[RP] The Pandemic

[bacon]

They all knew what is was. "Løpe!" Dag exclaimed. They instantly did what Dag suggested and ran through the forest, not looking back once. It was pointless and futile to do so. What was important was what was ahead and glancing behind meant a swift and grim death. Not one actually got a full look of what actually attempted to attack them, instincts took over.

As they ran for what seemed like hours, they finally saw the hospital in the distance. There it was, teetering on the cliffs above. Corpses laid around it, the smell of death was ever so present. Dag looked at his fellow companions. George's face was pale. Beads of sweat were dripping down his face, his pupils dilated. It was a rush, a panic for him.

However, Robert was no where to be found. He had disappeared, lost in the mouth of the forest. "Robert," Dag whimpered. George and Dag looked at each other. Their eyes told all what the other was thinking. However, what they were thinking were two totally different things. George wanted to leave and go to the hospital, Dag needed to find Robert.

There was no arguing, only action. George stayed at close to the hospital, looking for an opening. Dag left and walked into the darkness of the forest, looking for his fallen friend.

 

[Venetia]

The sound was deafening!

A blackened hole smoldered in the tin ceiling of the roof entryway. A lick of steam rose off the Luger Aryana was holding. Her hands shook. She was normally a decent aim, but the bright red entry door of the roof had burst open with such force that her grip shot upward and her finger seized involuntarily on the trigger.

A spook and a lanky yank stood frozen before her, eyes like white marbles, mouths agape.

A tense moment passed between them, and all that broke it was a far more unsettling sound: the gurgle and moan of the alerted horde all around the perimeter of the building.

Dropping her gun, Aryana grabbed the two men by their shirts. She hefted them forth, and slammed shut the entry door.

"Idiota! Idiota!" She cried, fumbling for her gun.

The spook went weak in the knees and fell to them. The sickly guy aged ten years in a second.

"Chi diavolo sei!" Aryana barked. Her black hair fell in oily streaks all about her grimace.

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, broad!" The black fellow retorted. His gaze at her was then diverted to someplace behind her.

Reflexes piqued, the girl spun on her heel, and saw a cadavere's head, which was crowning over the edge of the hospital. She grabbed the fireman's axe which she'd left leaning against the ventilation shaft, sprinted to the intruder, and swung it down in an elegant arc onto the thing's scalp. A brilliant vermilion spray shot out, and the thing lost its grip on the hospital's southmost rain gutter. Aryana wasn't able to dislodge her weapon in time; the corner of the blade was caught on the braincase. As it fell, it brought the axe straight out of Aryana's hands and down to the earth below. The thing that was once a man landed on the handle of its killer, and a horrific crunch echoed down the boulevard with the resounding bounce.

The lanky American ran both his hands through his dirty blonde hair. The negro bit his lip.

"Meraviglioso!!" Aryana screamed into her lips as she clenched them down. Red in the face, she stomped around in a circle, and then fell to her knees. Her heart was pounding. The sweat running into her eyes was blearing her vision.

A few more tense moments passed. The noises of the burping, inconsolable masses below added ambience. Were she looking, she would have seen a number of zombi placated by tearing into the fresh corpse of their fallen brother.

The girl, gun tucked in a belt loop of her unfortunate tattered slacks, looked back to the only two living men she'd seen in weeks. Her visage lightened, eased. Her muscles went limp. Her breathing slowed.

"You speak Inglese? English? Yes?"

The two men stared at her, looked to each other, gazed back. They nodded in unison. It was so synchronized, Aryana would have laughed were she not so stressed and fatigued.

"Mio Dio," she lamented, "I am alone forever and then my only salvation from eternal loneliness is in my suddenly being saddled by a negro and a skinny Americano."

They exchanged introductions. The negro said he was Elvin. The pasty fellow, Alex.

"How did you know I'm American?" Alex asked, coming closer to her.

"It is written all over your face." She replied, wiping at her brow. "Also there is the emblem on your sleeve."

He peered down at his jacket. There it was, the American flag. He had forgotten all about it. This girl was obviously astute to pick up such a small detail.

As all three living people had eased the thumping tempo in their chests, another loud sound rung out of the airy nothing all about them.

 

[Velocir_X]

George is bucking over in fear. "Kurva mach, ale mamy przesrane, jednego stracilismy w drzewach a drugie za nim polecial. Psia krew!" About to begin crying in desperation he catches sight of someone just south of the hospital. "Czy to naprawde on?" George mutters to himself, disbelieving his own eyes.

George begins trotting toward this man, while going over the possibilities in his head. "Przeciez to nie moze byc on - on nie zyje!" is the logical answer flying through Geroge's head. He begins to recall that fateful night. 3/4 of the way to Ortense, George's apprentice had fallen out of the boat - he was dead.

~flashback~

It was a cold and dreary night, the sky was dark and listless with dark clouds covering nearly every apparent stretch of sky. Focused on their destination, the two men had unwittingly sailed straight into a supercelll.

T'was the sail that displayed the first signs. It began shaking back and forth violently. George, who was at the rudder, chastised Ignatio, thinking that the apprentice had not kept up his duties at the shots. He was gravely mistaken. Five meter waves began swirling into existence all around them. The dingy rocked back and forth like a bull at the rodeo. They were in trouble.

An especially large wave rose ahead of the two sailors. George - hoping to avoid damage by jumping it - maneuvered the boat head on. The wave proved too tall, and the dinghy careened nose-first into the water.

George broke the surface, gaping for air. He proceeded to scan the area, but Ignatio was nowhere to be found. George dived back down, he couldn't lose a man, not after the voyage that killed his wife and crew. To his relief, Ignacio was still there, but losing air - fast. For all that George could glimpse, the apprentice was snagged against some rope. George quickly broke the surface again - grabbing a hold of the centerboard and righting the boat. But when the dinghy cam round - Ignacio was gone. The anchor had gotten free from its compartment as the boat was righted. And turns out that the rope Ignacio was snagged against - happened to be the anchor.

~/flashback~

And yet there he was, perfectly healthy and in no way an undead. George hobbled up to him and asked - "Jak przezyles?" (how did you survive?)

 

[Daxis]

The door slammed open, once more, and two more men appeared. Alex, Elvin, and Aryana turned and leaped to their feet, ready to run or fight, whatever it be.

"Stop!" Aryana demanded, and the two men that had appeared, as well as Alex and Elvin, froze. She rolled her eyes at how the two boys had followed her command as well.

"Who are you?!" Said one of the men that had appeared, a rather fat man.

Aryana narrowed her eyes. "English, then? Alright, I just told these two, I am Aryana. The negro is Elvin, and the youth is named Alex."

Alex turned to her and frowned. "Youth? I'm twenty one, older than you probably!"

Aryana ignored him and waited for the people's answers, which turned out to be Chim and Byron. As they did so, Alex motioned to Elvin, and the two closed the door, and, finding a small crate nearby, pushed it against the door. At least if the things, the undead came, they would be stalled for a moment.

"Why are you all here?" Aryana asked, fear and suspicion in her eyes. Alex thought there was also a bit of amazement and relief in it, but maybe it was just him. "I've been alone for... so long, and today is my last refuge... but now..."

"We need to think of what to do," Alex said, trying to prove that he wasn't just some youth and was worth his age, despite his figure. Walking to the edge of the roof, he glanced around, his heart already racing from seeing the undead sprawled all over the area, from seeing the walking dead walking towards anything moving. "We need... to do, I don't know, something."

 

[friend]

Looking around his shop basement, Frederick sighed a sigh of relief.

A one way entrance, no windows, completely enclosed, full of knives, lots of items that can be used for makeshift barricades, lots of raw meat, and some kitchen stuff to help Frederick cook his stuff.

Just the perfect place.

So there is nothing much to do here, just a dark place...

How this happened, he does not know, and trying to get out of this safe basement is just insanity, so all he could do now is cook some food for the night.

 

[Bird Eater]

The shop of his parents, he knew it perfectly well. Even in the dark he could still find his way.

Sounds of knives coming from 'The Butcher' as he called it, the shop near his parents'.

"I need to work out a plan", Bill said, "being locked in here for three months is just too much."

For the time being, he has everything he needs: paper, food and knives from the cooking department, if he needs to defend himself.

"First, I'll need to find some survivors..."

 

[Sgt. Cookie]

"Aryana is it? Nice swing, that monster won't be getting back up" Chim said with a half smile. He disloged the axe and took a practice swing "Heavy, easy to swing, will cause a lot of damage and highly useful. Better put this woth the other things" Chim said with a hint of inquisitiveness. Chim noticed the wound on Aryana's arm, "That looks nasty. Want me to patch it up for you?" Chim asked Aryana. "You better had. But its a bite and I don't know if its infected." Aryana said cautiously. "Well if there is any infection there carbolic acid should get rid of it" Chim explained. "Carbolic acid?" Aryana asked. "An antiseptic" Chim replied. He took out a bottle of carbolic acid and sprayed Aryana's wound. "It stings a bit" Aryana told Chim. "It's an acid so it will. Now hold still I need to bandage this" Chim said sternly. After a minute or two Aryana's wound was bandaged. "Well what now?" Chim asked.

 

[OS]

"And what exactly do you propose?" Byron asked the peculiar young man called Alex. "Personally, I think we should wait right here and formulate some kind of beacon. Something that our fellow man, if he exists, will recognize, but the walking cadavers will not."

Byron stepped slowly towards the edge of the roof and peered at the ambling fiends in disgust.

"In the event that anyone shows up," Byron started, "we should have a plan for step two. So, what is step two? Hole up here, or find a more...suitable...fortress?"

 

[friend]

While Frederick is busy reading his old books he kept in a small storage chest in the old butchery basement, he suddenly heard a sudden knock on the door, and then barging.

Frederick, panicking, took one of the knives and prepares to hit at any undead going through his barricades...

 

[Bird Eater]

"Anybody there?" Bill asked, after he had knocked on the door.

He had decided to go to the butcher as he heard sounds coming from there.

"Phew, I thought you were an undead!" Frederick said, and he opened the door.

"I am the guy from the shop next to yours."

"Good, now what will we do?"

"Well, I thought about it for a while, and I think it's the best to look for possible survivors first, like you and I, and to work together to get rid of the undead." Bill said, "Do you have an idea where other people might be hiding?"

 

[Spoo]

The "rescue" was going fine...until the zombies came back.

John saw them right when he came out of the door. They didn't see him or Arturo yet, but they had obviously caught the scent of some other human in the yard; the deaf man. Were it not for the excruciating pain of his leg, he could have maybe got there in time to save him. But the zombies were too close.

"NO! GET OUT OF THERE!" John yelled, but the deaf man could not run fast enough. The zombies ascended onto him, and that was the end of Durante. John hadn't given up yet; he started firing blindly on the pile of bodies. Arturo grabbed John's arm and lowered it.

"Idiota! There is nothing we can do." John was about to protest when Sean walked up beside him.

"He's right, mate. Even if we saved him from immediate death he'd still be infected." He looked solemn. "This is probably less painful for him."

Arturo snorted. This was nothing he hadn't seen before, and he was heartless as ever. "Stay out and let the...things get you if you want. I'm going back inside." He headed towards the door. Sean said nothing as he followed.

John let go an uneasy sigh and thought, Are we the only ones left!?

 

[friend]

Frederick said to Bill, "No way are we gonna get out of this safe house dude, but I sure do have a good idea..."

Bill replied, "What is it?"

"You know the tool shops nearby? They have those paints right? I was wondering if you can get some for me, and I'll spray some words for people to see that this shop is a safehouse!"

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Robert opened his eyes.

His heart was racing, and his mind was in a flurry. It was dark, impossibly dark. Not even the light of the twinkling stars could break through the thick canopy of the woods.

Robert lay on the ground. What had happened? He was running with Dag and George... then suddenly he was here. Why were they running again? Robert couldn't remember.

Groaning, Robert sat up. His foot was snarled in a tree root. Great, thought Robert. Tripped by a tree. What a way to go.

Crack.

Something was closeby. Something was watching him. The smell of rotting flesh filled the clearning.

The creature attacked.

Robert was pinned to the ground by a man. But it wasn't a man. It wasn't human, and Robert knew that. He couldn't see his attacker clearly, but it was furious, completely overwhelmed with uncontrollable rage. It lunged for Robert's throat, but Robert managed to grab onto its neck and keep it just at bay. The creature was inredibly strong; despite being smaller than Robert in size, its vigour seemed unending.

Their tussle continued for almost a minute, with the creature screaming a bonechilling call every couple of seconds. Robert hoped it was alone. Deep down, he knew it wasn't.

Digging deep, Robert finally managed to pin the creature down. He was covered in disgusting flesh and blood from his struggle, and his practically useless left arm and shoulder were throbbing with pain. He fought through it as best he could, but it was weakening him. He couldn't hold the creature down for long.

Somebody was coming. Running. But they were regular footsteps; human footsteps.

It was Dag.

 

[Sgt. Cookie]

Chim was leaning on the wall of the exit wearily gazing at the stars, deep in thought.

After a few moments he said "I think we should head to the ground, at least there we can find food and water. Up here all we could get is bugger all."

"I agree" said Alex.

"Well someone has some sense" Chim said.

He got up from the wall and noticed Aryana clutching her arm. "You OK?" Chim asked calmly. Aryana shook her head.

"Well that arm needs bandaging. Gimme a sec". Chim said as he rummaged around in his rucksack.

"Ah here we are, some carb and bandages. Let me see your arm Aryana." Chim said.

Aryana walked to Chim and showed him her arm."Doesn't look that bad, won't need stitches, just bandaging. The anti septic will sting a bit as its carbolic acid."

Chim then proceeded to spray the wound and then bandaged it up. "There we go" he said "all bandaged up. Now I think we best head down"

Chim put his rucksack back on and then the group proceeded to head downstairs as Elvin asked Chim "Are you sure that we are going the right way?"

Chim replied "Yeah of course".

The five of them were now on the second floor as Byron asked "Can you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Chim asked in reply "I smell: sweat, blood and a....corpse."

At that moment a zombie sprang out of one of the rooms and attacked Elvin. "HELP!" he shouted as he and the zombie rolled down the stairs.

"Bollocks. One of those bloody moving corpses." He thought to himself and then shouted "HANG ON ELVIN!" and then threw his rucksack off and ran down the stairs, bone saw in hand.

Chim made it to the bottom of the stairs just in time to see the zombie bite into Elvin's neck. Chim ran up to the zombie and smashed the bone saw down into the zombie's skull, kicked him over and stomped on it's head.

He then ran over to Elvin who said "thanks for trying, but its too late now. Do me a favor would you? When I die, could you make it so that I don't become one of those things? Thanks." At that moment Elvin exhaled his last and then Chim took his bone saw and cleanly slid it through Elvin's neck. Separating his head and body.

He walked back up the stairs and said "We can mourn we get out of this place alive. Right now we have to leave and find somewhere to rest".

The rest of the trip out of the hospital was uneventful and when they got to the ground floor Chim said "I think we should get that axe, after all it and the thing it was attached to fell not far from here".

They walked around the side of the building and saw where the zombie had landed. "Well, any one for liquified monster?" Chim joked.

The axe was lodged in the ground and Chim pulled it up and tied it to the bottom of the rucksack. As Chim was tying the axe to his rucksack he said "I have a feeling that we may need this soon. Well any one got any idea where to go?"