(October '17) Prompt #2 - "Zombie apocalypse..." [Archive]

ArtisticVicu

10-30-2017, 04:06 AM

Screaming echoed through the crowded streets as everyone fled towards the heart of the city. The mass of bodies surged this way and that and she forced her way through. Her throat was already raw from yelling for people to move deeper, to keep going.

And just as abruptly as the chaos had ensued, she was free of the crowd, stumbling from the sudden lack of pressing bodies. She brought her weapon into her hands and settled on a knee right there in the middle of the street. Ahead of her was a lumbering hoard of undead and a sneer settled on her face. She took aim and shot. The resounding explosion ripped through a hardy chunk. Three more shots went off, though none were hers, and three more explosions joined her own.

"How did they manage to get over the wall?" someone shouted over the comm. They were to her right some distance meaning she got an annoying echo.

"Doesn't matter," came a calm voice over the comm in her ear. "Take them out."

"Working on it, Boss," the male that had settled at her side responded. His weapon discharged and the resounding explosion not only took out a part of the hoard, but brought down a building as well, crushing a much hardier section.

"Watch the collateral damage, Gilroy!" a different voice barked over the comm. The lack of background noise suggested that the figure was with "Boss".

"Easy, Lyvis," she countered, taking out the building on the opposite side of the street as well. "He's doing us a favor."

Lyvis groaned. "Come on, guys. Our orders are to take them out with minimal collateral damage here. We don't have the supplies we did before the Event to repair the things you're destroying."

There came a chortle through the comm, background noise suggesting that whoever it was was nearby. "Hate to point this out, but the damage we deal will be minimal compared to what they're doing."

"Agreed," came Boss's calm voice. "Keep them corralled. Use buildings if it's efficient only. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" came the chorused response.

Gilroy took a step forward beside her, taking control. "Alright, Dan, take yer team and head south. Acal, north. Circle and keep the undead centered on this street if you can. Make it to the wall if you can and spread back this way. We need eyes on that wall yesterday."

The two squads broke off, leaving her with Gilroy's squad. She briefly wondered where hers was at.

"How you handling, Eka?"

She straightened but kept up her attack. She didn't recognize the voice but the background noise seemed to suggest they were close. "Well. Why?"

"Your squad got cut off ."

She frowned at the stranger's words and took the chance to look back. Gilroy's squad had a hold on things anyways.

She felt sick as she turned around, bringing her weapon up and firing a shot. "The line's been breached!" she shouted across the comm.

There was a ruckus of demands for clarifications but she ignored the majority of the noise. Made no use to decipher what she couldn't understand until a voice cut through the static of voices.

"Eka! Get us eyes!"

"On it, Lyris!" she responded in kind, glancing at Gilroy as she barked, "Keep me covered."

She got a brisk nod before she took off towards the building beside her.

The automatic doors slid open for her and she took off through the empty structure towards the elevator. "Copris, am I clear to use the elevator?"

"Should be," came the drawl of the techie. "Door on the left opening now. Teams are being advised to avoid damaging the building you're currently occupying."

"Appreciated," she shot back as she slid into the elevator that dinged open. "Get me to the top floor."

"Express elevator going up."

The doors slid shut.

The ride was longer than she would have liked but it was far faster than stairs any rate. She filled the time prepping. "Roof access?"

Corpis answered, "Left out of the elevator and down the right hall. Third hallway on the left, fifth door down. Should be another hallway. Access should be through the door at the end. Take the stairs up."

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

An undead lunged at her and she cried out as she dropped. She rammed her gun in the undead's gut and shoved them over her shoulder. She stepped out of the elevator into a small crowd of the creatures. "Corpis, how long till the elevator doors close."

"As long as you need."

She shoved another one into the elevator, making the first one collapse again. "Fifteen seconds."

"Countdown begun."

She shoved a third and fourth in with a bit more effort that she would have preferred. "Can you check to see if there are any more in here?"

"No," came his quick response as she was slammed into the wall. "There are no cameras on that floor I can access."

"Great," she ground out before shoving the fifth into the sixth and shoving them both into the elevator. The doors slid shut. "Can you drop it?"

"Already on it."

She moved, not caring to stick about to find out if that worked or not. She came across three more, a pair and a single, but it was rather easy to take care of them seeing as she surprised them. As soon as she was in the hallway towards the stairs, she called out, "Lyris, almost to the roof. Boss, how's it looking out there."

"Hard to tell," Boss spoke, sounding far more severe than she had heard him before and she had seen him when Gilroy had been held at gunpoint. That had been scary. This was far more disconcerting. "We need eyes."

"Almost there."

The door banged open as she brought her weapon up but the stairway was clear. At least, the section she needed. She didn't know about the lower floors. Taking the stairs two at a time, she was out onto the roof shortly there after. She raced across the roof, slamming into the low wall that rimmed the expanse. She jerked equipment about, setting up in record time. She flicked a switch and the feeds went life.

There was a breath of silent, the only noise drifting up towards her from below before a voice came across the comm.

"Gods help us," Lyvis uttered breathlessly as he took control of the cameras.

Eka's brought her head up and around, finding the view to the wall clear of obstacles. She closed her eyes against the sense of defeat rushed over, numbing her as the camera recording what she saw stayed on the view of desolated lands beyond the now crumbling wall with a sea of undead crashing against the city's failing defense.

"Gods help up all," Boss agreed, his voice the only thing coming over the dead comm.

Eka opened her eyes, resigned. "The zombie apocalypse is upon us."

Soft, broken crying came over the comm. There was nothing from the teams on the ground below.