❣Escape from San Francisco❣

[Kicks]

http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/ade2648a2afc2832ea36d07050ab3b68.jpg


Recap and New Stuff
So you discovered that zombies were lurking inside of your school? No surprise there. It led you to find the only way in and out of that school. You know the choice, you had to leave. It was either that or soon becoming overwhelmed by zombies. Nobody wants to become one of those walking dead though. So you found your way out while fighting back those brain-munching zombies. Go you! Some of you have special gifts that you can use for your own protection. Others like the normal humans however may just want to find some kind of a gun.
The city of San Francisco in America is overwhelmed with these zombies.
Almost all of the population has been turned into the gnawing dead. You know that you can't stay in San Francisco; you need to escape. So how will you...? Will you also come into contact with some new friends? Or will you make enemies? One thing is for sure: the only two solutions to getting out of this is to die or escape. Let's rock!


Protection
Things are probably running through your minds right now. Important things like... how on earth am I supposed to protect myself against the forsaken dead? Simple enough. The Navy had come in previously to San Francisco before they had also been exposed to the infection. Their tanks, stations, and camps are still clumped together outside of the largest skyscraper in San Francisco. But be careful when looking to these bases for sanctuary and weapons. There's still a soldier protecting this fort and he has claimed it as his own fortress. Colton's a fellow who doesn't necessarily like people even on a good day. You're going to have to convince him to give you shelter and weapons to use against the zombies. Tread carefully on his land. Oh, and outside of Navy Fort are of course the walking dead. You might just want to be careful when aiming for the military camp.
Not to mention that America is known for its second amendment! That means the right to bear arms, people. Yes, the citizens have kept weapons like guns tucked away in their homes. It's a regular American thing to do. Police stations, banks, and homes are bound to have some kind of gun or weapon in them. But the big stuff like the bombs and large guns are only found in the military camps. Knives, handguns, and axes, common stuff like that can be found in a house or the likes.



Characters of the RP:

Blake West
ArraBella Adams
Zakai Rey
Colton Ryker
Admiral Thomas
Others such as the Charter members (see Big Tony)
Big Tony and his son


Gamers of the RP:

DizzyMaelstrom!
Death101


Your GM:
Peacedoom:
I am the maker of 'Don't Count Yourself Out Yet' and this here RP. I am a person who counts on the gamers to keep up with the pace of the story and stay committed. I myself will stay committed (of course... that should go without saying) and will try my hardest to get back to you as quickly as possible (usually within twenty four hours of you posting). In my signature there is 'Status' which represents whether I am off or online so that you will know and not have to wait around your computer screen for me to post. My RPs follow a story line (just like most) with an extensive plot. The RPs I make are normally a series which is why I need for gamers to stay committed. Losses are accounted for (haha like in this one, anyone who drops out gets the joy of having their characters eaten alive by zombies.) If someone were to drop out but then come back in the sequel they will have to provide new characters and may not use their old ones.


Characters of the RP:

Blake West
ArraBella Adams
Zakai Rey
Colton Ryker
Admiral Thomas
Others such as the Charter members (see Big Tony)
Big Tony and his son


Clues and updates:
"Here's how it works, the zombies come out hour after sunrise, monsters disappear a few minutes before sunrise. Zombies disappear an hour before sunset, monsters appear a few minutes after sunset. That means, the streets are empty only at two times of the day. That's when they're the safest. However, the sewers are crawling with the monsters and the buildings during the night are filled with the zombies. At no point do the monsters and zombies ever cross paths. They seem to avoid each other. Few places are actually safe to duck into. Small buildings are normally safe, but large buildings are always crawling with the dead. Hospitals and clinics you should avoid. Gas stations are relatively safe, as well as fast food joints. Tunnels are normally crawling with the monsters- nice and dark like how they like it."

The first one (picture) was of California. "This is how the state looked before the terrorist attack. When the president realized the military couldn't do much to save the entire country from the catastrophe, he tried his best and split California off from America." The next picture was of California, except as an awkward looking island floating some ways off from America.
(California is now just an island floating in the middle of the ocean. Means of travel like walking, swimming, biking, rollerblading, driving will not get you out of California.)

"People in San Francisco, just a handful, have gained some... supernatural abilities..." He murmured. He found the video he was searching for and clicked it on. The video was projected onto the screen and was showing the brain. Part of the brain was lit up with activity unlike the rest of the brain. "The infection mutated in these people. Unknowingly, or knowingly, they were exposed to this virus. But instead of turning into a zombie like the rest, they gained some kind of enhanced ability." ... "These people can be turned only by the monsters that lurk at night. But they can't turn anyone else. That means, if they do turn they'll still have these abilities, but instead of turning people..." He trailed off into silence. The monsters were horrifying. They didn't turn people into them, only those with the mutated virus, instead they killed and destroyed ruthlessly. With their supernatural abilities it was only made ten times worse.

[Kicks]

Opening
Running, running, running. You can feel the pants escape you as your adrenaline levels raise. Zombies! They're everywhere! You better find a safe place to hide before you take your adventure any further. Find your shelter first and then start working out your next move. Keep in mind that San Francisco is one large city with almost a million people inhabiting its land (which means almost a million zombies inhabiting the city.) 39 sky scrapers, dozens of buildings, apartments, and the sewers. Find somewhere to hide out before the zombies get to you.


You may begin.

[Black]

Brandon moved like a predator down the abandoned and deserted street. As usual he stood shirtless, displaying his augmented muscles with a proud primal snarl on his face. His latest victim, a man who had tried to rob the twins of their possessions, lay dead and broken at Brandon's feet. One would assume that Brandon had used his superior size, agility, and martial skill to beat the man to death but in fact you would be wrong. It was a team effort

Brandon had originally entered the battle with the shady thug dead on the street in front of them but the real cause of death was a detached spinal cord, a circumstance that came about by having your head jerked one way by Brandon while your body was telepathically thrown the other by his brother David who stood silently in the shadows, his raptors gaze sliding over every nook and cranny, seemingly daring another person to step from the shadows.

When no further challenge came Brandon turned to David and motioned him forward. Brandon was the older of the two by two minutes, but he often answered to David, the more intelligent and resourceful. To call Brandon stupid or unintelligent would be a mistake. David is just the smarter of the two very intelligent and resourceful murderer's.

That's right. David and Brandon were famed serial killers, but not your garden variety killers. They were contract killers hired by various people in San Francisco to kill their rivals. The twins used 'Serial killing' as their cover and the cops had never realized they were looking for wet-boys instead of psychopaths. They never made the mob connections and as such they never caught onto the trail of these two deadly men. At a young age they had been connected to the Sicilian mob through their father who owed many debts to a kingpin. His way of repaying this debt was to sell his beautiful wife and strong children.

The kingpin saw a chance in these two brothers and had 'the chinks' as he called them train both of the boys in various martial arts without any formal name but a very deadly purpose. At age sixteen both had killed men and began their cold, cold, career.

When the zombie outbreak happened it didn't phase either twin in the slightest. Murder and killing was something they were already used to. The addition of seemingly superior power just made it easier for them to do what they had been doing secretly for years.

"Check him for anything useful," David told Brandon quietly while his eyes moved left to right and then back again scanning for potential danger. His mind was ready to launch a telekinetic assault at any who approached but his hand still sat readily on the pistol at his hip. Telekinesis was fast -- bullets were faster.

Brandon grunted acceptance and bent low over the man. He was smelly and missing his two front teeth. As Brandon frisked him he came up with a rusty switchblade, which he discarded in disgust, and a wallet labeling this man as Filch Martin. "Huh," Brandon grunted quietly, "Remember that Filch man who ratted out Boss Salazar last spring? Guess who just got his comeuppance,"

"No shit," David said with a mirthless laugh, "Well we always knew it would only be a matter of time,"

"Basically," Brandon proclaimed with the exact same mirthless laugh as his twin. He moved to the lower body, pulling up the mans shirt, "Oh shi-" he was interrupted as the man burst back into life and tried to sink his teeth into Davids calf. However before his head closed even half the distance needed to bite David a large fist slammed into it and smashed it with a meaty crack against the ground. The redead zombie gurgled slightly before a gooey grey substance began to leak from his head, commingling with blood and other fluids.

"Close one," David remarked without looking back at his twin, who just grunted and shook off his gloved hand before continuing the frisk.

[Kicks]

"Get up! We have to move!" The shout came through the crowded area from a tall teenager. His piercing blood eyes split through the clustered rotting bodies and the dreadful smell that accompanied them. He could see his cousin lay struggling where she had tripped over another body being feast upon.
The two teenagers were inside of the school parking lot after they had found their way out of the school. Now they were attempting with great effort to get out of the swamped parking place and to safety. Both had seen enough zombie movies to know that these animate corpses were a sign of oncoming danger.
ArraBella raised her foot and kicked away one of the grabbing zombies. With great difficulty she jumped to her feet and pushed through the bodies to get to her cousin. "They're everywhere!" She exclaimed once he had grabbed her by her shoulders. He was already leading her off at a fast pace while the swarming bodies chased after them. "I guess this is a bad time to make a fart joke." She gasped out through the run.
Blake managed a strangled smile on his face but didn't keep it there for long. "Keep it in you." He answered back with a pant.
Making their way through the parking lot proved to be a challenge with the zombies everywhere. They tried to scratch, bite, tackle, and by any other means- eat. Though they were both brought up in stubborn traits and fought hard. No point during this time did Blake access his power of energy to take down the bodies. At no point had the thought of making some kind of weapon from her mind had it struck ArraBella.
Instead, the two broke past the lines of zombies and towards a pier where they hoped to find some place to hide. Zombies on their tail, and panic rising in their chests they ran.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai laid, curled up under a parked car. He had a hammer gripped in his hand and he was shivering. It was not particularly cold, but things were different now. The hammer dripped red and he stared at it in horror. He had done this. He had killed others. They were attacking him. They would have killed him. They would have eaten him. He closed his eyes tightly. No matter how much he tried to tell himself it was self defense, his mind refused to accept it. It was awful. It was horrid. Morbid. They were his classmates. A teacher had handed him the hammer and told him to run. They told him to escape somehow. They said it was alright. They said he had to protect himself. They said.

He heard them walking. He did not dare move. He stayed quiet. He knew he would have to get up some time. He opened his eyes and waited till there wasn't a sound in the streets around him. He gulped, took a deep breath, and crawled out from under the car. He looked around him. There was no one and nothing that was living in sight. He stood for a moment longer and then cautiously took a step forward. He moved slowly through the streets, unsure of whether he should walk or run.

It wasn't long before he heard some sort of commotion and stopped. He turned at the sound of voices. They're talking. They're probably not dead! He picked up his pace, but did not run, as he made his way towards the voices. He stared from a spot where he knew he would not be seen and saw two men standing, one of them over a body. Did they just kill one? He did not move, unsure on what to make of the situation. Suddenly, the body jerked back to life and was about to bite the one above it, when the his fist slammed down into it's head. That was all Zakai needed to see. He turned almost immediately after and took off running. With one punch... he... and it had just barely turned... so it was alive before. They killed him... and they're too strong! If I'm going to pair up with anyone, they have to be normal! No more abnormal... things!

Zakai ran through the streets until he was sure he was a safe distance away. He looked around himself, making sure he had not picked up any unwanted attention. After he was sure the coast was clear, he started walking again.

[Sunlight-]

Tannis cried out for help. Anyone. Just someone. She lay squirming against the fallen lamp post; which hadn't quite taken her down with harm, thanks to her small green car that slowed it down. She was stuck inside her very first car, the heavy steel sitting on her legs. As far as she could tell, no bones were damaged, just a bit of muscle.

"Hello?" Tannis' soft voice called. "Is anyone there?" She listened intently. She heard soft moans coming from behind her. Slowly, very carefully, she reached to the passenger seat and grabbed her small handgun. Like any other teenage girl, she was paranoid. Of being kidnapped, jumped, anything. So lucky her, she has two hand guns in her car and loads of ammo back at her house. If someone were to find me, I'd be able to get the rest of it. She thought briefly to herself, before cocking the gun. She's killed a dozen or so zombies.

Growing up with a cop for a dad had its perks. She, by this point, had come to believe her family was dead. Tannis, again, squirmed far enough down into the seat that her head wasn't visible from the outside. She waited patiently for the moaning, mutilated guy to walk up. Once he was close, she gasped and dropped her gun.

"Dad?" She squeaked, instantly attracting the attention of what was once her father. Now, the living dead man made a noise of hunger and lurched towards her. She screamed, thrashing under the post in desperate hopes to get free. "Help!" She screamed, hoping she wouldn't gather too much attention. Her car was just past the school's parking lot, on the street. The dead growled, and made sickening throat gargles.

[the flare]

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three shots were fired off down by Chinatown. They echoed through the streets and caused more of the undead to turn their heads. Was it smart to be firing off a weapon? If anyone was close by, they would be thanking the blonde who sat on a lawnchair and sipped the last Pepsi he could find in the store behind him. Yes, regularly people would be on their feet and making sure they didn't miss a shot. However, Mitchell had a special power. One of the best abilities that could be needed in a time like this; Mitch couldn't miss. If he was laying on his stomach and the zombie was south of his feet? Without looking the guy could easily shoot the walker. The absolute best part about it? He never hesitated to put them into eternal blackness - what's dead should stay dead. If you're gonna take the shot, don't think twice about it and show no remorse. That's how you survived in a disease ridden city. It was survival of the fittest. Sacrifices will be made for his own safey....a matter of survival, if you follow me.
Earlier than expected the ammo ran out, leaving the pistol empty. Instead of crying out in anger, Mitch threw the gun and watched it sink into a zombie's skull. Though, that hadn't been deep enough to penetrate and destroy the brain. It was just Mitch and that one walker - nothing he couldn't handle. Luck was on his side, an imaginary thing everyone needed in this day and age. The creature fell to the gravel road, stunned from the sudden impact. Standing over him was the same laidback teen who had been sitting on a lawnchair moments before. He smashed his foot down on the butt of the weapon and sent it further into the thing's skull. Finally, it had laid to rest and would no longer be getting up.
Mitch crushed the can and threw it into the small bin behind him, making the shot. His ability would never stop amusing him, not for one second. Shrugging on his leather jacket - a jacket his father had given him a few weeks before the attack of zombies - Mitch took up the shotgun laying by the side of the chair and slung it around his shoulder. That gun had been in his family for ages. He had ammo for the thing, but he preferred straight up attack. There were so many thieves around, causing Mitchell to keep the gun close. He was now walking through Chinatown, rubbing at his eyes to stay awake. When had he last slept? It felt like ages, only taking a few hours here and there to rest. He could not afford to let his guard down so sleep meant little to him.

[Kicks]

"Blake, wait!" ArraBella gasped out as her cousin suddenly jerked away from her. His blue eyes seemed to be looking back towards the school they had just managed to escape. She knew he was thinking real hard from the way he narrowed those eyes of his. He was progressing carefully back towards the way they had come. They had ducked behind a corner while the mob of zombies past by them. She had no idea why that had worked in the first place, but it had and she was grateful. However, from the looks of it her cousin was insane and decided to go back towards the school.
"Shhh." Blake hushed from up ahead. His hands were beginning to slowly glow with the controllable blue energy he at first thought had been a curse. But now he was thankful for it. They were without regular protection. So why not use what he already had? "Do you hear that?" He murmured as he cocked his head to the side. Through narrowed eyes he finally saw a car crushed and held captive beneath a lamp post. At last, he noticed the movement and heard the scream. "Someone's in there!" He hissed towards his cousin. "Stay right there. I'll be back." He added to her.
Now he was progressing in a crouched position towards the car. On his way towards it, he picked it up what seemed to be a pole from the ground. It was cold in his firm, capable hands. He didn't think for a second that maybe it wouldn't be as handy as the energy. Instead, he came up behind the zombie latching itself onto the car. The dead body was of a male, and though he knew it had to be once living it was now a threat and attacking a girl who seemed to be held captive in the car by the steel.
Blake reared back the pole and then like an experience batter, he swung it straight at the male zombie's head.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai continued walking. He was heading home, or at least trying to, hoping that someone in his family was alright. He was more fearful for them than he was for himself. He wondered if any of them had even gotten home yet. Footsteps broke the silence around him and he turned abruptly to see one of the undead creatures walking towards him. He glared, pushing his fear behind him and backed away a little. The problem with a hammer is that it is close range, and that made him a little less than comfortable. When the zombie got close enough, he swung the hammer into its head. The sound was sickening, and after a while, he even shut his eyes as he hit. Once it was dead, he stared down at it. I have to stop being so scared. I have to get home. More footsteps. His eyes shot up and a group of them now were making their way towards him. He cursed under his breath and took off running, not even daring to take them on this time. This is not fair! I have to get home! I have to go! Leave me alone!

Fear pulsed through him, pushing him to go faster. I have to get home! I have to get home! Leave me alone! Go away!

[Sunlight-]

Tannis shrieked when the suddenly her mutilated dad was hit in the head, sending the body flying. She took a second to recollect herself, before scrambling. "What?" She squeaked, before her eyes traveled up to the guy who had saved her. "Oh, thank you!" She cried, her breaths coming out quick and short. If it wasn't for this mystery guy, she would be dead and eaten alive. "Are you alone?" She asked, looking around the car. She definitely was very lost at this point.

She had no idea what was going on, let alone how many people were alive. She pushed out the excess glass in the window. "Could you help getl me out?" She asked, trying to wiggle out enough to get to the window. Right now, this guy was her best friend. Even if she didn't know who he was.

[Kicks]

Blake had been holding his breath as soon as the pole had made contact with the walking dead. He had been frozen to his spot as soon as he had seen the body go flying. He couldn't remember the last time he had swung a stick like that before. Had it only been last spring during baseball season? It amazed him to remember such a moment in his life during a time like this. The ball hit out of the field, home run for the players on the field.
He dropped the pole to the ground as soon as the girl's voice broke through his thoughts. Amazingly, he turned his eyes to her and looked at her oddly for a moment. He seemed to be unable to register what she was saying for a brief second. It seemed that life had thrown him into a cruel game and one of the players was trapped in the car.
When she started pushing glass out, he snapped out of his frozen state and raised his glowing blue hand. "Cover your eyes." He warned. His gift was a blessing at that moment. Blake had no idea how else he would be able to help her out besides this way. It would have taken a miracle. As the energy charged up, the zombies that had previously been ignoring him turned their attention to them. He kept his calm though and remained resolved. The energy produced from his hand cut into the car and sliced through the pole that confined her. In that moment he grabbed her arm and began to quickly help her out of the car.
"We better hurry." The blonde eighteen year old murmured to the girl quickly. As he said this, his blue eyes went to zombies progressing towards them at a surprising speed. "They look hungry and I'm guessing we're their meal."

From another point around the corner, ArraBella had watched her cousin help the girl out. But she had also noticed the advancing zombies. She didn't want her cousin, or the girl, to get attacked. Who would? That would be cruel to think. Though it would be amusing to watch as they screamed their heads off... No. She pushed that thought out of her head and stepped out from the corner. Give the zombies some distraction so they wouldn't get at the two? Sounded like suicide to her.
"HEY. DUDES. WALKING GUYS. YEA." She shouted loudly as she began to do what looked like jumping jacks. "COME GET A TASTE OF THIS."

[Black]

David and Brandon had moved on. Walking boldly in the daylight down the street they continued on for about thirty minutes before they heard shouting and other commotion.


"HEY. DUDES. WALKING GUYS. YEA." She shouted loudly as she began to do what looked like jumping jacks. "COME GET A TASTE OF THIS."


Brandon and David rounded the corner to the site. Two people were mucking around a car, and a third was screaming her head off at zombies. Brandon looked quizzically at David who signed. He focused his eyes and tilted his head. Brandon smiled and crouched, jumping into the air almost five feet full off the ground as David brought his fist back as if to punch someone. Davids fist shot forward and as if he were shot out of a cannon Brandon hurtled through the air, Smashing fist first into a zombie nearing the strange girl the things head seemed to explode into a purple mist replaced very suddenly by an extremely large and fit shirtless man with a hawk-like predatory expression.

Zombies however were immune to shock and awe and instead made to bite Brandon. However all of them seemed to stop moving, even their groaning stopped as time seemed to stand still. David had raised both of his hands again and sweat was pouring off of his head. Obviously he was exerting supreme effort and energy to hold the front-most zombies in place. The rest were still moving rapidly towards the group. Brandon however wasted no time in bashing zombies heads in with very savage kicks, punches, and elbows that seemed inhumanly strong and brutal.

"Hurry the fuck up," snarled David as his vision swam. Moving just a part of a persons body was hard. Holding ten zombies completely still was fucking painful and difficult to manage. If they didn't hurry soon David would black out and Brandon would lose his super human strength. The twins powers intertwined together perfectly. David could move his brother with very little energy cost to himself and Brandon could transfer energy to his brother. However when either David or Brandon ran out of energy both of their super natural powers expended entirely and neither could use them.

Right now David was getting fatigued very very quickly.

[Sunlight-]

Tannis grabbed her gun quickly. "You ever shot a gun?" She asks, aiming and shooting at a staggering man, hitting him square in his forehead. She noticed the girl waving her arms around like an idiot. "Would you tell her to be quiet?!" She hissed. "She'll just draw more of 'em." She kept quiet as she emptied a whole round, getting another dozen of them down. "If you got any knifes or machetes now is the time to use them. The less I have to shoot the better."

It seemed as if the zombies were attracted to two things; noise and movement. Bleeding didn't help when they smelt it; like a dog to a bone. They only knew one thing. Survive. Quickly, Tannis loaded her gun. In the brief twenty minutes she was in the car, she was able to get her gun and load it, then get the rest of the ammo in her purse, which was slung over her shoulder. She definatly was ready for these zombies.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

Four easy zombies, down. Then, the zombies stopped. Pausing, she looked towards the two twins. One of them looked about ready to pass out in concentration. It took her a second, but she quickly zoned in. Tannis aimed, hiring each of the zombies quickly and skillfully. Once they were all down she sped walked to the twin who looke near unconscious. "How did you do that?" She accused, pointing her finger to the fallen walkers.

[GeekGirlBex]

Lyra grabbed her bag, and held the lamp part of the maglite in her hands. If any zombie dared go near her.... "HELLO!!" she shouted over the noise, she was desperate to see a familiar face, or even just someone that wasn't a zombie... Then she saw a creature coming up to her, wearing the mayor's suit. It was a zombie. "DAD!" she cried and a tear ran down her cheek. 'Well, that's it then...' she thought. Then she caught a sight of Blake and ArraBella, she began running to them screaming, "People! Real people! Help!!" Waving around the handle of the torch and hitting any zombie that came close to her.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai ran for a long while, trying to get the zombies away, but every time he stopped, he could still hear them. He was getting fed up with it, and finally just turned around and ran at them. He swung his hammer around like crazy, being careful enough not to let them get a hold of him. "Go away! Just die already! I hate killing! Just stay dead!"

Once none of them were moving anymore, he glared and stood still, panting. His glare disappeared and he stared at the ground in despair. This really sucks. He kept walking when he heard another commotion. He turned and looked. There were people again. He walked towards them cautiously, stopping short when he noticed the other two muscle figures who had killed a man before. He gulped down a breath of air and walked towards them. When he got close enough, but not too close, he pointed his hammer at them and called out.
"Hey! Are any of you friendly?!" He was a kid trying to be tough since he felt that now it was absolutely important to do so, but he was more scared than ever inside and was doing everything he could to mask it.

[Kicks]

Blake swept up the pole once more from the ground and held it firmly between two hands. With adrenaline pulsing through him, he used the pole like a bat and swung it at the walking dead heads'. The further he progressed towards his cousin and the two strange men, the more he felt like he was forgetting something. Of course, what he had been forgetting were people. The people who had been inside of the school with him and his cousin. Reassurance came when he heard a strange little girl's voice above the groaning of zombies. His blue eyes tore through the crowds and instantly landed on the girl he called 'Chippy'.
Ditching the pole, he raised a hand and shot the blue energy he could wield at will. It shot through the crowds of zombies separating them from Lyra like a strong wind. It disintegrated all in its path until it stopped short a few yards in front of Lyra. Now that was left looked like a pathway through the zombies. But it was going to quickly fill up with the zombies that could maneuver around the fallen.
The tall teenager sprinted through the path quickly while the zombies who didn't have their arms torn off, reached out to try and grab him. Blake stopped short at Lyra and ended up grabbing her up into his arms to go quicker. "What are you doing with that?!" He exclaimed as he took off running down the now closing path. His eyes flicked to the maglite for a moment before training back again on the men, his cousin, and some strange child who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "Were you actually using that thing as a weapon?" From the debris left on it, he was already guessing what her answer would be.
Don't trip. Don't trip. For life's sake don't trip. It always happened in the movies. It could certainly happen to them. Funnily enough that was really the only thought going through his mind at the moment as he ran towards the people.

ArraBella took a few staggering steps back upon the appearance of the men. What shocked her most wasn't their strange abilities, but rather how they had appeared. She had seen a girl move things with her mind, another dip into other people's thoughts, another heat up, and her cousin shoot destructive energy. She was used to the odd paranormal powers everyone she met seemed to have. But she was still a girl and girls got shocked when people jumped out of nowhere.
"Holy shit!" She exclaimed as she threw her hands up into the air. She then covered her face with them as she watched zombie upon zombie be destroyed. These definitely weren't your average guys. They seemed to be trained in this kind of thing. But there was no time to stand there in fearful amazement at their destructive ways. Her eyes had zoomed in on the other people. And then they flickered their attention to what looked like never ending zombies. It made sense though, they were in the down town area. San Francisco's down town area was by far the most crowded place in the whole city. You had fisherman's wharf, different piers, vendors, street performers, and most entertainment found in one place. They would be swamped with the walking dead.

"Bells!" Her cousin shouted through the loud zombies. "Some kind of truck would be nice!"
ArraBella stared at her blonde cousin as he finally made it to the group. At first she looked at Blake as if he were insane, but then she realized what he meant. "Oh!" She gasped out upon realization. She turned her attention back to the street behind her and let her eyes peer right at one spot that would no doubt be filled with the dead soon. From seemingly nowhere, a black Ford flat bed truck appeared.

[GeekGirlBex]

"AHH!!" Lyra shouted as Blake picked her up. "Get OFF me!!" She continued, trying to wriggle free. Then she looked at the maglite, "yes, I was using this as a weapon. The handle is heavy!" Then she saw the truck that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Woah, where did that come from? Seriously, TOO MANY ZOMBIES!" she shouted, waving the maglite around. Then she closed her eyes, pictured in her head the zombies around them blowing up, she opened her eyes.... And they had! For a minute or so, they stayed down, then they began to get back together again and come after them. "Well... That sucks..." she whispered to herself.

[Kicks]

"Shut up! You're acting like I'm going to rape you!" Blake exclaimed with a flustered expression. Seriously, this girl needed to chill out. He didn't want to get a bad rap just because she thought he was trying to feel her up. Which didn't even make sense. She had no feel goods. Who had feel goods though... Megan Fox. He about died when watching Transformers because of that girl. They need to send her to jail for being so dang hot. It should be a felony! At last, when the truck had appeared he put her down and began to wipe his hands teasingly on his pant legs. "Ew, gross. Don't want any of Chippy left on me. I might get her disease. Then I might start using a flashlight as a weapon." He broke into a joking grin, but somehow he felt as if he would be punched for that one.
His paranoid thoughts came true when suddenly his cousin hit him upside the head. "Hey!" She exclaimed with a disapproving look. "If you're going to tease a child, do it the right way!" She turned on Lyra next and began to coo; "Oh who's the wittle cutie? Who's the wittle girl with a big ol' stick of light?" Their teasing stopped abruptly when they saw the zombies explode... and then get back up and try to eat them.
"Okay... well.. I'm going to start the car..." ArraBella trailed off awkwardly as she began to slowly back towards the car.
Blake grabbed the girl by her arm and pulled her away from the truck. "Aha, what?" He asked with a look of disbelief. "You can't drive to save your life- and that's necessary in this case." He left her standing there with a scowl while he went to the driver's side of the truck and started it up.

[GeekGirlBex]

"EWWW! No! I don't like being picked up! People must keep at least a meter away from me..." she cried. "Oh... You have a crush on Megan Fox! Ha! But seriously, she has scary eyes... But seriously dude, you are sick, sick minded..." she said with a scowl. When he commented about her flashlight she scowled even more and managed to stop herself from hitting him with it. So she kicked him in the shins. "Just. Don't." she said with a glare. Then ArraBella began to tease her and she kicked her in the shins too. Then to both of them she said, "anyone who dares tease me or annoy me again, will be blown up..." referencing them to the zombies. Then Lyra climbed into the back of the truck, "But BLAKEEEE! You can't drive!! Can't I drive?" she shouted, a little annoyed. Then she went back to hitting zombies with her torch.

[Kicks]

"It's called a celebrity crush." Blake chuckled from the front seat. He watched from the mirror as the child got into the truck. "And her eyes are stunning and awesome and you're weird if you don't think so." He stated with a honk of the horn. Admittedly, when she had kicked him in the shins it had stung. But the pain eased away as soon as he had entered into the front seat of the car. He glanced through the mirror out at her in the back of the truck. "You're too young to drive. At least I have a license."
ArraBella grumbled as she slipped into the front seat of the truck. "At least I have a license." She mocked back at him with a pointed glare. "I brought this truck here. I should be able to drive it, dang it!"
"Oh how cute." Blake cooed back at his younger cousin. "You actually think that arguing with me will work. That's just adorable."

[GeekGirlBex]

"I know I'm wierd!" cried Lyra. "And anyway, I learnt to drive in the scouts summer school. My dad got me in and I even have a licence!" she smirked a little as she showed Blake her driver's licence. Then the arguement between Blake and ArraBella broke out and she said to Bella, "Can I blow up his mind? Then you can drive and he will stop being so annoying!!" Lyra said with a little laugh, "he won't be dead for long... I think...." Then she suddenly closed her eyes and fell back.

Jenna
Jenna was scared. Her mum and dad had been turned into a zombie, she didn't know where her sister was, and she was lost. But she felt this fuzzy feeling in her head and so she closed her eyes and imagined she was speaking to her sister, "HELP! Lyra, help me!" She felt like her sister was there, so she carried on. "I'm near the mall. King's Place, you know? Please help me Lyra!" then she opened her eyes. Jeez, that was a bad headache... Then she stood up, grabbed her maglite and stepped out of the shadows to see the zombies that were now closing in on her. She begam swinging the torch around, hitting the zombies and making them fall to the ground. She carried on hitting them and then closed her eyes and said once again to her sister, "HELP!". Hopefully, if she was still alive, she would be there soon.

Lyra
Lyra heard the message, wait, Jenna? But surely she was dead... Apparently not... She had an awful headache so she grabbed an ice pack out of her bag, help it to her head and then shouted at Blake and Bella, "JUST BUTTON IT!! We need to get to the Mall at King's Place, save my sister..." she had lost her parents and she didn't now want to lose her sister. "Just drive!" she said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

[Kicks]

"Uhm... I think I still need him." ArraBella answered with a laugh. She couldn't deny that the joke was hilarious to her though.
"Yea. Gosh." Blake remarked with a scoff. "If you blew up my mind, then how would I be able to keep you girls safe? You would have zombies as your new masters." With a cackle, he began to drive. This was before the little girl in the back told him to 'just drive'. The zombies were closing in on the truck, and soon enough they would over overtaken them. Don't get him wrong, he did feel guilty for leaving the two men, the lady, and the kid behind. But now they had another problem.
"Where the hell is the mall?!" Blake exclaimed in confusion as he took off down the street. The bumper to the car hit some of the oncoming zombies that weren't fast enough to move out of his way or dared to approach them.
The American girl beside him began to laugh some more. "Oh, you my dear cousin have not lived here long enough." She patted him on the arm while with her other hand pointed towards the left. In fact, her cousin was quite new to San Francisco and America for that matter. The only reason why he had come down from England was because of a tragedy in their family that left him as legal guardian of his younger siblings. This led to some complications like directions in a city he barely had the chance to adapt to. "It's uptown." The girl informed; "Take this left and continue going straight for three miles. When you get past China Town, take the tunnel and you'll come out on the other end of the city. Take a right after that and you'll be at the mall." Like a boss.
Normally, this would have taken a half hour to complete with all the traffic and citizens. But Blake and ArraBella both knew that there was no traffic to stop them now. And the citizens they could hit- a cruel, but necessary thought. She watched in surprise as Blake revved the speedometer up to eighty and sped up the crooked streets.

By the time Blake slammed to a stop at King's Place, the front of the car was splattered in remains of the walking dead he hit. Now he opened up his car door and bashed it into a zombie's face. "Gun me." He said in the Terminator's voice to his younger cousin.
ArraBella stared at him for a brief second. "You're so weird." She accused before creating three guns with her mind. It caused her head to pulse for a second, but she would have to get used to that at some point. She passed him the handgun while passing Lyra back a gun. "Pst, if you shoot Blake, nobody would ever blink twice."
"Bells, don't give the child any ideas!" Blake exclaimed in disbelief. He cocked the gun while shaking his head at his cousin.

[GeekGirlBex]

Lyra took the gun, "don't worry Blake, we can go back for the other people later..." she said. She laughed at what Bella said and then replied, "nah, I'll let him carry on being hero fro a bit..." Then she saw a girl, in the corner, waving a maglite around and hitting the zombies. "SIS!!!" Lyra shouted. Jumping out the car and running over to her sister, shooting any zombies that got in the way. "Die evil creatures!" she shouted and then reached her sister. "Columbus Jenna! I thought you were dead!" she said, hugging her. Then she grabbed her hand and whispered, "come on!" and ran back over to the car, both of them hitting zombies with their maglites. When she reached the car she introduced her sister too Bella and Blake. "Jenna this is ArraBella and Blake, Arrabella and Blake, this is my little sister Jenna. She is still alive..." she smiled at her sister when she said this.

Jenna saw a car pull up and her sister jumped out and ran to her. "Wow sis, I didn't know you could shoot a gun.... Oh wait, scouts, right?" she said and her older sister nodded, embracing her. "Ok sis, I'm alive..." she whispered, hugging her. Then she followed Lyra back to the car, still hitting the zombies with her torch. When she was introduced to the two older people she scowled at Blake and then smiled at ArraBella, "soo... Is there anyone else alive? And what's going on? Is it a LARP? That would be cool... But we're not gonna die are we?" she closed her eyes and tried to focus for a moment. Then she tightened her grip on Lyra's hand and looked up to her to check that she was real.

[Kicks]

"Oh bloody fuck." Blake whispered as he stared between the two sisters. "There's two of them now! HAVE MERCY."
ArraBella slapped her cousin upside his head for the second time that day. Then, she turned to the new child and made a funny face at her meant to be pretty scary. "Hello, child." She whispered out through a congested voice. "Let me love you."
"Okay. Down, girl." The blonde teenager remarked as he pushed the girl back into the truck. He turned back around in that moment and raised his gun. "I would love to better get to know..." He trailed off, trying so hard not to make a remark about evil little sisters. So he just left it there and stated instead; "We can do that on the ride. Right now, we better find a place that isn't filled with zombies. Ya know... for the health of everyone around us." He closed one eye and pointed the gun at one of the approaching zombies. He shot the gun, but being knew to the utilization of a handgun, he missed and ended up hitting another zombie in the chest. "Nobody saw that." He said sternly as he lowered the gun.
"I think you should stick to using baseball bats." ArraBella cackled from her seat merrily.

[Lil]

Faye fumbled through the side table searching for what she knew her father had hidden. Her hand skimmed across something cold and she could feel her heart skip a beat. Her fingers wrapped around it and she spun around quickly holding the pistol at arms length with both hands. Faye had shot a gun before, not many times but she wasn't completely inexperienced. With a single deep breath Faye pulled the trigger sending a single bullet into the zombies head. The thing fell to the ground even deader than before.
Faye left the master bedroom and walked down the large hall to her fathers trophy/hunting room. In here he had multiple shot guns and rifles, knives, and even some bows and arrows. She hooked a holster around her waist and tucked the pistol in it along with a hunting knife. Faye then grabbed the two strongest rifles he had, in the scatter Faye had lost Chase but she still grabbed a weapon for him, in hopes they would find each other again.
With that Faye slipped out of the house trying not to draw to much attention to herself. She needed to find the others from the school hopefully they hadn't been turned yet. That didn't even cross her mind until now, Chase could already be gone. A chill went up her spine, as much as she didn't want to grow attached or connected to Chase she couldn't help but worry. Faye wiped her mind of those thoughts though and continued on looking for anyone.

[GeekGirlBex]

Jenna backed when ArraBella spoke to her, "you're creepy." she stated. Both Lyra and Jenna looked at each other and sniggered as Blake seemed unable to fire a gun properly. Then Lyra whispered "come one," to her sister, and led her into the back of the truck. Then, as ArraBella teased Blake, both Lyra and Jenna said together, "or torches!" Then a discussion broke out between them with both of them saying, "hey! You read my mind!" Then, after a minute or two, Lyra turned to Blake and Bella and said, "what about the others? Alice, Dylan, Chase, Faye?" She had just remembered them and was getting a little worried. "Who are they?" asked Jenna.
"Oh, just some people who were at the school with us earlier..." she started, then she handed her sister a chocoloate bar and comic, "now be quiet, and if a zombie comes close, hit it with the torch..." She smiled a little at this then looked back over at Blake and ArraBella. "Look out!" she shouted, as a zombie came behind Blake and she shot it in the head. "Ok, safe..."

[Kicks]

Blake started the truck up again and sped out away from the gathering dead. "Who has seen enough movies to know how one is to get infected?"
ArraBella gasped from her seat while sticking her gun out the door. "You get bit, you get their blood in your mouth or in your wound, you eat them, you get scratched and have parts of them inside of you... Dude, zombies are like bosses. They can't be defeated!"
"Well, that's a happy thought." Blake noted with a sigh. He passed his gun over to his cousin for her to shoot so he could focus on driving. He glanced through the rear view mirror at the children and gave a grimace. "I don't know about them. They can worry about themselves. We can't go off on a manhunt just to risk getting infected."
"Zombie times... the times when you have to make tough choices." Bells whispered from the front in a giggle. "All right, Blakey-boy, whattya say you drive to somewhere safe, hmm?"
Blake shifted gears with a look of dismay. He was trying not to think about the others from the school too much. He was also trying not to think about the people they had left back near the school. But those men seemed like they could handle themselves and the others from the school... he had no idea where to even begin looking. For now, their safest bet was to find somewhere to hide out. There they could take the next steps in deciding what to do.

The teenager pulled the truck up to another parked car in a few minutes. They were on a street that went practically vertical, as per usual of San Francisco. The building beside the parked car was a gym. He was guessing it was their safest bet because this was America and stereotypes made him believe that most Americans didn't work out. Besides, the street was relatively empty. He knew it wouldn't be for long though.
Blake turned off the truck and got out with the pole back in his hands. He glanced back at the truck and made a signal to stay put for a moment. He then progressed towards the doors and checked to see if they were unlocked. Sure enough, they were open. He glanced back towards the girls before entering into the gym. The smell of sweat was immediately evident to his nostrils. But what's worse was the dead body on the ground with the bullet through her head. She was a Chinese looking woman, or at least had been. Beside her body was another person's. This one was of a man. He too had a bullet through his head. Other than that, he stood to see if he could hear anything else. But no sound came to his ears. The building was silent.
Blake made his way back to the truck and peeked in at the girls. His voice was lower than a whisper as he addressed them; "The gym looks clear. Unless anybody has any brighter ideas of where to hide out, I suggest this place."

[GeekGirlBex]

The sisters managed to stay relatively quiet during the journey. But when they reached the gym they both gasped, "No! Not there!" Lyra cried,
"That's where the fitness club is, every day at 4pm all the children and women meet up there and do a super evil workout!" Continued Jenna,
And then together they said, "THEY'LL BE IN THERE!"
At which point Lyra saw a hand crawling out of the doorway and she shuddered and Jenna squeeled, throwing her maglite at it and squishing it. "Well that's one way to do it..." Lyra muttered under her breath.
"Now, I think we should find those other people, if they're still alive that is..." She said to Blake. "Can I drive now??" she continued.
Jenna giggled at this and then quickly went back to her comic book. Meanwhile Lyra pulled her cutest face in the hope that Blake would drive.

[Kicks]

"Two hundred thirty nine miles of land." Blake breathed out as he raised a hand to his forehead. "Please, girls. If either of you have the slightest idea of how to find the others in all that land, just go ahead and tell me. Until then, what we face at the odds of finding anyone we know in this shit storm is relatively low."
"We could... go to the top of this building and see if we can spot them from there." ArraBella offered as she glanced between her cousin and the sisters. His remarks did make sense though. Gas was expensive and she had no idea how to make that with her mind. She also didn't know if gas was available at the gas stations. Would the effort really be worth it to stop and find out? Not to mention that the possibilities of them finding the people from the school was relatively low. There were about a million faces in this city, and none of them even knew if the others were alive or not. If they went to the top of the building and looked down on the city, they might be able to find them.
"Yea." Blake agreed as he pointed a finger at the teenager. "And from the top of this building we can build a signal fire- granted that would attract the dead but it's worth the shot. If anyone we know is alive, they would see the fire."
"If not, we could always start yelling." ArraBella added as she began to walk into the gym with both guns raised. "Either way, using the truck to drive around with all these dead isn't such a great idea. Of course, you two are too young to understand that." She stated the last part teasingly. Already, she was making her way up the stairs carefully.

[Mooneh]

Ren:
Ren turned off her system staring out her window looking out far at the school. She was told to go to school but faked it anyways, she didn't even care one bit about it. She smiled turning to her door. She could hear moaning coming from the outside. She hadn't bothered to check and stayed in her home. She ran upstairs to her room grabbing a bag. She slipped her bbgun inside and a few snacks.
She liked to run around shooting things.... not people of course. As soon as she was finished packing she ran to her door. Still the moaning didn't stop. "Hey who's out there?" She asked looking through the peep hole. She saw flesh ripped undead humans.

A scream. Loud and full of terror.
She ran to her window seeing these zombies outside her window. "What?!?!?" She screamed. She could hear them bashing on her door. "No.." She whispered running to the garage. She jumped into her car, wanting to run away. She should at least take people with her. She looked at how much gas she had. "No almost empty!" She cried. She took a chance at least she could find a safe place in town... right?
She drove out of the garage into the town, trying to find the right place to stay, just until she could escape.

Dylan:
Dylan awoke in a dumpster outside of the school. She hadn't remembered the past few days. She felt groggy and hungry. She found her bag with her.
Quickly she took out a snack bar finishing it up quickly. "How long has it been!?!?" She yelled. She climbed from the trash... seeing something weird. It was some she-devil. Undead and a flesh eater.

[Kicks]

The scope was small but reliable. It was warm from the breath that had been breathed on it to clean the debris that had gathered across its glass. The soldier holding the gun ran a gloved hand over the scope to wipe away the condensation. Thirty miles behind him was the camp requiring a military pass-code. It hung around his neck- the key to getting into the fortress. It dangled there with his dog tags revealing personal information like name, age, gender, and field of operation.
He had left the camp to search for any survivors from the outbreak. That was his assigned mission before the military had been attacked. As the remaining survivor from Navy Fort, he took it upon himself to get vengeance for his squadron.
Now the soldier was stationed up on top of a building with a sniper in his arms. It had been set up on the edge for easy access and shooting. Dead bodies scattered the roof top; cut off heads from a machete. He didn't trust the bullet to the brain theory. He liked to really make sure they were dead. Though the bullet to the heads did work sometimes, they not always shot the right place in the head to get to the brain, or they didn't dig enough into the head.
Colton put his green eye up to the scope and closed his other one. On his way up to the rooftop he had seen a truck driving by which told him either the zombies could suddenly drive or there were survivors. That had been the real reason he left the fort. He had a tiny bit of hope that there might be some survivors when he had seen that truck.
The smog to the city was setting in at the early hours. It always did that due to all the pollution and the ocean. It could mask survivors or the walking dead. He didn't really like the smog. It wasn't his most favorite thing and it made his job harder. Not to mention the smog got into your clothes and dampened what you were wearing. It set into your skin and chilled your bones. Even now, he shivered beneath the thick camouflage uniform he wore. It was issued in the navy, like any other branch, to wear the uniform. There wore different uniforms depending on what mission you were going into. The navy wore their blue uniforms when they were at sea, but issued suits for other things. It really just mattered on where you were at the time of your mission. Uniforms were worn depending on the issue at hand and what your objectives were. Now he wore the normal camo with the thick earth green helmet on his head.
He settled his finger lightly against the sniper's trigger as he zeroed in on a dumpster. From the looks of it, there seemed to be a girl in the dumpster. She looked confused and hungry. For a moment, he thought about shooting her through the head. But Colton was patient and waited to see if she were a walker or not.
When the soldier saw one of the walking dead approach the girl he turned his aim on it. The zombie told him all that he needed to know about the girl from the dumpster. She was definitely alive. He pushed down on the sniper's trigger and watched as a split second later the approaching zombie to the girl dropped to the ground. Hopefully it would stay down too.
He pulled his eyes back from the scope and relinquished his grip on the trigger. His building was merely across the street from the school's. This was why he could just look down and see that the dumpster belonged to the school. This of course led Colton to believe that the girl was a high-school student.
The soldier sighed and ran a hand across his forehead. "Where the hell did she fucking come from?" He murmured to himself. He had been certain the school was condemned. After all, his orders had come from the same men who made the orders about the school.
Now the soldier grabbed onto his gun again and quickly took it down. He packed it into his camouflage'd backpack. He took off pounding down the fire-escape stairs. He had a handgun now in his left hand. Certainly, he had to get down to the school.

[Mooneh]

Dylan shook at the sight of the dead zombie. "Who was that!?" She whispered to herself. Now knowing what was out there Dylan wanted to find something safer then the school.. and the dumpster.
She limped away from the ally seeing a few dead in the streets. "Why did it have to happen?" She murmured to herself, making her way to a shop that was empty enough to hide in and find some kind of weapon. She carefully limped over there acting like them as so.
She rushed inside seeing as this was a cafe there would be one weapon she could use. A knife. She glanced around quickly seeing the sharp object in the back, where something was guarding it. Another zombie. "Well come on Dyl you can do this, you somehow escaped that school... now you can find your way to a damn knife for your life!" She whispered loudly to herself. The zombie looked over groaning at her. It walked closer, then stopping. It was locked inside, but able to hang it's arms from the large open window that let you see into the kitchen. She picked up a piece of broken glass, that fell from a top part of the bay window. She also took notice of the rock that had some note on it. She didn't bother to read it though.
She crawled over behind the counter, wanting the dead unable to see her. She balanced it out trying to get a good throw at the zombie's head. Everyone knows you kill a zombie in the brains.
She threw the piece at it's head. The zombie fell in seconds, moaning as it slowly died. Dylan climbed over the window, pressing the glass deeper into it's head as she stomped on it, helping her onto the kitchen floor. She ran over quickly slipping the knife, and another one into her bag. She had watched every season of the walking dead, she knew just what to do at this point. She looked around, trying to find supplies before leaving to find a good place to hide, or more supplies.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai only watched as everyone ran away and everyone else resumed in killing zombies. He backed away, out of sight again and ran in the other direction. They were all weird. They all seemed to have something wrong with them. No more weird people! He ran, deciding to forget about trying to team up with anyone and just kept running until he reached his house. He got his house key out of his pocket and unlocked it, before running inside and slamming the door behind him.

It was dead silent. Even though it was his own home, he didn't dare speak or call out. He walked in cautiously, staying quiet as possible. He looked around. His dad would most likely be at work, but his mother stayed home to take care of his sister. Where were they? He soon found them after walking into his sister's bedroom. They weren't alive. They weren't even zombies. They were dead. Both of them. There was a gun in his mother's hand. It had been instantaneous. A shot to the head. He froze at the sight of them. Waves of shock and grief swept through him, tearing up everything else inside. He didn't stop to think. He didn't stop to look around for anything useful. He ran. He ran out of the house and kept on running, not thinking about the consequences of his actions. The image of his mother and sister lying on the floor stayed in his head. It felt as if his insides had turned to ice and the only things working were his legs... and eyes. Without realizing it, tears were streaming down his cheeks. His vision was slightly blurred but he did not stop. Everything was spinning. Everything was weird. He trembled as he ran, "Why is everyone dying!?"

[Kicks]

Colton stopped at the final staircase to get through. Just one floor to go but his eyes had stopped on the zombies waiting for him at the bottom. At the sight of a live being, they came and swarmed beneath the final rack to get through. Some of them even attempted to get up the ladder. But the soldier wouldn't let them. Every time one drew near he would extend his leg and kick them back down.
The soldier grabbed from his back pocket a grenade. He stared between it and the zombies swamping him. There was an inner debate going on in his head. If he pulled the pin and the bomb did go off, that would mean more zombies would have his attention. He didn't want that. But that left him with two other choices. One was to empty his clip on them, or just to push his way through.
Slowly, the experienced soldier slid the grenade back into his pocket. He raised his gun and shot one of the zombies in the head. His face showed no expression as he took out what used to be a person. But they were all nameless to him now. What was left in this city were the rotting, walking dead and he would have no mercy on them. They were merciless and the merciless couldn't be shown any mercy. You would either inferior or superior to them. That's how it worked.
The soldier stood up on the railing to the stairs just as another zombie swiped at his legs. He glanced down at them and then to the spot cleared of them. He would land in the street if he did this correctly. From there he would take off running towards the school. He couldn't pause for a moment after that.
The growling broke him out of his planning. The soldier crouched down and then proceeded to powerfully jump off of the railing. Most people would try to land on their feet. But the navy taught their soldiers differently. If you jumped like he had from one story there was a good chance you would sprain an ankle. If you even landed it wrong you could break your leg. He tucked in his legs and head, then rolled across the cement. He could already hear the zombies growling behind him.
The soldier jumped to his feet and took off running as quickly as he could. The backpack strapped to him was heavy, but boot camp gave the soldiers heavier things to carry in their bags. They would have longer distances to run also. He was grateful to the United States for training their men well. To defend a nation against all enemies... it suited well. He doubted the president ever thought about zombies as an enemy though.
Colton raised his gun up and shot a zombie through its head. The bullet dug through its skull, came out the other end, and went through another zombie's skull. He kicked off from the ground as another zombie ran at him. "Nope. Knew I shouldn't have left the base." He murmured as his green eyes scanned the streets for any living being. I knew this would be a waste of time. He thought to himself with a sigh. Currently though, he was looking for anybody that had been inside of that school. He had questions for them that he wanted answered.

[GeekGirlBex]

"Well, Blake, we could use our minds, after all we are both mind readers..." stated Lyra.
"What she said..." continued Jenna.
"But, I suppose we could do your plan, after all, nothing has been known to attract more zombies than a fire!" cried Lyra. At the last thing ArraBella said they both glared, "WE ARE NOT TO YOUNG!" they said, together. But, anyway, they both began to make their way up the stairs after Bella, all the time looking around for zombies. "Are you sure it's safe?.." whispered Jenna, shaking. Lyra held her hand but didn't answer. And the two grave-faced wierd sisters made their way to the balcony. Lyra stepped forward and surveyed the land below. "Woah... that's a lot of zombies..." she muttered under her breath. "Now what do we do?" she asked.

(Guys, I will be cutting down posts now because I start back at school tomorrow, I will try one or two a day, but they'll be in the evening, just to let you know -starlite-)

[Kicks]

ArraBella gazed over the edge of the building as she peered down. They were right. There certainly were a lot of zombies. And to think they hadn't even tried to attract any attention. In fact, they had tried to do the exact opposite. But now they peered down upon the sea of hungry, bloody faces. She took a step back and swallowed. This wasn't your average day of sighting. She wasn't sure whether to believe this were even real or not.
Blake took longer to get up to the top of the building however. He had stayed behind to block off the entrance to the building they were in. He didn't want the zombies to come crashing into the building and then leaving them trapped up on top with no way down or out of the mess. When he was sealing the doors and windows, he traveled up to the top to find the other girls were already up there. "Anything?" He asked curiously while trailing over to the edge. He gazed down with his blue eyes and frowned at the sight. "Ya know, I always saw this on the movies. But I never thought I would actually be part of something this..." He trailed off and left the thought unfinished. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't find the right word to finish it. So he left it there in the air.
ArraBella placed her hands behind her head and glanced over at the other girls. They may not quite agree to the plan of coming up to the top. But if they had decided to go off and chase after ghosts, the truck surely would have been swarmed in a matter of seconds. Where would that have left them? She turned her blue eyes back to the zombies and heaved out a sigh. "Do you guys see anyone alive?"

[ColtenBarg]

Zeke was sitting in the living room of his apartment, or what was his apartment before this hell happened. He had been staying there since everyone turned, but he knew he had to move soon. He grabbed the large backpack that had about 3 days worth of food and water in it, and put it on his back. He grabbed his hunting knife and sheath, along with his .22 rifle. He had loved to shoot that little gun before the virus, now it was only used to kill the walkers. He had around 30 rounds for it, hollow points to be exact. He changed from shorts to jeans, and put on his most comfortable hiking boots. Through the door he went, and down to the first floor.

Before opening the door, he made sure he was ready and had everything he needed, which he did. "I guess it's time to find some other survivors." He said to himself. He opened the door quietly and surveyed the street and sidewalks to both of his sides. He could see about 30-40 walkers to his right, and more than that to his left. As he crouched, he ran as fast as he could to a car nearby. He knew he would have to be quiet, and not use the rifle here. All but 2 of the walkers were in the street, so as he went down the sidewalk, he dismembered both of them with his knife. He heard a single shot go off from not to far off, and knew it meant a survivor was close.

The next few streets weren't very crowded, so he just ran down the sidewalks and turned the corner 3 streets down, only to see a school. He saw 3 walkers in the street, and a freshly killed one near a dumpster. The .22 rifle raised, and all 3 walkers dropped in a few seconds. The rifle was a 10 round, bolt action, that was it's disadvantage. Other than that, it was quieter, and ammunition was much more plentiful. He hoped the shots wouldn't attract any more infected, and he crouched against the wall, surveying the area for survivors.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai eventually stopped running and just sat down on the edge of a sidewalk, unprotected and unhidden. He wrapped his arms around his knees and stared at the asphalt road. He did not think of zombies or danger. His mind was still fixed on that one scene. He buried his head in his knees. His father was not home from what he could tell. Was he alright? Was he dead too? Tears would not stop streaming. He wasn't whimpering or crying out, but tears were still falling. The hammer was still clutched in his hand. It was all that he had now. An instrument that brought death to something that shouldn't be alive in the first place. He quivered, staying still for a while, then he stood up again. I can still look for Dad. He started walking. His father's workplace was somewhere in the city. He did not know how far it was or the way exactly, but once he if he got close to it, he could probably recognize a few landmarks and track his way there. I'll walk through the entire city if I have to. He trudged on, determined to get his mother and sister out of his mind. Every movement was forced. He did not want to do this. He honestly wanted to sit down and cry some more, but he couldn't. Not now. He kept on walking, not paying attention to anything but the buildings as he walked. I have to find it. He didn't even bother to hide himself. He walked in the middle of the street. He caught a glimpse of some zombies, and did what he could to remain unseen by them. As he kept on walking, his mind drifted. Aren't there any more people? Just how many walkers are there? He still didn't stop though. He just wandered.

[katiebug117]

Alice was confused as her eyes blinked open, not only to see none of her friends, but to see dead bodies, roaming around outside. My worst nightmare. Her hands propped her up and she began to run to search for anyone. Outside, Alice could only see bloody, disgusting smelling, zombies drooping. "Zombies? ZOMBIES?" Her yell seemed to fill the plaza she had been standing in. "Anyone? Hello? Plea-" Her please was cut off and she swung her arm around to wrap it around a zombies neck, and twist. "Oh god, zombie, disgistingness, on. my. arm." She took a nearby hose and sprayed, making sure to clean off an zombie debris from her arm.

[Kicks]

Was it a hallucination before Colton's eyes or did he really see a small boy walking alone? It was mind blowing to even see such a sight. The soldier hadn't thought that many children would still be alive after the break out of the virus. But now there was a child right there walking alone. It was an odd sight to see and bear witness to. Amongst the decaying dead bodies, the walking corpses, and the panic filling the air there was still life here in San Francisco.
Or maybe the boy was really just another of the infected? Maybe he had been bitten but managed to get away somehow. Then later on he became infected and turned into a corpse as well? Did that make any sense whatsoever? Probably not. Colton had seen a lot of things in the past that didn't make a lot of sense.
Presently speaking though, he felt like stalking the child. There was nothing better to do. Besides, the soldier wanted to see what kind of skills the boy had that kept him alive this far in San Francisco. How could what looked like a twelve year old manage to become one of the very few survivors? All these questions and more ringed in the soldier's head.
Now Colton was silently following after the boy. He did what he had to in order to stay hidden like a great creeper would. He would duck behind cars and poles or mailboxes. Whenever there was a zombie, he would silently stab an approaching one in the head silently in order to stay hidden and unnoticeable.

[Mooneh]

Dylan slipped out of the building trying to get herself onto the roof. "Come on Dyl. You have telekinisis!" She slammed her hand into her face. She placed herself onto a small trashcan holding onto it's handles. She began floating, but it wasn't her floating in the air, it was the trashcan of which she used her power on, she really couldn't levitate herself with her power, only objects and sometimes other people.
She hopped onto the roof gently levitating it onto the ground below. "Good, i'm up safely." She sighed throwing herself onto the ground. "Now what?" She asked herself standing up and looking over the city. At the block below her was a small hoard of zombies. At least 25 of them at the most. This was a popular spot, well when people were alive. But now it was suicide just to go there. She could see the school from a far. Though she didn't want to go back there. She hadn't recalled much of what happened there. "Wait where's Lyra? I gotta find her! She's bound to have found somewhere safe!" Dylan thought to herself out loud. "Now lets just make a plan."

[Lil]

Faye snuck behind every corner she could trying not to draw any attention to herself. She peered around the corner of a tall building to see a small group of zombies clustered together over something. She was going to have to be careful to get past. As quiet as she could Faye slipped around the corner her eyes locked on the beasts. One wrong move and she could be on the run from a hers of these things. All she needed was to get to the doors and she would be safe for a bit.
Faye neared the back door, she couldn't have been more than 10 yards away when she stepped on something, something not so quiet. Metal clanged against the ground and as her eyes grew wide Faye looked down to see she had stepped on the top to a trash can. Her gaze shifted for the lid up to the zombies that now stared at her with a certain list in their eyes. Faye fumbled with her gun a bit trying to pull it around so she could get a good shot and as she did so she bolted for the door. Unfortunately for her these were no slow walking, limp bodies zombies. These could be as fast as her if they wanted. Her fingers wrapped around the handle of the door as she pulled aggressively at the door but it wouldn't budge. She glanced over her shoulder and saw them approaching and Faye swore this would be her doom. Swiftly she spun around sending a few shots into the zombies heads but there was no way she could take them all alone.

[Kicks]

Blake and ArraBella turned their attentions away from the small little girls who they had somehow clumped together. Blake still couldn't recall how that had even happened to begin with. Everything seemed to go by in a blur when they left the school grounds. From the truck manifesting to the building they ducked into. Somehow they had ended up picking up Lyra's younger sister in the mess all while not being infected by the zombies. What a crazy day. Just as he was about to close his eyes in order to take a nap, his cousin beside him began to shake his arm.
"Dude, look!" ArraBella whispered as she pointed down towards the ground level of the building. Both of their blue sets of eyes landed on one person and a mass of what looked like crazily intense zombies. "Is that Faye the bomb diggidy from the school?"
Blake squinted his eyes a bit as he peered down. When his calm gaze finally found the girl from the school, he blinked a few times. "Chances of her beating those things on her own are slim."
"I SHALL BE A NINJA THEN." His cousin announced while she created a gun with her mind once more. This would be the fourth time she had used her mind in order to create something since leaving the school. She felt as if she were getting better at this. "Go now, agent! We both know you can't shoot a gun. But your strength and speed shall come in handy. Quick! To the back door with you!"
There was no actual time for arguing with the girl Blake sometimes claimed as his own family. Instead, he turned away from the three girls up on the roof and went back down the way he had come. He went as quickly as he could without trying to trip up. That would be terrible and just might compromise the mission.
While her cousin was on the chase, ArraBella began to shoot off her gun from the top of the building. Sure, from here it would probably take a person with a great aim to make the headshots. She made about six out of ten of them on a scale. Hunting in the Rockies taught her how to shoot like a boss.
Blake had finally made it to the entrance where he found that there was a heavy case in front of it. It was as if someone had purposely stuck it there so that nobody could get in on the other side- or zombies couldn't. Whatever the matter, he pushed the case out of the way using his muscles. It probably weighed about the same as maybe a heavily obese man. But adrenaline was on his side. When the case was out of the way, he prayed that zombies wouldn't come rushing on when he opened the door. Taking the dare, he grabbed the knob and swung the door open.

[Lil]

Faye shot a few more times. The thought of her powers completely skipped over her mind so she just continued shooting. When other thoughts started to take out zombies Faye looked up to see Red shooting at the sea of zombies. A slight sense of relief washed over Faye but she also knew it was far from over. Shot after shit rang from their guns and the things started to drop to the ground completely lifeless, hopefully never rising again. The swarm started to grow closer and closer though and Faye knew her chances got slimmer as her space did. Zombies were at every side of her except the back which was blocked by a locked door. She knew her fate was inevitable but that's when the door she pressed so closely against was pulled open.
Faye fell backwards inside stumbling into someone or something as she did. The zombies still approached though so she knew she didn't have time to see who it was. Quickly Faye grabbed the door and slammed it shut knocking some of the creatures back a bit. That wouldn't be enough though, finally she looked at her rescuer with a look of concern washing over her. It took a moment for it to register np but she recognized the boy as Blake. "That won't hold them." She insisted looking into his icy blue eyes.

[Mooneh]

Dylan looked from the building seeing people from the school. They weren't dead. They weren't 2 legged brain eaters. "HELP!!!!!!" She yelled from the top of her lungs, knowing she was safe on this roof she could yell as much as she wanted. But she couldn't live on the roof, she would run out of food and die, just as she thought she would in that devilish school. "Help...." She sighed tears running down her cheeks. "Please take me somewhere safe god...." She was close to taking the knife from her bag and stabbing herself in the head, she didn't want to be one of them nor be around them. She didn't even want one to get a taste of her. "Let the maggots eat me alive." She scoffed her hand clutched in a fist. "What do I do now?" She questioned herself.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai wandered through the streets, starting to feel like he was moving around in circles. This is getting me nowhere. He surveyed his surroundings for a moment, an odd feeling coming over him, but he suppressed it. There were no zombies, there were no psycho killers, there was only him. For the moment, he was safe. His father, of course, was probably nowhere near here. He bit his lip for a minute, wondering what exactly he was supposed to do. Then there was a sound. Walking. Walkers! He immediately slipped out of the streets and into the shelter pf a building that had the window broken out. He stared out for a while, shivering in fear. He was tired of all the dead and odd people. For once, he wanted to see someone who was alive and normal

The walking dead passed. There was only a few of them. He wondered for a minute what exactly drove them to people. Smell? Sight? Sound? Probably not sight. Smell or sound? Whatever! It doesn't matter! He waited until they left, and then a little longer. He wanted more than anything to just run to wherever his father might be and stay with him, although he knew this was a bad idea. He came out again, still fearful that more might be headed the same way, and decided to try another street over and fast. Besides, he still had that weird feeling in his gut. He was not exactly sure what it was trying to get across and he did not like it. He observed his surroundings once more, feeling that maybe if he caught some detail of what was around him, he would find the source of whatever was making him feel this way. Finding nothing, he backed up suspiciously, although he was not sure from what, and turned, quickening his pace a little. Dad! Where are you?

After moving streets, finally, he found what he was looking for. He started running. I'll find you! I'm almost there I think! Please be here!

[Kicks]

ArraBella immediately stopped shooting when she saw Faye disappear into the building. The zombies didn't look so happy to have their food supply go amiss. However, Bella was pretty elated that their mission was a success. At the moment, she was feeling pretty dang ninjatastic. That was until she heard shouting from another building. She turned her eyes to the direction of where the yelling happened to be coming from. There on another building was another girl from the school. Being pretty bad at names. ArraBella couldn't recall what the girl's name was, but she did recognize her.
The question that was most startling for the redheaded girl to think about was how on earth they were supposed to help the girl. It's not like they could leave their own building. There was a sea of zombies below in the streets. That didn't exactly cause for a whole lot of motivation. Flabbergasted at this realization, ArraBella raised her hand to the back of her head and puffed out her cheeks.

At first when something, or rather someone, ran into him from behind the door, Blake was about to start punching. Luckily, that reaction wasn't a reflex and provided for enough time to realize that the being was alive and had shut the door. "Shit girl, you scared me." He breathed out at last as he raised a hand to his chest. He did recognize her as a student from the school, in fact hadn't she been one of the people he had teased? There was that midget younging person he teased who was on the roof now. There was some dude he had teased and then there was this girl.
No time to get into much thoughts with that, Blake grabbed a firm hold of the case that had previously been blocking the door. He could hear the scratching and thudding at the door now as the swarm tried to break their terrifying way in. There was just no chance Blake would let that happen though. If they got in, they would be trapped. That wasn't a good idea. So with the firm hold on the obese case, he moved it back to where it had been in front of the door.
Then, just to make sure the zombies would calm the heck down, Blake sat down in front of the case. Surely he could just light up his hands with energy and try to push the zombies back if they managed to break free. That way the others would have a chance of escape through another door. He was a tough teenager and might be able to hold his own. If not, at least the others would be safe.
Deciding to make conversation, the blonde teenager glanced up at Faye and broke into a funny grin. "So, how's life? Exciting? Terrifying? All you ever wanted?"

The soldier continued briskly to follow after the kid. It surprised him to find out that he was more of a runner than a fighter. Maybe that's how he had survived this long? No matter, sooner or later Colton wouldn't have many places to hide. Maybe he could scare this kid? So it wasn't the best of ideas and he might get hit, but it still sounded increasingly fun.
Slowly, the soldier made his way out from behind a car in his camouflaged uniform. He wasn't holding his gun any longer and had instead slipped it into its holster. He didn't want the gun to accidentally go off while scaring this guy. Silently, the soldier came up behind the kid. Colton put his hands down on the kid's shoulders and whispered; "Ever wondered what death felt like?"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai jumped at the feeling of hands on his shoulders, and whirled around so quickly, that he lost his balance, swinging his hammer as he went. He missed the man's head by an inch due to his clumsiness and stumbled backwards, catching himself before he fell completely. The man was clearly not dead, however, that did not comfort him very much.
"Who are you!? What are you doing!? Were you following me!? You were following me, weren't you!? That's why I had that weird feeling! What the heck!? You creep! Who the heck asks questions like THAT!? Are you saying you wanna kill me!? You're a murderer aren't you!? I already saw two other psycho killers and a whole bunch of man eating dead things and now you!? I'm sick and tired of all this stupid weird abnormal stuff bent on killing people! I have a hammer! I've already used it to kill... THINGS! If I have to, I'll use it t... to... ki... you... t... I HAVE A HAMMER!"
Zakai was holding his hammer up as threateningly as he could, glaring at the man in anger. He wasn't used to the idea of killing things still though... and he was shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't very threatening at all.

[Lil]

"Sorry," she murmured as she watched him push the case in front of the door. Faye also slumped to the ground feeling her adrenaline start to wear off and becoming a bit tired. For a few moments they sat in silence both regaining their composure until Blake cracked a grin and spoke up. "I have to say I've been better." Faye grinned back trying to help lighten the mood. "Thanks for, you know saving me." She added with a more sincere smile.

[Kicks]

Blake leaned his head against the case behind him. He could hear the scratching and thudding still. But with each passing moment it was beginning to simmer down on the other side. Soon, he wouldn't have to be so worried that they would break free at any moment. He turned his eyes back to the girl that had been terrifyingly trapped outside with the zombies. "Yea? That's surprising. I was really thinking everybody would love it." He remarked in a joking manner. "Eh, I didn't actually mean to save you. Honestly, I would have been the one shooting from up top... if I knew how to shoot a gun. But whatever, you're welcomes and all that formal stuff."

[Lil]

"I guess I'm just different." Faye shrugged and smirked. "I know you must be having a blast." As he brought up he fact that he can't shoot Faye tilted her head confused. That genuinely surprised her, she thought he would be the best of all of them. "Well I'm sure you'll catch on in the midst of all this." Faye replied waving her hand around. "But again, thanks."

[Kicks]

"You're telling me." Blake scoffed while shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Girl has no idea what she's missing out on." He loudly murmured to himself in a teasing manner. He turned his eyes back to her the second later though and snickered. "It doesn't matter if I can or can't. I still got the best gun of all time." He stated while he raised a suddenly glowing blue hand. "And it never runs out of bullets." He added in a whisper with a wink.

[Lil]

Faye eyes lit up. Her powers! "I never even thought about mine." She added staring at the glowing blue hand in amazement. "Wait, I don't think I know what yours are?" She asked then lifted her own hand. With a flick of her wrist an empty box slid along the ground.

[Kicks]

Zakai jumped at the feeling of hands on his shoulders, and whirled around so quickly, that he lost his balance, swinging his hammer as he went. He missed the man's head by an inch due to his clumsiness and stumbled backwards, catching himself before he fell completely. The man was clearly not dead, however, that did not comfort him very much.
"Who are you!? What are you doing!? Were you following me!? You were following me, weren't you!? That's why I had that weird feeling! What the heck!? You creep! Who the heck asks questions like THAT!? Are you saying you wanna kill me!? You're a murderer aren't you!? I already saw two other psycho killers and a whole bunch of man eating dead things and now you!? I'm sick and tired of all this stupid weird abnormal stuff bent on killing people! I have a hammer! I've already used it to kill... THINGS! If I have to, I'll use it t... to... ki... you... t... I HAVE A HAMMER!"
Zakai was holding his hammer up as threateningly as he could, glaring at the man in anger. He wasn't used to the idea of killing things still though... and he was shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't very threatening at all.
The soldier broke into a smirk as he watched the kid stumble and miss his head with the hammer. How was he even keeping himself alive with a balance like that? More even, how was he managing to kill things with that hammer? He listened as the kid broke into a huge rant of questions and being sick of the dead and whatnot. No surprise there. The kid wasn't the only one sick of the walking dead. Colton was among the people who voted nay on zombies.
"First, I was following you." Colton answered as he raised a few fingers to indicate towards his points. "Second, I ask questions like that. Third, you don't look like you could kill a live being. And fourth, you don't sound so convinced that you could even bash my brains in with that hammer. But thanks for making it so clear that you have a hammer." He gestured towards the object with a snicker.
The soldier kept his posture straight as always and began to move forward. "Well, kiddo. There's no point in keeping in one place for very long. You coming or not?" He questioned with raised eyebrows towards the child. Though he did find the sight of the boy absolutely pitiful, it was also one of the reasons that Colton had decided he would help the boy; that and after following the boy around for so long, he had come to realize that this boy might be suffering from some trauma.

- - - Updated - - -

"Really? That's a shocker. I would have thought that among the zombies and weirdness you would have remembered." Blake noted as he watched the box slide along the ground. Was that the first time he had seen what kind of abilities she possessed? He couldn't recall among the other spinning thoughts going through his head. But he did hear her question. "I can control energy. Utilize it as a weapon, something helpful, yadda yadda. It's actually really hard to explain." He remarked weakly with a small, nervous laugh. He dropped his hand back down and nodded towards the sliding box. "And you have... some kind of mental power I don't know the name of, right?"

[Lil]

Faye smirked a bit at his timidness with his power. Like he was nervous to talk about it, she couldn't blame him. This whole, other people have powers too, was new to her and made her wary about sharing it. "Sounds complicated. But also pretty cool." She smiled and stopped the box. "Yeah, I've got telekinesis. Pretty handy for scaring people, also pretty handy for fighting zombies if I remember." She chuckled lightly.

[Kicks]

Instead of talking more about his own power, Blake suddenly became very interested in her power. Of course, he was subtle about dropping the discussion. At least he thought so. "Oh so does that mean you can like push back the zombies and make them fly and stuff like that?" He asked curiously while his eyes went from the box to her.

[Lil]

Faye couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah I guess so! I've never really attempted to send zombies flying; but trust me, next time I encounter some ill be sure to do that, just for you." She smirked and winked a bit but soon felt color rise into her cheeks. Did she really just wink at him? That wasn't really like Faye but it also felt perfect for the moment. Her hands dropped to her lap where she began rubbing the hem of her shirt nervously.

[Kicks]

"Oh thank you. I will be indebted to you and your flying wisdom ways of the mind." Blake replied back to her with a small bow. He couldn't courtesy as well from the sitting point of where he was. But he still attempted because it seemed fitting at the moment. After all, how else does one respond to a given wink? Certainly not by acting like a gangster. That would be way out of line. Not too mention he was too white for that. He watched as her cheeks filled with some color. That could be a few signs of something, but as clueless as he ever was he made a gesture towards her and questioned; "You sick there, wise one?"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai stared at the man in surprise as well as embarrassment. It was actually true that he had killed some of the zombies with his hammer, but other than that, most of what the man had said was true. He probably wouldn't be ale to kill an actual human with his hammer... but then again... Zakai took a step back in nervousness, trying to decide whether to go or not. He was still shivering slightly, but he had mostly calmed down. He had offered to team up with him.
The boy studied him suspiciously for a moment, not exactly sure how to judge a man who had snuck up behind him, laughed at him without actually laughing, and then suddenly wanted to be... friends? Something like that. He then remembered what he had been doing, however and lowered his head.
My dad. I have to find my dad. He thought for a minute, wondering if going with this man would get in the way of his goal. At least this guy was actually living though and he seemed weird, but not crazy at least. Besides, he had no idea where he was going. Then thought of everything that had happened until now. How on Earth am I gonna do this? After confronting this guy and having pretty much all of his weaknesses thrown in his face at once, he knewit would be stupid to refuse.
"I guess I'll come." He looked up at the man in annoyance, "Just don't do that anymore."

[Lil]

Faye shook her head, "Not sick just a bit..." Faye paused for a moment not exactly sure what she planned on saying. Finally she swallowed the lump in her throat and finished, "nervous. That's all." She wasn't exactly sure how Blake would take that, maybe good, maybe bad. Faye glanced up and offered a bit of a lopsided smile but her cheeks still felt warm.

[Kicks]

The soldier didn't even turn his head to see if the child was following or not. His cocky, disciplined personality had already guessed that the boy was going to follow anyways. "Do what anymore? State the obvious truth in my blunt but charming ways?" The soldier assumed with a snort. It had to be that. The kid didn't have a very positive response when he got what was coming his way. But Colton had already moved past that and was silently stalking through the darkening streets. "We have to get off of the streets before night falls." He stated in a stern way. "That's when the real zombies come."

- - - Updated - - -

Blake raised his hands out before him in a confused manner. "So why are you nervous?" He inquired of her with a frown presenting itself on his face. "Is it the whole zombie thing or something? Because ya know, I don't think they'll be coming in." He insisted as he jerked a thumb back towards the silencing noise of the walking dead.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai glared at the man who walked ahead of him. "No. I meant sneak up behind me like that. I could have seriously hit you if I hadn't lost my balance! Besides, you're not charming at all." He looked around the street, listening to what the man had said about nightfall. He had already figured that before, although he never thought much of it. It was only natural that he did not sleep or walk out in the open when it got too dark. He didn't really like his newly found partner at the moment, but he did seem to know what he was doing. Zakai followed with a lowered head, not exactly sure whether to say anything or remain quiet. It did seem important that they got to know each other a little however. "My name's Zakai by the way."

[Lil]

"Yeah, that's it." Faye agreed hoping it was an right cover. "I'm still a bit shaken up you know, almost being eaten by a bunch if zombies and all." Faye nodded timidly and glanced over at the door. The monsters started to walk off after having so success at opening the door.

[Kicks]

'Uh-huh. I'm so convinced." The soldier remarked with a snort and a smirk. He couldn't help what he said. After watching the child's performance with the hammer it hadn't made him think too macho-like of the small boy. Besides, it was only natural for the soldier to look down on other people and decide they weren't much use to themselves or people. It was just how the cookie crumbled. For now though, he stated with assured confidence; "No, I'm quite charming. It's all in the teeth. Everybody loves a white, pearly smile." He insisted. It was a joke of some sorts. The soldier didn't smile. He continued on with the process of the conversation naturally and stated as an introduction after the child had stated his name; "Just call me Captain Awesome." His eyes were skimming over the buildings as he walked. The walk to his own station was too far and they didn't have that much before nightfall. He would have to choose a building carefully to hide out in until the morning.



"Yea. Scary shit we live in." Blake agreed with a small smile. He waited until the zombies were gone completely on the other side before he entirely relaxed his muscles. Before he had been tensed up, yet seeming calm. But now relief filled him like a sweet rush of relaxation. "Think they got a hot tub somewhere in here? Hot tubs are so nice...and hot... and bubbly and the bubbles don't even have to be your own farts."

[Lil]

"Yeah definitely" Faye say a bit sarcastically and shook her head. "I think a hot tub is the least of our concerns. What we really need are some cherries." Faye smirked and bit her lip lightly. "Or just food and water in general."

[Kicks]

Blake raised his blonde eyebrows at the girl shorter than he was being the tall fellow he tended to be. Yay for puberty! "Whaaaaat?" He whined out in surprise. "You're crazy." He dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Hot tubs are totally at the top to be concerned about besides survival." He stood up from the ground and offered his hand down to help her up from the linoleum. The building was a gym here in San Francisco. He had chosen it because of his belief in stereotypes about America. Less people going to the gym meant less zombies to be in the gym which he had been right about. "Maybe they got some food in the vending machines?" He offered up as his blue eyes trailed down the stairs to the landing that would open up into part of the gym.

[Lil]

Faye smiled and released a small laugh. Blake was a special guy wasn't he? She accepted his hand and stood up but probably let it linger in his a bit to long before pulling away. "Yeah you're probably right. They also used to have a smoothie bar here." Faye added and looked around the building.

[Kicks]

Blake slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans while he began to go down the stairs. "You sound like you know more about this gym than I do." He commented. She must have at least. He had never actually been to this gym before. He had also never been to a lot of places here in San Francisco. But he knew what gyms did have and that was vending machines, hot tubs including a pool, and normally some kind of drink bar going on. He made it down into the main area of the gym and glanced around. Weight machines, weights, mats, mirrors, and doors leading to marked destinations.

[Lil]

Faye followed Blake into the main gym letting her eyes search the entire room until they locked on a pair of blue double doors. She smirked then slipped away without him noticing. Faye peeked through the small windows and but her lip in a smile. "Hey Blake. Guess what I found?" She called out to him leaning against the door leading to the pool area. The hot tub was also located inside.

[Kicks]

Blake looked behind him, expecting her to be there as she had been a moment ago. It didn't make sense as to why he had looked there when her voice had come from another area. But now he glanced over to the double set doors and found the girl standing there. "And what's that?" He questioned her while slowly making his way carefully over to her.

[Lil]

Faye smiled before popping the door open and entering the lowly lit room. Her hand felt against the wall for a moment before it flicked the lights on exposing the large pool of water. "It may or may not be a hot tub." She teased and waited for him to also come in.

[Kicks]

Blake watched as she broke into a smile. Could she be up to something? Or what was she hiding? He soon found out when he followed in after her. His eyes grew wide with surprise when he noticed the hot tub in all its magnificent glory smiling up at them. It was calling to him. It wished to be dipped in and relaxed upon. "YOU ARE A BLOODY GENIUS, FAYE." He cried out while suddenly wrapping the girl into an excited hug. How she had found it was way beyond him. But he was eternally gratefully.

[Lil]

Faye couldn't help but smile when she saw his eyes light up. Who knew someone could get so excited over a hot tub? Suddenly she was squished in his arms and couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks. I think." She said from inside the hug and even wrapped her own arms around his back.

[Kicks]

Blake broke away from the embrace and went down onto his knees. He crawled around the hot tub searching desperately for the control panel for the thing. When he couldn't find it down there, he looked on the walls until his blue eyes finally found it. He lifted up from the ground and began to tinker with the controls of the hot tub. Sure, the water may already be hot and steaming up the room but were there bubbles yet? Now there were. "Ho ho ho." He chortled as the hot tub began to spring up bubbles. "This is fantastic..."

[Lil]

Faye smiled watching Blake scramble searching for the control panel. It was like watching a child on Christmas morning. "So... I take it you like it?" She asked leaning against the wall. Faye didn't exactly feel like getting in considering it would mean getting her clothes soaking wet.

[Kicks]

"No." Blake answered her with a grin spreading across his face. "I love it." He corrected her with an all knowing kind of voice. He stripped off his shirt before gesturing towards the hot tub. "Ladies first." He told her while shimmying out of his jeans and down to his boxers. No shame. None at all. If being half naked meant having a dip in a hot tub or having a fun time, he would do it any day. Besides, it was just like the locker room at school after gym class. Dudes were naked all over the place. Blake had adapted to that kind of scenario which enabled him to do things he would have never done before like going skinny dipping with guys from school. It was a crazy experience.

[Lil]

Faye chuckled and shook her head. "No I can't do that. I'll get soaked!" She said as Blake started to remove his clothing. Her eyes lingered over his newly exposed stomach and chest and she was taken by surprise when he even took off his jeans. Her cheeks grew warm again as her eyes tried to force themselves down but she didn't allow it. Quickly she brought her gaze back up to his icy blue eyes, hers full of embarrassment.

[Kicks]

"Faye, don't be so shy. The human body is a beautiful thing." Blake commented with an eye roll. He stepped down into the hot tub while making little faces as his own body started to get adjusted to the high heat of the water. He shimmied on down until his chest was covered in the bubbling water. He grinned up at her and made a motion to get in. "Come on, you know you want to."

[Lil]

Faye bit her lip as she contemplated it. Did she really want to strip down into half-nakedness and get in a hot tub with a boy she barely knew. She guessed a bra and panties wasnt all that different from a bikini right? As Blake motioned her in Faye sighed in defeat, you do only live once, and who knows how much longer they actually had. Faye pulled off her shirt quickly and dropped it onto the concrete ground then even slipped out of her shorts. Oddly, she wasn't that uncomfortable but she was sure to get in the hot tub quickly hoping Blake didn't stare. "Happy now?" Faye asked letting the warm water run over her body.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Teeth?
Zakai was not sure at this point what to make of his newly found companion. He wasn't exactly the kind of person that Zakai liked to be around, but he did seem okay at least, if not a little weird. He was definitely a person of experience who seemed himself handled. That much was understood. Zakai smiled a little at the name he had been given in response.
"I'm not calling you that."

He looked at the sky. Night was coming. He frowned slightly. Nighttime was not something he was looking forward to. Then again, what was there to look forward to at that time other than the faint hope of possibly finding his father. I hope he's okay.
Zakai followed the man silently. There didn't seem to be any dead people around at the moment. If night was even worse than day, which had been Hell on Earth in itself, then what would happen if they couldn't find a safe enough place. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't know what to think about. Everything seemed like it was gone. Zakai sighed. Well, what on Earth now? Everything seemed too depressing to think about. He decided to just stop thinking and observe their surroundings. If he daydreamed too much, he would only endanger himself further.

[Kicks]

Blake broke back into a grin when Faye stripped down and got into the hot water. "Just don't pee in the water and I'll be extremely happy." He answered back to her. Slowly moving his hands through the water now, he locked eyes with her. "So, Faye. You got any dirty secrets? You a murderer of some sort? Some kind of secret agent spy? Anything really juicy? Ever destroyed someone's life?" He just wanted to better get to know one of his new comrades. After all, if you were going to be around a person you might as well get to know them.


The soldier stopped walking suddenly when he noticed the walkers were decreasing in number. They didn't have a lot of time. They had to find shelter now. From the right he could hear a clatter in the distance. It made him tense up while he expectantly waited for one of them to come out. When nothing did, he assumed it must be some kind of animal that hadn't been infected yet and moved to his left. There was a small building there which meant less zombies to worry about if any were hiding in there.
Colton opened the door while pulling out his handgun. All but silence and decaying flesh welcomed him. His green eyes spotted a body on the ground with a bullet through its head. So someone had been in here before them and knew what to do. Genius really. That meant less to worry about. Quickly, the shoulder pushed the child into the building and then he turned towards the door. "Flip over a table and duck behind it." He stated without turning around. He was now shutting the door and applying the locks to it. When he was through with that, he went to the windows and drew the shades.

[Lil]

With a slight roll of her eyes and a chuckle Faye responded, "I dont think that'll be a problem." Faye sunk down in the water so all that was exposed was from her shoulders up. Blake's icy blue eyes locked with her own and she shrugged, "If I told you it wouldn't be much of a secret would it?" She closed her eyes and sighed, the warm water felt good against her sore muscles, running from zombies can take a lot out of you.

[Kicks]

Blake put his arms behind his head while tilting his head back so that it dangled just above the cool of the outer edges of the hot tub. "Well, that's not very interesting." He remarked with a slow chuckle. "Come on, don't be ashamed of secret telling. I'm a real good listener and I don't tell secrets... often. Unless you were anorexic or doing harm to your body, that's when I would spill the beans. So just throwing this out there now, you're not harmful to your own personal body thing, right?"

[Lil]

Faye sighed as he asked if she was harmful to herself. No. She wasn't, for others she couldn't say the same. Slowly Faye shook her head and replied, "No I don't harm myself. I can't imagine you do either." Faye opened her eyes and looked at Blake as he stretched out along the edge of the hot tub with his head dangling out. He really was a strange guy, not in a bad way, it still strange.

[Kicks]

Blake lifted his head up a little bit to spot the girl declaring that she wasn't harmful to herself. Well, all he had was her word so he would have to trust it. Besides, she didn't seem like must of a liar, did she? "If you say so." He commented before cracking up into laughter. "Ooo yea let me tell you just how harmful I am to myself. First I beat myself with a bat and then I eat cockroaches for breakfast and when that isn't enough for the morning I look in my mirror and I tell myself firmly 'you ugly piece of crap, you don't deserve to be here'."

[Lil]

Faye nodded as Blake confirmed it. He then went on a sarcastic tangent of how he harmed himself. Faye chuckled and shook her head, "You can tell yourself that but no one would believe it. No way you can even convince yourself of that." Faye smirked playfully and even a but flirty but this time color didn't take over her cheeks, no this time she stayed calm and collected.

[ColtenBarg]

He sat against the wall, looking around, "Hello? Can anyone here me?" He hated being loud, because he knew it attracted walkers. 5 walkers came around the corner, about 30 yards away. "Damn it." He sat the rifle down and pulled out his knife from it's sheath. Towards the walkers he went, and by one, they fell. He ran back and grabbed the rifle, then ran inside a nearby building and went to the roof. Once he got on the roof, he yelled once again. "Anyone out there? Make a sound or give me a sign!" He just wanted to know if someone else was alive, somewhere.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai was a little surprised when he was suddenly rushed into some building by the man, though he made no attempt to go against it. After he was pushed inside, he did as he was seeing that this had probably been a hasty decision in the first place to beat the approaching night. Zakai ducked behind the table and stayed silent. He didn't want to accidentally ruin whatever it was his companion was trying to do. A quick search for zombies probably.

He waited behind in silence and nervousness, wondering if there were any walkers in this building. He shuddered at the thought of it and peeked out over the table at his companion at the sudden image in his head of a zombie sneaking up behind the man. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary at the moment. There was a dead zombie on the floor, but that was it. He ducked his head behind the table before the man could see him, not wanting to cause any trouble by disobeying. He waited.

[Kicks]

"But I can try." Blake wept back jokingly. He raised a wet hand up to his face and scratched his chin in thought. What else were good inquiries to make about someone in order to better get to know them? He had never actually done a questioning investigation like this before. But he figured it went the same as making a friend. "D'aw, I'm making a new friend." He finally commented in a sentimental way.



The soldier pushed up other tables against the windows to reinforce them. He then flicked off the lights and silently moved behind the table with Zakai already there. "Do you know how to shoot a gun?" He whispered to the kid while handing over a handgun. Normally, enlisted soldiers just didn't give away their military issued weapons considering they were high grade level. But these were dire situations and Colton figured two people shooting was better than just one trained professional. "If not, you push off the safety button. Put your finger on the trigger, close one eye to aim, get the barrel pointed at the head, and pull the trigger." Simplest way to explain it. There was no point in giving a long explanation. He was merely hoping the kid was a quick learner.

[Lil]

Faye chuckled at his coo. "Yeah I guess so." She smiled and bit her lip. "Now why don't I ask a few questions!" She nodded and eyed Blake playfully. "First up! What's your favorite color?"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai put down his hammer and took the weapon that had been handed to him. Well, yeah, I know how to shoot this thing but... He shuddered. The image of his mother and sister on the floor of his home, their bullet wounds and the gun in his mother's hand crept into his mind all over again. He stared at the gun in his own hands and shook his head violently to clear it. Don't think about that! Just forget it! It's alright! You might not even have to shoot! There's only one zombie on the floor right now! Just ignore whatever memories and shoot the things that come in to eat you! I still have to find Dad and I can't do that if I'm dead! He pushed off the safety and readied himself for firing beside the man. He was still shaking. This is... this is bad... He wanted to run away again. He hated killing. Even if they were weird man eating zombies, they had been people before. He gulped and did his best to concentrate. He had already killed some of them with his hammer anyways. If anything came in, he had to help. He bit his lip and stopped shivering, but he was still tense.

[Kicks]

Blake raised his eyebrows at the sudden, yet expected question. Most people went for the normal questions. It didn't surprise him a bit to hear the question, and yet got him thinking. He hadn't really thought of a favorite color. Sure, there were some colors he preferred more above others, but an absolute favorite? He glanced down into the water at his boxers and broke into a grin. He turned his eyes back to her and smiled at her. "I like purple. For now anyways. And your's?"



The entire building was consumed with a gnawing silence. But from the outside, a trudging was heard of heavy, slurring footsteps. With every step outside they drew nearer to the building. Some would pass by, but others stopped entirely in front of the building. "They can smell us. Shit." The soldier cursed quietly beneath his breath. He had been hoping that these enemies would pass by the building. But their scent obviously hadn't been masked by the odor of this building. Pitiful and frightening all in one.
The next noise that could be heard at the door was a scraping as if someone on the other side were trying to find the doorknob. When they did, the doorknob began to shake violently followed by a growl. As for the soldier, he raised his own above the table and kept low enough to see but still remain partially hidden.

[Lil]

Faye tapped her chin playfully as she thought about it. She wasn't completely sure either. She liked the color of Blake's eyes, they were quite pretty actually. "Ummm, blue." She smirked as she made eye contact with him. "Just like those pretty little things you call your eyes." Faye said as she leaned forward a bit and hooped his nose playfully with the tip of her finger.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

"Smell...?" So that's how they sense us... but... that doesn't make sense!
Zakai stared at the door, shivering for a moment. This "going in before nightfall" thing was beginning to seem overrated. At least outside he wasn't trapped! He bit his lip and gulped at all the sounds outside, wondering if they would give up if they could not get in, or if they could get in, what he could do to escape. He was not sure about how the man beside him would handle it, whether he would stay and fight them, or move out of the way. He decided before hand to just follow the man around and do as he did, but he could not help but look around the room for escape routes to get away from the zombies just in case. Besides, if that did end up happening, then he felt there was no reason to hold up a doomed fort. It was by avoiding these situations that he had survived so long. He was shaking more and more violently by the minute as he realized more and more vividly how unaccustomed he was to his companion's choice of survival tactic.

[Kicks]

Blake gasped as his nose had been hooped. He raised his hands up to his face and raised his blonde brows at her. "Faye Personwithalastname, are you flirting with me?" He questioned teasingly while slowly lowering his hands down from the area of the body known as the face. "Because it's not very successful; I already know I have amazing eyes, I don't need people to tell me that." He put his arms on either side of the hot tub and leaned back while keeping eye contact with her. "Second question, whattya think happened to all the other students?"


"Calm down." The soldier hissed at the boy shaking up a storm. Obviously this wasn't a time to be calm or happy even. But it was better than panicking. He knew his choice of words weren't the most reassuring at the moment, and neither was his exact tone of voice. A ping of guilt was what met him. of course the child wouldn't be accustomed yet to this kind of thing. He could recall when being as strong as any other soldier wasn't his thing. Boot camp had taught him to man up from a scrawny boy to a muscular man. How could he expect a small boy to be as confident as he was now when at one time he had been that young and vulnerable? The soldier sighed but kept his gun up and poised. "Ya know, this isn't so bad compared to what our fate would be out there. In here we stand a chance of fighting." He glanced towards the kid briefly before his eyes went back to the door; "Don't worry too much. I've done this before. Haven't died yet, and won't be dying today." At that time, his eyes found the dead body once more that was still on the ground. "If anything comes through that door, shoot." He warned fairly before ducking out from behind the table and towards the body. By now, there was more loud noises coming from the door. Between the growling, scraping, and scratching it would be hard to distinguish just how many were out there. But now more were accompanying the first ones. Bodies were slamming up against the windows.

[Lil]

Faye smirked as he mentioned her flirting with him. She shrugged then sat back, Blake may not admit it but he liked her complimenting him. She could just tell. "I'm guessing something like what's happened I the rest of the city." Faye said quietly as he stomach seemed to drop. So many kids killed then brought back to be a zombie.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai flinched at first when the soldier told him to calm down. How can I be calm at a time like this!? Needless to say, it didn't help. Zakai was still shaking like a leaf. He bit his lip, still trying to do what the man had ordered, but was failing miserably. When the man spoke the second time it more or less surprised him, and for that reason, it caught his full attention. His tone was different as was the content. It was a lot kinder than anything else he had said so far. Zakai calmed down for an instant, not exactly entirely without fear, but feeling better at least than he had before. That is until the soldier left their small shelter and went for the body in which he got nervous again for a different reason.
"Wh-what are you doing!?" he whispered in alarm.
You idiot! You calm me down and then you go and do a thing like that!? What the heck are you doing!? If you were planning that in the first place then why did you say all of that!?
He was almost angry when that had happened, but he sighed and tried with all his might to remain calm. He did not want anyone else he knew to die, even though this person with him had been annoying. He stared at the door, waiting readily for anything to come through.

[Kicks]

Blake went quietly as Faye suggested the answer to his question. Yea, it did make sense. He had been trying to avoid any thoughts along those lines. He didn't want to think the other students had been turned into zombies. But now the possibility of it was very real once it had been stated aloud. "Guess there's no use in getting down about it." He remarked with a passive tone of voice. As he stated this, he got out of the hot tub and picked up his dry clothes. "Oh wow, didn't think this over thoroughly... If I were to put these pants on, it would make me look like I had pissed myself." He remarked with a snicker. So instead, he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist while he shook out his hair like a wet dog.


"Saving our asses." The soldier whispered back in a casual way. He heaved the body off of the ground while keeping his face as far away from it as he possibly could. He did not want a taste of the dead zombie, nor did he want any fluid from the zombie getting into any of his cavities like nose, ear, mouth, etc.
Colton dragged the zombie's body to the door and then left it right there. In the mean time with the ruckus at the door, the soldier came back to the table where the child was. He ducked behind it once more and kept his back pressed against the table. "Any minute..." He murmured impatiently. Just as he spoke those words, the scratching and noise from the door came to a slow stop. Bodies being thrown against the windows seemed to have come to a halt as well.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai watched as the man put the zombie in front of the door and then came back to the table. Zakai gave him a puzzled look, but then something weird happened. Everything went quiet. Zakai's head shot back to the door and he held his breath, waiting for something to happen. His eyes grew wide with anticipation. He had stopped shivering abruptly and began to piece what was going on in his head. Masking our scents? That had to be it. He looked at the man for a moment and then back at the door hopefully, being sure not to let any part of his body other than his head move. Will it be enough? Will everything be okay? Are we alright? He bit his lip, still not breathing. He was nervous. His mind and emotional state had also come to a stand still, seeing as he was not sure at this point whether to be afraid or relieved for the silence around him. It was too soon. He shut his eyes, not even wanting to look until he was sure of what would happen next. Please go away...

[Lil]

Faye followed him out releasing a small sigh. She also grabbed a towel and wrapped it tightly around her body as her hair dripped down the back. "Well that's not going to work." Faye commented mostly to herself before grabbing another towel and twirling it around her hair. She popped up wide eyed and with a smile then scooped up her clothes.

[Kicks]

Colton stayed completely still with his eyes shut. Though it would be hard to tell with his composure, he was scared stiff. This was the closest he had gotten to getting caught after dark by one of those zombies. Normally he was a lot more agile getting from the city back to home base before the real monsters came out. He had learned the first night here in San Francisco during the attack that you should always take safe cover at night. This was the second time he had made the made mistake of cutting it close, but the first time he was caught by the monsters. In all honesty, he had no idea if his idea was going to work or not. He could feel himself relax a little when the noise died down, but he was paranoid.
Soon, there was shuffling coming from the outside of the building. The bodies behind the structure were moving away from the building as if deciding that there were no humans there after all. They were now seeking somewhere else to get their meat. When nothing but silence presented itself to the two occupants of the building, the soldier only then dared to move.
He stood up now and made his way slowly to the window. Using one finger to barely lift a shade high enough to see outside the glass, he peeked an eye through and watched. Behind the glass stood atrocious beings. They were unlike any other zombie to be seen during the daylight. These ones walked and ran with live motions as if they were some kind of animal ravenous for food. Their eyes glowed with a deep red that sent shivers down the spine. Their bones jutted out from their skin as if something had caused their bones to grow rapidly and expand. On their long fingers were extremely lengthy claws stained by blood of past victims. Some of them had their faces covered with fresh blood from kills recently. Among the crowd passing by, there stood about ten even more monster like zombies. These ones soared ten feet in the air with muscles bulging out as far as their bones. Their eyes burst with the same tone of red but their fangs were so elongated that they jutted out from the monster's jaw.

"Wow, people are so going to take it wrong if we just waltz on out like this." Blake noted as he observed the girl with amusement flickering in his blue eyes. "We should probably wait until we can put on our clothes before going up to the roof." He stated while now making his way out of the room into the equipment room once more.

[Lil]

Faye looked between the two realizing exactly what they may make of this. "Good idea." She added then followed after him. Her clothes draped over her arms as they walked and she couldn't help but smirk a tad. "Oh and what you said earlier, that's wrong. I'm a wonderful flitter." Faye teased with a confident grin and a slight glance towards Blake.

[Kicks]

Blake slowly moved his eyes to the side in order to look at the girl. "You really think so?" He mused out slowly. He then shrugged his shoulders and turned his eyes forward again. "I don't know about that. I've seen a few girls be better flirters." A smirk broke across his face as he said that. The teenager stopped at the smoothie bar to the gym and glanced over the counter. He didn't exactly know what he was looking for over the side of the counter, but whatever it was he didn't find it there. Behind the counter was another dead body. This one like the other two he had found earlier in this place, had a bullet through its head.

[Lil]

"You just haven't seen me give 100%" Faye shrugged and leaned against the counter with a smirk. That was until her eyes also et the corpse. Her heart sunk and she quickly diverted her eyes. Seeing those things made her skin crawl and her heart ache. Who knows who they could've been? A father. A husband. A son. She felt like they had been cheated because of whatever was going on around here.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai bit his lip nervously and resumed shaking. Is it okay now? What's happening? Are we safe? He stopped shaking then started up again, continuing in an on and off loop as he waited for a sign to either be scared or relieved. His companion was different. The whole time, he seemed calm and composed. Zakai envied his courage in this odd time of crisis, wishing he could do the same. But I'll never be like that... He lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut. Please, just something happen. Anything. He almost thought of speaking up and asking if everything was okay, but he did not want to risk getting yelled at or alerting the monsters outside of their presence. He waited and listened.

When the sound of footsteps leading away from the house were heard, Zakai's eyes shot open and he looked up with expectant hope. He had been so nervous that he had not noticed the man's movement from their position behind the table to the window. He stared nervously. He had been biting his lip so hard that he had made it numb. He was lucky that he had not punctured it. He still didn't make a sound. He had not been told that he could. He lowered his head and stared at the ground. If Dad even is out there alive somehow, there's no way that he's at his workplace now. His head sunk even more, He probably went home. Why didn't I stay? I could've been with him right now! What if he's stuck out there in all of... THIS! I... I don't know what to do! What if he's dead? What if he's eating people? What if he's trapped somewhere like me? Zakai gritted his teeth and started shaking more uncontrollably than before now that he had a new reason to be afraid, and this time it was mixed with worry.

[Kicks]

Blake wasn't paying much mind to Faye after his discovery. His eyes just stared down at the body in mild surprise. He knew that there were bound to be bodies like this scattered around, but still coming upon one was more than enough to make your senses ache. He turned his blue eyes away from the dead body and to the girl who had seen the body as well. "Well, now we know now not to try the smoothies." He joked. Okay, so maybe it was a sick kind of joke, he admitted. But joking tended to lighten the heart and mood.


The soldier could see the brink of the sun peaking over the tall buildings of San Francisco. He was also noticing that the monsters were beginning to find some form of a shelter. Most of them opened a crater in the ground that led directly to the sewer. It was through that way that they flooded into the dark sewers. After watching the monsters for some time, Colton looked away from the window and towards the flipped over table. It would be another little while before it was the safest to go into the streets.
For now though, the soldier came back to the child and sat next to him. "You look scared." He commented while making a gesture towards the boy. "So what's your story exactly?" If you were going to be paired up with them, you should get to know them. If not, you may just have a serial killer as your partner.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked up when he heard the man walking over, then stood up slowly. "They're gone?" How long had they been in here? He yawned and sat back down back down. The man was back behind the table, asking Zakai about his experiences. Zakai eyed him for a moment, then yawned again and put his gun on safety, deciding that it was best it remain unfired for a while.
"Let's trade: your name for my story."

He decided in the end that if he knew nothing else, he wanted to the know the name of this person he had met and especially before he told him anything else about himself. He looked at the man and waited for a reply.

[Kicks]

"Not yet. It'll be safe in a little bit. We'll be able to make it somewhere safe." The soldier told the kid. He slipped his gun back into its holster at his belt. He leaned his head against the table as the kid struck a bargain. Though the soldier hadn't been expecting that, he wasn't hesitant to give his real name this time. After all, the kid had made it this far with the soldier. He deserved to know something about the man. "Captain Colton Ryker of the United States Navy." Unlike many soldiers before him, he didn't give the whole 'hoorah' attitude and 'all about the seriousness'. Instead, it was casual and quiet as if he didn't believe himself that he was a captain. "And now your story." He stated when his green eyes moved to the child.

[Lil]

Faye nodded numbly. "I don't think the smoothies are what got to him." She said quietly and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and looked back at Blake. "There's got to be a vending machine or something around here." She commented

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked at the man who he now knew to be Colton Ryker. Navy? No wonder he had been so calm. It made no sense for him to act so smug if Zakai was a lot less brave then. Zakai sighed and looked at the ground. He was unsure on whether the man wanted to know all the details of Zakai's newly found "adventures" or a somewhat condensed version. It seemed however, that they'd be in here for a while. Zakai debated in his own mind whether he even wanted to tell the man anything. He sighed again and then looked at Colton.
"Long version or summarized?"

[Kicks]

"You're right. Of course the smoothies didn't." Blake agreed with a slow sigh. "It was the magical ponies that got him." He finally stated in a way serious manner while making eye contact with the girl. "And the magical ponies may have hidden the vending machines from us. ON THE ADVENTURE WE GOOOOOOOOO." He cheered while sticking out a fist like Superman and running forward.

The soldier glanced at the kid. What was the difference between long and short? Same story, fewer words. "Summarized, I guess." He finally answered. He wasn't really sure if he even wanted the kid to go into that many details when what the kid may have been through would be already too much to describe. Summarizing would be far less emotional for the kid probably.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai nodded and stared ahead.
"Well, I was at school when I learned about the breakout thing. There was a lock down and no one knew why. Once we did figure it out, it was too late to really do anything about it. My teacher got a group of me and my friends and we somehow bashed our way out the classroom door. The place was already overrun and our group was... well acting weird. The teacher suddenly thrust a hammer into my hands and told me to run and get out. So I did." Zakai gulped, deciding to let the soldier use his imagination for the rest of that part, "When I was out, I ran home. I couldn't go directly there because.. well, you know. I had to sort of zigzag my way. I ran into two people who killed some guy and every time I found other people, they were always weird, so I didn't team up with anyone. When I did get home I found my mom and sister and they... they..." Zakai froze for a moment, staring at the floor. He put the gun he had down and gripped his knees, "Anyways, I ran away. I went looking for my dad. Then you came out of nowhere and now here we are."
He was shaking slightly again, "I just hope he's okay. I hope he actually tried. Not like..." he froze again. He hadn't said what exactly had happened to his mother and sister and he decided to stop there. Tears were threatening to fall, and he didn't want to cry in front of Colton. He wiped his eyes frantically and laid his head against his arms with his face away from the man.
"What happened to you?"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

(Sorry. The computer I'm using is buggy. Please ignore this.)

[Kicks]

So that's how the kid had survived so long in this forsaken hell hole. He had a hammer and used it for his own survival. Even for adults it would still be hard just to bash in someone's head. Colton wouldn't allow his mind to picture that too greatly though. It wasn't like he hadn't done something similar before to the walking dead. He was older than the kid and yet having to do what he had to do still affected him in pretty much the same way. Anyone who didn't feel something like that wasn't human.
"Tough luck, kid." The soldier remarked at last as he straightened up a little bit. He could feel the sun peeking in past the curtains to say hello to the building. Sunrise was here at last. When the kid asked his question, Colton didn't respond. Instead, he stood up from the ground and grabbed the kid up as well. "We have about an hour to get to my base. There you will get food and water. If we don't get to the base in an hour, the dead will meet us. They don't come out of hiding until an hour after the monsters disappear... They're just as scared as those things as we are." He explained quickly while he shoved the kid out of the building and into the now empty streets. The soldier was already briskly moving towards the South as he continued to speak; "Here's how it works, the zombies come out hour after sunrise, monsters disappear a few minutes before sunrise. Zombies disappear an hour before sunset, monsters appear a few minutes after sunset. That means, the streets are empty only at two times of the day. That's when they're the safest. However, the sewers are crawling with the monsters and the buildings during the night are filled with the zombies. At no point do the monsters and zombies ever cross paths. They seem to avoid each other. Few places are actually safe to duck into. Small buildings are normally safe, but large buildings are always crawling with the dead. Hospitals and clinics you should avoid. Gas stations are relatively safe, as well as fast food joints. Tunnels are normally crawling with the monsters- nice and dark like how they like it."

[Lil]

Faye followed slowly her hands fumbling nervously. "There's one over there." Faye motioned to the side and glanced up just for a second.

[Kicks]

Blake's eyes went to the magical vending machine. Sure enough, it was right there in all of its glorious coolness. He could hear the hum coming from it, see the lights illuminating the packages and drinks. How had he not noticed that before? Faye was a great observer. However, she did seem to not be acting the same way as she had been before. Her attitude and demeanor had completely changed. She was now displaying ticks of nervousness like the fumbling of her hands. "Everything all right?" He asked her as his eyes went from her hands to her eyes.

[Lil]

Faye looked up cautiously and nodded timidly. "Yeah I'm fine." She lied rather unconvincingly. You would think Faye would be used to these dead things by now but it never seemed to get any better. It only got worse with every new one.

[Kicks]

"Liars go to jail." Blake made point of as he casually walked towards the vending machine. "And people who destroy property do too." He added before he tipped over the machine. When it was down, he jumped on top of it and began to use it as his trampoline. No use in paying money for food and drinks during the end of the world.

[Lil]

Faye didn't say anything in response and just followed Blake to the machine which he was now crumbling beneath him. She leaned against the wall with a sigh as she watched him. He should probably be quieter but there was no point in telling him now.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai was again surprised when he was grabbed up and shoved out just as he had been when he was pushed in. He listened to everything the man said. We're going to a base? Panic rushed through him. Am I going to be left there? I understand that it's dangerous to stay out here since I'm just a kid but... I still haven't found... Zakai looked at Colton, then at the streets ahead of them. If he kept everything the soldier said about monsters and zombies in mind... then maybe... maybe he could...

Zakai's heart started racing as he became aware of the new problem facing him. Should he stay with Colton, or should he go off on his own to search for his father? If he left, he was sure that Colton would not mind. The man probably had his own problems. If Zakai decided to leave he was sure he would not be followed. Colton had been kind enough to let him tag along, but he was just a soldier doing his duty to protect whoever. If one tike decided they did not want his help, he probably wouldn't be affected by it. Zakai bit his lip, becoming nervous of the thought of being alone again. He hated the idea, but he could not help but feel the urge to just bolt across the street and go deeper into the city. He shivered for a moment. I can't abandon my father... but... He stared longingly in the direction opposite of where Colton wanted to go, then looked back again. What do I do?

[Kicks]

"So... are you... acting... like that... because of the... corpse? Or... because... you need... a... nap?" Blake questioned in between each jump he gave to the vending machine. At last with his final word, the glass broke through and he hurriedly jumped away before he could get caught in shards. A victorious grin broke across his face. "So, take your pick? Them-" He began as he made a gesture towards the food; "Or me." He finished flirtatiously as he made a gesture towards his shirtless torso. Of course, he was only joking with her to see if he could get her to smile again.


Colton stopped momentarily and took a chance to get some air into his lungs after using it all to speak rapidly and informingly. In that time, he noticed that the kid had stopped moving and looked torn. The soldier glanced at the child and raised his eyebrows; "You got somewhere better to be." He realized after thinking back to the story the kid had given. "Your dad, right? You still don't know what happened to him or where he is, huh?"

[Lil]

"Definitely the nap thing." Faye said unamused as she watched him jump. She leaned against the wall but jumped a bit--startled-- when he broke the glass. Faye noticed the smug little grin grow on his face before he offered her either some thing from the machine or him. She bit her lip and smirked. "That offer is very intriguing" she said and poked his chest gently, "but I think I'll go with some Lays." She finished off and grabbed a bag of chips.

[Kicks]

"Ah, see I knew it. People always get grumpy when they're tired." Blake joked back with a chuckle. He gazed down at his chest where it had been poked. Then he glanced at the chips in the machine. "It's okay, babies." He muttered sadly down towards his abs. "Some day someone will want you. Just not today." He patted them with a small, fake sniffle coming from him.

[Lil]

Faye smiled and slumped down against the wall before popping open her bag of chips. "Care to join me?" Faye asked raising her eyebrow quizzically and patting the spot next to her. She tossed a chip in her mouth waiting for him to sit

[Kicks]

Blake's attention was ripped away from his own acting to the girl that had slumped to the ground. It was quite tempting. Food and sitting did make for a fantastic mixture. So the teenager swept up some Doritos from the broken and turned over vending. He popped open the bag while he sat down next to her. "What do you suppose we do now? It's obvious we can't stay here in this building forever."

[Lil]

Faye shrugged and looked over at Blake. "I don't know. I think we should stay here until we're forced to leave." Faye sighed an spooked down at her knees then pulled them close to her chest.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked up at Colton for a moment, then back at the ground and nodded.
"Yes. I was was going to go to his workplace but..." Zakai gripped his hammer, "after last night, I'm sure he would have left! He's no idiot. He would've gone somewhere safe." Zakai started shaking, "Assuming that he's even still alive."
He stared at the ground, unsure of what was to happen next. He had no leads other than his father's workplace, which was probably abandon by now, and his own house, which was probably also empty. He sighed and looked at Colton. He wasn't sure how he'd react either. Would they go separate ways now? Was this it? Zakai looked at the ground.
"I can go... if you want me to... if you have to get back to your base..."

[Kicks]

"The trouble is, by that time what will it be that forces us out?" Blake questioned in a faraway voice.He was gazing down at his chips as he spoke quietly. "If its zombies they might just surround us and then...." He trailed off, refusing to finish the thought. It was a gruesome way to go. To be trapped by zombies with no way of escape... To imagine what anyone would be feeling then would just be horrible. He didn't know how Faye had managed to remain sane after being trapped outside the door with those zombies coming in on all sides.
The teenager made to his feet then, overcome by anxiety. He began to pace around while fiddling with the bag of chips. "What if those zombies return in greater numbers? There can't be very many resources for them. Which means if they get hungry enough... They might come back here. Or if they sense us." He murmured while coming to a slow stop by a window. He peered through the shades of it and found himself staring at empty streets. He was surprised by the sight of this. "Where'd the zombies go?"

Colton listened to the child talk about where his father might be. If what the child was saying was correct, that didn't leave for a lot of places for the man to be. If he were smart he wouldn't have locked himself away in one of the large buildings. "Does he like China Town very much?" He questioned while beginning to walk in the opposite direction of where he had been going. This was the prime objective of his last orders after all. He had to find and contain all survivors. He had to bring them to safety and give them shelter at the base. Food, water, clothes, all the essentials they would need. He couldn't go off and abandon this kid's father when he could very well still be alive. "China Town has a lot of small buildings." He explained as he continued to walk; "Restaurants, clothing shops, the works. All iddy biddy buildings. It was the first place to be evacuated here in San Francisco. That means not a lot of zombies would be in that area."

[Lil]

Faye also stood when she noticed Blake start to pace. "Blake. Blake." She repeated as she caught up to him. Faye slowly wrapped her fingers around on of his arms and brought her eyes up from her hands to look into Blake's own brilliant blues. "We're going to be okay. I promise." She said solemnly and suddenly Faye could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She had to keep that promise for him, it was one thing she had to do. Faye offered a small smile not removing her hand from his arm.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai stared at Colton in shock for a moment. That wasn't the response he was expecting, but he didn't exactly hate this response either. He jogged for a brief moment to catch up.
"Well, maybe he went there. I don't remember him ever particularly mentioning it."
Zakai thought for a moment.
"We could look there I guess. I thought of going back to my house too, since I figured that's one of the places he'd go since he's my dad and all, but I'm not sure if he'd still be there or if he'd even make it there. Do you think he'd have made it there by now? Maybe he got there but he left. I'm not sure."
Once Zakai realized that they were looking for his dad now, his fear vanished and he was almost back to his normal self. He was now more determined than ever to find some trace of his father and figure out if he was safe or not.

[Kicks]

Blake looked doubtful at her words despite her kind and comforting gestures. They were just two people in a city of near a million zombies. They couldn't stay in this city. They couldn't survive like this. He was dizzy with the anxiety pulsing through his veins. It was causing his thoughts to cloud. In order to calm down, he leaned his head back and took in a few deep breaths. Despite his doubting thoughts, he would still have to remain calm and strong for this girl. Even acting like there was hope might bring them good fortune. He didn't want to react negatively to the situation and then have her crack as well. That would surely lead to their demise. "You're right." He stated after a moment. He leaned his head back down again and stared down into her eyes. "Okay. While we're here we can come up with some kind of idea of how to get out of this forsaken city. There has to be some way, after all. There's the bridges, the ocean... Maybe a plane?" He added the last part as a weak job.



"All right, kiddo. You know him a lot more well than I do. Would he go to your house or China Town?" The soldier questioned as he continued to walk. "We don't have a lot of time." He reminded as he turned a corner down an almost vertical street. He was heading towards the Chinese section of the city as he spoke. It was closer than the housing spaces were. There were apartments all over the place, but the kid had mentioned a house. Houses were expensive buggers to buy here in the city, and they were tightly squished together in maybe only three parts of the city. One of the hoods was through a tunnel, the other was on the far side of the city near the bridge, and the third was about three miles from Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf was closer to China Town than the other two sections were. It was about five miles or less from China Town whereas the other parts ranged from fifteen-thirty miles.

[Lil]

Faye smiled as Blake looks back at her hopefully holding a new perspective. "You're right. There has to be some way out." She agreed. Without much thinking Faye wrapped her arms around him mainly trying to be comforting. She knew he could use that right now and Faye always enjoyed a good hug. "We'll make it out of here. I know we will." She whispered into his chest.

[Kicks]

Blake went quiet once more in his own consuming thoughts. He couldn't hear her voice over the sound of the thundering thoughts now taking all of his energy. Yes, there indeed had to be a way out. He knew that San Francisco was almost completely covered by the ocean which meant that maybe the ocean would be the best way to escape. There was bound to be plenty of ships docked. If not, the bridges stretching island to island... If there had been a virus outbreak, the bridges would have been the first to go. No way of spreading a virus if people couldn't get to other parts of California.
He was thrown out of his own frightening thoughts when he was suddenly being hugged by the girl. It was warm, comforting, and wet. "This would actually be a lot better if we weren't half naked." He remarked with a chuckle. The teenager nonetheless wrapped his arms around her in a return hug. No use in being the oddball out who made things awkward by not hugging back.

[Lil]

Faye chuckled. "You know you like it." She teased and smiled feeling his own arms wrap around her. Blake was remarkably warm, not like in a feverish way but in more a comforting way. Like a big blanket that keeps you warm on a winter night or a cup of hot chocolate. "Has anyone ever told you your like a cup of hot chocolate?" Faye asked a bit out of the blue. That wasn't exactly a normal question but she felt like it would lighten the mood a bit.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

"My house first I think." I know where that is.
Zakai watched the soldier walk. He was headed in the wrong direction. Zakai thought for a moment, then looked at Colton.
"Um... well... if you wanna go that way then we could I guess though."
Zakai thought for a moment. Colton seemed set on China Town. Should we split up? He was sure that it was a stupid question to ask since he was only a kid and all, but... Zakai gulped and looked at the soldier.
"Colton... I want to go to my house and look. If you have to go to China Town then we could... you know... split up... maybe..."
Zakai looked longingly in the direction of his house then back at Colton.

[Kicks]

"And to think I was doing a good job at hiding it." Blake sighed out teasingly. He couldn't deny it though in all truth. Hugs were just one of those things that made a person's day brighter. It had so many uses and communicated so many things with just that simple gesture. However, not all hugs could last forever. He pulled away at her surprising remark. "I can honestly say I haven't been told that." He answered her in an almost questioningly curious voice. His eyebrows were slowly raising up as his voice questioned; "...Are you that thirsty you're suddenly thinking of drinking me?"

- - - Updated - - -

Colton however didn't look much deterred. He had a feeling he was going to be told he was going the wrong way. That's why he had asked the question about the house or the small Chinese community first. He turned back around and began to walk in another direction. Really, he just wanted to keep moving instead of being caught suddenly on the spot by the dead. "I go wherever the living are." He stated with a glance towards Zakai. "And that would be... in which direction?"

[Lil]

Faye giggled as he pulled away realizing how ridiculous that must've sounded. She shook her head at his question and bit her lower lip slightly. "No, you're just really warm, like a cup of hot chocolate." She said and smiled at him. "I like hot chocolate." Faye added before looking away sheepishly. Blake was probably right, she was an awful flirter. Whenever she tried it just came across kinda weird and awkward.

[Kicks]

When Blake heard her explanation, he was quite relieved to hear that. For a moment he had thought she had totally lost her mind and was thinking about going cannibalistic and drinking him. As impossible as that sounded, he still didn't like the thought of it. But now that she given him the full explanation, relief flooded him as well as flattery. "Ooohooohooo someone just got put on my good list." He laughed out with a slap to his knee. When she turned her head away sheepishly, Blake broke into a grin. Oh how adorable. She got so flustered so easily. "Tell me girl, are you naughty or nice?" Might as well make the most puns as he could with the hot chocolate topic still there. Hot chocolate reminded him of Christmas, which of course led to terrible sounding flirtatious comments.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai nodded and then started walking in the direction of his own house without another word. He doesn't seem like he want to talk really right now. Better just lead the way. Zakai walked quickly, but with each thought that was running through his head, he sped up a little faster. Dad might be be home! I should've just stayed there! I'm an idiot! I hope he's okay! I gotta find him! I gotta make sure he's okay! If he's okay then everything will be alright! I know it! Everything will be alright! Without even realizing it, Zakai was running. He was had to get home now! Of course his father would go there first! He didn't think of anything else. Everything around him blurred. He knew the way and he would get there as soon as possible if it meant finding his father again. He remembered Colton.
"Oh yeah. It's this way!"
He'd turned only for a moment to tell him the obvious and then looked back and continued running until he saw it. "There."
Zakai ran to the door, gripping the handle and throwing it open, forgetting about the danger he was in.

[Lil]

Faye looked back at Blake with a bit of a mischievous glint in her eye. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She teased playfully but rubbed the hem of her shirt out of nervousness. Her cheeks grew warm and she could already feel the blush grow into them. No matter how hard she tried Faye always felt like she had made a fool out of herself whether it be with her cheesy flirting or her automatic blush to every time she tried to be cute. Faye buried her face in her hands and mumbled, "I'm sorry. I'm so bad at this!"

[Kicks]

Colton went after the child as the little kid ran like the wind. He was surprised by the kid's new found energy. One moment he had been nervous and shaking, and the next moment he was off running. As surprising as it was to witness this, Colton didn't show much expression of it on his face. Instead, he kept a slow jog right behind the kid as he ran.
Soon enough, the house was in sight. However, the kid went racing into it with his excitement shadowing what very could well be a fatal trap. The soldier who had seen enough of this knew not to remain ignorant. He whipped out his handgun and went into the house after the child with the gun raised before him.


Blake started laughing when Faye got all flustered and red in the face. He was laughing even harder when she apologized for her manner of the moment. He was clutching his stomach as he laughed obnoxiously loud. He didn't know why he found it so funny. Maybe it was because adrenaline was still making its way out of his blood system. In that state anyone would be deliriously high to find such a thing like this funny. Nonetheless, he calmed down in a moment's notice and smiled at her. Blake reached out an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a comforting side hug. "Ohhh don't be ashamed. Not all of us can be masters." He cooed out in reassurance.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked around eagerly. You've gotta be here! You've gotta be here somewhere! He ran through the house, acting a lot younger than he really was. After a while, he was beginning to worry. He had looked almost everywhere, and still, there was no sign of his father. The last room he had to look, of course, was the one with his mother and sister. He approached it slowly. There was now a fowl odor that came seeping through, and Zakai shivered when he was directly in front of it. He bit his lip nervously, and squeezed his eyes shut. He took the handle and slowly turned it. I... I hope you're in here... otherwise, I wish I never had to open this door again. Zakai stayed as he was, with the handle turned, but he made no move to pull it open. He opened his eyes again and stared at the handle in his now shaking hand. Breathing suddenly became difficult and each breath he took was a heavy pant. His mother and sister were in there. They were dead. His father... he heard nothing inside the room. It was silent. I-if there's no noise then he's not here right? I don't have to open it... Zakai shook his head. I have to look! I have to at least look! He threw open the door and stepped inside, tears suddenly in his eyes, though none fell through his sealed eyes.
"Dad! Are you in here!?" He opened his eyes, and brightened for a moment. His heart leaped in his chest from overjoyed happiness, but it split in two the instant it touched rose. His father was there, and he was alive. He was standing over the corpses of his wife and daughter. His eyes did not raise from them at the sound of his son's voice. They remained glued to the ground. He was alive... but he was bitten. The wound was on his arm, and it was obvious that it was not new. How much time did he have left? "Get out Zakai."
His voice was low and quiet. Zakai didn't move. He stayed where he was, knowing what would happen next. He knew he should turn and run. He had to, but his feet refused to budged and inch to the left or right. He took a step forward instead.
"I... I looked for you... Are you-" "GET OUT!"
Zakai froze again, shaking slightly. He didn't move. His father's face was turned towards the ground, but Zakai could see the tears that fell from the man's face. He didn't move. He couldn't.

[Lil]

Blake's over the top laughing started to make her feel even worse on the matter. It was bad enough already and now he was laughing at her for it. Faye swallowed before dropping her gaze to the floor trying to drown him out. She was taken by surprise when he finally stopped and pulled her into a hug. She stood within his arms a but awkwardly before returning the hug timidly. "Yeah because you're such a pro." Faye said sarcastically, she had yet to see him flirt and for all she knew he sucked at it.

[Kicks]

Colton had paused just inside the house's door. He had ducked his head somewhat to the side in order to hear better any kind of threat. He hadn't the slightest idea where the child had disappeared into the house. But he could hear footsteps going from one place to the other as in search. When he waited just a little longer, he could hear some shouting. This being a concern, the soldier stepped forward silently and followed the sound of the voices. He had found himself soon just a few feet behind Zakai. He couldn't see the past the child into the room, but he could smell something awful. That's when he recalled what the kid had said about his family. The person inside of the room must be the kid's father. But why had Zakai just stopped like that? Unsure what the immediate threat was, the soldier kept his gun raised nonetheless in case immediate action was needed. "Hey kid, you're not some kind of statue." He pointed out to get the kid moving. As he said this, he was moving slowly forward. When he was close enough, he could see over Zakai's head into the room. The sight was atrocious, just like many other things Colton had seen in this forsaken city. But what was worse than the two dead bodies on the ground, was the man standing in the room with a bite.
"He's infected." The soldier stated. It wasn't a question, but a declaration. He knew a bite from one of the infected when he saw one. So that's what the shouting had been about. Certainly Zakai couldn't stay here as his father changed. The kid would become an immediate target. "Listen to your dad." The soldier calmly said slowly to the kid from behind. "You should really get out." It would be hard for the poor kid to just leave his dad, but it would be even harder to see his father turned into one of them.

"Oh, poor wittle Faye." Blake cooed out upon releasing her. "Don't be so sour just because you can't flirt all that well. Don't worry, little lady. I'm sure there are others out there who suck as well. However, I'm not one of those." He declared with a cocky smirk crossing his face. He turned his attention away from that now though and pointed towards the entrance to the building. "But, I'm not one to show off. Besides, the streets look clear. If we get a move on, we could probably find a better place to hole up in. We might even find others."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai didn't move. He heard Colton speak, but he couldn't make out whatever it was the soldier was saying. He just kept staring at his father, with the words "GET OUT" echoing through his head.
Get out? How... how can I...
Zakai's father had still not even looked up. He was shaking too, but a lot more violently. He clenched his arm where the bite was. The man was in pain.
What do I do? Dad's hurt! I have to leave! I know I have to leave! He doesn't want me to see him like this, I know it! I'm only making it worse for him, but I... but I...
It was like when he had killed the others in his classmates. It was all self defense, but no matter how much he tried to understand, it didn't seem that way. It wasn't right at all! He knew that his father was dying and would soon turn into a man eating corpse, but he still couldn't just leave him. It was still his father, and right now... he was still alive!
"I... I... I ca-"
Suddenly, without a word his father lunged forward and shoved him out the door with all his might. The door slammed shut as Zakai fell to the ground outside, his eyes wide with alarm. Without thinking, he slammed himself back against the door, tying to get back in, but it was locked. In desperation, he banged his fists on the door.
"WAIT! NO! DON'T SHUT ME OUT! I DON'T WANNA LEAVE! I CAN'T JUST GO! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE BITTEN! I DON'T CARE! I WANNA STAY WITH YOU NO MATTER WHA-"
A gunshot rang out and the door rattled at the sound. Zakai stared at the door in horror. The gun. Mom's gun... He shivered violently and sank to the floor. Dad...
Tears fell as he stared at the floor in shock. For a moment, it was as if his mind were racing to catch up with everything that had just happened. Once it caught up, Zakai's eyes blurred with tears. They streamed down his face and he squeezed them shut.
"You... you... YOU IDIOT!" he shouted, "DON'T DIE! YOU CAN'T DIE! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"
After yelling for for several more minutes and banging more on the door, he was suddenly lying on the ground. He wanted to run again. He wanted to run away somewhere. He didn't want to be alone. I... I want to die too...
He hugged his knees to his chest and tucked his chin against them, sobbing, now silently.

[Lil]

Faye sighed and rubbed her arm sheepishly. "Yea that's probably a good idea. A small building is probably safer." Faye murmured not even looking up from the floor. A part of her was terrified to go back outside, there were zombies everywhere, what would prevent them from killing her and Blake.

[Kicks]

You've gotta be fucking kidding me. The soldier thought to himself with wide eyes. Not only hadn't he been expecting Zakai's father to be alive, but he also hadn't been expecting the man to pull the trigger. This kid was having a seriously tough day. But Colton wasn't about to just leave him here to die. Not before long, the soldier was expecting the zombies to come out. If Zakai were to be caught off guard by them, would he fight back? Somehow with how the kid was balling his eyes out, Colton doubted he would.
"Come on, kid. Get up." The soldier said as he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up. "No use in crying over spilled milk." Sure the words weren't exactly reassuring, but Colton had never been much of a comforting person.

Blake nodded to Faye in agreement before turning his head to the side and shouting; "BELLS. WE'RE MOVING OUT. YOU COMING OR WHA-?!" He was cut off suddenly when his cousin popped her around the staircase's corner. "Don't do that." Blake breathed out as he brought a hand to his chest.
ArraBella broke into a grin as she pointed to the towels. "Well, well, well. Looks like you guys were having some fun without me."
Blake's eyes trailed down to the towel around his waist. He began to chuckle while grinning. "I forgot we weren't properly clothed." He stated before pulling his clothes from around his shoulder. He pulled his shirt on over his chest and then dropped the towel all while humming comfortably. He slipped on his pants and fixed his belt again all while ArraBella rolled around on the ground complaining about dressing in public.

[Lil]

When Red popped out of no where Faye jumped slightly, a bit surprised. Faye noticed her mischievous grin then looked at Blake and herself, who were both half undressed. A blush filled Faye's cheeks and she dropped her gaze. Quickly Faye swooped up her clothing and slid behind some of the lockers. She pulled on her t-shirt and shirts and squeezed some of the water from her hair before stepping back around to see Red and Blake waiting for her. "So where are we headed?" Faye asked trying to act like she wasn't a complete tomato only moments ago,

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

When he was yanked off the floor and put on his feet, he stared in surprise at Colton. A part of him understood the urgency and he almost reciprocated with obedience, until he heard the last bit. Normally, he would have muttered in annoyance and let it go, especially considering the situation they were in as a whole, but he the other part that didn't contemplate the urgency quickly felt the need to retaliate.
"Spilled milk!? My dad is dead and that's what you're calling it!? I know you have nothing to do with it! You're a freaking soldier with all sorts of training! You can get through anything you want to! You've probably already killed a whole bunch of people so this might not mean that much to you, but I can't help it if I cry!"
His outburst was due to hysteria more than anger. He glared at Colton, but soon found himself calming down on his own. He wiped his eyes.
"I know now's not the time to cry, but do you really have to call it that?" he took a deep breath and looked at the floor. After banging on the door, he'd dropped his hammer and the handgun. He picked them both up and walked to the front door. His eyes refused to stop producing tears, but he wiped them away whenever it became too hard to see. He wasn't recovered at all from what had just happened, but he also wanted to get away as soon as possible.

[Kicks]

ArraBella slipped up from the ground and to her feet. She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced over at her cousin with a wicked grin. "Someone looks like a cherry." She whispered very loudly so that the other girl in the room could hear.
"How do you know? It's not like you can see your own reflection from where you stand." Blake remarked with a snicker. He patted the redheaded girl's hair before turning his eyes back over to Faye who showed back up. "Ugh... Right... New place. Totally didn't plan this far."
"BUT I HAVE." ArraBella announced in a manly way. "TO THE SUPERMARKET."


Colton listened for a moment as the little boy went on his tangent. It was better to just let the kid yell and scream rather than the soldier telling him to man up. If the soldier lost his father like that, he would have probably done the same thing. Granted, he wouldn't have stood around, but relatively the same thing. Either way, the soldier remained as his silent, serious self. He followed after the kid to the front door where he swung it open and went through. His gun was up again as it had been before when he went into the house. Now, he was glancing around with darting quick glances to see if the zombies were producing themselves yet. Off in the distance he could barely make out just a few staggering bodies making their way away from the house. He knew it wouldn't be long before more of them came out.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Despite the fact that Zakai hadn't liked what Colton said, he still stayed close by his side. He was well aware of their danger and on top of that, things seemed a lot worse now than they had before. Pushing back everything, he forced himself to concentrate. He stared ahead most of the time, sometimes glancing at Colton, relying on his actions to tell if they were safe or not. As always the man was alert and reserved. Zakai liked the fact that he was at least trained for this situation, but he wasn't a big fan of the man's attitude. He understood the reasoning behind what he said, but he hated his bluntness. It only made him feel pathetic, which, even though he hated it being said outright, he was sure he was. He'd never thought of it much before, since before he didn't have much of a reason to fight, but now that the entire world was overcome with some weird horror film madness, he realized just how bad he was at coping. He'd gotten by and survived, and for a child, it seemed okay, but he certainly was not any more used to it than he had been when it first started. If anything, he felt even worse now.

He glanced at Colton again when movement caught his eye. He looked in it's direction. Zombies... He felt the urge to take off running. He looked at Colton to see what he would do, knowing that leaving someone behind when you were supposed to be teamed up, if they even were teamed up, was not okay.

[Kicks]

Colton's eyes skimmed the packed sidewalks of parked cars at expired time meters. There was just no point in going on foot while there were zombies all around. A car proved to be some kind of protection and it was also faster than either of them could run. He moved silently over to them while the zombies approached cautiously. It seemed they were only trying to figure out if the two were alive or dead yet. Colton didn't mention to the child yet about how the zombies were able to pick up on humans by the scent yet. He would do that later. For now, the two would be safe at this distance with how Colton smelled from that dead body he handled earlier. But if the zombies got any closer, they would be a lot more apt to attacking.
The soldier slipped on his gloves and reeled back a fist when he had found a sturdy truck. He snapped his arm back and bashed his hand through the glass of the car. The metal on the knuckles to his gloves provided enough of a cushion that he wouldn't break his hand in the process of breaking into a car. He reached his hand into the car as soon as he had brushed away the glass. He unlocked the doors with a push of a button and motioned towards the child. "Get in."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai was a little surprised when Colton suddenly slammed his fist into the window of a car. It was obvious that they were going to use it somehow, but if they didn't have a key, then there was no point unless Colton knew how to hotwire it. Zakai gave him a puzzled look, but stepped inside the car anyways. Won't the sound attract them? Surely they'd hear the engine! I mean, we'd be faster than them and all, but still! Zakai hated taking shelter. In shelters he didn't feel safe. The last time, they'd been surrounded by the zombies outside and had no where to go. It was by dumb luck, Zakai thought, that shoving a dead zombie against the door even did anything. What if the corpse had not been there? There was no corpse in the car to hide them now! You'd better know how to hotwire this thing or we're both dead! Zakai slipped into a seat and watched Colton nervously to see just exactly what the man was going to do.

[Kicks]

Colton slid into the driver's seat with ease. He slid his hands under the steering wheel and popped off a lid. While the zombies behind them could obviously be heard approaching, he snapped out two wires and bit off the rubber. He turned his head to the side to see how close the zombies were and how fast they were approaching. Now that they were this close, they could definitely smell that both were human. He turned his head back and rubbed the wires together. There was some sparking, but no noise from the ignition came. There was now scraping at the back of the car and a few thuds. He rubbed furiously at the wires to get the ignition started, but the more and more thudding that came the more he was doubting this plan was going to work. Just as he was going to give up, the ignition burst to life in a monstrous growl.
He grabbed the shifter violently and stuck it into gear. As he did this, a zombie burst its head in through his window. "Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" He asked the dead while raising his gun. "You don't talk with a mouthful." He added as he pulled his trigger. The bullet soared through the zombie's mouth and it dropped dead a moment later. He slammed his foot down on the gas in that second and the car jerked forward with an incredible speed.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai watched as Colton started to get the car running. So he does know how to hotwire. Good. He looked out the window and watched as the walking corpses came closer. When they came too close for Zakai to feel comfortable, he looked at Colton. Come on Colton! He kept jerking his gaze back and forth from outside the window to his comrade. When the car finally started, Zakai couldn't help but feel relieved, but when the zombie smashed it's head through the window, Zakai freaked and pressed himself against the door. After Colton shot it, he felt a little better. Is... why is he talking to it? He stared at Colton for a moment, when another zombie smashed it's head inside next to him.
"AAAAAHHH!" Zakai gripped his hammer and smashed it into the corpse's head, causing it to fall backwards onto the road below. Zakai looked at his hammer in dismay when he remembered something. I HAVE A GUN NOW! WHY DON'T I USE IT!? IT'S RIGHT IN MY OTHER HAND!

Zakai looked at his gun and remembered the shot earlier from when his dad killed himself. He put the gun on his lap and gripped his hammer to his chest. I'll, uhhh... only use that for emergencies...

[Kicks]

Colton watched as the kid utilized his hammer instead of his gun. He found it rather odd in his opinion. But on the other hand, at least the kid wasn't wasting any ammunition. Besides, the hammer was what the kid knew best... But later, the gun would be needed of course. Colton wondered how that would play out when the time came.
For now however, he continued on his high speed pursuit down the street. Whatever corpses jumped out at them, he would just hit with the car. There was just no use in trying to avoid the bodies and end up getting into some sort of crash.
"There's some things you should probably see when we get to the base." The soldier stated in his cold voice. He knew the information he spoke about was classified. But he had the authorization to pass it along. Especially to the few survivors. It might be able to help them like it had helped him when he first got to San Francisco.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

The whole time they were driving, Zakai was anything but calm. He was shaking and every time they hit a zombie or a zombie hit them, he would jerl in the direction of wherever it was, clenching his hammer, ready to swing if necessary. Even when Colton spoke he jumped and turned violently in his direction. He calmed down a little after he heard the man speak, though, and he thought of what he said.
Something... I should see...?
It seemed like something of importance by the way Colton said it and Zakai couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable about what he had just said. If this had anything to do with the whole end of the world thing, then Zakai of course wanted to know, but he had already seen a lot on his own and he was nervous that it would only add to what he had now and take away whatever he had left... besides a bloody hammer and an unused gun. Still, he nodded.
"O-okay." he looked down at the hammer in his hands, "But... what kind of things will they be?"

[Kicks]

The soldier's eyes flickered to the gas gauge then back to the road for the briefest of moments. He hadn't even checked to see if they got a good car or not. Maybe it was by luck, but somehow he had managed to steal a car with half a tank of gas. He watched for a moment as the kid did his spazzy motions before turning his eyes back to the crooked streets.
"You'll just have to see when we get there." He told the kiddo while jerking the steering wheel roughly to the side. The car slid into a drift and turned sharply down a road.
Not too long after he had said that, the soldier had found the base. It was right outside one of the skyscrapers with many military cruisers. The main building was surrounded by an electrical fence, barbed wire, and posts for soldiers to shoot from. The structure inside of the fencing looked gray and small compared to the skyscraper it stood next to. But underground there was far more. The facility had been built within the first few months the Navy had been here. The first ship of the soldiers Colton wasn't on board, he was part of the third group to come to San Francisco. The other groups before his had done what they could to make a base that had plenty of defense. What few zombies that had tried to climb up the fence, their bodies were speared through at the top by barbed wire. Surrounding the base some zombies roamed, but not as much as there could be.
Colton slowed the car down right outside the fencing. He put it into park and got out of the car while stripping his hand of his glove. "Come on, kid. Don't be too slow, or those blasted dead might try to get in again."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai glared slightly at the man's answer. You never say anything when I ask you a question. He instinctively gripped the side of the car when Colton suddenly yanked the wheel to the side. If they weren't in such a dangerous situation, Zakai might've yelled at him to be more careful. It wasn't hard to pinpoint the base once they reached it. It obviously wasn't built to blend in with the rest of San Francisco. Zakai stared at it, astonishment reaching his eyes for a minute. He wasn't used to seeing this sort of landscape, but at the site of the fence surrounding it and the bodies that were skewered onto it, the astonishment vanished and he looked away from them. He had to admit though, the place was well guarded. When Colton stopped the car and told Zakai to hurry up, Zakai jumped out of the car. I already know that. He was overcome with curiosity and even a little bit of hopeful excitement. He bounded to Colton's side and looked at him for a minute.
"Are there others like me inside? You know... people who survived?"
The thought of other people made him brighten a little. He didn't mind Colton, but the man's battle hardened attitude clashed with Zakai's nervous character. Meeting someone he could relate to would be a bit of a relief, but then there were also the "things" that Zakai would see and probably the numbers of other soldiers who Zakai was nervous would be just like Colton. Again, Zakai didn't mind Colton, but having too many people like him would be more than he could bare.

[Kicks]

Colton briefly looked at the kid with amusement almost showing in his eyes. Other people inside? "No." He told the kid bluntly as he pressed his hand up against what seemed to be a hand scanner.
"Identified. Colton Ryker. Captain of current fleet. Mission 'terminate'. Access granted." A woman's robotic voice statically spoke through the worn out speaker. The scanner turned green and there was a buzzing noise. The second following, the gate opened briefly for the two of them to get through. Colton pushed the kid through the gate and followed after himself right before the gate closed loudly behind them.
He led the kid through the dirt road that led straight to the door of the base. Passing along the way was a bunker that stank of something awful. "That over there-" The soldier gestured towards the bunker with a frown. "-Is where all my comrades died. There was no point in getting rid of all the bodies, or destroying all the zombies. So I just locked the bunker down before any of them could escape and get to me. I know there's no way you could get past the security scanner, but I'm going to give you a warning anyways. Don't go near that bunker, and don't attempt to open it."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai stared at Colton for a moment, then looked away after the abrupt answer of no. He really wasn't fond of Colton's coldness. When they reached the entry way, he listened to robotic thing speak. Captain? He remembered Colton calling himself a captain earlier, when he attached it to "awesome". Current fleet? Where? He sort of slid when Colton pushed him inside because he had not been paying attention. He seems to like pushing me a lot.
When they got in, Zakai looked around curiously, when he noticed a fowl smell coming from somewhere. He looked around. Something... dead? When Colton motioned toward the bunker, Zakai nodded. So that's why it smells so bad... Zakai looked at Colton. He did feel a little sorry for him. He had been so caught up with his own family that he forgot that he was probably not the only one who went through stuff. Even though Colton was a soldier who could be calm, he still had his own troubles after all. Zakai almost said something when Colton suddenly gave him a warning. I wouldn't be able to get past secur... what? Zakai looked at Colton. How pitiful had Zakai seemed to him that gave him the idea that Zakai...
"What makes you think I'd want to open it even if I could get passed the security system? I mean, I might not be strong or brave or anything, but I'm not stupid!"

Zakai glared slightly at Colton, then remembered again what Colton had said about his comrades. He looked down.
"Uh... sorry... about you're fellow soldiers and all that... and for saying that after you told me about them..." Zakai looked back up at him, "B-but seriously!"

[Kicks]

Colton stopped at the main building just as the kid broke into a frustrated yell. He turned his head to the side while putting his hand up against another of the scanners posted around for security purposes. "You could be one of them." But of who he didn't mention. It was the only explanation he could offer to the child of why he would dare to open the bunker or even try. The soldier didn't underestimate the kid. In fact, this whole time he had been overestimating the kid's abilities. After what he had seen, he knew better than to underestimate someone.
He turned his head away again when the kid apologized. He didn't mind the yelling, in fact he welcomed it. The kid had been thrown off by Colton's warning which was a good sign to consider. It meant he just might be able to trust this kid. When the scanner had scanned his hand, this time the voice echoed back: "Welcome back, Captain. Zero intruders counted for. Facility stable. You may proceed." A click came from the door then some sliding of many other doors behind it before finally the metal door slid open with a hissing of pressurized air.
"You hungry, kid?" The soldier questioned as he walked into the cold building. The hallways were lit up with bright lights and seemed to go on forever with hundreds of doors and passages to choose from. Every now and again there would be an elevator with a glowing scanner pad. Each of the doors had a security pass, and there were no windows to be seen. Lining the hallways were portraits of soldiers that had been sent out to San Francisco. Some of them had purple medals hanging from their frames, signifying they had died while on their mission here. When it came to the higher ranking soldiers they had similar metals, all except for one. Colton's portrait stared back with his collected, calm gaze but no medal. There were also around thirty or so portraits with red x's drawn across their faces which signified another thing entirely.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai stared at Colton in confusion. One of who? What are you talking about? Every time Colton said something in response to Zakai's questions, he only made Zakai more and more lost in the puzzle as to who the man was exactly. What on Earth did he know? Zakai looked down, slightly disheartened. By the way you say it, it sounds bad. You're the one who never answers anything. I should be the one worrying about you. When Colton asked if Zakai was hungry, however, Zakai perked up.

"Y-yeah!" He hadn't eaten anything in some time. He was so caught up in looking for his family, he barely ever looked for anything to eat, and whenever he found something, he never took enough of it to last for very long. He followed Colton and looked around as they walked. Everything he saw made him almost forget about food. The building was enormous. It was like a maze. It gave Zakai an odd feeling since it was so close up, but the sheer size and structure was just too amazing! His eyes widened and he looked around eagerly, trying to take in as much of the surroundings as possible. When he looked at the pictures of all the soldiers, he frowned slightly. There was so much that was odd about them, that he slowed his pace so he observe them better. He knew enough to know what the purple medals meant, but the others he was unfamiliar with. When he came across Colton's portrait, he stopped walking completely. He was surrounded by the ones with medals, but there was none with him. Did they accomplish something that he had not yet? Then there were the most obvious which were the ones crossed out. It obviously didn't mean they died. Did it mean they changed? Noticing small things like this was something Zakai had grown used grown used to after being out on his own, and noticing things that were off was something he made sure he picked up. This, however, was something that any normal person would find weird. Zakai looked at Colton. He said all of his comrades. Does that mean they're all dead? Is Colton the only one left? Zakai looked at the portraits. Did he do all of this? Zakai stared perplexedly at all the pictures and bit his lip. I'm not a soldier, so all of this has nothing to do with me... but... He really wanted to ask Colton about it, but Colton was obviously not one for answers. If he didn't tell Zakai about anything else, then Zakai was sure he wouldn't dare breathe a word to him about this.

[Kicks]

Colton finally stopped at a door and pressed his thumb up against the smaller scanner. There was a low beeping noise before the door slid open to reveal a large mess hall. There were trays scattered across some of the tables, debris left on the ground, boots in some places, other places there were Navy seal jackets hanging on hooks.
"I'm not that great a cleaner, so it's kind of messy. But those guys should have known how to clean themselves up. So don't blame me if you don't like the mess, blame their mothers." Colton stated as he led the kid into the mess hall. He went to one of the many counters that would have served food to the soldiers. But instead of waiting at one, he went through a door into the other side where the kitchen was.
The soldier grabbed a pan from one of the hangars above his head, and then he opened up one of the many cupboards. He grabbed a bucket of instant eggs and set it down on the counter. He placed the frying pan on the stove before turning back to the bucket and popping the lid like he had done numerous times before. Colton grabbed a measuring cup from a drawer and scooped it through the instant eggs. He then splattered the liquid into the hot pan and went through the motions of putting it all away again while the eggs cooked.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai ran to catch up with Colton, not wanting to be left behind with the creepy photos, and walked into a large and very messy corridor type thing it seemed. After Colton basically said the mess wasn't his fault and of whom Zakai should blame, Zakai nodded and watched Colton walk into what he assumed was a kitchen. He followed for a minute and watched Colton start cooking eggs, wondering for a moment if Colton actually knew how to cook, but he didn't ask because he really didn't care at this point what he ate. He was just hungry.
He turned and walked back into the messy hall. He didn't mind it, rather he was fascinated by it. He walked among the boots and debris and examined the things that had been left behind by the soldiers who were one here. He ran over to the jackets hung up and had the urge to take one off and try it on, but he wasn't sure if he should since whoever they belonged to was probably dead and he didn't want to be disrespectful. He walked further down the hall, curious about what else he could find.

[Kicks]

The soldier in the kitchen only took a few more minutes to fix something up for the two of them. Dried ham meat, eggs, toast, and milk made from powder seemed healthy enough for this early in the morning. After having eaten it for this long, he thought it tasted just as great as regular food. If the kid had complaints about the food he would just have to suck it up and down the food.
Colton left the kitchen with the two trays. He ran his green eyes over the large commons area that the soldiers used to eat in. Some of the tables were cleared off and cleaned, those ones Colton normally ate at. The others he just couldn't be bothered to clean when he had much more important things to do.
The soldier's eyes landed on the child and he lifted up the trays. "Hey! Kid!" He called out while slowly putting down both trays onto a table; "If you don't want to serve then get your butt over here!"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked over at Colton when he yelled at him, a little upset that the man objected to his actions. I was only curious. Colton was the one who brought him here and he had never been to a place like this. It was only natural that he'd want to poke around a little. In the end, he knew he would have to give Colton the final say when it came to this place since he was soldier and Zakai was not, and Zakai had never planned to be one, but he didn't have to say it that way. Zakai learned from when they first met that Colton didn't seem like one to care much about what he said about people, and whatever he said he probably didn't mean to make anyone angry, and Zakai wasn't angry, but it did annoy him a lot. Zakai knew better than to snap at him about it though. He'd learned a long time ago that when dealing with people like this, talking it out didn't do anything to help.
Despite that though, Zakai was more interested in the food than anything and he ran to Colton's side almost immediately.
"So... um... are you the... only... soldier left?"

[Kicks]

When the kid came like a child to candy, Colton gestured towards the tray designated as Zakai's. The soldier himself sat down at the table and slid his own tray in front of him. He picked up the metal fork set in his tray while thinking over Zakai's question. It shouldn't have been all that difficult to answer, but there were a lot of things that went into it. The poor kid didn't know what he had just asked Colton. The question taunted the soldier for nights on end when he spent all of his time alone thinking. The disasters that had awaited the soldiers when they got here would keep him up with the vivid memories he had gained. It provided lots of thinking time. He had the debate with himself before about this, and it always confused him in the end.
"I don't know." Colton finally answered honestly at last. "The pictures you saw in the hallways with the red crosses signify the traitors that killed my comrades." He scooped up some eggs and chewed over them before continuing on. "There was a meeting in the bunker. All captains were supposed to get their troops into it to hear what the president had to say on the television. We were getting orders that day to terminate the walking dead any way we could. Each captain has a squad, depending on the captain's rank and abilities is how big their squad is. Mine was nearly two hundred men. Two hundred men who could have been saved... Anyways, another captain decided that him and his troops had a better way of dealing with the walking dead and San Francisco... They just wanted to blow everything up, kill anything living or dead... Anyone who got in their way would be considered as enemies... So their troop stayed inside the base while everyone else went outside. Nobody had any idea there would be the walking dead waiting to jump them... In the end, Admiral Thomas and I were the only ones remaining from the bunker's betrayal. We tracked down the traitors but as soon as we had them in our reach, they took off. I don't know if those men are still alive or not... I don't know if they would be considered soldiers still or not. I do know that I am the only soldier known to be living still here in San Francisco... There's still a military of course which means more soldiers. But that will be explained after breakfast. It has to do with what I have to show you." He finished his explanation before diving right back into his food.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai sat down at his tray and ate hungrily, thankful for his meal, as he listened to Colton's answer. He looked down thoughtfully, still chewing his food as he listened to Colton talk about the x's and what they symbolized. The explanation was grave and it almost reminded him of when his parents got into a long chat about politics and conspiracy theories in the government. He always tuned them out after a while since they, needless to say, scared him. He hated thinking about things like that. As far as he was concerned, he was a kid, and his parents could protect him from whatever they had to. He learned now that he had to protect himself, so the explanation made him uneasy but he listened to it to the end. It had been his question, and he was grateful that it wasn't vague like some of Colton's other answers. He looked up for a moment.
B-but, isn't a soldier supposed to serve their country by protecting it? People are a part of the country, right? And if you kill them to protect them, then that's awful warped. Zakai lowered his head, not exactly liking the thoughts he was having, "If you do something like that, then that's not being a soldier, it's being a coward." Zakai thought aloud.
He lowered his head a little more. He picked up the toast on his plate and took a bite of it. Some of his questions from earlier had been answered, but then, who were the "them" that Colton had spoken of earlier? It couldn't be anything that Colton had mentioned because Zakai was far too young to be a soldier, and then also what were these things that Zakai had to see? He was worried about it. He gravely took another bite of his toast, still keeping his head lowered, now for a different reason than before.
He did feel sorry for Colton. It had to be hard to have everyone betray you and then lose everyone you thought you could trust. Zakai wasn't even going to ask what happened to Admiral Thomas. He wasn't sure what to say in response to that. There wasn't a lot he could say it seemed. He'd lost a lot too, and h hated thinking about it, but even he couldn't relate it to that. He really hated the dark tone that seemed to overcome him, but it wasn't something he wasn't used to by now. He decided to change the subject with another question.
"Colton... who's the 'them' you mentioned earlier?"
It wasn't exactly a mood lightener, but it seemed better than nothing.

[Kicks]

Colton raised his eyes from his tray in order to take in Zakai's demeanor. He hadn't heard the kid talk or interrupt the whole time so he was wondering or not if the kid had gotten sick or worse yet, somehow infected. But the kid merely looked a bit spooked out and thoughtful. Now realizing that, he did notice that Zakai was always sort of quiet. He didn't blabber on like most children tended to do, and he didn't whine or complain all that much. With that in mind, the soldier might actually like the kid. People who didn't talk a lot were just fine in his eyes. It meant that the soldier didn't have to go telling people to shut their traps or bark at them.
He almost laughed at Zakai's response to the story of the thirty soldiers and the bunker's betrayal. He nodded in agreement with the kid while finishing off his eggs. "What's sad was that they were all older than me. You could expect something like that from a rebellious teenager, but you shouldn't see something like that from a full grown man. I almost thought for a moment that maybe the virus mutated and got them crazy. But it must have been the isolation that made them go insane. Maybe they were so desperate just to get back home that they would do anything to do that... But I highly doubt they would have returned home to proud children and happy wives." A lot of soldiers had snapped a little on the inside while being deployed here. Isolation, rotten bodies, walking dead, people dying everywhere.... it was enough to make everyone go crazy. Colton was of the soldiers that hadn't snapped in some way. Some soldiers would grow depressed, others so quiet you would have thought they were dead, some were like robots, others just plain out crazy. But none of them had been crazy enough to turn on their own teammates. The admiral was also of the few to snap, but he was a lot older than the nineteen year old Colton was. The Admiral was in his fifties but nobody could have guessed that by the way the man could fight.
He turned his eyes up to the kid from his tray and thoughtful thinking. The subject was morbid and he wasn't exactly sure if he should be telling a child all of this. But the kid had survived the death of his family and being around zombies for so long that maybe he could handle the awful truth of San Francisco.
"The terrorists." Colton told the child while dropping his fork down into the tray. He had lost his appetite by then when the kid had brought up the subject of who them were. "They come in all ages and sizes, experience levels and genders. They're the people who did this to America... they're the ones I'm going to destroy with my bare hands." Thinking back to the group only made him angry, but it wasn't at the kid it was at the group who had the nerve to go picking a bone with the United States. There could have been peaceful resolution, some talking, or even a war. Anything but trying to wipe out the people of America by this. They had been so stupid. Didn't they know that the mutation of that virus could not only wipe out this country but the whole world? "They got stuck here in San Francisco just like I did and now they have no way of escaping my wrath. The day I find out where they're hiding is the day they'll all be destroyed." He stood up from the table now and gestured towards the door; "If you're done, I can show you now."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai brightened a little at Colton's response to his comment. He was a little wary of the soldier only because he wasn't sure of Colton's own feelings towards him, but this seemed like an at least okay sign. After Zakai's question, however, things got dark again. The "them", as he had figured before then, were a bad thing. Zakai lowered his gaze to his food as he listened to Colton explain the terrorists. The idea definitely scared him, and he became really nervous. Earlier in the time after the whole zombie thing blew over, he had been searching for someone to team up with and saw a lot of things in people he couldn't explain. He was thankful at that moment that it was Colton who had sneaked up on him, as annoying as he had been at first. He was slowly faced with the problem of losing trust... in everything. All of the problems and realities facing him now were things he was not accustomed to. They were all matters that seemed "adult" to him. He wasn't sure on how to take them in and sort them out. He felt really weird hearing about it. What made these details so scary to him was the fact that they were alien. First he watched everyone he used to know change into monstrous cannibals which he was forced to kill, then he saw the scene after his mom had given up hope, then his father ended up killing himself as well right when Zakai finally found him, and now... The world as he knew it was changing. It had probably changed for everyone, but Zakai wanted to believe that normal people were trustworthy. He was now uncertain on what to think at all.

When Colton said that Zakai could see the "things" whenever he was done, Zakai realized that he only had one bite left. He'd been so lost in thought that he forgot he wasn't even aware of eating anymore. He almost thought of breaking it up into smaller pieces and making it last as long as he could to put off whatever else there was to learn, but he figured it would annoy Colton. He scooped up the last of his eggs onto his fork and ate it, deciding to just get it over with. He looked at Colton with slight fear in his eyes of whatever it was he was about to learn and nodded.
"Okay."

[Kicks]

Colton raised from his seat as soon as the child had taken his last bite. He was reluctant to actually show the kid what it was he had in mind. He had also been very reluctant to even give the kid as much details as he had. A child couldn't possibly understand the matters and stakes at hand. There was so much psychology to understand, so much war technology and lingo, it was almost like trying to learn how to adapt in a new world altogether. But he would have to do it anyways. That must have been frightening for a child.
The soldier led the kid down through the mess hall and into the hallways again. He scanned his green eyes over all the doors to choose from. He wasn't really looking for the right door, he was listening. Paranoid and unsure about what could be lurking, he always kept his guard up even in the most safe place he knew. When he figured nothing would be jumping out at them in the hideout, he led the kid down a few halls before he came across the right door. The soldier pressed his thumb against it and waited for the sliding door to open. When it had, he entered into the room that looked much like a theater room. There was a large screen to project onto, a computer in the back with a projector, many chairs, and no windows.
Colton went to the computer and turned on the projector. It didn't take too long to warm up, and when it had he pointed towards the screen. It was a slideshow of pictures. The first one was of California. "This is how the state looked before the terrorist attack. When the president realized the military couldn't do much to save the entire country from the catastrophe, he tried his best and split California off from America." The next picture was of California, except as an awkward looking island floating some ways off from America. "The first wave of soldiers here tried to evacuate as much people as they could before it split. The second wave was sent in after the state split from the USA. It was to rescue and bring any humans still left back to land. The third wave of soldiers sent in was at first to rescue all survivors, but it changed." He showed the next picture which was some pictures of the walking dead attacking a citizen. "When the citizens were few in number the president gave the order to terminate all infected. That's when one of the squads went crazy."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai followed after Colton, a little puzzled by the way he moved through the halls. He wasn't sure how many doors they had come to until they finally got to the one that they were supposed to go inside of. Zakai didn't question Colton's reasoning behind this, but he couldn't help but wonder.

Inside was a large room that looked like a movie theatre. Zakai might have been a little impressed by it under normal conditions, but now it only made him worry even more. Projectors of any sort meant pictures. Zakai had experienced things outside first hand, and he knew that seeing pictures of things like this should be fine with him because of that, or at least, he thought they should. Still, when he walked in, he knew e probably didn't want to see what Colton was about to show him. Once Colton started up the projector, it only proved him right. It wasn't just the pictures however, it was also the words that were being spoken. Again, these were things that Zakai was not used to hearing about. They made him uneasy and the pictures only added to his discomfort. When the picture of a zombie attacking a person showed, Zakai wanted to turn away. He kept having to remind himself that he saw that in real life, and this was only a picture, but somehow, that only seemed to make it worse. Still, he did not say anything of his nervousness out loud. He only stared at the screen, gripping his hammer and handgun tightly in his hands. He was shivering again, but only ever so slightly. He but his lip and waited for the next slide to come up.

[Kicks]

Colton stopped his hand just above the mouse to the laptop. There was a lot more to see, but he wouldn't show them all to the kid. Just the one important thing he had to inform the kid about. He glanced over at the shaking kid and frowned. "You shouldn't be scared." The soldier stated as he shut down the laptop. "California isn't part of America. The rest of the world isn't infected. Don't you get it? This means, when I find all the survivors we can LEAVE. We can go home."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked at Colton with a confused expression.
"I'm not scared.... well... not that much but..." he looked at the now black screen, "I get it. We can leave but..."
Zakai didn't really know what to say. Was that for certain? What if they weren't aloud back? What if something awful happened? America split away from California. They weren't responsible for them anymore! Everything else had turned against them. What if they would too? Zakai looked down. And what about when they got there? What would happen to him? He didn't have a family anymore. It was only his mom and dad and sister. There were no other relatives for him. He didn't want a new one. He had been happy to just be alive, but now that he was actually faced with a possible future, he was questioning if he even wanted it. He shook even harder at that thought. He had been bombarded already, first with events, then with awkward information, and now, oddly, hope that he wasn't even sure he wanted. He tightened his grip on the objects he was holding and looked at Colton. He was very uncertain about the future, but he decided to cope until he was certain about things.
"Well... what do you think we should do then? I mean, leave, yes, but how?"

[Kicks]

Colton continued to watch the kid soak this all in. Again he found himself thinking how hard all of this was for a child. Yet still he couldn't help but to continue informing the kid of things. He knew he was just a child, but even so this was very important information that could very well save lives. It also inspired hope- something that was desperately needed in San Francisco.
The soldier turned his eyes away from the kid when he asked about how they were going to leave. He had already planned through all of that already. He went through all the variables, checked the maps, familiarized himself with the risks. He studied the zombies and the monsters. He had done the math and there were only two options to choose from to get out of San Francisco.
"There's a plane at the airport. And there's also a boat..." The captain stated in a low whisper. "The airport is risky to get to. The boat is incredibly dangerous to take back." He turned his green eyes back to the kid and stated; "Both are in the hands of the terrorists." The only reason why the terrorists haven't utilized them is because they didn't know how to fly a plane and they didn't know how to command a boat. Colton on the other hand, being a military man, was the captain of the ship that had been captured. In the two years he had been stuck here, he had also studied up on piloting.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked down when he heard their options and the problems behind them. He did not want to face terrorists. Still, if he wanted to survive, then he would have to take a risk at some point no matter what. He already had taken many risks. His mother had given up and taken her own life, and with it, his sister's as well. His, on the other hand, had risked his life to get back to his family, and he was now in the same room beside his mother and sister. Zakai bit his lip. If he tried there was chance of escaping death, but nothing could guarantee his life. He shook nervously. So many different ideas, information, situations and memories were running through his mind. He had no idea how to get them all under control. Even worse were the ones involving death at the hands of zombies, terrorists, soldiers, or even himself. He shook his head trying to clear it and looked up at Colton.
"Is... is there anything else you have to show me?"

[Kicks]

Colton let the kid remain silent with his thoughts. He wasn't going to push the kid into something he wasn't ready for. He didn't have the same training to go at terrorists, if he had training at all which the soldier highly doubted. When the kid did speak up, the soldier moved his eyes back to the laptop. "There is one thing." He stated slowly while flipping the laptop back on. He was searching for a video now. "People in San Francisco, just a handful, have gained some... supernatural abilities..." He murmured. He found the video he was searching for and clicked it on. The video was projected onto the screen and was showing the brain. Part of the brain was lit up with activity unlike the rest of the brain. "The infection mutated in these people. Unknowingly, or knowingly, they were exposed to this virus. But instead of turning into a zombie like the rest, they gained some kind of enhanced ability." The video was now showing a young man in a Navy uniform inside of a training yard. He was yelled some kind of instruction, and immediately following he raised a hand and pointed it towards the object hurtled at him. It was a bullet, but instead of it shooting him it turned to ice. With a movement of his hand the bullet shattered into fragments and rained down onto the ground. "These people can be turned only by the monsters that lurk at night. But they can't turn anyone else. That means, if they do turn they'll still have these abilities, but instead of turning people..." He trailed off into silence. The monsters were horrifying. They didn't turn people into them, only those with the mutated virus, instead they killed and destroyed ruthlessly. With their supernatural abilities it was only made ten times worse. The video was now showing the same soldier at night creeping down a street with a gun raised in his hand. There were other soldiers with him. Soon enough, they were ambushed by what looked like a ten foot zombie with claws, sharp teeth, glowing red eyes, and hands lighting up with fire. The video was cut off as if the cameraman were the first to go. Next, the video flipped to the soldier with the icy abilities. He was strapped down onto a metal table alone in a locked room. He was struggling against the straps that held him down while something seemed to crawl under his skin. He was gritting his teeth while his gums began to drip with blood. His hands at the nails were beginning to bleed as well as slowly claws poked through them. Fangs popped through, getting rid of the old teeth. The place where he had been bitten, the arm, was turning black. The video skipped again until it showed a monster strapped to the table. The table was turning to ice as well as the straps. It was doing it so quickly that there was shouts of panic in the background giving orders. Without a single second wasted, there was a gunshot heard and a bullet soared through the monster's head.
The video was turned off by Colton before it could show anymore. "That guy was part of the first to come to San Francisco. They did some awful things to their soldiers... But they all consented... I guess it's for the good, considering without it I would have been stupid enough to go in at night." He closed the lid to the laptop while slowly stating; "There were some teens from a school locked inside due to being majorly exposed to the virus in its gas form. But I saw them, most of them, get out of that school just a few days back. One of them could make things with her mind, the other could move objects with her mind, one of them could wield energy... There's more, but I haven't seen what the others were capable of doing. The point is, if I can get to them before the terrorists do, then we'd be able to get back the plane or boat and get out of here. When we got back I'd do something the terrorist wouldn't and keep the kid's state a secret from the higher ups. Nobody would have to know that they have a mutated virus. They can't spread it as they are now, so they wouldn't be doing any harm."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

When Colton showed the video of the large creature attacking some of the people, Zakai's eyes widened. He hadn't seen anything like that. He listened as Colton explained the teenagers. Zakai looked up. "I saw some of them!" he exclaimed, then he looked down, "They were killing the zombies... I think. I was looking for people at the beginning, but... I ran away from them. I didn't want to pair up with anyone like that."
He still didn't. Zakai was too spooked of anything that had changed. He looked at Colton.
"You wanna find them, don't you?"
Zakai didn't mind them he supposed. They were just people, but they had something... not wrong with them, but different. He knew that wasn't a good opinion to have, but he couldn't help being afraid of them anymore.

[Kicks]

Colton's eyes brightened a bit as the kid exclaimed about people like what he was describing. He turned away from the laptop and looked at the kid. "I guess I don't blame you for not wanting to pair up with people like that. Some soldiers here used to be deathly afraid of having Admiral Thomas around because he had the mutated virus. They definitely are different people. But... some of them aren't all that bad..." He trailed off. no doubt though, some of them let that kind of power go to their heads. Some of the humans were crazy enough to try and get that kind of power. Colton wasn't one of them. He didn't want to have anything inside of him that shouldn't be there- specifically the virus of any kind of mutation or otherwise.
The soldier moved towards the door now with a different kind of step to him. Almost as if he were excited to get back outside and find those people. "I do." He admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "Having at least one of them on our side would even out the odds of getting out of here." He opened the door up and cast a glance towards the kid; "You need some fresh clothes? I would offer you a shower but the only kind of showers available in San Francisco is the rain. Which isn't too bad so long as you don't mind the cold."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai nodded when Colton mentioned the soldiers being afraid of their admiral. He understood entirely why they would be. He also nodded when Colton mentioned wanting to find them because they would have better chances of escaping. "I figured you'd say that." Zakai wasn't sure what he'd do if they did end up finding someone with supernatural powers to add to their team. He wouldn't object to it, since he did think that everyone should have a chance to escape no matter what and Colton seemed like the right person to go to in such a case. He knew enough and was skilled enough. Still, he wondered if he would even talk to them. They were all... different.
He sighed and looked at Colton when he mentioned getting clothes and using the rain for a shower.
"Yeah. Clothes sound good. So does a rain shower, but that'd take too long." he looked down for a moment then back up at Colton, "So then... when are we going to go look for the survivors?"

[Kicks]

Colton put his hand down on the little guy's head and ruffled up his dirty hair a little bit. "So I guess that means you're up for the plan, then?" He questioned while dropping his hand back down. He moved out of the room now and went to the room next door. It opened at his fingerprint and he disappeared into it for a brief moment. When he returned back to Zakai he was holding a belt, some camo khakis, a black shirt, and a matching jacket to the pants. "Tried to get the smallest size... But just in case, there's a belt as well." The soldier told the kid while handing him the clothes. "The bathroom isn't locked. They don't require any kind of password or key, or print, so you can just walk right into the third door from here on the left to change." He told the child while pointing to what was obviously the mens' restroom.
When he dropped his finger from pointing to the direction, he finally answered the kid's last question by saying; "We'll go look for them as soon you're done changing."

[커비]

Clutching onto her M9 pistol, a girl leaned her back against the dusted wall of an abandoned car shop located couple of blocks into the city of San Francisco. Her hands were covered in blood, and they would not stop trembling. She had seen too much. Images of the undead continued to pour into her once innocent mind. Dirt, sweat, and grease stained her blonde hair that used to be luscious and beautiful. Her body started to thin out as she hasn't had a proper meal in days, or maybe weeks. She lost count. She couldn't remember when this all started. For all she knew, it could have been months.

The pistol slipped out of her hands and crashed onto the cement floor. The sound of it hitting the floor echoed through the empty garage. The girl cursed at herself. Surely that would have brought attention to any monsters or anyone out there. She still has yet to figure out when the zombies roam or when the monsters lurks. She couldn't think. The only thing she could do is run.

The girl bent down and picked up her gun. She had one bullet left as she could remember. There were seven to start which meant that she had spent six bullets. Did she spend the six bullets wisely? Of course not, she missed them all. She didn't know how to shoot a gun. She just found it from a dead police officer. The only reason she picked it up was to defend herself.

Something metallic dropped and the sound of it ringed through the entire garage. It was loud. The noise startled the girl. Her eyes widened, and a chill crawled up her spine. She gripped the gun as tight as she could afraid that someone else was here. In the end, it was nothing. She was just being paranoid.

She let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her hands. A single bead of sweat trickled down her neck. She could feel all of her hair raised up perpendicularly. She wished all of this was over. She couldn't bare the terror. She even considered killing herself a few times, but she was too afraid of that. She didn't know what death felt like. She didn't want to know. It could be worse than her experiences for all she knew. She overthinks too much. Maybe that's the reason why she's always afraid and timid. She's overthinks too much to the point where she doesn't do anything at all.

It was quiet again once more. It was strange for the city to be this quiet. She was used to it by now, but the thought of having nearly a million people disappear was frightening. For as long as she's been alive through the chaos, she has yet to see a living, breathing person. Maybe she was the last human here.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai was a little surprised when Colton suddenly ruffled his hair. He decided he didn't mind though. At least Colton didn't dislike him.
He watched him walk away for a moment and then come back with some sort of army attire and a belt. Zakai took them from the him. "Thank you!" He was grateful to be getting out of his now grimy clothes! He nodded when Colton answered his other question. "Okay."
He ran to the bathroom and hurried inside eagerly. He changed as quickly as he could, and once he was done, he looked at himself in a mirror. It was very wise of Colton to bring a belt. Although the clothes were the smallest size, they were still intended for men and this was only more obvious now that they were on Zakai. They made him look even more like the child he was. They were a little baggy on Zakai's skinny frame. A scene of Zakai as a five year old trying on his father's shirt flashed through his mind. This of course fit a lot better than his father's did then, but he was still thankful for the belt. The memory made him feel sad all over again. It was even worse that he had not been able to grieve for his family properly since there were more things to do. There still were. Zakai rubbed his eyes and hurried out of the bathroom and over to Colton.
"We can go now."

[Kicks]

Clutching onto her M9 pistol, a girl leaned her back against the dusted wall of an abandoned car shop located couple of blocks into the city of San Francisco. Her hands were covered in blood, and they would not stop trembling. She had seen too much. Images of the undead continued to pour into her once innocent mind. Dirt, sweat, and grease stained her blonde hair that used to be luscious and beautiful. Her body started to thin out as she hasn't had a proper meal in days, or maybe weeks. She lost count. She couldn't remember when this all started. For all she knew, it could have been months.

The pistol slipped out of her hands and crashed onto the cement floor. The sound of it hitting the floor echoed through the empty garage. The girl cursed at herself. Surely that would have brought attention to any monsters or anyone out there. She still has yet to figure out when the zombies roam or when the monsters lurks. She couldn't think. The only thing she could do is run.

The girl bent down and picked up her gun. She had one bullet left as she could remember. There were seven to start which meant that she had spent six bullets. Did she spend the six bullets wisely? Of course not, she missed them all. She didn't know how to shoot a gun. She just found it from a dead police officer. The only reason she picked it up was to defend herself.

Something metallic dropped and the sound of it ringed through the entire garage. It was loud. The noise startled the girl. Her eyes widened, and a chill crawled up her spine. She gripped the gun as tight as she could afraid that someone else was here. In the end, it was nothing. She was just being paranoid.

She let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her hands. A single bead of sweat trickled down her neck. She could feel all of her hair raised up perpendicularly. She wished all of this was over. She couldn't bare the terror. She even considered killing herself a few times, but she was too afraid of that. She didn't know what death felt like. She didn't want to know. It could be worse than her experiences for all she knew. She overthinks too much. Maybe that's the reason why she's always afraid and timid. She's overthinks too much to the point where she doesn't do anything at all.

It was quiet again once more. It was strange for the city to be this quiet. She was used to it by now, but the thought of having nearly a million people disappear was frightening. For as long as she's been alive through the chaos, she has yet to see a living, breathing person. Maybe she was the last human here.

The man moved slowly with caution through the tiny part of the large city, and once beautiful city. If this were any casual day and not wartime people might wonder why he was creeping around in a crouched position. But during these times it was easy to tell he was being careful just in case of zombies.
He was grateful for the daylight, and frightened by the night. Only those who had witnessed what night was like here in San Francisco would understand the fear the man had for the night. But even then, could they really? It's not like they could understand considering after being brutally murdered at least they would stay dead from those monsters. But this man here would only come back and become one of them. He pitied anyone who was cursed with the mutation. They had no idea what they were getting into if they showed themselves at night. A few of them he had run into. But being cocky and confident, they refused his warning and continued. Of course now he saw them out the windows at night. But they weren't the same. They were monsters now as well.
For those who had he had known and loved who didn't have the mutation... They were gone now too. But at least they weren't monsters. Yet still, he couldn't say he was grateful that they were zombies either. But he had to keep his mind off of that and continue. He had to keep alert.
Speaking of which, he was suddenly stunned into his spot by a loud noise coming from beside him inside of a garage. The man whipped out his gun in a flash and proceeded towards the garage with caution. "If you're human, I'm giving you to the count of three to come out with your hands above your head." The man loudly called towards the garage; "If you're not, well I guess that's bad luck for the both of us."

- - - Updated - - -

Colton had been waiting for the kid the first few minutes in the hall. But then he realized he had to grab a few things before they could go outside again. So while the kid was getting on the smallest clothes that the soldier could find, he went back into another room. There he grabbed his backpack and jacket. And then he grabbed his helmet and a reloaded gun. The soldier came back out of the room just as Zakai left the restroom. Meeting halfway in the hallway, Colton stated; "Kid, you would not look good as a soldier." The remark was made almost with humor, the closest thing that could possibly be humor for the soldier.
He was already walking down the hallway as soon as those words had left his mouth. The soldier pressed his hand against the building's main exit scanner and soon enough a voice announced to the soldier; "Goodbye, Captain. Would you like complete base shutdown while you are away?"
Colton tilted his head to the side at the peculiar question. He hadn't been asked that one for a whole year now. "No..." He stated slowly to the computerized voice. "Activate complete base security. If anyone comes near this base for half a mile that doesn't have a security badge under 'Captain Ryker' or 'Secured Citizen', you blast them." As he was saying this, he pulled a badge out of his backpack and tossed it to the kid behind him. It was a badge much like his own, except its picture had a red cross on it and its title was 'Secured Citizen'. "Put up defense system 3-C . If anyone tries to break in, you fry them on the spot. Got that?"
"Yes, sir." The voice replied before opening the door up for them to pass through back outside.
Colton stared at the scanning pad before he looked outside. He was feeling a bit off after the question prompted of him. "All right, kid. You should probably keep your guard up starting now..."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai studied Colton for a brief moment, staring at the new items that were now with the soldier. When he made the retort about Zakai's clothes, Zakai couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He was right. But that's only cause' I'm a kid! He ran to catch up and thought back to the portraits they had seen of all the soldiers. He had been told a lot and and learned what the x's were, but he still had no idea what the badges were supposed to stand for. He had forgotten to ask.
He decided to wait a little longer before asking when Colton stopped to consult one of the scanner voice things. He listened as he told it to blast anyone without a badge of either "Colton Ryker" or "Secured Citizen" and then was tossed a badge himself labeled with the latter. He caught it and examined it for a moment before putting it on his shirt and waiting for them to start moving. After they were outside, there was a change in Colton's demeanor. Zakai figured it was just because they had left the building and were now out in the open. Zakai felt a tinge of annoyance when the soldier told him to keep his guard up. I know that! He tucked away his handgun and gripped his hammer close to him. He waited beside Colton, feeling uneasiness starting to creep back over him. Even with Colton right there with him, he still didn't feel very assured. Maybe it was for the best? He looked around nervously and gripped his weapon even tighter.

[Kicks]

Colton stepped down the stairs while progressing towards the gate that would be open as soon as he pressed his hand to the scanner. As he passed by the bunker he heard something even more unusual than the voice prompting him about security. He could hear growling from the bunker. He could hear the sound of the zombies scratch and claw at the bunker's secured walls. He could hear them shout, hiss, and growl like hungry ravenous beasts. It was a roar in his ears that almost paralyzed him to his spot.
He stopped moving briefly and turned his now wide eyes to the bunker where all the noise was coming from. There were goose bumps running up his spine and a shiver passed through him. He could feel his own heart hammering to the walls of his chest, as if it at any moment it would just break through his chest entirely.
"Seven hundred." He breathed quietly to himself while he stared at the bunker. "Why are they acting up now?" He was a bit louder this time and now completely tense. He rose his gun like he had been trained to and aimed it at the bunker. "This doesn't make sense. They should all be dead now." The zombies should have all starved to death by now. It had been a complete year, hadn't it? Why were they acting up now? What had set them off? And how the hell were they still alive in there? Had they been...? "Feeding off of each other?" He finished his thought out loud. As soon as he had, his stomach had done flips. Out of seven hundred, how many could there be? And were they still normal zombies he could easily take, or...?
He wasn't going to stay to find out if they would break out or not. The defense system was the best in San Francisco. There was just no possible way that they could. There were so many things to get past in order to get in or out of that bunker. So the soldier turned sharply away from it and proceeded quickly to the gate. He couldn't stand being around that noise. It was getting to him. If that happened he would be useless to the mission at hand. He needed his mind and clear and open for anything. He didn't need it clogged with-
"Keep your hand still, sir." The robotic voice stated to the soldier who had placed his hand down on the scanner. He hadn't even realized his hands had been shaking until that point. The scanner caught it though. He did as the voice said and soon enough it prompted him through with; "Proceed, Captain. Base will be secured while you're away. Half a mile radius to any unauthorized personnel. One warning shot will be granted, after that immediate death will follow, sir."
"Good." Colton remarked as he withdrew his hand. The gate opened at the one word he said and gave access to the world beyond that was waiting for them.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Odd sounds were coming from the bunker that Colton had pointed out earlier. Zakai jumped a little when he realized it. What's going on? What is that? Zakai looked at Colton for reassurance, but his heart sank. Colton looked scared too. Why is he scared? This is the first time so far that I've seen him like this... The man was whispering something to himself that Zakai couldn't make out which of course only made him more nervous. When he spoke aloud "Feeding off eachother?" Zakai became even more nervous. It seemed that Colton wasn't even aware of his presence anymore and started acting on a frightened impulse rather than his normal collected intuition, or at least, that's what Zakai had assumed it was.
He had to speed up when Colton went over to the gate to scan his hand. It became apparent then that Colton was shaking just as much as he had. Seeing Colton nervous was less than assuring to Zakai, and the boy felt the urge to suddenly panic. If something was so bad that Colton was shaking, then what on Earth was Zakai supposed to do? After the gate opened and Colton responded to the scanner's words, Zakai was even more afraid to step out. No! Calm down! You can't be scared right now! You need to calm down! Don't be so dependent on him all the time! He's the one who's scared! You don't even know what he's afraid of!
Zakai gulped suddenly, and let go of the hammer with one of his hands. He let his hammer fall to his side, looked up at Colton with both fear and concern and found himself gripping the man's arm.
"Hey, a-are you alright?"

[Kicks]

Colton turned around quickly and grabbed the hand that was gripping his arm. Before he could snap it he realized immediately that it was only the child. For a moment he gazed at the child as if he were speaking some foreign language. A moment later when he had the time to collect his thoughts, he finally let go and jerked a thumb in the direction of the gate. "We have twelve hours until sundown." He told the kid in answer to the question. He knew it didn't answer the question, but it did at least offer something.
His eyes flickered to the bunker for a moment. They can't break out...Unless they're those beats. But could a virus mutate while inside of a bunker like that? He didn't think so. He also doubted that they would manage to get out without some sort of outside help. Yet still, he was put at unease by the ruckus coming from the bunker. He knew those men in there would be stronger than other zombies. They had the same training he did, and even if there one natural instinct was to find and feed now they still had the advantage of their muscle and speed. True, they wouldn't be able to wield a weapon... at least from what he had seen of the zombies, but their true power came in their numbers.
"Let's get out of here." Colton finally spoke up once he turned his eyes away from the noisy bunker. He scooped the hammer up from the ground and gave it back to the kid before he proceeded outside the gate. This time he hadn't the slightest idea of the direction to go. The survivors would no doubt have left the proximity of the school by now. They also might have kept moving if they were smart. They could be anywhere in the city.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai yelped when the soldier suddenly grabbed his hand and looked as if he would break it. He stared back at the man, his eyes widened in fear, and now surprise. He hadn't expected the man to do that. When Colton finally released him, Zakai inched away from him a little. Okay, I am NOT doing that anymore!
When Colton explained the time range they had Zakai nodded. The man kept looking over in the direction towards the bunker. It was obvious that something about it had scared him. Zakai stared at the ground. This meant something was very wrong. Colton's reaction could have and probably was just a reflex, Zakai decided, but even if that was true, he was still acting strangely. Zakai's thoughts were interrupted when Colton handed him his hammer. He took it back and stared outside the gate. If Colton was scared of the bunker... if something were to escape... Zakai shook his head furiously. Now's not the time to be thinking about that. He cautiously followed after Colton, being sure to keep a small distance from his companion so there was no chance that they would come into any sort of physical contact.

[Kicks]

As the soldier proceeded past the gates and Zakai followed, the gates behind them shut and locked. It was then that the firing began. It seemed to be coming from the base. But not from any human source or otherwise. It was done mechanically by some smart technology. Probably having to do with artificial intelligence. The bullets being fired went through the heads of any of the walking dead near the base for half a mile. After the half mile point, they would be on their own for defense.
"I guess it's too late to offer you to stay in the base." Colton commented with a bit of a smirk coming across his face. It was a funny thought to now think of. He had been too distracted before to think that Zakai would prefer staying inside of the building rather than going out and risking his life. "Though I guess with all the noise coming from the bunker, it actually might be safer out here on the streets..." He said following his thoughts. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He didn't want to spook the kid with the idea that they just might die from the things in the bunker. But now there was no way for him to take back what he had said.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai walked after him, looking around nervously. When he suddenly heard firing, his head whipped around in alarm. After a moment or shooting glances in various locations, he remembered what Colton told the scanner thing. Oh... so that's probably just the security system then. Zakai calmed down and walked steadily after Colton. When Colton suddenly mentioned staying behind, Zakai frowned slightly. What makes you think I'd want to stay behind? I don't know anything about that place! It's all big and empty with a bunch of old army stuff left behind! It' almost like it's haunted! Besides, I don't wanna be left alone anywhere anymore! When Colton mentioned the bunker and stopped suddenly, it became apparent to Zakai that his statement had been a slip of the tongue. He hadn't meant to say anything about it. Figures. You're still as secretive as ever. Zakai sighed.
"If you were trying to hide it from me that something was wrong with the bunker, the sounds coming from it gave that away already, and it didn't help that you were shaking so much and kept doing double takes towards it." Zakai looked at Colton, "If you wanna hide something then fine, but don't make it so obvious that you're hiding it. That makes me even more nervous than when you say it outright."
He was speaking out of annoyance. He didn't like it when people kept secrets from him, and felt like it was important enough to say out loud, otherwise it would have been out of line.

[Kicks]

Colton heard the kid talk, but he didn't necessarily respond to it. He understood the kid's annoyance. But there was nothing Colton could do about it. He couldn't just up and change San Francisco like some magical ninja. He couldn't change their circumstance. What he could do though was find a way out of San Francisco for them. That was one thing he had been working on so hard for a year. He wouldn't let his plans be spoiled, even by the bunker. Not by the dead or the monsters, nor the zombies that walked and spread infection. He wouldn't stop even if he became infected. This mission meant a chance at life not only for Zakai but any other survivors they came across. The bunker was just a block in the road that Colton would have to ignore. That meant not telling Zakai anything about it that he hadn't already told the kid. He couldn't confide in the child his suspicions about the bunker, and he couldn't risk scaring the kid.
"You know what civilian life is like here during this time." Colton remarked instead of responding directly to the bunker's topic. His eyes went to the kid now briefly before turning back to the streets. "If you were them, where would you be at this moment?" It seemed like a logical question to ask. The soldier couldn't come up with any ideas of where to begin looking.

[Death101]

"You were good men." I looked at the bodies that had just died in my defense before they were abled to rise, I shot each one, one shot to the head all three. Then I climbed onto my motorcycle and took off I'd only been in the city a little while but I needed somewhere to rest what was going on was to much, before I got to far from the places where my friends had died for me I saw a kid and some older man walking along I slowed down and stated they seemed normal. "Hey you to okay?" I asked my voice still a bit choked from the loss of my friends.

[Kicks]

It seemed as if God had smacked Colton right across the face in answer to his question. As soon as he had asked Zakai where he thought the survivors might be hiding out, a man had driven up on a motorcycle. How had he not heard the approach? Maybe he had just been too lost in his own thoughts to really take in the surroundings? Or maybe it was the sound of the automated bullets coming from the base that was shooting down the zombies? It could have been a mixture of both of these things.
The soldier turned his head away from Zakai instinctively and snapped his cold, measuring green eyes to the man that approached them. The roar of the motorcycle almost drowned out the man's words, but Colton had caught them while they were still in the air. This man seemed to be fully functioning. Maybe a little blood and dirt here and there, but he didn't look infected. He wasn't exactly the kind of crew the soldier would hang around, but he was human. Humans were what the soldier was looking for. Humans to assist and rescue. That was the mission. All ages, sizes, and shapes, backgrounds, origins, anything and everyone. Yet still, that didn't mean Colton right off the bat could determine if this man were one of the terrorists or the good guys. He didn't look Middle Eastern, and he didn't talk as if he were a superior. He didn't have any signs of a terrorist. Just a badass on a motorcycle, or whatever they called themselves.
"You're a survivor, aren't you?" The captain right out asked instead of answering the man's own question. That's just how he was. Even to Zakai he didn't always necessarily answer questions right out. Sometimes he just altogether seemed to ignore what people said. "You're not infected, right?"

[Death101]

"No..." I almost broke down and cried. "I wasn't thanks to a few very brave and loyal friends." I looked at him and let my desert egale show so he knew I wasn't light on weapons. "I'm going to guess since your not drooling." I turned off my motorcycle and stepped off it. "That neither are you." I took the keys out of it. "The names Tony Murrow my friends... Called me 'Big Tony' what about you?" I asked pointing at the man then the kid.

[Kicks]

Colton once more found himself sizing up the man. What he spoke seemed to be the truth. He was walking, talking, breathing, and most importantly he was interacting. Interaction was a key element to being human. He watched as the man turned off his bike and then stepped off of it. His friends had a right to call him by 'Big Tony'. He was quite the big man. A big man packing a weapon. So he did have some form of self defense. That was another good sign. The weapon didn't even look like off the market military brand. He was just a civilian. The soldier couldn't help but feel some form of relief to finally distinguish whether the man was terrorist or civilian.
"Not that we're aware of, at least." The soldier commented in his far away voice. He was still thinking, still processing this man. He did enjoy the character that stood before him. He hadn't been expecting a biker to be a survivor. It just never crossed his mind before. Then again, he never thought that a kid would be a survivor either. "You're going to get shot without this. Long story short, my base is computer automated and assigned to kill anything moving without authorization within a half mile of it." Colton added while tossing the man a badge much like he had given Zakai. The badge's name was 'Secured Citizen' and it too had the picture of the red cross on it. "If you give that away to someone, I will find you." Colton stated. It was enough warning to give. He didn't want those badges being passed around to the wrong crowd. That could cause some issues he'd rather not face.

[Death101]

"Bud." I looked at the man. "I've still got friends out there." I pointed towards the city. "I need to know how many other Hells Angels are still alive if your base has phone service then I'll stick around, if not I'll be giving your shiny little badge back." I stated I was worried there were Atleast 170 Hells Angels in total in San Fran I bet only about 3% are still alive and another 2% probably already made an exit that leaves maybe 2 other important people alive in the city my boy and my brother both whom might be dead. "If you don't mind I've gotta check something." I flipped open my phone and saw I had service only 2 bars though I called Julien's phone he might only be 6 but I had gotten him a phone after a moment I got an answer. "Julien where are you?" I asked and waited. "And your uncle?" I asked. "I see... lock the front door and wait for me." I hung up. "I've got to save my son you in or out?" I asked starting my Motorcycle.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai was about to respond to Colton's question, seeing no reason to carry on the other topic when the soldier refused, when suddenly a man on a motorcycle pulled up asking them if they were okay. Zakai only stared back in nervousness and suspicion as Colton responded to the question. After a moment, however, of the man's talking, Zakai eased up a little. He didn't seem too bad from the way he talked to them. He also seemed rather upset. Zakai didn't blame him. He watched Colton toss a badge to the man. Taking this as a sign of a sort of teaming, Zakai listened to the man speak and then lowered his gaze as he responded to the man's earlier question.
"I'm Zakai."
After the man started his motorcycle up, Zakai took a small step back, deciding to let Colton respond to this as well.

[Kicks]

Colton was almost put off by the thought of cell service. The base definitely did have it, but hardly did he ever use it. The only people he communicated with were the president and his commander, both of whom were in America and not in the island of California. Rarely did they ever communicate anyways. He knew what he had to do, and if anything changed he would be told. Until then, he didn't have any use of communicating. He was about to answer if the base had it or not when the man whipped out his own phone. Well, that was a useless thing to prompt of Colton to begin with. If the man had a cellphone- he decided not to think about it. No use in thinking over things so small.
As he listened to the man continue, he began to get a pretty good picture of how many people there were still a live. Or might still be alive at least. The soldier was intrigued once the biker began to talk on the other end to someone else. So there were people alive after all somewhere else? That was a good sign definitely. But the question next bothered him. To go with this man to get his son was risky business that Colton wasn't exactly flattered by. Zakai was with him and he was only a child. Sure he had some self defense and had survived this long, but the kid was only just a kid. Colton also had his orders though. In either case, in some way or another he would be breaking conduct.
So the soldier looked down at Zakai and jabbed a finger in the man's direction. "Your choice, kiddo. Ya wanna go into the city or save that guy's kid?" The decision would be completely up to Zakai. Colton would just go with what the kid answered with. After all it wasn't his own life he was putting on the line. He could take care of himself. But he doubted Zakai's abilities so it was his life on the line.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked at Colton. I was gonna leave it up to you! Then he looked at Tony. He wasn't sure what to do. Why did Colton want him to decide? It was Colton's idea to come out here in the first place. Then again, he really must not have minded whatever the decision was if he was leaving it up to Zakai. Zakai stared at Tony, then at the ground. Zakai thought of when he had searched for his own family. His search ended in death and even though the man probably didn't absolutely need their help, he had asked them if they were in or not. Besides, as a soldier, Colton should be there anyway since it was his job to protect all people, not just him. Tony had to get to his son and Zakai had absolutely nothing to do importantly but tag along.
"Um... well... we can..." he didn't really know what to say, "His kid." I guess...

[Death101]

"Never mind here." I gave the man my phone number. "I'll catch up with you once I find my son." I started off down the road towards my place I could only hope Juline had listed to me. I drove for a bit then got onto the high way and move around cars that were on their sides some zombies tried to run after me but after a minuet or two they turned back and chased after something else they had seen. It didn't take a long time on the high way a bit of a task though but soon I found myself at the door and I knocked on it. "Juline open up." He came and opened and I looked at him he was okay. "We've got to go now." I grabbed him and ran down the hall back to my bike and jumped on it he was in front of me just enough so I'd be abed to hold him safely and drive. I felt something bumb into my chest it was Juline's note pad I forgot he didn't like to talk due to his condition I read his note it said 'What's going on dad?' I looked at him. "I don't know but I've got a safe place for us." I sped back onto the high way and felt Juline's note pad again it simply said. 'Okay, uncle is dead.' "I guessed as much." I stated my brother in laws life ending wasn't something that i was to sad about and Juline didn't cry he never did we rode on in silence.

[Kicks]

Colton listened to the kid stammer out the answer at last. But by then the man must have been impatient. The soldier didn't blame him though, if it were his kid he would be out there racing off to save the kid as well. He patted Zakai's head as if to say the kid had made the right to decision, but that they wouldn't be able to do anything now but search. Besides, Colton now had the guy's number. He didn't really plan on using it, but he might. After all, keeping track of survivors was a good idea. So he stuffed the number into his thick, padded jacket and began to walk down the road again. The firing had stopped, other than few straw bullets every now and again.
"So, before the end of the world did you have anyone special?" Colton decided to ask. He might as well make some chatter between them. Besides, he was kind of interested in the kid. He was a child who had managed to survivor this far on his own which made him very interesting. Also, the kid was only human. "Like, some girl at school you thought was cute or something?" It was a weird subject, but the soldier used to enjoy teasing others about their relationships. Especially his admiral who had the weirdest, most corniest relationship with his wife. Thinking back to the days the soldier would tease his peers almost brought a smile to his face. Almost.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai watched Tony ride away on his motorcycle and then felt Colton pat his head. Okay... that's that... I guess... He followed after Colton calmly, not expecting the soldier's next question at all. When he did ask, however, Zakai looked up at him with a puzzled look on his face. Why are you asking me something like that? Then he remembered the question he'd asked when they first met. Colton had admitted to asking weird question. It was hardly a correlation, but it did make sense in context if Zakai thought about it hard enough.
"Well... uh..." he looked back down. It was also an embarrassing question. "I mean, I guess some of the girls were cute, but I wouldn't say that any of them were all that special... save one I guess. It was kind of an unspoken thing though... and they're dead now."
He shook his head, "Wh-what about you? Was there anyone special to you?"

[Death101]

Soon after I got off the high way we pulled into a parking lot of the schools I noticed that one of the gym doors was open. "Juline we'll be staying here for the night." I rode my motorcycle though the door carefully and slowly, no zombies inside, good I turend off my bike and went and closed the gym doors then looked at Juline. "You okay, I mean are you really okay?" I asked Juline wrote a moment and then showed me his note pad. 'No, I don't think so Dad. Our world is gone, it's not coming back. Are YOU okay?' It took me a moment to think but then I answered. "My chapter is dead, they saved my life I'm alive, but I'm not okay. I don't think I'll ever be." Juline nodded as we went into the gym closet we found a few old gym mats and made a bed then lied down on it we'd be safe here for a while the doors were Atleast 3 inch steel from the way they moved and looked. Juline's notepad again, it said. 'Goodnight Dad.' I smiled he was still sane I supose not an easy task right now. "Goodnight Juline." He slipped off into sleep and I lied there thinking then stood and turend off the lights we'd be safe here for a little while was my last thought before I fell asleep too.

[Kicks]

Colton tried to keep a straight face as Zakai stammered out his answer. Although, he was starting to chuckle already. He turned his green eyes to him and pointed an accusing finger at the boy. "D'aw bet you would have liked to hold hands with her, wouldn't ya have?" He teased out in a voice he would use to speak to very small children. Never mind that they were dead, memories were still what kept people who they were. Without them, they could be just like the zombies. They might even be more dead. "So what was she then? A brunette? Blonde? Dark hair? Blue eyes? Green eyes? Brown eyes? Was it her giggle that made your heart feel all warm and your stomach get into knots?" He questioned the little guy next as he proceeded down a surprisingly empty street. Looks like they hadn't gotten close to the main part of the population then. Or the zombies could be running after some human... The last thought stricken the soldier, but he took his mind off of it immediately with Zakai's question.
"Someone special?" The soldier echoed back as he glanced at the kid. He stared straight ahead once more while he passed a car. "Yea... She's back in the United States. Georgetown, Texas. We haven't talked since I've been deployed here. But the branch on the other side keeps all the spouses and children up-to-date with soldiers' statuses here." The soldier told the kid with a faraway voice. "She's the prettiest little thing and the thought of getting back to her... It's more than exciting. It was at first my only reason to keep going. But then as I soon found survivors and started noticing that there was still life, they became my reason. I guess without her and you people running around San Francisco looking for some escape, I might have ended up inside that bunker back at the base."

[Death101]

I felt nudging again and woke up it was Juline's notepad. 'I gotta pee.' I nodded. "Let's go find a bathroom." I checked my phone we hadn't been asleep long just a little while. I checked my gun as we walked down the halls the glass seemed bullet proof, I think we would be safe here it was a bit further out on the city so we should be safe for a little while. We entered the bathroom and saw a zombie, I shot it in the leg and it went down but crawled at my son, bad move. I put three bullets to his head and he went down. "You okay, bud?" Jules nodded at me. "Good to your business." I grabbed towl Nd dropped it on his face. "Rest in peace." After that I went to pee myself.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai's face turned red after Colton made fun of him for his answer.
"Sheesh Colton! I'm still a kid! I don't have the same kind of weird deep romantic stuff that grown ups get all crazy over!"
It wasn't the first time someone laughed at him about it. There were others who had asked him the same question and then reacted in the same way. Zakai hated it. The next question didn't help all that much either.
"Shut up."
He listened to Colton talk about his "special person" who was in the U.S. and then all about how she and survivors had kept him going. It definitely seemed a lot deeper than Zakai's.
"Yeah. The crush I had was nothing like that." he said in reply. There wasn't much else for him to say. All he knew was that the two were significantly different and even though he had heard the whole spiel from grown ups about the difference between romantic, delusional, fantasy love and married love, not once had he been able to understand, and marriage wasn't something that he thought about very often, unless it was brought up by someone else.
He thought for a moment.
"Spouses and children? So you're married?"

[Death101]

Soon after we finished peeing we went back opened the gym door and rode off again I had seen a gas station a while back and deiced now would be a good time to get gas before the world went to anymore hell. "Stay inside here while I fill the gas." Juline shook his head and stuck close to me. "Okay watch my back while I fill the gas tank." I stated plugging in the hose he just nodded and turned around to make sure we didn't get blindsided by anything.

[Kicks]

"Well, don't feel too ashamed about it. After all, like you said- you're only a kid." Colton commented with a wink towards the kiddo. As much as he did enjoy teasing the kid about it, he also had a deep belief that people should only start dating and getting into the romance at sixteen and older. Not only was it pointless for younger than that limit to date, but it was also really... weird. Little twelve year olds running around everywhere declaring their 'undying love' just threw the soldier off and sickened him a bit.
The soldier stopped at an abandoned car for a brief moment and peeked inside of it. Every now and again when he was out in the streets like this he would peek inside of cars to see if there were any supplies he could use. Like flashlights or water bottles or food- even at the base supplies were still limited. Might as well use whatever was at hand after all. While he was peering inside, he answered the kid's question with a shrug of his shoulders. "Yea, I got married young. Eighteen. Right before I got deployed here. I'm just one of those people who know what I want in life and go after it with confidence. I knew I would love the girl I do for the rest of my life and didn't want to waste time so we got hitched. It's not unusual in Texas, actually. Some people even get married at sixteen there. Though they're the real nut jobs." He straightened up after seeing nothing he needed or could need. As he did he made direct eye contact with a zombie through the glass. It was without flinching that he raised his gun just as the zombie hissed. The bullet shattered through the windows and burst through the skull on the other side. He didn't take the time to watch as the zombie's suddenly limp body fell to the ground.
"Though, I don't got a kid." Colton added as he lowered his gun once more and turned his eyes back to the kid. "I got a dog. Name's Scraps, best friend and loyalist Pitbull anybody could get."

[Death101]

"Okay let's go." Me and Juline mounted up and rode on we got back on the high way and doged cars and some zombies we rode for a while then got off Juline fell asleep during this time. I couldn't blame him he'd been though a lot today. Soon I passed where I'd met that Soilder and a bit later I rode up next to him. "Well, I didn't think I'd run into you two again, how has it been you to figure out what you were going to do?" I put my motorcycle into park and the engine died down a bit.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai watched Colton look inside some car and then shoot a zombie. He flinched a little. It had been rather calm for them since they left the base. He looked at the body nervously. Colton's presence did offer some comfort, but even then he was still as nervous as ever, although he wasn't shaking as much. He listened to Colton explain his marriage and also his dog.
"Mom said that people who are eighteen are still technically kids. I have no idea, but she said that she thought that it was still too young for two people to get married." he smiled at Colton, "And Dad said that having kids is a lot harder than having a dog. My parents always told me all of these things for almost no reason. I mean, I get that they were trying to teach me life lessons and give me advice, but they'd just bring it up out of the blue sometimes."
He stared at the shattered glass from the window for a moment.

"I had a dog... kind of. She was a stray... a mutt I think. She came around a lot and I would feed her and give her water. Mom and Dad hated it. She stopped coming around though a few days before all of this happened. I didn't know why at first, but now it's pretty obvious. I just hope she found a way to survive somehow. Dogs aren't the same as humans right? They can't catch stuff that floats around in the air. They have to get it spread to them physically or something and they have stronger senses. Do you think she knew this was coming?"

Before Zakai could get an answer, Tony pulled up beside them. Zakai had not spoken much to the man before, and he still didn't feel all that comfortable about it. There was another person with him now. Zakai looked at them both curiously.

[Kicks]

Colton frowned when he looked over at the kid again. Just as nervous as always it seemed. He couldn't put much blame on him though. They were constantly surrounded by danger that could at any moment sneak up on them. The soldier just wished that somehow he could find a way to get the kid to stop being so afraid. He had put a gun in the kid's hand before, but that didn't make much difference it seemed. Besides, he really loved that hammer of his- sure enough it would have some sentimental value to the kid. "You shouldn't be so scared." The soldier told the kid as he gestured with his gun at him. "It's not like I'd let anything happen to you."
The soldier went cross eyed as soon as the kid began to talk about what his mother had said. Well, he hadn't heard a lot of that in Texas. Most people there tried to get you married as young as possible- it was possibly just as bad as Georgia. Some people though, like the folk who also hated fun things like guns, had been critics of the marriage between him and his wife. "Too young." "Not mature enough." "You have no idea what it's like being an adult." Colton had heard it all before. It was actually kind of amusing hearing something along those lines now. "Your parents certainly were a work of art." The soldier remarked with a snicker. Soon he was being asked about a dog and if she had known about the impending terrorist attack. He was now thinking hard back to that day. Three years ago the first surge of soldiers were put to immediate task of rescuing and setting up base in California. He must have been sixteen at the time? He could recall people on the television saying that they had visions and seen signs of this. Some of them were nutcases, others Colton could believe. "I think that dogs can sense things humans can't." The soldier finally answered. It was then that he heard the roar of a motorcycle. He wasn't too shocked by it, considering he had heard the same sound earlier. So he continued answering the kid's question; "And I don't think a dog could have been affected in the same way a human could have with the first hit. It was meant to destroy humans. But somewhere along the lines she could have been bitten..." He had seen a number of animals zombified just like the humans, but rarely did he have time to show them mercy for they were worse than human zombies. They were faster, stronger, and they had claws and teeth.
By now he was hearing the biker's familiar voice. The soldier turned away from the kid now and turned his attention on the biker, while also keeping his eyes open for any danger like the sun setting low or a stray zombie. "So you got your son, then?" The soldier commented as he gestured towards the child. If not, well... things might turn a bit awkward with the assumption Colton had just made. He brought his arm up his head with a sigh while dropping his eyes to the side. "Well, I know the plan..."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked up at Colton then back down again at the mention of how he shouldn't be scared. He knew the soldier was right. He really couldn't help the way he was feeling though. He wasn't sure how to respond to Colton's comment on his parents. They were weird even in Zakai's eyes. They were different from "common folk" as his mother had put it. Zakai smiled slightly.
"They definitely weren't 'normal'."
Zakai had never had any problem with his lifestyle nor the pressure his parents had put on him. If he had been anyone but himself, he might have either become very stuck up and ignorant, or hated his parents entirely. Even so, he preferred not to think about it.
He smiled nervously at Tony and the boy with him, deciding to break his silent streak... at least for the moment.
"Hi. Um.. I hope things went okay with you... or at least... not too badly." he looked at Colton, "There's a plan?"
He hoped he wasn't asking something that he was already supposed to know.

[Kicks]

The soldier's eyes roamed away from the man and his child back to the streets. He was starting to get a bit paranoid. The abnormal absence of the zombies was beginning to make him regret ever coming out of the base to begin with. He had grown used to seeing the zombies in mass numbers that not seeing very many led him to believe something was wrong. It unsettled him, but he wasn't exactly sure why. The cold streets were reeking as always of that pungent smell of death. The streets were wrecked with trash and stained with blood as always. The buildings loomed over their heads like colossal beasts. But the zombies... where were they all? Out of a million and something and so far Colton had only spotted one?
He was swept out of his own mind too soon by Zakai's voice. He was brought back to the present and turned his attention to the child again. At first he thought he was speaking some foreign language until he had remembered the subject they had been discussing.
"Well, I guess having weird parents is better than having normal ones." Colton remarked slowly, carefully. He was being extremely cautious of his words just because of Zakai's parents recent passing. He didn't want the kid to go stumbling into darkness and despair over their deaths. Which is why he was relieved to change the subject away from something he would have inevitably screwed up with careless words. "Sort of. It's not exactly full proof yet. And it could change just as easily. But... I have this weird feeling in my gut." Once more his eyes trailed away into the distance. "I can't quite put my finger on it..."

[Death101]

"Like something bad is going to happen?" I asked and Juline held his note pad with '?' written onto it. "And yea this is my son Juline." I smiled. "Either way the suns probably going to set soon we should find somewhere to spend the night." I stated and Juline nodded.

[Kicks]

Colton turned his eyes once more away from the streets and back to the man and his son. So he did find his son after all. That was a relief. He would have felt bad for the man if he had lost his son like the way Zakai had lost his family. "I'm glad you found your son." The soldier told the biker. It was in that moment that he was grateful none of his family had been deployed to San Francisco or even lived in California for that matter. They were safe back in the United States. But that also made him feel guilty because while his family was safe from immediate danger, Tony and his son as well as Zakai were still put in danger. He suddenly felt a bit sick being so grateful while the other two must be feeling like the world had crashed down on them. But in some way he could connect- he had lost the men that had grown to be like brothers to him. Granted they were older, obnoxious and sometimes annoying brothers, but still twistedly so family.
"I don't know." The captain finally answered Tony with a frown looming over his face soon enough. He wouldn't exactly put it like something bad was going to happen. Though that might be a variable into it. After all, the sun was going down and how he feared that time... "You're right. Definitely right." The soldier agreed with the man firmly. "We should hole up for the night... We don't want to get stuck out here when those monsters come lurking."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

The talk going on between the two adults was making Zakai nervous again. Colton was acting worried. Zakai had noticed that the soldier would become more spacey whenever something bad came to mind. Now he was on alert but just a minute ago, he seemed like he wasn't paying attention. Of course Zakai understood that he had to be aware of their surroundings and whatnot, but still. He looked down uneasily. The sun was setting, they had to take shelter, and Zakai had grown a small distrust to using buildings as shelters after Colton had introduced it to him the night before. He remembered what Colton had said about not being afraid, and he felt kind of bad that he couldn't be at least a little more brave. He didn't doubt what Colton offered in his protection... but every time he thought about it, it never seemed quite sincere. His parents were the ones who had to protect him. Now they were dead. Colton had to be different. He was a soldier. He had more experience. He was trained to do this. Zakai tightened his grip on his hammer. He was trembling lightly, but one could only tell if they touched him.
If we have to go, then let's go already!

[Kicks]

Colton ran his empty hand through his hair. His eyes were no longer on any of them but rather skimming over the buildings to choose from. He was looking for a small one as always, but he couldn't help but feel some weird pull towards a medium sized buildings. It was maybe two floors tops with an empty roof. There were few windows and he was guessing by the looks of it one fire escape ladder. But it would no doubt have multiple doors to get out of the building as required by law. Part of him felt like not going near it and choosing a smaller building but this was no time to be picky. He could hear the rattle of manhole covers. He knew what sign that was and it caused his heart to leap straight up his throat.
"Come on." He stated in as calm a manner as he could give. But it was very urgent still and even rushed. There was just no way he would let any of them get caught outside with those monsters. They had a better chance against zombies than they did with those horrible beasts.
The soldier didn't hesitate to make his way towards the building. Even if there were a few stray zombies inside all it took was a bullet to the head. The captain barged through the door and did a quick scope of the first floor. It was definitely clear but he had no time to check the upstairs. Besides that but he hadn't heard any strange noises coming from up there.

[Death101]

"Theres a chapter club house around here, assuming they haven't ran off and are still breathing we can spend the night there it's safe enough shatter proof windows and chain link fence usally." I stated and Juline frowned he never like it when the club was around they were to loud for Juline's taste. "Anyway if you want to go it's only about a mile or so away, they'd welcome me and you as my guest probably." I stated being the highest in the nomad crews ment in times of chaos a nomad chapter can step into a normal area chapter. "Either way, we should move soon." I talked quickly and Juline scribbled down a 'Yes.' onto his notepad.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked at Colton and then at Tony. They both had good ideas. Did this mean they would split up again? He wasn't sure. Still, he had already had his mind made up to follow Colton. He didn't like the idea of all of them being separated since he knew that they had a better chance if they worked together, but individual decisions were to remain individual. By the way Tony had put it, there were more people at the chapter club house. That meant more survivors which made Zakai feel a tinge of happiness. Still, a club was a club. He was sure that it would be different now that the San Francisco world ended, but he didn't know anything about people who went to clubs. Zakai didn't want to meet any weird people. Tony was in a gang, which in Zakai's mind wasn't normal, but he seemed okay. Besides, it wasn't like Zakai knew any other people from gangs, and maybe that meant that gang people were normal too.
He looked at Tony, "Um... are you going to go to the chapter club house?"

[Death101]

"I'm going weather or not you come, I've got a duty to the club." Juline frowned and showed them his notepad. 'Dad didn't know his father or mother the club took him in when he was younger and raised him, they're family to him.' Juline shrugged showing he didn't really have a say. "If you come or not I've got a duty to do I'd rather not part ways again." I stated.

[Kicks]

Colton scanned across the second floor for merely a minute or so before he determined that even if there were a zombie inside of the apartment that it wouldn't matter. There was no way to be totally zombie free in San Francisco. He belted down the stairs and out the front door once more. By now the tall buildings were casting a cool shadow down on them, giving the impression of night. But Colton knew San Francisco's mind tricks and had knowledge that they had at least another ten minutes at most. At least maybe five. He noticed the other two still determining where to go which almost made him roll his eyes. By now they should have made up their minds. It wasn't a decision you could take your time on, you had to act quickly during these days. Colton had already made his decision that he wasn't going to go to some clubhouse. He knew gangs were crazy and that they were exclusive. He didn't want any trouble by showing up. Besides that but being stuck in a building with sweaty men all night just didn't seem ideal to him. He had grown used to being either alone or with a small group. Anything larger would have made him claustrophobic. Noise from people would make it hard to keep his eyes peeled and alert. It was the life for a biker but not for him, even if it were for only one night.
"You girls done chatting it up or have you decided?" The soldier remarked as he drew near them. "You said your clubhouse was about a mile or so from here which means it would take you maybe three minutes on the bike to get there and seven minutes on foot if you ran moderately fast. By the estimate of the sun you have maybe ten minutes before you're overwhelmed by monsters that will have no mercy and leave you dead for good. They will torture you, make your death extremely so, and then when you think that it can't get any worse they amp up the level. Maybe they'll even be twisted enough to toss you to the zombies to finish you off which will no doubt make you come back as one of them. These creatures of the night aren't like the brainless zombies, they're smart, fast, and tactical. They're your worst nightmare here in San Francisco so you guys better hurry and make your decision before you become their play toy."

[Death101]

"Solider, you got a phone number?" I asked having made up my mind in a matter of moments there was only one choice really. I need to protect my son, my self and the club. "and kid, If you want to ride with us you'd best chose now if we part ways for now we might not see each other again." I stated and Juline nodded I looked at the solider. "Last chance you can either roll with us or we can part ways right here and now." I started my motorcycle and Juline leaned into my gut to balance out. "What's it gonna be you two?" I asked.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai listened to them both. Colton's description needless to say scared him. He was pretty sure that just meant that he should probably get a move on. After Juline's explanation, Zakai understood pretty well. At the beginning, even though it was dangerous, he hiked and zigzagged through the city to get there. If they parted even with the phone number, there wasn't a great chance that they'd call each other. There wasn't any reason to really. This could probably be the last time.
Zakai smiled at the Tony and Juline.
"W-well, good luck then. I, uh, hope you have good fortune?" he really wasn't sure exactly what to say to wish them good luck, "Something like that. Bye."
He nodded and then hurried after Colton. He still felt more comfortable around Colton, and he had already decided the soldier was pretty okay. Tony was okay too, but other gang people might be weird.
"So... are we going in there?" Zakai asked, motioning to the building nervously.

[Death101]

'So?' Julines notepad again. "We've got to make tracks and get rolling our self let's go." I kicked my bikes break stand up and hit the gas as we rode off the setting sun seemed like it might just bring the whole world down around me. I had lost almost everything, my chapter, my friends, my brother and almost lost my son, but even so I've got my son and I'm going to protect him no matter what happens. I rode on wards towards the club house and I could see a few undead roaming but I guess since we were going so fast on our motorcycle and they were already eating things or breaking though windows trying to get to a shadow or something they found us in a lack of interest. Before to long we reached the gates of the club house courtyard and there stood it's chapter clear as day and... a few of my chapter I stopped once though the gate and heard it clink and get locked shut. "You guys." I said putting the break leg down and taking out the keys then rushing to the men who I thought was dead. "How did you get out alive?" I asked it was only one person Frank Narrow but either way I wasn't alone. "When the boys said that we needed to take off they meant anyone." I nodded as we walked towards the clubhouse it self. "The president of this chapter is dead the vice-president is acting but he isn't the leader type he wants to talk to you. He's up stairs waiting for you in there meeting hall." I nodded walking up the stairs Juline close behind.

[Kicks]

Sadly to say, Colton did regret parting with them. But a clubhouse just didn't seem safe and didn't sound welcoming. Besides that but he didn't want to spend another moment outside. "We stumbled across each other's paths twice. I'm betting we'll see them again soon enough." The soldier commented as he watched the two ride off into the distance.
He turned his back on the scene though and ducked inside of the apartment in order to answer Zakai. He ushered the child in as well before he shut the apartment's door and barricaded it with a chair under the knob. He shut the curtains and shrugged his shoulders. "Better in here than out there." He stated to the curtains. "If we're not near the windows or doors then they won't be able to scent us." The soldier added while he began to make his way up the stairs. Even if they were to find them, the two could easily escape up to the roof. He didn't know from there but he was packing grenades.
On the way up the stairs, he stopped at the smallest of noises. It was a creaking of a floorboard above his head. Anyone might have thought it was a mouse, but Colton wasn't just anyone. He narrowed his eyes and whipped out his gun. The man began to creep up the stairs silently until the staircase opened up into the second floor. It was empty as far as he could see. That was until he turned his eyes to the window. Swiftly, two guns were raised- one from Colton, the other from another man.
Silence ceased the two of them as they took in one another's weapons. Both were military issued guns, and as fate would have it- the same issue.
"Name." Colton spat out as soon as he had recognized that gun.
The man by the window seemed to relax a bit when he heard the voice of the one pointing a gun at him. He lowered his gun and clicked it onto safety while a sigh of relief escaped him. "For pete's sake, Captain, just about give me a heart attack." It was an elderly man's voice. The man there by the window, once the light was shone across his face could easily be described to be in his early sixties. But he was built just like any other military official. If anything, he seemed to have more authority by the way he presented himself with his straight back and strong, youthful voice.
Colton recognized that voice. He also recognized the man standing there. But he refused to lower his weapon. "You're supposed to be dead."

[Death101]

"So then what did you need?" I asked the acting president. "I'll be blunt we need to get out of this dieing city and back onto the mainland." I nodded listing to what he was saying. "We'll be leaving in morning we're riding straight out, only stops are for gas, sleeping and food if you're not here when we leave in two days your on your own, we're the last of our kind in this city we need to get out and get to safety." I nodded and walked over to him. "We're in I'll begin gathering what I can for the trip." He nodded. "You can use the cot that's in the room behind the bar to sleep for now just be ready if I need you." I nodded as I left Juline right behind. I felt his notepad at my side and looked. 'What about the others?' It stated what he meant was will we see them ever again. "I don't think we will if we're riding out in the morning then we won't see this city ever again." I stated and Juline just followed me alone quietly.

[Kicks]

(All RPers please check the first post of this RP for the recent updates. You will find the updates under 'Clues and Updates'. As most know this post contains the most vital information on the RP and keeps the story in play.
Much thanks from your's truly.)

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked around the building nervously after being led inside. Colton was right again. It wasn't wise to stay outside. Zakai hated buildings though. He stayed close to Colton. It was dark and he hated the possibility of being left alone when he could hardly see. He followed Colton up a flight of stairs. He couldn't help it. He was shivering again. He flinched at the sound of creaking floorboards. Nothing. It's normal for stuff to creak. Especially at night. He remembered as a small child and just as plain Zakai, being afraid of these noises back at his house. His mother told him all about how houses creak due to the air getting cooler. He shook his head. Colton said earlier that I shouldn't be afr- He stopped when they reached the top and Colton pulled out his gun. Zakai's eyes darted in the direction he was pointing it and he saw another raised in the same way. He retreated a few steps back down the stairs, but not too far so he could stay close and see what was going on. When the other man responded by lowering his weapon and answering back, he didn't seem as threatening, but Colton hadn't lowered his own gun. Zakai stayed where he was, shaking a little more rapidly and gripping his hammer to his chest. Supposed to be dead? Zakai didn't like this at all. He shivered silently and stared at the floor.

[Kicks]

"So quick to assume things." The other man remarked with a chuckle. He seemed to be a lot more amused than anybody should ever be in San Francisco. "Captain, I'll have to advise you to lower your weapon before I feel as if our friendship is threatened."
"Why aren't you dead?" Colton replied in a stone cold voice. "You left the base at night, disobeying direct orders! I saw the monsters gang up on you, damn't. You shouldn't be alive!"
The old man brought a hand up to his face to try and hide the smile. But it was utterly failing him. "Well, those beasts definitely are strong... But none of them bit me or infected me. Besides, we both know what I'm capable of. You didn't watch long enough to see me pull off my greatest escape yet."
"I didn't have to watch to know that you-" Colton cut himself off before he could continue. He only just remembered Zakai was behind him. One slip of the tongue could send the kid into a psych ward. But he had a feeling he would need plenty therapy after they left San Francisco anyways. "Damn't! Why are you still alive?"
"Lower your gun and I'll tell you." The man replied in a simple enough way. He even added a shrug to it as if to say he was as laid back as he could get. But much to his astonishment, a moment later the soldier had lowered his weapon- but he hadn't taken it off of safety yet. "Good..." The man murmured as he watched the captain carefully. "Really, I'm actually surprised I didn't get a hug from you or something. But that's beside the point. I'm alive because of the mutation.- what incredible powers it bestows. And no, Colton. I know what you're thinking by that look on your face. I'm not part of the terrorists. If I were I would have killed you by now or worse. You should know that though, after all you did major in the study of terrorism."
Colton didn't say anything to this. But he did know the man before him had a point. There was also another feeling raising up in him though. A spark of hope and suspicion all in one. The fact that the admiral could have survived against the monsters meant that maybe the others who had mutated could as well. This just proved his suspicions about how strong these mutants were. Of course, not all of them had the same set of skills the admiral did. He would have to keep that in mind. The suspicion he was experiencing was mainly focused around the appearance of the admiral. It couldn't have just been fate that they stumbled across each other's paths. But by the sound of the noises outside, they would be spending the full night together.
"Fine. I believe your story." The captain stated at last. That didn't mean he put his gun off safety yet though. "Admiral Thomas, this is Zakai. If so much as one hair on his head goes missing... your brain will have a new collection to it from my gun." He promised while keeping the sweetest tone possible.
The admiral broke into a large grin as he finally noticed the little boy. "Why hello there! I didn't know a child could survive such circumstances!"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai's shivering only became more violent as the conversation went on. He didn't like the way they spoke to each other. There was too much tension it seemed for anything good to come out of the situation. He squeezed his eyes shut after the third time Colton questioned the man's death. They know each other. That man should be dead... please don't shoot at each other! When he heard the other man say "Good" after telling Colton to lower his gun, Zakai opened his eyes and ceased shivering. He looked up hopefully. I-is everything going to be alright?
He listened to the man's explanation to his current state in living. Mutated? His heart sank a little, So he's not normal then. He wasn't sure what to think of people who were mutated seeing that he never had the chance to speak to any of them. Better mutated than turned I guess...
He looked up when Colton introduced them. Admiral Thomas? Colton had mentioned him before. Memories flooded back to him and a wave of nervousness swept over him. Colton didn't tell me what happened to Admiral Thomas. Just now he avoided it too. What did he see? Right now, he really wanted to know, but he knew that it wasn't the time to ask. In fact, that time may never come.
Zakai looked up at the man when he addressed him. "H-hello."

[Kicks]

Colton slid the gun into his back pocket while he went towards a chair sitting beside the window. The admiral moved aside to make room for his former comrade. A smile had consumed the old man's entire being. He was glowing, just radiating with what seemed to be joy.
The admiral grinned at Zakai now as the boy stuttered out a greeting. "You're so small and cute! So, little one, how have you survived so long? Are you special? Can you blow things up with your mind like I can? Or turn things into ice?"
"Zakai hasn't been bitten." Colton stated with an exasperated eye roll. "Thank God too. Nobody needs a child running around with power he can barely control. Or have you forgotten how many things you blew up on accident when you first were bitten?"
Admiral Thomas straightened up from his cooing position. His smile turned into a sort of a pout at the captain sitting there in the chair. "You can be so careless with your words sometimes. It stings. But hey! You know what's great! This is actually my apartment."
Colton took on a very suspicious look while he narrowed his green eyed gaze at the man. "Is it really?" He would have never of guessed that with what little defense this place had. And the fact that the door was unlocked made it seem to him that the story was highly unlikely.
"Oh yea." Admiral Thomas answered back with a pretty convincing tone. "I like to open up the windows and doors during those few hours there are no crawlers or monsters. And then nightfall and sunrise the whole place is shutdown. I bet you didn't even notice the little thing I had up there on the roof. It collects rain and condensation from the sky and drips into a sealed container. There it can be warmed by fire to run shower water. It's pretty nifty if you ask me." From his words it must be true for the man looked a heck of a lot cleaner than Colton did. There was no dirt in the man's hair or dirt covered skin. His clothes were even somewhat clean. "Ya want to see it?"
"No." Colton immediately answered. "Not now anyways. Why don't you tell about yourself to Zakai? Get to know each other a little better? I know about the both of you so don't mind me." With his words he pulled out a knife from a pocket and began to clean it so casually. But Admiral Thomas saw the threat behind it.
"Looks like someone's still weary." The admiral hummed in a good nature. He didn't mind it though. At least, not too much to disturb him. He trained his eyes back on Zakai and pointed a finger at him. "So little one, tell me about yourself."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Small and cute? Somehow, that "compliment" was almost belittling. When he was asked how he survived and if he had a power, Zakai wasn't sure what exactly to answer with. He had never seen this man before and he knew the he was trying to be friendly, but after everything that Zakai had just witnessed, he wasn't sure exactly what to think of the man. He was a little relieved when Colton answered, although he felt a little more belittled after the soldier's comment. Are all soldiers this weird?
When the two men talked a little more, the sense of danger finally vanished and Zakai stopped shivering. They still didn't seem to get along all that well, but it seemed like a good sign that Colton was only acting annoyed as opposed to defensive. He didn't follow after Colton this time when he went to sit down. He also didn't want to interrupt their conversation. He plopped down on the floor and watched the two for a minute. They knew each other before this. Have they always acted this way around each other?
He spaced off for a moment, tuning out what was being said but he came out of it when Thomas pointed at him.
"Huh?" Zakai looked at him a little nervously, "Uh... there's not really a lot to say I think. I don't have any powers or anything like Colton said. I have a hammer... and a gun..." I don't like either of them. It was then that Zakai realized how grim the topic of his weapons could turn the conversation, so he quickly spoke up again, "Uh... I'm twelve." He'd said that sort of hurriedly to get his mind off the weapons. That doesn't really matter though. "Um... I lived in a house. Not in an apartment like this." That sounds like I'm trying to show off! "B-but, I like this too! I mean..." Zakai stopped. He was getting flustered. He hung his head. "I'm sorry. I don't really know what to say..." He wasn't used to talking so openly with strangers.

[Kicks]

Colton turned his head to the side as Zakai began to struggle for words. He find it sort of amusing, but he tried hard not to snicker. Instead, he watched out the short window to the outside world where he could see all the beings out there, searching, hunting, and of course tearing things apart.
The admiral however was freely laughing. "Oh you're so cute!" He exclaimed to the child. He found it just adorable when the little boy struggled to find some words.
"Be careful, Admiral." Colton warned in a slow voice from the window. "Zakai knows how to use that hammer of his. You don't want to see him when he's angry. You won't like him when he's angry."
Thomas broke into a grin once more as he heard these words of warning. He looked over at the window and shook his head. "I think you miss movies."
"I do." Colton admitted with a snicker. "That won't stop me from making movie references."
"Although, if I recognize that gun correctly, I think you speak the truth about the hammer." The admiral added as he glanced back over at Zakai. "Does you even know how to shoot a gun, little boy?"
"You shouldn't degrade him so much." The captain murmured as he glanced once more out the window with a sigh. "At least he had enough guts and glory not to get bitten. Or caught out in the night."
Thomas broke into a frown and a pout at the remark made. "How do you know I didn't do either of those purposely?" He queried in almost a whine.
It was at times like these that made Colton wonder how Thomas had ever become an admiral. His attitude always threw him off. A strong man he never imagined would whine or pout. And certainly not a man of his age. But he did know the skills the admiral had and had seen him in action. Maybe it was the attitude that had brought him to being an admiral. Maybe his enemies underestimated him so much- "I don't know if you did that purposely or not. But if you did do it purposely, you're extremely unintelligent." The captain stated to break himself of his own thoughts.
"Ahhh but that's where you're wrong, Captain. For you see, there is a method behind my madness." Thomas disagreed with another grin he flashed this time over at Zakai. "Do you know how long California has been infested with these monsters and zombies? Three years now. Which is why it comes to a surprise for me that you have survived so long. You must have been nine when it started, right? So how does a nine year old go from school boy to survivor? It's quite interesting and amazing."

[Death101]

"So Juline I guess we'll be riding out tomorrow." I stated Juline nodded and showed me his notepad 'Yup.' I sighed and pulled out two twinkys and tossed one to my boy. "Well I guess that's that." We both lied back on the cots and sighed as we finished then got a drink and I brushed my teeth then gave Juline a tooth brush he finished then fall back onto his cot.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

When Colton broke in, Zakai lost sight of where the conversation was supposed to be. They weren't fighting anymore it seemed, although they couldn't seem to agree on anything either. To Zakai, it seemed like they were trying to insult each other in the most subtle ways possible without actually being subtle. He wasn't sure if they were serious about it or not, especially since Colton was one of the people who was apart of it.
Still, the conversation did get drawn back to him a few times, but he never interrupted since it seemed to be between them although he was addressed a little in the mix.
Zakai decided that the admiral was okay, although he still didn't really like being called "cute". It made him feel like an idiot for some reason.
When a question came up that only Zakai could answer, Zakai wished it had been a different question. He didn't like talking about the whole beginning thing. He looked down and shrugged.
"Um... I don't know really." he didn't know how to explain it, "I ran a lot."
He ran, he killed, he almost died a few times... all he knew was that he didn't want to die.

[Kicks]

Though Thomas didn't look convinced, he didn't push the question any further. The kid must have seen some pretty crazy things and done some pretty horrendous things to stay alive. But on the inside, the admiral was already making up his own story of how the boy could have survived. In his eyes the boy was a ninja during the day and a phantom of the shadows at night.
"I know that look." Colton commented as he watched the old man. "Your imagination is going wild again, huh? You don't even have to answer that." He slipped up from his chair and straightened his jacket. "Well, I need to take a leak." He stated in the most casual tone possible for something with that subject. "Guess I'll see that bathroom of your's now."
"RIGHT ON." The admiral cheered as he raised a hand up into the air. He was pretty darn excited for someone to see his genius invention, even if the captain didn't take a second look at it but knew it was there. "So go downstairs and take the left, it's the green door."
"Ugh. That requires walking down stairs." Colton complained in a small, hardly audible voice. But he left the two alone upstairs anyways as he traveled down the surprisingly quiet stairs.
When the admiral heard the soldier land at the bottom, he turned his attention to Zakai. The man wiggled his eyebrows at the little boy while pointing an accusing finger. "I bet you like chocolate, huh?"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked up. What look? He looked at Admiral Thomas with a questioning stare. Imagination? Zakai looked down. If he's imagining something awesome, he's gonna have a major let down.
He was happy that Colton had broken into the conversation again. Zakai wasn't good at answering these sorts of questions. He hated talking about things like the past and how he survived and all that stuff. He hadn't been very happy as a "survivor", although he was thankful to still be alive. He felt pretty awful about it. He didn't like killing then and he had never seemed to get used to it. Whenever he questioned his own survival, he blamed luck. Now that he met people who seemed friendly enough, he did feel a lot better though. He was glad that he wasn't the only person.
He watched Colton leave, feeling a little nervous as he did. At least he wasn't alone though. After the admiral pointed at him, however and asked him if he liked chocolate, Zakai put up his hands and shook his head.
"I'm not allowed to take chocolate from strangers." His response was abrupt. "Uh... I mean... thank you but... yeah..."

[Kicks]

The admiral tried to keep a straight face as Zakai declined his offer. Sincerely he had been offering chocolate. He too liked chocolate. Which is why he had some and had offered some. But apparently some little boy lived up to his parents' word. He was even trying not to crack up now. "Right, of course. I get it." He stated in a breezy way. "And I bet you're not allowed to talk to strangers either, huh? ...Want to see the inside of my van?"
Before the admiral could try to be even creepier, there was suddenly the sound of loud gunshots echoing from downstairs. They were soon followed by the noise of a gun being thrown onto the ground.
"Whoa!" Admiral Thomas exclaimed with wide eyes. "Colton, seriously man! There's no reason to-" He didn't dare to finish that joke while in the presence of a child. Instead, he lifted his own gun from his pocket once more and headed down the stairs. Following his own instructions, he came across the bathroom door where struggling could be heard on the other side. "Hey, buddy. Are you alive in there still?"
The Southerner on the other side didn't answer to the question. Instead, another gunshot was heard. There was a thud of a body smacking to the ground. And then there was the noise of dragging, a glass shower door shutting, and then the lock of the bathroom door. Colton was leaning heavily against the door's frame with his clothes ripped in some places. The most evident place was his shoulder. It looked like some kind of animal had bitten through the clothing and gnawed away at his skin.
"I'm out bullets." The Texan Captain commented with uneven breath. "Shoot me." Behind his head and inside of the shower was a zombie limply trying to break free of the glass. But the broom slid into place to keep the door shut would make it impossible for the walking dead. On the ground of the bathroom's once white floor was blood smeared and hand prints. A gun was discarded near the toilet with empty bullet shells scattering the ground.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai just stared at the admiral after he mentioned the inside of his van. What...? He jumped when he heard the sound of bullets and whirled around towards the stairs. Colton! He's shooting! Something's wrong! What happened!? The admiral called to the soldier, but Zakai didnt even know what he said. When the man rushed downstairs, Zakai only stared after him for a minute. Something's wrong. Something's really wrong. Zakai gulped and rose to his feet, heading down the stairs quietly, not wanting the other two to hear him. He hadn't been told to stay, but he hadn't been told that he could come either. He didn't dare get close enough to be seen by either of them. He heard Colton's voice and then the words, "Shoot me". His face went white.
N-no... what happened? He can't... he can't... He wanted to run over. He wanted to yell at them both. He didn't want another person to die. He couldn't... he couldn't handle it... not again!
He didn't move though. He stood, frozen, where he was. He remembered his father. He remembered him telling Zakai to leave. If I go over... I'll only make things worse...
He stared ahead into the darkness. He didn't have a say in this. This didn't concern him... and the last thing they needed was a child to watch.
Slowly... quietly... he retreated.
Please... make the right decision... whatever it is!

[Kicks]

"I'm not going to shoot you." Admiral Thomas' immediate calm response was. However, his face had fallen white as if he had seen a ghost. With his words he tucked away his gun and made to stand in front of the door just in case Zakai might come along and see what was going on.
Colton slipped to his knees as if his legs could no longer bear him up. He was holding his head with one hand while he closed his eyes. "Then give me the gun and I'll do it. We both know that if I turn your chances of surviving-"
"No. I'm not going to do that either." The admiral replied. He put his hand on the door knob and stared down at his colleague. "The bite- does it feel like it's on fire or does it just sting like some animal bit you?"
Colton didn't raise his head to answer the question. He also didn't see how it had to do with anything. "Fire." Came his answer while he began to lean against the wall. "Listen, I have to tell you where the plane is-"
"You don't have to tell me anything." Thomas interrupted with glee dancing in his eyes now. "I'm going to lock you inside of this bathroom, okay? Hope you're not claustrophobic because you're going to be in here all night."
At first, the captain was confused. From the bite he was trying to ignore to his attempts at getting a gun, this was the most absurd he had yet heard. He took a moment to take it in before he realized what the admiral was saying. "No. Thomas, shoot me. If I become like one of those monsters outside-"
"Hush, young padwon. You won't become like those beasts out there so long as you don't go out at night." The admiral replied with a chuckle. "Besides, getting the mutation is a lot better than becoming a zombie or dying, right?" He didn't wait for the answer. He already knew what it would be and he didn't want to hear it out loud. So he shut the door before Colton could try and wrestle a gun from him. The admiral grabbed a chair and put it beneath the doorknob. He then turned around and stretched out his arms.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai was now sitting at the top of the steps with his head held in his hands. He could hear them talking, but he could't hear what they were saying from here. He was shaking uncontrollably again. He didn't want Colton to die. He didn't want anyone to die. He gripped his knees to his chest and stared down the stairs. If you wait like this Zakai, then it'll be pretty obvious that you already know what's going on. He scooted away from the top of the stairs and sat against the wall. This doesn't help that much either. He buried his head in his arms. Who cares? He waited silently for a sign that whatever was going to be decided was decided.
It felt like an eternity before he heard the door close downstairs and he rose his head. There was no gunshot... He stared down. Is it okay to go downstairs now? He gripped his hammer and walked down, trying to gain control over himself so that he didn't seem too scared. His step was fine, but his shaking didn't stop and didn't ease up. He approached and saw Admiral Thomas stretching.
"I-is everything okay?"

[Kicks]

The admiral slowly lowered his arms from the air upon the arrival of the child. He gazed at the kid for the moment, wondering what to say. How much did Zakai already know? That was the real question. Thomas waved a hand through the air as if to wave everything off as okay. "Yea, sure kid. Just a little zombie incident. All under control. The Cap locked the beast inside the bathtub..." He trailed off, only realizing now just how humorous that truly was. Now he was imagining just how the captain had struggled to get that ugly thing inside of the bathtub and how exactly he had wasted all those bullets of his. The zombie must have been some kind of ninja of sorts, possibly an old soldier or someone in top shape previously before infection. He also wondered how the zombie had sneaked up on Colton to begin with. But he didn't let his mind delve into that for too long.
He then thought about what the kid must be thinking about Colton's disappearance. That was partly why he hadn't just shot his friend on the spot. He knew Colton's wishes and opinions, knew he would never want some kind of mutation floating around inside of him or to even become infected- he didn't even want the chance of it. No doubt this would send the soldier into some sort of weird behavior. But the admiral hadn't shot him like he should have for the Captain's wishes because of Zakai. No doubt the two would have become close in the time they were together. So if the admiral were to have shot him, Zakai would have had the displeasure of losing another person which wasn't ideal for anyone.
"Uhm..." Thomas began awkwardly. "Boy never thought I'd deliver this kind of news. So... Colton kind of got in a scrap with a zombie and kind of got infected and kind of is locked inside of the bathroom. So... do you like hot cocoa?"

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai didn't stop shaking even after the admiral said that everything was okay. He stared back, in slight fear, and he also couldn't help being a little angry, though that did not show on his face. Kind of... why is it always like this! Adults always try to hide everything from us kids by giving us condensed versions of things and expecting us to just be okay with it! We're not stupid! They hide things to make it easier, and I get that, but it's when they hide stuff like that that I know that things are really bad! Why won't you tell me everything! I mean, I know why, but... but...
Zakai didn't dare outwardly express his thoughts. He only stared at the ground and sighed.
Well, if it makes them feel better to think that I'm at least a little okay with all of that, then I guess I can play along. I'm not the only one nervous, I'm sure. Colton has it the hardest anyway.
Zakai nodded his head. "Okay. I'm still not allowed, but I'll make an exception."
He looked up at the admiral, doing his best to smile, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't stop himself from trembling.

[Kicks]

Something like a wounded animal cried out from the bathroom followed by what sounded like someone thrashing around. There was also the steady, slow, lazy scraping of glass from the bathroom's shower door where the zombie was still making some attempt to get out. It was only fueled by the intoxicating smell of the drying blood and the sound of a human in pain. Behind the door, Colton was trying not to lose himself. The fire had spread to a surge through his veins and every now and again there would be a violent jolt that would send him thrashing.
But Admiral Thomas on the other side of the door began to hum loudly in order to soften the cries from behind the door. "Rightio! Hot chocolate is on its way!" He chirped merrily despite the circumstance. He took the kid by his shoulders and directed him to the kitchen which was located downstairs as well. The home was well developed- a small apartment much like a sorority house of some sort. Its bedroom doors had numbers written on them in brass metal, the two bathrooms of the house were large enough to hold a crowd, and the kitchen had many counters as well as being equipped with all necessary kitchen essentials.
The admiral directed Zakai to a chair where he waved a hand towards it. "You can just go ahead and take a seat there. Bet you haven't been able to just lounge around since... oh since goodness knows when!" He boasted out with an exasperated voice. He turned away at that moment and began to make a fuss in the kitchen. He had soon fixed up two cups of hot cocoa which were warming up in the microwave. Granted, not a lot of San Francisco had power- just the ones that ran on generators or backup forms of power. "I've been here for two years. And in that time I found some neat generators. Small ones, but they all run together to keep this place going." He explained to the kid about the power with his back turned on him. He was facing one of the counters, fiddling with a timed coffee pot while the hum of the microwave provided some kind of melodic tune. "You hungry, kiddo? Go on, tell me what you want and I'll fix something up. I'm not all that bad of a chef, though my wife used to tell me differently." He gave a good hearty laugh while he turned back around. He grabbed the mugs from the microwave and placed one before Zakai while a grin invited the kid to discussion.

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai heard something coming from the bathroom. His head automatically shot up. He strained to hear since the admiral was humming so loudly. What's going on!? Colton! He's... Before he could make out anything clearly, however, he was suddenly gripped and dragged to the kitchen. His eyes were wide with fear and worry. He watched the admiral for a moment, then he stared at the hammer in his hands, realizing then that he was gripping t do tightly that his hands had become numb. He was still shaking uncontrollably and his breathing had become hard. Calm down! Calm down! Calm down!
He sat down and looked up when the admiral came back. He laid his hammer in his lap and took the hot chocolate.
"I-I'm... uh... not hungry."
He stared at his cup for a minute. Just calm down! Don't worry! Everything... everything's going to be... The last time he thought that everything was going to be okay, he realized, was when he was looking for his father. He froze. Don't... don't think about it... just... just don't... He couldn't just pretend that everything was fine! He couldn't just pretend that his family was gone! He couldn't just pretend that something wasn't horribly wrong! Calm down! Just calm down! Nothing's happened yet! Just calm down! He gripped his cup and took a moment to pull himself together. It worked a little. He wasn't shaking as hard. He looked up.
"U-um... thank you! For the hot chocolate. I forgot to say that." he thought for a moment, "Um... do I call you Admiral or Thomas or both?"

[Kicks]

The admiral slipped down into a chair quietly while watching the young boy. He knew he must be freaking out on the inside just by the way he was talking. There was also the subtle shaking to take note of. Should Thomas just ignore it or...? He hadn't any idea. He wasn't good with children, never had been probably never would be.
"Call me Admiral Awesome. And what do I call you by?" He answered at last with a breezy wave of his hand. It used to be an ongoing joke between the head officials from admirals to captains they would all find a crack up of the inside joke. It was all because of one day when another captain had decided to get cocky with the president.
"What do you go by, son?" "Captain Awesome, sir!" Even thinking back to it now he couldn't help but give a little smile. That meeting was the funniest one he had seen so far. It had sparked something in all of the soldiers but that was long ago and it was about time to move on.
The admiral let his eyes drift to the kitchen door in contemplation. He had raised his mug to his face and was sipping away at the sweet taste of hot cocoa. There three things on his mind. One was if there were any more zombies in his place. If there were no doubt they would have shown themselves by now or made some kind of noise. The second one was Zakai and how he should console the child or make things less awkward between the two of them. But he knew he couldn't force that. Awkwardness drifted away over time. And the third was the bathroom and what must be happening in it right now. But there was no way he would risk his life peeking in. He would wait until morning when the captain would be out cold from withstanding the duration of the mutation.
"You shouldn't worry too much, boy." Admiral Thomas reassured the kid at last. He was trying to ease that shaking of his. He didn't want some kid passing out from hyperventilation. "By the morning things will be all right again. See, the sun's already starting to peek its little head up over the horizon." He stated while gesturing towards the barred window. "Won't be long now."

[DizzyMaelstrom!]

Zakai looked up at the admiral in slight annoyance at the name he had been given.
"I told Colton the same thing; I'm not calling you that." he took a sip of his hot chocolate, still trying to calm himself down, "I'm just Zakai."
He looked out the window when the admiral mentioned the sun. Sheesh, how long has it been since I've slept? He stared out and then looked up at the admiral.
"Umm... I'm just gonna call you Thomas... or Admiral. Whichever one I guess. Is that okay?"
He looked out the window again, then down at his hammer. What's going to happen? Why is he so calm about it? They do know each other... right?

[Death101]

"Boys!" I woke to shouting and went outside with Juline behind and saw the guys getting ready. "Today we ride for our freedom and safety. I walked over and stepped in to speak. "Gentlemen let's get the Hell out of here." There was a cheer for both me and the vice president as Motorcycles started all around. "Big Tony, you're leading up right behind me." I nodded to the vice president the gates opened as the club house bust into flames I'm guessing they didn't want it to suffer anymore. "Let's go." Juline nodded at what I said and sat on my motorcycle in front and wrote down. 'Let's get out of here dad.' I nodded as we all rode off from the land of the dead we'd have a long ride to get to the water front let's hope we made it.