Soon after reaching the top of the latter, the Hunters looked up to see a poster. The Poster read:"Anniversary Rave. 7:00 PM $5." Martyr:"Well, if that poster reads right, then we're in!" How right she was; no sooner had the group taken but a few steps, a multitude of obese rot cops and zombified rotwhiler dogs started to appear! The dogs were particularly annoying, due to the fact that they were trained to relentlessly attack a criminal, should they be stupid enough to attack an officer. Well, it seemed that the Hunters were five of those stupid criminals, at least as far as the zombie dogs were concerned. Worst of all, they were hungry!
The only upside to this new situation was that the dogs played dead again with just one swing of Avenger's Axe, or a single slash from Matt's Blades. After humbling a few of the dogs, the Hunters went straight for the cops. After unloading round after round of ammunition into the undead cops, the Hunters pushed forward, deeper into the courtyard. The deeper they went, however, the more dogs that appeared. Some of these were able to be taken out at a distance; for others, the Hunters had to risk being bitten by the ravenous beasts.
A fairly large distance away, they saw five obese policemen standing next to two large canisters of fuel. Matt fired a Fortress Beam at one of the cops, while the Hunters fired at the canisters. The beam pierced through a cop and hit a canister just as the bullets hit the other. The ensuing explosion was quite large and sent zombie guts flying in all directions along the courtyard! Defender:"I've heard of going to pieces, but this is ridiculous!" The others would have smiled, had they not spotted another shotgun wielding zombie a few yards away. The cop had pistol totting reinforcements as well; lots of them. Matt:"Guys! Keep those things distracted! I've got an idea!" Matt ran away towards a fenced off area. In front of said fenced off area, was a prison bus. With a small grunt, Matt heaved the bus over his head and gave it a toss. The bus flew forward and ripped off the upper halves of all fifty of the gun totting zombies. In amongst the blood, was a silver key. Judge:"That key must be for a door within that fenced off portion of the courtyard. Come on!"
Behind where the bus sat originally, an entrance to the fenced off overpass opened widely. Inside was another cop, but the Hunters killed him quickly. After Judge used the key to access the next section of the courtyard, several zombies appeared. But, these were different somehow. These rot were virtually indistinguishable from the teenagers that the Hunters had saved! As it turned out, the vengeful sprits of Ashcroft Penitentiary had possessed some of the ravers. Worse still, this genera of rot was even more relentless than any of the others!
But even these rot were no match for the Hunters. Matt's Mini Necro Blade Dragons were having a feast, and the others were shooting anything within range. As the Hunters got nearer to the stage, they could hear loud music. Matt could also sense the Life Force of two innocent teenage girls, who sat frightened out of their wits in the middle of the stage. The scene which spread out before them was, as far as they could perceive, all of their friends had gone completely insane and five people, who were crazier still, were hacking them up like animals in a butcher shop!
When the Hunters finally reached the stage, several vampresses and fat cops appeared on the stage, not to mention several more of the raver zombies that accompanied them. Matt quickly freed the girls, who were promptly teleported to the Train Station, where they would be safe. Judge used his Crossbow on all the vampresses he saw, and quickly killed the vast majority of them. Avenger cast the spell of Smite, which obliterated every zombie within a five foot radius of him! As for the rest of them, they took care of everything on the left side of the stage, hacking anything that had even a small amount of decay to it. After this vicious battle, Defender Rejuvenated everybody. Before continuing through they massive iron doors, which lead to the Meal Hall, the Hunters checked the surrounding area for more zombies to come. After waiting for thirty seconds, the group headed into the next section of the evil prison!
Inside the Meal Hall, it was semi-barren; there was nothing but a few tables and a couple of ramps, leading to watch balconies. That was it, except for the raver zombies, cops, and zombie rotweihlers. They came in nearly incessant numbers, but the Hunters managed to triumph over the ravers. Upon the defeat of about fifty, none continued to appear in that area, so they pressed forward. After traveling about twenty feet from the entrance, fat cops appeared, though in minimal numbers. There were only four of them. Because they were undead, their reflexes were quite slow. Thus, the Hunters were able to overtake them before they could react to their presence. However, after these were destroyed, five more took their places!
Unfortunately for the Hunters, this group was ready to fight. The rot cops seemed intent on attacking Matt, so the others were able to attack without fear of being filled full of lead. Matt:"[Inner] Why do I get the feeling that the rot want me dead more than the others?" Matt healed up and didn't think anything else of it. There were more cops in the room on top of the watch balconies. These cops were hit with beams and bullets, and fell quickly. Inside of a broadcasting booth, two fat rot cops stood waiting. Whether the cops' decayed brains could figure out that they could be seen through the glass or not, none of the Hunters knew. All that they did know was that these cops were waiting for them. So, the Hunters got the drop on the police by leaping off of a balcony just in front of the entrance, and dive-bombed them! After landing on one of their heads, Avenger decapitated the other one, killing it. The one he had smashed was killed on impact; his head had been smashed inward.
As the Hunters continued toward the right side of the room, a pack of rotweilers stood in their way. The group shot as many as they could, but when the few that remained reached them, the Hunters were forced to engage their canine foes in hand-to-hand combat. As if this wasn't enough, more raver zombies were appearing as well. Worst of all, a couple of pistol rot cops were on a watch balcony on that side of the room. Matt used his Dragon Chains to decapitate one of them and cling to the wall directly behind the cop. The Chain pulled Matt up to the balcony; Matt's leg knocked off the heads of a few ravers and the head of a fat cop that took the pistol cop's place. Once he was on the balcony with the other rot cop, Matt extended his blades and killed him.
Meanwhile, the others had finished killing off the dogs and moved on to the ravers. These were smarter than the average zombie, but still no match for the Hunters! Though they suffered a few scratches, the group was victorious over this first wave of zombies! After Matt leaped from the balcony, they continued to look around the room for more foes. When none appeared, the Hunters discovered that the only way forward was through the kitchen. So, after jumping over the serving line, the Hunters passed though a gate, which lead into the cooking area.
After passing through a gate, the Hunters came upon more raver zombies. A few dogs accompanied them as well. The zombies were a simple matter, but the dogs were rather agile for being dead. The zombies headed for the original Hunters, but the dogs targeted Matt. With his amazing speed, Matt was able to cut down the dogs one by one as they tried to leap at him. The Hunters were able to do the same with the slow, dim-witted zombies. After they hacked through this group, they continued toward the end of the room. There were two doors leading out of the kitchen, and neither one was bound to be very inviting. Matt:"I sense human Life Force beyond this door." He motioned toward the door straight back.
When they went inside, there was a man cowering in the corner. Of course, there were a few cops and the original rot made an appearance. The original rot was very easily destroyed and the cops received equal treatment, though in the form of ammunition. The instant that Matt touched the horrified man, he sprang to his feet and ran towards the door; he was teleported away to the Train Station immediately afterwards. Suddenly out of nowhere a large Fleshcraft monster with horns on its head appeared! However, with a round of bullets from every Hunter and a Beam from Matt, the creature died before it could cause any harm. From within the monster's body emerged a key. Judge:"I suppose this is for the other exitway from the kitchen." After they Hunters left the storage closet, they made a left and went toward the other door. Judge used the key, and the door swung wide open.
The room that the Hunters had entered was nothing less than a gigantic meat freezer. Inside Fleshcraft monsters made from mutated bovine skin sprang to life and attacked! The usual assortment of cops made an appearance as well. The Hunters targeted the cops first. After gunning down the minor threat, they turned toward the bigger one. These creatures could spew an acidic vomit that was so deadly, it could melt a human to the bones in a matter or seconds! Almost as deadly were the spikes they could fire from their bodies and they were much stronger than any normal man as well! The situation would've been bad for the Hunters had Matt not've been there. Matt:"Necro Blade Dragon!" The group watched as a green orb formed in Matt's cupped hands. When he launched his hands forward, a bright green dragon surged forward and instantly killed all that it hit! By moving his hands left and right, Matt was able to turn this horribly bad situation into an easily solved one!
Once all the Fleshcraft were laying in green flames, Martyr started to scream in hysteria at Matt. Martyr:"I thought you said that could only kill the undead instantly!" Matt:"True, but against anything else the Dragon possesses the condensed power of 25 atomic bombs. Only the most resilient of enemies can survive it." In the back of his mind, Matt had suspicions that Martyr didn't trust him completely. Why exactly, he didn't know; perhaps it was from jealousy or perhaps even fear of his appearance. But regardless, Matt had to accept this as fact and put it behind him. Even if she didn't like him, he would protect her if he had to. With the Fleshcraft monsters no longer in their path, the Hunters were free to press onward.
Immediately after exiting the freezer, a dozen cops, a large pack of dogs, and another of the freaky horned Fleshcraft monsters greeted them! Matt immediately impaled the Fleshcraft, and simultaneously decapitated a few of the dogs. The dogs continually bum rushed Matt, leaving the others to take out the cops. The cops were easily killed, due to the fact that their undead brains couldn't comprehend the distance very well and were firing harmlessly into the stairwell beneath them. Just before the exit, one last obese policeman appeared. No sooner had the fat deadman cocked his shotgun, he got a Beam, an arrow, and four bullets to his chest. He died before he knew what hit him. With this, the Hunters followed the passageway into the secondary courtyard of the prison.
The secondary courtyard was just as barren as the first. Well, except for the seemingly endless supply of raver zombies. While the other four fired at the dogs and rot cops below, Matt explored the upper catwalks. A fallen catwalk lead up to the others, making it easily accessible. At the top of the first ramp, Matt impaled a cop, followed by another at the peak of a second ramp. With these two out of the way, Matt only had to cross the catwalk above the ground. At the end of the path, a rot cop was there to welcome him. Matt returned the invitation by giving the evil zombie a one way ticket to hell. Further down the path, three flamethrower cops appeared. Matt fired a Fortress Beam at the on in front, which caused his napalm tank to combust. This unexpected chain reaction caused all three of the cops to explode, sending zombie guts everywhere! Matt stood there in shock for a moment, but than ran back to the other side of the balcony to check on the others.
The other Hunters were holding their own against the army before them. With their limitless ammo, the Hunters were able to take out almost all of their foes at a distance. They took out the dogs first, because they were more agile and could do more physical damage than the almost brainless obese police. So, after several reloads, the Hunters were down to just one fat cop. That's when Matt leaped from the balcony and performed a Devastating Piledriver on the porky porker. Matt landed square on his head and smashed him flat; Matt on the other hand, suffered no damage at all. Matt:"Thanks for breaking my fall, Fat Boy. Come on, lets go." Matt motioned toward a gate just behind him and they proceeded further into the courtyard.
A lot more cops appeared on the other side of the gate, most of them were totting pistols, but a few plumper ones were wielding shotguns. To top it off, they had their usual army of ever faithful Rotwhilers. The Hunters counter attacked as best they could, shooting at any dogs that got close, while engaging the deadmen in hand-to-hand combat. The next corridor seemed clear, except for unused, rusted weights and bench presses. That's went a lone flamethrower cop appeared, along with huge, six and a half foot, burly prisoners. Matt and Avenger took on the burly dead guys, while the other three fired away at the flamethrower, and a few of his comrades which appeared to replace him.
Matt picked up a bench-press bar and started using it as a gigantic baseball bat of sorts, swinging away and clubbing any dead man foolish enough to get within his range. One in particular was a real tough guy; Matt decapitated him, but he still kept coming. Matt swung again, this time taking off the zombie's torso. But, the zombie's legs continued to try and reach Matt! Matt:"Some people never learn; I guess that goes for zombies to!" With a vertical swing, Matt spit the legs apart, and the zombie finally died.
After this small series of challenges, the Hunters were victorious, and continued onward. That's when they saw a teenage girl standing there, completely unafraid. When they went up to her, she said, "My friend is trapped on the basketball courts. Please, don't let them kill her." As the group pressed on, Matt:"What was that?" Judge:"Some people who are `imbued' do not receive any Edges to fight the evil with; they are given second sight, but cannot fight." The basketball court was only a stone's throw away, and it was crawling with rot. The innocent girl was cowering in a far corner of the court. The Hunters hacked and slashed all the zombies that got in their way, but more continued to come out of thin air! Matt had the easiest time fighting toward the girl because of his Blades. The found the girl and she was teleported away from harm.
All that was left now was the clear out the basketball court and head through one last iron gate. This the Hunters did with relative ease; the inmates and burly prisoners were slow and dumb, unlike the dogs, so they were simple to defeat. After exiting the basketball court, the Hunters made a left and headed straight for a huge iron gate. A pair of gargoyles greeted them at the gate. These beasts were different than any of the ones they had faced before; instead of glowing blue, these were glowing red, signifying greater power. Although these possessed far greater offensive abilities, their defensive abilities were equal to their blue brothers', making for another simple kill for the Hunters. Matt decapitated his stone adversary and won instantly, while Judge used Word of Power and obliterated the other. With nothing else standing in their way, the Hunters went through the iron gate.
