Finally! After...four...? Four months of not updating, I have finally, well, updated it. Anyway, I hope you like it. I have already decided to cut things a bit short, since I don't want to work on this story for much longer. I enjoy doing it, but I basically write the same thing in each chapter. So I'm going to finish this campaign as if it were the last. I have four more chapters coming after this one, so I hope you like it. ^_^
Dark Sanctuary
Campaign 2: Death Toll- Part 3
Chapter 14: The Church
Since the Survivors had entered through the caboose of the train, which was now being mauled by a horde of the infected, the safest way out would be through the front of the train.
"Everyone load up," Takuya commanded them as he led them through the train cars. "I don't know how long it'll take for us to find more ammo."
"Where are we heading anyway?" Tommy asked.
Takuya shrugged. "Seeing how I don't know the area, I'm not sure. We just have to keep moving until we find a safe location."
Zoe sighed, ignoring the throbbing in her now stitched-up neck. "I'm not looking forward to this..."
"Me neither," Kouji mumbled as they reached the front of the train. "I hate zombies...
"They're not zombies," Takuya pointed out. "I keep telling you this."
Kouji rolled his eyes. "Fine! Then I hate crazy batshit people who want to eat my brains! Happy now, you bastard?"
"Ecstatic," the brunette replied with a smirk as he gazed out the window. "Okay...I don't see anyone out here... So move quickly but be careful."
The others nodded, waiting as he pried the door open. After a moment, it finally slid to the side, letting the group run out into the open. Up ahead, there was a trainyard, and a small shed was in view.
"Come on, let's go," Takuya told them as he clutched his assault rifle tightly. "Let's go into the shed and see if there's any ammo in there. We're running dangerously low."
"So basically if we don't find any, we're potentially screwed, right?" Kouji asked flatly.
"Pretty much," the soldier replied as he cautiously led the way. "So let's just hope for the best, okay?"
He led the other four towards the shed, cursing under his breath as a horde of the infected ran out of the shadows. Takuya fired his gun, getting as many head-shots as he could. Kouji and Tommy shot at the group with their shotguns, while Zoe took them down with her pistols, trying their best to kill the savages as quickly as possible. Kouichi slashed at the infected, breaking some of their necks in the process as well. They jogged closer towards the shed as they continued to fire, running over the train tracks.
"I hate train tracks," Kouji muttered, shooting an infected woman through the eye.
"What don't you hate?" Takuya asked with a smirk.
The raven-haired man throught for a moment. "Well, I already told you that I don't hate bandanas."
After finishing off the horde, the five of them ran into the shed in hopes of finding ammo. They were fortunate enough to find quite a bit of supplies, including bullets, a first-aid kit, another bottle of pain pills, and a few pipe bombs.
"Jackpot," Tommy said happily, gathering up some of the shotgun shells.
"Hopefully this will hold us up long enough by the time we can find more," Zoe added, reloading her pistols. "It all depends on how many of those bastards we run into."
Takuya chuckled. "And we know how they like to hang out in huge groups."
"They need to be more lonerish," Kouji grumbled. "Like me."
"Nah, you're just an emo." Takuya clipped two of the bombs onto his belt.
Kouji rolled his eyes. "Fuck you..."
"Hey, there's a door right here." Zoe gestured to the corner of the room. "Do you think we should go through it or just book it?"
"Always helps to look," Takuya said, firing a single shot through the door.
At the same moment, a green spray of liquid splattered through the door. Luckily for them, everyone had been standing too far back to be sprayed with the disgusting bile.
"Looks like I killed a Boomer." The brunette walked over to the door and peered through the hole. "Yup, I definitely killed one."
He opened the door, revealing it to be a single room with no other entrances. It seemed to be bare of any important items, so Takuya simply closed it with a shrug.
"Nothing useful in there?" Tommy asked.
Before he could answer, Kouichi's head jerked in the direction that led them back outside. His eyes narrowed and he let out a growl.
"Based on the way Kouichi's acting, I'm going to assume that we're about to have company," Kouji said with a sigh.
No sooner had the words left his mouth, a swarm of in the infected barreled into the room.
"I just had to open my friggen trap," Kouji muttered, aiming his shotgun.
Takuya and the others fired a few shots, trying their hardest to take down the oncoming horde. Blood and bits of bone sprayed in every direction, leaving behind bullet-filled corpses. Kouichi viciously mauled at the infected within his range, pouncing on them and tearing chunks of their flesh off.
"Avoiding them is impossible," Zoe said quietly, shooting a woman through the eye. "Until we get out of this godforsaken area, we're going to be attacked every which way."
"Aaaah!" Tommy shot one of the infected who had run over too close for his liking. "I wanna get outta here!"
Takuya chuckled and the bodies began to pile up. "You and me both, kid."
About a minute or so later, the large group had been annihilated, leaving behind bloody and crumpled bodies. Takuya led the Survivors back outside, making his way to a metal fire escape.
"Why are we going up there?" Kouji asked, raising an eyebrow incredulously.
"Well, unless you want more company, we'll be a bit safer up here," the soldier told him, motioning their surroundings with his rifle.
"I hate fire escapes," Kouji mumbled, but followed nonetheless.
Kouichi pounced ahead of them, not needing the steps to reach the landing. Takuya shot over the railings of the escape as he ran up the steps, hearing the sounds of numerous gunshots from the others. Once they had all reached the landing, they discovered that ended abruptly and the only way to get off was by jumping down.
"Well...that was pointless," Takuya said sheepishly as he plummeted down to the ground.
"Way to go, Kanbara," Kouji laughed.
Tommy snorted. "Hey, we're bound to run into a few dead-ends every now and again."
He and Kouichi were able to jump down easily enough, but Kouji and Zoe needed a bit of assistance with their landings due to their injuries.
"I got ya, Kouji!" Tommy shouted up to the bandana-wearing twin.
"You better," Kouji mumbled, before leaping downward.
Tommy grabbed hold of him, but needed Kouichi's help to keep himself and Kouji crashing into the ground. Kouichi solved the problem by grabbing his brother's jacket and roughly pulling him back before he slammed into the younger boy. Zoe managed to jump down the escape well enough, but needed Takuya to keep her steady as she landed.
"You guys alright?" Takuya asked, glancing at everyone.
"Yeah." Kouichi was the only one who had not answered vocally.
Tommy gazed around their surroundings. "Where should we go now?"
Before Takuya could answer, Zoe pointed something out. "Hey, there's a boardwalk over there."
"Then it looks like we're going to the boardwalk," Takuya said with a crooked smile. "Get there as fast as you can before our little, flesh-eating friends decide to join us."
The five of them rushed to the boardwalk, looking around frantically to make sure the coast was clear. Just as they neared the halfway point, Tommy cried out in surprise. Everyone turned to see a large, disgusting tongue wrapped around Tommy's waist, trying to drag him into the shadows. They rushed over to free him, Kouichi getting to him first. He viciously yanked the tongue away from the young man, ripping it in the process. A squeal was heard, undeniably belonging to the injured Smoker.
"Should we look for the bastard?" Kouji asked.
"Fuck it, just get to the boardwalk," Takuya commanded. "I hear another horde coming."
Zoe sighed, rolling her eyes. "Lovely..."
The Survivors sprinted the rest of the way to the boardwalk just as the swarm of infected ambled from the shadows. They began to shoot over the broken railings as the mob clumsily hurried over, taking down as many as possible. Blood and organs splattered onto the pavement, leaving behind mutilated corpses. As they crossed the boardwalk, Takuya noticed a cannister of gasonline and grabbed it.
"What the hell are you doing with that?" Kouji inquired.
"Watch." Takuya quickly removed the cap, halting everyone as the infected ran up to the boardwalk.
Tommy stared at the swarm in terror. "Why did we stop? They're going to kill us!"
"Just wait!" Takuya shouted, holding the cannister ready.
The horde was only a few yards away, many of them mashing their teeth together hungrily. Everyone aimed their guns, ready to fire. A moment later, Takuya splashed the infected with the gasoline, soaking them. He then motioned the others to run and took a mototiv cocktail from his belt. Running with the others, he tossed it behind his back at the drenched swarm.
"Keep fucking running!" he yelled, nearing the end of the boardwalk with everyone.
A second later, there was a large explosion, and upon glancing back, they saw the fiery bodies of the infected group strewn about. The ones who hadn't been blown to bits were running around frantically, completely covered in flames. However, before any of them could catch up to the Survivors, they collapsed to the ground as their bodies succumbed to the fire.
"And that is how to get rid of a group of infected people in the span of five seconds," Takuya said proudly.
"Let me write that one down in my notebook," Tomm quipped. "For a minute, I thought you were leading us into a suicide."
Kouji snorted. "Like hell I'm letting this moron drag me down like that."
"I don't think Takuya would do anything like that unless he absolutely knew what he was doing," Zoe quietly commented.
"Well, that's no surprise coming from you," Kouji said dryly.
Zoe's eyes narrowed as the five of them jogged down the seemingly-deserted road. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, it's no surprise that the two of you want to get into each other's pants," he remarked.
"Oh, shut up!" Takuya and Zoe exclaimed unanimously, both of them blushing slightly.
For the next few minutes, the five of them continued to sprint down the path, reloading as they did so. Other than the stray infected person every now and again, the area was relatively quiet. However, it seemed that from every shadow, there was the sound of someone approaching.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Tommy said quietly.
"Me, too. Just keep going until you see someone pop out," Takuya advised.
They reached a burning school bus, the large vehicle completely filled with fire. Just as they passed it, a horde ambled out from every direction, completely surrounding them.
"Ah, fuck," Takuya growled, immediately firing at them. "Everyone shoot in different directions so that we can cover each other!"
The sounds of gunfire filled their ears as they frantically shot at the bloodthirsty group. Amongst the group was a Hunter, who Kouichi decided to take care of. He slashed at the hooded man's face, then doved right into him to knock him off balance. The others fired at the infected humans, trying their best to keep them at bay.
"Shit, there are too many of them!" Kouji shouted above the gunfire. "How the fuck are supposed to kill them all?"
"We've done it before! We can do it again!" Takuya shot an infected woman in the head, splattering her brains onto the pavement. "Just try to get as many head-shots as possible! It's the fastest way to kill them!"
Kouji snorted and rolled his eyes. "Well, no shit, Sherlock! I could've told you that!"
"Then I don't see what the problem is!" Takuya ducked out of the way as a man tried to slash at him, before smacking him with the butt of his rifle and shooting him through the eye.
Tommy and Zoe feverishly shot at the infected coming from their sides, feeling a bit more relieved as the horde died down. The Hunter that Kouichi had been fighting was viciously thrown up a tree seconds later, his larynx torn out. After several more bullets and squirts of blood, the horde had finally been taken down.
Everyone tiredly looked at each other, panting for breath as they reloaded again.
"I'm so exhausted," Kouji mumbled. "I hope we find a safe room soon."
The others nodded in agreement, before continuing their walk down the road. After a few minutes, Zoe stopped dead in her tracks and excitedly grabbed hold of Takuya's arm.
"Guys, look over there!" she said, a bit of relief in her voice.
The guys looked in direction she had been referring to, immediately feeling relieved as well. In the distance, there was an old house and a church, therefore indicating that either one could contain a safe room.
"Then let's get there as soon as possible." Takuya began to lead them to the buildings as quickly as he could, his face a bit red from when Zoe had grabbed him.
Along the way, they passed an abandoned ambulance, being fortunate enough to find a first-aid kit inside. They then hurried to the house, as it was closer to them than the church. The five of them took a quick scan through the deserted building, though none of the rooms inside seemed safe enough for them to take refuge in. However, they still managed to collect more ammunition, molotiv cocktails, another first-aid kit, and pain pills.
"I think someone's trying tell us something," Kouji said with a smirk as he gathered the bottle of pills.
"Yeah, if we don't die from the infected, we're going to overdose," Takuya replied.
Tommy and Kouichi were about to distribute the correct ammo to everyone when, Zoe rushed over to them.
"Hey, look what I found," she said, showing what she was carrying in her arms. "Thought these might be useful to us."
Takuya's eyes widened as he realized what they were. "It's a sniper rifle and a combat shotgun! Where the fuck did you find these?"
"Uh...I saw them hanging up in the living room," she replied, her eyes wide. "Should I have left them?"
"Are you kidding? These are going to be a big help," he said happily. "Since you and Tommy haven't had the chance to get a new weapon, you two can have them."
However, Tommy shook his head. "No, I'm comfortable using what I have. I'm not in the mood trying to get the hang of something new and getting slaughtered halfway through."
"I'm with him on this one," Zoe added. "I'm not screwing around with those either."
Takuya shrugged, then allowed Kouji to pick the weapon of his choice. Kouji had decided on the combat shotgun, taking the opportunity to load it.
"Wish you had this one?" he asked Takuya teasingly.
"Eh, not really. I think that sniper rifles are better," the brunette replied, stuffing ammunition into his new gun. "They're good up close and far away, and are powerful enough to kill those infected bastards in one hit."
Kouji did a double-take. "Wait, what? Eh, dammit..."
"Well, let's get going to the church," Takuya said after a moment. "I just hope that there's a safe room in there."
The five of them hurried to the abandoned church as fast as they could, shooting a stray infected human every now and again. Once they finally reached their destination, Takuya cautiously opened the door, ignoring the grafitti on the outside of the building.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Kouji muttered.
"I think we all do," the brunette replied. "But this is our last hope for a safe room. I don't know how long it'll take before we come across another building."
He then led everyone inside, all of them looking around nervously. They made their way into a different room, which was the main service room. However, the room was bare except for the alter and the spray painted grafitti on the walls. The wooden ceiling and walls were beginning to crumble and decay a bit, but still seemed durable enough to hold the building up.
"What the fuck happened here?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know..." Takuya noticed a heavy door on one side of the room. "Hey, that looks a safe room. Let's go check it out."
Yet, just as they neared the door, the sound of a person on the other side filled their ears, sending a chill up their spines.
"Better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry..."
"Uh, excuse me?" Takuya knocked on the door. "Who's in there?"
The person didn't answer, but simply kept on talking to himself. "They told me they weren't infected...they told me they weren't infected..."
"Hello?" Zoe softly called. "Are you okay in there?"
"Better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry..." The delusional man inside kept repeating the same phrase over and over again. "Better safe than sorry...better safe than sorry..."
"What the fuck?" Kouji muttered, feeling uneasy.
Kouichi's eyes had narrowed into slits, and he tried to pull the door open. It refused to budge, however.
"Who's there?" the man on the other side suddenly asked, his voice filled with anxiety. "Who's out there? Stay away from me!"
"Hey, calm down," Takuya told him. "We're survivors of this fucking pandemic. We just came here to-"
"You're lying!" the man shot back. "You're one of them! One of the infected. They told me that they weren't infected...but they were...THEY WERE!"
The others jumped at the harshness of his voice, before hearing him let out a manical laugh. They exchanged glances, getting their guns ready in case something happened.
"I won't be fooled a second time. I won't be!" From inside the room, a loud bell was suddenly being rung by the crazed man. "Ding dong! Ding dong! It's feeding time! Hahahahahaha! Ding dong!"
"Oh, shit," Takuya grunted, knowing what was to come. "Well, get your guns ready..."
Seconds later, a large horde of the infected barreled through the door, their clothes and skin stained with blood. Takuya and the others immediately fired at the swarm, spraying blood, bits of bone, and destroyed organs everywhere. There were several dozen of the zombie-like humans, all of them determined to slaughter the Survivors.
"Fuck! There are so many of them!" Tommy cried out above the gunfire.
Kouichi was leaping from wall to wall, snapping the necks of the infected as he went back and forth. He gouged out the eyes of many of them, and ripped open some of their throats. His hands were soon coated in a fresh layer of blood, which dripped onto the floor with each swipe he made at them. The bell continued to ring loudly, drawing more and more of the infected into the church.
"Fucking asshole!" Kouji shouted, referring to the man in the safe room. "Stop it off, you douchebag! Before I rip your head off!"
"Ding dong! Ding dong! Better safe than sorry! Ding dong! Ding dong!" the man continued to yell out. "They won't get me this time!"
Zoe jumped away at one of the infected that had lunged at her, barely missing his grimy teeth. Takuya smacked the diseased man with the butt of his rifle, then blew his head off. The blond flashed him a grateful smile, then resumed her shooting.
Just then, the door to the safe room burst open, and a Boomer waddled out. His mouth was filled with green bile, and he spit it across the room seconds later.
"Dammit!" Takuya jumped away as it sprayed the wall. "That guy is a Boomer?"
He began to shoot at him feverishly, realizing that the bloated man was not as easily taken down as the previous Boomers that had encountered. While the others continued to shoot at the commonly infected, he concentrated on the Boomer, who was already beginning to fill his mouth with yet another load of bile. The brunette shot him in the head, then heard a loud screech. Moving quickly, the Boomer ran back into the safe room, shutting the door behind him.
"How many of these guys are there?" Tommy reloaded, his fingers trembling as he went as fast as he could. "They keep coming!"
"Ding dong! Ding dong!" the man inside the safe room called out again as he rang the bell. "Feeding time!"
Zoe groaned in dismay, her face furrowed in worry as the number of infected humans seemed to rise. It seemed that with every person they shot, two more ran into the room to take their place.
"We gotta get that guy to stop ringing that fucking bell!" she shouted above the loud gunfire. "These bastards won't stop coming until he stops!"
"How?" Kouji asked, shooting a woman through her open mouth. "He went back inside the damn room!"
Zoe killed two of the infected at once, hitting them each in the face. "We're just gonna have to hope that he comes out again! When he does, try to shoot him as many times as you can before you have to divert your attention back onto these regular guys!"
"She's right!" Takuya told them. "That's exactly what we gotta do! This fucker needs to die, and soon for that matter!"
To their luck, the door to the safe room swung open yet again, this time a Smoker running out of it. The Smoker's tongue shot across the room and wrapped around Kouichi's ankle. Kouichi was almost dragged over to the disfigured infected man, but easily tore his leg free by ripping the tongue right out of the Smoker's mouth. While he did this, the others took as many shots at him as they could, hoping to take him down once and for all. Yet, once again, the man went back inside the safe room, resuming the bell ringing.
"Ding dong! Ding dong! Better safe than sorry!" he bellowed, laughing hysterically as he did so. "Ding dong!"
"Jeez! I'm really getting pissed off!" Takuya quickly reloaded as Zoe covered for him.
After several more shots at the horde, the number finally seemed to be dwindling, despite the deafening bell ringing. They were all soaked with blood and pieces of flesh that had come from the bodies.
"I hope this ends soon," Tommy said nervously. "We're going to run out of ammo at this rate, and we just stocked up!"
The door to the safe room opened one last time, this time a Hunter emerging. He snarled at the group and lunged at them, only to be knocked away by Kouichi.
"What the fuck is going on? Is this guy like a shape-shifter or something?" Kouji asked, puzzled. "He's the only one in that room, but he keeps coming out as a different infected person."
"The pandemic must've had a really weird effect on him. Seems like he transforms into several different forms!" Takuya shouted over the gunfire. "Just shoot him until he's dead!"
Finally, after several bullets and heart-pounding seconds, the infected, including the Hunter, had been killed. With a tired sigh, the Survivors ran into the safe room, immediately locking the door behind them.
"Oh my god..." Zoe sank down, her energy drained. "That sucked..."
"You're telling me," Takuya mumbled as he shook his head in annoyance. "Fucking crazy bastard..."
Kouji rubbed the sweat from his forehead. "I'm just glad that he's dead...finally..."
"Now all we gotta do is make it to the next area," Tommy said, his voice tinted with dread.
Okay, this chapter is finally finished. I hope you liked it, so please review. ^_^
