"I'll settle this!" he groans,marching over to the building.Nearly passing up Tara,as soon as he makes it half way passed her,he uses the cloak system on his suit."Be ready to catch." he mumbles,climbing his way to the sniper.Archer sneaks his way behind the man,slowly,calm as night to negate detection.He could tell his enemy was a monk from his head,besides nobody is that bald and crazy for no reason.
Seconds away,Archer grabs the man by his neck and slams him to the ground to disable him."Package retrieved."But deep in his gut he knew this was too easy to perform.
Given the lack of human contact up until today, Isaac surely paid attention to every movement the woman made. Reflexes nearly led to snatching the hat right back out of her hands in a possessive frenzy. Yet the ex-soldier controlled himself and merely let his hand come to rest on hers. Conflicting emotions arose, undeniably due to suspicion of this stranger. . . but there was also the simple fact most human beings desired contact with others and the hope that this one would not betray him. At first his expression seemed blank out of sheer surprise until the left corner of his mouth started a tiny smile which slowly spread all the way over to the right side. Swink gazed into her eyes as if trying to figure out just what was going on right now between them. Nothing would have been worse than jumping to the wrong conclusion on the first day.
". . . I suppose that wouldn't be too bad after all."
Ever so slightly a blush started to tinge his cheeks, his face drew just a few centimeters closer to hers in a barely perceptible fashion. Deep down an instinct wanted to climb toward the surface to take hold while his mind stoically resisted the urge. Green eyes shimmered with the afternoon sun in a jaded type of joy. Why was he so tempted all of the sudden to trust Akira? Memories from the past came back, warning him to be wary toward even the most innocent hope. This world would not allow much tenderness to exist unchecked.
When Akira felt his hand on hers, she dropped the hat back into his lap, a slightly startled expression crossing her face. For a moment, she thought he'd gotten mad because she touched the hat, but then she saw a smile appear on his face. She smiled back at him, unsure of what to say or do. It had been so long since she'd last had physical contact with anyone... She looked into his eyes steadily.
She felt....
Still unsure of what to say, Akira continued to gaze back at Isaac. When she saw his cheeks turning red, her smile got wider. What to do, what to do? she asked herself. She'd never been very good in this sort of situation, not even before the infection. She'd always act like an utter fool in front of guys. So, this time, she'd save herself and not say or do anything.
Under her continuing stare, despite all the training he had years ago, the ex-soldier started to fidget ever so slightly out of nervousness. It stayed mostly in his left leg though and could pass as restless leg syndrome. Yet the way those youthful lips smiled only to accentuate the ever so curious look in those green eyes. . . everything appeared rather clearly to a keen observer. Not a single move was made by Swink to get away from Akira as his hand remained on hers for as long as she allowed him. Given the fact there were no clocks around it was unclear just how many minutes he stayed with Akira exactly like that. . . not wanting to ruin the moment.
Something else took the liberty of doing that for him.
More than just a few floors above them came the unmistakable racket of something alive. Too large to be a rat from the sounds of it unless it had an almost comical knack for the domino effect. Or it was taking steroids. . . lots of steroids in a growth hormone and mutation cocktail. Even if whatever it was came straight for them it would take a while given there was probably at least seven floors between them. Isaac had not lied when he said he had cleared out the first eighteen floors. However there was no telling exactly how many floors up it was from them if it had started descending the second Isaac had gone far enough down on the way to retrieve Akira from the doorstep.
Pulling away from the woman in an instinctive move for his gun, Swink had the heavy assault rifle in his hands as though it had never left them in the first place. Despite his uniform being from an era before the firearm had been invented. . . nothing could have looked more natural than Isaac ready and willing to pull the trigger. Kneeling down slowly he even still had the strange presence of mind to put his officer's hat back on leaving only his right hand holding the gun. Not even speaking to her outloud now, he motioned with the pointer and middle fingers of his left hand toward the hallway before heading there himself.
It was one of the rare situations Isaac didn't believe 'ladies first' applied.
Hugging the wall he moved with the careful foosteps of someone who had not only survived the infected for this long. . . but one who had seen real combat. Posture-wise he was in a half-crouch and progressing down the hall with a cautious but steady pace. Isaac stopped halfway down the hallway to make sure Akira stayed close. Ever so briefly he leaned in close enough to whisper into her ear. So close that her earlobe was nearly brushing against his lips.
"Keep watching behind us and I'll keep looking up ahead. There's more than one stairwell in this building. We've just been using the one in the best shape. With those things though. . . there's no telling if they're nitpicky enough to care about something like that."
After he finished speaking, Isaac put all of his focus into watching the stairwell ahead of him before starting to move forward again.
It had been so quiet. It was nice, somehow, to sit like that without having to speak.
And then the loud noise broke the silence like a baseball flying through a window. It made Akira jump and she was surprised at how quickly Isaac had moved. She jumped up too, picking up her own assault rifle and holding it to her side. She made sure that her hand-gun was still in it's side holster, of course it was, she knew it was. But it was an instinct to check. She tried to ignore the twinge of disappointment as they fell into silence, a different, more fearful sort of silence. She followed Isaac in the same half-crouch, staying a foot or two away from him. She looked around, taking in all the surroundings.
"Keep watching behind us and I'll keep looking up ahead. There's more than one stairwell in this building. We've just been using the one in the best shape. With those things though. . . there's no telling if they're nitpicky enough to care about something like that." Isaac whispered to her, leaning close to her ear.
Akira nodded and spun around, assault rifle up and ready. As they began moving along again, she could've sworn that she saw shadows moving about, she knew it was just her mind playing tricks though. Good lord, she thought, why do I always get like this? She liked being out in the open, she liked being able to see what was going to attack. She bit her lip to stop herself from hyperventalating, which didn't help because her breathing began to get heavier. Taking deep breaths, she reminded herself that nothing could jump out at them as long as they had all angles covered. Soon, Akira was breathing normally again, calm and collected.
Kai was royally frustrated. This slice of shit didn't even have the courteousness to formally introduce himself to him. Did the courteousness go away when one learns that they are in the middle of a infected riot? The enthrallment of discovering a couple of survivors such as himself had completely disappeared when his head was smashed into the rubble of the road under him. He hadn't even seen it coming, and the man was strong enough to hold him there for a moment or two.
"WHAT THE FUCK MAN!?"he yelled with a oriental tinge to his voice. It didn't sooth the aggression in his voice though. The man was one second away from being a corpse like all of the other infected. In fact, that thought was hanging on the precipice of his mind. What if her actually was a infected?! What if he actually learned the ways of speech and that explained the incredible feats he displayed. Kai was quite positive that was the case.
"Get the hell out of her, chick. This person is infected or something. Either run or kill his ass!"he ordered. Kai wasn't pressured down too much, but he didn't want to hint off to the mad man that he was trying to escape. Warning the fire head girl was enough for him. Hopefully she knew how to take orders.
"Calm yourself baldy, nobody's infected here." Archer stood the man up and let him go,he glared at him knowing he had a small sense of insanity."Sorry about the hostility,but you can never be to careful,my name is Archer." he said, stretching his hand out.He waited thirty seconds and received no reply,"OK then," he jumped down from the building and landed next to Tara.He looked up at his new friend(if that's what you'd call him)and considered the efficiency of a sniper,an advanced soldier,and a grounds operator in one package.An opportunity like that was hard to pass up in times like this!!"Despite the way we've acted,why don't you just come with me and the lady to resupply."
"Before the city went apocalyptic, i stocked up on weapons,equipment,and anything else you need to survive.I won't force you or the lady, the choice is yours." He walked back over to the vehicle and drove it up to the alley.The gun was ready,the gas tank acceptable,all that was needed was a decision to be made.He parked in front the alley with the doors open."So, whats it gonna be?" he sat in silence,gripping on the wheel waiting for their choice.
Luckily enough they reached the stairwell without any infected trying to pounce on them from a hiding spot. But Isaac had been expecting that with how far up in the building that noise had sounded. Pointing his gun in three different directions as they progressed up the stairwell, every upward angle was covered quite effectively. After all this time he was not going to let himself get taken down by a lone infected. Let alone in front of another survivor.
Every step taken brought them closer to where the noise had come from up above. Though he was not quite reading the actual numbers, Isaac seemed to internally keep track of the floor they were currently on. It was now the fifteenth floor. All of the sudden the noise happened yet again although this time it was slightly different. Obviously the thing had bumped into a different object wherever it was in the building. It sounded closer than before. . . perhaps putting it on the sixteenth floor. Perhaps it had not heard them just yet. Did it smell them? That was possible depending on the condition of it's actual nose. Sometime Isaac had seen ones missing portions of their head yet still going on with their ravenous hunger.
It was at that particular moment the ex-soldier remembered something he had stored on this floor. One of about half a dozen he had collected and brought into the building out of mere personal taste. A cocky smile stained his lips as the young man in blue started toward one of the rooms in particular. Creaking filled the still air as he opened the door to a particular room and entered it. Motioning in the same fashion as before toward Akira to follow him, Swink led her into the room before walking up to a rather dated looking device. It was an old CD player stereo device from the era just before the infection spread. Pressing the power button he then looked over at his new companion.
"Lets lure it down here, shall we?"
Isaac hit play.
Though Akira might not realize it right away, this CD was inside the player on purpose. Isaac adored opera music and it was one of the things that moved him enough emotionally to keep on trying to survive each day in this living hell. Sure enough the beautiful and classic song was played loudly enough to capture the infected's attention. If anything this might have been exactly what it was looking for since the ex-soldier had actually played the music quite often while clearing out the building.
Swink made his way back out into the hallway, before motioning to Akira silently by gently tapping his black-gloved fingertips against the doorframe. He wanted her to stay near the doorway. Posture-wise he had changed drastically from before and now stood upright with the heavy assault rifle in one hand. Isaac had become the epitome of casual while awaiting the creature to appear.
And it did.
Within a minute there was a disturbing screech as the creature came at the pair from the stairway of poor quality. But as it came charging into the hallway there were actually four of them instead of one. . . which meant these had been smart enough conceal their numbers. Isaac didn't seem to care, as if the music had lifted his soul into a world of whimsy that caused him to actually pace slowly toward the infected.
Suddenly gunfire erupted from the gun as Isaac pulled the trigger. Keeping true to his style there were only short controlled bursts aimed with a merciless precision. First their kneecaps were blown out to reduce mobility. Just one managed to dodge his fire at first but rather than panic his resolve only strengthened and once more the echoes of burst-fire rang out until the infected fell down to join the rest who now crawled toward him angrily. Each one wanted to tear him apart from the ankles up. Yet they were denied as one by one a single round was fired directly into their heads.
If any were still functioning after that. . . it seemed the ex-soldier was leaving those for Akira as he reached into the outer pocket of his royal blue military trench coat to procure a spare ammo clip. But as he reloaded, rather than toss the empty clip aside he put that one back inside his coat pocket. It would get replaced later.
Akira stood up straight before getting they actually got to the stairwell, she hated crouching. She'd much rather be caught standing upright than be caught sneaking around, low to the ground. Still looking behind them as she climbed the stairs, she noticed that she was getting jittery again. Dammit, calm down! She yelled at herself internally.
She'd lost track of the floor they were on, and she had no idea how many floors above the noise had sounded. But when another noise sounded, closer this time, Akira figured that the infected would be popping out at any moment now. She was looking around their current floor when Isaac motioned for her to follow him into a room. Still looking around, she backed into the room. Isaac walked toward an old CD player and Akira couldn't help but smile.
When Isaac said, "Let's lure it down, shall we?" Akira almost jumped him, but she restrained herself, trusting that he knew what he was doing. Lure it down?! she screamed internally. She didn't like the idea of luring things toward her, even though she'd come face-to-face with the infection eventually. She didn't want to wait while it came down, following the sound of music.
When opera music came out of the device, she was even mildly confused. Akira shrugged it off though, Whatever floats your boat, she'd always said.
Isaac stepped out of the room again and she followed him, crouching again in the doorway. She lifted her assault rifle and looked around, ready to shoot something.
Not that she needed to. When four infected persons camed down, Isaac took them down easily and quickly. When he was done, Akira's jaw was dropped. She stood up slowly with a surprised, 'dayum!' escaping her lips. Even though the four infected were motionless, she still decided to do a 'double-tap' just to make sure. She took our her hand-gun and popped each one in the head one more time.
Perhaps out of sheer ego was the only reason for what came next from the ex-soldier. Whimsy or wanting to show off were other possible motivations. Spinning around on one heel to face Akira, at the same time he moved the heavy assault rifle to rest on his shoulder. On top of that a cocky half-smile was formed by his lips before his free hand moved into a quick but casual salute toward Akira. Ending this rather random display was a practically perfect freeze frame of the pose he had struck.
"You should never rush to meet your fate. It just might be a hail of bullets."
Who knew how many months he had been wanting to do that?
For a moment Akira stared at Isaac with a blank expression, as if to take in what she had just seen. He killed four infected in less than, what, four to five minutes? And now he was doing an adorable pose.
Akira's lips curled in an enormous grin. She started giggling again, more of a light laughter this time. "You. Are. Awesome!" she told him. After a while, she stopped giggling, but remained with a big smile. "You are the coolest survivor I've ever met," she told Isaac. "Not only that but you're..." Akira shut her mouth before she could continue.
A deep red tinge came to her cheeks as she realized she'd been about to call him 'hot'. That would've made things kind of awkward.
Isaac held the pose for as long as it seemed to entertain Akira. Having an audience for his skills made the ex-soldier stand there with a twinkle in his eye that this lady had put there. Due to his joy at her happiness it actually took a few seconds for the red tinging her cheeks to register. Once it did a lighter version tinged his cheeks as well. Swink knew it had been quite some time since a girl had looked at him in such a way. Despite the sense of mistrust he had been feeling less than an hour ago, Isaac found himself having warmed up to the girl considerably on just their first day of knowing eachother. Such was life in the wasteland that society had become. Actions truly spoke louder than words these days. . . though hearing compliments from someone like Akira didn't hurt.
". . . Heh. Thanks! You're not so bad yourself y'know. That jump stunt you pulled earlier. . . pretty cool."
Now he finally dropped the pose, walking toward Akira with a more casual feel in each step unlike the more militaristic one from earlier. More than likely it had something to do with that opera music still playing. He truly enjoyed the sound of it and the effect it had on his mood was fairly apparent. It may have only been in appearance that his guard was down however. . . since survivors always needed to be ready to fight for their very lives. Every second of life was a precious gift and to spend it with someone else like this was truly a blessing.
Still holding his gun in one hand with the barrel balanced against his shoulder, he now only stood a little less than an arm's length from Akira. In fact, a black gloved hand came up to briefly cup her cheek before bravely allowing his fingertips to run through her hair. Obviously he was testing the waters to see if he wasn't just misinterpreting what seemed to be an attraction between them. Unless she held his hand there though, he would pull it away again eventually.
Akira saw a light blush stain Isaac's cheeks. It made her smile, she found it adorable when guys blushed. When he complimented her earlier jump, she felt her cheeks get slightly darker.
"Thanks. I've had to practice that move a lot of times before..." she told him, pleased with the praise of a man such as himself.
When she felt his touch, she got darker. It may not have seemed possible for her to blush anymore, but Isaac had just made it happen. She was sure she must look darker than a cherry and she imagined that must me quite unattractive. Her hand moved to grip his lightly. She was completely speechless again, as she had been a while ago on the couch, as she looked into his eyes. She wanted badly to say something, but couldn't find anything, she opened her mouth slightly but shut it again. As she held his hand, she seemed to forget about all mundane troubles. She smiled as a thought came to her mind, If there weren't four dead infected right next to us, this would be even more magical.
Ah...Magical...Akira hadn't thought of that word since the infection began. And here she was. Standing with a man she'd just met, and that was the only word she could think of.
More and more she seemed blush with every passing moment up until the moment came that it seemed her face could not get any redder. Yet he did not find it unaatractive. On the contrary. . . it endeared the young lady to him even further. Plus she had yet to relinquish his hand which meant that so far no lines had been crossed in the bad sense. Unsuprisingly, his hand stayed exactly where Akira held it to so happily while only his thumb moved as it gently stroked her skin. Silence seemed to have descended upon them once again save for the music playing in the next room.
Ever so slowly, while staring into her eyes with a tempted curiousity, it seemed he was trying to lean in to kiss her.
She leaned closer to him as well and eventually their lips met gently. You'd think the kiss would make Akira blush more, possibly making her pass out, but it didn't. It did the opposite. It made the blush go away, except for a pink-ish tinge on her cheeks. It was sweet, the way one would imagine their first kiss.
It wasn't her first kiss, but it was different from the other times. Not different in the sense that there were infected humans roaming about in the world now. But different in the sense that she liked this kiss far better. Akira remembered the old movies where the girl's leg would pop up during a kiss. The memories tempted her to do the same.
Archer heard shots fired from somewhere in the area and once again decided to investigate.As if he had a choice this time.He reached into a the utility package on his back and pulled out a recon droid.It was the only one he could salvage from what was left the equipment in his coalition.He threw the droid in the air and used his visor to see what the droid did.The shots became louder and basically yelled I'm over here.The droid came over to a window and spotted two survivors,another male and female.
"well look at that,you old bastard." Archer said,grinning under his equipment.He recognized the male soldier,but the girl was a mystery to him. Archer flew the droid in front of the girls head and faced the man.
"Droid activate coms-screen."
A light blue screen opened from the bottom of the droid and showed Archer's face.He felt surprised to see the old man after what happened to the city.Seeing him was like living an old memory,that always make you feel hope and power.
It had been what felt forever since the last time he had kissed a girl. . . let alone have a kiss such as this one. Sometimes the impression was given that some men did not distinguish one kiss from another. That a kiss was simply a kiss and nothing more. Yet anyone with a brain knew this was not true for all men. Quite a few actually knew what one kiss felt like compared to another and Isaac was one of those men. Perhaps it was the truth or merely isolation but he could never remember such a feeling akin to what this stirred up inside. For this reason alone the ex-soldier made no attempt to move away for what he wanted to be hours and yet still felt only like mere seconds.
But finally it had to end.
Pulling only his lips away from hers, the way his head tilted offered just the right angle to gaze into her eyes. Of all the betrayals he had suffered in the past. . . this seemed to atone for them. Most of them at least. Enough to silently grant Akira the chance to prove him right in wanting to have hope in others. Slowly his free arm slipped around her waist to pull her into a sweet half-embrace while still holding the heavy assault rifle in one hand as it rested on his shoulder.
What an image to witness. . . the sweetness of a new romance surrounded by death and decay.
Until it was interrupted by a rather nosey droid.
Letting go of her quickly, he turned to face the strange recon droid with his heavy assault rifle readied in just one hand. Swink had enough strength in his arm to hold it in such a fashion and more importantly the mechanical device was close enough that the chances of missing were low. Not surprisingly his expression had faded from placid into agitated. Even if it was an old ally. Despite knowing exactly who it was from the voice alone he had placed himself between Akira and the droid.
"Well if it isn't the Demon Assaulter. In case you forgot I'm not that old. I haven't even hit thirty yet. Also. . ."
The barrel of the deadly weapon was thrust right up against the droid's screen.
". . . I don't appreciate peeping tom's. So if you don't want to hafta fix this thing of yours, get it out of my face."
It was an incredible moment. One of those you read about in books, the kind you never want to end. Akira had never really felt like that before. So when it was all broken up by a noise, Akira almost felt like growling.
Isaac had stepped between her and the droid. Akira stared at it blankly for a while. What a day, she thought. She assumed it was an old aquaintance of Isaac's, from the way they spoke to each other.
Though she didn't want to interrupt, she couldn't help but ask, "What...Or, who is that?" She kept looking at the droid or...another man's face.
"Easy now big guy I'm not looking for fight,just survivors."
The droid moved back about 5 meters and landed on the ground."I've got about two other survivors over here,one sniper and another looks as if she was an officer or something."I don't expect you to agree but its strength in numbers,so I'm offering any survivor in the area a chance to come back to a safe house i made before the outbreak.Plenty of ammo left and the security system is still up to date.So,whats your decision,what ever choice you make I'll understand clearly.
"What...or, who is that?"
After hearing that Archer snapped his attention to the girl and flew the droid over to her."My name is Archer,Lt.Archer.I know your friend here because me and him were in the same fire-team once.But me and him were chosen to be the next generation of the future soldier."The droid opened up and produced a visor screen showing a video of Archer and Issac's old coalition.
"So basically your looking at the first two successful super soldiers of modern technology."He always favored that same rifle though,never knew why and didn't care to find out.Archer dropped two headsets on the ground and retreated the droid from the building."In case you make your decision we'll use these to keep in touch.Archer caught the droid and placed it back in the utility.He placed two fingers on his ear-com and mumbled,"Just like old times,wouldn't you say, "Bloody Bombardier."
Isaac lowered the barrel once there was enough distance between himself and the droid drone. Despite the fact his expression still looked rather annoyed it had softened ever so slightly in light of acknowledging an old teammate. After all it was rather nice to think that with all their training they could survive such a disaster. Even if disaster did not give much credit to what was more realistically a worldwide catastrophic event which showed no signs of stopping. For these reasons he listened silently to what Archer had to say through what was admittedly a rare piece of technology.
Memories came back from before the outbreak of the infected began. Archer had been even younger than he was right now, which in the eyes of some might have been just a little unnerving. Isaac had been younger as well and wearing a much different uniform than the one he wore now. But the gun had always been the same. Swink really disliked the direction the military had been heading in. . . their reliance on technology was turning more and more into a crutch on the battlefield. A crutch loaded with hidden weapons. Where had it really gotten them? The infection had still spread so rapidly despite all of their technology.
Turning to face Akira his face seemed practically stoic now thanks to nostalgia.
