Chapter VII: County Courts
AN:
Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!
I've not got the full run of this ready for posting yet, so I may just get a few chapters ahead and then stop, but I've got enough of a chunk to post so I'm going for it.
This is a double-update and this is the first of the two chapters.
Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.
She watched the horde just a little longer than she should, and a few of the ones pursuing her got uncomfortably close before Dana stepped forward and swung a metal pole into the side of them.
The hits moved Chloe as much as the infected, and she shook herself free, running back. The three of them - Chloe, Dana, and Juliet - headed deeper into the city. Chloe's feelings about leaving Rose and David were complicated. She couldn't have done anything, she knew that, and that sucked. But even so. Feelings were like that sometimes.
They ran.
They turned off the road, about a block down, and broke line of sight with the pursuing horde. A very quick swing of Dana's metal fencepole later, and they had a temporary safehouse. "What the fuck do we do now?"
Juliet tilted some of the blinds and looked out. "We'll have to go out the back, for starters. There's too many of them out there."
"Fuck."
"-And otherwise," Juliet continued, "I guess we try to get to the courthouse? We're here to find Rachel, right? Chloe, do you know which courthouse she's at?"
"Which courthouse? The courthouse? Like, the Portland one?" Chloe's voice trailed off, becoming more and more unsure with each question.
Juliet very carefully pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, spoke slowly. "Chloe, there's probably a dozen courthouses here."
"What? Shit. Uh..." Chloe desperately scraped through her mind for any clue - because she sincerely had no idea. "I think it's near the waterfront? Their hotel is right near the river, and that's where her dad always made them stay when they came here - she always said the court was a short walk away."
"Still not precisely helpful, but it narrows things down at least a little." Juliet acknowledged. She and Dana exchanged looks with a shrug and 'what the hell' expression. "Right." She said. "Follow me."
"Follow you? Do you even know where you're going?" Chloe asked.
"Dude," Dana grinned. "She's from here."
"Seriously?" Chloe's mouth actually dropped open.
Juliet looked baffled. Or possibly slightly affronted. She always was easily riled up. Despite the surface judgements of Blackwell, the truth was that Juliet had always been the one to wear her heart on her sleeve while Dana held her cards very close to her chest. "What? Of course I'm from here - I was born here, and I only moved out to go to Blackwell two years ago."
Chloe shook her head. "Uh, sorry. It's just... you've got vibes like you're constantly yelling for pictures of Spiderman and Portland does not match that at all."
Juliet blinked. "Um. Thanks? I think?"
"She's saying you seem like a powerful reporter from New York." Dana filled in.
Chloe turned and looked at the preppy cheerleader in shock. Stereotypes. They stick. "You know that reference?"
Dana shrugged. "He's the only superhero comic thing I do through. My first boyfriend got me hooked." Another shrug. "He's funny. Spiderman, not the boyfriend. He was sweet, but his sense of humour was awful."
"Huh." Chloe considered, then turned back to Juliet. "Well, lead on MacDuff!"
That reference they all got - the three of them shared a grin of familiarity from the one time they'd shared a stage. Quickly, they snuck out the back door and headed along the alley out to the next road. It wasn't too far to the river, but they'd have to be careful.
—
The courthouse area - right in the centre of downtown Portland - was a nightmare to get through. Between the skyscrapers and the packed city streets, the dead citizens and cars of Portland created a maze of blockages and disruption. Chloe, Dana, and Juliet battled through, bold and just a little too far on the wrong side of careful.
Between them, they'd developed a strong, effective system for combating lone zombies. A drag, tag, bag, and beat the living daylights out of them kind of system. It worked for them too - teenage angst and the horrors of the living dead make for a potent cocktail of emotion that really needed to get out. Juliet lured them in and then Chloe and Dana beat them down. That metal fence pole got a lot of use.
They started off with the Multnomah County Courthouse. It was a pretty new building, they'd just moved in a year or so before. Pretty, too. Chloe liked the architecture, oppressive and bourgeois as it was. Certainly was cooler than Arcadia Bay's legal building stuff.
Chloe rifled through the bottom drawer of the back office and drew out the next big, brown guestbook. She flicked through and poked a finger at it. "Shit. Not our place."
"How do you know?" Dana asked.
"James Amber's an arrogant prick. No way he'd go anywhere without booking in advance and signing the guestbook."
"Damn." Dana said. Juliet made to ask a question, but Dana stopped her. Always the reporter, that girl, even when it just... wasn't the time for questions. In fact, it was simply time to move on.
They headed down the road to the Immigration Courthouse, but found nothing. She hadn't expected anything there - James was definitely not interested. Across the road was the Justice Centre. Not technically a courthouse, but close enough that it was a possibility. They left empty handed, with another dozen zombies dead to their hands. They were getting good at this, moving as a team. They could dodge the hordes in the streets and kill the gangs in the buildings.
Chloe's next bright idea was to head to the Gus Solomon Courthouse - also, not a courthouse. Though this one had been one, they'd moved out of it years back. It had been a possibility, the kind of good-PR historical visit a District Attorney looking for re-election might take his daughter to, but nothing.
Last but not least. At least in the downtown area.
They headed over to the Hatton Courthouse. It was across the road from the Justice Centre - honestly, Juliet and Dana had thought it'd probably have been best to try this place first, but they were following Chloe's lead and this was where Chloe had lead.
The court was new, and nice enough. It was a little... artsy-bougeois, like a hotel. Chloe didn't like it was much as Multnomah.
They crept in through a side entrance, broken open by something exploding inside. The interior was a warzone, clearly some prisoners had broken free and taken out everyone they could.
Dead bodies everywhere. Unmoving dead, specifically. Gunshot wounds and a few with torn open bellies leaking intestines and other internal mince. The moving dead hadn't found them yet, but... "We should get moving." Chloe gave the bodies a nauseated look.
Dana and Juliet agreed. They continued through the corridor and into a... side courtroom? It was a small office, with space for prosecutors and defence to sit and talk with a judge. They quickly pushed through again, and into a courtroom. The room was a charnel house. The three stared at it quietly, before moving through without a word and into a main corridor.
It took a few moments to find the main reception and admin office, where Chloe immediately sniffed out the guest book again. She found them quite easily, because the book was out and open on a desk and Rachel's and James' names were circled. There was also a small piece of paper inserted in the book, and Chloe pulled it out to check it over. On the reverse was a message. She read it out:
"Horde incoming. Moving on. Rachel isn't here, we'll find you. -David."
She let out a breath of relief. The step-douche was alive. And judging by the 'we', he'd managed to keep Rose Amber alive too.
She felt a moment of gratitude. But then a moment of dread. Rachel wasn't here.
"Shit. If she's not here, where the hell is she?" Chloe racked her brain for the second time today. It was starting to get messy in there. "Shit! The hotel! Uh," She clicked her fingers, poked herself in the temple a couple of times, trying to get the neurons firing. "The Marriott! It's near the river, I think?"
Rather conveniently, Dana held up another map. "Think you can narrow that down?"
Chloe grinned.