The Dead Awaken

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Adrian followed closely, and climbed the last flight of fire escape stairs. As he reached the top he glanced at Arien, and then towards the direction she was walking to see more people up there. He kept himself quiet, as he approached slowly. What am I supposed to tell them? I can't tell you my name because I don't know it? I don't know where I came from because I randomly lost my memory? If I tell them I don't even know who I am they'll probably drop me so fast, I wouldn't see it coming, it's the damn apocalypse. I better come up with something.
 
Martin doesn't get the chance to respond right away, due to the sudden presence of a familiar face and a new face on our rooftop.

So much for 'uninhabited city'.

“Greatest of all joys, it's Little Miss Trigger-Happy!” I exclaim with faux-enthusiasm, twisting my head round to face the new arrivals whilst keeping the revolver levelled at the pilot. “I'm guessing the phrase 'crow calls the raven black' doesn't mean much to you, lady, cos Sarah might have screamed a bit but let's not forget who was blasting away at things like a fucking lunatic.”

My face contorts into a pantomime expression of puzzlement. “I mean, gee whizz, who the fuck would be stupid enough to start firing guns in the middle of a goddamn zombie-infested city? Surely no-one still breathing these days would be capable of such a tremendous act of idiocy?” That's when the humour slides off my face, leaving nothing but a scowl. “Oh wait, no, you totally did do that. Bravo. Most people these days think through their actions before jumping into them. But not you. You're special and unique that way.”

Twisting my head back round to face William, I let out an audible sigh before lowering the weapon. “Screw it. Get the hell over here, flyboy, before that roof you're on collapses. Just don't make me regret it.”

See? I'm not all bad. I just tend to be a bit short-tempered when my day has involved nothing but getting shot at, my friends getting crushed by military hardware and nearly getting fucking eaten.

Hell, that'd make anyone testy.
 
Arien narrowed her eyes at Harrison. "Well, if I remember correctly, if it wasn't for your little group screaming like idiots, the zombies wouldn't have came. Therefore, I wouldn't have went all trigger happy. However, my pistols had silencers which, even in this abandoned city, was probably not heard over top of the screaming. With that said, you should thank me for taking out as many as I did. I'm not saying that I want you to. I'm simply saying you should be more grateful. Besides, at least I know how to shoot a gun. Speaking of, put the revolver down. He was trying to save your ass. It's not like it was his fault the missile hit the aircraft." She turned her attention to William. "I suggest getting your ass over here before your body becomes entangled in the rubble of the collapsing building."
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then I completely lose my shit, to use the colloquial term, rounding on the new arrival with a snarl.

“Jesus wept, who the hell taught you how sound works? Do you fucking understand how sound carries, even if you’ve stuck a bottle on the end of your gun?” There’s no humour to my voice now, just irritation and the stresses of this fucking day coming through. “Seriously, Little Miss Trigger-Happy, you even seen the inside of a high school? That is to say, a high school you didn’t fucking try to shoot up, or some shit?”

Several deep breaths later, and I’m starting to simmer down slightly. Only slightly, though. “Look. You might have picked up on the fact that I’m a little stressed out right now. Probably something to do with nearly getting eaten alive and Sarah getting crushed by a fucking helicopter. So my otherwise sunny and charming disposition might not be shining through as much as it usually does. Might I propose we just get the fuck off this rooftop, and go somewhere that doesn’t have World War fucking Three breaking out in the middle of the end of civilisation? That sounds just peachy, doesn’t it?”
 
Arien speaks calmly. "Do not talk to me like I don't know anything. I didn't say the sound didn't fucking carry. I simply said that you all were screaming which would drown out the sound of a silenced gun. Would it do so by much? No. However, I suggest you shut the hell up. You're not the only one stressed, okay, so stop acting like the fucking world revolves around your ass."Her green eyes turned to Harrison. "Look, you obviously don't like me for whatever reason, and, frankly, I don't give a rat's ass, but you need to stop this shit. I'm obviously not going to harm any of you or I would have done so already. Let's just agree to disagree and leave it at that." She reloaded both pistols before placing them onto her sides and looked around at the rest of the group. "My name is Arien. Sorry we had to meet under such difficult circumstances."
 
He threw the ladder off away from him to the floor below them, letting it slam and crunch on some zombie. Didn't matter anyways the whole damn city heard the helicopter and the shooting and the screaming. Martins main mission here was to get his group safely back to the fucking camp, Martin walked up to Harrison and grabbed him by the arms and just stared a him cancelling out any other noise. He continued looking at him and nodding slowly trying to see if Harrison would understand to just remain calm. He let him go and put his hands to his eyes blocking out some sun and scanned the area, They were high enough to were he could see were they had parked earlier. He smiled and said " There...thats were we have to get " He noticed that it was far but they would definatly have to run or huff it to the cars. Or the cars he atleast thought was theirs, he forgot how long it took for them to get here.

He then said " Harrison lets get everyone who we now...back to camp...if they follow we can sort it out later but right now our main priority is us..and only us " He didn't like being this rough but in a zombie apocalypse the more who died he knew the more he would have the chance to encounter them in the open. And maybe have to kill them.
 
"Oh you're going to go back to your camp huh? That'll be smart." William retorted as he got over on their building. "Welcome to the shit storm guys. You're camp, the one past the forest? Yeah report said they had to burn it to ground. We were on our way to stop the zombie rush from reaching there. We found you guys along the way. We were crowd control." The reports said nothing about fire or any camp but William figured that since they hadn't heard of the things going on in the whole rest of the country they must be somewhere around here because it was pretty much cut off, and the forest surronds pretty much two thirds of the city. "Now if you want to get out of here alive. I can show you how. The whole airforce is just up the road a couple days walk. You will need me to pardon you in or you're as good as dead. Understood?"
 
"So, Mr. Call-of-Duty, do my friend and I get to go, or, since we're not a part of this group, are we going to be left here as zombie bait?" Arien had a bad feeling about this guy, but, it wasn't as if they had much choice. "Regardless, I need to find a gun shop. Any ideas as to where one might be located?"
 
“Alright, alright,” I mutter as Martin let’s go of my arms, “message received. ‘Cool your shit, Harrison’, and all that.” My heart’s still beating like a jackhammer in my chest, and the new arrivals are concerning me more than a little, but my companion is right; freaking out is not going to help.

Deep breath, get your shit together, and let’s deal with this.

First things first, there’s no way we’re leading three strangers back to our camp. That just isn’t happening until I get a better read on whether these people are trustworthy or not. Which is why I shoot Martin so glaring a look when he goes and mentions the damn place in front of everyone. Soldier Boy is naturally all over this information like a fat kid in a candy store, announcing something about how the camp was going to be burned down and that we need to head up to meet up with his friends.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen any time fucking soon.

Time for some damage control.

Leaning over to Martin, I whisper under my breath just loud enough for only him to hear. “Follow my lead here, okay? I don’t want us leading a bunch of strangers back to our people.” I then turn back to the rest of the group.

“‘Camp’ as in tents, numb-nuts,” I snap at William, “he meant where us three have been hiding out for the last couple weeks. And Sarah, too, until… well.” I motion with my head to the crumbling rooftop across from us with the helicopter embedded in it. “And for the record, I am gonna be pissed if you Jarheads go and fucking bomb my stuff.” The trick with lying out your ass is to keep it simple and plausible. Never overdo it, but don’t under-develop it either.

It’s sort of like cooking meat. Leave it in for too long and you’ll just have a lump of charred, unappealing crap. Don’t cook it enough, though, and you’ll spend the next day or so puking your guts up.

Such are the things you learn in the charming foster system of this dead nation. But that’s a story for another time.

“Alright then, introductions. I’m Harrison, this tattooed dude here is Martin. The guy with the fire axe is Jason. Fucking delightful to meet you all, I’m sure we’re all gonna be the best of friends and have wonderful adventures together.” Little Miss Trigger-Happy starts spouting off about wanting to go find a gun shop, which results in sardonic grin appearing on my face. “Well you have fun with that, lady. Personally we’re getting the fuck out of this place. I’ve had enough of this goddamn city for one day.”
 
Adrian stood there awkwardly, his hand tightly gripping the strap of his knapsack. His eyes darted to and from each and every person that stood there. He moved himself slightly towards the girl that had picked him up earlier feeling a small sense of security. The other people seemed completely irrational to him, and he already didn't know what was going on as it is. Except that the world was in shambles , and dead corpses were running around trying to eat people.
 
"I'm going to be coming with you if you don't mind. Frankly I don't want to die. Already gave you my name. I guess we are going back to your camp?" Maybe I will be able to repair the radio back there... Not to mention gain their trust.

If anyone cared to look they could see a hoard of zombies coming through where the group had originally entered. It would be a shit storm trying to go through there.
 
He was just standing there waiting for what Harrison planned to do, He nodded to him and put his hands to his baseball bat spinning it in circles. " i dont want to be here anymore can we just go..." He turned around putting his arms out for exaggeration and said " There is a city full of zombies and there on there way here
 
"Yeah well, im geting real tired of this talking shit" jason exclaims aloud.

" we need to get back to the camp, with or without the newcomers." jason says as he walks off.

Jason is exhausted and would like a little bit of relaxation.

"Id like to take my last bubble bath if you dont mind" Jason says with a smirk on his face.
 
An awkward silence hangs on the rooftop as we all stare each other down. I have the revolver tucked into the front of my trousers and am casually swinging the claw hammer in my hands, waiting for someone to say something. Anything. A suggestion that we finally move out, or vacate this rooftop.

Hell, at this point I’d even take a suggestion that we play poker or some shit, just so we have something to do.

Waiting for another few moments I let out an audible sigh and move to the edge of the rooftop, looking down onto the streets below. Thousands of dead faces mill about, some staring up at me, others continuing their slow, shuffling march through this dead town.
“Well that’s just fucking great…” I mutter, turning back to the others, “street level’s not safe anymore; waaaay too many biters fucking around down there. We’ll need an alternate route out of this town.” A grin flashes across my face. “And I know of one, as it happens, which we can probably access from the bottom of this building. It’s just that you’re all gonna hate it.”

I move across the roof to the exit, hauling open the door before turning back to the others. “Well, c’mon then. You lot waiting for me to hold your fucking hands, or something?”

Here I am, sixteen years old and organising a bunch of supposed badass survivor types, one of whom claims to be in the military.

And people get confused when I tell them I have no confidence in adults.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER…

Sewers were not fun places to be even before the outbreak.

They’re incredible feats of human ingenuity and design, don’t get me wrong, and they paved the way to stopping crappy preventable diseases like typhoid and cholera. This town’s system isn’t quite as impressive as, say, New York’s, where the tunnels stretch for miles down below the surface of the earth and which had an entire subculture dedicated to exploring it’s depths, but they’re still pretty extensive.

There’s just the small trouble that it stinks to high hell down here.

Sewers weren’t exactly the most fragrant of places before society went and died on us, but now they’re truly something to inhale; imagine, if you would, the stench of the refuse of a civilisation that’s been dead for five months, and you’ll get the idea.

Still, there’s probably not going to be many biters down here, if any, so we have a clear run for the exit.

From my backpack I’ve retrieved a spare t-shirt that was hidden beneath my other gear, wrapping it around the lower half of my face in an attempt to ward off the worst of the stench. The flashlight is also out, the powerful beam illuminating the walkways that we need to move across. I’ve been down here once before with Sarah, on a run several weeks ago, and if our luck holds the chalk markings I made that point to the exit should still be here.

‘If our luck holds’. Ha-fucking-ha. I’ll just go ahead and shoot myself in the goddamn face already, get it over with.

But it seems we’ve had a turn in fortunes; as I move to a junction in the tunnels I spy the faint orange outline of an arrow I drew several weeks ago, pointing to the left. “We’re in business!” I call to the others behind me, my voice faintly muffled by the shirt, “This way! And keep the fuck up! You don’t wanna get lost in the dark!”
 
He was practically following in his footsteps, Harrison for being 16 was really the only one besides himself that he could trust to lead them to saftey. Even the leader has seemed to dissapear off the map, It looks like it was him and harrison and a few others o and that military fuck who flooded the streets with zombies due to the helicopter crash. He didnt care about it as much anymore but now his main concern was not getting sick in these sewers, He had brought the bandanna that was hanging around his neck up to his nose so that he couldnt smell as much. He then spoke through his bandanna loudly so his words would be pronounced correctly.

" Harrison i dont know what we would do without you " He had a small laugh as he tripped over something on the floor, In return he tried not to fall and succeeded. he was going to need a bath after this whole scenario, maybe take a dip in the lake or something that didnt smell like complete and utter shit.

He shuffled his bat that was sheathed in its usual spot and fixed the bag that hung around his shoulder, He was glad that he still had the duffle bag filled with stuff from the shop. He then decided to take a look inside he spotted some water and other neccesities along with some ammunition, He had also managed to find a shotgun that had been flung from the crash. He was also picking up scrap metal on the way down to the sewers since he could use it later for weaponry and maybe a trap to help them escape. He then said " Anyone need some water? "
 
"that sounds perfect, water would be nice" Jason said with a dry voice.

"We also need to be careful as fuck in these sewers, there could be biters anywhere, includeing the sewers" jason says with some aggregation.
 
I turn and grin from underneath my makeshift face covering at Martin’s compliment.
“Ah, you’d all be totally fucked. Probably getting eaten alive in a street somewhere, or standing staring meaningfully at each other on a rooftop.” At the offer of water I shake my head quickly, turning back around to follow the beam of my flashlight. Pretty silent down here, save for the sounds of us making our way along the walkway and the occasional stirring of water in the distance.

Jason chimes up at the mention of water; apparently he’s worried about the distinct possibility of rounding a corner in these dark, silent corridors only to come face to face with a herd of biters. It’s a risk, certainly, but I’m not about to admit that out loud. These guys were apprehensive enough about following me down here. “Yeah, there could be,” I agree in my best nonchalant voice, “but we’ll hear them long before we see them. These sewers are quiet, and biters aren’t exactly known for their skill at stealthy manoeuvres. So we’ll have plenty of warning. Besides, all the commotion up on the streets has probably drawn most of them up there, so we probably have a clear run.”

‘Probably’. Maybe. Potentially.

More likely not. But let’s not mention that part out loud, right Harry?
 
Smoke, flames and the dead. The small craft fell from the sky, flames erupting from a missing chunk of the left wing. The pilot was dead, three members of the group had changed. For a moment there was silence then the sound of twisting, grinding metal as the plain collided with the ground.

Ryu opened his eyes, looking around, the first thing he noticed was the stench of aviation fuel. The person next to him was not so fortunate, it seemed that a case had fallen on him, breaking his neck. Ryu climbed over the seat, looking for his sister who sat in the far back.

Kiyra felt first and only, pain. Her mind was devoid of any other emotion or sensation, she fumbled blindly until her hand fond something. Kiyra looked down at her hand, "blood..." She then noticed the cause, a strip of metal erupting from he chest.