Author's Notes: Hello everyone, and welcome to my second Christmas chapter of this story, and since my first chapter focused mainly on Boomer, Hunter, and Witch, I thought I should mix it up a bit and give some Christmas cheer to grumpy old Smoker
Now granted I did say I would go back to the comedic basics and you will see that their is a serious overlay to this chapter since I like some depth in the holiday chapters, but it is more of a heartwarming and suspenceful seriousness, rather then the dark, and action oriented seriousness of the Esterfield saga.
Also I wanna apologize again for the medicore and dullness of my last chapter, I just really wanted to get this chapter in before Christmas and that chapter severely suffered from it. However I promise from now on that I will attempt to bring you quality writing. Well anyway, enough of my ramblings, and I hope you enjoy this year's Christmas chapter.
We're Gonna Get Those Bastards Chapter 9
Faint sunlight was able to permeate the dark clouds in the early hours of the cold December morning, as an obese member trudged its way past decrepit houses on the outskirts of a large city.
The little bundle wrapped in Boomer's hands had long since silenced its wails, and was now napping peacefully in the special infected's embrace.
Boomer studied the child, possibly about one and a half to two years old, with back-length light brown hair, and a content smile on her chubby baby cheeks. He didn't know if she was at speaking age yet, and honestly it wasn't the main thing on his mind right now as he pondered his situation.
In reality, the overweight infected had no idea what the hell he was doing with this child, but when he saw the desperate look in it's mothers eyes as she begged him to take care of it, he hadn't thought twice as he took it from her.
Right now he was worried about what he was gonna tell the other guys as the church came into sight, but his eyebrow raised as he heard loud music echo from church windows.
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock
Jingle Bell Swing and Jingle Bells Ring
Boomer knew it was Christmas eve today, but he didn't really think that anybody in the church would be celebrating it, since he seemed to be the only Christmas enthusiast of the group.
Caustiously Boomer pushed open the door to his home, and stared in awe at the various garlen, bowes, and Christmas decorations that littered the walls and ceiling of the small church.
Looking over to the corner, he noticed a large tree with a long step ladder placed in front of it. Witch stood at the top of the ladder, a Santa hat on her head as Hunter handed her various tree ornaments from a box in his hands.
"What the hell?" Boomer muttered, almost completely inaudible over the loud Christmas music that continued to blar, however he almost jumped as Smoker appeared next to him, "I know, its sickening isn't it?" the weezing member growled as he glared at the two who hadn't acknowledged their presence.
"Where did all this stuff come from?" Boomer curiously asked, "While you were out on one of your midnight adventures doing god knows what, those two over their decided the place needed to be decorated for Christmas, so they looted this shit out of a Christmas store in the mall."
Hunter chuckled as he walked up to them, "Aww come on guys, Witch said this place needed some Christmas cheer, and what better way then to have our own Christmas party!" Hunter shouted with joy and then suddenly noticed the child in his friend's arms.
"And Boomer even brought us a Christmas dinner! Way to go pal" the hooded member thanked him as he swipped the bundel from Boomer's bewildered arms.
With quick movements Hunter brought the confused baby girl over to the group's make-shift kitchen and laid her on a cutting board.
Picking up a meat cleaver, he raised it back with all his might, "Hunter no!" Boomer screamed as he plowed into his friend, knocking the two into Witch's ladder.
Witch's eyes widened as the ladder tipped to the right, and she screamed loudly as she landed through a wooden table.
Smoker laughed as he watched his three friends awkward postions on the ground, but paused as he noticed a new voice joining in on his laugh, the toddler.
Smoker walked up to the cutting board and glanced down at the laughing toddler, "So you think thats funny do you?" Smoker asked, somewhat amused as Boomer nudged him out of the way and picked up the girl.
"Ok Boomer, what the hell is your problem?" Hunter demanded as he stood up and glared at his friend, Witch groggly getting to her feet.
"I-its just that...this little girl's mother is dead and before she died she begged me to watch after her" he studdered while looking at his three friend's stern glares.
However as Witch looked down at the infant, her look softened, "Aww, its so cute!" she squealed and swipped it from Boomer, making sure not to accidently harm her with her claws.
She held it up towards the light and examined her, with her light green eyes, and little pink nightgown, "Hey their cutey, whats your name?" she cooed before the baby abruptly spit up on her.
Smoker commenced his laughing once again, weezing after every howl of laughter until the baby cut him off, "Weezy" she cooed happily and Smoker raised an eyebrow.
"Weezy? Who the hell names their kid Weezy" As Witch angerly handed the child back to Boomer, Hunter chuckled, "I think shes talking about you dude, the kid named you Weezy since you weeze all the time."
Hunter then howled with laughter himself, giving his trademark growls in between his laughs, "Growly" he heard the baby yell and the hooded monster's eyes narrowed.
"That was a cheap shot kid" he growled at the toddler before she pointed towards Boomer, "Gurgly, teehee" instead of getting mad like the rest, Boomer simply smiled down at her, "So what are we gonna name her?"
"How about we name her dinner" Hunter quickly exclaimed before trying to once again grab her from Boomer's embrace. When that failed he sighed, "Ok ok...how about Sara?"
Witch pondered, "What about Evilynn? It sounds so exotic." Boomer smiled at the toddler, "What about Gwyneth?" The baby didn't seem amused by any of these names as she glared at them, and Smoker frowned at it, "How about we just call you Mini-Brat, since your gonna be a pain in the ass."
"Mini-Brat!" the baby cheered and everyone's faces dropped, "You...can't be serious" Hunter mumbled and the baby cocked its head to the side as it smiled, "Mini-Brat, Mini-Brat!"
Boomer gently set the baby on its feet as it awkwardly stood and stared at them, its care-free smile never fading. They all looked at it like a deer in a headlight, "So...what do we do with it?" Boomer asked before two giant biceps grabbed him from behind and pulled him into a crushing embrace.
"Gah! Tank what are you doing?" Boomer demanded as Tank continued to hug his friend and laugh, and Boomer noticed that the giant infected's cheeks were glowing red, "Tank...are you drunk?" he asked.
"Hell yeah, he's wasted. Hes been drinking our spiked eggnog all morning" Hunter laughed before looking up and noticing that Witch and him were standing under a misteltoe connected to the ceiling.
He grinned as he nudged her, "Hey Witch, look up?" Witch did what she was told and as she noticed the misteltoe, she blushed madly before Hunter glomped her with a barrage of kisses.
Smoker stared at his friends before him, on one side Boomer and Tank palled around like two best friends, while on the right Witch giggled as her and Hunter began to makeout.
The tall infected crossed his arms and glared at them, "Hmn...idiots" he muttered, but their was an inkling of jealousy in him as he watched his friends enjoy the Christmas time without him.
Suddenly he noticed that the little girl next to him had also crossed her arms and put on a fake glare, in a somewhat juvenille attempt at mimicing him. "Are you mocking me you little runt?" he asked and the little girl only smiled in return.
A few hours later as the afternoon crept in, the special infected were delighted to find that the dreary rain of the past few days was replaced with snow, and currently everyone was out in the church's courtyard, enjoying the festive weather.
Tank laughed happily as he frolicked through the snow, Mini-Brat securely on his shoulders as she giggled along with her new friend which she nick-named "Roar-roar".
Boomer attempted to catch various snowflakes on his tongue, and as the snow reached the two inch mark, Witch and Hunter attempted to make snow angels next to each other.
However as they both got up, Witch's eyes widened as she looked at her boyfriend's indent to see that it had devil wings and horns, "H-how did?" Hunter sighed, "That always keeps happening to me."
Under one of the yard's withered trees, Smoker sat with a frown on his face, ignoring all of the laughs his friends were making. However he turned his head when he heard footsteps crunch in the snow and looked silently at Mini-Brat.
"What?" he demanded as the small child looked at him, "Play?" she asked simply and Smoker scoffed at her, closing his eyes as he attempted to take a nap, "Get lost kid, I'm not into your childish little games and-" he was cut off as a snowball smacked him in the face.
His eyes angerly opened as he looked at the laughing child, "Oh you are so dead kid" Smoker muttered as he grabbed a handful of snow, and crafted it into a large ball.
Moments later girly screams erupted from behind the tree, and the special infected raced over in a panic, "Mini-Brat! Smoker you better not have-" but Witch stopped as they came upon a horrific scene.
Smoker lay on the ground, only his head exposed as a mountain of snow was packed on top of him, with little Mini-Brat sitting on top, cross-legged, "Get...get this little monster away from me" Smoker demanded from his place under the pile.
Evening came sooner then most of the group would have hoped, and they all soon found themselves around a large dinner table at the back of the church.
The group waited with anticipation before Smoker appeared with several sizzling entrees in his hands and a chef's hat on his head. Even though he wasn't too fond of the Christmas season, Smoker loved to cook and would typically flant his culinary talents at the guys.
"Ok assholes, tonight for you I have a nice roasted survivor torso, marinated in an amazing duck sauce, and served with a side of brain soup, and some fried eyeballs" he proudly yelled as he placed a platter in front of everyone, including Mini-Brat, who stared at the platter with hesitance.
Witch glared at him, "Smoker! Mini-Brat is a child" she said, resulting in Smoker picking up a bottle of ketchup, and drawing a smiley face on the torso, "There you go."
Witch sighed, "I meant a 'human' child. Don't you guys have any food items from before the infection?" Hunter pondered this, "Hmn, well there was some cans of squash and corn that some survivors left laying around."
"Perfect!" the frail girl cheered and Smoker threw off his hat, "Aww come on! I slaved over a hot stove for this little runt, and now I gotta go back and make it something else?"
"Yep" Hunter muttered as he, and everyone else dug into their meals, except for Mini-Brat who patiently waited for her meal as Smoker sighed and marched away.
Ten minutes later Smoker once again appeared with a bowl of mashed squash in his green hands, "Ok guys, thanks for waiting up for me because I have retur-" he paused as he noticed that the table was vacant, except for Mini-Brat.
Studying the child, he realized their was a note taped to her forhead and he yanked it away, resulting in a small "ouch" from the little girl.
Dear Smoker, thank you for the delicious meal. Sorry we couldn't wait up for you, but its getting late and we all wanted to go out and get some Christmas presents for each other. Of course we couldn't take Mini-Brat in fear that the zombie horde will get her. Plus I think you guys should spend some quality time together. We'll get you something nice.
Sincerly, Hunter.
P.S. Witch says if anything happens to that child that shes gonna chop your nuts off...but I told her that was still impossible. Hahaha.
Smoker growled angerly as he crumpled the note up and abruptly sat down next to the kid, "Alright kid, open your trap!" he demanded and as Mini-Brat slightly parted her lips, her eyes widened as Smoker shoveled a large quanity of squash into her bulging cheeks.
While he continued to force-feed the child, he looked at the vacant table inside the rotting church and he sighed as a flashback of his childhood hit him.
Flashback:
Little five year old Samuel, who would later be known as Smoker, sat at a dirty wooden table inside a large facility known as St. Joseph's Orphanage. Several other orphans surrounded him as they all ate in silence, snow falling outside one of the room's many windows.
A middle-aged nun walked into the room with a frown as she looked at all of the ill-fated kids, "Merry Christmas children" she said simply as she patted each one on the shoulder before retreating from the room.
Samuel stared at his miniscule meal before a single tear slid down his cheek.
End Flashback:
Smoker haulted his feeding for a moment as he became lost in his day-dream before he noticed the child looking at him, like she wanted to know what he was thinking, "What? Hmn, you wouldn't understand" he chuckled until he thought of something.
Here was a little girl who just lost her only family, and was now an orphan, spending Christmas eve in a dirty old church, with her only company being a bitter, weezing monster, "Hehe...maybe you would understand" he said simply as he cracked a slight grin for the first time at Mini-Brat, "Weezy!" she cheered.
Suddenly both of them tensed up as loud bangs at the doors and windows caught their attention, followed soon by hungry moans and roars from outside, "No! They found us, damnit!" Smoker screamed as one of the windows was broken by a decaying hand.
Smoker knew what they were here for, the little girl, but he still wasn't sure how they were able to smell a human from this long of a distance.
Thats when he realized something and looked down at the torso of a survivor he was about to feast on, "Shit, they smelled the blood" he murmmered as the door finally gave way and dozens of undead began to swarm the compound.
Now Smoker could be described as a very selfish man, whos own wants came long before the needs of others. And his friends believed that hell itself would freeze over before the weezing member would stick his neck out to save anyone, let alone a survivor.
But that didn't explain why seconds later Smoker quickly grabbed the petrified Mini-Brat and raced for the ladder that led to the church's bell-tower. Perhaps it was the fact that the little tike remind him much of himself, or maybe he didn't want to be under Witch's wrath, but the normally cold and distant infected didn't want to see the little girl's blood spilled by the vicious undead.
With the little girl safely secured in Smoker's long tongue, the abomination desperatly climbed the rusty ladder, kicking away the hands that attempted to grab hold of him as he reached the top.
Slamming the trap door down on one of the infected's heads, Smoker knew that it wouldn't hold them for long as he sat, huddled against the side of the bell tower with the baby crying in his arms.
"Shh baby, everythings going to be alright" Smoker tried to calm Mini-Brat, but remembering the exact same words from her mother moments before she died, only increased the little girl's tears.
Smoker attempted to look past the railing and through the blistering snow to find a place of safety for the two, and could barely make out the sillouette of the city close by.
He knew it was a long shot, but the city was riddled with saferooms and escape routes, and at this time it was their best shot. And so, cradling the baby tight in his arms he got a running start and jumped from the belltower and landed in the courtyard, the snow cushioning their fall.
The common infected were not fooled by this however, and they soon exited the building and gave chase to the sprinting Smoker with their target in his arms.
Author's Notes: Now I don't normally suggest music to play during certain scenes of my story, however I believe that the song Carol of the Bells would fit decently into the next part of my story. Personally I enjoy David Foster's rendition, maybe give it a listen.
Smoker ran for all he was worth, his long legs giving him a good stride, however his constant weezing severely withered his lung capacity. The snow stung his face, and his feet were cold and wet, but the advancing footsteps from behind him caused him to feel a rejuvination in stamina.
The familiar city streets didn't come a moment too soon, as a dozen more zombies joined in the chase as Smoker passed by, the child's cries reduced to whimpers as he stumbled over a familiar pothole, but stood his ground.
Coming to a four-way intersection, he gasped at the sight of zombies coming from all four directions and then spotted a safehouse door just a short distance away.
Just as he felt the zombies enclose on him he slammed the red door on them, breathing a sigh of relief as the zombies desperatly tried to claw at the baby through the bars.
Smoker abruptly slipped on something wet and regained his footing before noticing a trail of blood that ended at the wall, "Mama" the baby muttered and Smoker's eyes widened as he looked at the pale form of a young woman laying motionless against the wall, a thin trail of dried blood caked her lips.
"Mama?" Smoker asked disbelivingly as he looked at the baby's deceased mother, and deliberately drowned out the sounds of the angry zombies as he contemplated this baby's fate.
Smoker's childhood Christmases at the orphanarium were nothing compared to what this poor kid had to endure. Being chased by a zombie mob and having to relive your mother's death were the most traumatizing things Smoker could think of as Mini-Brat stared silently at her mom.
Smoker noticed a clock on the wall that read 10:30 PM, and then looked sternly at the child. Smoker would never admit it, but he missed the smile she constantly wore, "Alright runt, if its the last thing I do i'll get you out of this city before Christmas" he declared and the baby must have understood because she smiled once again.
Smoker looked down at the mom, "I promise" he whispered, remembering Boomer telling him what the mother had begged of him, and calmly walked over to the door.
Outside of the safehouse, over thirty zombies attempted to push each other out of the way to get towards the barred door, until suddenly a long tongue violently flew through the bars and began to bat the various zombies out of the way.
Using their number to his advantage, Smoker watched in satisfaction as they all attempted to rise at once, stumbling over each other to obtain their selfish desire.
Quickly throwing the door open, Smoker ran from their sanctuary and into the unforgiving city streets, his destination the helipad of Mercy Hospital, "Christ, I hate always going to that friggin place" he muttered as he charged towards the brilliant skyscraper.
The number of zombies seemingly inrceased to the forties as he advanced towards the front doors of the facility, until just like Mini-Brat's mother, Smoker felt the undead tackle him to the ground.
As they began to claw at Smoker's body, the special infected used the last of his strength to wrap his tongue around the child's body and hoisted her far into the air, out of the reach of the common infected.
The child's wails echoed far into the night as Smoker tried to stay conscoius or risk dropping Mini-Brat into the awaiting zombie horde. A few blocks over in a dusty old saferoom, four figures heard the desperate cries, "Lets go" the oldest one ordered.
Despite Smoker's superior durability, the slashes had begun to draw blood and he was moments away from passing out, until shots rang out and the surrounding zombies began to drop one by one.
As the last one met its end at the end of an assault rifle, Smoker painfully rose and held the baby in his hands. However his eyes widened as Bill, Zoey, Luis, and Francis aimed their guns at him, "Drop the survivior, now" Zoey demanded.
"No, no you got it all wrong. I was just gonna take her to safety I swear" he pleaded but if fell on deaf ears as Zoey pumped her shotgun, "Yeah I'm sure thats the case. Now hand her over and I promise to end you quickly" she ordered.
Smoker sighed as he looked at the child, 'At least she'll be safe' he thought sadly until a form jumped onto a streetlight a few meters away from the group, "Found them" Hunter muttered before giving his trademark yell and pouncing towards them "Surpise bitch!" he screamed as Zoey landed on the pavement with the hooded monster on top of her.
As the other survivors attempted to retaliate the ground began to rumble as Tank stormed onto the scene, followed close behind by Witch and Boomer. While the survivors began to combat the infected, Smoker took this time to slip away and ran inside the hospital.
Moments later an elevator arrived at the top of the skyscraper and out walked Smoker with Mini-Brat safely in his arms. After making sure their were no more infected near-by, he walked over to the familiar radio which even though it was Christmas eve, was still calling out to survivors.
"Mercy Hospital, is their anybody there?" a voice asked and Smoker sighed as he picked up the mic, "Yes this is Mercy Hospital, requesting immediate extraction for one survivor." The line was silent for a moment, "You made it! Roger that, a helicoptor is on the way, ETA about 10 minutes" he exclaimed happily before the line went dead.
Smoker calmly walked to the skyscraper's helipad, and set the child onto it's feet, before kneeling down to eye-level with her, "Welp kid, I guess this is where our story ends" he chuckled before awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, "Uh...kid, I know your not old enough to understand this, but well...i've always been alone on Christmas and I guess it was kind of...nice that I had someone special to spend some time with this year."
As the kid stared at him silently, he went on, "Even though the ending was a little rough hehe. Well anyways kid, you were all right, even if you were a pain in the ass, and didn't know our names, or-" "Smoker" the baby cooed and Smoker's eyes widened as he felt her wrap her little arms around his deformed neck in an awkward attempt at a hug.
As she let go and smiled at him, Smoker stayed silent until he heard helicoptor blades in the distance and quickly ran from the helipad, leaving little Mini-Brat alone as she stared at the approaching chopper.
Inside the helicoptor, a burley pilot's eyes widened as he noticed the little girl standing by herself, and after setting the helicoptor down, he got out and picked her up, "Well hello little fella, what are you doing out here all alone?" he asked and began to tickle her under chin, much to the child's amusement.
After checking his surroundings for any sign of the person who radioed him, the pilot quickly recedded back into his helicoptor before he attracted any infected.
However as his chopper began to lift off, he gasped at the sight of a smoker staring at him, motionless. Looking in closer, the pilot could swear he saw a single tear role down the infected's cheek, but chose to ignore it as he manuvered the aircraft away from the building and out of sight.
Twenty minutes later, Smoker sat silently at the edge of the skyscraper, looking somberly across the city as the snow gently matted the surrounding area, before the elevator doors opened and the remaining special infected arrived.
"Jeez that was crazy. That bitch Zoey is really strong when shes pissed" Hunter chuckled as he limped further onto the rooftop, and Witch crossed her arms, "Thats probably because you were groping her boobs, don't think I didn't notice. We're gonna have to have a talk about that later."
Boomer shrugged his shoulders, "Well in any case they got away, so lets just chalk it up as a loss, and get them next time." Suddenly everyone fell dead silent as they noticed Smoker sitting quietly on the building's edge.
Witch looked at Hunter and nudged him forward, and the hooded member awkwardly sat down next to his buddy, "So...I take it from the absence of Mini-Brat, that a helicoptor picked her up?"
Smoker slowly nodded, never taking his eyes off of the city, "Why do I always have to spend Christmas alone Hunter?" Smoker asked seriously, and Hunter raised an eyebrow at him, "What are you talking about, you aren't spending Christmas alone, you got us!"
Smoker's eyes widened as he felt Tank pick him up and then everyone crush him with a massive embrace, "Come on everybody, biiiig hug!" Hunter laughed as Smoker's face began to turn blue, "Gah alright alright I get it!" he shouted as they let him go.
Staring at each one of his friends, including Witch, he couldn't help but smile, before a digital watch on Hunter's wrist started to beep, "Oh would you look at that, its 12 AM, Merry Christmas everyone."
"Merry Christmas!" Everyone shouted to each other and Smoker chuckled slightly, "Merry Christmas guys-" he began before turning and staring off into the snowy distance, "Merry Christmas kid."
And as the five special infected retreated back into the massive skyscraper, they failed to notice a lone star shining bright above the city, the same star that three wise men used over two thousand years ago.
Author's Notes: Well there you have it. I'm sure some of you are pissed that it didn't rhyme like my last holiday chapter, but I wanted to try more of a heart-warming holiday experience in addition to the comedy...ok I promise i'll do it next year, just please don't bitch to me about it in a review, thats the only Christmas present I ask of you haha.
Please leave a review and tell me if I did this ok, thanks. Also I'm not gonna do any more prologues for awhile, but as a special Christmas treat, I can say that the next few chapters are gonna have our favorite bad guys going...down south, after the holidays ;)