Streets of Nachton - Infected Area
‘Waiting on you.’
‘Don’t.’
‘Waiting on you.’
‘I always hated when you did that.’
‘Still waiting on you.’
Simon Huntington and Ellis Duban stood precariously on the edge of Nachton’s industrial district and watched the flurry of large men move crates of something heavy from the warehouse one hundred yards away from them to a waiting moving truck. The gun runners in Nachton were easy to find, at least the human ones were, it was the infiltration of werewolves that made this otherwise quiet outing unbearably difficult.
‘Still waiting.’
Simon rolled his eyes and looked over at his ex lover and recalled that he had killed her once and almost let her die again. Stupid choices and poorly executed ones put him here now, listening to her odd sense of tainted humor as they watched the humans load the guns into the truck.
‘We’re here to watch.’
Ellis sniffed with disdain.
‘It’s called reconn.’
With a dramatic sigh, Ellis pulled out a cigarette and lit it, not caring that she was undoubtedly giving away their presence. ‘I don’t recall ever teaching you this pussified way of doing reconn.’
Simon turned away and rolled his eyes again, no her way was just going down and killing them all but the driver, who undoubtedly knew where he was going, if he didn’t know what for or for who – the rest they always winged. Her way was painful, reckless and … well her way.
‘My way. I said we’d do this my way.’ Simon said with a firm voice as he knelt down to peer over the side of the building roof top.
Ellis recognized the tone and immediately wanted to shoot his fucking brains out of his head. Flicking her cigarette off the side of the building, which landed next to one of the large men who was keeping a look out, Ellis held her hands up and signaled surrender.
‘Fine, your way.’
Ellis would have gladly continued with her scathing advice for Simon if it had not been for a series of car accidents in the surrounding area. Both vampires jumped at the consecutive car crashes all around them, evening garnering the attention of the humans below.
Slowly Simon stood. 'What the hell was that?' Looking over at Ellis he saw that she had already crossed the roof top behind them and was looking down at an accident. 'Ellis?'
'What the...' Ellis' eyes widened and she began to wave Simon over, her hand finally realizing that anything less than a frantic wave would not be appropriate. 'Simon. Simon come over here. Simon...SimonSimonSimonSimonSimon.'
In a blink he was beside her on her right, looking over the edge. That could not be right, he thought to himself as the sound of soft whispered wailing filtered up into the night air to them.
'That is SO not my fault,' Ellis said quietly.
The clear sound of shots from above turned her attention upward, and she noted her companion was doing the same as they both sought out the source of the noise.
"I would have to agree with you there too... strength in numbers, united we stand, et cetera."
She was still trying to rid herself of the vision of Nic hurling a zombie to the ground, as well. A part of her had quailed at that; these were still people. Whatever was happening, they deserved to be fixed if there was a chance, didn't they?
She wasn't about to complain however. Desperate times called for desperate measures, after all.
"Nic... do you think they could make us zombies too? We're vampires. If they bite us we'll just heal up, won't we?"
Aishe knew Kem considered Nic to be incredibly youthful, and it did color her perception of him a bit, but thankfully she had the presence of mind right now to remember that Kem's view of his fellow vampires and hers were coming from two opposite ends of the spectrum. Nic had lived several lifetimes for her, and although he didn't seem to know any better than she what was going on, it was natural for her to at least pick his brain a bit.
Of course, she had the good sense to pick his brain as they hightailed it toward the source of the gunshots. Aishe was a big fan of trial and error, but somehow this didn't quite fit her idea of acceptable test parameters. Even if she would heal right up, being a source of endless food to a zombie wasn't her idea of a hot night on the town.
Running along the sidewalk, looking into storefront windows, Nic kept hoping to see a reassuring light, or some friendly movement. He refused to think he wasn't still in the general area of those who had the guns, though he had no way to know otherwise.
And then he heard voices...intelligible voices...that seemed to be saying understandable words. Aside from the apparent need to want to chew off a limb or two, another thing the zombies looked to have in common was their inability to converse. So when he heard the words in the distance, Nic felt even more hopeful.
"I wish to Christ I knew more about these...zombies, but I'm afraid they're just never anything I've run up against."
He laughed then, but it was more a laugh of chagrin, than humor. He felt bad that he couldn't give her the reassurance she seemed to need, but he couldn't lie to her. Yet he also felt he had somehow failed again. A man of his years should have a lot more knowledge than he obviously had. Knowing how to make a buck was not going to help them now...knowing how to drive fast cars and motorcycles was of little use...being able to change characters, and pretend to be someone else...nope...no help.
"So for now, its just not an option...okay? No getting bit!" And again he chuckled...who'd have thought a vampire would be cautioning another vampire about that?
The subtle sound of things breaking had caught his ear, and because zombies didn't seem to care how much noise they made, Nic had to trust these new noises were those they sought. Trying to be more quiet himself, Nic moved alongside Aishe, before he spoke, so he wouldn't need to shout.
"I think there are more like us ahead..." And it was then he saw the placard hanging off the roof, which read 'Westin Ammo' "Hopefully they're in that gun shop, but even if they aren't we should probably stop in there anyway...I know I'd feel better if I could get something else to use as protection."
Along with riding horses, ballroom dancing, and other various skills, Nic had learned to shoot for the westerns he'd made, as well as a couple of the war, and mystery movies. He had been taught to use a rifle, a shotgun, and small caliber pistols, but felt the most comfortable with shotguns. Knowing how to shoot didn't always coincide with accuracy, but a shotgun eliminated the need for a perfect aim.
His caution against not being bitten made her laugh, perhaps a little harder than she should. She kept following Nic, pausing for just a moment to let fly a satisfying roundhouse. As she laughed, she explained, "But you see, that's exactly why I came to Nachton. To get bitten!"
They reached the entrance to a store and stopped to look at the sign. "It never rains, it pours," Aishe said, still chuckling over the abundance of biting opportunities. Giving Nic a pointy little grin she added, "I wonder how they'd like to be bitten back?"
The store was... oh, convenient. Ammunition and guns. That would explain the gunshots. "If they're not there now, they probably were not too long ago," she said. "You're right though. I'm all for extra firepower. I don't want to kill anyone if I can help it, but I'm not going to lie down either."
If not being bitten was the game for the day, she would play it and put her best effort into it... but what sort of Evenhet would she be if she wantonly slaughtered the helpless... even if they were trying to eat her?
As quietly as he could, he pumped the first shot gun and continued with the rest. They'd need hallow tipped bullets - but really anything from a small caliber that would pierce bone and skin but not be able to exit, effectively turning brain into mush inside someone's skull to an exploding exit would do. When Simon finished loading four shot guns, he moved towards the back of the shop, investigating what the shop keeper might have kept in his own personal stash. There were traces again, crossing in range of his perception but nothing to worry him just yet. He entered the back office and stood quietly at the ransacked desk and wondered.
Where was the shop owner?
Ellis watched Simon load the shot guns quickly in the dark, the clicking of the shotgun shells soothing in a way. Turning back towards the display wall, she began to pull down semi automatic weapons - nothing that compared to Tacharan's stash - but their armory was customized for minimal blood loss whereas what they needed right now was good old fashion 'fuck you up' weapons. Modified AK-47s and sub machine guns caught her eye and she began to load those as Simon moved towards the back, more than likely to search out the shop owner's personal stash. She almost called out to him, to watch himself but her eyes flickered over to the Amberelle and she thought better of it.
Her attention broke away from her perception and focused now on the other female. An unlikely partner in an unlikely war.
'So - what's a girl like you doing in a zombie infested city like this?'
They would feed.
They continued their assault through the city, penetrating more buildings not yet barricaded and strengthened their numbers. Women, children, pets - it mattered little only that the collective was strong and fed. They moved towards the clean flesh's scent and immediately picked up on more survivors moving in the same direction - away from the screaming horde. Immediately the horde split up to flank their positions, to circle around the clean flesh like an expert combat unit. Flashes of recognition had its advantages, indeed.
Looking up when Ellis spoke, the blonde studied the other woman for a moment. Stories of what a ferocious and unfeeling killer the Ancient was had been told to her since she was a child, along with the evils of the would be third clan. It was probably all propaganda that her sire used to mold them but there could be truth in the lies. So far none of that had made itself visible, but it was still hard to trust someone who you'd believed was Satan and the Boogeyman rolled into one.
Giving Ellis a faintly wistful smile, she shrugged a shoulder lightly. I'd gone down to the docks to feed. I prefer.. she paused then decided it didn't matter what the woman thought of her. They were unlikely allies, but for the moment they needed one another. I only like to feed on criminals and such if I'm getting it "fresh". Trust me if I'd had any idea what tonight would hold I think I would have nuked a bag and curled up in front of the TV with my boyfriend. Her eyes clouded a moment with worry when her thoughts turned to him. She had no idea what her beloved's plans for the night had been and she sent up a silent prayer he had stayed in working.
Her feline sharpened senses were picking up bits and pieces of movement outside and she kept half her attention there, making sure nothing came into the darkened store for them. The Creole registered the small noises that were Simon, obviously looking for additional supplies in a back room, and some movement outside the window but so far nothing close enough to alarm her.
What about you two? Down at the docks for a moonlit stroll? And umm.. She leaned a hip against the counter lightly as she slid shells into a sawed off pump shotgun. I was wondering if maybe we had a plan? Or some destination in mind because we will run out of night eventually.. That scared her. No way did she want to try traveling the sewers with these things about.
"For the sake of argument, lets not go there. If they can infect us with a bite, I'm thinking the same would happen if we became the biters..."
He was gave thanks again that he had just fed, knowing to have done otherwise, and then be faced with even this tainted blood, he might have been sorely tempted.
"I think there may be someone inside, but we can't just stand around out here. If they're more zombies, we'll need to eliminate them first, then see what we can get together for protection. If its whoever that was doing the shooting earlier, we need to be careful that they don't eliminate us before we can show we're clean.
Stand behind me, and when I get through the door, drop. If they're prepared to shoot, hopefully they'll aim high, and we'll have a few moments of safety, to identify ourselves."
Sometimes old movie scenes really did come in handy, out in the real world. Funny how "Shoot Em Up In Albuquerque" would come to mind now.
Looking at the door, and lock system again, Nic could only hope if he hit the door with enough strength, it would open.
"When I say now, push yourself against me. With luck, our combined thrust will do the trick."
And there was always the chance they wouldn't budge a thing, but until faced with that result, Nic didn't think there was reason to worry.
"Okay...ready? NOW!"
And while he felt a pain radiate up his side, from his hip to his shoulder, the door cracked, and opened, and the two fell to the floor as planned, with Aishe landing somewhat less sharply on Nic's prone body.
"We're not zombies!!"
Nic yelled, before trying to maneuver Aishe to a more appropriate position on the floor.
Since Nic seemed to be willing to take charge, Aishe simply went along with him. She certainly didn't have any better ideas about how to get themselves to safety. So when he went at the door, she did him one better and instead of pushing against him, she reached around him, pressing close, but bracing her palms against the door next to his.
As they toppled through, she landed on top of him, giving a muffled squeak as he shoved her down below him. Grateful for his protectiveness, but fairly certain (or at least hopeful) that she wasn't about to get her head blown off, she rolled away into the shadow of the now-open door. It would give her a little protection if anyone did have an itchy trigger finger. Nodding at Nic, a sort of, "thanks, I'm fine - you?" she looked into the interior of the shop, trying to make out the faces of the figures inside and determine whether or not they were familiar.
Once again she felt her lips twitch up. The urge to add, "We come in peace. Take us to your leader," was very strong. Instead she simply said, "There are just two of us."
She waited for a moment to see if any shots would be fired... once she knew they were safe, she'd begin pounding the door back into place. Judging from the noise outside they had a few seconds, which was all it should take for them to figure out if they were about to be opened up on.
Her heart was pounding from the suprise and adrenaline raced through the Anantya. Ellis, catch, she called out, her tone strained but kept low so as not to attract any unnecessary attention from outside. The blonde's free hand reached down towards the crouched figure, her fingers digging roughly into his bicep. As she yanked him away from the entrance Amby shoved the loaded and primed sawed off shotgun at his chest. Here take this, she hissed. She didn't take the time to see if he grasped it or not as she jerked him with all of her vampiric strength and half slid, half tossed him further back into the weapons store and hopefully in the general direction of the other woman. She wasn't taking time to aim and so she hoped he didn't end up face first through a glass case. As she got him out of her way, the Creole lunged towards the door. The crouched figure in the shadows was noted in her peripheral vision but there was no time to get her to safety.
There was also no time to barricade or bar the door, she realized so Amberelle simply reached out and grabbed the gore covered undead women as they threw themsleves through the opening at her. Falling backwards she then send both of them sailing into the store towards the rear display cases. Hopping back to her feet agilely the blonde kicked the busted door closed then reached up and grabbed the heavy metal security grates, bringing them down over the store front's windows and doorway. It was much louder than she would have liked, but as they clicked into the recepticles in the floor and locked in place the vampires were almost completely obscured from anyone passing down the street, as well as effectively stopping anything else from getting in.
(Nic manhandled with permission)
'Welp - just a little look see at the competition, basically.' There was no point in telling her just why she was with the new Leader of Tacharan, her ex lover and culprit of her attempted murder - the what was fine though. With a shrug she shifted her weight on her feet. Ellis found herself trying to be friendly figuring man eating zombies was a good a reason as any.
'I...,' And that's when the two figures just outside the door suddenly appeared in her mind. Her inner alarm caught just as Amberelle did. Ellis grabbed a shot gun off the display case and aimed it just as the figures came through the door and Amberelle grabbed the male. Much to her surprise, it was the fair haired Nicholae, the other female she did not recognize and they brought company.
With Nicholae on the ground and two zombies flying in her direction, Ellis considered her options. A shot gun spray to the face seemed like a great idea but would definitely attract more attention, so as the two zombies landed, Ellis planted the butt of the shot gun directly into the face of one zombie and then swung it like a baseball bat at the other, hearing a satisfactory snap and crunch. Resisting the urge to utter a ridiculous baseball comment, she crushed the head of the second one just in case. Her blood lust had immediately risen but the smell of the disgusting zombies quelled her thirst.
Wiping the sudden sweat from her face, Ellis stood back from the zombies and looked up at Nicholae. 'Jesus fucking Christ, Nic - what the hell was that? 'We're not zombies'?'
With a dissatisfied snort she grabbed a camouflaged t-shirt off of a clothes rack and wiped the disgusting blood off her shot gun. Glaring at the pretty boy, Ellis reflected on the fact that some people just weren't made for zombie war.
Again Simon thought of Carol and the rest of the clan. Reluctantly he tried again to send Carol a message and was only rewarded with more silence. The hallway had several office doors on each side and quietly Simon moved from door to door, nudging them open with the tip of his gun. The lights had all been turned off except for the last that had the flicker of a bad fluorescent light struggling to turn on. Taking a step inside that office, again nudging the door opened, he suddenly heard the clashing of gates downstairs and he turned his attention to the noise.
'Simon?'
A small tinny voice in his head quietly called his name - Carol's tinny voice.
'Carol?' He responded back in his head.
Relief washed over him, just as the repugnant smell of tainted flesh wafted past his nose.
It was a short lived thought, and nothing that would be considered again, as Nic was unceremoniously yanked from his place on the floor, and literally thrown toward the back of the store. Funny enough, his life sort of flashed before his eyes, before a very heavy counter stopped his flight. He was able to rouse himself enough to look back to Aishe, and make sure she wasn't in any danger from the Amazonian on crack, before he realized it wasn't the illusion of his life passing before him, but an actual Ellis, in the flesh that was in the room with them.
Of course she would pick up on the corny line he'd read, and quickly feed it back to him. Try as he might, he couldn't help but cringe again.
"So don't tell me Ellis...are you responsible for these things?"
He wouldn't have put it past her to find a way to try and take over Nachton with the aid of the undead. Nic did expect Ellis would have had better sense to let something like this go awry though. He was certainly no authority on the attractive brunette, or her behavior, but he had to credit her with the ability to get things done, and protect herself in the process.
Remembering their last encounter, Nic also had to worry about protecting himself...and Aishe. There was no way he could face Kem if anything were to happen to the young woman, while in his care, even if it were a self imposed guardianship.
Moving a bit slowly, and gingerly, Nic moved away from the spot he'd landed on, and in the general direction of Aishe, dodging the last remnants the 'blond bomber' had cast aside.
Once everything died down, and her eyes had focused on he interior of the store, she recognized the woman at the door and gave her a friendly, if somewhat sheepish, wave. "Hello, Amberelle."
Giving Nic the once-over, Aishe figured he was alright and flashed him a little smile. She'd have felt terrible if anything happened to him while he was helping her out, and he was a friend of Kem's. That alone gave her reason to make sure he was all right.
Another slight smile crossed her lips as the second figure had the presence of mind to pick up on Nic's entrance line. She wasn't about to tease him, but apparently this woman had no trouble with it. When Nic called the dark-haired woman by name, Aishe regarded her with interest. She'd never met Ellis, but she'd heard rumors. Lots and lots of rumors.
"Sorry to crash the party," she said with irony, "but a gun and ammo shop seemed like just the place for a happy cuddlefest, sans zombies."
Not liking the direction the crowd seemed to be moving as it brought undead closer to them, the Creole moved quietly away from the front. Pausing at the counter she had been standing at before the intrusion to pick up another shotgun and a box of shells, she began loading it. I think we should get back some, she looked towards Aishe as she spoke. No sense in having them notice us and bring the whole area crashing down on us, non? Maybe we could look through the place for a radio or something. I'd really like to know just what the fuck is going on. She smirked and chuckled softly. It was rather obvious what was going on. More like where, why and how was what she was curious about. And if it was being contained to a certain area so she could get the hell away from there.
You two are OK? Her attention finally turned to the man she'd rather roughly tossed around and she gave him a beguiling grin. Amber eyes studied him briefly. No hard feelings, mon ami?
With a chuckle she grabbed a duffel bag and loaded it with more weapons and ammunition. She paid no mind to the brown skinned woman having never seen her before; therefore she registered on Ellis radar as less than interesting. Right now they needed to find a radio or a television. Moving further into the back, following where Simon had disappeared to, Ellis poked her head into the office closest to the front and found a television. Stepping back out into the hallway, Ellis whistled quietly to Amberelle, getting her attention.
Ellis walked back into the office and left the lights off, then moved to the window and closed the blinds. It was a flat panel TV, nestled behind the desk on a small table; for boring nights, apparently. Without waiting for the others, Ellis picked up the TV and turned it towards the door, turning it on. Locating the remote, she flipped through the channels. There was nothing but static or channel logos until finally a local station broadcasting through the static.
There was a repeated warning for what she was about to see on the television and after a few moments, her eyebrows furrowed together.
'Oh...shit.'
Amberelle's concern caught Nic off guard, but he nodded he was fine. Apparently she wasn't quite the ruffian he had thought, and only did what she thought was necessary to protect herself. Two women alone, surrounded by those flesh eating things, even if those women were vampires, and one was Ellis, still had to be a little scary. Certainly he wasn't the only one a bit apprehensive having been faced with what was going on outside.
He didn't respond to Ellis' comment. The whole 'being thrown through a plate glass door' debaucle had almost been erased from Nic's mind. It was a way for Ellis to get revenge on Nic for his indiscretion with Addison, and Nic now felt that issue had been resolved. Though he also thought a more rational person could have dealt with the matter a lot less physically, at least it was now done and over. He hoped.
Taking a que from Ellis' actions, Nic then remembered why they were where they were, and began looking for something to shoot with. Something small, but automatic, and with a decent range would be ideal. He didn't notice when Ellis disappeared, until he heard her whistle, and wondered what she'd found. Since it seemed Amberelle was the one being called, Nic again returned his focus to things on shelves, and hoped he could find something quickly.
Getting herself away from the door, Aishe began to poke around in the store for anything that so much as resembled a radio. A television would do. Whatever they could find. Nic seemed to be looking for an appropriate weapon, and Aishe kept her eyes peeled for a handgun, as well. She didn't know much about firearms yet, but her experiences at Meridian thus far had at least made her competent with something like that.
Ellis' whistle didn't seem to be intended for them, so Aishe simply kept her search going. Coming up alongside Nic, she murmured softly, "This is your call. Stay or go, its up to you."
She knew Nic had a history with Ellis, and she wasn't sure how he'd feel about holing up with the woman during a crisis. Aishe wasn't opposed to trying to find someplace else to be.
"Kem's in the city now. He's headed our way after a brief stop. I've told him where we are, but we could just as easily try to meet him at the Towers or someplace."
'Ready? On me in three...' Counting down quietly Jet put on his broadcast, 'make me an anchorman' smile and reported the terror that was sweeping the city.
'This is Jet Donovan, channel 2 NBC affiliate with KTUU reporting high in the sky this Halloween night. The streets of Nachton have been infested with could only be described as the living dead.'
The camera man panned away from Jet and pointed his camera down at the streets, taping the rushing zombies and screaming residents. He is jerked back to Jet with a smack from the dark haired hand.
'Reports are coming in that ground zero seems to be originating from Duibne Industries - Nachton's crown jewel medical research facility. Is it an illegal genetic experiment gone wrong or an unfortunate accident?'
Not that the latter mattered now that Jet implied that Duibne was involved in doing illegal testing. He'd probably get sued for it but with zombies running the street, most coming out of DI itself, Jet really didn't care. He was very much aware of this horrible disaster affecting his career, in fact he was banking on it. The helicopter banked back down towards the industrial area to circle around the towers of Duibne Industries. With a signal from the pilot, Jet undstood that they were running out of fuel and would have to touch down soon, so the helicopter took footage of the zombies surrounding Duibne Industries and then headed back to the broadcasting tower of KTUU.
As Jet, his pilot and camera man returned to the tower and began their descent, they noticed that all personnel on the roof had disappeared. With a shrug Jet turned back and signaled to his camera man that he was ready to do the final tape. Exiting the helicopter as the swoosh of the rotary blades slowed down, Jet started his countdown again and smiled on cue.
'The Center for Disease Control has reported that the entire city of Nachton has been closed off, effectively isolating this aggressive virus. All residents of Nachton are to stay indoors, barricade their homes and do not attempt to search for loved ones. These zombies are unusually fast, aggressive and violent. Nachton Police Department, its Immediate Response Swat Team and Duibne Industries Security force has been dispatched to contain affected areas and protect the uncontaminated.'
The camera dipped for a second as the camera man's face paled. Jet dipped his head to keep his face in the shot when he realized he wasn't going to be able to do that with the camera now on the heli pad.
'John, what the fuck?' Jet yelled increduously as John the camera man and apparently the pilot ran to the opposite side of the helio pad to the emergency ladders. That's when it hit Jet. 'Oh god, there's something behind me, isn't there?'
With the bites of at least a dozen zombies who had quietly ascended the towers of KTUU, killing almost everyone in the building, they reached the roof of the building and rushed the helio pad. As his mind numbed to the pain, Jet had the foresight to look into the still rolling camera and finish. As he choked on his own blood, Jet still managed to gurgle.
'This is Jet...Donovan...out.'
Slowly her gaze swung to the Ancient standing a few feet from her and she again was struck with the eerie thought of what would happen if someone like her could be infected by these foul things. For several seconds she just stared mutely. Finally she spoke, a thin whisper managing to come out past the lump still in her throat.
How.. what can we do, where can we go? They're trapping us in here with these things.. How do we stop it from spreading? The Creole had reverting to speaking French without even realizing it.