Not Exactly Peaceful...
Ysabel was enjoying a quiet night in Vesper Gardens. Ysabel had been enjoying a quiet night in Vesper Gardens, she reflected, as a commotion reached her ears through the carefully cultivated, landscaped walkways of the garden.
At first she'd tried to ignore the noise, intent on reading her book as she waited patiently for Ambrose to arrive. It had grown louder, though, and it was all but impossible for her to read now. She would have gotten highly irritated but for the approaching sound of sirens. Obviously this was a little more than a street scuffle.
Curiosity piqued, Ysabel wandered toward the Gardens' entrance. The streets were crowded and full, some of the people milling about, some of them running as fast as they could... but from what? There was nothing overtly wrong, that she could see. No fire, no car accident.
Finally, she focused on the people themselves... some of them running... from the others. They were chasing each other. And this was no harmless game of tag. They were - biting each other? Taking in the scene, Ysabel did the only thing that came naturally to her... she dropped her book, pressed her hand artfully to her chest, and said, "Oh, my."
The first wave of screaming terrors had caught everyone off guard. They thought it was just a bunch of wild kids going crazy since it was, of course, Halloween. It was until the crashing of cars, blood curdling screams of people being torn apart by other human beings that the hysteria had finally begun. It was now at its climax, people running from the screamers that could only be described as Zombies. There was no pin pointing where they were coming from since they were coming from every direction. People sitting outside enjoying the trick or treaters were over run completely - knocked to the ground and their flesh torn off their bodies until the zombies moved along...and the newly contaminated with them. It was like a tidal wave, gaining strength as it moved down the street, feeding but recruiting more and more.
So when they reached me, running full speed down the street, they knocked me to the ground and I felt the painful tearing of my own flesh off my back, it wasn't long before the pain was replaced with another. I wasn't sure really what was worse.
Being torn to shreds or being so hungry.
Vesper Gardens seemed as likely a place as any to look for his quarry and while he did find her... Ambrose really didn't understand what he was looking at. It was a helpless feeling, something he hadn't dealt with in decades and something he sure as hell didn't like, not one bit.
Unfortunately though, the only place she had left to go at this point was back into Vesper, unless she really wanted to brave the sea of ravenous vacant-eyed zombies that was building up speed in her direction.
In spite of Ambrose's urging, she did not have a weapon of any sort on her. In the past, Ysabel's self-defense mechanism had been to go incorporeal and waft harmlessly away from whatever was threatening her, and that would have seemed like the best option, except there across the street was Ambrose himself.
Prickly, grumpy, and moody he may be, but at least Ambrose knew how to keep a date on time, and she could have cheered if not for the fact that he was being persued as a meal, himself.
"Ambrose! Look out!"
There were two of them behind him, but she settled for pointing energetically in his direction, certain that the gesture would get to him far faster than, "you might want to turn around dear, and kick the asses of the two zombies behind you before they make you their next meal."
Manners were manners, but tonight was an exception. Looking to herself after having warned Ambrose of the danger behind him, Ysabel slipped back into Vesper Gardens, looking for something suitable to use as a club or another sort of weapon so she could help out.
A warning was yelled, but the group of six horde ran with lightning towards the sweet smelling male.
This was all to fucking odd. He really had no idea what was going on and to be frank he no longer cared. He was being perused and no way in hell he could out run them, not on one good leg. And of course, Belle was still in some sort of danger, there was no escaping that.
She needed to be armed, but he wouldn't... couldn't trust her with a gun. He hadn't had time to teach her and if he tossed it to her, she might not catch it. Instead, he tossed his cane ahead to her. When in doubt she could hit things with a stick, that he fairly certain of. That might keep her semi safe.
"Run!"Â?
He commanded Belle.
Now his goal was to get her to safety, and since these things now seemed more interested in him after throwing his cane Ambrose began to run as well. Run away from Belle maybe they'd follow and leave her. As he ran, he drew his gun. He turned and fired off a shot. His awkward loping gate caused the shot to be somewhat off balance and not at all up to his usual standards but even a bad shot frightened off most sane things. Not that he thought these things were at all sane.
Mr. Darren Young was driving in his Expedition SUV when the streets filled with what could only be described as flesh eating zombies. Nachton had already proven to be an interesting town - what with all the mysterious deaths that never seemed to startle anyone, not even the news or the recent rash of dog bites in the past several months. No, Nachton was pretty normal in the grand scheme of things, but seeing zombies was a bit different than imagining them.
His SUV had been nothing but a major gas hog but he still held onto it, despite the three dollars a gallon and eighty dollar bill for each full tank. It was 1 1/2 the size of a hybrid and Mr. Young was perfectly fine with parking in two compact spots. His wife, his friends, his coworkers - they all hated his SUV but he adored it. It was big enough to haul a nine foot couch and seat nine people and above all, it was handy.
Mr. Young considered just how handy when he saw the zombie freaks running towards a man and woman near Vesper Gardens and with his annoyingly huge, gas guzzling Expedition, he ran over the group that almost nearly had their hands on the man. Blood and guts flew up into his windshield and much to his dismay, through it. He never felt his head separate from his body but, as if an afterthought just before dying, Mr. Young was pretty relieved he wouldn't end up like one of them.
Thank god for SUVs.
A quick bit of telekinesis righted the cane as she caught it, and she gaped at Ambrose as he took off loping away from her, yelling at her to run.
Run? Ysabel wasn't about to run... well, not without Amber at any rate. The idea of it was somehow slightly insulting to her, and she lost her hold on her perception of common sense for a moment while she stepped out from her hiding spot and prepared to give him a piece of her mind, half a block away or not.
Her big moment was ruined by the arrival of an SUV barrelling like an oversized bowling ball into the pile of zombies. Ysabel closed her mouth, blinked once, and took advantage of the mess to dart out from her cover and dash across the street toward Ambrose.
Run away, indeed. Ambrose had spent the last several months trying to get her to be less obedient and more opinionated... well, the fruit of his labors was now hurtling toward him in exactly the opposite direction she had been told. She would have been proud of herself, if not for the mass of flesh-hungry monsters in the road. They put a bit of a damper on it.
"Son of a..."Â?
Ambrose made an awkward but effective dive. It hurt like hell but it kept him clear of most of the carnage. He'd always hated those big ass SUV, especially when it was yuppies driving them, people who really didn't need them. But now, as he struggled to his feet, he was reconsidering that position. Perhaps they were useful after all.
He cut short his survey of the damage to find what had become of Belle. She sure as hell hadn't listened to him and if she was going to keep that up she needed to start learning a bit more about taking out... well ok she didn't she had her own ways but he'd feel better if she knew a bit more about actually taking people... things... out.
As they made their way towards each other he caught her hand and into a protective embrace.
"You've got a damned odd definition of the word run."Â?
He growled at her. For all his out ward hostility though Ambrose was simply relieved to have her safe and sound. Now to keep her that way.
"I did run," she pointed out. "I would think it's my definition of 'away' that seems to be clashing with yours."
She spared a backward glance to the person in the SUV who had provided a magnificent distraction. She couldn't see well into the dark windows, but whoever the driver was was safer inside the vehicle than out of it. Gripping Ambrose's hand she looked into his brown eyes.
"Where do we go now?"
The horde of zombies was recovering quickly, and while some of them seemed taken with the SUV most of them seemed to agree that ysabel and Ambrose were far easier (and less-armored) prey. They were now on the opposite side of the street from Vesper, and the throng was filling in quickly on the pavement.
"The apartment isn't too far from here," she suggested. Closing her eyes for a moment, hoping Dayle was safely out of the way, Ysabel hoped her sister had found someplace protected. "Perhaps we could make it there."
She peered down the street... they were running out of options. Behind wasn't looking any better than forward at the moment.
OK so he hadn’t said ‘away’ he’d just said run and he was actually a bit proud of Belle for trying to help, however misguided he felt that attempt was.
Taking his cane back from her Ambrose did agree with her assessment of the situation, they needed to move. He didn’t like the idea of the apartment. It was close but vulnerable. Retreating to the manor seemed the wisest idea. More people, resources, etc. etc. etc. but how would they get there? He was also certain Belle wanted to try and check on her twin.
“All right lets start out there, we can regroup and maybe get back to the manor.”
He’d steal a car if he had to. A shame that SUV was such a mess now they could have just taken that.
Belle’s hand firmly in his and eyes peeled he started them down the road.
“I’m guessing it too much to hope one of us knows what the hell is going on.”
Ambrose had his cane in one hand and her hand in the other, so when a vacant-eyed zombie ventured too close, Ysabel figured it was up to her to do something. She thought quickly, and came to the conclusion that now was no time to be incredibly picky about who saw what; a thought brought a trashcan lid frisbee-style off the container, through the air, and into the forehead of the would-be attacker.
Suddenly just about anything light enough to throw that wasn't bolted down became a potential weapon. No gun needed for her, Ysabel decided, in spite of what Ambrose said.
Shaking her head, she turned to look at Ambrose and respond to him. "I have no idea what's happening. One moment I was in the Gardens reading, and the next..." She gestured with a nod of her head to indicate the streets.
They were becoming quite full now, as panicking humans ran from their apartments in search of something safer, were bitten, and joined the growing crowd. Soon the number of zombies was going to outnumber the potential food source in this area. With a little shiver, Ysabel tugged on Ambrose's hand. "I think we need to run more."
Though she said it as a whisper, it seemed to be heard by everyone in a mile-wide radius.
“The next we fell into a sick remake of Night of the Living Dead.”
He finished for her.
Agreeing that the needed to run more, but not exactly comfortable with the idea Ambrose shifted his cane to her empty hand and drew his gun. The time for subtlety had passed.
Gun drawn he picked up the pace as best he could, a full out run wasn’t possible his leg wasn’t designed for it.
“Have you got the key to the apartment and have you heard from your sister?”
He was making no effort to watch his tone and it came out as a bit of a bark.
It was possible Dayle was there and it was also possible she was dangerous. He hadn’t tried to sort out what was happening but some of these things looked familiar, like he might have seen them on the street or in a club or in an other wise normal setting.
Thank god her place was close, it was in sight already.
The more he watched what was going on the more Ambrose resolved to get them the hell back to the manor. He couldn’t think of another safe place.
“I’m not even going to complain about the stairs today.”
As promised, another group of horde moved quickly and this time quietly down the street, heading toward the Vesper Gardens again. The clean flesh were running, sweetening their scent with sweat, pushing the horde closer and closer.
Said key was already floating its way into the lock of the door as she spoke, and thus far they were marginally ahead of their would-be diners. Slipping into the doorway, Ysabel looked around; the condo was quite dark.
"Dayle?"
There was no answer; Ysabel could only hope wherever her sister was, it was safe. A little chill swept through her at the idea of losing the person who'd shared every experience she'd ever had and suddenly she wondered if she'd really come to Nachton in the first place because she worried about Dayle being alone... or if she'd come because she was afraid of being left alone herself?
The door closing behind her jarred her out of her disturbing contemplation and back to the task at hand. Ysabel turned to look at Ambrose one more time, and then figured she'd better check the windows as well.
It wasn’t until Belle said something that he really thought about her sister. Ambrose liked Dayle well enough, but she wasn’t his sister and as such, he didn’t have the same bond or relationship.
Pausing momentarily he walked behind her and placed a reassuring hand on Ysabel’s shoulder.
“I’m sure she’s fine.”
The odds were she was with her own clan. Where he wished he was. But no point dwelling on it was there. He slipped back into practical and defensive mode instead. Ambrose was more comfortable there.
“Want to give me a hand with the sofa. I want to put something in front of the door.”
Sick as it was now that they weren’t in any immediate danger some part of Ambrose was starting to wake up and he was almost, -almost- enjoying this. he hadn’t had to take cover and shoot his way out in years. Stupid thing to feel nostalgic for, but there it was.
At his request, Ysabel helped lift the couch. It slid in behind the front door, filling up the entire space so that even if the door were to be broken the couch would still be in the way. After a moment's thought she up-ended it easily. Now it blocked the entire doorway, floor to ceiling. If anyone came through, they'd also have to hack their way through the couch. Silently, she hoped it wouldn't come to that - it was a terribly comfortable couch.
The windows were well-blocked. The twins had seen to it that no sun could so much as peek into them, so it was highly doubtful anyone would see figures inside the condo. Ysabel doubted zombies could scale condo walls either; one advantage of living on the second story.
"Well... what now?"
She placed her hands on her hips and surveyed the immediate area. Then she brightened, grabbed the remote where it sat on the floor, and turned the telly on.
"We may as well get the official update, although it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the current state of affairs is."