RPApocalypse: The Reborn {M ~ IC} [Archive]

CrumpetCannon

11-07-2014, 04:12 PM

I sat cross-legged on a low counter, a leech in my lap and a coyote with a hole in its head sat beside me like a particularly tasteless rug. There was also a vulture on the counter, now I'm not entirely sure how much of a vulture's head is supposed to be bald, but I'll assume that this one without a head was a special case.

I groaned in Wobbles' general direction. It was too early to cook, let alone be conscious, but this kind of environment didn't allow such luxuries as sleeping for more than six hours at a time.
The leech was leaking some kind of thick pus on me, and I let out a defeated sigh and picked the thing up, too defeated to care. I chucked it over to the counter, where it landed on top of the vulture and created the most horrific chimera I'd ever seen.
Shuddering, I stood upright, taking the coyote with me by the scruff of its neck. I made my way for the door.

"Someone else might want to start on the leech, I've gotta bleed this thing in time for dinner."

I pushed open the door, and was greeted by the sweltering heat of Texas, which up until now I'd only known as the state with the cowboy hats. The desert was vast and choking, already I felt the need to shed a few layers. I made my way behind the hideout, where there were no windows for anyone to look out of and see me doing this, some couldn't stand the sight of blood, others would rather not see an animal so close to a dog getting cut open.
There was already a wooden frame set up behind the building, an investment I had spent a few hours building and making sure it wouldn't fall over. Coughing away some dust that had found its way to my face, I lashed the coyote's hind legs to separate ends of the frame, tight wire getting a grip on the canine's hock, which I could clearly see thanks to the creature's emaciated frame. With the coyote suitably trussed up and with its major blood vessels exposed to my trained eye, I picked up the knife that I had told the others was only to be used for bleeding.

Now for the icky part. I placed the tip of the blade up to the coyote's neck and dragged it through the muscle in one quick motion, and thick, blackened blood began to pour from the exposed neck like a pair of lips leaking bike. Next I slit the carcass from the neck wound up to the genitals, and then to the rear legs. It now looked like something in the middle of being dissected in a biology class, blood was coming out generously and painting the sand red.
Now for the really icky part. I moved the canine's tail beside, exposing its poop schute. I took the knife and made some very careful incisions around the dreaded hole before hacking away at the flesh further inside, carefully digging out the two scent glands beneath the skin. I held these foul smelling sacs of flesh far away from me and walked a good distance before throwing them the fuck away and sprinting back to wash my hands with the water tap at the back of the hideout. No opportunistic animals would be drawn here now, and the glands would not foul the meat any.

My job done for now, I sat back on a nearby fence, a sorry construct of flaking brown wood held together by rope and long rusted nails. I was amazed that it held my weight at all.
I stayed here as a precaution, to make sure that nothing comes along and filched the carcass before it's properly bled. Later I would skin it properly and remove any organs, truth be told I didn't know enough about canine anatomy to do any of this expertly, for all I knew there could be other nasty scent glands inside the bugger, hiding away like little ninja tumours.

I huffed, putting a hand at my belt and idly fondling the smooth, curved head of my axe. I'd be out here for half an hour at the least if I wanted to make this meat taste as good as humanly possible. Might as well pass the time in any way I can.

I started humming, watching the crimson drip from the coyote's open neck.

Scottie

11-07-2014, 08:00 PM

The sun had already peaked through the pathetic excuse for curtains, yet I had strived to stay asleep longer. Even pulling the blanket over my head, though it was like an oven. Wobbles voice rang through the room and I groaned, curling my knees tighter to my chest. If no one else moved, that meant I could stay. Damn it. The shuffling of feet told me to get up, throwing the blanket off I forced myself to sit.

God I hated bed head. My hair wasn’t made for this heat, it was clear by the nest atop my head. I tugged my fingers through my hair, pulling it into a bun with the last hair band I had left. I scanned over my small pack of belongings, pitiful really. Grabbing a semi clean shirt I got changed under the near tent like shirt I wore to bed. Pulling the massive green shirt off I stood and stretched to my full height.

Padding towards the noise, making my way past the other sleeping bodies and mess. I entered the kitchen, keeping my distance and leant against the door frame. I arrived just as Duke thumped a variety of animals on the counter before leaving for the living room. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and lazily dragged my eyes over the current occupants of the living room before snapping them back to those in the kitchen.

I only really recognised one and I raised a single eyebrow at his goofy smile. I sighed and noted the blood pooling in the kitchen. From the multiple carcasses, it seemed like everyone hunting had been successful for once. As Crumpet dragged the limb body of the coyote outside, it left a leech and vulture. Both seemed lovely. One was oozing something and the other was creating a steady stream of blood down the counter. The blood I didn’t care about but the smell….God the smell.

I had no experience with either of the animals lying in the kitchen, both were pests with one a tad more dangerous than the other. With the swinging of the kitchen door, I was hit by a wave of heat. It was days like this that I prayed for rain. Yes a Scot praying for rain, it’s gotten that bad. Even in a pair of shorts and strappy shirt I was boiling.

I really didn’t want to attempt to pluck the vulture and I didn’t even know if I was looking at the leech’s ass or head. It was just a mush of bloody flesh. Sighing yet again, I nodded in response to Soul. The few open cabinets were painfully bare. “A run to the town is definitely needed. Unless you want Coyote with a side of leech mash.”

Halfbreed443

11-07-2014, 11:09 PM

Sleep was the only peace you could get in this new world we lived in, if you were lucky not to have a nightmare, which is what most of us were doing before being rudely awakened by the voice of Wobble who seemed to enjoy waking us up. I unwillingly sat up and glanced around the room and noticed about half of us were already awake while the other half slept or trying to stay asleep. I stood up and cleaned up my area then headed into the kitchen where I found everyone else. I also saw a leech on the counter which was oozing something and noticed a vulture underneath it.

I stared at the two carcasses but didn't attempt to do anything with them since I wouldn't know what to do with them anyway. There wasn't much to do around here during the morning hours unless you count the hunting but I was no good at that. I was more of a gatherer, searching for food, knowing what was good or bad to eat.

I slumped to the floor feeling bored until I heard someone mention going into town. I perked up and saw Scottie opening cabinets which were empty "I'll go" I volunteered, my voice soft which was sometimes hard to hear but it wasn't something I could help. "I wouldn't mind going out and doing something."

Juicesir

11-07-2014, 11:26 PM

I'm still not entirely sure how Punished Snake saw me, considering the pile of blankets and bottles I was cocooned in. Being wrapped in swaths of cloth was just about the only way I liked to sleep, even on hot days. Guess Snake just took a lucky guess.

"Yeah, whatever." And with a quiet grunt, I went back to sleep.

Wobbles

11-08-2014, 09:22 PM

I rubbed my arm absent-mindedly, offering Damia a tired smile. She was always worried about me. It made me feel safe, even though none of us were. I cleared my throat, and took off my boot, spilling a little bit of sand between my feet as I worked to clean it out. I spoke as I scraped the bottom of the sole.

"Yeah, I'm good. It was a pretty boring morning. The only thing I had to worry about was getting back before the sun came up." I grinned, looking up at her as I took off my other shoe and repeated the process. "How about you? Get some good beauty sleep?"

Snake spoke up, and I tilted my head. I didn't know him that well, but he seemed nice enough. When he offered to carry the leech, I smiled. "Thanks. I might take you up on that tomorrow. You cool with getting up around four in the morning?"

I snorted at Wolf. Who of the two of us was, A, hunting with a primitive bow and arrow, and B, weighed about as much as the leech? If I caught a coyote, I wouldn't know what to do with it. "Don't need to rub it in, man. I don't have the latest sniper 4,000 rifle, or the strength to carry much else." I stood and stretched my weary limbs with a rather loud yawn. "If you're all going to the town to get some stuff, I'll come, too. Maybe I can get that Jeep running."

Craze

11-08-2014, 10:12 PM

The wind blew strong around my ears, as I sat atop the rocks on my haunches staring at what would lie beyond. What would loom in the distance. What I would encounter. Normally a breeze like this would be sweet and would remind me of home - but not this time. This time, it was ominous and sinister. As if a storm was brewing.

"I mean..." I mumbled to myself, putting a finger to my lips, "I could just turn back... there's no need to head this way if I don't want to." I sighed and went to sit on my bottom, letting my legs hang loosely over the rocks, swaying back and forth calmly - somewhat out of boredom.

I turned my head to the right and diverted my eyes towards the severed head of a fish lying beside me. I had caught it before and had eaten half of its body already. Its head was the only thing that remained. It stared it me with its large, pearly eyes. I stared back for a while, then turned my head back to gaze forwards. "Yeah, good point." I mumbled.

Loneliness was a harsh burden on my soul. Besides talking to myself, it had some other nasty side effects. Occasional states of depression. Negative and suicidal thoughts. Pondering about why I was doing this. If it was worth it.

And none the less I continued, like the stubborn idiot I was. Come to think of it, I can't even begin to think where I gathered all this courage from. I had decided to leave the fish head behind, though it had been my only companion in the past few hours. I limped across the distance, a dark stain of blood clearly visible on my left leg. Some time earlier, my leg suddenly had given in and I had fallen. Even though it was a short distance, it had created a rather serious wound because my left leg was already ever so weak.

I never really understood why it was that weak. It just was.

I was rather satisfied with my most recent founding. An old iPod, with - as luck would have it - quite a few soundtracks on it. True, some of them were One Direction and the audio was distorted and would occasionally stutter, but it was enough to lighten my mood. Even Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda' could lift my spirits.

As I approached what seemed like a building, I removed the iPod's earbuds and stuffed them in my pocket. I let out an impressed sigh, raked a hand through my hair and allowed my hands to sink into my pockets. In somewhat of a slouched - yes, I was very tired - position I began to walk towards it.

I approached a certain door within the building and I began to hear voices. I waited for them to die down a bit, then placed my hand against the door and pushed it open. With one hand in my pocket and the other on the door, I stared at everyone inside. I didn't particularly pay attention to everyone's appearance, I just wanted to see what these people looked like in the quick blink of an eye.

With a lack of inspiration and social skills, I slowly opened my mouth.

"Hello."

Mystress of Shadows

11-08-2014, 10:18 PM

I never dream, as once again, the night has proven. When I was woken from Wobs' yelling, I had left a place of nothing behind. I guess I was lucky. With no dreams, I never had nightmares. Unlike a lot of others who lived in this desert hut, I didn't have to deal with nightmares. Opening my eyes groggily, I flipped over to my back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Wob's wake-up call continued, and I hoisted myself up, muttering something along the lines of "Yeah, yeah. I'm up."

I hadn't been with the group long. Maybe a week or two. Before that, I had been struggling to survive. It was a good thing I didn't need to eat much or else I might have starved to death. I helped out by taking the early night shift when everyone else went to bed and watching out for anything that might want to eat us dead or alive. That often left me in a bit of a drowsy state for a good thirty minutes in the morning.

Grabbing my glasses, I stood and stretched, rearranging my uniform in the process. I really needed some new clothes. My leggings where getting holes, and my skirt was fading. My shirt had a sleeve in shreds due to a run in with some of the wildlife. Looking around now that I wasn't half blind, I could see that a large number of people where already up and discussing the day. Seeing the dead carcasses in the kitchen caused me to wrinkle my nose. It looked like we'd be eating leech. How delicious.

The talk of heading into town caught my attention. Perhaps I could find something a little more than a school uniform to wear. That would be nice. "Think I could tag along?" I asked, probably looking like shit considering I had just woken up. A small expedition might be just the thing to wake me up from my stupor. Well, it might have until the door opened to reveal an unfamiliar face. Was he someone I was unaware of that was already part of this group? Or was he someone new?

Alenia Dark

11-08-2014, 11:22 PM

I groaned, my throat dry and head pounding, wrapping myself tighter in the thin blanket that made up my ‘bed’. Amy had returned from her hunting trip a while ago, yelling at the group to wake up, but I had ignored her and attempted to fall back asleep, trying to escape the headache that constantly plagued me these days. Of course, my attempts proved unsuccessful and now my headache had intensified to the point where I couldn’t even doze off. Deciding that I had spent enough time lying around like a dead leech, I propped myself up on my elbow, throwing off my blanket and easing myself up into a sitting position.

“Shit…” I mumbled, grasping my head as pain shot through my skull. My headache was definitely worse than it had been yesterday. Damnit. Using the wall as leverage, I stood up, rolling my head around in hopes that an adjustment might reduce the pounding in my head. After a couple satisfying pops, I stretched and yawned, shaking Sleep’s grip on me.

“Mornin’ everyone!”

No one responded, however, which was odd. Lots of people were up, but they were all staring at the door.
Oh good lord please don’t let it be a leech or something.
Following their gaze, I blinked, not quite sure what to make of what I saw.
A new person?

“Who’s this?”

Juicesir

11-08-2014, 11:51 PM

A tap on my side, and some loud, annoying sounds. Trying to ignore such a thing was impossible. What had been a relatively good dream about something was now a boot in my side and increasingly louder noises. I grabbed out at whatever leg was kicking me, halting its progress.

"Stop." An annoyed tone to match my annoyed state of mind. "Seriously, fuckin stop man." Didn't know who was kicking, didn't care. This was my alarm clock now; the way I greeted the world. Shedding my carapace of bottles and blankets, I stood. Even that small motion was enough to release the wafting fumes of my sleep stink into my nose. It was not a pleasant greeting.

I fucking hated Texas.

Everyone seemed to be gathering already. Figures. Way too early, and everyone's ass is already up and at em except mine. No matter. Didn't help that my vision was blurry from having run out of contacts. Glasses weren't apparently part of my thing that I had carried with me into the apocalyptic meltdown of the world. I went to the blurry shape that was Wobbles.

"Well, what've we got on the menu this morning?" Food was all I cared about at this point, and considering everyone was still inexperienced in those ways, it basically always fell to me to prepare shit to be edible. Might as well start the day with a full stomach.

Wobbles

11-09-2014, 12:27 AM

I almost smiled as Juice finally woke up. Lazy bastard. Of course he would ask me; it seemed that breakfast was the only word on me. Not that I blamed anyone. Generally food was scarce, and I consistently came back with at least something that was already dead. Something that was palatable, at least. I leaned around him and peered at the table.
"Josh already took the coyote, so your options consist of rabbit, vulture, and leech. Pick your poison."

Before he could respond, the door squeaked open. A shadow fell through the doorway, and seconds later, a wall of heat hit me. God dammit, we have enough trouble keeping cool as it is. Whoever it was, they were gonna get a mouthful for letting heat in. I squeezed my way between two people and hopped over the remaining limp bodies, pulling the guy inside and quickly slamming the door.

"What are you, an idiot?" were, regrettably, my first words to him. I took one look over him and heaved a sigh. "Sorry, that was mean. -- close the door, next time. Some of us come from cold countries." I paused and steered him a little farther inside the room. Damn, he looked bad. And maybe just a little bit loopy. His lip was cracked and bleeding, though I don't know if he noticed, and something was wrong with his leg. My eyebrows knit together and I realized I still had my hands on his forearms to steer him by. I let my hands drop to my sides, then folded them.

"Who are you? How did you find this place? Were you living out there? How are you not dead? I mean, you look dead, but you're walking, so unless zombies exist, you survived the goddamn American Sahara." Okay, Amelia, slow down. Too many questions. Dude probably hasn't had water in a few days. I glanced at Alenia, who still looked half-asleep. "Grab him some water?"

I took a deep breath ( again ) and stuck my hand out to him. "I'm Wobbles, and I'm a little tense. Sorry. What's your name?"

Soulio

11-09-2014, 12:35 AM

"Sounds good to me," was all I said when I walked out of the kitchen. I was grumpy this morning. Anyone would be if they were woken up to lay on a roof with a blazing sun beating on their back.

I sat down on the couch, crossing my arms. For today, I had nothing to do. So if they wanted to make a run to the city today, I'd be up for it. When people started to move around, I felt a bit more comfortable to close my eyes and take a small cat nap. I was just about to fall into unconsciousness when the door was pushed open for no good reason.

My eyes shot open and I reached for my AR, aiming it directly at the figure in the doorway. Wobbles was already talking to him, and it seemed like I was the only one that did something to protect everyone else.

"The hell you come from?" I asked him.

CrumpetCannon

11-09-2014, 05:24 AM

From my spot on the fence I heard the unmistakeable sound of that creaky ass wooden door opening, and then the curious lack of noise from inside as whatever conversation was taking place died down.

And that was the sound of trouble.

The coyote carcass would have to wait unattended for a few minutes while I checked this out. I hurried around the building's outer perimeter, careful to keep my footfalls as light as possible to minimise noise. Coming to the door, I reached over my shoulder and withdrew my trademark Boomstick from its holster on my back, the weight of the shotgun was ever satisfying in my hands, I made sure to keep it pointed at the ground until I could ascertain whether the threat really was a threat, lest I inadvertently pull the trigger and spray buckshot at everyone inside.

The door was closed and I heard hushed voices from within, which did nothing to dissuade me. I nudged it open with my shoulder and was met with the sight of a beaten and bloody stranger standing on the threshold, Wobbles was close to him, looking concerned, and Soul had a gun levelled at him, a sentiment I shared.

The door swung shut behind me, and I took the time to step forward, make sure the newcomer knew that there were two guns in the room now. He may look the part of a wounded sap down on his luck, but in dire times like these it paid to be safe rather than sorry. My mind filled with images of a seemingly wounded man distracting a group of gullible survivors while his buddies snuck up with guns and dynamite.
Fuelled by memories of too many dangerous movies, I darted over to the window and looked outside, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

I turned my attention back to the stranger, not aiming the shotgun at him but not loosening my grip on it at all.

"Nearest town's a great way away, friend, you must have walked for miles." My brow furrowed slightly. "Maybe you had a little help getting here?"

DukeWolfRein

11-09-2014, 05:27 AM

As Crumpet left with the Fox I started working my way back up to take up my post. Everyone wanted to go into town and scavenge, but I wouldn't allow myself to go with them. Not after last time. I had pretty much scared half of them to death when a pack of Dogs had gotten the best of us and the only thing standing between the scavengers and them was me. My knife still had splotches of blood from that encounter.

As I started up the stairs I saw the door open. That was strange, I don't remember anyone else leaving but Wobs and Mane, but yet here was this boy just strutting in. Wobbles was quick to question him and move him away from the door, and Soul was of course already pointing his gun at him. I smiled before walking back down and opening the door, letting myself out and closing it behind me. I looked around the desert before me and my rifle came up. I moved the rifle ever so slowly and watched for anything in the distance with my scope. Nothing. This guy had come alone, or so it seemed. Maybe his friends were right over the dunes waiting for a signal to attack and raid us.

I went back in and looked at Mystress "Myst! Come on, we're going around the perimeter." I looked at the boy as he was being handed water "For your sake, I hope you came alone." I looked back at Myst and nodded "Come on, up and at 'em. We'll get breakfast when we get back!"

Punished Snake

11-09-2014, 05:38 AM

I turned to the door to see what the hell was going on. Heat, that was all I felt when the door came in opening its hinges. So much heat day after day that I no longer felt the pain of it; I loved it actually. I've lived in this climate for 16 years and not once I complained about it. The only difference about the heat of Houston was that it was damn humid over there in the city, but out it here, out here it's just dry. Doesn't really punish you harder in the day.

Originally I lived about 200 miles west of here before hell came up to the surface. It's about a two days walk none stop; that is unless you're dead trying to cross US-90. I'm no stranger to Texas and I'm certainly the only one here who is a real Texan.

As for the new guy who walked into the door, Soul was just ready to kill his ass. Couldn't help but smile at him about to pop this guy's skull with lead. I walked up to the new guy while walking up behind Soul to gently lower the barrel of his AR; I couldn't have him shooting me in the process of talking to this guy. "Loosen up Soul, try not to shoot everyone new you come across."

I didn't even look back to him. My just concentrated on the new guy and his face. I got to admit, I was jealous of his facial hair. Even with the cheap ass mustache I had and shitty chin hairs that make me unappealing a bit, this guy had an awesome set of beard and stache. "I'm sorry for my colleagues behavoir; he's a little jumpy you know if this hell and all. Got to admit, you got some set of hair there partner," I rub my chin to indicate his beard, "so tell me, what's your name stranger?"

My right hand was ready to pull my AEK-919 in case he pulled something funny. Sure Soul would have my back, but why let him have all the fun? I want to shoot someone for a change than mutated animals in the wild. We'll just see who's a better quick draw at this game if he tried to cap one of us.

Halfbreed443

11-09-2014, 06:39 AM

Wonderful, we were going into town. I'd always hated sitting around doing nothing and the best thing for me to do in this new world of ours was to scavenger. I smiled happy about the discussion being short and to the point, which is how I communicate anyway. I'd heard Wobbles mention that she might get the Jeep started, that was good that way we wouldn't have to walk there and back.

I began to make my way back to the living room when I felt a blast of heat coming from outside. I hated it, I wasn't used to boiling heat 24/7, 365 days a year. Where I came from the seasons actually showed themselves through nature, not time of year.

I turned toward the door and saw a man standing in the doorway. He looked terrible, like he hadn't slept in days or even had a drink of water. Before I knew it Wobbles was shooting with questions while both Soul and Crumpet were ready to actually shoot him.

I sighed relieved that Snake had stepped up and pushed Soul's gun away from the mans head. I was tempted to ask him questions but with so many questions already from Wobbles I was afraid he might overload or something. Instead I just watched everything play out, silently.

Craze

11-09-2014, 02:02 PM

I was grabbed and yanked by my arm, pulled into the building like a ragdoll. When she touched me I felt a strange sensation of... warmth, I think I'll describe it as warmth. But it didn't come from the heat from outside, instead it was a pleasant warmth. A rather odd sensation. I stood silently in front of the girl who had pulled me inside, listening to her words. "She seems nice," was my initial thought, "and somehow eerily familiar..."

"No, I understand." I held up my hand as if to say that it wasn't necessary to continue the preach, "I didn't expect to find this many people inside. Friendly people, that is." but it was at that moment that a gun was pointed at my face by some other boy in the room. All of a sudden they didn't seem that friendly anymore. I heard the girl's questions, though they were muffled. All of my attention had been diverted towards the guy with the AR. I looked into his eyes and squinted my own, then turned back to the girl who told someone else to grab water. "Some water would be nice." I mumbled, reminding myself of my insanely dry throat.

"Wobbles." I repeated, the corners of my mouth curling upwards a little. "That's a funny name." I extended my hand in order to shake hers. "My name is Craze. Or at least, I think it is... but you may also call me William. Whichever you like best."

Then I was welcomed into the building by yet another gun. It seemed I was not allowed a single moment of friendly interaction. Though it didn't impress me - if they wanted to shoot me, then shoot me. Which I doubt they would do this early on, anyways. "You make a good point." I told the guy with a shotgun, "Though I did come here on my own. In fact I've been on my own ever since I can remember. The only companion I've had in the past few days was a fish's severed head..." I rambled, slightly mumbling - I was tired and all this suspicious talk bored me. "To me it's a mystery as well how I survived for this long. I had the luck of finding an abandoned camp, where I scavenged some food and this crowbar." I nudged with my shoulder, which made the crowbar attached to my backpack sway back and forth.

It seemed everyone wanted to join in on this conversation. Then again, it wasn't that strange - didn't happen every day that a blood-drenched stranger entered your settlement without asking. And without shooting. Heck, I didn't even have my gun out. "That's alright." I replied to the person who apologized for the guy with the AR's behavior. "Oh, yeah... the beard." that was also something I tended to forget, that my facial hair had gotten somewhat out of control. I rubbed my jawline. "Shaving razors are hard to come by in a situation like this, you know." I mumbled with a slight smile.

heroine

11-09-2014, 05:38 PM

I had let Amy go about her own morning business. My worrying over her would never end, that much I knew, but I had my own routine to go through. The constant chatter had become comfortable. Especially now that I was able to pinpoint who was who. Their voices significant, unique. They weren't friends. Not yet, at least. But we inhabited the same space, the same room. Ate together and sometimes killed together. Over the few, long weeks we've become close. Some closer than others. But I had always felt out of place. Maybe it was because I refused to interact with those I didn't know so well. It was a bad habit and it plagued me constantly. Being social was not one of my strong suits.

I let out a long breath of air, setting myself down to count the little supplies I had. Organized according to what belonged where. My weapons laid against the wall I had claimed for myself and a small pack that contained the medical supplies I'd scavenged over the weeks. Most of it painkillers, gauze, and tape. Luckily, I'd found a large bottle of rubbing alcohol. It remained unused, knowing that I had better save it for when we needed it most. I had slung the pack over my shoulder when a waft of hot air waved over the large room. I didn't mind as much as the others did. I'd been born and raised in the heat. I enjoyed the sun beating down hard on my skin.

But the reason for the sudden heat was because someone new had found their way to our little shack. And he had looked like hell had visited him more than once. The sudden instinct to help ran over me and I stood slowly. As I had expected, Soul and a few others had been wary of him, raising their weapons. All a bit unnecessary in my opinion but I had always been a peace keeper, wanting nothing but amity between every one. When it came to newcomers, I was always welcome with my words.

Still, Amelia had been the first to welcome him. Albeit a tad too forceful. And as he answered everyone's questioning, I had finally made my way past those who raised their weapons. Placing a hand on Soul's weapon and urging him to put it down. "Look, he said his only companion has been a severed fish head. He can't be that bad." It had always been this way with a new person. The overcrowding and overstimulation. And it was never usually a good thing to who ever was subject to the questioning.

"Would you let me look at whatever's bleeding and see if I can do anything about it? And while I do that Wobs can ask you a few more questions." I usually never spoke out. Never needed to. But he needed it.

Alenia Dark

11-10-2014, 01:14 AM

“Water; on it.”

Giving Amy a mock salute, I marched off to that kitchen, or at least what we used for a kitchen. It was a pretty shabby room, but I guess for the apocalypse, it wasn’t too bad. Stepping over to where we kept the water – the drinking water, not the disgusting stuff we used for washing – I grabbed one of the few glasses we had and filled it halfway with water. I knew the new guy probably needed a lot more water than that, but I didn’t really trust him yet. I didn’t want to waste our water stores on someone who, for all I knew, could try to murder us in our sleep.

I still find it kind of funny that I refer to our rag-tag group as ‘us’. I barely knew half these people, and with most of them, I only knew their names. But hey, when the apocalypse comes a-ringing, a girl’s gotta stay with her own kind. I trusted these people well enough, I mean, someone who kills leeches and dogs can’t be that bad, right? As long as they didn’t have a craving for human flesh. The last thing we needed in this apocalypse was zombies.

Walking back into the main room, I handed the water to the new guy.

“So, what’s your name?” I put my hands on my hips. “There aren't many people just walking these days.” I smirked a little. “You know what? You're an anomaly. I’m gonna call you Mr. Anomaly.” I waved my hand. “I don’t care about your name anymore, though the others might still be curious.” Turning to Damia, I noticed she was treating his wounds. “Hey D, I have an old t-shirt you could tear up and use for rags or bandages if you want. It has too many holes to be decent. Want me to get it?” I ran my fingers through my hair, trying (fruitlessly) to detangle it, even just a little bit.

“By the way, what’s for breakfast?”

Punished Snake

11-10-2014, 05:20 AM

Great, someone here is deaf. That wandered through my mind as Alenia came in asking Will his name again. Sometimes I wondered how the hell I endedup with these guys, but we are unique lile this. Diverse in every way and every cell.

"Well we do have a nice leech for breakfast," This is where I turned to everyone behind me and give them my angry face which isn't pretty. "That is unless someone gets their FATASS on cooking the damn thing! My blood was already boiling and my eyes began to flood with the color red.

I closed my eyes and took in some deep breaths before I turned around and looked at Craze again. This time I wasn't the best of moods to even try to speak, but I need to keep being friendly to him. "Let's sit you down somewhere, son. You're pretty banged up to even be standing around." I turned back and walked towards everyone and asked, "Someone be polite and get this man a chair."

I needed to cool down. I needed sleep real bad as well. Anger and insomnia are never the best of mixes to have, especially in this hell hole. I plopped down by the wall and grabbed my blankets to prepare mymyself to lay down for the morning. Pretty strange how that talking and yelling caused me to feel tired all if a sudden. "Hey Amelia," My voice was deep and tired, but when I said her name, my spanish leaked into it. "If you need me, wake me up. I'm going to take a nap."

As I layed down before the floor, my body began to slowly shut itself down for the nighted day. My heart rate dropped to its proper bpm and I began to see the darkness right in front of my eyes. I was wasn't dying; no, it's too early to even die at all. This was me falling asleep into a slumber that will recharge my systems to their full capacity.

Soulio

11-10-2014, 05:44 AM

"Fucking idiots..." I mumbled, yanking my gun away from everyone else. They all wanted me to lower my weapon in the presence of someone we didn't know.

Yeah, because that's a smart thing to do... I thought as I collapsed backwards back onto the couch. When everyone was beginning to offer him food and water, two thing a we had little of, I laughed.

"Shit, if we're giving him food and water, we might as well fuckin' bake him a cake!"

Mane Of Kurls

11-10-2014, 03:24 PM

I sighed, taking a step away from the commotion and heading upstairs to the look out spot. Counting the amount of people here with the addition of Duke scouting about there would be no one in what I had self proclaimed the Crow's Nest. Yarrgh.

It always got like this whenever someone new showed up. The same pattern with the same people acting out as predictably as possible. Some willing to help, others suspicious, and a few even weapons out. It's not like it was a bad thing, it was just so repetitive I had long since decided to remove myself from the process. It always ended in the same way, a few unhappy and distressed about it but whoever showed up was welcomed with open arms. However I suspected those arms wouldn't be open much longer. With this many people to provide food and water for bringing in more would soon no longer be an option.

My thoughts leading the way I arrived up in the CN and sat down under the makeshift "roof" we'd put up for shade. It wasn't more than a piece old tarp with a few holes but it was better than baking in the sun. I de-smudged my glasses as best I could and multitasked, watching Duke & CO. leave as I cleaned out the barrel to prep the next shot. It was the only problem with this damned rifle, you only got one shot before having to spend the next minute or so reloading. I could do it a bit fast if necessary, but I had long before learned to always make the first shot count.

Halfbreed443

11-10-2014, 04:35 PM

Caze, huh? I guess it suits him since he basically said he's been talking to a severed fish head. I didn't move as people began to move around me. Someone had gotten him some water and another person was nursing him. I didn't know who was who since I was more concerned with Soul shooting him.

I rolled my eyes as Soul did not hesitate to show his displeasure with everyone pushing his hostility aside. He always did this with someone new. He never trusted anyone even when they looked like they were on the verge of dying.

"We don't have the ingredients for cake, Soul. If we did it would have been made a long time ago." I said with a snort, I hated when it got like this. All the questions and mistrust when someone new showed up out of nowhere. We are all trying to survive, the more people the better chances we get better hunts and the more people we have to help scavenge.

Death of Korzan

11-10-2014, 06:50 PM

Small Town - Texas, West of Houston

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaXEw8Tg3BA

The sun beat down violently upon my head as I skulked through the streets. My eyes were ringed with deep black panda-like colouration and they stared into windows and doors. Most of the houses I had come across were ransacked already. Some buildings were just shells of what they used to be. Houston sat 40 miles behind my back, though I almost missed some of the shade that the shells of the office buildings and the rest of the high rise provided. As I turned the corner, a closed door and a set of blinds that were rolled down – though they were dirty and coated in a thick layer of dust – sat upon the front of a shop. Squinting my eyes in suspicion I placed my head against the window and heard humming. The hum wasn’t of human origin, though I had the odd suspicion that it came from machinery.

Grinning at the possible find I had made, I lifted my combat knife and jabbed it into the weak glass, shattering through the pane nearest the door. Looking to my left and right in case something harmful was watching me, I quickly fumbled with the door latch; the thick layer of dust that covered the handle now coated my hand – I cringed. As I pushed the door open I slipped my hand back through the broken pane without cutting myself on the stray pieces of glass that sat in the frame still. Pushing the door fully inside, I was hit with the fetid odour of rot. Grimacing and lifting up my left arm to my nose, I pushed my way in and was met with a largely well stocked store.

Picking up one of the baskets that lay upon the floor in a haphazard spew across the tiles, I walked along the aisles, dumping whatever tins of food I could find into the basket I carried. Cannellini beans, a tin of spam – though I hated the stuff in the apocalypse all food was good. A can of chilli and a few more cans of beans - Kidney beans, Cannellini beans and baked beans – sat in the basket before I moved to another aisle.

Filling the basket even more with other items, mainly salt, rice and rolled oats I looked around for where the humming was coming from. The room in question didn’t have any freezers, though after looking around for a little while I saw a door behind the payment desk. At the seat sat a dead clerk, his body rotting away and quickly becoming skeletal. A bullet wound sat on the bridge of his nose, breaking through the bone and smashing back out, an exit wound apparent from behind the skull. I pinched my nose harder as I walked towards the body, slowly slipping my keys into the dry, musty pockets until I found the keys to the door. Lifting them slowly out of the pocket, I looked at them and grimaced before snatching them up and heading away from the dead body.

The key slotted into the door easily and I could feel vibrations coming from behind it – whatever was inside was clearly making a lot of noise, the humming pressing its huge waves of sound against the door metaphorically. Twisting the key hard, I pulled the door open slowly – the wooden barrier swinging open and creaking against its hinges. As I opened the door I grinned as in front of me sat a large selection of freezers and fridges set up against the wall, all plugged into a generator that seemed to serve itself, though it seemed to be flickering all over, the lights upon the monitors switching off occasionally – the generator was clearly on its last legs.

Opening up the first fridge, I looked inside – it was mostly empty though there was a water bottle sat inside it at the back unopened. My eyes widened at my luck as I pulled the battle down and took a slow sip from it, swilling the water around my cheeks – it had been a while since I had had something refrigerated. Screwing the lid of the water up, I quickly shoved it into my pockets, the jeans from an unfamiliar American store I had seen in Houston – my shirt being too big for me, a Texans jersey.

Stepping outside of the shop, I made sure to pull the door slowly open in order to minimise the noise that the bell made as it opened – I was still unsure of my surroundings. The sun hit me hard and I lifted my unburdened hand to cover my face. I looked down at what I had bought and grinned, happy with what I had.

‘I’m going to need a car…’ I thought to myself, spitting on the floor out of habit. The basket had become a little bit heavier than it was in the shop as inside some of the fridges I had found some heavy liquor; whiskey, Jagermeister and three bottles of good Vodka. I looked up and down the street for cars but there was nought but wreckage. Grumbling to myself I began the long walk around town searching for a vehicle.

Scottie

11-10-2014, 08:14 PM

I dragged my eyes to Breed as she agreed to go, I gave her a small smile and turn back to look at the massacre of blood, feathers and leech ooze. Just as I was psyching myself up to tackling the leech, the door swung open. I glanced over my shoulder as the new face entered. Hmm. I turned and leaned against the kitchen doorframe. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched it all happen before me. For once I agreed with Soul, the guy just wanders in and we accept him with a smile and food. He didn’t look like he could be a threat but I’ve been mistaken before.

It was obvious that everyone had different views on the stranger, while others had a gun aimed at his head, the majority were accepting him no problem. I felt someone brush past me and watched Crumpet move to the window. He spoke but I wasn’t paying attention now, I was watching the others push away the guns that were once pointed at this newcomers head. The angry words of one of the boys only made me raise an eyebrow. I watched him curl up to sleep and rolled my eyes. I counted the heads of those in the room and snapped my eyes to Kurls’ as he left. The only one I really knew and he was disappearing while madness rampaged down here. I frowned and sighed to myself.

I spun and wandered into the kitchen, grabbing two battered bottles of water we had refilled from the tap. I padded my way up the creaky steps to the roof. The heat was infuriating, I stopped for a moment and felt the heat sear into my shoulders. I groaned and moved over to the tarp tent thingy. I kicked at Kurl’s leg. “Budge up.” I shuffled under the tarp, dragging my legs up to hide under the shade. I dumped the water bottle infront of him and scanned over the barren landscape. This is not where I expected myself to be, I wanted to see lush green rolling hills and cobblestone streets. Not beige….miles and miles of beige.

Mystress of Shadows

11-11-2014, 01:12 AM

I sighed slightly when Duke asked me to join him to walk around the perimeter. For goodness sake! I had just woken up, and they're already putting me to work! It was obvious I wasn't used to this sort of schedule. "I'm coming," I tell him before picking up my quiver and slinging it over my back. I also grabbed my bow before making my way over to Duke and out the door.

"You know, you could have me take the morning shift," I mentioned, stretching. The heat of the day didn't bother me as much as it might the others. I had, after all, come from southern Arizona, which is known for its almost intolerable dry heat. What is was now was like a regular summer day for me. It didn't mean I enjoyed it, especially with dark hair, but at least I was used to it. "I could probably take a lot more heat than either you or Soul without being bothered too much by it."

Even though I had brought up this topic, my mind seemed to wander away, back to the new guy. He sure had a way of showing himself in. Wobbles had come across me when I was sleeping in a shallow hole I had dug for myself at the base of two dunes during her morning hunt. I still remembered clearly how she had nudged me carefully with the shaft of her own bow, and thinking it was a leech, I had instantly awoken from my slumber and drawn my own weapon, only to realize that she was actually a human being, the first I had seen in over a month. I too had received the many, many questions that the new guy, Craze if I had heard correctly, was now receiving, and just like him, I had been faced with a few suspicious people. However, after a few days, that all went away, and I had been welcomed into the group.

Scanning the area around us as we walked, I didn't see any suspicious figures, nor any of those damned creatures with a taste for human flesh, thankfully. We had enough leech to enjoy as it was.

DukeWolfRein

11-11-2014, 07:31 PM

As we walked out of the house I felt the sun beat down upon me and smiled. My rifle beat against my back as we set out up the dune to get a better vantage point. Whether we found someone or something, we'd see them first. As Mystress spoke though I couldn't help but chuckle. I looked at her and shook my head "For the fifth time, I'm from Florida. High temperatures and humidity are what I'm used to. Dry heat is sort of like a walk in the park compared to that." I grabbed my rifle and looked around the are of the dune, there didn't seem to be anything around us, and yet there was an uneasy feeling in the back of my neck regardless.

The boy, Craze, he seemed to be hurt and starving. It might have been a trap to get us out here and ambush us, but unless they were stupid, they would have attacked us already. Then again, they could be stupid. Not everyone who survived the initial apocalypse was a genius with top survival and battle skills. I looked back at the house and using my scope reflected the light off it to shine on the Crow's Nest, alerting Mane that everything was clear. I turned to Myst again and nodded "Very well, I think we're good. Let's go back and have breakfast, eh?"

We started heading back down the dune when I saw something out the corner of my eye. I watched Myst walk away and slowly went back up the dune. In the distance, a cloud of sand had kicked up. I pointed my rifle at it and through the scope saw figures running our way. They were too short to be humans. They were sprinting our way. I turned around and ran down the dune and grabbed Myst "Come on!"

As we both burst through the door I looked at everyone around us and then found Wobbles "We got a problem!"

CrumpetCannon

11-13-2014, 12:23 AM

I groaned as Jose burst into the shack, gun in hand. Hadn't we had enough drama for the day with the appearance of this sun-baked wanderer and all the gun pointing?

I jogged past him and pretty much jumped out of the doorway onto the compacted sand outside, I wasted no time making my way up the dune that served as the best birds nest possible in a goddamn desert. Without the luxury of a scope it took me a tad longer to pinpoint the plume of dust that signalled the arrival of what was surely a wasteland threat.
Cursing with all the colours of the rainbow, I checked that I did indeed have two shells chambered before jogging back to the shack, from outside I shouted loud enough for everyone inside to hear.

"Could be those transparent dogs again, the ones where you can see their jaw muscles contracting!"

My voice raised an octave on that last word as the fear set in. I was only human, and no amount of buckshot in my barrel would dissuade the feeling of dread that came from being hunted by a pack of the dogs from Resident Evil. Again I shouted, this time trying to put a more commanding tone behind it.

"Would be nice if there were some more guns out here. And some people to hold said guns!"

The dust cloud started to make itself visible over the top of the dune, and my fingers tightened around the stock. I tried to recall if these were the kind of canines you could scare off with a well placed shot.

Death of Korzan

11-13-2014, 01:55 AM

Middle of a Small Town - Texas, West of Houston

Droplets of sweat ran down my forehead as I shielded my eyes from the ever encumbering sun. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v_oRdoKnqY) The buildings around me provided minimal cover from the searing heat, though unlike the tower blocks of the bigger towns I had been to the smaller shops and buildings didn't have much in the way of shelter. My arms were becoming sore from carrying my payload from the shop. In my other hand sat the opened bottle of whiskey, a few slivers of its full measurement drained away. Lifting the bottle to my lips I took a short gulp before gritting my teeth and grimacing. Whiskey had never been to my taste – I had always found it to taste of dirt. Almost tripping over a car bumper laying in the road, I continued to walk onwards through the town, eyes looking up occasionally to make sure that nothing was in front of me.

The roads themselves were mostly clear, minus the wreckage of various cars and the occasional corpse – the procedure of rot being accelerated aggressively by the vibrant rays of the sun, eating at the flesh of the dead with its long fingers of heat. The bodies themselves made the air foul and pungent, the miasma of their misfit burial filling the air with the sickening smells of meat falling into nothing. The smell was something I had come to get used to, though being close to it still made me want to be sick. The bottle of Whiskey found itself to my lips again and I clasped my lips around it, taking an extended gulp and then some more.

‘One for the dead.’ I cheered in my head – sober and smart enough to know that shouting was not a good idea. Leaning over to look through the windows of the nearest car, I grimaced as I was met with the near-skeletal face of a man, his hands nigh-on glued to the steering wheel, his empty eye sockets where once sat soft, observing eyes staring deep into the windscreen. His lips were missing and his teeth were exposed. What skin was left on him was leathery and old, a thick coating of dust smattering itself along the tattered clothes that his once living, breathing form wore.

The thought of shattering the window shook me to my very core, almost like robbing a grave – digging up fresh soil and searching for riches among the bones of the dead.

It was a shame that the apocalypse had degraded what moral codes I had, because the window smashed easily underneath my elbow.

The scent was the first thing that engulfed me as I reeled and gagged – it was a thick musty scent, with other odours accompanying the familiar smell of death. Lifting my arm to my face, I took one hand and grabbed onto the body’s arm, crying out in surprise as the skin rolled off of the bone. I flinched backwards before vomiting on the pavement. Standing to catch my breath, I took a long breath of the dry air of Texas before turning back and carefully placing my hands upon the dry, crisp clothing of the long dead man and dragging him out of the car. He was light – lighter than I thought at least – though that could likely be attributed to the fact that a lot of him seemed to be missing.

The driver’s seat was a state – where the corpse had sat were fetid clumps of flesh and skin that had seemingly moulded themselves to the chair. The rest of the car was relatively clean however, minus the dust that coated itself all over the interior. Leaning over, I reached my hand below the seat and hunted with my fingers until I found a latch. Pulling upon the metal lever, the seat seemed to draw forwards before coming off of its rack. I wasted no time in disposing of the chair into the road. Leaning into the car and climbing into the position the chair found itself in before, I grinned as I saw duffel bags sat at the back of the car.

Crawling forward across the small floor space, I unzipped one of the duffel bags and saw that it was empty. Smiling to myself, I lifted the bag and leaned backwards before throwing it outside of the driver’s door – the bag landed with a softened thud upon the concrete. Turning back to the second duffel bag, I stretched my fingers across the zip and ran it across the metal before pulling on the zip and drawing it across its track. Inside the Duffel Bag sat a 6 litre bottle of water and multiple clothes and aerosols. I lifted the water out first and placed it upon the floor, grinning from ear to ear before pulling out the clothes and inspecting them. A number of them were polo shirts and some of them wouldn’t fit me, but I was sure I would be able to get into most of them.

Turning and walking out of the car, I quickly began to pack everything, including my gathered food-supplies into the duffel bags before throwing them over my shoulder and dropping the basket on the floor. Turning to the dead man’s corpse, I smiled and flexed my fingers, lines of stress being placed on them by the basket’s plastic handle. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2uSO4jgIHg)

“Thanks for the bags and water.” I didn’t stick around for a reply before turning and beginning to walk further up the road, humming to myself as I peered down alleyways and lifted my head above cars in case any dogs appeared. Lifting the Whiskey bottle to my mouth again, I grinned before swallowing it. The sun lingered high in the sky overhead, blasting its heat downwards upon me once more.

“I’m most definitely going to need something bigger.” I spoke to myself out loud before pulling a folded piece of paper – a map – from my pocket. Unfolding it carefully so as not to unbalance the two duffel bags sat precariously upon my shoulders, I glanced at the paper and squinted my eyes. “Edge of town…army checkpoint – could be something there I could use...” Folding the paper back up and lifting my arms above my head, I quickly wiped my moist brow before continuing to move one foot in front of the other, awaiting the edge of town and the military checkpoint that seemed to come with it.

-------------------------------------------

Military Checkpoint, Texas - West of Houston

My lips pursed together as the high pitched tone of my whistling blasted out from between them. Ahead of me sat a long, sloped road leading down a hill. Before the road however I was now faced with the prospect of multiple barriers and dead bodies in front of me. There was a mix this time, dogs, leeches…more people.

There were always more people than leeches and dogs.

Luck was on my side it seemed, as there were a few armoured trucks sitting at the side of each checkpoint, one of them in better condition than the others despite the thick bloodstain that curled itself upon the camo-paint of the vehicle like some dark, twisted tattoo. I approached the vehicle, careful not to coat any part of my body in blood before pulling on the door. A quiet pop came from the door as it came open. I raised my eyebrows in surprise as I also spied the keys remaining in the ignition.

‘Good.’ I thought to myself. ‘I have no fucking clue how to hotwire.’

Lifting myself out of the car and towards the sides, I pulled on the side door to reveal a compartment meant for troops – though it was fully empty. Smiling to myself I carefully threw my bags inside the compartment before opening one and pulling out the bottle of Whiskey I had been supping on for the long walk. The bottle was about half way drunk now, and I was having trouble walking properly. I closed the door to the troop compartment and lifted myself into the driver’s seat before twisting the keys.

There was no sound at first.

I grimaced before twisting the keys again harder, which caused the car to roar to life. “Yes!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, bashing my fists against the chair next to me, the soft material crumpling underneath my blows. “Fuck yes!” With one hand I clasped the wheel, and the other I pulled the door shut. I lifted myself quickly and shoved my hand into my pocket before unfurling my map once more.

“Right…so I need to keep moving east to Houston, medical centre in the city – what if it’s gone I need escape routes…” I spoke to myself, my mind working in tandem with the map before I lifted myself once more and drew a red marker pen from my pocket and began to circle towns around Houston in case my old prediction of a medical centre in Houston was false and the whole place had been burnt down or looted.

I slowly placed the unfolded map upon the chair next to me before placing both hands upon the steering wheel and pressing my foot onto the clutch pedal – starting my journey towards the State Capital.

Wobbles

11-13-2014, 08:15 PM

Movement was circling around me quickly, and I tensed up at all the weapons. It was ridiculous, honestly; the goddamn apocalypse, and everyone was treating someone in this shape like that? Just stupid. And maybe I was a little biased, yeah. I felt like I knew him, almost.

"Guys, come on. He's not dangerous. Look at him! Chill out."

I smiled at Alenia, and then turned back to Craze. "That's a funny name, too." I opened my mouth to say more, but the door burst open, and Jose looked directly at me. Oh, shit. Problems. I didn't have to ask what; the howl of the dogs gave it away almost instantly. I sprang into action.

"Everybody, grab your shit and stick together! Don't separate, no matter what you do!"

I sidestepped quickly, scooping up my bow and checking the clip on my pistol. Jumping over the strewn mattresses on the floor to stand next to Jose, I lowered my voice. "How many? Think we can fight them?"

Mane Of Kurls

11-13-2014, 08:41 PM

The dust cloud was all I needed to know we were about to have problems. I unstrapped the pouch that held all the necessities of my rifle and emptied them out onto the rickety table beside us, putting them into patterned groups so I could reload faster. "Scottie, listen to me. Just so that I can keep cover fire quickly I need you to help me with reloading. When ever I say 'powder', hand me this metal tube filled with powder. The powder is here, just fill it to the top and hand me it. When I say 'shot', hand me a bullet and primer, both of which are in groups together. Think you can do that?"

As I instruct Scottie on the procedures I raise my rifle and look through the scope to better see into the coming cloud. "Fuck, we've got an entire pack of dogs heading strait for us! Get ready with that powder Scottie!" I sweep through the group and find the biggest lead dog and take aim. Thankfully this piece of shit area had virtually no wind so all I had to do was calculate for speed. Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in..*CRACK* My rifle sounded off, the bullet missing my target but still causing another of the lead dogs to drop instantly.

"Fuck, I missed! Scottie, powder now!" I shout, already wiping off and remaining traces of power of ember from the tip of the barrel. Why did this shit always happen in the morning BEFORE breakfast?

DukeWolfRein

11-13-2014, 09:16 PM

My first instinct was to throw a mattress up and against the door and one against a window before Wobbles got to me and I looked at her "Enough to be trouble. We could make a bit of a stand, but I can't guarantee everyone would get out of it alive. Get your stuff together and packed. I'll hold off as many as I can and we'll try and mak e a run for it." I squeezed Wobbles' hand and smiled "We'll be alright. Be the leader." I said softly before letting go a d running up the stairs to where Mane and Scottie were.

I looked at both of them and nodded "Alright then, we're on containment duty. Let's make sure these bastards don't get too far. " I felt the weight of the ammo in my pockets and then studied their determined looks as they set up Mane's reloading wonder as I liked to call it. He set off a shot and cursed out loud "It's all good, let's just get this over with."

I settled myself in the spot next to Scottie and fixed my sights, the sun shone down on me as I looked down the scope and smiled looking at the first clear image of the dogs. They were a big pack, a couple dozen tops. The alpha was a hulking beast leading from the back, and the scouts around him looked very aware of where they were guiding the pack. The mass of them were what we had called hunters as they were the most violent and agile of them. My breathing slowed down. I felt my senses calm as I lined up the first shot. I could try to take out the Alpha, but a bullet, even to the head, would be like a pebble from this distance. They had thick skin. I heard everyone downstairs getting ready for the inevitable fight and took my walkie talkie, pressing the button down and talking to Wobbles' that was hanging by her hips "26 Dogs. We're about to be hit by 26 big mean motherfuckers. Hey Craze, I hope you can fight brother."

Craze

11-13-2014, 09:21 PM

Before I knew it, the aid to my leg and other scars on my body was interrupted by chaotic yelling and people running all over the place. I calmly placed the empty water glass next to my chair, stood up and stuffed my hands in my pockets as I looked at everyone around me with my left eyebrow raised.

Through a walkie talkie on Wobbles' hips, someone - I believe his name was Duke - mentioned my name and told me he hoped I knew how to fight. "No, I don't." I admitted calmly, shuffling with my feet. Then I yawned and took my handgun and crowbar. "But I can try."

Scottie

11-13-2014, 10:15 PM

Dust clouds were not something I was used to, but even this one was increasing at an alarming rate. I squinted, shuffling forward as movement happened beside me. The shaky outlines of something could be seen and my eyes went wide. Well Shit…There goes a calm morning. I hear words and force myself to concentrate. I turn back to Kurls, I raise one eyebrow as words were flung at me. I blink rapidly, glancing down at the metal pieces that were being hurriedly explained to me. I frowned and nodded as he turned to shot.

This gun was like something out of a western movie, freaking tubes to fill with power and primer and god too many different things. I grumble silently as I do “as instructed”. The loud crack of the gun made me flinch and I squeeze my eyes shut out of habit. I force myself to open them again as ringing floods through my ears. As I hand over the thin tube, someone crashes in. I instantly glare at whoever thought hurtling up the stairs was a good thing to do when we were under attack. Duke. Knew it.

Containment duty…Brilliant. I shuffle around so I am kneeling between the two of them. Even with my horrible eyesight I could tell we were heavily outnumbered. It seemed odd to see so many of them charging. I had seen them before, a few run ins were enough to know the devil dogs up close and personal. 26…..26 FREAKING DOGS. Times like this made me wonder if shit was going down like this in Scotland, or if everything was rainbows and sunshine. Of course it would be pleasant for once in Scotland during the Apocalypse. The sounds of crashing downstairs told me everyone was bracing themselves for the pack before us. Well….What a lovely start to the morning.

Halfbreed443

11-13-2014, 10:43 PM

I was glad when Wobbles spoke up for Craze and she was right, he's obviously harmless. I watched as he was being nursed when suddenly Jose burst through the door. Trouble? Great just what we need right now. I thought as I rushed for my things. I grabbed my gun and strapped it on my waist along with my knife.

I caught a glimpse of Jose heading to the roof where I know Scottie and Mane had been up there since the new guy showed up. I searched for my extra bullets and shoved them in my pocket and headed after Jose to the roof.

I walk to the edge of the roof and immediately saw the dogs, there were so many of them. I wasted no time pulling out my gun. "How long do you think til they get close enough to shoot?" I asked not to anyone in particular. I may not be an expert shot but I knew how to use a gun.

Wobbles

11-14-2014, 04:31 AM

Wobbles

He must have sensed my apprehension, but as soon as Jose's reassuring words reached my ears, I relaxed. We'd been through this before, we could get through it again. I gave him a grin, my fingers already finding their home on the shaft of an arrow. I was more than ready for this.

"Let's give 'em hell."

Swiftly, I began sweeping the room for only the most essential things. Water, mostly. We'd have to walk to the nearest town, and that'd be a pain in the ass without sufficient liquid. I used my sleeping bag, filling up the bottom with the imperishable foods and the ammo, and loading it half of the way full before piling the water bladders on top of it. I handed this to Alenia and wrapped my fingers around her wrist, looking her dead in the eye.

"Stay close to me, got it?"

I heard commotion begin to break out on the roof, and we lined ourselves up by the door, weapons ready, prepared to burst out at any time. 26 dogs... normally that would have terrified me. Okay, it kinda still did terrify me, but apparently I was hiding it well. "Not until I say!" I shouted over the ruckus, pulling an arrow back to my ear. I breathed down the shaft, carefully, ready at any second ---

The door burst open and I swear I almost let the arrow fly.

SoulReaper

Everyone was shouting and moving to do their own thing, and here I was deciding whether or not I should just off myself now. I'd been debating it for a while now. At this rate, I was crabby everyday, and begrudgingly did what I had to do. The only time I really felt calm was when I was busy shooting shit. But that would get old eventually.

I wasn't suicidal because of depression or anything. I was just bored and upset at the circumstances. So I figured, "fuck it".

When Jose made the comment that not everyone would get out alive, an idea clicked in my head.

I wanted to die anyway. So what if I took the dogs and myself out at the same time, and everyone else made it out.

While everyone was trying to find a way out of this mess, I calmly walked into the kitchen, and after moving some things around, I found a grenade that I had found once in the city, and had hidden just in case we'd ever need it.

"Good time as any..." I mumbled, walking back into the living room.

"Everyone out! NOW!" I shouted, holding the grenade up high. Not that it was that high up. But it was enough to get people to leave through the back door. I grabbed the Walkie Talkie and told Jose, Mane and Scottie on the roof, let them know what I had in my hand, and not a minute later, they were out of the house as well.

I put the grenade to the side, and flung the front door open, looking for the Alpha Dog. It wasn't difficult to find, what with it being almost the size of an average car.

"Fuck you..." I said, firing half a clip into its body. It flinched a tad bit, but it didn't appear too hurt.

But it sure as hell got its attention. It hunched over, growled and barked a few times, and soon enough, all of the dogs were sprinting towards the front door.

I quickly ran to the back door, and looked for Myst. I handed her my AR, giving her a small smile.

"Take my gun, and stay safe. Keep everyone safe with it." I looked up, gave a quick salute to everyone, and told them to run. After closing the door, I calmed my breathing, and grabbed the grenade.

Pulling the pin, I waited at the back of the house until I was fairly certain each of the dogs were inside. The Alpha growled, and pounced on me. The grenade fell out of my hand, and I laughed one last time.

"YOLO, motherfuckers!"

The oven's gas ignited, and the useless gas heater exploded as well, sending shrapnel and small bits of dog all over the surrounding area. The house was barely standing, and there were small pieces of it that were now on fire.

The crabby asshole of the group, SoulReaper... was dead.

Wobbles

And just like that, everything changed. I didn't even have a chance to wonder, to ask what he was doing, and then boom. It didn't even dawn on me, and he held the damn thing in the air for us to see -- I realized it literally ten steps out the door. I had spun on my heel, and at that second, the building exploded. The wall of heat nearly leveled me, and I staggered backwards, one arm held over my face. ...Goddamn. There's no way he survived that --

I was shook from my trance by someone's hands guiding me by the shoulders, and I snapped to instantly. He took out a lot of the dogs, but there were still a good 10 or so left. My brows knitted together and I shrugged off the hands on my shoulders. One of the dogs, with a half-melted face, stumbled towards me, and I quickly tugged an arrow from my quiver, loosing it into the dog's eye socket. It yelped and moved no more. I scanned the survivors quickly, and raised my voice.

"Right, let's make sure his life wasn't in vain. RUN!"

DukeWolfRein

11-14-2014, 06:14 AM

The shots rang out as Mane and I both shot at the same time, and while Mane reloaded I kept shooting. Two, four, eight dogs down and by the time we looked up the other 18 were already tearing down the door. I cursed underneath my breath and got up "Come on! Let's move, they need us down there."

As we were about to head downstairs Soul's voice came in through the Walkie Talkie warning us of what he was planning on doing. I sprinted down the stairs and saw him go out and start shooting at the dogs. I saw Mane and Scottie walk past me and out the backdoor. I stood there for a second watching as Soul came back in. There was a moment when no one was there but just him and me and the Dogs. I saw his eyes. The boredom and intent behind them. I couldn't help but shake my head before running out the backdoor. I felt a sudden push and I was thrown clear from the house to the sand. I rolled instinctively and looked up as the house went up in flames.

The Grenade had more than likely caught one of the many gas tanks in the kitchen, which would explain the fire and the bigger explosion that had followed. I got up and saw the remaining Dogs. My knife came out and I looked around at everone as the Dogs came around the rubble. There were 10, and this time we didn't have anything between us and them. I watched a Wobbles shot one down and then another ran at her and Alenia from behind. I aimed and shot it out of the sky as it pounced. The rest seemed to be scattered about.

Two of the Dogs went after Crumpet, while two others growled as they circled Mane and Scottie. A dog was running towards Breed, and the last three had cornered Snake, Mystress and Heroine. I looked over to Wobs and Alenia and nodded. "Let's get 'em!"

CrumpetCannon

11-14-2014, 04:41 PM

Of course I knew I couldn't outrun them, but like a child who knows he's in trouble and denies it by hiding in the cupboard, I just kept running. Honestly I couldn't think of anything else I could do but sprint as they nipped at my heels, snarling and slobbering to remind me that they did in fact bear some -however minute- resentment towards me. My shotgun was in its holster and my axe hung from my belt, both were nigh on impossible to draw when careening forward at a dead sprint.

And so I ran, even as the momentous explosion deafened me but did nothing to quell the dogs' pursuit. It was only a matter of time before one of them got to me, these were creatures built to catch prey foolish enough to try to run.
The jaws clamped down on my left forearm as one of the dogs looped round to my side and leapt. The next thing I saw was dirt, then sky and then dirt again, tumbling with the canine as our combined momentum threw us sideways into the baked ground. I needn't tell you how excruciating it is to be bitten by the full force of a dog's jaws, needless to say I would have screamed were it not for the adrenaline, its teeth sunk into my flesh and scraped horrifically against bone.

And that was before the tumble. When the dog eventually released its hold on my arm (which I brought about by desperately sticking my other thumb into its bulbous eye) that portion of my arm just below the wrist was a shredded wreck of flesh and torn cloth, as if I'd stuck the thing in a giant paper shredder. I held that limb to my stomach, unable to do much else about it but whimper at the excruciating pain.
Yet I still did not scream. There are certain things that happen when a human being's life is threatened, I had failed at the flight portion of my reaction, and so the primal part of my brain kicked into gear and I entered the fight mode.

Still on the floor, I kicked the one that had bit me away, getting a satisfying whump and a yelp for my efforts, before drawing my survival axe with my good hand and swivelling to face the other one. It bore down on me and I lashed out twice, striking it once with the flat side of the blade, right on its head, effectively stopping it in its tracks. My next blow caught it in the shoulder, and this time I liberally added some of the sharpened blade to the mix, the weapon embedded nastily into the space behind its head and scraped against its shoulder blade.

I yanked it out, spraying nearly translucent blood onto the sand before rolling away and staggering to my feet. Likewise, the two dogs had separated from me and now circled like wolves, hackles raised. The one I'd scored a hit on held its front paw off the ground, I'd wounded it.

My grip on the axe tightened, and finally my body allowed me to scream.

And so I did, sprinting towards them with my deadly weapon held at an angle by my side.

heroine

11-14-2014, 09:25 PM

The force of the explosion had caught me in the back, tangling my senses and sending my head swimming. And the ringing had gotten worse as I gripped the heavy bat in both hands, the shotgun lost somewhere in the dunes of sand. Hearing the jingle of bullets in my pack had made this situation seem hopeless. With out the gun, I had neither the strength or will to kill, hostile or not. My hands shook, fingers weak around the bat.

But with one look at what had happened, it was impossible not to want to fight back. I swung the aluminum bat, clipping the soft head of a dog as it lunged towards me. I felt the hit through my arms, the shock a sudden pain in my bones. It had reminded me of swinging for a softball, feeling it collide with the bat and wincing as the vibrations shot through your body. But this was not a game and had swung again. The weight doing most of the damage for me and its skull had gave away beneath the bat. This time the dog had stayed still, finally dead and I felt the harsh beat of my heart in my throat. My lungs struggling to take in air.

"I need help!" The call had been automatic, crying out for anybody who could help.

Punished Snake

11-14-2014, 10:00 PM

I woke up to screaming at completely angry. I seriously needed sleep and now I can't get any for shit. Apparently some hounds were coming in from what I heard by the shouting. As I get up from my spot, a surge of heat hit me as something happened. I raised my AEK-919 and fired it at an incoming hound. The bitch died after a few shots to its brain the job. As I got up, heard Famia call for assistance. I walked up to her with my gun in my left now that I have my hammer out on my right. "What's wrong? You look a puppy who just came out of its mother."

As much as I sounded like an ass making that joke, I just wanted to change her emotion so she could stop quivering. "Damia, now is not the time for such a breakdown. Now is the time to survive in this time of need. Now are you with me?"

Alenia Dark

11-15-2014, 12:35 AM

Everything was moving so fast.

Well, actually it wasn’t. I felt as if I was drunk – watching as everything moved inexplicably slow around me, yet I could not move any faster.

I’d been in many panic-worthy situations since the apocalypse started, but I still couldn’t handle them that well. I could do the danger; that wasn’t what scared me. It was the commotion that always got to me. The people running everywhere, the frenzied energy, the feeling of panic pulsating around me, filling the air like poison. It clogged my lungs, making me feel as if I was trying to breathe pudding, essentially choking me. I knew I should move, I knew I had to move, but I couldn’t. I felt that if I dared move I would open the dam to my panic and lose all hope of gaining control of my emotions. Come on Alenia, you can handle this. This has happened before. You got this. My breaths were shaky and shallow; my eyes glued to the ground. My arms slid up my sides in an attempt to hug myself, but in the process, someone grabbed my arm, making me start. I jerked away in my fright, but when I looked up, I was met with reassuring eyes. Amy handed me a sack full of supplies, seeming to know that I would be more useful as a pack mule in this state than a fighter.

"Stay close to me, got it?"

Those words were all it took to center me. I had people here who were going to do their best to protect me and the rest of us, so I had to do the same. Following Amy to the door, we were about to step out when Soul came rushing into the room.

"Everyone out! NOW!" He shouted, holding an object high in the air. An object that looked oddly like a grenade… Oh shit, that is a grenade!
Pushing Amy through the door, I sprinted as far away from the house and the dogs as I could. Sure, I didn’t have a lot of stamina, but I could be fucking fast when need be. When I was about twenty-five yards away, the explosion threw me to the ground, an echoing ‘BOOM’ screaming in my ears. Hissing in pain as the sand dug into my skin, I skidded across the desert floor, vainly trying to shield my head with my stick thin arms. As flaming bits of house rained down upon us, I did my best to roll out of the way of the debris. But my best wasn’t good enough as a shard of flaming wood scraped deeply into my right arm, making me gasp with pain. Batting the burning wood away, I grimaced at the smell of my singed arm hair. Scrambling up, I shook out my arm to make sure it wasn’t too badly injured. Once I deemed it usable, I unclipped the pistol by my side and flipped the safety off.

Time to fuck some shit up.

Looking around, I made eye contact with Duke and Amy, watching Duke as he nodded towards the dogs.

"Let's get 'em!" He shouted, and I nodded in response.

I headed off to where Crumpet was being chased by two dogs, knowing that’s he’d probably need some help. I ran as fast as I could, but the dogs caught him faster. I couldn’t see anything but a frenzy of dogs, so I knew something was up when the creatures backed up and started circling Crumpet. As I drew close, I heard him let out a bloodcurdling scream and charge at one of the dogs. Doing all that I could do to help, I shot a couple bullets at both of the canines before holstering my gun, drawing my katana instead. Silently thanking my parents for letting my take kendo before this hell-sent apocalypse started, I launched myself at the unoccupied dog, slashing with equal amounts of fury and calculation.

“Time to raise some hell!” I shouted what could only be described as a battle cry, before fully losing myself to the insanity of battle.

Halfbreed443

11-15-2014, 04:26 AM

As soon as I heard the two guns next to me go off I started shooting as well. I only hit one but it didn't stop it, still I shot something. There wasn't enough distance between us and the dogs for us to shoot all of them. You could hear the dogs burst through the door and Jose wasted no time rushing back down, yelling for us to follow.

I followed and as soon as I reached the bottom I saw Soul had a grenade in his hand. My eyes widened Is he crazy?!, but I didn't have time to ask him I rushed out the door along with right behind Jose. Not long after I was out the door I felt a wave of force push me forward. I knew Soul had died, I just didn't know why he decided to do it this way.

I laid in the hot sand on my stomach for a short time trying to catch my breath. Finally I sat up and looked around me, seeing the rest of the group I stood up and began to move towards then. Unfortunately for me that was when I hear a loud growl to my left. I slowly turned to my left and there it was, I was face to face with one of my fears. I completely froze. My wind pipe tightened and I didn't dare move, or, well I couldn't move.

The dog didn't move either, just stood there growling at me which seemed odd to me. After what seemed like forever it took a step toward me, which caused me a small squeal to escape my throat. I turned my head to search for someone, anyone who was close enough to get to me but I didn't I was stuck.

Mystress of Shadows

11-15-2014, 07:15 PM

I barely had time to think of what to do next when we became under the attack of dogs. I had decided to stay off of the roof and help Wobbles out as much as I could when suddenly Soul barged into the living room holding a grenade. Usually, a person would run. I stood there in shock while everyone began to move before moving, perhaps a bit slowly, out the back door. I turned back to see whether Soul was going to do one of those "throw and run" things, but instead, Soul came up to me and gave me his gun telling me to keep everyone safe with it. Unsure how to respond, I merely blinked and looked at the gun.

I looked up just in time to see his salute and the shutting of the door. Only then did it click, what he was going to do. He was blowing both him and the dogs up. He was sacrificing himself, and I was still in the range of the explosion that was about to happen. It was too late to try to save him; he'd have already pulled the pin. I had to get away or his sacrifice would have been for nothing. I turned on my heal and sprinted as fast as I could, but it wasn't enough. The force of the explosion sent me flying. The heat would probably leave a few minor burns here and there, and the impact was harsh. I landed on my left side and skidded across the sand a good five meters. It hurt like hell. Not to mention the sand got in my eyes and mouth as well.

Sitting up, I blinked the sand out of my eyes and spit out the sand from my mouth. That's when a growl reached my ears. One of the remaining dogs had its eyes on me. It had what seemed to be a burn on its side, but I couldn't be certain with the nature of its transparent skin. It was stalking closer to me, its prey. There was a moment where we both stared at each other until I made a move. I had raised my bow and had just finished loading it when the dog pounced on me. The bow served well in keeping the dogs mouth occupied, but I could feel its claws digging deeper and deeper into my shoulders.

For once, I had to use my pistol. I pulled it out, and centering it on the canine's skull, I pulled the trigger. This close range cause its brain matter to splatter out on the other side. Pushing the now limp body off me, I could finally stand. I grabbed my bow after holstering the pistol and prepared for any more possible attacking.

Wobbles

11-15-2014, 08:38 PM

It took me a few seconds to realize that something was off. The chaos around me was... disoriented, like a movie with delayed audio. Except my 'audio' wasn't delayed. It simply didn't exist. I focused in on Alenia, and I should be able to hear her breathing, speaking -- but nothing. I stared at her, confused, and she turned to Wolf. He looked at both us and I think he shouted something; I only was able to see his lips moving. As I turned back to Alenia, a ringing sensation crawled up from the base of my neck, causing me to shiver. It made its way to both of my ears, piercing into them with a wet sensation.

Wait. My ear is wet.

I raised a finger to my right ear, and when I held it in front of my eyes, my fingertips were decorated with crimson. Shit. Not good. Not good at all. When I looked up, Alenia had thrown herself into the fray, and I had no choice but to follow her. With my hands already flying to my quiver, I scanned the field, relying solely on sight; it was oddly calming, not being able to hear the fire licking at the remains of the house, or to hear the growls of the dogs. Just me and my thoughts. A chill washed over me and I shook my head. "Focus," I murmured aloud. I could hear myself, in a sense -- you know when you plug your ears and talk, and you can feel the vibrations of what you're saying in the middle of your throat? It was like that. But it wasn't hearing as much as it was feeling. I could feel what I was saying. Yeah. That's it.

As I shook myself from my silent reverie, my eyes landed on a struggling Josh. I quickly touched Alenia's shoulder, then pointed towards him, just to notify her of where I was going. She was my top priority at this point. If I couldn't hear, I needed to be able to see her. My fingers tangled around the string, fumbling for a second before finding their positions. I took three steps, closed an eye, and let out my held breath. The usual TWANG didn't sound, but the arrow found its home in the eyesocket of the maimed dog. I couldn't hear if the dog made a noise or not; but from the way it convulsed, its howl was probably horrifying. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I sprinted forward, quickly pulling my machete from its sheath. The second dog was distracted by its fallen mate, and I took the opportunity to extend a hand to Josh. I squinted a little and cleared my throat, before carefully forming my words. I had to use the vibrations in my throat to speak, so the sentence probably was horribly slurred.

"Come on; we have to run. Now!"

Mane Of Kurls

11-16-2014, 04:11 AM

KURLS

Retreating from the house an unnatural heat wave washes over us as it explodes, killing a large number of the dogs along with Soul as well. Welp, there goes the neighborhood. Staying beside Scottie I stop for a second to look around at what was going on and it was nothing good. The explosion, while having taken out the most of the pack now not only left us scattered and easy to pick off but without any form of protection. I had no time to think about all of the belongings and provisions we had lost in Soul's attempt at bravery before what remained of the pack began to make their way towards us. There were approximately eight left, small pairs of which split off and began to single out targets. One pairs came strait for Scottie and I, growling as the menacingly began to pad forward.

I shrugged off my rifle and set it on the ground along with my ammo pouch to free myself up. I then unbuckled my tonfas, letting them slide out of their hard wood sheaths so that the blades gleamed brightly in the light. Looks like I'll finally get to use the things. Hope I can use them as well as I've trained. I slide into a stance, remembering the karate and weapon training I had taken. I had only just started on tonfas when everything went to shit so I hoped I was a good learner. "Scottie, listen to me okay? Stay back and let me see if I can take care of this. You got your bat yeah? If one of them comes at you aim for any point that the bones connect; joints, base of the skull, anything like that okay?"

SCOTTIE

The black billowing smoke was a drastic change from the beige I had grown accustomed to seeing. It wasn't a welcome sign though, to think someone had given their life just to give the rest of us a chance was overwhelming. But now was not the time to reminisce, everyone had dispersed into different groups. A blood curdling scream came from behind us and I snap my head around. The charred yet ravenous dogs that survived had continued their hunt. A soft growl caught my attention, two dogs were making their way closer towards us. I took a small step back, thankful I had dragged on my boots before running from the roof. My fingers gripped the strap of my bag, my knuckles turning white.

I could hear Kurls but my eyes were fixed on the dogs. “You got your bat, yeah?” I snapped my eyes to him, an unamused look flooded my features. The metal bat was tied to my pack, it hit against my legs as I took another step back. I dumped the bag and pressed one foot against it as I tugged the bat free. The growling increased in volume as the dogs crept forward. I kept my right hand wrapped around the bat, my eyes jumped from Kurls back to the dogs.

KURLS

I tried to control my breathing as the dogs came closer. I could feel Scottie behind me and I tried to calm myself knowing I was the first line of defense. Okay, come on, just as I practiced. I looked back and forth between the dogs, seeing which would go first. Number one rule of my fighting was never to strike first. As my eyes glanced to the left dog the one on the right took the opening and lunged forward. I turned and spun my tonfa, the blade missing as the dog jumped...Past me? It was then I realized my mistake as the second hurtled at me full force cause me to topple forward. I tucked and rolled, trying to avoid landing on the shape end of my weapons when the second dog was already up and coming at me again. I lashed out with my foot, connecting on it's leg with a sickening crunch.

The dog yelped and leaped backward now injured. The first dog until then had been biding it's time. Now it charged forward to replace it's comrade. I rolled across the ground to avoid it's pounce and quickly stood up brandishing my tonfas. Come on, focus! I slid into another stance as the dog charged at me again. I waited a few second and then quickly slid into another stance, my blades spinning to slash across the dogs flank. It stumbled but regained it's footing, only seeming to look pissed off rather than injured. It dash forward again, this time feigning before going in for a strike. I followed it as best I could, side stepping as I brought up my tonfas for another slash.

The dog collided with my and the blade, everyone going down. The weight and fall knocked the wind out of me, though as I struggled to regain my breath I felt the dog struggling against my tonfa. By some range of luck it had manage to impale itself through the throat and was now desperately trying to free itself with it's last few breaths. I scrambled from underneath it and yanked out my tonfa, the dog collapsing onto the ground dead. The second dog, with the now injured leg, had turned it's attention toward Scottie to see if it could go after a target without something shape pointed it's direction.

SCOTTIE

I took another step back, keeping my attention of the demon dogs before us. The dog jumping caught me off guard, it landed hard on the ground before me. Both dogs had their attention on Kurls and there was nothing I could do. Nothing. Brilliant. When his foot made contact with the dog, the sound made my stomach flip. The yelping made them seem even more dog like, but the flash of white clamping jaws confirmed this was no gentle pet. A string of swear words rambled through my brain as I took another step back.

The soft gasping sound of the dog that met the wrong end of Kurls blade filled my ears. My eyes snapped to the wounded dog which was limping towards me. I took another step back, holding the bat up and outright. The dog growled and continued to creep forward. My fingers slipped slightly on the bat and I scanned over the thing before me. Okay right leg. The broken bone was protruding from the skin, obviously the best bet to bring it down. I brought the bat back as the dog dipped its head, readying to launch itself at me.

Don’t let it jump. If it jumps you’ll miss. I took a quick step forward, swinging the bat with all the strength I could muster. The thud against the dog was sickening, the broken bones shifted with impact. My eyes were wide as the dog swayed, falling to one side. A soft cloud of dust picked up around the dog, then the whimpering started.

Little tears at the heart strings more than a whimpering dog, I let the bat go slack in my hands. I take a small step forward towards the dog, the blow had only immobilised it. It was still writhing in pain, it was strange to see it weak. I took another step forward, my boots nearly brushing the dog. I stared down at the creature, I couldn’t tell if I was feeling hatred or sympathy for the creature at my feet.

KURLS

Shaking my head my head to clear out my nerves I look over to see how Scottie had fared. There she stood over the body of the dog, it whimpering horribly. Judging from the whack I had hear and the angle it's head was at she had broken it's neck ergo completely immobilizing it. I strode over to her and watched, her face clearly torn between wanting to finish the thing and wanting to help it. I decided I need to do both. Once I reach them I bent over and readied my tonfa, strikingly quickly and piercing into it's brain. The whimpering stopped immediately, the dog now finally dead.

I stood back up and looked over to see if Scottie was okay. She still seemed confused about the dog, staring at it. I crossed to her and hugged her briefly before stepping back. "Hey, don't feel to bad for it okay? It was either us or them and there was nothing else you could do." I smiled reassuringly and then looked around, surveying the various skirmishes going on. Come on, we should go help some of the others and see what of our stuff is still salvageable."

Death of Korzan

11-16-2014, 11:54 PM

The Highway, Chihuahua Desert, Texas - West of Houston

Heat rebounded from the shaded glass. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq3mLvnBcTo) With the driver’s seat window rolled down, I peered out of the front windscreen as my feet pressed the two pedals that leaned against them like lazy old friends. A grin plastered itself across my features, my ice blue eyes reflecting the glitter of the occasional ray of sunlight that managed to sneak into the car. Leaning over, I lifted what was left of the Whisky bottle to my mouth and swallowed the last few dregs before throwing the glass container haphazardly out of the window. Squinting my eyes ahead and ignoring the obvious lack of cognition and reflex I had left thanks to the brown liquid, I span the wheel to the left to ignore the crushed skeleton of another car. My foot loosened itself from the accelerator as the car shifted around the blockage slowly, the automatic gear change going from third to first within seconds.

I shuffled myself back into the seat before swapping hands and resting my arm against the rolled down window, my hand drumming an old familiar tune against the armoured vehicle I was navigating. The desert slipped past slowly yet surely, tufts of hardy plants sprouted out of the dry earth and wafted with the wind – the smell of the Apocalypse dragging itself with the small bouts of bearable temperature. Without the wind the Texan heat exhausted me, being used to the relatively cool climate of my homeland hadn’t prepared me for Texas – though I believed that nothing ever would prepare me for this god forsaken state.

‘Even in the apocalypse I’m getting pissed off about the weather.’ I thought to myself, my smile becoming smaller yet still prominent. The car bumped up in the air slightly as its wheels rolled over and squashed another body lain in the middle of the road. I grimaced to myself as I peered my head out of the window to look back upon the defiled form – a mess of shattered bone and rotten remains; almost a reflection of the remnants of what mankind once built.

‘All the wonders we achieved and I’m still one of the fuckers that stays alive.’ My grimace shifted into a deep frown before I turned and spat out of the window. ‘Maybe I’m the only one alive.’ My mind turning to the fact that I hadn’t found another walking human. The only thing relatively human was found on rotting magazines and inside the occasional powered freezer compartment. My mind drifted to all the things I once thought I’d do if I was the only person left on the planet – though there was a certain loneliness to the lack of people; the lack of conversation and the bustling streets and the congested motorways.

Everything was too quiet – as if it was locked away like some sort of punishment.

With my good mood soured, I looked to my left as a petrol station approached. Sliding the wheel into the lay-by and driving myself into the abandoned buildings car park, I quickly opened the door to land on the hard concrete once more. I swivelled on my feet and quickly opened the side doors to the vehicle, pulling out my bow and makeshift quiver – it wasn’t anything fancy, but the bow and arrows I had found in a sports store and they were of good quality. With two of my fingers I tentatively placed the long, black arrow against the side of the bow before placing the bottom of the projectile against the bowstring. Pulling back slightly I held the arrow towards the ground, ready to pull the bow up as quickly as possible in the case of a predator.

My eyes were relaxed, as was my entire body as I stumbled foolishly out of the vehicle. My legs tripped over things and the bow string lessened with tension, my fingers letting go slightly and allowing the string to slip down the arrow. Sighing to myself and my shaking fingers, I removed the arrow slowly before placing it back in my quiver. Lifting my arms and haphazardly taking the quiver off, I staggered back to the armoured truck before placing my arms against the door, eyes closed and face staring at the ground. Taking a few deep, drunken breaths, I opened the side door and put my ranged weapons back inside the vehicle before closing the door once more. I slowly reached down to my waist and pulled my combat knife from my belt, holding it out in front of me, watching my hand tremble.

My stomach churned with the alcohol that lay at its bottom and a sickening feeling came across me as the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck rose. My eyes blinked, lashes flicking sweat that had raced down my forehead away. I ran my hair through my long unwashed locks, leaving them in a messy, unkempt state before walking towards the door and peering inside slowly. ‘Reminder: Find a flat with its own water tower. Pick up washing supplies. Shower, you dirty fuck.’ I thought to myself, grimacing at my own lack of hygiene – the apocalypse hadn’t left much time for showers, though I had managed to keep my teeth clean.

The inside of the petrol station was largely empty and looted, the cash-machine knocked off of the table it once called home, empty packets of crisps and empty bottles of alcohol and water strewn across the floor. A blood trail seemed to drag itself across the floor, though the once red liquid had turned a deep brown as the cells within the ichor had died off with the rest of mankind and its filth stained the floor like humanity had stained Earth – the blame falling to my own species for the apocalypse. My foot slid forward slowly, pushing the door to the Petrol Station open slowly before I slipped my body inside.

The room was quiet and dark, shaded from the bright sun as the orb of flame slowly crept across the sky, now lying just behind the bulk of the building. Taking slow, deliberate steps into the store, I quickly peeked over the top of the cashier-counter, seeing nothing but the beginning of the long blood stain, like a river running from a once crimson lake. Taking a few careful steps to the left of me, I began to slowly scan the shelves for anything useful, though all I was seeing was empty tins and smashed jars – someone was clearly living here and something, or someone got him.

‘Something got us all.’ I lamented within myself before turning into the next aisle.

As I looked down the next aisle, the sound of something clicking along the tarmac outside made my head slowly rise up. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U38JBoY09GI) Outside stood 6 beasts, their shape akin to a dog, only much larger. Each seemed to have nearly translucent skin and at their head stood the alpha; his size could only be made equivalent to that of a male Lion, and the teeth that sat in his mouth were akin to that of a crocodiles.

‘Dogs. Fuck.’ As I watched silently the moving pack suddenly stopped as their alpha began to sniff at the air before placing his head to the floor and looking towards the Petrol Station’s door. ‘Shit, shit shit shit!’ I cursed inside my head, quickly scrabbling backwards as the large animal began to plod slowly towards the door, organs visibly shifting within its body. I scuttled as quietly as possible across the ground before forcing my back against one of the shelves, breathing through my nose hard due to fear.

Ironically, the bell above the door twinkled with delight before I could hear the chainsaw like noise of the Alpha sniffing at the floor. I kept my knife in my hand, my knuckles glowing white with pressure as my fist pushed the blade hard against my palm. The animal’s hard claws clacked and scratched against the tiled floor as the beast moved around the cashier’s table slowly but surely. Sweat ran down my cheeks, though it was not just the heat that caused my perspiration but the terror of being so close to one of these monsters.

Click. Click. Click.

The patterned continued as the Dog moved through the aisles slowly. The translucent monstrosity’s nose constantly roared and sniffed at the ground, occasionally causing the animal to stop dead in its tracks for a few seconds before it continued. As the sound of the Dog’s nose came closer and closer I slowly and carefully moved myself around the shelf and against the longer side within the aisle. The sound of the animal moving stopped momentarily as I assumed it reached the end of the aisle before it began to move itself once more.

Click. The claws came along the back of the Aisles, the animal slowly moving, only one foot being placed against the ground as it took a long hard sniff.

Clack. The beast took another slow step, the noise coming ever closer. My breathing got louder. Faster. I tried to stop myself but I couldn’t. I felt like the monster knew where I was. He was just toying with me. Playing with his food.

Click. Another footstep closer, though this one came faster. Moving slowly I began to shift down the Aisle further. Clack. Another footstep. Faster. Much faster. My palm pressed against the ground. My other palm was occupied, keeping the knife from attacking the tiles of the floor. Noise was not my friend.

Click. Closer. Much closer. Clack. ‘Not much further Harry. Fuck fuck fuck.’ I thought to myself. My heart hammered in my chest. Baddum. Baddum. Baddum.

Click. ‘I’m not going to make it. I’m not going to make it.’ I grimaced, my face becoming a silent contortion of terror as I shifted myself slowly around the aisle and into against the short, opposite end of the last place I rested against.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack. Click. The footsteps came incredible fast to the right of me, coming closer and closer. Closer and closer and closer. Too close. Suddenly, the beast stopped, its seemingly endless sniffing ceasing. The very distant sound of an explosion came from beyond, judging by the volume of the noise the explosion was likely miles away, though in the apocalypse there was only silence – things that broke that silence were easily heard without humans.

Things that broke the silence usually died.

The Dog let loose a guttural tone before it began to quickly sprint down the aisle – I shifted myself round onto the other side of the aisle as the beast ran past and out of the door, roaring at his pack. 3 seconds subsequently went past before the sound of the Dogs sprinting away upon the Tarmac entered my eyes like the sweetest music ever written. I closed my eyes and pressed my hands against my face before taking a deep breath through my mouth before exhaling hard and slumping myself against the shelf, hands running themselves through my hair once more.

I sat there for 5 minutes more before rising and stretching my legs out. Moving my body towards the door and out of the shell that once called itself a useful building I moved towards my car before slipping into it and sitting upon the more comfortable chair. My hand quickly pressed against the electronic window controller, the window I had down rolling itself up quickly. I dipped my head down to the steering wheel and wrapped my hands around wheel tightly.

‘Too close.’ I thought to myself. ‘Too fucking close.’

DukeWolfRein

11-17-2014, 01:41 AM

DWR

As everyone started their own skirmishes with the Dogs that came at them I spotted Breed about to be attacked and shot at the Dog with my rifle. The bullet barely passed its side before it turned at me and sprinted towards me. For a moment I saw it coming, its jaws snapping at me. I could hear it snarling as it got closer, the seconds going by in slow motion. Finally it jumped at me.

My hand worked fast as it got a grip of my knife and I lunged it forward, catching the beast dead in the center of its forehead. It was dead. It twitched for a second before becoming still.

I looked at the Breed and smiled. "It's okay." My words were cut off abruptly as another explosion came from the house, tearing the wood apart and sending it flying across the sand. From the burning ruins came a loud growl as a shape rose from the debris, moving from underneath the burning and scattered wood. The Alpha, its bigger than usual body burnt severely, but rage coming from the howl it let out as it jumped from the burning house to the sand.

The Alpha ran towards the group closest to it, getting between Alenia, Wobbles and Crumpet, sending Wobbles and Crumpet flying with a swipe of its sharp claws before turning to Alenia. It growled at her before raising a paw to slash at her.

I ran to get closer and let off a shot, piercing through its paw preventing the slash.

Alenia

This was insane. All around me I could hear the howls and growls of the dogs and the panting and gasps of my comrades. I could see nothing but tangles of limbs and teeth, swords and bullets. I smelled the metallic bite of blood in the air and the acrid reek that these goddamned dogs always brought with them. I could feel the heat of the desert sun beat down on my body and the shock and pain of the injuries I was sure I was collecting. I could taste blood in my mouth, whether it was my own or the dogs, I couldn’t tell. However, the adrenaline pumping through my veins pushed all these sensations to the back of my mind, allowing me to focus on killing my attackers and keeping myself alive. In the midst of my hormonal stupor, I vaguely felt Amy tap my shoulder. I didn’t have to turn around to know that she was letting me know that she was moving. I made a mental note to thank her for that later, because I would have freaked out if she up and disappeared in the middle of battle.

All of a sudden, another explosion burst from the house, or at least where the house used to be. Rubble rained down around me once again, some of the pieces far too close for comfort. Shit, the gas pipes! Taking a swipe at the dog I was currently facing, I turned on my heel and tried to distance myself from the house in case of further explosions, dodging flaming debris as I ran. Suddenly, there was another loud bursting noise, quickly followed by a vicious growl and ravaging howl. Knowing that this couldn’t mean good news, I whipped around, only to see the Alpha, the goddamn Alpha, charging at me. Scrambling for my sword, I tried to ready myself for the oncoming attack, but thanks to Duke, I didn’t have to. One of his shots went through the Alpha’s oncoming paw, causing the lead canine to falter and allowing me a chance to attack. Slipping under the Alpha, I sliced at his stomach, unfortunately only wounding him, but hey, every bit helps, right?

“Thanks Duke!” I screamed over the clamor of battle – probably not my wisest choice. The shout had winded me, so when the Alpha’s unexpected swipe knocked me aside, I couldn’t stand up immediately. Shit. Gasping for breath, I dragged myself up on my elbows, stunned and disoriented.

“A little help here?” I managed to gasp from my screaming lungs. The monster’s hit had not only winded me, but it had knocked me into the ground, hard. No matter how much I tried, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get up from the ground for another thirty seconds, minimum. In battle, that could mean my death. Knowing my luck, it would be my death, so I just hoped that Duke or Amy or anyone was close enough to help me.

Suddenly, I felt the hot and humid huff of the dog’s breath on my back. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. This wasn’t going to end well.

Anyone? Help!

DWR

As I hit the Alpha, it let out a painful growl before once more being attacked by Alenia slashing him from underneath. I was still running when she thanked me, and I was close enough to hear the force of the swipe as the Alpha knocked her over and stood over her. I stopped and without a second thought jumped up to the beast's back making my way to its head before plunging my knife into its neck. I felt the knife pierce the skin, but it was too thick and the wound was only superficial. With a loud roar it shook its neck and head, shaking me around.

My hands held onto its neck as it continued to shake me and finally with one strong pull it threw me aside, my grip slipping. I rolled on the sand before coming to a stop, the wind knocked out of me as I looked up at the massive beast. It looked back to Alenia and with one swift movement dug its jaws deep into her shoulder, the sound of her collarbone breaking was clear even from the spot I was at.

I saw something shiny in the sand and with a scream I got up and ran towards the Alpha, grabbing Alena's sword in the process. It shook her once. Twice. Her bones and screams getting worse with each time. It did it once more before I dug the sword deep into its eye. The Alpha let Alenia go, and slowly turned to look at me through its one good eye. I grimaced and took the sword out before raising it with both hands and bringing it down once, twice, three times, each time its skull made a very pleasant crunch and blood splattered everywhere. Its body buckled and went down on the sand, I changed positions and with one swift slash cut off its head.

My breathing was heavy, and I was pretty sure my side and arm would hurt after the adrenaline stopped. I dropped the sword and looked at Alenia as I panted. "Hey..." I kneeled beside her and looked at her "Hey, come on, don't..." I gently picked her up and looked around "She's down!!!"

From around us came the looks of everyone else, but not before two more Dogs burst from the burning building and stood between us and them, their burnt bodies moving slowly around us. Was this it? Was this how it ended? I could barely move, let alone fight. And I couldn't leave her just lying there. I went down to my knees and saw as the two Dogs rushed towards us.

Alenia

I shook my head in an attempt to shake the stars clouding my vision, but it didn’t help much. The Alpha was still breathing down my neck and it was all I could do not to whimper. Sure, I know I said that I could handle danger, but that doesn’t mean a giant freaking dog about to eat me doesn’t scare me. Though my vision was clouded, my hearing was not impaired, so I could hear Duke’s scream as he assumedly attacked the Alpha, because the demon’s foul, sticky breath was no longer condensing on my skin. I knew Duke could only hold off the Alpha for so long without any help, so I tried my best to stand up, only succeeding in stumbling back down again. My head was swimming, aching, and my vision was speckled with black dots, making my head hurt even worse.
Suddenly, the Alpha’s breath was back on me, but this time he didn’t hesitate with his attack. Helpless and pretty much screwed, the dog clamped down on my shoulder with his hellish fangs, eliciting a gut-wrenching crunch from my collarbone and a hell-raising scream from my throat.

Oh god, there was no possible way to explain this pain. It felt as if my arm was lit by Satan’s fire, burning with an unearthly agony. The Alpha shook me back and forth, back and forth, the momentum tearing at my arm further. I couldn’t think. The pain was too much, the agony too overbearing. I had to get out of the dog’s jaws, but I knew I couldn’t do that myself.

All I could do now was hope that Duke would be stronger than I was. Well, that, and hope that I didn’t bleed out into this beast’s mouth in the meantime.

So…much…pain. Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck… I’m not going to survive this, am I?

Halfbreed443

11-17-2014, 03:50 AM

So there I was face-to-face with one of my biggest fears. It growling at me and me, just frozen there unable to move because of fear. I felt totally useless and powerless, if I couldn't even try to protect myself how was I going to protect the others?

The dog moved closer by only a step, I finally got the courage to reach for my gun but realized I'd had it in my hand when I was thrown across the sand. I looked at the spot where I had laid and sure enough my gun was laying there in the sand just a few feet behind the damn dog. I certainty wasn't going to try to run and get it, I'm not crazy but I did still have my knife. The knife might not be enough to kill this thing but it was enough for me to try and fight it off when it tried to attack.

It moved again, without me realizing but it didn't stop moving forward this time it just kept coming. I fumbled for my knife as the dog moved closer and closer until I heard a loud crack not far from where I was, which caused me to flinch. I watched the dog turn from me and I followed it's gaze to Jose, the dog wasted no time attacking him. I held my breath as I watched them fight until Jose finally killed it.

I let out a sigh when I saw Jose give me reassuring words and smile. I smiled back thankfully but was unable to say the words thanks to a second explosion coming from the house or at least what was left of it. I watched wide-eyed as the alpha dog rose from the burning rubble. You have got to be kidding me! I rushed for my gun and turned to see Wobbles and Crumpet being flown through the air.

Wobbles

11-20-2014, 12:28 AM

Crumpet

The wounded dog slumped to the floor with a bone-chilling noise somewhere between a howl and a whine, it stopped shaking and lay still, eleven inches of arrow protruding from its now ruined eye socket.
I shivered and kicked it away from me, throwing my eyes around for my saviour. It was Wobbles, of course it was, my very own Deus Ex Machina. I growled deep in my throat, an involuntary response to the pain, and dragged the back of a hand across my face, wiping away a modicum of the dust that had clung to my face following my fight with the first dog.

When my hand came away from my eyes, the first thing I saw was Wobbles' outstretched hand.

"Come on; we have to run. Now!"

She warbled uneasily through the sentence, and it didn't take long to figure out why, what with the blood trail leading down from her ear.

Shit

I took her hand with the one of mine that wasn't alight in pain, holding the offending limb to my chest as we took off, away from the ruined shack and the dogs whose frenzied howls one of us could still hear.

Wobbles

It was a desperate sprint, in mild term. Arms pumping, heart racing, and my hand was still in his; there was no time to disentangle ourselves. I hoped he wasn't trying to say anything, and I hoped everyone else had my same idea. There was a highway not far from here. We could outrun them, if there was a car. I had noticed the blood hemorrhaging from his hand, and I briefly recalled that Damia had EMT training; she'd know what to do with it. Our steps fell quickly, and in cadence, but I didn't hear the beast behind us; only felt its claws dig into my soft back.

I would assume a cry ripped from my throat. The world turned upside down, briefly, and the cold air stung the fresh gashes that now marred my back. As the earth rose to meet me, my grip on Josh slipped and the ground dug into my bones. My teeth rattled, and I lay there, stunned. The heat of the sand began to sting and I could feel blood trickling down my spine, but still; I couldn’t hear a thing. With a grunt, I pushed myself up onto my elbows to see Josh in much the same state. That dog would be back. We had to go, now. I staggered to my feet, breathing hard and doing my best not to grimace.

I tried to ask “You okay?” but it came out more like “Yoay?” — I assume it did, anyway. The buzz from my now aching back took priority over my enunciation. I was lucky the thing's claws didn't go deeper. Maybe they did and I just couldn't feel it, who knows. Josh was in worse shape than I was, though, so I focused on him, completely unaware for the chaos behind me.

Crumpet

My world shook and shuddered in protest to the monstrous blow, and I found myself splayed awkwardly on my stomach, sand and dust tickling my nose.

"Yoay?"

Truthfully, I had no idea if the alpha's attack had done any serious damage to my back and side, I was too busy frantically sucking in air through my teeth, for the landing had done far more damage than the claws. The sickeningly meaty thud of my torn arm impacting against the ground had caused the pain of the wound to triple, and I found myself barely holding back tears of agony as I once again hoisted myself up off the ground.

I didn't know if the alpha was still coming after us, and frankly I didn't care, because my response would have been exactly the same either way.

We have to move

I struggled to my feet and nodded to Wobbles, I was most certainly not okay, but we couldn't exactly stop here to put a smiley face plaster on my knee and sing some soothing melody to mend my very much frayed nerves.
Trusting that she would follow alongside me, I started to move in the same direction we'd been heading before the beast hit us. It was hardly a run, more of a strained but insistent jog.

I felt something warm slide down my back from the place where the dog's claws had hit me, the place I was pretending not to feel as we made for safety. Wherever that may be.

Wobbles

About half way there, I realized that something was off. I stopped, and turned, my eyes flicking across the barren land quickly. The ringing in my ears had become unbearably deafening, making it nigh impossible to focus; but it wasn't hard for me to focus on something much more important than myself. Ana. Ana -- god, no, no, NO --

A cry crawled from between my teeth and I sprinted, again, but this time towards the creature that held her and shook her so violently. No. Can't lose her. Save her. Get to her. Now. Get there now, now, now. You're not fast enough -- not fast enough! My hands went to the gun tucked behind the back of my belt -- I had very little ammo, and rarely used it -- and swung it wide, firing without hesitation. The bullet ripped through the throat of the first dog, and I shot again, this time aiming higher. Pain shot through my back and I gritted my teeth. The dog fell, blood spurting from between its eyes, and I stood between the last creature and Jose, who was cradling Ana. Focus on the dog -- don't think about her -- shit.

Just at that second, 6 more dogs crested the horizon. We are so screwed.

"RUN!"

Death of Korzan

11-20-2014, 01:26 AM

Texas, West of Houston

My eyes looked hesitantly through the windscreen. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhmVTw3ge94) I had been driving on a backwards path, a few towns from the petrol station. My heart hammered in my chest like a pneumatic drill, digging through bone and flesh – the organ gaining a life of its own from within. My blue pupils darted from left to right across the road, ignoring the bright sun that slinked down across the horizon – half of its body being drawn out of my sight from beneath the land, the Earth devouring the bright ball of fire and forfeiting the blazing beacon’s kingdom to the stars and the moon. Behind me sat blacker skies and the pack of Dogs, though they headed in the opposite direction I did – sprinting towards the flames and smoke that still adorned the sky behind me, masked by the abyssal tone that seemed to gravitate around the moon. The stars glinted slightly behind me, their visage still masked by the powerful gaze of Sol. The far off beacons glimmered, as if smiling down upon me – though within my racing mind I worried that they laughed at me or for me.

The world was dead. There was a certain quietness to the land, like a freshly painted picture upon a canvas; I found myself as one of the last – if not the last drop of paint yet to solidify and dry – yet there was no telling how long it would be before I stopped running and became a cohesive product with the husk that was once our world. ‘People once walked upon these roads.’ I thought to myself, heart feeling a stab to it as various faces ran through my head and mind – some in particular more than others. ‘People would have been driving – stopping, causing congestion. I’d have been part of that traffic congestion.’ I lifted one of my hands from the steering wheel and clicked on the car’s lights – only to low beam, the lack of light pollution in the sky meant that the gaze of moonlight and starlight illuminated the road in an ethereal explosion of colour and beauty invisible to mere human eyes.

Lifting my hand, I ran my index finger across my left eyebrow in order to itch it before slipping my hands through my greasy unkempt hair. Grimacing to myself I placed my hand back upon the wheel and continued to slide around the few obstacles that found themselves upon the road. Houses began to slip past me as I entered the suburbs of a town far from the petrol station in which I had almost made myself good friends with grisly Death. Part of me felt sick, my defiance of the greatest power known made me feel weak – as if I had only delayed the inevitable; within the apocalypse death seemed to be around every corner – this was something I frequently reminded myself.

I turned to look outside of the car window before stopping abruptly. My eyes lingered out of the glass portcullis and upwards as I traced the shape of a large water tower – one frequently found within the desert due to the lack of frequent water sources. Looking at the hand I had run through my hair, I grinned to myself – though the smile was an empty and decrepit mask at this point – before slowly pulling into one of the empty driveways that sat in front of houses like old, abandoned friends. Once on the drive I quickly shut off the engine and walked out my car. My head span as I repositioned myself – after my unwanted game of cat and mouse with the Dog I had decided to stop drinking for now, focusing on keeping myself safe until I had somewhere to settle for the night.

I slowly dragged myself towards the front door of the house before pushing the entryway open, the wooden door sliding backwards across the tiled hallway of the house slowly. Pulling back my hand upon my bowstring, the arrow that I had gilded to the side of the plastic sports-bow hissed slightly as the arrow came backwards. I walked in slowly and quietly before turning and barely closing the door – intending to make for an easy escape in case I needed to run. Quickly spinning around from the door, I rounded into the first doorway – the room was empty and dark, the last few slivers of glorious golden sunlight illuminating the wall, a dusty computer screen upon a desk was the only notable thing inside.

Leaving the study, I quickly approached another doorway and pushed the door open slowly, revealing a clean bathroom – though there was dust adorning the seat and the sink. Turning around and closing the door shut behind me, I continued down the hallway until I reached the living room – the floor was covered in soft, plush carpet and a flat-screen adorned itself upon the wall. Turning to the left, I saw the kitchen and dining area attached to the room, split only by half-walls. Further to the left next to the hallway sat a small enclave with stairs leading up to the second floor of the building. Confident of the security within the house, I placed my bow against one of the sofas before closing the venetian blinds over the sliding double doors that opened into the houses’ back garden. Turning once more I marched slowly up the stairs towards the second floor, feet deliberately padding against soft steps so as to avoid the occasional obstacle that sat upon the carpet.

As I approached the upstairs rooms I spotted the bathroom and headed instantly towards it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAOAhxMMOok) The sun had mostly dropped now, though with the blinds open I was able to see all. The floor was covered in white and black tiles, with a toilet in the upper left side of the room and a sink sat next to it – old complimentary friends enjoying the solace of the apocalypse together. Across the room sat a bath with a showerhead fixed to the wall. Walking slowly towards the shower, I reached out and grasped one of the two knobs underneath it – one for temperature and the other for power. Standing for a few seconds, I listened to the pipes gurgling before liquid began pouring from the showerhead hesitantly. The water that first poured from the small holes in the shower was brown, having lingered within the pipes for too long. I grimaced at the foul smelling liquid before cleaner water began to flow through, ridding the room of the metallic smell of the stagnant contents.

‘It’s a gravitational system from the tower!’ I grinned to myself as I quickly began to strip my clothes off before clambering into the cold water. The water splashed across my house like a thousand cold kisses. Grinning into the water’s splash, I flicked my hands across my arms and through my hair – relisihing in the water’s splash. Turning and spinning within the shower, I leaned across towards the sink and grabbed hold of two bottles of shampoo and shower gel. The smell of the open caps was amazing, the shampoo smelled like mango and passion-fruit whilst the shower gel was a coconut and sea-mineral mix. Grinning to myself, I quickly poured the contents over my body before laughing to myself.

Finally, when I had washed the contents of the two bottles out of my hair and off of my body, I clambered out of the shower and slid one of the few towels that sat on the side. The cloth was dusty and needed shaking out. As I shifted the towel a blizzard of grey particles slipped from the nooks and crannies of the fabric, causing me to grimace and sneeze as I inhaled them. Wrapping the towel around me, I quickly picked up my clothes and carried them down the stairs with me and throwing them upon the sofa my bow sat on. Relishing the sensation of cleanliness, I quickly padded towards the front door and closed it slowly before proceeding to roll the blinds down and pull the curtains – after my experience from within the petrol station I did not want to dance with death once more.

I would meet Death on my terms.

Turning from the final set of blinds within the study, I walked back into the living room and moved my items onto the floor before laying out upon the black fabric, looking up at the skylights that embedded themselves into the cream-coloured ceiling. Above me twinkled the glorious stars, adorning the black sky like pockmarks; special jewels laden within the darkness that lie above. There was a serenity that I could relate to within space, the silence that ruled over Earth shared its home within space, sucking up all that could make noise and banishing them – silencing them.

Earth was not only dead, it was silent. And that was what depressed me most. I missed people; I missed life and the ever-moving and changing world that lay around me. Nothing was left around me now other than ruin.

And ruin was what I would no doubt eventually become.

Sitting up from my chair, I began to sluggishly walk outside towards my car to grab a bottle of Vodka – it was going to be a long night.

Scottie

11-20-2014, 05:28 PM

I blinked rapidly, the corpse of the dog still at my feet. I take a small step back before dragging my eyes away. I kept a firm grip on the bat before moving back to my pack, hooking a strap over my shoulder. With a loud guttural sound, I saw the last dog fall. I almost stopped, but Wobbles eyes went wide. Her voice sounded strange, there was a hint of something I’d heard before. The panic in her voice was clear, I spun following her gaze. Another group of dogs were thundering towards us, obviously alerted by the explosion. You have got to be kidding me?

I pushed the bat back through the strap in the bag and took one final glance back at the smoking house. Well that was fun while it lasted. I held no sentimental value to the house and snapped my eyes to Kurls. I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and tugged him to move. “Come on then.” I let go and started to run after Wobbles who was speeding off.

I didn’t even know why I was running, we wouldn’t outrun the dogs. There wasn’t even anywhere for us to run to, or even to hide. My eyes scanned up ahead, there was something ahead. The road in the distance, the baked concrete that stood out against the grey. Of course, my first instincts are always to hide. The sand dunes that were coming up to my right seemed like an ideal place. But hiding would do us no good when the freaking demon dogs got up close. There were a few cars littered on the highway, their occupants either perished or had left them to rust. My boots continued to make a jangly noise as I tried to run, god sake I was just allowing them to keep track of us.

Halfbreed443

11-20-2014, 11:18 PM

I watched horrified at what was happening, Wobbles and Crumpet were down, Ana was getting fiercely shaken but the Alpha dog while Jose fought to kill it. Meanwhile I'm just standing here unsure of what to do. Everything from that point seemed to happen so fast, next thing I knew Wobbles was yelling for us to run. Curious I turned to see what she had saw and instantly regret looking. I wasted no time as I made my way across the sand.

There was no way we would outrun them but running was all we could do right now. Almost half of us were injured and the other half wouldn't be able to fight off six dogs. I didn't know where we were running to until I saw a road, barley but I saw it. Roads meant two things, 1) It lead to a town and a town meant shelter, and 2) Cars. I would prefer the finding a car under the circumstances. There was no way we'd make it far without a car, especially with death at our heels.

I unfortunately wasn't much of a runner, so naturally I drift behind everyone else. Try as I might it was useless for me to try and run faster then I knew my limits were that always resulted in me tripping over things. So naturally I looked behind me to see how far back the dogs were. They were closer than I had expected them to be seeing how far they were when we started running. If we didn't find a car soon there was going to be more trouble for us.

DukeWolfRein

11-21-2014, 05:35 AM

Heroine
~~~~~
It'd taken just a moment to regain whatever courage had escaped me when I'd killed just a single dog. Thinking myself perhaps a bit pathetic that I had gotten so upset over it. It had wanted to kill me. And survival was always a natural instinct. The movements associated with swinging the bat had been an impulse my genetics had given me. Though, that didn't make it any easier that I had to fight to survive now. Everything had been too different and living in luxury was no longer applicable. No longer a norm for any of us. The breath left me in shaken huffs, lungs expanding to accompany my breathlessness. I still clung to the aluminum bat, as it was my only life line. My only protection. And my hands shook, fingers numb as they curled tightly around the rubber grip.

Until I'd heard steady screaming, familiar tones of a familiar voice. And it'd shaken me from whatever pathetic stupor I put myself in. Feet seemingly moving on their own through the heavy, heated sand. Catching sight of the pair who'd taken on the Alpha, it's lifeless and large body laying motionless beside them. The sight of it dead had terrified me. Alenia had been victim to it, the poor child I'd swore to protect had been hurt. And just as I had seen the pair of dogs bursting forth from the debris, something caught my foot. It had sent me face first into the sand, inhaling much of it as I struggled to breathe. Palms pressing against the easily malleable sand, whipping my head to see what had tripped me.

The shotgun sizzled, parts of its wooden paneling singed from the blast. I silently prayed that it still worked. I tugged it from the sand, checking its parts. Clicking it open and gasping as I noticed the compartments held two shells. Two shots. Strong enough to dismember at least one of those hideous dogs. But glancing up, I'd noticed something much more terrifying. Amy had herself between the predator and prey. The corpse of one dog destroyed next to her. A surge of pride urged me to run.

DWR
~~~~~
As I held Alena, there was a moment when I wanted to just give up, get on my knees and let the Dogs tear into us. It would all end as such one way or another anyhow. Perhaps we would rip into them, or they into us, but someone or something had to die either way. My eyes went up as the first Dog made its move. A crack reached my ears and a splurt of blood flew from its neck as the bullet pierced through it. I looked up to see Wobbles come in and run right up to the creature, finishing it off by putting a bullet through its forehead.

At that moment I saw Damia run up with a shotgun and suddenly I felt the energy come back to me. I ran up to Damia whose eyes were fixed on Wobbles and handed her Alenia in an almost haphazardly way. I looked at her and smiled "Try to get her to wake up please..." as I said those words my rifle came up to my shoulder and I turned, finishing off the other Dog as it moved to strike against Wobbles. That's when I saw where her eyes had been instead of her flank. In the distance came the reinforcements. Six dogs moved towards us, and one of them was an Alpha.

Damia
~~~~~
The soft thumping of paws against the sand had filled me with a horrid dread. A chill, despite the intense heat, running up my spine. For a moment, I had the audacity to think we were safe. As safe as we could be, in any case. But now, the movements of another pack had begun to make their way towards us. Kicking up a plume of dust in their wake, the quiet wind sending it our way. Eyes flickering between Amy and that cloud of Dogs.

But I had felt the heavy weight of another human being put into my hands, Alenia lay unconscious in my arms and my initial instinct was to keep her up. Quickly the ABC's ran through my mind. Airway, breathing, circulation. Fingers gently slapping against her cheek, "Alenia, come on. It's time to get up. You have to stay awake." Airway. Nothing had obstructed her mouth, her throat. Just a thin film of sand around her mouth. Breathing. I felt her soft breath on my fingertips. Watched as her breathing had been labored, chest rising and falling evenly. Circulation. My fingers wrapped around her wrist attempting to find a pulse. Weak. It was weak. Too weak and she had needed help desperately.

"Duke, we have to go." I yelled to him. "We have to go now. I need help with her." I tugged at his shirt, wrapping one of Alenia's arms around my shoulders.

Alenia
~~~~~
Everything… hurt.

Well, I think it did. I couldn’t actually tell. My mind was telling me that something was wrong – that /everything/ was wrong, but I didn’t really feel like listening. I’ve always been a more of a girl who follows her heart rather than her head, and my chest seemed a lot more welcoming than my head at the moment.

My chest felt all float-y and warm, very welcoming and calming, but my head was screaming at me.

Get up, get up, get UP! Something is very, very, very wrong. Ignoring this is dangerous. You HAVE to get up!

My brain was making a very logical (if annoying) argument, but I didn’t really know if I really wanted to hear any logic right now. The feeling in my chest actually felt quite good. It felt like… warm butter on a biscuit, sweet and warm and just a smidge salty, satisfactory and comforting. It felt like coming home after a long day and collapsing into your bed with a cup of hot cocoa.

It felt like an escape.

But I wanted more of that feeling. I wanted to see what else I would be reminded of the more I let that feeling take over. Would it start to feel like a hug from my best friend? Would it feel like butterfly kisses on my cheeks?

Only one way to find out. With a sigh, I metaphorically took a step towards that feeling, that glow in my chest, but as I did, my head said something very quietly that made me pause.

Alenia, come on. It's time to get up. You have to stay awake.

But I don’t want to.

Alenia, come on. It's time to get up. You have to stay awake.

It echoed in my head. This sounded different than my head’s normal voice. Why?

“Alenia, come on. It's time to get up. You have to stay awake.”

Oh. Someone was talking to me? Who was talking to me? Was it a girl? It sounded like it. Did
I know them? The voice sure seemed familiar…

"Duke, we have to go."

Duke? Who was Duke? I thought hard. I knew that name, but my brain was acting all fuzzy.

A duke is... A type of nobleman… right? Did that mean I was a duchess? No… I was a normal girl.

Oh.

Wait.

Duke.

That meant the other voice was…

"We have to go now. I need help with her."

The voice spoke again.

Damia?

Damia.

Why would she need to help me? There wasn’t anything wrong… right?

Wait.

Oh wait.

The dogs.

My mind’s argument was starting to make a whole lot more sense.

I needed to wake up.

Shoving that warm feeling away, I struggled to fully escape its clutches. As I did, I was suddenly met with a wave of pain, waves of pain, fully shocking me out of unconsciousness.

“D –Damia?” I struggled to find my voice as the pain made me want to cry. “Every... everything hurts.” I attempted to move my arm to grab onto her chest, trying to find comfort in her dusty shirt, but instead I was met with an even more intense pain.

I cried out, raw and primal, gasping and hissing in my breaths. As an instinct, I tried to move away from the pain, bucking and writhing in Damia’s arms, but that only made it worse.

“Da –” Gasp. Breathe. Oh god, don’t forget to breathe. “Mommy, make it stop.” I was crying now, warm tears breaking a trail through the crusted dust and blood on my face. I couldn’t bring myself speak anymore, but in my head, it still sounded as if I was screaming.

Make it stop. Oh god, make it stop. I can’t take this. I can’t do this. Please make it stop. I want it to stop. I want it to end, PLEASE.

Eventually, my wish was granted as my body became too weak to sustain consciousness and I welcomed that blackness and that warm feeling of escape once again.

DWR
~~~~~
As Damia called out to me to help I caught a glimpse of Wobbles' ear and the trail of blood flowing from it. I knew this meant that she was deaf, or at least would be if she let that go unchecked. I went to help her but something stopped me as she shook her head and pointed towards Damia and Alenia, telling us to run, although her voice and the way she said sounded like she was trying to be loud solely to try and hear herself say it. I just nodded and ran towards Damia, watching as Alenia woke and freaked out. I carefully placed her arm around my shoulders and secured one of my own arms around her waist and started running with Damia.

Alenia was a lot lighter with the two of us taking the weight, which was fortunate as the Dogs made their approach, going around the burning debris that was now the house. Their sprint towards us made one fact very clear, they would catch up. The way they licked at their fangs, biting at the air, it was enough to know that when they reached us we would become yet another meal.

As we ran I looked at Damia, a hint of desperation clearly showing on my face. "If they get too close we'll have to fight them off. If that's the case just try to keep running with her, I'll take care of them." I took one look behind me to see three of the Dogs separate from the group and target us, one for each of them. The Alpha himself was going after Wobbles and Crumpet while the other two covered the rest of the group, almost as if herding them away. The sand kicked up as we went up a dune, and from the top I saw the highway. We were about halfway to it, and scattered here and there were the abandoned metallic corpses of cars. The sun began to beat down even harder and the wind wasn't as forgiving now that the dunes weren't there to shield us from it. The sand blew all over the place and we began our descent from the dune, the Dogs close behind us but struggling even more than us to climb the sandy slopes.

There was a howl as we reached the bottom and the Dogs made it to the top. They barked at each other and jumped down the dune, closing in the distance with us as we made it to the halfway point to the highway. I looked at Damia "Take her! Go!" I let go of Alenia as I stopped and turned around, my hand on my knife and the other wrapped around a rock that I kept with me at all times in my pocket. You never knew when you'd be disarmed, and sometimes a rock was all that stood between you and survival. The Dogs came to a stop in front of me and I yelled at them. They barked back and launched themselves at me.

Heroine
~~~~~
She'd woken up and I thought for a moment she'd survive. Gasping for air and fighting against the immense pain she must have felt. "Ssh, I know everything hurts. It's going to hurt for a while." I patted down the wispy hairs that framed her face, trying to wipe away the blood with my fingers, keeping her airway clear. Silently willing her to keep fighting. I bit down hard on my lip, keeping away my own set of tears. This wasn't something I could handle, her crying and whimpering affected me and I was unwilling to let her go.

When she had finally slipped into unconsciousness once more I was more adamant in leaving. Fingers tight around her wrist and a firm arm around her waist. The combined strength of the two of us carried her easily. But still hearing the rabid noises of Dogs behind us had left me winded and afraid.They would be on is in seconds if we didn't run faster. I looked ahead, setting my jaw and kept my feet moving. I refused to become a victim of those monsters, who seemed to only be out for the taste of flesh.

The harsh metallic glint of cars had momentarily obstructed my view, before it all became clear. The graveyard of vehicles had seemed the only way out and I prayed one of them still worked. And I also hoped we'd all make it out of this place alive. I was unwilling to glance behind me, to see the Dogs who had targeted us. I held on to hope that Duke would stay with us till we reached the highway. As we made it quickly over the dunes, the sound of Dogs had gotten louder. The sun unforgiving, the sand irritating and the snarling even more frightening.

And as we had reached the bottom of a dune, he had let go of Alenia, screaming to take her and go. And for a moment I debated whether to stay and help but the desperation plain in his voice had urged me to run. I shook my head, taking my bottom lip in my mouth to quiet myself. Arms became ever tighter around Alenia, her weight almost unbearable with out his help. My feet sunk into the sand but I kept moving, kept fighting against the heat and harsh sand. And finally, I'd reached the line of abandoned cars. Beginning to tug hard on the handles, hoping there would be one car that would give. The frustrated tears running down my face as I had not found purchase. Until, a large minivan had swung its door open and I cried out at finally being able to set Alenia down.

I turned back to the foot of the dune, hoping to find Duke alive.

DWR
~~~~~

As Damia stumbled away with Alenia I looked forward and barely dodged as one of the dogs tried to pounce me. I rolled on the sand, and saw another one run towards me and jump as well. I felt the weight of the creature on me and its jaws about to close on my face when my hand with the rock found its way to the Dog's skull. It let out a yelp as I started hitting it again and again with the rock, the blood flying everywhere as its skull caved in. My fist was caked in blood and I looked up to see the other two hesitate as they saw their kin die before their eyes. Whether they were afraid or just planning their next move I didn't care, I got up and began to run once more trying to catch up with Damia and Alenia.

The Dogs once more set after me, they barked at me as if yelling at me to stop. Their barks were loud and angry, and as I reached the hot road, I turned to see dash forward to try and get my leg. I dodged the bite and dug my knife into the Dog's skull before the other one began its attack as well. I ran around the maze of dead cars before coming upon Damia and Alenia, the Dog lost in the metal maze for now. I looked at Damia and then at Alenia "Okay, let's get the hell out of here..." I ran towards the driver's side and looked inside only to see an empty seat. No driver, that was a relief. I opened the door and as I looked at the Odometer I noticed the problem. The thin red line was past the E. This car was dead. I cursed out loud before getting out and looking around for another. I looked at Damia and helped her get Alenia out of the van. I spotted another car, this one a White Ford Focus and began to walk with them towards it.

In an instant I was on the floor and something was biting down on my shoulder. I let out a cry of pain before punching the Dog and feeling it back away. My knife came up but the creature simply bit down on my wrist and wouldn't let go. I got a grip on my rifle and with one quick move batted the Dog away. The Dog let out a yelp as it rolled on the gravel before once more launching itself at me. Both of my hands gripped my rifle as I met the dog with a swing and began to beat it with the butt of my rifle. The painful yelps stopped only after a hard hit against its skull and I sighed.

The Ford Focus had about three quarters of a tank of gas, a miracle that I thanked whoever was watching over us for. I helped Damia get Alenia in the car and I go in the driver's seat just as The Alpha jump through a car and slashed at my door. The car rocked but it came on just fine, a cloud of dust and sand being expelled from the exhaust pipe. The Alpha once more slashed at the door and broke the window before I sped off, tire tracks being left in the wake of the sudden propulsion. I watched the Alpha chase after the car for a few seconds before it went back to the skirmish happening with the rest of the group. A sigh left my lips, the danger was over, for now.

~~~That Afternoon

We had been driving for a good couple of hours before I noticed a sign for the next town. Sonora, TX. I looked back at Damia and Alenia and nodded "We're almost to a town, hopefully we can find some medical supplies and get you patched up..."

Sonora itself was completely abandoned, and what few inhabitants there had once been there were now gone. The buildings were low and there were no cars littering the main street. People had escaped while they had the chance and the open road. I wondered whether they had gone to Houston or El Paso, either way it was a surety that they were dead now. I parked outside of the local hospital and helped Damia carry Alenia in and set her up in a room with bandages and what she needed to treat the girl. I looked out the window as the sun was more than halfway to the horizon, another shitty morning in this wasteland. I looked at Damia as she treated Alenia and sighed "Hopefully the others will be here soon. I didn't want to speed off the way I did but under the circumstances..." I slumped down on a chair, my body was a mix of dull aches and pains, but I had gotten a better deal than Alenia. Blood ran down from the wounds on my wrist and shoulder, but it was mostly superficial. I moved myself with the chair to face the window and set up my rifle, though the hospital only had a ground floor, so even if something or someone came they would see me just as I saw them.

I grabbed my Walkie-talkie and pressed a button on it labeled "signal search" which activated this useful tone across all channels. The closer you got, the louder the tone. It was mostly out of annoyance that people set out to silence the tone as it made speaking through the Walkies themselves extremely hard. I once more turned to the sun, shining down upon us. I hoped everyone was okay, but I knew that more people would end up hurt before the day was up.

Punished Snake

11-21-2014, 05:53 AM

I didn't want to stay in my death zone any longer. I sprinted towards Amelia's position while firing my SMG at any dogs coming at me. To those that got too close for my comfort, I swung my hammer into their skulls to cause some serious blunt force trauma. "Wobs! Wait up! Second that, I got your back!"

I ran like a real Mexican and was actually catching up to her and whoever was with her. I couldn't get a good visual on him so I didn't just want to say something. My AEK-919K just ripped the dogs skulls as bullets pierced them. It's just disgusting that I can see where they landed as the bullets entered them. The fact that these were once real animals just haunts me.

I wasn't going to die just yet. Not in this shit hole of a desert I wasn't. I wanted to survive and reach San Antonio before my bell was rung. If its one place I rather be, it'd be there cause all my friends and family are possibly still there. Maybe I can show them my new pals I met while trying to survive out here.

heroine

11-21-2014, 08:50 PM

Her breathing was shallow but the bleeding had stopped. Clumps of dried blood and sand stuck to my hands and bare arms. I'd noticed her wounds had been deep, to the bone. Severed muscle and flesh now exposed and infested with sand that would most likely cause an infection if I didn't get the supplies to clean it out. Pressing lightly against her collarbone, I'd noticed it was broken. And if it did not heal right, Alenia would barely be able to use her arm with out immense pain. She was alive but barely. Losing too much blood and in too much pain. I had used the ragged flannel I wore as a sling, trying to ease any pain she felt in her sleep. Gently calling out to her, I urged her to wake up. To tell me what else hurt. My training had only went so far. I only knew how to keep her alive until she had received proper attention. I didn't know how to heal her.

Alenia Dark

11-22-2014, 04:04 AM

“Alenia, you need to wake up.”

Oh no, we had already gone through this. I knew that I couldn’t succumb fully to that warm feeling in my chest, but I knew that if I woke up, I would be subject to Hell’s full plethora of pain. I wasn’t going to do that. No. Hell no.

“You need to tell me what hurts.”

How about everything? I groaned, beginning to feel the first stings of pain as Damia dragged me out of my subconscious sanctuary.

No. I don’t WANT to wake up. Please no. I don’t want the pain again. Please don’t make me wake up. Please, please, please.

It’s ironic to say, but I am not afraid of death. Pain, on the other hand? I am afraid of pain. Deathly afraid, which is the ironic part. I’d rather die than be in excruciating pain, but sadly, not all wishes come true. I knew I was already too close to consciousness to accede to that warm fuzzy feeling, but god I wish I had chosen to earlier. Damn me and my will to live.

And suddenly, consciousness hit.

“Oh my god.” I gasped out as my eyes snapped open. “Oh my god it hurts.” I ground out through clenched teeth.
“Goddamn, Damia? Can you do something? Make it stop hurting.” I was panting now, in an effort not to thrash about. That hadn’t worked out last time.

Moving my uninjured arm, I brushed my hair out of my face. Looking around, I realized that I was in… a hospital? Definitely a hospital.

“Where’s Amy? And the rest of the group?”

Wobbles

11-22-2014, 09:07 AM

Any fear that I had was long since gone, vanished in the roiling pit of my stomach. Adrenaline, rushing past my numbed ears like a roaring wind, pounding through my veins. Wolf started toward me, and I shook my head, motioning for him to tend to Ana. My -- our -- number one priority was her survival right now. She was more important than I. My eyes glanced over Damia and I felt a pang; I hoped I would see her again.

And then that thought was gone. I had no more time to think.

The Alpha was on me in seconds. Its teeth were bared, fangs dripping with saliva and translucent sides heaving. It was about the size of a lion, and its beady eyes were focused on my throat. Fear morphed into fury and I gritted my teeth, reloading my pistol with a jerk.

"Come on," I hissed. It probably sounded awful, but I didn't hear nor did I care. "Come on. Come get me, you bastard."

And he did. Paws digging into the dirt, sweat flinging from the sickly skin covering its pulsing red mass approaching deadly fast. I advanced as well, teeth on edge, knuckles white. The only sound that met my ears was the rage pounding through my skull. You hurt her. You hurt Ana, you dirty bastard. You'll pay --

In a silent dance we met, flesh against tooth. His jaws clamped around my forearm and my left hand landed on his giant muzzle. Talk about deep throating. My hand was completely in his mouth, fingers still in a deathgrip on the gun. With a yell of fury crawling from my throat and out of my mouth, I shot, once, twice, thrice. The dog jerked, eyes rolling wildly in their hollow sockets, and staggered, trying to pull away. Its teeth ground into my arm and I shot again, vaguely wishing I could hear its cries of pain. It fell limp, eyes growing dull, and slumped on my arm. With a hiss, I pulled my arm from its throat and took a few staggered steps backward.

Pain caught up to me. My ears throbbed numbly, and my back screamed in agony. My arm dripped warm crimson onto the sand. I grimaced and locked my knees, so I wouldn't buckle. If I fell down, I wouldn't get back up.

I knew what Jose and Damia were going to do, and I knew I needed to take charge. I slid the clip from my gun with the heel of my hand, quickly, and gave a hiss of frustration. No bullets. That left only one option.

Run like hell.

I scanned the field, picking up those remaining. Kurls and Scottie. Myst. Craze. Josh. Snake, who was already ahead of me. And Breed, who was also running. Time to play barrel of monkeys.

With another shot of adrenaline, I sprinted towards the farthest two, Kurls and Scottie, and pushed them a little, motioning towards the road. I hoped they got the general idea. Next was Josh. He pretty much understood the run bit, too. Craze seemed dazed, and I grabbed his hand, tugging him along with us. The dogs were right on our heels, and I charged ahead, lungs heaving for breath. My eyes landed on an old 74 Chevy pickup, and next -- hallelujah -- the keys, still in the ignition. With a quick twist, I slung the door open and jumped in the driver's seat, twisting the key and feeling the car roar to life. Let the Ford gods forgive me for this treason, but our lives depend on it.

The truck bucked as I felt them hopping into the back, and when someone slapped their hand on the bed twice, I slammed my foot on the gas.

THREE HOURS OF WHITE KNUCKLE DRIVING LATER

The town was pretty much deserted. Storefronts lay shattered and dusty, and a stray cat bolted across the road. Halfway through the drive, I'd handed the wheel to Kurls, choosing to slump into the seat next to him. He'd had to take control over the walkie talkie, and I felt bad for making him do both; but I couldn't do either. My back pulsated rhythmically with pain and my hearing had settled into complete and utter silence. It was... it was kind of scary. Scratch that, really scary.

I'd not said a word since we'd sped off, and I didn't know if he'd said any either. But as I spotted the Focus that Jose had left in, I pointed.

"Here."

CrumpetCannon

11-22-2014, 02:48 PM

Vaulting into the bed of the truck was difficult, the combination of being in too much pain to jump too high and running for my life too fast to stop in midair meant that my shins clipped the chassis when I just barely crested over the side. Naturally, I landed hard against the other side, a feeling that I was starting to find quite familiar today.

Groaning through the sting in my legs, I finally took the time to retrieve my shotgun from its holster, something that I hadn't had the luxury of when being chased, and shouldered it. There were still dogs following us, their own instinct driving them to kill and eat despite the death of their alpha.
By now, everyone else was in the bed of the truck alongside me, and the engine started to roar as Wobbles put her foot down, but one of the dogs was sprinting ahead of its pack, teeth bared maliciously. At this rate, it'd still reach us as the truck was accelerating, so I took the opportunity to finally get a shot off on one of the bastards.

I took great pleasure in getting the moving canine in my sights, adjusting the alignment of the barrel across the top of my wounded forearm, slotting my finger through the trigger guard and emptying my lungs of all breath. The dog leapt, at just the right trajectory and momentum to land in the bed of the truck.

"Down."

I pulled one of the triggers, loosing the payload of a single barrel at the snarling creature's terrible maw, barely four feet away.
Half of the dog's face exploded and it fell out of the air, tongue flapping uselessly out of a devastated mouth. It hit the ground with a heavy, wet thud as the car finally squealed off, leaving the other dogs in the dust.
I settled back into the bed of the truck, reloading the shotgun absentmindedly as I used this opportunity of relative safety to address whatever wounds I had. I already knew the extent of the damage to my arm, so I carefully peeled off my coat to take a look at the damage the alpha had done to my back, running a hand along the skin and finding it soaked in blood. I felt more than one jagged puncture where the claws had sunk in and then torn out, taking thimblefuls of flesh with them.

"Well that's not good."

* * * *

I was glad to be in the town, better to be in an urban area with the potential for scavenging and protection than out in the open desert in the only building for miles. The truck pulled up next to what was apparently the car that Jose had torn off in, the cutting of the engine plunging the area into silence.

I hauled myself carefully out of the truck, laying a bandaged arm against my chest as I looked around for any sign of danger. I'd taken the time to patch my wounds up on the journey, I'd been without styptic or antiseptic and had never been good with bandages, but for now they'd hold. I turned to the rest of the motley crew.

"It looks safe enough, let's get inside and find the rest of them."

Craze

11-22-2014, 04:47 PM

I hadn't said much in the past few hours, in fact - I don't think I said anything at all. SoulReaper, the one who had aimed his shotgun at me when I entered, was now dead. It shouldn't have done anything to me, and yet I felt... empty. Like I had lost something important. I felt powerless, too.

But I did fight. And I did provide help. I just... didn't say much.

~~~~~

"This looks... nice." I mumbled with sarcasm, though I noticed I said it as if I legitimately thought the place looked nice. It looked anything but nice. But anything with a roof was good enough for me. No more deserted wastelands, please.

I attempted climbing out of the truck, but my leg once again refused to cooperate. In silence I sat back down and looked at the people around me. "Can anyone lend me a hand with getting out of this thing?" I complained with a dazed stare, "I don't want to risk breaking this leg, it's already weak enough."

DukeWolfRein

11-23-2014, 04:40 AM

Wobbles
~~~~~

It was cold. The sun had fallen beneath the horizon, and the ground had released its heat, leaving a dry chill on the air. My knuckles were chapped, and I’d not had the time nor the wherewithal to tend to them. Damia had tended to my larger wounds, but my knuckles had been left unattended. I pocketed my hands carefully, standing from my place on the edge of the hospital bed. It stank like the dead.

I could see their lips moving, but I couldn’t hear them. It wasn’t even like I’d seen it described; muffled, tinny voices, delayed timing. Just.. silence. If there was one thing I craved, it was sound. To speak to someone. To hear their voice, judge the tones they used. That was gone, now.

I made eye contact with Jose, then motioned towards the door with my head before stepping out of that same door and making my way downstairs and outside. I slipped my flannel shirt and crossed my arms over my chest as I waited for him to join me.

DWR
~~~~~

I made one more round down the hallway and looked in, pretty much everyone seemed to have found themselves a bed, some people, those still a bit shaken from the experience and the loss of one of ours, slept in the same room to comfort each other. My shoulder and my wrist stung still, even though Damia had helped me disinfect them and put some bandages on them. Alenia was the one that had gotten the shortest end of the stick, she was still in critical condition, but with the help of some medical books we found Damia was doing her best to treat her.

Once the rest of them had gotten in we had moved everyone to the adjacent building, it gave us more room, but it was still a relatively small hospital. Any noise or disturbance, and everyone could be alerted rather quickly. As I passed Wobbles’ room I saw her sitting up on the bed. She motioned me with her head and slowly walked out of her room and down the stairs. I followed her, looking into the rooms on the way out, everything seemed fine so far.

As I stepped out into the open I felt the stinging cold that the desert nights brought. It was Winter, and though the days were not freezing but rather cool, the nights were unforgiving. I looked at her and smiled “Hey, how was the drive here then?” We started walking around to the back of the hospital, keeping our blood flowing would be good under the current weather.

Wobbles
~~~~~
I offered him a tired smile. We were all worn after today. My eyes went to his lips, immediately; it took me a few seconds to decipher what he was saying. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.

“Um.. it was fine.”

I spoke slowly, forming the words with care. I hated it, immediately, and tried to speak faster. Like I normally would.

“Had Kurls drive half way for me. Kind of bumpy.”

I cringed. That was probably awful. My hand went to my numbed ear, and I tightened my arms across my chest. I wasn’t sure how he’d take this. I knew I was no longer an asset, if I wasn’t a hindrance. When we’d reached the back side of the hospital, I tugged on his sleeve to stop, and turned him towards me.

“Look, Jose, I.. can’t hear.”

I warbled through the sentence uneasily, and I could feel tears pricking behind my eyes. If there was ever a time to be left behind, this was it. And in a sense, I was okay with that; and yet, not. These people were my family now. I wanted to live, and with them; but more than that, I wanted them to live. And if that meant that they need to leave me behind, I was okay with that. It would hurt. But I’d be okay with it. I looked down, shuffling my feet. The blanket of silence was deafening.

“I — I understand if you want to not.. not take me with you any more.”

DWR
~~~~~

I felt the tug on my sleeve and turned around, her last sentence had seemed rushed, almost like she had been working through the words. As she turned me I saw her eyes, with every word she struggled to form I saw them become more and more hurt, as if every word was ripping a piece of her apart.

She was deaf, she was completely deaf and I couldn't actually do anything about it. My hand balled up into a fist and I looked at her shaking my head "No, no we are not leaving you anywhere. This isn't your fault..." I tried to speak as slowly as possible, forming every single word and syllable very carefully as I spoke them.

"This is not your fault, this was Soul's doing. If it wasn't for him we'd still have the house, Alenia wouldn't be hurt and you wouldn't be deaf! What good did it do anyhow? He only killed a few, not even the Alpha! If he had actually been useful then we wouldn't be here....You wouldn't be like this..."

I ran my hand along her cheek, my hand shaking in anger. Anger from not being able to do anything about our current situation except run, anger from knowing that someone's selfish actions had lead to so many things going wrong. I wasn't used to the anger, not since the Apocalypse began had I felt so useless. I smiled though, even through all that, the sight of her own tears and her worried face made me smile because I knew that as long as she was around I'd be able to go on.

Wobbles was the first person I had found outside of El Paso, and we had started our journey together by realizing how well we worked. I remembered how I had been fighting off a Leech when we came to a bus, the side of it destroyed from an explosion, torn apart but still standing. As I finished off the leech a voice came from above the Bus, on the roof and said.

"State your name and business"

I smiled the same way I had smiled back then and my eyes met hers very much like that time. "You're going to be fine, we're going to be fine. I promise."

Wobbles
~~~~~

At first, a chord of panic struck through my chest as he shook his head and clenched his fist. But when he began to speak, I could read his lips, and a wave of relief washed over me. I laughed shortly, an unbidden tear rolling down my cheek and dancing past his fingertips. t’s not your fault, he’d said. And yet, a breathed “I’m sorry” escaped my lips anyway. I reached up, curling my fingers around his. I’d remembered when we’d first met, and how we smiled so easily, so naturally at one another. And he was smiling at me like that now.

I didn’t know if I could ever smile like that again, but I tried.

He kept talking, and I struggled a little to understand what he was saying; but one thing stuck out to me. You wouldn’t be like this… So I was going to be a burden, then. My fault or no, I’d be a hassle. My posture deflated, and I pulled away in the slightest.

Wolf was important to me. I looked to him to keep myself going in this fucked up world, and if he thought I was going to be a pain, I’d rather have died in that explosion. But he wouldn’t leave me, I knew that much; so I’d have to do what I could to prove myself helpful.

“I’ll try,” I began. The words tangled in my mouth and I coughed quietly. “I’ll do my best to be the same. As before.”

The words were thick in my throat. Before. Before what? Before the explosion? Before the apocalypse? Before.. any of this? I don’t even remember it. I remember my parents, vaguely. I remember Ana. I remember.. very few things, and even fewer things do I remember fondly. I remember meeting these people. I remember feeling instantly at home with them. I remember trading jokes and prods, I remember surviving. I remember so much that I don’t remember. It’s there. Hidden. Somewhere in the back of my head.

I realized that I was staring off into the distance, and snapped my eyes back to him, in case he was talking. Wind stung my face and I quickly brought the edge of my sleeves up to dry my face.

DWR
~~~~~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmErRm-vApI

I felt her fingers wrap around mine and my smile hardened slightly. In all those weeks alone after finding each other we hadn’t really talked about much. There were the usual questions of ‘Where are you from?’ and ‘How did you get here?’ but never any heart to heart. In fact, it almost felt like the heart to heart conversations weren’t needed. We just got each other, through every attack and every kill. Every new person that came and every person that left. She’d always look at me with that same look that she had just given me, that insecure look that said ‘I don’t know what to do, but you’re here and that makes it better.’

Slowly I pulled her towards me, holding both of her hands in mine. I leaned in, my forehead resting against hers. She was warm, she always seemed to be warm. Even her smile was warm when the desert was a barren, cold wasteland. My eyes closed and I spoke softly and surely so that she could tell what I was saying.

“You’ve never been someone that had to try her best. You just do your best, naturally. I think from the moment I saw you, from the moment we met, I knew you would be the best partner I could ask for. So, there is no before, there is only the now Amelia , there is only us, all of us, now.” I opened my eyes and looked into her eyes, I could almost see the night sky reflected on them. “No matter what happens, no matter who comes and who leaves, there will always be you and me. I will make sure of it. Because after all, what’s a Hunter without his partner?”

My hand went to her chin and I slowly brought her forward before my lips met hers, and for even the smallest of moments the apocalypse around us disappeared. It was a gesture that meant the whole world. I closed my eyes and allowed that moment to ride, because I knew that there would be hell to pay for allowing ourselves the luxury of such a moment.

Wobbles
~~~~~

I kept my eyes fixed on him. Reading him. His lips, his body language. When our foreheads met, gently, a wave of warmth washed over me. Like just his presence told me that everything would be alright. It reminded me of home -- wherever that was. Right now, home was here and now.

His eyes slid shut, and I kept my gaze fixed on his lips, reading what he was saying. If I tried hard enough, I could hear his voice in my head. It was comforting. I wished it could stay this way; forever, just like this. No fighting, no death. No constant peril. Just serenity. We were so close; close enough that I could feel his heartbeat in my fingertips, his warm breath on my nose. And yet I felt so far. Like watching a movie with the sound off. Distant, locked away. Stuck in a glass cage, sentenced to a lifetime of watching.

When his lips met mine, I let my eyes slide shut. The world stopped for a long second, and I forgot the pain, the loss, the hurt. Everything was okay for that one little moment. Everything was going to be okay. Everything would be fine. I wish I could believe that. Oh, how I wished it was true. Because I knew that the second I pulled away, it wouldn’t be. Back to the same old world, the same old peril. So I didn’t pull away. Not for a long while.

When I did, I slid my arms around his waist, pressing my ear to his chest. He smelled like blood and old bandages; it was oddly comforting. I didn’t hear the bark sound behind him, and neither of us saw it coming.

DWR
~~~~~

That moment, those seconds, as I counted them in my head for no other reason than because I knew that they would be the seconds that I would remember the most for the following days, were the best seconds since the beginning of the apocalypse. Though after this it would be business as usual. No attachment, no love story, no. We would not allow ourselves that.

If there was something both her and I had learned since this all started was that people left you when you least expected it, and if you got too attached it made it that much worse. Death was the one thing that kept everyone in check during the Apocalypse. Death hung around every single corner. It was the shadow that tucked you in at night, and the one you woke up to every morning.

When she pulled away and held me close I kissed her head, wrapping my hands around her and holding her as tightly as she held me. Her hair smelled like blood, blood and sand. I closed my eyes again and got lost once more in that smell. I should have known that was a bad idea, I should have paid attention to my screaming instincts that told me we were getting too comfortable. I would have seen it coming.

When the Dog jumped from the bushes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSdDf8av74E), it let out a menacing growl that I barely registered before its claws ripped into my back. I let out a painful scream as my body tensed and went forward, pushing Wobbles out of the way. The floor met me with a cold indifference, hands softening the fall before I turned to see the Dog readying itself for another attack, this time aimed at Wobbles. I took my knife out and dashed at it, only to feel the sting of my back push me back down to the floor. I readied my rifle and watched as it leapt towards her.

If there was one thing that Wobbles was, it wasn’t helpless. As soon as I had pushed her away her pistol had been drawn and she had aimed at the Dog. The first shot missed, but as the Dog jumped the second one met its mark at the leg. The creature yelped painfully before I grabbed it by the neck and pushed it down to the floor, holding it “Shoot it! Shoot it!” Wobbles looked at me, and I could see her eyes traveling down my back and the crimson mess that was currently forming from it. The tears in her eyes, filled with guilt and anger told me all I needed to know. It looked worse than it felt.

My knife once more came up and I stabbed the whining creature on the forehead. Every movement was painful, and as I twisted the knife and felt something pop on my back I knew that the Dog had given me a wound I wouldn’t forget until the day I died. It had torn slightly into the bone, and it just so happened that the bone was my spine. I grimaced and looked up, but by then Wobbles was gone, she had run off.

I got up, painfully, one hand on my back as I stumbled around the parking lot of the Hospital “Amelia! Amelia come back!” I shouted into the night, knowing full well the pointlessness of shouting after a deaf girl. Another wave of pain shot through my back and I fell forward, this time passing out, the world around me instantly going black.

Punished Snake

11-23-2014, 06:19 AM

I had finally gotten some good sleep as I slept on the trunk of the pickup. It went well until we came to a stop in which my head hit the wall where bed meets cabin. As I sit up from a waking headache, I find myself outside a hospital. How coincidental and possibly ironic since we're all practically injured in some way. "Urrrgh, thanks for the wake up call man."

I jump off the bed and begin to enter the hospital in search of supplies while staying near any of our companions positions. There's no way in hell that I was going to die in the dead of night. Hell, death wasn't even on my list yet, expect for my hitlist. I don't fear death, it should fear me.

I walked right past Amelia's room as Damia was treating her. I went into several rooms and basically raided them of their medical supplies in case someone needed them. When I exited one of the rooms and back out into the hallway, I saw Amelia and Jose or DWR, or whatever the hell his name was follow her. I didn't know what was going on, but something told me that something spicy was going to happen.

I pursued them while trying not to be detected by either of them. If they found out I was watching, she would surely kill (metaphorically I hope). As watched from a distance, I could see that the two were at the parking lot of hospital. The cold was starting to hit and even with my life living here in Texas, I still hated it. Whatever Amelia wanted Duke for, it must have been real important for her to meet out in the damn cold.

I looked away for a moment to warm my hands before I start shivering like an asshole. Once I looked back at them, I saw what was basically my hindrance to any girl. The two were now lip locked and I was here watching with a death blow to my heart. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l9FX_H7DPo&app=desktop) I can't believe I was feeling this inside of me; why the hell have I developed feelings for someone that I really don't know too well? Is it because if the fact that I've always been trying to protect her in this hell? Is it because she was a short cute little girl who had enough courage to basically lead us?

I looked away cursing at myself under my breath as I pushed away those thoughts from my mind. I wasn't going to let this moment ruin my damn life; not now nor ever in the near future. That's when the gunshots went off. I saw Duke lying on the ground limp and Amelia running away. A dog had taken him down, but he was still alive...for a little longer. "Duke, try not move! I'm comin to get ya!"

I began to make my way down to him to check out his condition. My AEK was drawn and poomted out into the open as there was a dog lying roght next to him. No way I was going to let those fucks catch me off guard. "Hang on Duke. I'm getting ya out of here." I withdrew my gun and began to drag Duke to the stairwell and then I lifted him on my shoulder so I can take him up. "Man you're heavy."

Halfbreed443

11-23-2014, 06:22 AM

I kept running being sure to keep the road in sight, the less I thought of the danger behind us the better it was for me. The closer and closer we got to the road the safer I felt. Finally Wobbles found a truck and got in the drivers seat as the rest of us climbed in the back. Once we had all gotten in Wobbles slammed on the gas and we were off.

I had no way of telling time but it didn't seem like it had been long since we'd been running for our lives from a pack of blood thirsty dogs. I couldn't help but think about Soul, Why he had done it? It only seemed to cause chaos for the rest of us while he got to take his own life willingly while we had to suffer fighting to stay alive from demon animals who wouldn't stop until we were all dead. There was nothing god that came out of that death.

Finally we came to a stop, which I was glad for. I hated sitting still for too long. I climbed out the bed of the truck and turned back and saw...what was is?...Craze? Yea that's it...Craze was having trouble getting out of the truck. I walked over and lent him my arm and gave him a small smile, it kind of made me wonder how he got in the truck to begin with. I wasn't sure if he would need help walking but once I'd helped him out the truck I stayed close in case he needed help. It was a hospital, convenient for the current situation.

Mystress of Shadows

11-23-2014, 04:38 PM

The entire ride away from our last place of refuge I stared out at the landscape as it whizzed by. Soul's gun rested on my lap, and I had lost three arrows in our flight. Questions kept running through my mind. Why did Soul give his gun to me? Why did he even sacrifice himself like that? Was it really necessary? And Alenia. Would she be alright? The last time I had seen her, she was blacked out and bleeding like crazy. How was it that I got away with so few wounds? I felt kind of guilty because of it. Everyone else seemed to have a major wound, but all I had was a few puncture wounds in my shoulders from the dog's claws. I guess it was a good thing. I'd be able to help a bit more and make sure we stayed safe while everyone recuperated. That gave me another thought that made me laugh slightly. A girl such as myself protecting everyone? With how tiny I was? I knew how to handle myself, and I could make quite the stand, but it was humorous at how weak I seemed. I couldn't help but wonder if that made me look like an easy target, or if it made me seem not worth the time.

When we stopped at the hospital, I helped out where I could, mainly lending my hand to Damia in making sure everyone got the treatment they needed. I wasn't a doctor, but I could help in basic things like bandaging. The major stuff, like the wounds Alenia had received, I was useless in helping. Afterwards, I made my way to the roof in order to keep watch. I couldn't sleep anyway.

During the night, as I walked around the roof, I came across Duke and Wobs, whom I believe everyone else called Amelia. I silently watched them, making sure no creatures would sneak up on them. We didn't need another death today. However, when they began to kiss, I decided they should get their privacy. I move to take another round along the perimeter of the roof, but slower. That was until I heard the scream. My blood ran cold as I raced over to where Duke and Amelia last were and froze for a second. Duke was injured badly, his back in tatters and bleeding. A dog laid dead near him. I could just see Amelia fleeing inside the building, and I rushed to meet her just as Snake rushed to help Duke.

As I raced down the stairs, and wave of guilt overcame me. Why didn't I keep watching them? Why did I have to leave them alone when they would be unable to react as quickly? This was my fault. If only I hadn't turned away. I knew Amelia was deaf. I had seem the blood coming from her ear earlier and heard her garbled speech. At the last step, I nearly tripped, but caught myself just in time. It was a second I couldn't afford to lose, and I chastised myself for my clumsiness.

I found Amelia quickly. My heart went out to her when I could see the guilt in her eyes. It wasn't her fault. She couldn't do anything. But I could. I could have saved Duke from his injury. Once I came up to Amelia, I stopped her, making sure I had her attention. "It's going to be alright," I told her, purposely over-articulating my words so she could understand me.

"I saw what happened. You're not at fault. If I hadn't turned away from you two while I was on watch, none of this would have happened. You aren't to blame. You couldn't have done anything. But it ok. You'll be fine, and Duke will too. Just trust me, ok? Everything will be ok." I had taken her hands and looked into her eyes, showing her that I was sorry, but that everything would be fine. I may have been younger than her, but I still tried to be as caring as possible. Right now, Amelia needed comfort. I offered her a hug, knowing she could probably use one right about now. I knew she would still blame herself, but it couldn't be helped. The only one who could truly forgive her was herself.

CrumpetCannon

11-23-2014, 07:44 PM

I pulled myself upright, growling against the pain that ebbed from beneath my bandages, the wounds had been properly dressed, but nothing could quell this kind of pain.
I looked around wearily, there were other beds and they were occupied. Some were asleep, others were awake, but everyone was tired. Deciding that it was far too crowded in here and that the heat was getting to me, I stood up from the bed and pulled my coat on, making a point of strapping my shotgun onto my back via the holster. My axe was looped through the leather harness at my belt, where it was easily drawn. Suitably equipped, I made for the hospital stairwell.

The door opened loudly, and shut behind me with a metallic click. Shouldering my backpack, I made for the stairs and ascended in silence until I came to the final door at the very top of the stairs, I nudged it open and was greeted by the most satisfying cool breeze I'd ever experienced. I had arrived on the roof, where the air was chilled and fresh and ever so slightly humid, and I was far more comfortable.

I let out a contented sigh and strode over to the edge of the roof, where there was a waist high wall which marked the plunge down to ground level. Here I set down my pack and eased myself into a sitting position, planting my back carefully against the wall to minimise the agitation to my wounds. I lifted up my bandaged arm, through which blood had started to show up in dark brown blots, though the bleeding had mercifully died down, leaving only the deep, nagging pain to inconvenience me.
I was on a roof, and so of course I got the insatiable urge to peek over the edge to see how high up I was. I did so cautiously, craning my neck backwards and sideways so that I could just about see the ground however many storeys below, as well as the two figures who stood there. Jose and Amelia, with a squint I could just make out how close together they were standing.

Rolling my eyes but stopping just short of shaking my fist and yelling "you crazy kids!", I got up and walked over to the other side of the roof, where I replicated my previous sitting position in an effort to give the two some semblance of privacy. I mean, they had no idea I could see them, but that probably made it worse.

Massively content to sit in the cooler air of the outside, I laid the back of my head against the wall and closed my eyes, blissfully unaware of the chaos about to take place.

Wobbles

11-28-2014, 02:29 AM

A scream tore from my mouth, unbidden, as he was pulled away from me. I could see the panic in his eyes, that momentary flash; and then it was this morning, all over again. The moment hadn't lasted. I knew it wouldn't. My hand went from my gun, instinctively, and the fight was a blur. The dog was dead, and -- and he was bleeding, he was bleeding everywhere --

If I'd not let myself relax. If I'd stayed wary. If I'd actually looked, instead of selfishly tuning myself out. A hand went to my mouth, fresh tears crawling from under my lashes. No. No, he looked dead. He's dead. He's dead.

He's dead he's dead he's dead it's your fault he's dead.

And I ran. Kicking gravel up from under my worn Vans, tears blurring my vision, lungs heaving. He's dead and it's my fault. Pumping my arms, sobbing. Go, go, go. Go faster. A rock caught my shoe, pulling me down to meet the ground, and I tumbled, rolling head over heel. Bleed sprouted from my elbow and I twisted the skin to see it. Not bad. Not bad compared to -- no, come on, don't think about that.

In seconds, Myst was upon me, speaking, probably -- I didn't look at her mouth, didn't try to read what she said. I knew what she would say. Not my fault, not my fault. She came forward to give me a hug and I shot to my feet, swatting her arms away. Words spilled from my mouth, unformed, raw. Harsh. If I'd been thinking straight, I would never had lashed out at her. But I wasn't thinking straight, and I'd regret the words later.

"Stay away from me! Just -- just stay away!" My breaths came haggard in my throat, and I paced backwards, now glowering. "You.. you don't know anything about me. Stay away!"

And so I ran. Again. Turned heel, clenched fists, peeled out like I was running from the devil himself. Like I could outrun that image of Jose sprawled on the ground, bleeding. Every time I blinked, it was burned into the inside of my eyelids. I clenched my teeth as I turned a corner, and didn't unlock my jaws until I tasted the metallic blood seeping into my mouth; I'd been biting my tongue.

It seemed like I ran for an hour. Buildings and shops flew past until they ran out, until I was in the countryside. The moon glared down coldly upon the dunes, and the wind birthed tiny dust devils onto the road. I followed this same road, breath rattling in my lungs, until I could barely move my legs. I'd not looked back once, and when I finally did, there was no one there. Thank God. A minute passed, and another; the cold ground began to absorb my warmth from where I stood, eyes closed, chest rising and falling unevenly.

You're not going to think about him. Or them. You're going to leave, and you're not going to come back. You're probably going to die. That's okay. They're better off without you.

I blinked, taking in a wet breath. My lungs were weak, but I had resolve. That's all that mattered. In the distance, a building stood against the whipping sands of the desert. Out here, there was nothing to stop the wind; so the sands had torn themselves into a frenzy, biting at my eyes, clothes, and skin. I pushed myself into a jog; it took me probably five or ten minutes to reach the building. I had to stop twice to catch my breath, and once to put a cloth over my mouth. On the top of the building, I could make out the faint letters of 'M O T O R C Y C L E S' -- or at least, that what I guessed it said. The T, R, and second C were missing. There were no lights inside, but the door swung open freely; a film of dust coated my hand as I pulled away.

An awful stench wafted past my nose, but I slid the cloth down from my mouth anyway. Something was snapping underfoot, and I felt for the lightswitch. I almost wished I hadn't flipped it on. As the lights blinked to life, I gave a cry and leapt from my spot. I'd been standing on a half-decayed corpse. A shudder ran down my spine, and I whispered a quiet 'Sorry.' I wouldn't have wanted someone walking on my dead body.

A much friendlier sight met my eyes when I turned around. Motorcycles; tons of them. Street bikes, motorcross, Harleys, you name it. An old green and black street bike caught my attention, and I ran my hand over the engine. Dust floated in the beams of light. It would do; much better than running, anyway. It occurred to me that I'd never ridden a motorcycle before.

"It's easy," came a soft voice. I spun, searching for the source. "You just sit back a little more. Be ready to tap the clutch. Never steer without two hands, and lean forward." Disappointment struck me. I'm deaf. I can't hear anyone or anything. It was in my head. I closed my eyes, and the image of a man appeared; crystal blue eyes, a broad smile, and clad in flannel and jeans. Dad. He loved bikes. The image in my head came to life, tilting his head a little. "I know you can do it, hon. You just gotta be bold."

Be bold, huh? I think green and black is bold enough.

I spun, marching towards the back, where the dusty old computer monitors were. The lights were on; the dogs would come, and they'd come soon. I had to put my foot in it. Only one drawer was locked, and I didn't take the time to search for the key; a piece of roofing was sufficient to smash it open. I rifled through the keys until I came upon the one with the green Kawasaki logo; yep, that was it. Pocketing them, I shuffled my way to the back. If this was any motor shop at all, they'd have a helmet. Sure enough, a white Shoei helmet hung on a peg. It was way too big, but so what? Better than nothing. On a bench nearby were some thick pants; riding gear. I grabbed the helmet and laid it on the bench, then slipped into the gear. Fuck, they were giant. Too bad, I guess. It'd protect me from the sun, anyway.

I slogged out to the bike, head wobbling with the weight of the helmet. God, I probably looked dumb. Didn't care. Didn't even care. As long as it would protect my exposed skin. I'd not thought to scrub my face -- there was a sink back there. I could have drank something, too. So thirsty. Too late, now. I swung my leg over the back of the bike and pushed myself over to the door -- deliberately not looking at the skeleton I was crushing -- and twisted the key. The bike roared to life under me and I pushed through the door, riding off in the opposite direction of Sonora.

THE NEXT MORNING

I'd not stopped through the whole night. A few times, I'd careened off the road; thankfully, without injury. Once I had to stop for fuel. That was fun. The convenience store was in shambles, but it looked like someone had been there recently, which was odd. I was tired, now, and wasn't watching my speedometer; once or twice, I'd crested 100. It was difficult, not being able to hear the engine. I couldn't tell when to throw the clutch in, when to switch gears, when the RPMs were too high.

As the sun peaked the horizon, I could feel sleep pulling at my eyes. My driving had become reckless. There was no one on this road, and I'd all but mastered this bike by now. What I needed was a safe place to crash. Not literally crash; that would be bad. Sleep. That's what I needed to do. Sleep. My hand twisted around the throttle more, and the speedometer's red arrow climbed even higher. Sleep..

Death of Korzan

11-29-2014, 01:59 AM

Texas, Chihuahua Desert, West of Houston

Warm, golden rays of sunlight flickered through the miniscule gaps in the blinds. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9msnv8ycvvY) A stray beam slashed across my eyes like a bolt of lightning and caused me to stir in my sleep. Darkness shrouded my eyes, my eyelids coating the blue in its embrace. I slowly lifted my eyelids, squinting and raising my hand to block the sun from my eyes. I grunted to myself as I lifted both of my arms and ran my palms over my eyes before using my fingers to rid myself of the sleep that had been left behind. Slowly rising up, I ran my hands through my messy bed hair – not thinking of the irony at the fact that I hadn’t slept upon a bed.

I swung my legs over the side of the sofa and rested my bare feet against the carpet upon the floor, padding them upon the soft material and sighing to myself, my voice gravely and deep – a tell-tale sign of last night and the amount I had drunk. Coughing into my hand, I rose up slowly, lifting my arms and stretching towards the ceiling like a great growing oak lifts its branches towards the sun, hoping for a taste of Helios’ fire. I ran my tongue along my lips and teeth, trying to rub away the taste of metal and alcohol from my mouth before slowly turning towards the stairs and shifting up them like a zombie, avoiding the sunlight whenever it came particularly close to my eyes.

Turning towards the bathroom once more, I walked towards the shower and stepped inside its confines, stripping my clothes off before I moved my leg over the bathtub. Once inside the tub, I shifted my feet around, toes playing with the delicate small puddles of water that remained from last night’s late shower. Slowly moving my trembling fingers forward, I pulled the shower handle clockwise and dipped my head as cold water began to shoot out of the shower-head, covering my messy hair and my face as I stared down at the peaceful white of the bath, biting my lip at the cleanliness of the home and the irony of how well kept it was. Forcing myself to keep my mind away from the reality, I lifted my hand and began to run it across my arms, before cleaning myself fully. Once finished, I leaned my head backwards and closed my eyes, letting the water slip down my cheeks and drop off, landing hard against my torso before running my hand across my face. I then leaned forward to flick the shower off, taking deep heavy breaths of the warm air before leaning over and grabbing the final towel on the rack, pausing before I stripped it from its metal support. The cloth was so lonely – the last of its kind…

It reminded me of myself.

Quickly moving out of the shower, I wrapped the towel around myself and began to dry off, wiping away the stray dots of water that placed themselves along my skin like parasites before softly removing the damp that they had left behind upon their removal. Sniffing through my nose, I turned to the sink and looked upon the glass shelf that sat above it, taking one of the many toothbrushes from the rack and grabbing the toothpaste that remained. It was almost empty, though there would be enough for me to use. I ran my fingers along the tube and squeezed some of the blue, white and red mixture out upon the toothbrush before running it along my teeth and tongue, cleansing my mouth finally of the taste of whisky. Grimacing at the taste of the fluoride paste, I spat into the sink and ran the toothbrush under the tap before slipping it into my trouser pocket and splashing my face with some of the water.

Once dry, I went to my clothes and slipped them over my body, before stretching one more time and looking over at the room that I had slept in. Pulling my map out of my pocket I went over it before pulling my pencil from the same pocket and marking the area I was in – circling the town, I wrote ‘safe haven’ upon it so as I would remember where to find the house once I had been to Houston – I had no intention of staying within the city, the smell of rot from all of the old dead would no doubt perforate through the stones and through the alleys of the once bustling city. I wouldn’t become one of the old corpses…I wouldn’t be swallowed up by the urban jungle and spat out as a corpse to be driven over by another lost soul.

Sighing, I walked towards the front door and pulled it open slowly, peering cautiously outside in case anything inhuman lingered within the streets – there was nothing but corpses and wreckage; these were sights that I had become accustomed to, replacing things I used to remember, like the smell of rain upon the cobbles of London or the barking of the dogs in my neighbourhood.

Now there was only silence and death. Plentiful, sorrowful death.

Grimacing to myself, I stepped out of the front door and pulled my car keys from my back pocket before opening the side door to the car and placing my bow within. I opened one of the looted duffel bags and pulled the large bottle of water I had found the day before. Sliding the side door shut, I walked around to the driver’s seat and sat down in front of the wheel, placing the bottle of water in the seat next to me. Starting up the car, I reversed off of the drive slowly, deliberately before looking up into the sky at the white smoke – it was hard to see from such a distance and was likely quite a far distance from where I was.

‘That’s where I’ve got to go.’ I thought to myself as I pressed the accelerator down. ‘To tomorrow, past today – towards the great unknown once again.’

DukeWolfRein

11-29-2014, 06:41 AM

I felt someone lift me up and get me off the floor. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWmWSjJqlEg) I could hear a lot of yelling through the dark, voices which seemed familiar at first but faded away as quickly as they came. There was a dull pain coming from my back, and when whoever was carrying me put me down on the bed the dull pain became a hot, searing flare of pain. A painful scream came from my throat as I thrashed to get away but hands held me down to the bed and turned me on my side and then to my stomach. I briefly opened my eyes and looked around from my limited point of view and I saw someone enter the room and gasp. I turned towards the gasp, my mouth feeling dry and my head ready to explode The words I managed to get out were barely understandable, even to me.

"Get...Her...She ran...Not...safe.."

Then the dark came and took me once more.

~~The Next Morning~~

The dark felt like a pulsating screen against my eyes, and eventually a soft red formed from the rays of light that shone through the window in the room. My eyes parted slowly and I looked around. My room was empty, and from the looks of the light outside it was close to ten in the morning. My first instinct was to sit up, but as I went to raise myself up with my forearms a pain shot through my back and knocked me down to the bed. A grimace slowly formed on my face and a sigh escaped me. I was stuck on this bed for now it seemed.

My right hand came up and I looked at it, I could move it, as well as my left hand. My toes were next, and I wiggles them before bending my knees ever so slightly to make sure I didn't cause myself any further pain. It seemed that I wasn't paralyzed in any way whatsoever. That was good. Though the pain in my lower back was keeping me from getting up or moving around too much. I wondered just how long I would be stuck on that bed. My hands went to the rails at the side of the bed and I closed my eyes, breathing in deep.

The rails were cold, at least the ones on the left were. The cold was almost comforting as the mild heat from the desert blew into my room. The window was open and I could hear everyone going about their day outside. My grip tightened around the rails and I smiled, slowly pulling myself up and over the bed. My back screamed in pain, but I had to get up, I had to do something. My feet touched the ground and I stood on them. My lower midsection was wrapped in bandages, splotches of red here and there, evidence of the efforts to clean me up the night before. The air blew in from the window in front of me and hit me ever so gently. My feet went forward, one in front of the other, and I stood by that window. My hands settling on the windowsill. My eyes opened once more and I looked out to the small town as it sprawled in the distance. The sun shone down at me. I could feel the heat on my body, and the wood beneath my hand was also hot as I touched the frame. My hands went out slowly and I could feel the wind hit my arm. My left arm.

I stopped and looked at my arms stretched out before me. I could feel the wind very vividly on my left arm, but my right arm remained unaffected, almost as if asleep, but without the bothersom side effects. I brought my right hand closer to me and moved it. I could barely feel the movement, a very small and insignificant twitch that was registered served as a way to let me know that my nerves were not completely damaged. I looked back as someone walked into the room and I saw Damia. My eyes met hers and a half unsure smile appeared on my face "Hey Damia...Sorry about getting up."

heroine

11-29-2014, 07:32 AM

Becoming the group's only source of medical attention had become as stressful as I thought it would be. Last night was evidence to that. And I doubted my own abilities to continue the role as my finger shook through out the night. Within the chaos, I was expected to take care of a person who needed someone much more capable than I. And I felt the beginnings of anxiety eat away at the hollow in my chest. The feeling had continued to grow when I found out Amy had disappeared. Realizing that something must of been horribly wrong for her to have run away with out a single goodbye. Especially to me. The only thing keeping an anxiety attack at bay was the fact that Duke desperately needed my attention. Whatever back injury he had suffered could be much worse than it looked and it had looked terrible.

I monitored him through out the night, unwilling to leave him if something had gone wrong while I slept. Amy would never forgive me. Alenia had already gotten seriously hurt, losing too much blood and her shoulder would never work right again. And now Duke, who I'd noticed was also close to Amy. I felt as if I've failed her and when Duke was quietly sleeping and the others had left the room, I let myself cry. This apocalypse was taking too much from me. And I wondered if I could handle it at all. The hot days and even hotter nights had begun to wear down the little sanity I had. And a responsibility like this was too much to handle while I thought my family dead. When I thought no one else could help this little group of ours.

I fell asleep shortly after that and awoke while the sky was just beginning to turn from black to blue. Dawn had always been my favorite part of the day. When you could smell the dew on the grass and the air was crisp enough to wear a coat. But they had been in the desert, no source of moisture in sight. And it had only smelled of dust and heated sand. But this morning, the air was surprisingly cooler than I had thought. A lazy yawn escaped me as I rose to check on Duke, his wrappings needed a change but I decided to wait until he woke up, knowing that he needed the rest. And I left him to get a drink of water and the rest of the supplies that we had found among the abandoned hospital. I hoped there would be enough to give him completely clean bandages. The idea of leaving the used ones on bothered me, the chance of infection much greater with unchanged wrappings.

Beginning to pile the supplies on a large metal tray, I quickly made my way back to Duke's room. Finding him up and moving was surprising and I set down the tray on the chair I had been sitting on. I had smiled back, noticing his complete range of movement. That was a good sign and something to smile about. "You know, you really shouldn't be standing." I began to unwrap the large pack of gauze. "You're going to hate this but I have to change your dressings. And yes, it will hurt while I clean out the bigger wounds."

Scottie

11-29-2014, 05:06 PM

Too much happened. The change in location, hospitals weren’t my favourite place to begin with. This one was just filled with death, bodies littered the corridors. Some people had died in their beds, it was still a shock to the system to open a door and find lifeless eyes staring back at you. I had scoured most rooms for what little supplies were left before everything kicked off. Not only was Ana out, so was Duke now. Brilliant. I could hear murmurs coming from the closed door that led to where Damia was tending to people. I sighed softly before glancing at the large communal area where most people were littered around.

I knew Wobbles had ran off last night, no one was able to catch up with her. We lost her rather quickly, then the darkness seemed to smother us. Everyone had went to sleep and I woke up suddenly a few times. It felt like there was someone missing and there was. I stood by the door frame of the room and chewed at my bottom lip. I thought for a moment before coughing. “Right….Who wants to come with me to find Wobs?” I scanned over them with a small smile. “I mean…She can’t have gotten that far. She’s probably just hiding in anyone of the buildings round here.” I snap my eyes to window where the grey buildings crowded the view.

“I’m not gonna let her wander around by herself…..Any takers?” I grabbed my bag, a few sentimental pieces and supplies rolled around in the blue canvas. I loop the straps over my shoulder and feel the bat attached to the bag hit my side. I run a hand through my curls, they still looked wild as ever. I gave one final glance into the room before making my way to the doorway, if anyone wanted to come along then that was fine by me.

God how I hated the heat. I had given up count on how many times that thought had passed through my head. There was a haze on the horizon and I took in a deep breath of the warm stale air outside. I had no idea where to start, so many of the buildings around us were boarded up or crumbling from within. I started to wander across the car park, kicking at pieces of rubbish and rubble. There were a crowd of smaller buildings the other side, they seemed the best start.

DukeWolfRein

11-30-2014, 01:15 AM

When Damia smiled my own smile got bigger. Her tone of worry as she unpacked the gauze and explained that my dirty bandages would need to be changed made me walk towards her. Every single stop sent a small wave of pain up to my back, making every other step uneven. I wasn't planning on falling however, that would be bad. As I reached her my hand slowly went forward and grabbed her shoulder, steadying myself so as to not fall as she did what she needed to. Our eyes met and I nodded.

"Helllooooo nurse." I said in a low and hoarse voice. My hand felt around for where my old bandages connnected and removed the small metal clip that kept the gauze from falling apart. I removed the old gauze and with some difficulty managed to get it all off and held it out to her. "I believe you need this." My smile turned into a grin and then I felt the wind hit my back and went forward. The shock of pain that shook my body was enough to make me lose balance slightly. Cold wind felt like small knives digging into my wound. I looked up at Damia, my eyes slightly teared up "Sorry about that..." My grin had turned into a grimace as I backed away and sat back at the edge of the bed.

"How long until I heal?"

heroine

11-30-2014, 01:33 AM

As soon as he had held onto my shoulder, a hand shot up to grasp his elbow, helping to balance on whatever energy he had left. I knew he shouldn't standing but he was too determined to do things his way and I didn't want to irritate him further. A smile curved on my lips, glancing up at him as I watched him take apart the bandages and hand them to me. They could be washed, I hoped. We needed every bit we could manage. I only noticed how much pain he'd been in when his fingers tightened on my shoulder and I saw the beginnings of tears welling in his eyes. My eyebrows knitted together and I was sorry we didn't have anything to help with the pain. But I was glad he finally decided to sit down. "It's alright," I managed to say.

Slowly, I began to clean his wounds with the large bottle of alcohol. What would've been better was iodine. It hurt less and worked just as well. And it was surprising to have found none in the large hospital. But I did what I could, wrapping his abdomen as neatly as I could and making sure nothing was irritated or swollen.

"Not for a while. Since we can't stitch them it'll take a couple weeks."

Alenia Dark

12-01-2014, 01:34 AM

“Right….Who wants to come with me to find Wobs?”

I sat cross-legged on one of the hospital beds, my shoulder now wrapped up, my arm hanging uselessly in a sling that Damia had found. I had been spacing off mere seconds before, but Scottie’s voice – more importantly her words – had snapped me out of my daze.

“I mean…She can’t have gotten that far. She’s probably just hiding in anyone of the buildings ‘round here. I’m not gonna let her wander around by herself…..Any takers?”

Scottie was looking out the window, seeming almost preoccupied, cluing me into the fact that Amy being gone was common knowledge, mildly pissing me off.

“What?” My voice was sharp. “Amy’s missing?” I all but leaped off of the wrinkled bed.

Stalking over to the table where my bloodied jacket lay discarded, I snatched it up with my good arm and swung it over my shoulders. I winched as the zipper swung around and collided with my mauled shoulder, but I just shrugged and ignored the pain. Reaching into the left-hand pocket, I pulled out my gun, sliding out the magazine and growling to see that it was empty.

“Does anyone have any bullets?” I turned around to face the group, my gaze stony. “Because I’m going with Scottie. I am going to find Amy. Thanks for alerting me to the fact that she was missing, by the way.” My voice was dripping with vehement sarcasm, but I felt that it was warranted. Everyone knew that Amy and I were close, probably closer than anyone else in the group, yet they hadn’t seemed to think that it was necessary to inform me that Amy was missing – not right away at least. While I waited for a response from the group, I grabbed my katana and swung it over my good shoulder.

“Well?” I snapped. I knew that I was injured, but I didn’t care. I don’t care who would try to stop me, but I was going after Amy.

CrumpetCannon

12-01-2014, 01:43 AM

After the events of last night, I hadn't gotten any sleep, although that was hardly a rarity in this accursed desert. Even before the end of the world I'd survived on several hours of sleep a week, piling on apocalyptic stress only made the insomnia more potent, I couldn't recall when I'd last slept, properly slept.

I coughed violently into my hand, this pathological affliction was the most recent addition to my growing list of grievances, I couldn't think of a worse time for a bout of the common fucking cold. I didn't like it in the hospital, it was too big and too sterile with too many unchecked rooms, it was like having a mansion all to yourself, and that only made me feel more clammed up.
Sluggishly rising to my feet, I heard Scottie's summons and cracked a smile, the outside was comically hot and dusty, but it was better than being cooped up in here.

"I'll come with you. Might as well have a mooch around for stuff to scavenge while we're out."

In truth, I had no illusions about the futility of Scottie's excursion, Amelia was long gone by now. She had sprinted off into the night, been held back, and then had continued sprinting. No one that determined to get away just stops after a few minutes, they keep moving until they start to dream wistfully about foot rubs, and then they keep running until they collapse or find themselves at a wall, in which case they'd probably just bust through it. Though that truth seemed clear to me, I kept my mouth shut. Morale was low enough.

I walked alongside Scottie out of the hospital and across the car park, following her gaze to a cluster of small dilapidated buildings. I acted on her cue and jogged over to the nearest one, the window panes were shattered and the wooden door was mouldy and crooked enough that I didn't even bother trying to push it open, I just took a step forward and kicked it.

My foot went straight through it and before I knew it the evil Doorzan had swallowed the limb up to the knee. I made a grumpy, somewhat embarrassed sound and yanked my leg out, eyeing the door and its new shoe shaped hole with malice. I turned back to Scottie.

"Forget what you saw here today."

Then I tried again, widening the hole with additional heel thrusts until I could just push the dumb thing open. It carved a path through the accumulated dust on the floor inside, revealing what may have once been tiling.
Covering my nose with a handkerchief as the immeasurably musty interior threatened to agitate my nasal passages further, I stepped inside and was immediately greeted with what looked like the Dagobah swamp set if it were left to rot for a few years, the building's interior was hopelessly waterlogged and smelled of unspeakable things, unspeakable damp things.

My hopes of finding any worthwhile lootables already dwindling, I took out my axe and started to explore the house, checking every corner in anticipation of leeches and other evil, moist things.

Punished Snake

12-01-2014, 03:13 AM

I walk right up behind Scottie with my eyes held low. My hair fell forward to my eyes which made it hard to see them a bit now. "I'll go, but judging by how her attitude is and what problems she's facing in her mind, I highly doubt she'll be here still. I'm going into town to find any clues to her whereabouts since the night. Also," I paused as I began to walk away, but stopped before I continued what I had to say. "If it's ammo you're looking for, go raid a gun store or a home. There's bound to be one."

I walked away and said, "After all this is Texas. We love our guns." I checked my AEK to see bow much ammunition was left in the mag and any mags left with me. Then I went into the room where Duke was. We looked pretty beat but I'm surprised he can move a bit. "Hey Duke, do you have your gun with you? Just wondering in the case I see her, I might give it to her so she knows you're not dead."

The fuck she's going to believe that if I do that thing. "Scratch that man. Keep the gun on case there's danger." I began to walk out of the room, I turned around and said to him, "And try not to die on while I'm gone. It'd be a waste of time if that happened." I gave a sly grin to show it was a loght harded joke, or so he might not think as such. Well time to search for Amelia. I just hipe she's doing ok.

DukeWolfRein

12-01-2014, 07:32 AM

Scottie's question echoed across the hallway and into my room. A search party to look for Amy. I grabbed at my new bandages and looked at Damia "No, I have to be okay now. Today." A heavy determination burnt behind my eyes as I started getting my shirt on and walked towards the night table that had my gun and knife on it. If people were going to find her, I had to be there. She had to know I was okay or else she'd just blame herself further and not come back. I stumbled to grab my gun when Punished came in.

He asked me for my gun, to show it to her. Convincing her would take more than just my gun, even I knew that. I looked at him as he cracked joke about me dying and I smiled as he started walking away "Snake? Actually, why don't you stay here man? We can't have too many people leave. This place would be undefended. After all, everyone is going but you and Mane. The only people left to protect Damia and the others would be you two."

My hands went to my bandages as the pain once more shot all over me, as a painful reminder that no matter how much I wanted, this wouldn't pass. I wasn't invincible, my body knew that. Slowly I walked back to my bed and sat at the edge, watching Snake turn towards me "I know you wouldn't want the defenseless to suffer because too many people went off. Right?"

heroine

12-01-2014, 10:35 PM

My eyes rolled, "You know that's impossible. Calm down and sit. There's no way you're going anywhere."

Out of habit, I untied my hair after I'd finished speaking. Shaking loose the tangled strands of curly hair and gathering it up in a small bun at the top of my head. I could feel the breeze on the back of my neck, cooling the gathering sweat and giving me some sort of comfort. I needed to go with Scottie and the rest of those who decided on joining the search party for Amy. Especially since Alenia was going. Her shoulder in no condition to be roaming the heated desert outside with out someone to look after her. The worry had creased my forehead and left me anxious. Both of the girls had been on my mind since we had gotten to this hospital. Worried for their safety. Worried for everyone's safety. Being healthy and unharmed used to be the norm. Now, it was the goal.

Snake's presence went almost unnoticed by me as I gathered the remainder of the supplies, stuffing whatever I could find in a canvas pack. I decided to leave behind the stray gauze if Duke had needed changing before the group got back. There was nothing I could do for him here, he just needed time to heal. When I slung the pack over my should, I looked over at him to give one final warning. "Stay in bed. If you move, I'll know." I turned to leave, reaching the door before glancing back. "I'm leaving Myst to take care of you while I'm gone, okay? And Snake, stay with him. He needs people to look out for him."

Mystress of Shadows

12-02-2014, 04:36 AM

I was surprised by Amelia's strong reaction to me. However, when she took off saying that I knew nothing about her, I took off after her. It may have been true, what she said, but that wouldn't stop me from pursuing her and trying to get her back to safety. She was in a way a leader for the group, but she was also a friend. I raced after her, nearly loosing her around each bend, but still managing to keep sight of her.

Just when it seemed that I might be able to reach her, a dog came out from behind on of the buildings, it's eyes on me. It's aim was off though and it caused me to trip over it. We tumbled together as a heap of flesh, cloth, and weaponry until we collided with a wall. My shoulder slammed into it first, quickly followed by my head, leaving me disoriented for a second. Apparently the dog was dazed as well as it took several shaking steps before shaking its head and turning towards me with a snarl. My bow was too far away for me to reach, and I didn't have my pistol with me; I must've left it on the roof in my hurry.

Thankfully, beside me rested a large rock. I grabbed it, planning on throwing it at the dog to daze it long enough to retrieve my bow, but the dog attacked first. I panicked and brought down the rock on top of the dog's head just as it was about to bite me. The brain matter splattered everywhere, especially onto me. I stared at the twitching dog's carcass for a second before remembering about Amelia.

Standing in a hurry, I slung my bow over my shoulder and ran, following the path of kicked up rocks as much as I could until I came to a place where the path didn't continue. I had lost Amelia's trail, but when I looked around frantically for any sign of her, I spotted a light a bit of ways off. Maybe that was where she could have gone. I followed the light hopefully. If Amelia was there, maybe I could persuade her to come back. Just the fact that I had followed her so diligently should have been a sign of how much she mattered. However, when I came to the place, I arrived just in time to see Amelia ride of on a motorcycle. I might have chased after her further, but I had no idea how to ride a motorcycle.

Next Morning

I was barely staying awake come morning. Having come back from being unable to bring Amelia back with me, I kept watch while everyone else slept. The other two who had usually done it with me were either dead or severely hurt, so that left me. When I saw the sun rising, I decided it was late enough that the others would be waking and I could finally get some rest.

Stumbling down the stairs as though I was drunk, I finally came to the room everyone was gathered. It looked like everyone was up, which meant I didn't have to worry about keeping watch. Walking over to an empty bed, since I was too tired to go find another room, I laid down. Scottie came in seconds later asking others to join her to look for Amelia, which I knew was futile. I tried telling them to not bother, that Amelia was already long gone, but it most likely came out as an inaudible mumble as I slipped into dreamless sleep.

Death of Korzan

12-04-2014, 12:05 AM

The Freeway, Texas - West of Houston

The sun kissed my fingertips and cheeks as it shot like laser-lights through the windscreen, massaging my hands with it's heat. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RmL2gjLzLg) The fast desert wind buffeted my face violently through my open window, causing my clean hair to blow up and flow across my forehead and over my blue eyes. Blowing a lock of my hair out of the way, I lifted a hand and ran it across my scalp - ridding myself of the obstruction. The engine within the bulk of the car hummed underneath, growling to itself softly like a small kitten trapped inside the body of a huge and powerful armoured beast. I slowly returned my hand to the wheel and flexed my fingers out, causing the bones to click as I extended my fingertips towards the windscreen.

Taking a deep breath in I looked up towards the vast, expanding blue sky, squinting to avoid the harsh light of the sun – burning its image into my closed eyes like the faces of those that I hadn’t seen for so long. The trail of smoke that burned so black and grey last night had settled into a peaceful white, floating and dispersing slowly through the clouds, camouflaging with their beautiful soft white expanse like a white wolf within a flock of sheep. The purr of the engine continued to perforate through my head and it seemed to be the only thing that I could hear within the apocalypse – the lack of people was profound; whilst I had believed that it would not be so noticeable it had only been days after the crash that I had begun to hear echoes of the past. As I walked through silent, smouldering towns I heard voices at the other side of the road, only to turn and be met with the familiar nothingness that filled the world of the apocalypse to the brim.

The smoke gave me hope however, its long plumage tracing up the sky and touching the clouds with its large white fingers of ash and soot. As I turned a corner off of the largely congested freeway I began to ride down a hill and off of the road, hands tentatively placed around the handbrake and catching myself before I slid. Finally lowering myself to the bumpy off road land and was faced with the cause of the smoke. Ahead of me sat the smoky, skeletal remains of what was likely to have been a makeshift shack. Stopping my car and opening the door to the outside world, I quickly jumped out and walked cautiously towards the wreckage, avoiding the slightly blood-stained splotches the covered the ground. All around the area were the ruined corpses of Dogs, striking fear and remembrance of my experience in the petrol station into me once more. Grimacing at the brain matter that coated the floor around the dogs, I quickly walked away and carefully placed my foot upon the floor of the ruined, burned out cabin.

Immediately upon entering I was met with the rancid smell of burnt hair, flesh and bone – gagging into my arm, which was using as a barrier, I grimaced and continued inside the small housing area. The scent of the room curled through the air and unfurled around my body, shifting itself towards my nostrils in some form of grotesque dance shimmering its way inside my thoughts – someone had died here. Looking down at the corner of the room I spotted a ruined black femur, most of it reduced to nothing, though part of the bone still remaining in place – a hand lay out behind the shack, only visible through the hole in the back of the wooden home. Any smell that would have exposed the cause of the fire was relinquished by the smell of cinders, ash and the foul morbidity of death. The wind blew in my favour, attempting to scrub clean the portrait of blood and flame that had been given life and will in the form of the putrid fragrance now perforating the scene, though the heat from the Texan sun seemed to simply maximise the stench.

Peering slowly through the blasted hole in the back of the shack one last time – possibly with the hope of more than death awaiting me – I turned towards the doorway and lifted my arms, running my palms across my head and brushing my long locks of brown hair backwards – exposing my forehead. Biting down hard upon my lip with frustration I pursed my lips and grit my teeth with anger – I felt betrayed, the smoke in the distance feeding me with hope, only to rob me of that and the fuel I had used to travel to the wreckage.

“Fuck!” I screamed to myself. It was a therapeutic action, the roaring expletive passing through my mouth and dragging the negativity of my mind out of my being. Wrapping my arms around my shoulders and shivering slightly – though the air was warm and the sun scalding hot – I hobbled back to my car. Opening the door once more I sat back in the seat and closed my eyes, sighing deeply and winding up the window to the vehicle before twisting the keys and returning myself to a silence only broken by the slow purr of the engine within.

“Fuck…” I whispered to myself, returning to the road.

Scottie

12-06-2014, 12:02 PM

I snapped my head around as a small group decided to join me. I couldn’t help but smile, I knew that they wouldn’t want Wobbles out here by herself. And even then it was better in numbers and I really didn’t want to walk around myself. Scuffing my feet over the hot tarmac, I kept my eyes on the shop front ahead. I stood back and watched as Crumpet tried to kick the door open, with a small mishap. I raised an eyebrow and smirked before the door was finally kicked in.

I automatically coughed as dust filled my lungs. I hid my face in my arm until the first blast of dust had settled. I glanced behind me as the two girls, Ana and Damia were making their way across to us. I shouted out to them as well as I could what with dust lungs. “We have in here. You check next door.” I gave them a small wave before wandering up the carpeted stairs. I wasn’t like Crumpet, I wasn’t always prepared. I didn’t have my bat ready, in fact it just swung around attached to my bag. The upstairs didn’t look any better, covered in a thin film of dust and in shambles.

Whoever the property belonged to had abandoned it, I picked my way through the broken furniture and rubbish that littered the floor. “Wobbles……Hello.” My voice echoed around the top landing, I frowned but entered every room. At least two children had at once stayed within these walls. I picked up only what we needed, though the idea of ransacking the place was appealing.

I started to thump myself back down the stairs when I heard a creaking noise from the end room. I stopped and my eyes were fixed on the door which I had left half closed. Had I missed something in there, Wobbles surely would have said something when I called. I was sure I had checked the room, there had been no movement and a matress thrown against a wall and broken wooden furniture obviously used for a better purpose.

I held my breath, thinking I was just scaring myself. Then it happened again. “Nope…Nope…Nopenopenopenopenopenope.” Every step downstairs had it’s own nope as I rushed down to the lower landing. I rounded the end of the stairs and started to push my way through the knee level debris everywhere. “Crumpet…..Oi….I think we should leave this one…Just a hunch mate.” I said stumbling over my words as I glanced back upstairs. I couldn’t hear any more noise from upstairs but the door had definitely moved an inch and that was enough for me to want to high tail it out of there.

Halfbreed443

12-08-2014, 04:33 PM

Everything that happened that night seemed like a blur. Duke had gotten hurt and Wobbles had gone missing. There was no place that was safe, no time to relax. I'd found myself a room and fixed up the bed for me to sleep. A room all to myself, it had been a long time since that happened. I thought of when I'd first joined the group, there weren't as many people as there is now but I still hated the thought of not having my own room. Now it seemed sort of weird and unsafe but I tried not to think about that.

I sat on the hospital bed and laid back with my legs dangling from the side. It dawned on me, suddenly, I am absolutely useless when it came to fighting. I was just no good at it even when it came to protecting myself. I was only good for scavenging and that was it. Wobbles is more useful than I am but she still left, which I still didn't understand. eventually I drifted off to sleep thinking of where Wobbles could possibly be.

-Next Morning-
The next morning I woke up in the same position I'd fallen asleep in which caused my back to go stiff for a few minutes. I stood up and stretched before finding that a few of the others were going to search for Wobbles. Myst was past out and I'm sure Damia would never let Duke anywhere in his condition so he was probably still in his room. After watching the group leave I went to check on Duke

CrumpetCannon

12-09-2014, 11:27 PM

The place was completely useless, everything was too rotten or otherwise too water damaged to be of use, and all I managed to gain from the place was an irritated oesophagus from breathing all the smoke, that and a pervading sense of uncomfortable dampness.

I pushed open the final door on the ground floor, finding a musty lounge, or whatever the American equivalent was. It was filled with mostly collapsed and faded furniture, though there were a few DVDs stacked in a corner that had survived the weathering that had rendered the rest of the house an insult to eyesight. I brushed off a layer of dust, there were some good ones in here, too.
I tipped the ones I cared for into my backpack and shouldered it once more, hearing the distinct sound of Scottie powering down the stairs, as if in a hurry. Knowing full well what kind of things prompt such haste, I laid a hand on my axe and jogged out of the room, through the hallway and to the base of the stairs.
Scottie was already there, looking like she'd rather be anywhere else right now.

“Crumpet…..Oi….I think we should leave this one…Just a hunch, mate.”

I frowned, glancing up the stairs, it all seemed innocuous enough. I withdrew my axe from its loop on my belt, flexing my fingers around the shaft, her concern seemed genuine, but curiosity had sunken its claws into me.

"Go ahead and join the others. If there really is something up there, we can't just leave it here and hope it won't follow us out..."

I gave her what could have been a reassuring smile, had I ever been good at smiles, and put my foot on the first stair. It creaked, loudly. Perfect. I ascended slowly, keeping myself as light as possible so that the groaning of the stairs was reduced to a mere squeak, I wasn't taking any chances in these kinds of close quarters if a dog or a leech attacked.
I reached the landing and settled on the only door that was open, the one at the end, it looked like a child's bedroom from here. Tightening my grip on the axe, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and walked forward, and when the door didn't automatically burst open, I got more confident. I shouldered it open, keeping my axe hand behind me in anticipation of a threat, ready to swing. The bedroom once had blue wallpaper, long since peeled and faded, and a small bed with velociraptors on it, the frayed sheets barely managing to hold themselves together.

There were toys on the floor, more dinosaurs, mostly of the same species that adorned the bed and, now that I noticed it, a colouring book. I felt a pang of remorse, to stand in the bedroom of a long-dead child, and was reminded of just how lucky the few of us were to be alive and mostly sane after all that had happened.
I walked over to a wobbly desk, axe hanging limply at my side, and picked up the tiny toy that was stood beside a stack of pencils and what was clearly some very much loathed homework. I raised the toy to my face, examining the faded yellow eyes and long snout, rendered brittle with age and exposure to the elements, and sighed softly.

"Velociraptors are my favourite too..."

Something hit me from behind and carried me to the floor, and my first thought, of course, was that I had angered the velociraptor gods by intruding on their sacred ground, but then I realised that this velociraptor was very slug like and slimy. Gritting my teeth and shrugging my backpack off, for that is what the thing had latched on to, I rolled away and rose into a crouch, bringing the axe down on it again and again, frantically trying to quell the leech's disgusting squirming and writhing.
Not until I was sure it was dead did I stop hacking at it, setting the axe aside and falling backwards onto my ass, wiping the back of my hand across my forehead. I breathed in, then I breathed out, then I breathed in again, and rose to my feet, taking the axe with me.

I wiped the gunk from the blade using the corner of the bed sheets, uttering a silent apology to the poor velociraptors sewn into it, and hooked it back into my belt. The damn thing had chewed a hole in my backpack, lucky me I'd had it on or I would have had a window to my spinal column by now. I picked the bag up off the floor and tried my best to wipe off any leech residue, no small feat, and slung it over my shoulders, repairs could come later.
I made for the door, sparing a harsh glance back at the stealthy leech, which lay in pieces, leaking thick pus and other suspicious fluids. I grumbled to myself as I walked down the stairs, passing Scottie.

"It was a leech, fucking thing snuck up on me, but it turns out a fully stocked backpack is like body armour."

I coughed into my hand, eager to leave the house and its cloying internal atmosphere.

"Let's search for Wobbles somewhere else, she's smart, she'd take shelter in a defendable place with lots of supplies. We'd probably be better off taking one of the cars and going from supermarket to hospital to government building to school rather than searching building by building."

I smiled, pushing the door open and taking in a lungful of marginally fresher air.

"But who am I to make the decisions? I'm just the pessimistic English one."

I waited for Scottie to join me, before setting off to catch up with the rest of the search party, if you could even call it that. I took a small piece of plastic from my pocket, and began fiddling with it, testing all the points of articulation. The little dinosaur stared up at me, its mouth wide and its claws held up in a deadly display of primal intent.

"Dank."

I fucking love velociraptors.