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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 6, 2015 23:17:21 GMT -5
Natalie leaned against a stone wall, gasping for air as she tried to get an idea of where she was. She had never ventured this far out of the community, and with the large naked man chasing her, she had been forced to make many twists and turns in hopes of evading it. Not to mention the undead that had been stumbling after her in a comical imitation of life. Their groans and staggered walking had slowed them and given away their position long before reaching her, but several blocks had come and gone with them in pursuit of her. She must have thought she had the entire city of the undead on her heels. For the moment, she had lost all of her pursuers.
But there was another problem. She didn't know if she was farther from safety, or closer to harm. With the sun slowly setting over the shattered remains of skyscrapers and high rises, she didn't have much time before she was going to be blindly walking in the dark. She didn't want to be trying to move around in night, and knew she would need to find someplace to hole up until she could get home, or wait for a rescue that would more thank likely never find her. For the moment, she was on her own, in the city of the dead, with no help.
This day couldn't get worse if it tried.
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Post by Winters on Feb 7, 2015 9:59:57 GMT -5
The thing he liked about people these days was that they were always running from something. Not because they were scared, but because they were smart, they had to be. Everybody had what it took to survive, thats the reason they did survive, the reason they were still alive after eight long years into this world shattering apocalypse. It was still much better dealing with the undead then it was people themselves. All his life, Arc waited for natural selection to kick in, that was his hatred for people could be conqured, and he could start caring about whether or not they lived. Natural selection did, and he was thrown another obsticle. But this time, he did care, but because he felt like he should, but because he wanted to. There was more to life than just running and surviving, and things had a chance to go back to the way they were before, only better. He seen it six years ago, and its only gotten closer since.
Wouldnt be long before the infected started to change, get faster, and people needed to be indoors. This girl wasnt. Arc followed her, keeping up but out of sight on the rooftops of the narrow buildings. Soon as she got somewhere out of sight and under the cover of four walls and a roof, he landed back to the ground, and watched the entrance. She was smarter than other, too, because she stayed in the abandoned store, rooted down like a tree. But there was somebody else in the building, doing the same thing. Worse, it was a kid.
TJ heard the movement in the store from the back, and creeking open the door with this Four ten shotgun aimed forward, he listened for more sounds. It wasnt an infected, and it wasnt anything else before there was just one of them. The breathing was what gave it away, it was somebody else, a female. They all knew better then to fire a gun, so he dropped it, and came out slowely, making himself known. If she was here to kill him, or worse, she would have carried herself differently. That, and TJ recognized her. "Youre from the museum, arent you?" The large, stone walled, building used to be a fort, then turned to historical landmark, and then it was a museum. It was where people holed up in this city. Most of them, anyways. "I seen you around a few times. I live on the top floor, near the wall. Guess were both stuck out here." The thirteen year old spoke, reassuring that he was cool.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 7, 2015 15:17:48 GMT -5
Natalie looked up, seeing the boy coming out of the back of the ransacked store. She didn't know if she was more excited to see another living being, or if she was worried that another group of survivors had found her. If there was a rival group of survivors out there, or roving bandits, she would be in a lot of trouble. If they knew who she was, they would be able to ransom her back for a lot of supplies, so she decided not to say anything about it.
"Hey, you hiding here too? Or is there anyone else here? I didn't come across another community did I?"
She kept her voice low, and didn't pull her pistol. The kid obviously had the intelligence to know that if they fired a round in here, they might as well have lit up a signal flare. She did take her sling out, picking up a good sized rock from her pouch and motioning to the boy to come to her. She didn't know how close the horde of zombies were, and if that big creature had picked up her scent again.
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Post by Winters on Feb 7, 2015 18:20:19 GMT -5
The womans name escaped him, but TJ knew her face. He wasnt all too surprised she didnt recognize him, since he usually didnt go out without anybody else, and it definitely wasnt with her before. But this building was just a looted store, with nothing left. Even the door had been ripped off and used for scrap metal, but they didnt need one so long as they were at the back, and quiet. "Nah, lady. It aint like that. We come from the same place. Lester put you out on a scavenging run, right? Two of our groups go out, one in the morning, and one in the evening. Evening crew sometimes works alone, when theyre skilled enough, guessing thats you. Me? I was with Marty and that other old guy, but they didnt make it, and I never been here before. Got a better chance of finding a landmark or something during the daylight, so I thought id wait it out." TJ spoke a lot, but his voice was a dull roar.
Infected werent the only thing out there though, and he knew it. There was something else, something bigger, one of the bigger BOW. The sound gave it away, it was close, but hopefully wasnt onto them. "You heard that thing too, right? I aint never seen it, heard bout em before from the elders. I say, soon as the hoard passes, we bolt for another building, climb up higher, and wait em out." Maybe he was going about this all wrong, and the woman knew more than he did, but TJ thought he was right. He watched the others enough to know what to do, but he never been in a situation quite like this before. "Id rather follow you though, seeing as your more experienced than me. Cause to tell you the truth, im scared."
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 7, 2015 21:48:17 GMT -5
Natalie sat with the boy as they watched the horde shambled by, the smell making her gag. There were so many of them packed together, and the groaning noise made her skin crawl as they both maddeningly waited for them to go by. They didn't seem to be interested in the building, and within a few moments had moved on in their never ending hunt for more food.
"It's alright, we'll be safe here. They will go past us soon, and then we can get somewhere safe."
She didn't hear the large man going by, perhaps he had gone down another street, or found something else to hunt. If they were lucky it would keep going the other way, and just keep going until it possibly fell into a very large hole. Filled with lava. And lava sharks.
"Okay, I think they're gone. Come on, stay with me, and we'll keep each other safe alright?"
She took the boys hand and took him along, quickly darting out the broken doors of the shop and across the street, making for the high rise. She didn't know the area as well as the kid did, but she would take the lead until the kid didn't feel as scared. She didn't want to admit that she was scared too, and for the moment she could be brave for both of them.
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Post by Winters on Feb 7, 2015 22:06:02 GMT -5
Normally, it would have bothered him, byt TG just felt right holding the womans hand, like things were okay, and she knew what she was doing. But when they hit the street, he slipped out, and held onto his shotgun with both hands. It felt more safe knowing he could fire if he had to. The method was he threw firecrackers to get their attention, and could shoot the four ten without worrying about them hearing the shot, since the noise was about the same sound. The shotgun also had a twenty two rimfire barrel, but it didnt have any ammo, and he didnt even know if it still switched or not. When they finally got across the street, they were in the back ally of a restraunt, which looked to be all clear for the moment.
"I remember your name. Your Natasha, yee, thats it. Im TJ. Short for TJ, I never knew what it actually stood for, thats just what everyones been calling me." TJ eyed the hotel across the street, and had a pretty good guess that was where they were heading. Or maybe it was the radio tower down the block. Both were the only two high risen areas that had lights up, meaning there could very well be people inside, safe zones. Thats what he heard, anyways. For anyone caught out at night. The sound of the large creature filled the air, a loud growl pounded them, almost as if it had been close. TJ couldnt help but stand close.
The hardest part about taking out this BOW was not drawing too much noise toward the two survivors. Arc had dealt with plenty of them before, but it was always noisy, and drew the infected in. Mix in the fact he seen the beasts deflect a rocket laucher shell, they werent something you messed with, so for now, all he could do was navigate around it, using the building balconies as cover.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 7, 2015 22:25:29 GMT -5
"Let's try for this building. If we can get safely down the street, then we will try when we know it's all gone."
To put a fine point on what she had said, the howl of what had to be the large creature had pierced the sky, and she knew it wasn't far from where they were. They needed to get off of the street before the undead started coming back, or that thing found them.
"You seem to know your way around here. Come on, let's get inside and see if we can find some place safer to stay for the night. When it gets closer to light maybe we can try and get some place safer. Maybe with a working radio." They started heading into the building, and while the boy no longer had her hand, he was close by her, and that was important.
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Post by Winters on Feb 7, 2015 22:40:55 GMT -5
The mass amounts of infected told him two things. That the survivors in this town werent very well capable of dealing with threats, and because of this, a large amount of them had fallen within the last few weeks. It was mainly based on the smell. The undead rotted away by now, usually, these ones were a little more fresh, though still rotting. Most cities hed been in had been cleared out and bunkered down, dealing only with the bigger BOW. Now with both, it made this place a hot zone, and since the BSAA hadnt been around anymore to clean up, it meant the people themselves would have to do it eventually, or they would lost the fight against the living dead.
Inside the hotel was dark, and the only light had come from the candles that had been lit in various places. They seemed to be leading somewhere, but TJ wasnt sure. Though candles meant people, so they picked a good building to find shelter in. The pair navigated around the bottom floor of the hotel, watching the flickering light of the candles bounce off the walls, guiding them up the stairs to the second floor. "Yo, Natasha. This could be a safehouse or something. Make sense for them to be on the top floor, yee, fo sho. Too bad we werent like those runners, going along the rooftops. Upstairs gotta be some checkpoint for them, theyed have supplies, maybe a radio, yee." But really, TJ had been getting his hopes up, and being a little too positive.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 7, 2015 23:06:46 GMT -5
"I'll take a good cot and a secure door, everything else is just extra great."
Natalie didn't think there would be much up there, except maybe some survivors who may or may not be hostile. She was more worried about anything else finding the candles. The zombies were stupid, but they could follow the sights and sounds of something living. If they had spotted the candles, something else may have as well. She could feel the sweat forming in her palms, making the leather cord slippery. She clamped her hand tighter, not wanting to drop it or lose her grip on it if she had to use it. So far she hadn't needed to kill, or re-kill anything tonight, but that could change and she wanted to be prepared.
"You see any other survivors recently? Maybe a large group? I was separated from mine tonight."
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Post by Winters on Feb 8, 2015 0:41:42 GMT -5
Now everything made sense. "Naw, but it makes sense now. Two soles survivors of our groups meeting up. Like something youd see in the movies. That thing outside definitely messed up today, if your teams got broken up too. I dont do a lot of killing, neither do the others, but you must be one of the newer people. Beginners luck then, and im still here cause im small, and too smart." When they did make it back to the museum tomorrow, things would be bad. They lost a good six people at least, it seemed, if TJ was counting right.
Up the stairs came the sound of the infected. The moaning was the most terrifying thing. TJ had gotten used to the other noises, clicking and whatnot, but the moaning was by far the worst. It was on the other side of the door, and seeing how the others had been all blocked off by shelves, this was the only room they could go into, unless they retraced their steps, and didnt bother. That wouldnt do, TJ could deal with the undead, they were slow. "We can do this, Natasha, come on."
Pulling open the door, TJ peeked in first before they took their chance, but didnt see anything shambling. There was nothing laying on the floor, either. The door swung open, and thats when he seen three bodies hung from the ceiling lights. They looked to have all hung themselves, and then turned. "No way, they opted out, dayum." But a fourth came from behind the door, landing on top of him, pinning TJ to the ground. Almost paralyzed with fear, TJ went to yell, but couldnt even muster anything. He pushed up on the zombies neck with his hand, closing his eyes and looking away so he didnt get anything on his face.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 8, 2015 1:35:06 GMT -5
Natalie reached instinctively for her knife, pulling the blade from the sheath hanging from her belt. She remembered during her training that if one of them got close enough to grapple with, a knife was better than a gun. She stabbed into the side of the zombies skull, the force of the impact burying the blade to the hilt into the side of it's skull. It immediately stopped flailing about and laid on top of the smaller boy. Grunting with effort, she grabbed onto the now dead body and pulled it off of TJ.
"Are you okay? Did it bite you? Did it get a hold of you before I killed it?"
She quickly closed the door behind them, locking it before she checked him over, helping him to his feet and wiping blood away from his eyes and mouth. The other zombies weren't a threat right now, but they would need to dispatch them soon enough. The noise they were making alone could cause others to find them. Then they were going to need to see if there were any other surprises waiting for them in the safe house.
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Post by Winters on Feb 8, 2015 10:28:05 GMT -5
Without any warning, TJ had started kicking the body non stop in the side, until he was pulled away. "I shouldve seen it coming, s***, snotter almost got me. This place better be worth it, yo." Picking up his shotgun, TJ checked it over to make sure it hadnt broke or anything. It was an older gun, but still felt the same, so he didnt worry about it. But before long, he finally gave in, and ran to the other side of the room. Once he was there, he vomitted, several times, though it wasnt too loud. Turning to face the infected that had been hanging, TJ wanted to put them out of action, just to be safe. But he was way to little to pull them down himself. "Cut them down, will you?"
TJ wiped traces of puke from his collar, and then stretched his arm, readying the shotgun, but from how he was holding, it was clear he had another idea other than firing the gun. As the first one fell, he slammed down hard with the stock of his gun, several times before the thing stopped moving. Through the panting and almost victorious smile on his face, he nodded again. "Shouldve been me trying to save you, now I just look like a total dumbass."
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 8, 2015 12:04:31 GMT -5
Natalie turned and let the boy finish vomiting. She figured he hadn't been up close to these things before, and she hoped he never was again. Some people never really recovered from close encounters with the undead that now roamed the world, and she knew the boy would probably have nightmare for quite some time.
"No, I have a better idea. No need to make any more noise than we already have. Stand back from them."
As the boy moved away, she took out her sling again. Palming a small stone, she put it in the sling and began to whirl the leather over her head, concentrating on the first zombie. She let the stone fly, watching as it whizzed across the room and smashed into the forehead of the creature. It went limp on the noose, no longer making any attempt to try and reach them.
"Good thing I can find rocks like these anywhere. They make for better ammunition if you have the chance to polish them."
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Post by Winters on Feb 8, 2015 19:16:34 GMT -5
After watching the woman use this simple weapon to take out the remainign infected hanging, TJ was beyond impressed. "Woah, that was super cool. You need to teach me how to do that sometime, deal?" Thats when gunfire erupted, but it wasnt in the hotel. TJ ran to the window, and hauled himself threw, looking around for the flashes. Both the sound and sights game from the radio tower, around the base, there was two different guns going off. One seemed to be automatic, and the other mustve been something single shot, or out of ammo. The infected on the ground would definitely be going that direction now, and so would the monster. "We should do something, we cant just leave them, right?" TJ had a heard of gold when it came to others, and this was no exception. If it was him down there, he would want people to come help him.
But the roar of the monster was enough to set his mind on another path, and he stopped in the middle of the room, turning to his new friend. "Maybe its too late. And I dont wanna end up on the wrong side of that thing. Its safe here, we could wait." It was a tough call. TJ wanted to help, but at the same time, putting themselves in danger wasnt the smartest move. They needed to reach the radio tower eventually though, but they had a chance to do some good while they were there.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 8, 2015 23:10:32 GMT -5
Natalie looked at the dangling bodies, then back out the window. If the monster was heading that way, there wasn't much they could do. But, on the other hand, if they did rescue others then they wouldn't be out in the ruins alone. They had to at least try, and the risks were worth it if they were successful.
"Do you know the fastest way to the tower? Maybe we can get there ahead of it, and find a way out before it has a chance to find us, or them."
She quickly searched the bodies to see if they had anything on them, and readied herself for the path they had chosen.
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