gonna stand there, or try to answer the question? What are you doing out on the streets tonight," Wolverine asked again.
"Just looking for a ride," I answered, motioning to the SUV with one hand. "We got stuff to move and needed a trailer or a big truck."
"Herman," Rhino said in a low voice, "what are doing? Don't tell this guy anything, he might run us in."
"Got better things to do, Rhino, then worry about you two sissies." Wolverine stared walking towards us, stepping over the fallen Tombstone. "Only thing that concerns me is that you two are standing in my way, and ain't in the mood for a tussle right now, especially since I heard you and your little boom-booms as I was coming down the block."
Oh, Christ, he was coming right at us. "Whoa, Wolverine, we ain't looking for a fight, either," I squeaked, my hands up, pointing away from him. "Seriously, we just needed a truck and the car place down the block is overrun, so we looked this way, and found Tombstone and his crew dead like this. All we want is go get in the truck, pick up our supplies, and head back home. Right, Aleksei?"
Rhino towered over the short Wolverine by almost two feet. He had a hard look on his face as he studied the mutant, rubbing his hand with his chin like he was sizing up Wolverine. Oh, God, Aleksei, not here, especially since my gloves are about five quarts low...
"Right, Herman," Aleksei said quietly. "Got a bunch of people back at the warehouse, Wolverine, and we hit up a drug store over a few blocks for supplies."
"Huh. Supplies, stuff like cash and electronics?"
"Actually, anti-biotics and first-aid stuff," Aleksei replied in a deadpan manner to Wolverine's snark His eyes narrowed. "And some food, water...stuff to ride out a hurricane. Or Galactus."
The short hero was looking up at Rhino's face as he came up to us. His hands were in the pockets of a beaten black leather jacket, and the stub of his cigar moved slowly from one side of his mouth to the other. "Just supplies, huh? No money from a bank or stuff from a Verizon store?"
Aleksei blinked. "Actually, Herman, hitting a Verizon store wouldn't be..."
"Not helping, Aleksei," I muttered. Wolverine leaned in closer to Rhino...and sniffed. I watched as the feral hero apparently gave my friend a nasal once-over, like a dog checking for a scent.
"Huh. Guess you might be telling the truth. Smell blood, brains, and cheap beer on you, Rhino. Long night of zombie stomping, huh?"
"They keep getting in the way, Wolverine," Rhino answered. "Kind of like you are. You want to step aside and keep walking, do your thing and let us do ours."
"That right, bub?" Wolverine bent his neck to one side, and I heard the sound of metal cracking against metal. "You think you can run me down in case I don't feel like moving?"
"Whoa...look, man, just let us get in the truck and drive way." The two were still staring at each other as I spoke. "No problems, no fuss, no fighting. Last thing we need is to draw more attention to ourselves, ok?" Wolverine turned slowly to stare at me now, looking me over like a hunter stares at a deer through a gunsight for a few tense seconds.
"One question, Shocker," he finally said. "You're still hiding out? You didn't hear Norman Osborn's little speech about not hiding behind closed doors?"
I couldn't help but bark out a small, humorless laugh in Wolverine's direction. "Forget Osborn's Order, Wolverine. The day I listen to the Green Goblin..."
After a moment of silence, Wolverine smirked in return, a tight smile on his face. "Right answer, Shocker. Alright, you two get a move on," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, "and don't do anything stupid. It's bad enough out there tonight without the villains coming out to play."
My shoulders slumped in relief. "Thanks, man. Seriously..."
Rhino was still staring intently at the hero as Wolverine nodded, and shouldered his way between us, heading for the front of the SUV to pass around it. Curiosity overcame me, and I called out to him as he passed the first set of dead bodies. "Hey, what the hell are you doing out here, Wolverine? Ignoring Osborn's Order too?"
It took him a few seconds to answer, probably deciding whether or not he wanted to tell me. "Research place down near City Hall. Curt Connors is human for once, and thinks there's something in one of the federal buildings, something the FDA was studying, that might help with the disease, virus, whatever the flamin' hell it is. Figured it was a nice night to get out of Central Park, gut a couple of zombies, get some exercise. You got anything else you want to ask," he said over his shoulder.
"Yeah." Rhino stepped forward, staring directly at the mutant. "Just...how bad is it out there? The TV ain't telling us anything, just blowing smoke up our asses. A straight answer would be appreciated, Wolverine."
The mutant turned to look at us. He spoke one word, and that was all he really needed to say.
"Bad."
X
The level-one blast dropped the former Islanders' fan to the ground. "How are we doing, Aleksei?"
"Two more trips," the big guy called as he was heading back into the Walgreen's. "Looks clear on this side."
"Roger. " As gunshots echoed from somewhere a few blocks away, I stepped backwards, both gloves held at the ready. Several corpses were scattered around the trailer backed up to the front door of the drug store, having come at us in drips and drabs over the past ten minutes. The trip back from where we had run into Wolverine had been uneventful. It had been a tight fit for Aleksei, but he rode shotgun as I drove the Hummer. The SUV handled like a dream, and Tombstone had been kind enough to leave us a gas tank 3/4ths full.
He had also been kind enough to leave us a treasure trove.
When we had arrived at the drug store, I managed to get the back end close enough to the storefront that the trailer's ramp ended right where the electric door began. Rhino had lifted the door to the trailer, ready to start moving our supplies so we could get the hell out of there, and gave a whistle loud enough that it drew my attention as I shut the Hummer's engine off.
Yeah, I know, I should have kept the engine running, but do you know how much gas these things guzzle?
The trailer had been full of Tombstone's ill-gotten loot. Leather duffel bags stuffed with bundles of cash. A reinforced briefcase full of gold bars, so heavy that I could barely pick it up. Several pieces of artwork that I recognized from news stories a few years back, part of a museum heist at the Met. And guns. Lots of guns, pistols, shotgun, assault rifles, and, somehow, it looked like Tombstone had gotten his hands on some experimental energy weapons as well. In normal times, a haul like this, without worrying about reprisals from Tombstone, would have set me up nearly for life.
Right now, though, it all took up room.
I had to move a couple of the money bags around in order to make space for the supplies that Rhino was bringing out of the Walgreen's. I treated the goods with respect, but at the moment, the riches at my disposal didn't matter so much as getting all the stuff loaded up and our asses on the road back to TriBeCa.
By the time I had made enough space for all the supplies, the first of the undead had shown up. Two ghouls lumbered out of a nearby alleyway as Rhino brought out the first armful, consisting of medicine and bottled water. "You grab the stuff, Aleksei," I said as I stepped forward towards them. My gloves were working on half-capacity as I fired off two level-one blasts into their heads, sending them down to the sidewalk. "I got your back."
The zombies came, but singly, or in pairs. They shuffled, limped, lunged, and crawled. They reached out with two arms, or one arm. They moaned, groaned, and snarled. And there were more of them coming for me and Aleksei now at the Walgreen's. But I kept my head, focusing on small, precise vibrations to the head to put the ghouls down for good, keeping them well past arms length as I took them down. Rhino, without fail, brought the supplies out, dropping them in the trailer and heading right back inside, and I kept him safe while he did so. In just a few minutes, Rhino nodded to me as he set the propane grills on top of the briefcase of gold. "One more, Herman, and we can go."
"Right, man. I'll get the car started," I told him after finishing off a teenager covered in tattoos. I carefully, looking over my shoulders, moved towards the front of the Hummer. From someplace close by, the sound of gunfire had been steadily ongoing, automatic weapons firing in short bursts. I couldn't isolate the sound with the noise bouncing off of the tall buildings around us, but it was easy to determine that it wasn't immediately close. If the gunfire wasn't coming my way, I'd burn that bridge if we came across it.
After double and triple-checking the street for any sort of movement, one hand reached inside the open door to turn the engine over...
The interior of the Hummer darkened, something blocking the light from the streetlamps. Immediately, I spun around, gloves out, expecting something to be rising up behind me, eager to grab a bite. But nothing was behind me...
...it was above me. Something passed over my head, a shadow falling over my body for a second. I glanced upwards, thinking in a panic that a zombie had somehow climbed onto the roof of the Hummer, about to pull some ninja/Iron Fist crap and get the drop on me. But nothing crouched or dove from the roof. "What the..." I muttered in confusion, staring around at the tall buildings. Was it a bird, or a plane, or something else?
My eyes were drawn to a corner of the apartments across the street from the Walgreen's. Eight, maybe nine stories high, tucked between two taller buildings. Lights burned in some of the windows, and the security door to the lobby was closed and intact. Nothing moved that I could see. Maybe it had just been my imagination. Ever since my little rampage earlier, I had to focus on remaining calm and focused on the task at hand. My nerves, on edge for the past two nights, were finally catching up with me. I need some downtime, a chance to rest and recoup...
Something shifted on the rooftop, immediately drawing my attention. Against the bare bit of night sky visible through the gaps in the buildings...it sat on the edge of the low brick wall, looming like a gargoyle. I could feel eyes on me, locked on from nine stories above the street. It crouched, almost shapeless, clutching the brick. I tried to focus on it, my vision enhancers clicking once to get a better look...
The loud slam of the trailer door caused me to jump, yelping a bit to myself. "Ready to roll, Herman," the deep voice of Rhino said from behind me as his footsteps rumbled a bit on the pavement. "Everything good out here?"
"Yeah..." I looked back up at the roof of the building. The shape was gone, the protective masonry that surrounded the roof free of skulkers. "Yeah, Aleksei," I said, blinking under my mask to clear my vision. "Let's get the hell out of here. I'm reaching the end of..."
The sound of wood crashing onto the street interrupted my sentence. Both Rhino and I turned in the direction of the sound, as glass shards fell onto the broken remains of a wooden chair, tinkling on the asphalt. Rhino saw it first, pointing with a gray finger at the apartment building. "There!"
On the top floor of the building, one of the windows had been broken, and someone was leaning out of it. "HEY!" They yelled down at Rhino and I in a high-pitched voice, arms waving wildly. "HEY, UP HERE! HELP!"
"Oh, God...that's a kid, Herman." Rhino was right. Maybe in their early teens, younger then Ernesto, screaming his lungs out at us, pleading for assistance.
"HELP US! THEY'RE BREAKING DOWN THE APARTMENT DOOR! PLEASE, MISTERS, HELP!"
It took just a split second look between Aleksei and me, and then both of us were sprinting for the building's front door.
X
The third kick did the trick. The security door flew off its hinges, shoving the furniture block it out of the way as it sailed across the lobby. A zombie feasting on a corpse near the elevator looked up just in time for the edge of the door to impact square in its temple. The fragile bone shattered, exposing the brain to the full brunt of the impact, and the creature fell to the ground, motionless.
Rhino pulled his foot back, giving me room to run into the lobby, my friend lumbering on his heels directly behind. A second zombie snarled as it stood up from its dinner, angry at the interruption. A level two took care of it before it could complain anymore. I heard the power alarm on my gloves begin to chime, while simultaneously, a warning popped on my suit's heads-up display. I was working on nearly an empty tank, the level one's outside the Walgreen's sucking up what little power I had recharged during our drive from the rental car place. Rhino was going have to do the heavy lifting...but in close, confined quarters, that would work out for the best.
I moved forward, past the broken pile of couches and chairs that had blocked the front entrance, heading for the elevator bank, noting the '9' at the end of the row of numbers...
I didn't see the corpse immediately in front of me. I felt my foot catch in its side, and I fell forward. My hands immediately shot out to break my fall. The good news was, I caught myself, landing like I was doing a push-up and saving my knees from hitting the tile floor. The bad news, it gave me an up close and personal look at another corpse. This one was missing half its face...literally, half its face had been eaten away, down to the muscle and bone. One eye looked out from a naked socket, staring down at the pool of blood its owner's skull rested in.
"Oh, Christ," I muttered, quickly climbing back to my feet. Several corpses were scattered across the lobby of the apartment building. The majority of them lay at our feet, each one looking like a pack of wild animals had torn them apart, with a few more scattered across the room, each bearing obvious bite wounds across their exposed skin.
Also laid out before us were several couches and chairs. From the pattern, it wasn't hard to deduce that they had once served as a barricade against the front door of the apartment building; a barricade that had still been intact when Rhino had kicked the door in. "They locked themselves in," I found myself saying out loud. "But those things still made it inside..."
"Elevator or stairs?" Aleksei asked impatiently, moving past me into the lobby. "Elevator might be faster...you think it could hold me, Herman?"
I looked up at the bank of elevators, two of them side-by-side at the opposite end of the lobby. Both elevators were on the first floor, but each one had a wide trail of blood leading to the base of their brass doors. A vision came into my head...both of those elevator doors opening wide, and a horde of decaying creatures pouring out from the confined spaces, arms grasping, overwhelming the two of us...
"Stairs, it'll be quicker," I answered. Aleksei led the way, yanking open the door and thundering up the steps, and I followed right on his heels. The stairs, poured concrete, protested at his motions, legs pistoning down as he took them two at a time. Around the fourth floor, I was starting to gasp for breath, the evening's activities finally starting to catch up with us, burning past the adrenaline, but Aleksei never slowed down, and I pushed myself to keep up with him. Sweat was pouring down my face, between the quilted fabric and my skin, by the time we reached the ninth floor. Aleksei threw the door open, revealing to us a long, carpeted hallway. Faux brass lanterns hung from the walls, yellow light bulbs giving off a dim light. About midway down the passage, the zombies had congregated. We could see some of them raising their fists in the air, pounding against one of the apartment doors. The rest of them, the ones on the edges, shoved and pushed, arms flailing against their brethren, trying to get closer, reminded me of a rugby scrum. "Aleksei," I said, pointing towards the crowd, "think you can clear a path?"
I didn't even need to ask, though. Aleksei was already in a three-point stance, head lowered. "Way ahead of you, Herman," he growled. A few seconds later, he took off, shoulders barely clearing the walls as he unleashed a furious charge. The floor shook with every step he took, the lamps shaking on the walls. A silent prayer crossed my lips as I found myself hoping the wooden floor had a strong foundation. It should, if this building was up to New York City building codes...
..."oh, man, let this building be up to code," I said as I ran behind Rhino. Every creak made me wince, and I swore, mixed in with the pounding on Aleksei's feet and the moaning of the undead, I heard the cracking of wood under his feet. But, somehow, the floor held over the course of his charge, and Rhino's massive bulk slammed into the crowd of undead, the Immovable Force telling the abominations of nature to move aside and let the man go through.
This crowd was much bigger than the ones Aleksei had handled across the street at the Walgreen's. He didn't barrel through the zombies, but rather shoved the entire pile further down the hallway. Zombie barreled into zombie, some of them flailing about, while other falls down like stacks of dominos. But Rhino didn't rest, instead flexing his massive arms and shoving the closest ghouls even further away. "Get that door open, Herman! I'll hold them off!"
"Roger!" Ok, Herman, smash and grab, break down a door, get the kid and anyone else inside, and then blow this popsicle stand. I heard Rhino crack his knuckles, and he cocked his arm back as I lifted my foot. As he threw a punch, annihilating the jaw of a middle-aged woman, I lashed out, jamming my foot directly under the doorknob of the apartment door, a solid kick that shattered the lock. The apartment door flew open, banging against the wall. The curtains flapping in the broken window across the way confirmed that this was the right apartment (the horde of zombies banging at the door should have been enough, but there's nothing wrong with a secondary source of confirmation). I stepped inside, my gloves up at the ready. "Alright," I called loudly, hoping to be heard over the sounds of Rhino's brawling in the hallway, "we're here to..."
Something lunged at me, and I just managed to catch it from the corner of my eye. I stepped back...and just managed to avoid the heavy end of a swinging baseball bat. The weapon whooshed past my stomach, hitting the wall with a loud crash. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," I yelled, even as the wielder set up for another swing. I was ready for it this time, though, and easily caught the bat in mid-swing with my padded hands. "What the hell," I yelled, pulling the bat out of the guy's hands. "Calm down, man, we're here..."
He couldn't have been more then thirteen years old, I realize as I rip his only defense out of his grip. The kid's staring up at me with wide, fear-filled eyes, his lower lip quivering. "Ah, Christ," I muttered. "Look, sorry, but you can't go around swinging baseba...ok, ok, yeah, you can, but not at the guys trying to pull your as...butts out of the fire."
"You're...you're here to save us?" The kid's face had disbelief and relief vying for top billing as he looked at me. "But...you're a bad guy! I've seen you on TV, and my older brother makes fun of your name!"
You're kidding me...all the kids in the world and I have to find one who's actually seen the few times I made the nightly news. "Kid, right now, I ain't a bad guy. My friend and I were the guys you yelled at down on the street, and we're here to rescue you. Now, we don't got much time, so we gotta go, right now." I'm finding it easy to keep my voice calm. Maybe it's because I'm dealing with a little kid instead of an adult who actually knows what rational fear really is. It's a lot harder to deal with then irrational fear, and I'm assuming that this kid doesn't quite understand...well, he knows the dead are trying to eat him, but I'm betting the wider implications, like the collapse of society, are escaping him.
Lucky bastard.
"O...ok. Let me get my kid sister," he replies after a blessed second of hesitation.
"Alright, just make it quick." The kid runs over to the couch, and I see him duck down and lift up the dust ruffle. As he's doing this, I yelled to the outside hallway, "Aleksei, talk to me."
"It ain't a walk in the park, Herman, hurry it up in there," his voice bellowed in response.
"Working on it!" The kid is flat on his stomach. I can't quite make out what he's saying, but he's speaking to whoever was under the couch, his hand reaching under the furniture. I hurried over, getting down on one knee next to him, trying to listen to what he's saying.
"...it'll be ok, Sally, these guys are here to help us! Come on, take my hand, it'll be alright."
I can barely make out the response, but I catch the words "bad man" somewhere in the mix. With a glance over my shoulder to make sure it's still clear, I drop to the ground, lying beside the young man, and look under the couch. She's a brunette, four years old maximum, with a teddy bear clutched in one hand and tears running down her face. Her brother is talking, soothing words, trying to get her to take his hand. But her eyes are locked on me, and she says it again.
"He's a bad man, bad man."
Well, at least Herman Schultz is fully and utterly capable of putting the fear of God into four year old girls.
"Hey, Sally," I said, "it's ok. I'm not a bad guy right now, ok? I'm here to help you and your brother get out of here, away from those guys outside in the hallway, the one who were beating on your door. I'm a friend, ok?"
She shook her head vehemently, and pulled back a little further under the couch. "No...no, Mommy and Daddy said you're a bad man, you'll hurt us."
"Damn it," I almost snarled, I..." Deep breaths, Herman, deep breaths. Ok, so this little girl knows who I am. She sees the brown-and-yellow mask. She sees the Shocker. Alright...
I demagnetize my mask, and pull it off. Now, she's seeing Herman Schultz, brown hair, brown eyes, and not the world renowned safecracker who makes little girls quake in their boots, and damn it, that sentence was Megan's Law creepy...
"Sally? My name's Herman. My friend Aleksei and I, we heard your brother call for help. We're friends, and we're here to keep you and your brother safe." I never had what one could call a soothing voice, but man, I pretended like I was trying to convince the Bookie to give me another few days to pay off that weekend's NFL action. "It's cool, alright?" Behind me, Aleksei was yelling something, but I kept my eyes locked on Sally, trying to add a smile to my face. "Your teddy bear...what's his name?"
"Ra..Radar," she stuttered.
"Radar. That's a nice name. Sally, I promise, I'm going to get you, Radar, and your brother someplace safe. Someplace where those guys won't be able to get to you. A castle, alright? A castle with good food and someone to keep watch on you and Radar. Does that sound good?" She slowly nodded, and I tried to go for the clincher. "Ok, Sally. All you have to do is take your brother's hand, and we'll get you out of here. I promise."
Slowly, she reached out with her free hand. "That's right, Sally," her brother gently coaxed. "Come on..." He took her hand and started to help her out from under the couch. As I stood up, I magnetized my mask, sealing myself back up as Sally, covered in dust bunnies, climbed out from under the couch. She was still crying slightly, and clung to her brother as we walked towards the door, and the sound of crunching bone.
"It'll be ok," I tried to reassure her. "Aleksei and I are nice men, promise..."
"WHAT THE HELL HERMAN, THIS ISN'T A DAMN PICNIC OUT HERE! MOVE YOUR ASS!"
I groaned at the profanity. "We're coming out, Aleksei!" I turned down to the little boy, who was now staring at the hallway, trembling slightly. I snapped my fingers to get him to look in my direction. "Ok, I need you to pick up your sister and carry her. Just stay behind me and don't stop for anything. We're going down to the lobby and out the front door to our truck. Sally, I want you to hold on to Radar, and keep your eyes closed. Can you do that for me?" She nodded, along with her brother. I found myself patting him on the shoulder. "Alright, follow me." I stepped into the hallway. The way we had come was clear, not a zombie in sight. To our left, Rhino had done a great job of keeping back the horde. Several ghouls lay motionless at his feet, but it didn't dissuade the rest from trying to grab him. "Aleksei, let's beat feet."
He turned his head to look at me, nodding, a ghoul in each hand being kept at arms length. "Go on, I'll meet you at the stai..."
It would have made a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers proud. A female zombie climbed up on the back of the two ghouls Rhino was holding, and leapt forward like she was going for a diving QB. Rhino caught a glimpse of her just as her hands reached his face, swiping at the thick skin. "OW!" His exclamation rang off the walls, echoing slightly as she landed between his massive arms, fingers grabbing for the only exposed part of his body...
Rhino's response was to step forward, slamming her with his chest. The female staggered back for an instant, ready to spring back forward as soon as she recovered. With a yell, Rhino brought the heads of the two ghouls he was holding inward. The crunch caused me to wince deeply as the skulls of all three impacted with a noise like cracking open a peanut shell. He let go of the ghouls, and both of them, along with the female, dropped to the ground. The rest of the pack surged forward, but with a mighty shove, Aleksei, planted firmly on the carpet, shoved them backwards. "Alright, Herman, let's go, go go!"
I started to go...but I stopped. I got a good look at Aleksei's face as he turned to follow me. Even though he was urging me to move towards the stairs at the far end, I couldn't tear my eyes away from his face. "Herman, come on, you're standing around like..." He stopped in mid-sentence, as it became apparent something wasn't right. "Herman, what's wrong?"
"Aleksei," I said in a quiet voice, not believing what I was witnessing in front of me. "You're bleeding."
X
"Huh?"
"You're cut, Aleksei..."
A small, thin trickle of blood was running down the side of the Rhino's face, starting from high on his cheekbone and curving down towards his chin. It wasn't any worse than a shaving cut. Normally, I wouldn't have even noticed it under the quasi-battlefield conditions we were experiencing.
But...I've never seen Aleksei bleed.
Ever.
"What are you..." he started to say, before the more immediate matter came back to the forefront. A zombie latched onto the back of his arm, and tried sinking her teeth into his flesh. However, the small matter of his bonded polymer armor got in the way, and Aleksei easy elbowed her away. "Come on, Herman, let's get going," he urged, stepping forward in an attempt to move me along. "You lead, I'll watch the back! Let's get these kids out of here!"
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts about the cut. "Alright. Come on, kids. Just stay right behind me and keep moving, alright?" The boy, clutching his sister Sally, nodded. I took the forefront, moving quickly towards the stairs at the far end. Rhino brought up the rear, walking backwards, easily keeping the distance between him and the undead mob that was just now starting to shuffle after us. The kids stayed between us, Sally still snuffling as she held on to her brother and her teddy bear for dear life. I scanned each and every apartment door as we passed, making a visual check to ensure they were closed and not open doorways holding lunging zombies. But we made it to the stairs without any problems. Rhino shut the door behind us as I pointed down the steps. "Ok, down the stairs to the lobby. When we get to the lobby, I need you both to shut your eyes, ok? We'll carry you outside to our car, just promise me you won't look until we're on the street. Can you do promise me?" They both nodded, and together, the four of us started down the stairwell. I led the way, my gauntlets held out, finger on the trigger, swinging wide around each landing before moving down the next set of steps.
We were free and clear all the way down to the fourth landing. As I took the stairs down from four to three, a door banged open below us. We came to a complete stop halfway down the flight of steps as the echo of metal hitting concrete reverberated up the stairwell, soon to be followed by a gaggle of moans. Quickly, I peeked over the banister, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on below us. All the way at the bottom of the stairs, the half-eaten skull of the corpse I had encountered in the lobby shuffled into view.
I pulled back, shaking my head as I told Aleksei, "the corpses from the lobby. They reanimated."
"Crap," he muttered. "Think we can get past them?"
"One second," I responded. They were coming this way, so I had nothing to lose by fully exposing myself by leaning over the banister. The half-eaten skull zombie led the way, with about a dozen of his friends following him. Close quarters, with two kids to protect...and the fact that, somehow, one of those things had drawn blood from a supervillain with near impervious skin. Those odds didn't add up our favor.
"I don't want to risk it," I said, motioning to the kids who stood between us. "They might get in the way."
"Well what do we do then, Herman?"
Going back up wasn't an option, since there was a mob somewhere above us who knew we had taken the stairs and was probably on their way down. Going down wasn't an option, with a second mob coming up. So, when it doubt, take the third option.
"We go sideways. Come on," I said, going for the door to the third floor of the apartment building. "Maybe, if they're clear, we can grab the elevators down to the lobb..."
As I pulled open the door, a loud snarl greeted me. The woman in the sweatsuit pawed at my face and upper chest, her jaws snapping at my neck even as my suit pushed her away. I pushed her away from me, giving me room to cock back my fist. I timed it so, when she lunged back at me, my jab caught her directly in the nose. Her snarls are quickly cut off as my vibration-assisted punch shatters her nose, skull, and though you can't really shatter a brain, I'm not going to argue semantics here. She flew backwards into the hallway from the impact, coming to a rest in a crumpled heap against an apartment door.
"Follow me, guys," I told Sally and her brother, whose name I still hadn't gotten. "We're going to check the elevators out." We all moved into the hallway. I did my best to skirt the fallen body, but I saw Sally's eyes stare at the corpse as we moved past. Better a dead corpse then a live one, though.
The bank of side-by-side elevators sat in the middle of the hallway. Unlike the lobby, there wasn't a trail of blood soaking into the carpet just outside the brass doors. Hopefully, that was a good sign. "Alright, guys, stand back." I ushered the kids and Aleksei to the far side of the hallway, just past the doors. "If any of those things are inside, I'll take care of them."
I had just pushed the button to call the elevators to the fourth floor when Rhino chimed in. "Herman, what if there's more of those things in the lobby?"
"There shouldn't be, Aleksei." My thumbs rested on the triggers of my gauntlets, twin level-one blasts just waiting to be unleashed into the confined space of the elevator. I would have preferred level two's, but I would sacrifice power for accuracy and save a little bit of juice in case of an emergency. "They were all lumbering their way up here. If there are, you grab the kids and I'll blast us out. Got it?"
"Got it."
I found myself trembling a bit. Here I was, actually waiting for a zombie to lunge out at me. All evening, they had taken us by surprise, lunging from an open door, from behind a Hummer, looking at us down a long aisle. This time, though, I was ready for them, and I swore to myself, any zombie in the elevators when the doors slid open wouldn't have time to register me as a possible snack before I unloaded on them...
...
...
...any second now...
...
...I looked at the lights above the elevators as I waited. The up arrow was lit, but the number "1" was still illuminated. I stepped forward and pushed the call button again, before re-readying myself in case the undead poured out of the elevator.
"Herman," Aleksei said after a few moments. "The elevator isn't moving."
"Ah, mother..." I managed to get out before remember there were children present. On reflex, I slap the call button again, cursing under my breath. "You gotta be kidding me," I muttered as the number "1" stayed lit and the sounds of cables and counterweights from behind the door did not reach my ears. "You gotta be kidding me, you gotta be kidding me, you gotta be kidding me. God damn it...what else can..."
Oh, poor word choice, Herman.
At the end of the hallway, the door to the stairwell slowly creaked open. As the four of us looked in that direction, a cold gray hand grasped at the edge of the door, soon joined by several others. They pulled at the door, dragging it open inch by inch. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"
"Can't you just blast them, mister?" a tiny, scared voice asked from behind me.
"Kid, I'm a quart low right now..." I answered, honesty forgoing reassurance.
Bless Aleksei, because at this point, in the middle of my disbelief, the big guy took charge. He turned, and grabbed the doorknob to the nearest apartment. It refused to budge, however it didn't daunt him, instead causing him to turn to the one across the hallway. That one was locked too, but he kept going. "Herman, find an unlocked apartment! We'll barricade ourselves in and figure a way out!"
"You look, Aleksei, I'll cover the kids!" I looked over my shoulder. They both stared back at me, wide-eyed with terror. "Hey," I tried to reassure them (and myself!), "I told you we'd keep you safe. Just...had to take a little detour, alright?" Sally was apparently all screamed out, but she buried her face in the neck of her older brother, not looking at the horde of ghouls that had forced open the stairwell door. Half-skull was in the lead, loping along, his spine bent so badly, one arm nearly touched the ground as he walked towards us. His white eye contrasted with the red muscle, wet and fresh on what was left of his face.
A loud gasp escaped from the young boy. I stepped in front of him, my gauntlets raised. "Come on...you don't need to see that," I told him. They were still down the hallway, but unless Aleksei could find a door, I'd have to cut loose, and I didn't know if I had enough juice to make it, unless we waded in and went hand-to-hand...not an option, with the two young children under our wing. Why the hell didn't I grab backup power sources? An easy swap, like changing a 9-volt...and it didn't cross my mind until right now, when I needed it most.
When WE needed it most.
"Herman!" Behind me, Aleksei had found an unlocked apartment door. He pulled his head back from looking inside, and waved an arm for us to follow him. "Come on, come on, move!"
I turned, and practically shoved the little boy towards sanctuary. As we got close, Rhino stepped inside, his fists at the ready, making sure nothing attacked us from inside the apartment. As soon as the kids had crossed the threshold, I stole a glance at the advancing horde before stepping inside and slamming the door shut. "Aleksei," I said as I engaged the deadbolt, "barricade. I'll sweep the place."
The red blood was stark against his skin as the big guy gently ushered the kids to the side, before grabbing a nearby bookcase and sliding it against the door with ease. The lights were blazing inside the apartment, every lamp and fixture brightly illuminated, making my job a bit easier. The sound of furniture being crammed against furniture provided the audio accompaniment as I scanned the dwelling. The kitchen was clear, as was the living room and dining rooms. The narrow corridor leading back to the bedrooms gave me momentary pause, but the rooms themselves were empty of bodies, dead or unliving.
"It's clear," I told Aleksei as I walked back into the foyer. He had just finished shoving the dining room table against nearly every other piece of furniture that had been within easy reach of a guy who could bench-press a Toyota Tundra. It was a jury rigged, hastily put-together mix of wood and metal, jammed against the front door. The word "overengineered" came to mind, even though it isn't technically a word. But without any room to get leverage or bring overwhelming force to bear, there was no way the undead horde in the hallway could get inside.
Of course, there also wasn't anyway the four of us could get outside, but at this moment in time, I was happy to trade liberty for security.
Rhino clapped his hands together, and turned to look at me. Again, I couldn't help but stare...
I know I'm making a big deal about Aleksei's small cut. My chosen field of business involves a lot of hand-to-hand combat, explosions, lasers, shrapnel, improvised weapons, and being thrown through shoddily built walls. I tend to end my days bruised and battered, with the occasional small cut and scrape somewhere on my body.
In all the years I've known him, though, Aleksei's never been cut.
I'm not exaggerating. I've watched him slam head first through a wall, I've seen him go toe-to-toe with the Hulk, and I've watched him get a face full of repulsor ray from no less then Iron Man. And each and every time, he's walked away bruised, but never cut. Not tonight, though. One of those thing's claws carved a small nick into Rhino's skin, enough to break the skin and draw blood. Which was impossible. A guy like Wolverine, yeah, I'm willing to bet he could slice open Rhino without any problem, and last I saw, those things weren't walking around with metal-tipped fingers and teeth.
Aleksei saw me staring. He put the back of his hand against his cheek, and pulled it away. Upon seeing the blood against the gray armor, Aleksei stared at me, blinking in confusion. "You were right, Herman."
"Let me see..." He bent down, allowing me to get a good look at his face. The wound wasn't deep, or long. It had punctured his skin just enough to break the capillaries underneath. "Just a scratch, man. Let me go get you a paper towel or something. I guess those thing are stronger then they look."
He shook his head. "They're not that strong, Herman. I can shove them around without breaking a sweat...and they can't bite or tear through my suit. If they were that stronger, then they should have broke into that 7-11 no problem." He was looking down at the blood as I ripped a paper towel from a roll on the kitchen counter. "I guess that explains one thing."
"What's that?"
"What happened to the Wrecker." Aleksei folded up the paper towel, and gently dabbed at the still wet blood. "Those things must have gotten to him and tore him apart even though he was thick-skinned."
"Now there's a sobering thought..." I looked away from Aleksei's face, and found the two children staring at us. They had retreated to a corner, standing there as Rhino had built up the barricade. Now, they were still quivering slightly, Sally standing beside her brother, clutching at his hand as she held her teddy bear with the other arm. I studied them for a second, before turning back to Aleksei. "Hey, Aleksei...can you keep the kids calm for a few minutes? I'm gonna try to figure out a way to get us out of here."
He nodded, wiping at his cheek a few more times. The blood had come away, but the wound was still there, a dark, wet mark on his skin. Balling up the paper towel, he tossed it into a nearby wastebasket before kneeling down on one knee in front of the kids. Now, I've seen Rhino mad, and I've heard him roar...but the big, goofy, childlike smile he put on his face reassured me more than anything else I had seen so far tonight. "Hey, guys," he said. "You're Sally, right? And I never caught your name..."
The young boy nodded. "Mark. I'm Mark."
"Hey, Mark. You guys can call me Aleksei, ok?"
"But...everyone calls you the Rhino," Mark countered. "I've seen you on TV. You've fought Spider-Man before."
"Yeah, I have...we..." Aleksei looked down at Sally for a second. "...we were playing Cops and Robbers." I watched as Aleksei winked at Mark before continuing. "We were just playing around."
Mark seemed to catch on. "Oh...oh, ok. So you were just playing around?"
"That's right, Mark. Hey, Sally...that's a nice teddy bear. What's his name?"
I wandered away, letting Rhino take charge of keeping the tykes calm as I tried to figure out what our next move was. In the dining room, I moved one of the curtains and peered down onto the street below. The Hummer and our trailer were still parked outside the Walgreen's. It was a stroke of luck in our favor that I hadn't started the engine when Rhino had made his last trip, because that would have been who knows how much wasted gasoline? The rest of the news wasn't so good, however,
During the brief time that Rhino and I had engaged in our rescue attempt, the living dead had come out to play. About twenty ghouls staggered across my field of vision, a mix of young, old, mobile, and limping. As I watched, I felt a cold ball settle into my stomach. The zombies were all moving towards the front of the apartment building, disappearing out of sight into the main lobby. How did they know we were in here? I mean, the zombies already here in the building, those I could understand, given the complete and utter lack of subtlety Aleksei and I had shown in barreling through the hallway. But, the ones from the outside...
The possibilities clicked through my mind. Hive mind? Their moans having a subsonic component? Undeath coming with an automatic subscription to Verizon Wireless? It wasn't a time for theories, though, and I put those thoughts to the side for a moment. The pressing matter was getting the hell out of here. I ran down a mental checklist of our options. The "charging down the hallway option" was out. Not only was I still worried about the wound that zombie inflicted on Rhino, but there simply wasn't enough running room to get a good start. Plus, the kids...I had to take them into account. If Rhino was charging, that made me the last and only line of defense, and my gauntlets weren't up for prolonged firing at the moment.
Fire escape? Not accessible from the windows of this particular apartment.
Vents? Too small for Aleksei, and he wouldn't let himself be left behind.
I found myself walking towards the edge of the dining room, towards the interior wall. Were the walls between apartments solid brick, or wood and drywall? A few taps gave me that answer: wood and drywall. The tumblers were turning in my brain as I heard Aleksei laugh behind me. OK...we can't go out the front door, but we can make a side door. Aleksei could punch a hole no problem, and the two of us could easily make it wide enough for us to pass through. If we're lucky, the zombies would be banging on the front door of this apartment and we could flank them all the way to the stairwell.
Two problems with that plan, however. One, you couldn't count on every single zombie being crowded in front of the apartment. They could be strung out along the hallway, stumbling around with their own unique form of ADD. And there wasn't a guarantee that the stairwell was clear, either. We could open the fire door and be staring at a whole new horde of ghouls coming down from the top floor...and that segued a bit into my second concern. Who knew what was just on the other side of the wall? Hell, someone could have been using the next door apartment as a makeshift morgue for all we knew...
I considered getting a hold of Boomerang, and having him come pick us up. He had his rocket boots, he could fly to the Hummer, pull it over here, and fly us down...but again, that'd leave Aleksei behind, and if Fred ran out of propellant along the way, he'd be a sitting duck, especially if he crashed and couldn't defend himself.
Alright. So if we can't go forward into the hallway, and going sideways isn't the best option, then there was one other way to consider. I ducked down and examined the hardwood floor of the dining room. We were on the third floor. If we wanted do, the two of us could easily smash our way through this floor, and then the ceiling of the apartment below us, and then rinse and repeat down to the first floor, with the two of us handing the kids down between floors. And if something should happen, and we came across a couple of zombies stumbling around? Well, the damn things hadn't learned to jump, grab, and pull themselves up through holes in roofs yet, I was actually willing to wager. One of us stays up above with the kids, the other jumps down and takes care of business. Yeah. Yeah, that was doable. It wasn't the best plan I had ever come up with...but then again, until lately, there hadn't been a pressing needs for my plans to include life expectancy.
There was only one problem...but it was just a matter of changing direction once we were down a floor, I decided as I walked back to the living room. Aleksei was back on his feet, and the two kids, Mark and Sally, looked...less worried. "How we looking, Herman," he asked me as I approached them.
"Well...I have an idea, Aleksei. It's gonna be noisy, and it's gonna be messy. But, we pull it off, and it'll keep our contact with those basta...with those things to a bare minimum."
He nodded. "Is it gonna involve breaking stuff?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Good. I'm good at that."