The World has Died

Chomps chuckled. "Of course I do, I was born a wrestler..Being naturally intimidating is something I strive for." Luckily he sheathed the knife he was holding out, making him feel a little bit safer. It seemed like the man and his group were putting some judgement on just what type of person he was. Chomps didn't mind, most people were usually harsh on how looked most of the time. They looked to be heading in the same direction as him though and the man invited him to come along. Chomps nodded in acceptance. "I'll gladly join you guys, better to travel in a group then solo."
 
Tera jumped down from the tree sometime later and headed into the town, hoping to find somewhere safer than the park, and maybe find some other people that had holed up somewhere. All around her she could see people, but they were no longer among the living. The sirens were dead, the cars were dead, and she was alone walking through the middle of a city that should have been just as alive this time of day as it was any other time.
 
Kale heard the musician invite the larger man along, the one who had been headed to the cathedral. Personally she didn't care how many people decided to come along, since her apartment could probably hold over twenty and still have room to move around. The joys of having a supremely materialistic mother, she mused. She didn't move until Stephen was right beside her, then realized that she had to guide them along. They didn't know where she lived, after all. She slid her hand away from the lamp post and straightened up, fighting back the urge to be sick as the ground rocked beneath her violently. This was a lot more disorienting than movies gave it credit for, she thought with a touch of annoyance.


"Okay. Everybody follow me. It's not far," she said, working to get the faint slur out of her words. She slowly led them down the sidewalk, avoiding people who were laying down and not moving along with crashed cars and the crumbled walls of buildings that had been hit by something. More often than not they were forced into the street, but it wasn't as though they were going to get run over by a car. A few horses were trampling around, but that was it. She turned down another street and went up the steps of her building, seeing that it was untouched so far.


"Okay, since the elevator's probably not going to work, we're going to have to take the stairs," she said as she entered the lobby and pointed to the door to the stairwell. "I'm on the twelfth floor," she added, stopping halfway across the lobby to brace herself on a decorative table that sat in the middle. There was no way she could make it up all those stairs, she realized. "You guys.. just go on up. I'll catch up in a minute.."
 
I followed the woman as she seemed to stumble toward where she lived, assuming, of course, you could remember her residence with the concussion she very likely sustained. The boy seemed to have slipped into some version of sleep, which was probably for the better, as that would make him much easier to carry. I looked around at what little destruction I could see in the dark, though the dim light of the fires made it eerily easier. I was certainly not looking forward to how the city would look come tomorrow morning. I moved the kid on my shoulders a bit as we entered the building, and inwardly cursed as the woman mentioned she lived on the twelfth floor. I headed toward the stairwell she had indicated, and then stopped at her last comment. I turned to look her over, and realized she was just as damaged as I had feared. I turned toward the larger man who had come with us. "She's not getting anywhere without a bit of help...you're obviously in better shape than I am, do you think you can get her to let you carry her up the stairs? Without her, there's no apartment to sleep in and no food to eat." I said, and looked her over, remembering how she reacted to being picked up before. "One last thing...make sure you ask first..."
 
Chomps followed the strange crew of people towards the building. Guess they were going where this woman was. From what he could tell, this looked to be her home..But why did they stop here honestly? It just seemed like a waste of time..Or was there some other purpose? He shook his head and entered the building with the rest of them. And the first thing they had to do was climb 12 floors on the stairs..This was cake for Chomps, he used to train by climbing skyscraper steps. As the man came over to ask for a favor from he, he nodded in acceptance..It was the least he could for giving them that run in when they first met. He approached the woman and smiled a bit. "Excuse me, miss..Would you like me to carry you up these steps?...It's the least I could do to be of help."
 
Looking down at the faintly shining surface of the table, Kale tried to get a grasp on herself. It didn't matter if they beat her upstairs since there was only one apartment on the whole floor and they could just kick the door in since the alarms obviously weren't going to be working. She just felt like she was going to be sick and the floor wouldn't stop rocking. Her breathing was hitched and uneven, her eyes dazed as she nearly collapsed. The only thing that caught her attention was a voice. She looked up in confusion and saw the large man from before, offering to carry her. Damaged as she may be, she still frowned and refused to be a burden when she wasn't crippled.


"No, no. I'm fine. I can walk up myself, I do it every day," she said, not realizing that her slur had gotten worse. She straightened up and took a single step toward the staircase door, then passed out cold and collapsed.
 
Raiden could hear what everyone said, barely keeping consciousness He wakes up after hearing a thud. "what happened" he takes a look around to see that the woman has fainted "why is she on the ground" He tells the man to put him down,"the man" because he still hasn't gotten any names. " I think I regained balance ,thank you" It still hurt to walk, but there'd be no need for pain if he's dead. Raiden thinks. "one of you pick her up, make sure you keep her conscious , she hasn't told us anything besides her living on the...twelfth?....well whatever floor, I assume?" Raiden fixed the bag onto his shoulder nearly tripping but then starting to walk up the stairs.
 
I watched as the woman collapsed, and this time, she seemed to be completely out cold, so I doubted there would be much complaint from her this time. The kid seemed to have woken up, and I promptly put him down when he requested it. He still seemed to stumble a bit, but he looked in almost as good of shape as the rest of the group. "Yeah, she said the twelfth...other than that, I don't know...I guess we'll see when we get up there. I don't believe she'll be making much protest now that her mouth and kicking limbs seem to be out of commission..." I moved toward the stairs, following the kid, and then realized that we had been traveling together, and not one of us had told anyone else their names. I suppose it didn't really matter overly much at this point, but it would help to be able to call someone something besides 'Hey! You!'. "My name's Stephen, by the way. Just thought that's be helpful since there's three guys here." I said, and then began climbing the long flight of stairs.
 
Chomps didn't feel bad that refused his help, maybe she was still a bit irritated at him or something. He nodded at her, only to see her attempt to go up the steps but fall over and shut down. Chomps quickly got behind her if she would fall backwards. There was no way she was going to make it up the stairs like this..Like it or not, she was going to have to be carried. Taking a deep breath he placed his arms under her and lifted her up onto his back, making sure he had her secured tightly. "Chomps, here." That was the only introduction he needed to make.
 
"Right...I'm Raiden" Raiden says, stretching. He starts up stairs when he hears a sound, the sound of arguement between two people. He looks out the floor door (no rhyme intended I simply fogot what they're called) but see's nobody there. He figures they're in their apartment and goes forth up the stairs slowly.
 
...Chomps...and Raiden...they sounded like video game characters, but now was not the time to waste precious moments questioning unimportant things. I climbed the stairs behind the boy, hearing arguing and Chomps following close behind us. The woman still appeared to be out like the lights, and all in all, it was quieter than I had ever experienced in all my time in New York City. It was...a most unnatural silence. "I have a feelings things are going to be hell come tomorrow...quite literally..." I said, glancing out the window to see yet another plane go down on the city. I shivered, thinking of the number of planes that were likely heading for or from New York alone, and then shut it out of my mind.
 
The woman upon his back wasn't that heavy at all, this was like he was beginning his training to be a wrestler all over again. Smirking lightly at the thought of how hard he originally worked and all the things he had to consume just to gain a couple of pounds. IT definitely paid off now, and surely during this catastrophe. "The way I see it..tomorrow might just be a better day than the days to come..Knowing society nowadays and how people are so used to having and using electricity and sorts..They're going to panic even more so than they are now.." All the madness that was going to transpire in the future was unwelcoming. It was going to be a rough time..
 
[Yep, still unconscious.. And the apartment is insanely well decorated, really fancy-schmancy. Enjoy. xD]
 
"Clang" Zeke's Wrench had hit home with an almost thunderous roar. The man slumped to the ground in a heap while Zeke immediately started rummaging through the man's wallet and gym bag taking a lighter and some cigarettes and keeping the wallet and bag for himself. He then put his wrench back in his tool belt and dipped out the nearest door into the darkness of the void that was once New York. Things weren't the way they were supposed to be.

It had happened a day ago when suddenly and without warning the world's source of light just went out like a snuffed candle. Zeke had been working that day on a local suburban development just outside of the city. "make sure those studs are installed properly or the whole wall will come down!" he paced briskly past the crew stopping at some nearby drywall"Sean I need you to bring me a tiger saw and some damn cigarettes before I kill someone!"Zeke turned his gaze towards the nearby setting sun just as Sean arrived with his requested items. "Well damn if we can't finish this wall in a night but hell everyone has done good work let's take a break to smoke and enjoy this sunset and watch the city come to life, whaddya say boys you've earned it! The crew thanked him and Zeke put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and waited. But the lights never came.

"What in the name of all that is holy? Doesn't the city know to pay their damn electric bill?" Zeke pulled out his phone to call his friend Chomps who was living in the city to see if he knew what was going on. He was shocked, however, to find that his phone didn't work at all, had he forgotten to charge it? He asked Sean for his phone and discovered the same problem. None of the other crew members had working phones either. Slightly angry Zeke picked up the tiger saw and began to try and cut the wall, the saw was useless. Zeke looked at the cord attached to the saw and saw that it was indeed plugged into a live outlet. It was then that Zeke noticed something, or rather the lack of something. Noise. He looked around and saw all the houses were without power, cars stopped in the middle of the street. He rushed over to his truck and tried to start the ignition, nothing happened. His crew noticed the problem as well and started to panic. Just then a police officer approached the site."There wouldn't be a chance you could tell me just what in the hell is going on is there officer?" Zeke growled angrily."Your guess is as good as mine fellow I was just about to ask you the same question, seems like nobody anywhere has any power must be some terrorist attack or something." "Anywho I'm here to warn you fellas that we've been hearing rumors of some looting and rioting during this outage, I recommend that you all head home and lock up for the night" Zeke thanked the officer but suddenly realized he was staying with Chomps in the city at his warehouse, deciding that he needed to see if Chomps had any more luck than he did. He grabbed his toolbelt and belongings from his truck and headed off in the direction of the city.

Zeke had arrived in the city later that night but had seen no sign of Chomps and instead was attacked by the man he had just bludgeoned."Cmon Chomps you son of a bitch where would you go in a time like this? He relocked the door to the warehouse and looked around. He then saw the cathedral and started to laugh."You always were one to seek the comfort of the good lord in hard times eh buddy?" Zeke pulled out another cigarette, lit it, and started to head for the cathedral.

When Zeke reached the cathedral he saw no sight of Chomps but instead was greeted with the signs of chaos. From his left he heard a scream as a man was stabbed by two larger men who then turned their gaze towards him. Zeke clenched his cigarette tightly between his teeth and pulled out his wrench"I've already killed a man today how's about we raise that body count another two?"He said in an almost maniacal manner. The two men immediately backed off and ran away in the other direction. Zeke smirked and decided to rest on the steps of the cathedral."Just what is going on here and where did you go Chomps? Guess I'll just have to see if the good lord can give me some shelter til some actual light comes out" Zeke turned and forced his way into the cathedral through a service door in the back to wait for morning.
 
It's been a hell of a long night, andit wasn't getting any better.

This city went to hell in ahandbasket. It was a major blackout with only barrels lit on firewith obsolete technology to keep them burning and the deathly silencebeing the new cacophony that filled New York. The streets werelittered with pages and broken phones, computer junk and walkmansthat no longer worked. It was all likely due to the solar flares thateveryone had been predicting before. But of course, who would payattention to such pessimists? It was crazy to think that a thousandyears of advancement would crumble a tech savvy world into nothingbut the rubble it had been before. As they say, though, one kingdomfalls to make way for another. It was just too bad that the wholefrickin' world had to be that kingdom.

Perhaps it was astarting over point that was brought to light by the Christian God?Or maybe all-knowing and wise Odin believed that his people havebecome weak and needed a good reason to fight for survival? Whateverit was; Desmond could tell ya that it worked. In fact, he could tellyou because he was the last of his friends to make it through thenight. A gang of Cryps had decided that they wanted supplies, andthey wiped out Terry, Alicia, Carter and James to get them. Desmondwas the only lucky one because he knew all the shit that he was madeto learn not only during his youth, but all the survival skills thatsuddenly came in handy.

Whatever Deity was real, thank youfor the Rain Forests and all their inhabitants.

Clad in only abloody white hoody, a brown and scuffed messenger bag, and jeans withmarked running shoes, Desmond had wandered all throughout New York.He was thinking about the four that were cut down. It was all tooquick. Their screams were all choked off and having turned intogurgling as their blood had not only sprayed from their throats, butclogged up their esophagus and bronchi to make that wretched sound...And then there was nothing but red on his hands the next. The fleshthat had once belonged to the three young men he had killed earlierwere still underneath his fingernails. Every thought that directedhim to it had made his stomach turn. Desmond wasn't exactly used tokilling, and now he could tell why people didn't like to do it atfirst.

But the power that he held before he was cognizant ofwhat he had done...Showed him just exactly why they didn't stop whenhis father was slaughtered.

The smeared white hood of hissweater only shifted slightly as Desmond's head rose, his eyes stilla little distant until he could bring into focus just what he waslooking at. A high count of stairs towered him and stretched faruntil it grasped the plateau of the Cathedral's front steps, withhigh pillars and doors yawning in their height, as if the mightiestobstacles one could overcome. Yet, they also seemed far too inviting.The men that had quickly rushed past him were paid no mind, even asone shoulder checked him. His initial reaction, though, when he feltthe man quickly attempt to rummage through his belongings, were todefend what he had.


Desmond's hand snapped out at the man'sneck and, when he heard the taller gentleman give out a choked gag,his left foot snapped backwards against the man's left heel andshoved all of his weight forward. Because of the sudden movement, theman had been flung into the air in a crescent-like motion where hisback had bent far before the nape of his neck collided hard with thepavement. There was a crunch and a pop with the sudden take-down, butDesmond couldn't hear it. He wasn't paying attention. He was stillattempting to recover from the sickness that he felt from watchinghis friends die and slaughtering those responsible.

The otherone had been smart enough to continue running. Apparently not thestronger or more courageous of the two...

Once Desmond had letgo of the man's throat, he simply plucked the half-empty water bottlefrom the man's hand and stuffed it back in his messenger bag, thenwent on his way to ascend the stairs. Though one would likely losecount from their climb, Desmond didn't pay any mind at all. He didn'twant to count. He didn't want to even feel. Hell, he would've killedto have some new clothes. Wearing his other friends' blood wasn't sofun, and it wasn't exactly helping him out per the moment. What wouldseem like an eternity to one older than himself, the young mansuddenly found himself standing at the threshold of the Cathedral'sfront door. Now his cognizance came back to him in a flood ofawakening. He killed today. Not only that, but he didn't even havefriends anymore. He had nothing.

Holy shit...

Itwasn't bad when he went out to survive in the rain forests, and itwasn't anywhere near as bad as when he watched his father die, butnow the lonesomeness set in. There was nothing in this city, and itwas a shame to admit it. His mother was all the way back in Arizona –god only knows how bad she had it since she had become reliant ontechnology. As for him, it wasn't hard at all to stomp down nice andhard on his cell phone once the world had suddenly lost all hold ontechnology, nor was it hard for him to crush his iPod, either. But,admittedly, having those things to distract himself would've beennice.

He didn't have any time to think about it, though.Slowly, his right hand extended and pushed slow and hard against theheavy front door of the cathedral, flooding in moonlight from NewYork's blood-and-rot-scented air into the holy building that he wasabout to step into. Small scabs of blood left the tread of his shoesand stuck against the marble below his feet with every quiet stepuntil he finally reached the back pews. Desmond didn't pay any mindwho may have been around. All he wanted for now was someplace to getaway to. Sleep didn't matter, and he probably wouldn't be hungry solong as the sickness of murder lingered within his gut.

"Ifthis is any god's wrath," he muttered to himself as he seatedhimself in one of the back pews. "I hope somehow we all earned it,or they might lose a lot of their fanclub..."
 
(Go ahead and skip Raiden, he should just be walking up the stairs)
 
We made it to the twelve floor, or at least it seemed to be by my count. I reached for the wall, and felt a raised 1 and 2, and found that we had found the correct floor. I pushed on the door, but it was locked tight, of course. Kale was out cold, riding on Chomps, so I sighed, considered kicking in the door, and then decided we'd need it to keep other people out. The more barriers they had to break through, the better. "Hey Chomps...does she have a key on a chain around her neck or her pockets by chance? Breaking in the door will just draw way too much attention to us...and it might be too strong to kick in anyway, there's no way to tell in this dark hell..." I said, looking around to see if I could make out anything, but it was to no avail. I moved an arm out to see if I could find Raiden, and my hand found his shoulder rather easily. "Sorry, just making sure you didn't go up an extra flight of stairs."
 
"One second, I'll look."Chomps stopped for a moment and turned his head back to see if she did indeed have a key dangling around her neck. Straining his head more than he had too, he could see there was in fact a key."Yep, there's a key 'ere." Carefully wrapping his left arm around her body to keep her in place while he freed the other hand and lifted it over his shoulder and around her neck, yanking it softly off her person. Chomps turned his head a bit, trying to shake off the burn of having it strained for so long. Extending the key out to Stephen.
 
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