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Post by NotAvailable on Mar 27, 2012 17:00:32 GMT -5
This arcade was built during the videogame craze of the 80s. While it hasn't received the same level of popularity since then, it still boasts a loyal following of gaming enthusiasts.
It contains popular fighting games, simulations, and light-gun games such as House of the Dead. Air Hockey, photobooths, and various 25 cent games of chance. Apart from that, there is a small concession stand that serves food and drink.
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 8, 2012 23:13:31 GMT -5
[Rich, Anna and Jimmy enter the Arcade]
All he could hear was his heartbeat. His ears ringing, it technically wasn't hearing, but feeling. Glass was in his shoulder, he knew that.
He'd... crashed through the front door. There was a lot of noise. Not anymore.
He had hit the ground hard, but just, started crawling, forward, away, like a scared animal.
There was nothing, just his heartbeat.
He kept his eyes closed, like a scared little kid.
He breathed out, tried to... get up? Was it up? He was... dizzy. Delirious?
Rich opened his eyes, saw the cold floor, broken glass, rubble and all, and started to get up. He got onto one hand, then stopped. He was breathing hard, he... just need a break.
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 8, 2012 23:18:10 GMT -5
Anna had managed to throw herself over the car, rolling over it with Jimmy in her arms. He'd kept his face buried in the crook of her neck in fear of seeing the truck crash into them. Luckily, it didn't and when he peeked out, he and the officer were inside a building with Rich.
The noise had stopped and there was an eerie stillness in the air. Debris and wreckage could be heard falling down and into place, but nothing major. Along the entire facade of the building, the semi's trailer had tipped over and crashed, forming a rather impenitrable barricade. Had it not stopped where it did, the three of them would've been pancaked.
Anna felt her heart clamouring in her chest and ribs. She wanted to move, make eye contact with Rich and Jimmy, see if they were alright, but she was frozen in place.
She had been laying on her back on the floor of the room and stared up at the ceiling. After a moment of recollection, she'd turned her head to see Jimmy was curled up next to her, with his eyes shut tightly and his thumb in his mouth. Rich had been trying to get up from the ground, glass falling off of his body from crashing into the door.
Rolling over onto her belly, she'd pushed herself up to her knees and then to her feet. "Is everyone...okay?" she asked.
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 8, 2012 23:36:54 GMT -5
Rich rolled over, giving up on standing for the moment. "I'm... fine..." he stated, after some delay. "Where's Jimmy?" he asked. His tone was without worry, but not because he didn't care. He just didn't have the strength to enunciate.
Jimmy had been curled up on the floor still. He was clearly in shock and refused to answer. "He's right here, he's just a little shook up but he's fine," he heard Anna say.
"Good... good..." Rich choked out. He let his body relax on the floor. His hands were shaking, his breathing irregular. He needed to calm down before he did anything.
Before long, Anna had appeared standing over him with the five year old cradled in her arms. "You sure you're alright?" she asked, quietly.
"Yeah... we're all just a little shook up," he said, before trying to get up. "My arm stings," he exclaimed without any thought put into it.
"You probably have glass in it from breaking through the door," she told him, holding a hand out to him. "C'mon, let me take a look at it."
He took her hand and stood up, hearing something cracking. "Ah, damn... I think I landed on one of our pouches."
She smiled at him meekly and said, "It's alright, probably nothing too important." Jimmy moved his face from her shoulder and looked over at Richard for a moment.
"I'm sorry I was a-scared," he squeaked out.
"We all were buddy," Rich said, smiling and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. As he did that, Anna had reached her arm over and hugged onto Rich as tightly as she could. Jimmy had done the same, the two seemingly trying to desperately seek comfort in eachother.
"We're okay... we're, gonna be okay," Rich said nervously, looking around at their surroundings. For the first time he felt like they might not get out of the city alive. Regardless, he hugged the two of them.
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 8, 2012 23:51:07 GMT -5
Eventually Anna had realized exactly where they were. There were picture booths, arcade games, a prize stand, some snacking food, Foosball Tables and Air Hockey. Nudging Jimmy a bit, she'd smiled.
"Hey Jimmy, check it out, we're in an arcade," she told him, hoping to cheer him up. The young boy looked up and around to see the various games and lights that he hadn't noticed before. Like that, his face lit up.
"Can I go play, Anna? Please?" he asked. "Uhh sure, just, let me take a look around, make sure it's clear," she said to him before looking at Rich for a second then back at him.
"Stay here with Rich," she said. "As soon as I check this place out, I'll patch you up, okay?" she said to Rich, walking off into the arcade.
"Yeah, right..." Rich said, holding his arm now that it started stinging.
Anna ventured off into the arcade, checking through the photobooths and the counters, but no one could be found. She wandered on through the back but found nothing but old arcade games and more foosball tables. Strangely, the entire building was completely safe.
Making her way back, Jimmy had looked at her expectantly. Without saying a word, she'd nodded at him handing him a pocket of change she had with her. He took them and ran off to play Galaga nearby.
The officer then took the shotgun off her back, lying it on a pool table nearby along with her bag. She dug through her things for the first aid kit and smiled at Rich. "We gotta stop meetin' like this," she said.
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 9, 2012 0:06:50 GMT -5
"Yeah, seems like I'm a magnet for disaster," he said, taking off the pouches she'd strapped to him and sitting himself down in a nearby chair. "Nice place to hold up. Looks like they might have some frozen pizzas in the back. Or at least some candy."
Anna had started looking over his arm and picking some noticeable glass from his flesh. "Yep, some pretzels and chips too," she said, flicking the glass away from them and digging into her case for the antiseptic.
"Might be in one of those pouches you foisted on me," Rich said helpfully. Anna reached for the pouch belt and rummaged through it, finding the bottle she was looking for. She'd poured some on a cotton ball and started dabbing at the cuts she found.
"This sh*t, all of this, it's tearing me apart," Rich confessed.
"Well yeah, you tore through a glass door," Anna joked, concentrating on her work.
"Nah, I mean, we've been going through the worst hell that's every possibly existed, and it just keeps getting worse. I mean, if anything had gone wrong a few minutes ago, me, you, Jimmy over there, we'd all have fit nicely into a sandwich."
"But nothing went wrong. You opened up a path to save us, we're all alive," she responded, gauzing up his arm.
"Yeah and if that zombie didn't bite your ponytail you'd be a goner. Or if Jimmy didn't open that door. Or if those skinless motherf*ckers didn't kill us back in the grocery store when this all started. I mean, how long is our luck gonna hold out?"
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 9, 2012 0:21:05 GMT -5
Anna had stopped wrapping for a moment and looked over at Richard as he spoke. He seemed almost panicked, overwhelmed, vulnerable. She hadn't known what to say. Sure she could make a snappy remark, but at this point, she didn't have it in her. Instead, her eyes softened and she'd laid her hand on his shoulder.
"Our survival so far hasn't been based on luck, it's been based on working together. Looking after eachother is what's kept us both alive and as long as we do that, we'll get by," she told him. "I won't let anything happen to you or Jimmy, I promise," she assured him.
Rich smiled and looked down. "Heh, I'm gonna hold you to that."
Anna returned the smile and was gonna say something when she realized she didn't hear the campy Galaga music playing anymore. Looking over, Jimmy was no longer infront of it but instead in another ball pit. Anna quickly wrapped up the gauze soon after.
"Well remember now, it won't work if I'm the only one watching yer back and no one's watching me. Otherwise I'm gonna be lunchmeat for CHUM."
"You sure you want me watching your back? I might get a little, er, distracted..."
Anna furrowed her brow and pursed her lips for a second, unsure of how to respond. "Are...are you hitting on me...?" she asked.
"What, I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention," Rich said quickly, moving away towards Jimmy. Anna immediately brought both her hands to her backside and followed behind him. After a moment or so, she'd grinned.
"Now we're even."
((Dat Rich))
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 9, 2012 0:41:15 GMT -5
"Hey Jimmy, you still hungry?" Rich asked, passing the ball pit. The little boy's head popped out of the pit and he smiled widely. "Yeah!"
"Then I think it's time we ate," he said grabbing a chair and slamming it into a vending machine. Some bags of chips fell down into the grab box as glass broke while Rich smirked and said, "Jackpot."
===========================================================================
After their high calorie dinner, Anna had taken it upon herself to climb atop of the ski-ball games dunking arm fulls of ski-balls into the center ring. The score above it had climbed higher and higher, ribbons after ribbons of tickets ejecting from the game.
Jimmy had climbed into the basketball game and started throwing basketballs into the nets, ejecting more tickets and cheering himself on.
Meanwhile Rich had created an elaborate contraption, all for the sole purpose of ripping open the quarter machine. With a little elbow grease and some ingenuity, the thing popped open like a can of soda. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have quarters!" he called out.
"Make it rain, Rich!" Anna called, passing by him with piles of ticket ribbons.
"With pleasure!" Rich said, tossing handfuls of quarters into the air.
"I feel like a winner," Anna said, dumping the tickets on the prize counter. "Jimmy look! You've won everything! How does that make you feel?"
Jimmy had his own piles of tickets trailing behind him as he bent down to pick up stray quarters and pocket them. "Like a winner!"
"Yeah!"
"Who'd have thought being locked in a video arcade with no authority figure standing around could be so much fun?" Rich said tossing billard balls across the room.
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 9, 2012 0:54:21 GMT -5
Anna had started shuffling through the prize counter, taking plastic beads out and pulling them over her head and layering them. She then grabbed a pair of giant sunglasses and put them on, looking around at the guys.
"I just realized I'm a cop!" she said.
"Jimmy look out, it's the fuzz!" Rich called out, grabbing Jimmy and hoisting him onto his shoulders.
Jimmy giggled and held onto the sides of Rich's face. Anna had hopped over the counter with a dart gun, shooting darts at them. "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!" she exlaimed before laughing.
"Oh, oh oh! Rich! YOUR MOVE CREEP!" she yelled.
"DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" Rich yelled back while dodging her darts.
Jimmy started laughing more loudly, unsure of what they were talking about but found it both fun and hilarious never the less. He swayed aside with Rich when he dodged the darts and looked on at Anna whom ran out of darts.
Throwing the gun aside, she'd ran upto them her sunglasses falling off her face and onto the ground as she did. "Hey, I've got an idea, let's take some pictures to commemorate the day we all nearly got smashed by a semi-truck but didn't and broke into an arcade and stole everything," she suggested.
"Sure, why not?" Rich said putting Jimmy down and scooping up some quarters.
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 9, 2012 1:04:30 GMT -5
The three of them crowded around the tiny photo booth, chatting and laughing like a group of children.
"Are you gonna keep those big glasses on?"
Anna put the sunglass back onto her face and with a stoic expression, she responded with, "LENS see and find out."
"Hahaha, come on get in the booth. Now where are we taking this photo...?"
"Carnival!"
"Mars!"
"Why Mars Anna?"
"Cause SPACE!"
"Hehehe, how about Hawaii?"
"SPACE!" she yelled again, putting her arms up for emphasis.
"Alright, Jimbo you okay with SPACE!?"
Jimmy smiled up at the two and nodded, swinging his feet off the seat of the booth. "Sure!"
After a row of photos and silly faces the group came out looking over their photographic representations. "What do you guys think?" Rich said, handing over copies.
"I like 'em!" Jimmy exclaimed, looking them over. Anna shrugged. "These are nice, but they can be BETTER! Let's go for round two!"
"Round two it is!" Rich exclaimed pulling out some more quarters. "I'm buyin'."
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 9, 2012 1:18:15 GMT -5
When the trio had gotten back into the booth, they'd placed Jimmy on their laps and looked back at the camera. "Let's be serious for the first one, guys, smile!" Anna said as the camera flashed.
During the second flash, there'd been a pair of arms pushing into the curtain, Jimmy staring over at it.
The third flash had the upper body of a zombie in it with Rich, Anna and Jimmy all screaming, staring over at it.
The fourth flash had them all still screaming, but with Anna kicking her boot into it's chest.
The fifth had just the trio staring in awe at the bloodied curtain, mouths still agape.
The sixth had Rich's rear end and leg from his exiting the booth.
Anna had grabbed a chair nearby, swinging it across the undead's upper body and face, knocking it a good distance back from them. Throwing the chair as far as she could at it, she'd sped off to the pool table where they'd left their gear and grasped at her Colt.
Within a minute or so, the corpse gotten back up, shambling after them when Anna sent off four shots into it before the handgun clicked empty. The bullets struck from it's chest upto it's right brow, killing it.
Jimmy had hugged onto Rich's side, staring over at the dead creature with tears in his eyes.
"Where the hell did it come from...? I checked everything and...." she trailed off, noticing brightly colored plastic balls scattered around. Looking over at the ball pit, she'd grimaced.
Rich looked down at Jimmy and told him sternly, "Jimmy, never go in a ball pit again, okay? Never." The five year old nodded quickly.
Plucking the photo strip out from the slot of the booth, Anna glanced down at them and stifled a chukle. "Aw man, this is priceless....I mean, that was terrible but...this was just...just great," she said, showing them to Rich.
Rich chuckled to himself. "This is, just silly. Look at it Jimmy."
The youngster looked over the pictures and surprisingly, didn't find them scary at all, Rich was right, they were silly. After a short pause, he began to laugh at it, himself.
Anna smiled and took the pictures they'd taken and began tearing them carefully in half, handing over one half to Rich and one to Jimmy while keeping one for herself.
"There we go, precious keepsakes for life."
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 9, 2012 1:31:31 GMT -5
After Anna and Rich had knocked over a broken arcade cabinet in front of the back door, they started on clearing out the ball pit. With Jimmy standing by with a dart gun and some candy, they began tossing bright plastic ball after bright plastic ball until there was nothing in the pit but a hole.
"Whew, all this ball grabbing's makin' me tired," Rich said stretching and moving his arms. "What say you we get some sleep?"
Anna chuckled to herself. "Hehehe...ball grabbing..." she giggled very much immaturely. "Yeah, I'm ready for a little snooze myself, Jimmy?"
Jimmy shook his head, rubbing at his eye with a small fist. "No...I'm not...I'm not sleepy yet...mama..." he grumbled groggily. Anna suddenly frowned. "Uh..."
"Come on lil' Jim, you got to get some sleep 'fore you keel over," Rich said picking little Jimmy up.
The little boy laid his head on Rich's shoulder, putting his thumb in his mouth and shutting his eyes. "Can I sleep with you guys?"
"Course, course..." Rich said, carrying him over to the prize counter. Behind it, they had set up a little sleeping shelter inbetween ball pit cleaning. With the carpet for a bed, stuffed animals as pillows, and the photobooth curtain acting as a blanket, they'd sleep just fine.
"You comin' Anna?"
"Yeah."
.
.
.
.
.
"You awake?"
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 9, 2012 1:42:44 GMT -5
Anna had been lying down, her back to both Jimmy and Rich when he'd asked whether or not she was awake. "Yeah..." she trailed off. She'd been wedged between Jimmy and the prize counter, one hand tucked under her chin and the other under her stuffed animal pillow where she'd kept the Colt.
"You think he's gonna be okay?"
"I dunno. He's lost both his parents in front of him, dunno if any kid could handle that well...but then, he's been taking it well enough. Besides calling me 'mom' occasionally."
"What about your cousin? You worried about them?"
"Yeah...But I think she's gonna be okay. John's a really good guy and he'd die before letting anything happen to her or Kylie. The only thing I'm concerned about is the fact that she might be in the middle of everything while she's pregnant," she responded, sadly.
"Damn."
After a short pause, Anna had sighed a little, opening her eyes partially to look forward at the counter. "Rich...? You think we'll keep in touch when this is over? I'm sure you've got somewhere to go after this hell hole, huh? And Jimmy...he'll be with some extended family no doubt...you think we'll see eachother again?" she asked.
"I won't disappear if that's what your thinkin'. And Jimmy'll be alright. Prolly best he goes off with some relative and doesn't see us again. Bad memories and all."
Anna frowned and drew her legs up a bit. For a moment in time, she'd felt like her stomach had tightened and her eyes began to sting a little. "Yeah...yeah you're right...bad memories..." she choked out.
"G'night, Rich."
"Goodnight Anna."
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 9, 2012 14:05:08 GMT -5
DAY 3 12:45 P.M. Rich woke up, his body aching from the poor support the floor provided. His mouth was dry, his teeth hurt, all in all, the zombie apocalypse was not good for personal hygene. He stood up and walked over to the soda machine. Plopping a few quarters in, he got a drink and started walking around the arcade. He stopped by the ball pit zombie and stooped low to examine it. He had a bandage on, from the looks of it, it covered a bite. Name tag read, Tim. Checking his sides Rich found the keys to the arcade. "Guess you were the manager... would've helped to find these sooner." Rich kept rifling, pulling out the man's wallet. "Thirty, no kids, now who's this?" Rich asked to himself pulling out a picture of a woman tucked behind the folds of the leather pocket. Rich sighed and dropped the wallet down on the poor man. "Sorry, wasn't your day I guess..." Checking the man over some more, he pulled out a small box. Opening it up, he found a small diamond ring. Rich closed the box and put it back down on the man's chest. "Just wasn't your day..." he sighed.
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 9, 2012 14:19:51 GMT -5
Anna had shifted around a little and moaned lowly. Her face tensed up momentarily before she'd finally opened her eyes. She was holding onto Jimmy tightly, his tiny body cuddled up to her with his head on her arm for support. She'd yawned a bit, looking at her watch to see it was noon. They'd slept in apparently.
It took a few minutes for her to realize Rich hadn't been there, causing her to gently pull her arms from under the boy's head and replace it with a stuffed animal while she stood up. She'd grabbed ahold of her Colt as she did, laying it on the counter when she'd seen Rich kneeling over the ball pit zombie. He was examining what looked like a small box, then laid it down on his chest.
"You're up early....relatively speaking," she said lowly, careful not to wake Jimmy.
"Didn't really sleep well."
The officer moved around the counter and went for her belt, wrapped it around her waist and holstering her sidearm. "I bet, I think Jimmy smacked my face around a few times trying to get comfortable," she joked, pulling her uniform shirt over her.
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