Realistic or Modern Zombies!

[Kestrel]

The end of the world all started with a pathogen. It only resulted in the occasional sick person. Then, things became worse. The disease began mutating rapidly and became more contagious; the symptoms, more severe. The pathogen couldn't be identified as a simple bacteria, virus, fungus, etc. People began dropping dead like flies. Martial law was set in place. Evacuation centers were set up, along with quarantine, treatment, and research zones. One by one, these pockets of civilization were overrun. Now, there are small groups of survivors and bandits, fighting over the last of the resources. Brought together is a group of people who may never have met otherwise.

 

[Kestrel]

"Phoenix! We're losing him!" A paramedic called out from the back of the ambulance. Phoenix gritted her teeth and pushed on the gas pedal. Lights and sirens blared. "Thank goodness everyone is moving out of the way," she muttered.


The patient, a 42 year old man, had been assaulted by another person. This attacker has bitten the man's neck, and Phoenix's partner was trying to stop the bleeding. The patient was already fading fast, and showing signs of severe infection, like fever, etc. If the man has been attacked 20-30 minutes ago, there was no way infection could have begun this quickly. The patient must have had a pre-existing condition, but Phoenix and her team hadn't been able to get a verbal response from him. A machine beeped. "Get the defib unit!" Phoenix ordered.


"Clear!" An EMT called out. "Oh no, no, no. Don't you dare die on us!"


"He's gone," another paramedic said. "This is complete and utter-"


"Keep trying!" the red-haired paramedic snapped.


"What the-"


Phoenix turned around to look. The patient was sitting up, trying to claw and bite the EMT's-


Phoenix sat up with a cry of alarm, looking around. She was in her ambulance, laying on the gurney, where she had been sleeping. Koda and Angus were standing up, watching her, Koda tilted his head to the side and whined softly.


"Easy, boys. It's just a dream. I'm up now," she muttered groggily. She sat up and hopped off the stretcher. "Bet ya'll are hungry, huh? I'm getting there." She picked up the two bowls from the floor and poured 1 1/2 cups of dry food in each bowl. "Sit. Wait," she said, placing a bowl in front of each dog. They stared at the bowls, but didn't move. "Okay, go ahead." Both dogs began scarfing down the food. Glancing in the bag, she shook it slightly. "We have enough for a few more days at least. We'll look for more today." After the dogs had eaten, she tapped on the outside door and listened. Nothing. She opened the door and peeked out. The streets were empty, save for rubble and corpses.


She pushed the door open wider, and the dogs jumped out and ran to the driver's side and sat down. How two large dogs and a person managed to fit in the front seat of an ambulance, Phoenix didn't know. She opened the door and let the dogs jump in first. She started the ambulance like she had countless times. Pulling away from the curb, she patted Koda's side. Angus nudged the door with his nose, so Phoenix rolled down the window. Angus put his head out and panted happily.


As she drove, Phoenix glanced at the pictures taped to her dashboard. A few were of her and the other firefighters, EMT's and SAR personnel that she had worked with. She had been the only female at this fire station, but she had never minded. There was one of her former fiancé, who had been the fire chief, and another of Phoenix and him together the dayhe proposed. The rest were of Koda: Koda and her in the snow after they passed the SAR test, one after his amputations, and another when she first met him after he had been rescued from life as a stray, along with a few others of him just being Koda: eating, sleeping, playing, running. There wasn't a single picture of the woman's family. Phoenix tore her gaze away from the photographs and reminded herself to focus on the road. "Where do you want to go today? We should probably look for food, maybe a way outta the city." Phoenix talked to the dogs often, especially now. "Do you think we're the last ones left? I really hope not. I miss work." Phoenix has dreamed of being a paramedic all her life. She had loved her job, saving lives and making a difference. It had been too good to last. Those things out there had taken away almost everything she had.

 

[SentinelSevn]

A high pitched, blood curdling scream could be heard on the next street over. Once it subsided, what looked like all of the reanimated corpses had sprung up and headed towards where the scream had come from. There, in the gap between two houses, three individuals in had been trapped in between about twenty of the undead. One was standing his ground, a bloody pipe held in both his hands as he swung towards any undead threatening to come at him. Another, a female who had been the one who screamed, looked absolutely terrified. The metal bat she had held in between her hands had been dropped to the ground as several undead came towards her. The last figure, another male, was on the ground being mauled and torn.


Multiple tears and crunches could be heard coming from the group around his body, and a large pool of blood had begun to form as the deep red liquid dripped down from the bite wounds scattered across his figure. Two undead hovering above his torso were clawing at him, their broken and dirty claws tearing at his clothes and skin. Finally, they were able to pierce through his stomach, and skin tearing could be heard as they clawed through multiple vital organs and bones.


The female fell to her knees and sobbed, her boyfriend was on the ground and she had done nothing to help them... Other than scream.. And that just caused more trouble. Any more undead approaching her were struck in the head with a quick swing from a pipe. The last surviving male held his ground, he knew it was over; he had opted on not going down without a fight.


An undead had finally gotten through his defenses, and charged at the girl on the ground. It went for her neck, its rotting teeth piercing through the weak muscle and bone. The last look on her face was one of surprise, as all signs of life in her eyes disappeared. Her body was then attacked by other undead, with their tearing and crunching echoing throughout the houses. The male was the last one there, caught by undead on either side and making combat nearly impossible. He was about to break down as well, seeing the first two living people he had seen in ages die right in front of him. There was no way for him to survive such an onslaught, but then he realized.. Why fight them?..


After a few more swings from his pipe, he smashed it against a high window. Right as an undead charged right at him, he sidestepped the tackle and jumped onto the undead's back; he used the undead as a makeshift stool to jump up to the window. He climbed up the the frame and into a room of the building, suffering minor injuries from the shards of glass. Running to the door he locked it shut and looked out the window, the corpses of the survivors still being eaten by the undead.


Right then and there, after seeing the lifeless faces of the others, was when he had broken down. He fell to his knees, no tears, not even a single one. Instead he stayed there, a lifeless look almost passing off as lifeless as the dead. He went weak, even dropping the pipe in his hands. There was nothing else left for him, and he doubted that many else survived here. But he still had one more goal.. Revenge.. Revenge for his family and friends torn apart with this forsaken apocalypse. Revenge for those that did not deserve to die. Those who won't have a full life to live. He couldn't give up after surviving this long.


He grasped the pipe in his hands, the warm, sticky feeling of blood already covering it. This is what he'll live for, he'll live for vengeance. And to protect those last few humans still alive and fighting.


From the room Aaron was stuck in, he could hear multiple undead breaking through the abandoned house. Windows and doors were being broken down as their moans echoed throughout the area. Clutching the bloodstained pipe, Aaron stood up and looked out the window. The area was clear for now, the only thing left were the remains of his friends which he regretted looking at.


He jumped out the opening, landing on one of the skulls he had smashed earlier. The crunch of the bones would have attracted more, but luckily their moans seemed to drown out any sounds he had made. He walked over his friends' corpses and peeked out the sides of the houses, looking for an opening. There, to his right, seemed to be little to no resistance. He prepared to dash out, but something wrapped itself around his ankle causing him to fall and crash into the ground.


"Ow.. What the fu-.." He stopped as he turned around and there was the remaining upper body of the other male. Its eyes lifeless and chunks of skin torn from his face. The left side of his cheek was missing and half of his ear, blood still dripping from what was left. Aaron turned away and held the pipe above the bridge of its nose. Tightening the grip of his pipe, he thrust it downward into it's head. A cracking sound could be heard as the pipe protrudes from the back of its head, signaling the end of another undead. With a sour look on his face, Aaron got up and decided not to look at its status. He continued his plan and dashes out the path he had set himself to earlier, staying near the houses for cover.


Aaron continues his silent path until he reached the end of the street, and something a bit different met him here. It was a dog. As far as he could see, it had no injuries and ran perfectly fine. But it was running from something. Aaron peeked over a bush and whistled to signal it in his direction, wanting to have somewhat of a partner through this zombie infestation. As soon as he did it, he realized it was one of the worst choices he had ever made. Chasing after the dog and hidden behind the houses was a horde larger from what he had encountered earlier. As soon as he had whistled, their heads snapped in his direction as they let out a terrifying howl. That was when he had realized something else, they were running.. He dropped his pipe in shock and quickly ran in the other direction, figuring that even a few slow ones were easier to deal with than a horde of undead on steroids. Luckily for him, he was still faster than the undead. As his blood raced, he realized he would also have to dodge the undead lunging at him from the front. He could feel his heart pumping in his chest, and the beating of his heart beat drowned out the noise of the terrifying screeching he could hear from the corpses right behind him. The abandoned cars out in front of him also proved to be a problem, as he ran in between or slid over the hood of each of them. As he attempted to do so, an undead lunged at him from the side and knocked him off balance. To keep his momentum, Aaron rolled to the side only to look up and see the undead that knocked him over already on its feet. He dove underneath the car in front of him and crawled to the other side, not wanting the runners catching up to his position. Reaching the other side, he quickly got up and ran again. This time he faced a clear street, so none of the walking dead would be able to surprise him like that again.


Once the runners were out of sight, he dashed into a house he presumed was empty, and ran up the stairs and into the first bedroom he had seen; his first worry was going to be not being able to find any cover. He barricades the door with a dresser, but in his head he knew it would be unable to stop a horde if they decided to knock down the door. He leaned against the wall, sighing as he believed he was in another safe zone for a break.


He perked up when he heard a sound he was all too familiar with, a sound like crunching, tearing, and chewing all together. He slowly turned his head to the corner, and what looked to be two small figures huddled over a larger one. His eyes widened and he covered his mouth to stop himself from breathing any deeper he was from fear. Two zombified children had completely devoured a larger female he could only assume to be their mother..


One of them looked towards his direction, but just glared at him with its bloody face as it continued tear and rip the flesh of its mother. Aaron was stuck, if he moved again they would most likely attack him, and right now he was weapon-less. If he stayed then he would be eaten just after they had finished devouring their mother. He then had another idea, a very big risk but it was one he'd have to take.


He began to steady himself, getting into a position to run. Then dashed forward and curled into a ball as he kicked into a jump, crashing into the window in front of him and falling the full two stories down. The children growled and lunged at Aaron as he moved, but they were too slow to get him and fell down headfirst down the window with him. A smash was heard as the two landed on the ground below, crushing their own skulls and leaving the yard bare besides Aaron. He however landed and rolled to avoid too much damage, but couldn't hold back his pain as he had come to a stop. Something had pierced his leg when he had landed, and he brought his leg up to examine what had happened; it wasn't going to be something easy to remove either. A sprinkler head left alone in the yard had embed itself about an inch into his leg, leaving a bloody gash across the area along with the head itself.


He began to wince as he clutched the tool, afraid to pull it out and leave himself unable to walk. He knew the wooden fence and gates wouldn't hold the undead back, especially since there wasn't much resistance coming from him. He crawled slowly over against the house, his breathing quick as he was starting to become worried and afraid. Leaning against the other wall, he held his wounded leg and scanned his surroundings. Empty.


He held both hands around the base of the sprinkler, and bit into his jacket collar. He then shut his eyes and turned away, as if it would stop his problem. Then as soon as he caught his breath, he pulled as hard as he could on the sprinkler. It came out quick and bloody, with the sharp end shiny with his blood.


He didn't dare look at his wound, but instead tore off a piece of his jeans and used it as a makeshift bandage and truncate. He wrapped it around multiple times before tying it, wincing again as he applied pressure on his leg. He got up shaking, and left the small safety the yard had given him. The street he was on earlier was now swarmed with undead, their wounds already rotting and flooding the air with a rancid smell. Aaron decided to take an alternate path around the neighborhood, hoping at least this way he'd find something. Supplies, safety, a weapon... Survivors..


(Its late, I'm tired. I apologize in advance that I rushed through a big portion of my character's beginning with so little detail. But I'm off for a good 6hours, have fun)

 

[blackrosedrop]

Asha kicked at a box that was stacked up against the inside of a warehouse at the corner of the street. Useless. Everything in that place was completely useless. She had been hunting the streets for days looking for buildings that might contain food and this was the best she had found - a toy warehouse for God's sake, filled with useless plastic dolls and army soldiers. What a great use they were to the world now. It was no wonder the warehouse was barely touched.


She kicked the box again and a column of the boxes fell backwards - three on top of each other that almost reached over her height stumbled back, and crashed onto the ground behind, causing Barbie dolls to spill out all over the place. She knew that it was a stupid idea - the warehouse was big and dark, any number of zombies stumbling forth with skin hanging from their sunken faces. She swallowed. There was little enough food as there was, she didn't want to throw up when there wasn't anything inside of her. She kicked the boxes again for good measure and then turned on her heels. The place really was useless.


Yet in her desperation, still she kept looking. At the back of the warehouse appeared a small room that she hadn't seen before, with a black door saying "STAFF ONLY". She reached to her belt and pulled out her knife, extending it in front of her ready to plunge into the neck of any zombies that dared to jump out. She crouched low and stepped towards it, getting closer and closer. One of the lights overhead blinked a couple of times. There was a sinking feeling in her gut. Asha had always hated the darkness, the thought of being stuck inside the warehouse with any number of zombies about was unbearable.


Then the light shone clearly again and she sighed in relief. Now it was time to check out the room. After searching the whole place she wasn't placing any more hope on it being of use to her now, but there was no harm in looking. Rucksack firmly balanced on her shoulders, knife wielded, she stepped forwards and grabbed at the door handle. She yanked it open and a thin ray of light shot inside, just long enough for her to see the marks of movement. She just had enough time to step backwards before a zombie rushed out, one limp leg sagging behind the other as it came forwards - a bundle of rotting flesh. The stench was enough to incapacitate anyone.


It was a male once, but his hair had all come off clearly showing the boils marking his skin. His eyes were the worst part - one of them driven mad with bloodlust, and the other eyeball three quarters the way out of its socket, hanging down its saggy face. It was enough to ruin anyone's mood for the day.


Killing it was easy enough. When it got close enough she took one swift move to the left, and dug the knife squarely into its brain. The zombie seethed and dropped down, returning to the ground where it belonged. She waited for it to fall and then stabbed it again in the back of the head, just to be sure. There was no further movement from the inside so the coast was clear.


Ash walked inside to what looked like a staffroom kitchen area. There was a kettle and several dishes along in the surface, somebody had tried to leave there in the hurry - probably her unfortunate male friend outside. She flicked through the cupboards and found a couple of tin canned fruit. If she rationed it out carefully it would last her a couple of days. There wasn't any water though, and the taps were clogged up in the drains.


The only other thing was a crate full of wine tequila lying in the middle of the kitchen floor. Ash had no use for such a thing - it was hard enough surviving the world as it is, let alone drunk. But nonetheless, it gave her an idea.


A smirk lit along her face. A very fun idea indeed.


She wiped the bloodied knife on one of the towels and grabbed the crate by the box lid to drag it outside. Then she grabbed the first bottle and poured it all over the floor of the warehouse, spraying it all over the cardboard boxes and anywhere that she could. She continued with the next bottle, and the next after that until she had emptied the entirety of the crate across the warehouse floor - grinning the whole time.


Now this would definitely make up for a bad day.


She pulled out a lighter from her rucksack - she'd collected at least three over the past few months, you never knew when you needed to make a fire, especially with tinned food tasting even worse cold.


She made her way to the fire-exit before lighting a small flame. It should do the trick. She stepped back and threw the lighter onto the floor where it caught in the spilled alcohol and sparked into fire. It took a few seconds to spread, but Asha knew she shouldn't hang about.


She rushed off down the street, and the next one after that, so that she could enjoy first-hand the effects of the fire. She waited a couple of minutes before she saw smoke emerging from the warehouse, and grinned to herself. The fire would certainly draw in some of the zombies, and she was definitely in the mood for a fight. If she was in luck, the building might even explode.


Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.

 

[DragonFangs]

Mia had heard the blood-curdling definitely female screams that erupted from a few streets over. But she was too busy trying to hide from the horde she'd glimpsed up the road. She decided the house nearest her would have to do. But looking out the back window she saw something even better: a treehouse. After killing a zombie who'd once been an adult male in the kitchen, she moved out the back door. But she was startled to find something she didn't see from the window: an undead male child whose leg was impaled on a jutted-out root at the base of the tree. It appeared the young one was startled out of the tree house and most likely died when it hit the ground.


As she approached, the undead lifted its head, revealing a slightly caved-in right cheek and a missing left eye. A flash of pity coursed through Mia, but she crouched down and raised her knife, bringing it down to pierce the top of the thing's head. It let out a high pitch groan and wriggled a bit, then went limp and heavy on the knife. Mia stood, trying not to raise the head much more; and put her foot on it, pulling her knife from what was left of its hair. Then, she proceeded up the ladder made by planks of wood nailed into the bark. Once she was inside, she examined within; finding nothing more than a sleeping mat, a lantern, a board game and an action figure.


Upon peering out the window, she realized the tree was higher than she thought. She could see two streets over on either side of the street the treehouse was on. She saw a fire in the distance, but didn't think much of it; figuring it was another gas station blown up by a car that started to leak. The horde was now three houses down the street; and she could tell that the farther back she looked, the bigger they got. Seemingly mutated. The sound of shattering glass caused her to look through the opposite window overlooking the yard behind her and saw a man plummeting from the second story window and two undead children following-suit. The zombies impacted head-first into the ground below, and the man didn't get away clean either. She witnessed him pull a sprinkler head from his leg and wrap it. She could tell the wrapping job wasn't well done, and knew she could help.


She looked back at the horde, then back at the man. She decided she couldn't call to him. And whistling wasn't an option. She looked back into the treehouse, her eyes falling upon the action figure. An idea came to her. She took some gauze from her first aid kit and wrapped it around the action figure and locked it in place with the stitcher things. Turning back to the window, she aimed for the ground beside where the man had huddled up, and threw the figure. It landed beside the man's foot with a soft thud, unheard by the horde that was now two houses away. Mia smiled in satisfaction.


@AceOfSpades0210

 

[Yiyel]

Since the end of the apparent civilized world, Niko had made a few mistakes. Most of which he would have preferred to have gone in better ways, but like usual that was a pipe dream. His latest mistake, which could be attested to a slight lapse in judgement, was deciding to spend the night in a tree. The road was vacant when he made the decision, but he failed to judge how open the area was, and to consider any other threats that might pop up.


To his dismay he’d awoken to the once quiet street being filled with reeking undead. Thankfully his abrupt jump start hadn’t caused him to lose his place, at least he thought that slightly through, by wedging himself into the crook of 3 thick branches. He was also at least ten feet off the ground, so the groaning undead couldn’t quite reach him, even if they tried to jump, which he was quiet sure they lacked that coordination nowadays. Never the less he carefully unstrapped his pack, setting it firmly between the branches as he peered down at the hoard gathered around.


They were trudging slowly on their way down the litter filled street, toward something a few miles away. It seemed like they were heading toward a rather large fire by the amount of billowing black smoke flooding into the blue sky. Most not seeming to give any attention to the lone human sitting in a leafless tree.


‘Great…I’m stuck.. Way to go Niko.’ He thought to himself in a rather sour mood. He wasn’t necessarily bothered by the replacement of people by their undead counterparts, since that meant there were less people to listen to, and he could honestly outrun most of the corpses. The problem was however, being stuck with only a few days of food, a hoard below and no possible way to climb down without getting at least something bitten.


Glancing around his position he noted that Marni, like the badass cat she was, was safely and smugly looking his direction from a neighboring building’s metal roof. He waved a curt middle finger in her direction, to which the cat turned her tail on. ‘Right you don’t care, probably laughing at me now.’ He thought to himself.


His sole companion happened to be a small black and white tuxedo cat, to which he’d given the name Marni. The name didn’t really mean anything, other than a random decision he’d made the day he’d found her behind the bar. Which got him thinking on the bar, ‘Should’ve taken a bottle or two, could be watching some nice roasting zombrains right now.’


A sudden loud hissing nearly had his jump out of his skin, breaking his distracting thoughts as he turned and looked a one-eyed, lipless undead in the face. It still couldn’t reach him from his position, but the noise it was making trying to, was attracting some of the other passing undead. He swore quietly under his breath, spitting at the creature, before picking up his bag and strapping it over his back.


He could potentially reach the roof Marnie was on by climbing across a rather precarious branch, but if he messed up, which was a high chance, he’d be dead meat. With a soft sigh he decided that was a better course of action instead of starving up in a tree, so he carefully pushed himself out of the crook and half crawled, half climbed his way slowly across the branch. It made a few threatening cracking sounds as he neared the halfway point, a few zombies stumbling below him, watching as intently as a thoughtless creature could, but he made it across.


He landed on the metal roofing with a loud thud, a few hairless heads turning his direction, but he was fine for the most part, aside from some scrapes and a few cuts. He grinned at the cat, replying smugly, “Told ya I could make it a few days, shall we go check out that fire?” Of course the animal didn’t reply but it was nice to talk to something once in a while, and Marnie usually listened, or so Niko thought. The burning building could be some freak accident caused by undead or lead him to other people. While neither option was necessarily good, finding people with more supplies was more beneficial than not, even if he had to steal it.

 

[Kestrel]

As Phoenix drove, Koda pricked up his ears and looked up. "Koda? What is it, bud?" Koda barked and started pawing at the door. He whined. A large plume of black smoke was rising in the air. There was a large fire, still burning and close. "Alright. I'm on it." She turned and headed towards the smoke.


After a few minutes, she arrived at what appeared to be an old warehouse. It was completely engulfed in flames. She stopped and parked the ambulance. She rolled the window down slightly, so that she could hear. It seemed unusually quiet. She opened the door warily, wrapping one hand around her crossbow. The fire crackled, and distant groans warned Phoenix that she would soon have company. Giving up, Phoenix got back in the truck and started driving, keeping an eye out for any movement along the road. Somebody had to have started the fire, and Phoenix wasn't sure she wanted to meet them.


@blackrosedrop

 

[RozieRawrs]

Hadley's eyes grew cold as she held the lifeless body of the man she loves. Her eyes reflect pain and suffering. She's young. So was he.


"Rest well, Kyson." She whispered, kissing the top of his bloody head, she then drove an a theme through his ear, into his brain.


Hadley springs up, screaming. She had made a nice little nest out of an apartment building, the stairs were all blocked off by book cases and other objects she had pushed down them, the doors to her apartment had been blocked off days ago, she had boarded them all up. So now, she just waits. Waits for someone to come back. She waits for her brother to come back.... But he had been gone for weeks now, and now, she is alone.


Hadley gets out of the bed, really her bed is just a mattress on the ground surrounded by blankets, pillows, and other girly things, her a theme rests on the bedside table. Her Katana rests in the living room, usually she would have it with her no matter what, but she had decided, last night, to set it in the living room, in case her brother came back, so he would know that she's here.


Of course, he didn't come. But that doesn't come to a surprise to Hadley, she has been through it all before, her brother would leave an pad not come back for days.... But... This time is different. He said it would only be an hour, well, that hour tuned into two, two hours turned into four and soon it had been a full day... That day turned into a week, and now Hadley is worried.


Her dream? That had been about Kyson, the man she had loved since she was about twelve years old. He had sacrificed his life for hers and taken the beating from the roamers.


That's right, the flames, flesh eating freaks that will do just about anything to get the chomp, they don't feel, they don't think, they only go towards the kill. They can tell you by scent, look, walk. It doesn't matter. And they are attracted to sound. That's why Hadley is on edge now. A scream can be a dangerous thing in the is world...


"After all...." She whispers, "A scream is what killed Kyson..."

 

[blackrosedrop]

Asha had always liked the smell of fire. It was marginally nicer than the foul stench of rotting fresh that had conquered the world. She fought the cough that chocked up her throat as she advanced down the road. The fire seemed to be picking up - she wondered if it would spread to the next building - hopefully. That would be fun to watch. It might even burn down some of the zombies too. She smiled at the thought. She'd never seen burning zombies before. If one of them was going to kill her, she wanted it to be one of them, so at least she could die in style.


As if one of them read her mind, there was a traitorous shuffling noise behind her, and a wheezing sound that zombies often made when they tried to talk. It walked towards her, dragging its body with it. It looked newly turned, it still had its hair and there wasn't even that much blood on its clothes. It was young woman by the looks of it, a skinny one with sharp nails. Her rotting hand stretched out towards Asha like a claw. The girl sighed and stepped sideways, whirling her knife around to catch the zombie in the eye. The knife sunk inside instantly, something clicked inside its brain. She often wondered if human brains were like that too, and if she was crazy for thinking about it. Then she decided that she didn't care. Everybody was crazy these days. It was only the other week that she walked past some crazy guy who walked straight into a herd of zombies like he was some sort of sacrifice. The least he could have done is left out his supplies to use, rather than letting them get all covered with zombie entrails - bits of intestine, clumpy organs, patches of skin and hair. Gross.


Once she killed it, she took a step back to admire her work. It was then that she heard another sound over the noise of the flames - like tyres crunching against concrete. Her eyes widened in realization. There was a car nearby, possibly only down the next street. Perfect, things couldn't have possibly turned out so well for her.


She pulled back her knife from the zombie and held it behind her back. The sound was getting louder and louder, closer and closer. When it came around the corner she almost laughed - it was an ambulance. Was she hallucinating?


Either way, it was too good to be true. A car, a working car, coming straight for her. All she had to do was reach out and take it. Nobody was stupid enough to ride around in broad daylight in a crowded place like this. That was just asking to get hijacked. As the ambulance drew closer she waved up her hand.


"Hey!"


@Kestrel

 

[RozieRawrs]

It wasn't until she stepped outside that she smelled the horrific scent of burning walkers. She covers her nose and stares in the direction of a burning building. She steps back inside of her building and grabs her Katana, she knew that this could be a big banner saying LOOK AT ME. But Hadley is no idiot.


The girl stalks out of her apartment building, all of her important goods in her backpack, as she is well aware that she may or may not come back, and if she was to die, at least she could die for a good cause, and hopefully she would be found by someone in need, her weapons and food could become of use for someone who needs it. And after all, that is what Hadley wants to do, help.


Hadley sets out towards the burning building, she is soon accompanied by a cat. By the looks of it, just a small black and white one. She smiles softly, "a,aging how something as small as you could manage to make it through this, huh?" She smiles down at the small cat. "Do you have an owner? Someone who looks after you?" Hadley takes a few moments up on a roof, a place where she knows she couldn't get caught, to feed th cat. She hands it a few peices of smoked rabbit. Something she had caught in a trap a day or so ago. She smiles softly down at the small animal before standing up, when she turns, she sees a man. Immediately Hadley's Katana is in her hand. She stares at him.


"Who are you?!" She yells to him, "And what do you want?"


(Mentioned: @Yiyel

 

[Yiyel]

Most of the trip toward the smoldering beacon in the distance was rather easy, as most of the buildings’ roofs were clear of zombies. At some points Niko had to time his jumps to carefully land on some fire-escapes, and while he spent his sweet time traversing the rooftops, Marni had wandered off.


At first he hadn’t noticed, being the small cats usually behavior, but she rarely wandered too far away, even more so with a hoard on the streets. Shortly after pulling himself up onto a gravel covered roof explained why, some girl, walking around with a katana.


Niko considered how non-standard that weapon choice was, as he stood quietly, inching up closer and drawing his machete. He wasn’t interested in necessarily causing a fight, but he didn’t want anyone to hurt his cat. Yes, she was giving her a treat, but that could’ve been to just lure her close.


"Who are you?!" She yells to him, "And what do you want?"


He narrowed his eyes at her, raising one hand in a passive manner as he clicked at Marni, “Just getting my cat. Who’re you, and what’s up with that sword?”


He tried his best to sound friendly, even though his heart was pounding with anxiety, not once pulling his attention from her. “So, if you’ll excuse us. C’mon Marni, we got to go.” The sounds of the undead hadn’t faded, and if he spent too long here, the chance of missing whoever had started the fire grew.


@RandomFoodGirl

 

[Kestrel]

Phoenix slammed in the brakes as a non-zombie teenage girl in the side of the road and shouted something that she couldn't hear. She wanted to stop and help, but on the other hand, she didn't want to be mugged or killed. Phoenix quickly double checked that the doors were locked before slowing to a stop. Keeping one hand on the crossbow, she cracked open the window.


"Who are you and what do you want?" She glanced at the dogs for reassurance. They seemed relaxed, even happy to see the girl.


@blackrosedrop

 

[blackrosedrop]

Asha scoffed - she wasn't expecting such a rude response. A gun, maybe, or a threat, but not such a direct question. It irked her a lot. She walked slowly towards the window and raised an eyebrow, one hand clasped around the knife held behind her back at all times. She looked the rider in the front seat up and down. There were a couple of dogs in the back, she wondered how loyal they really were. Maybe best not to take the car without dealing with them too. She didn't like wild animals.


"I'm Asha," she said simply with a shrug. There wasn't any harm in giving her name. She paused long enough to smirk. "Who says I want anything?"


She assessed the threat of the driver. If she kept one hand on the steering wheel, it meant that she was distracted. And sitting down, confined, already meant she was restricted. Asha didn't plan to kill her, she wasn't that crazy (yet anyway). It would take too long and she'd already killed enough for one day.


"I could ask you the same question, though. How about you tell me where you got this thing? I haven't seen a moving car in a long time." Get her talking, get her distracted. "You're a bit late to save everyone though. Did you miss all the emergency service calls?"


@Kestrel

 

[Kestrel]

Phoenix gritted her teeth in annoyance. As the girl approached the ambulance, Koda raised his hackles and bared his teeth, while Angus growled. She began forming a plan on her head.


"Everyone wants something. Unless you haven't noticed, there is a minor shortage of supplies. I got the ambulance from a overrun survivor camp," she said. "The back is empty, already picked over and whatnot, but it's great for running over those things, and getting to where I'm headed." The bit about the ambulance being empty was a lie. The back was full of supplies, but Phoenix wasn't about to announce that. "The dogs are Koda and Angus. There, I answered your questions. Now answer mine." She said, deliberately not revealing her own name.


The dogs were still warily watching Asha. "Easy, boys. It's alright."


@blackrosedrop

 

[RozieRawrs]

Hadley watches the black cat make its way to its owner, "The name is Hadley." She sheaths her Katana and smiles softly at the kitty. "I'm surprised the cat has an owner. Hadley pulls out a bag of smoked rabbit and slowly crosses her way to the man, she smiles softly and holds out the bag, "Here. I'm not a fan of rabbit. Keep it. You guys look like you need it more than I do."


Hadley looks down at the fire, "it looks like electrical damage that started a fire, I wouldn't make too much of a fuss about it." Hadley changes the subject from herself, her Katana, and the new man to the fire. She tries to avoid anything that could let him or his car into her life. "I don't think it's man made, but, I wouldn't know, I'm not the idiot that goes around causing fires for fun. I'd rather not have a bunch of biters on my ass, if you know what I mean."


Hadley gestures to the undead, groaning underneath them, "You better be careful, guy, they aren't very nice pets. And watch out for your cat. Animals are just as unsafe as we re in this world." She smiles softly, a fake smile, one that doesn't reach to her eyes, or spread on her cheeks. The new world had made the girl hard, distant. She turns from the mad and pulls out some more meat from her bag, she drops it down for the beasts. She shakes her head as they look up at her. Hadley just waves at the biters, she knows they can't get to her from here.


@Yiyel

 

[Honto335]

Many would say that it would be best to give up hope on finding your family after such a cataclysmic event such as a zombie out break, and yet to him the task seemed so simple as going outside and picking up a rock. One goal in mind was all it took for Hans to steady his resolve once more. Headphones rested over his ears, blasting the gods of metal themselves into his skull as he walked down a surprisingly empty road. The empty road before him was slightly off putting, the roads where normally crowded shoulder to shoulder with men and women gone crazy in their hunger for flesh and blood. All in all it was the perfect place to rest for a few minutes.


Minutes passed and the street was still eerily quiet despite his music blaring out of the headphones and polluting the street with the soft buzz of a guitar, and finally the track ended. Silence again reigned supreme in the street, and Hans pulled the headphones down around his neck. A few things struck him as odd, the lack of sick humans (He refused to call 'them' Zombies), the giant black cloud of smoke billowing up into the sky from the city, and the apparent nerve of some people to write racial slurs on houses even during the apocalypse. He decided to take things in order of importance, first the plume of smoke building ever larger over the city, then the empty street, and finally the vandalism on the houses.


Temptation to continue listening to his favorite metal band argued with his nerves requesting the soothing sound of reggae for a moment before he decided it would be best to go for something smoother when trying to avoid attracting a mob of flesh hungry people to his position. He dropped the duffle bag slung around his shoulder for a moment as he groped his pockets for the CD cases and DiscmanESP. Once he secured the new CD into the CD player and safely put old one back into his deep pockets, he skipped a few tracks to find the one he felt most fitting. With the duffle slung back over his shoulder Hans moved onward, the sounds of Bob Marley telling him that every little thing was going to be alright filled the air.

 

[blackrosedrop]

"I'm just passing through," replied Asha with a light-hearted shrug. It was disappointment, the woman not having any supplies, but even if Asha believed her the truck itself was worth it. "Is that a crime now?"


She nodded at the dogs, she really didn't like wild animals. Shouldn't those things be in strong leeches? Or a cage? It was stupid to waste resources on dogs anyway, they'd be better off fending for themselves. Still, Asha wondered if they would be of any use in a fight. "Anyway, it looks like we're heading in the same direction. How about you give me a lift?"


The perfect chance to hijack the ambulance. Before the world turned to hell, she actually had a licence, a solid one too. She never so much as ran a red light.

 

[Kestrel]

"Not a crime, just not smart," Phoenix answered. As much as she hated to admit it, Asha reminded her of Julie, her younger sister. "And we're not to fond of strangers right now. We're headed to Montana," she answered, still being vague.


Koda clambered over Angus to put his front paws on Phoenix's lap and stick his head out the window. He sagged his tail, smacking Angus in the face with it. "I know, Koda. You found her. Good boy." To Asha, she said, "He's pretty happy we found another survivor. He was a Search-and-Rescue dog a while ago. He's retired now," she said scratching him behind his ears.


(Sorry it's so short and late. Real life is been busy)