The Virus and the Host

[KuroHime_07]

"I'll be better in a hour besides my arrows are out there." Rachel winked and disappeared into the trees.
She jump from tree to tree using the branches, she knew that Fredric might come running after her so she had to collect as much arrows as possible.
"Tanner where are you?" Rachel thought to herself as she lounged on a wide branch, below a flesher that had no body from the chest down gnawed on some bark and reached up trying to grab Rachel. "Stupid b*****d." She threw a broken arrow down with such force it broke through the skull and moments later the flesher lay quiet and motionless.

[Stone Field]

((Hilo, thanks for letting me join biggrin ))

Name: Catriona McLachlan
Age: 21
Skills: doctor, was studying surgery before the outbreak, highly skilled with a Brandistock
Nearly useless with guns, though ok with a shotgun (kinda hard to miss, right? razz )

Appearance
Height: 159 cm (5’2”)
Hair: dyed burgundy, long, usually in a plait
Eye colour: deep green
Physique: wiry muscle, but not all that fit

Catriona sat in a rocking chair next to the window, her shotgun across her lap and her Brandistock leaning against the wall on her right. She gazed out upon the deserted town and the sprawling forest beyond that was slowly reclaiming it, listening to her lover dying in the bed behind her.

In a bid to regain some semblance of normalcy, several nights before Catriona and her lover, Jasper, had snuck down to the pub under cover of darkness, with the intent of playing a little pool, maybe throw some darts, and above all, getting completely shitfaced. Unfortunately, when they had barely even left the house they were squatting in, they had been beset by Fleshers. They had fought tooth and nail trying to get away, and they did, though Jasper had been bitten on his left calf in the fray. Barely escaping they made it to an apartment block several streets away and climbed painfully to the fourteenth story. Catriona had done her best to try and aid Jasper, but the damage was done. Slowly, agonisingly, he was becoming one of ‘them’.

“Cate…?” Catriona heard him moan. “Cate… I can’t see you….. Are you there…?”

Without turning her head, Catriona replied quietly, “Yeah, Sweetheart, right here.”
They were silent for several minutes; the only sound was the steady creaking of the rocking chair, and the wind as it whistled around the shattered panes in the window.

“Baby, I’m cold,” Jasper’s voice seemed calm, but Catriona could feel more than hear the pain and fear underlying it. “I don’t think it … can be too much longer now …”

“No, I don’t think so,” she replied her voice dull and detached. She had no emotion left to give.

“Promise you won’t stay to see it happen, promise me you’ll go,” he sounded desperate now, and she knew he had but moments left.

“I won’t leave you, I’m sorry.”

“For ******** sake, Cate, GO!!!”

Jasper started screaming, and Catriona didn’t leave. She sat and listened to him writhe and moan. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for the last of her world to crumble. Eventually, after what seemed an age, all sound ceased, and Catriona knew he was gone.

She heard a mindless groaning and the shiver of fabric as the Flesher crawled out of the bed and stumbled towards her. Without opening her eyes – she refused to see what he had become, preferring rather to remember him as the kind, somewhat klutsy man with whom she fell in love - she got out of the rocking chair, spun around, and fired her shotgun twice at the vicinity of its head. She heard it hit the ground with a ‘thump’.

Catriona stood rooted to the spot for a moment, then stooped to pick up her bag and collect her Brandistock before crossing to the door, opening it, and then locking it after her, leaving behind her one last tie to perfect sanity.

((Sorry, it was so long, I just couldn’t resist a theatric intro >_< ))

[Stone Field]

Catriona stood at the edge of the forest. she had been standing there for a quarter of an hour. The tightly packed trees and continuously changing shadows wigged her out and brought to surface her claustrophobia.

She swallowed once; twice; three times … and stayed where she was.

She threw her pack on the ground and voiced a soundless cry to the heavens expressing her frustration at her weakness. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a pipe and a lighter.

I know how to fix this, she thought cynically as she shoved one end of the pipe in her mouth and lit the other end, setting ablaze the saviour of her anxious mind. The effects were almost instantaneous, and she watched, happily dazed, as the pungent smoke swirled through the trees.

[KuroHime_07]

((No problem The length is great, besides the intro's are what catch attention hahah or at least it catch mine whee ))

Rachel was awoken by a faint sound moments later another sound when off. "Hmmm, what was that?" Groaning below brought back Rachel's attention to the ground, fleshers had accumulated while she slept. A group of at least five or five and 3/4 if you count the legless one, had gathered around, pulling at the branches.
"Eh you guys are miserable things." Rachel brought her bow up and with one-hand she took out the three closest to her. She then jump down from the tree, landing on the head of the small flesher, shattering it's skull.
"Ah s**t last one." Rachel pull back the bow string as she fired away her last arrow. Now where did that sound come from?

I was sure that sound must have been a gun that was fired off but where? Was it in the town? Or in the forest? So I decided that I was going to go into the town, looking up I knew that I'd be staring at the first morning light, because I eye sight was getting blurred.

Rachel put her sunglasses on and directed her self through the underbrush, a breeze blew wisps of her across her face as she came closer to the town. She quietly stepped into the street and looked about, the street was empty and had no traces of fleshers anywhere. Staying close to the scattered cars she made her way through to the next block.

[Race_Of_Glory]

"Mind if I tag along?" Rachel heard someone say. Turning around she saw the infamous Will. "No point in saying no. You're already here.." She paused. ."Why are you here?" She asked.

"Well, since you got back last night, Friedrich has been smiling. It's upsetting my stomache. No good for the digestion this early in the morning."

Will stuffed a few crackers in his mouth. "Besides, everyone who gets involved with you seem to have a life changing experience. It's my turn." He winked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. The very thought of having to babysit Will was giving her a headache. "Okay, just don't do anything stupid." He smiled. "It's more fun that way."

[KuroHime_07]

"It may be fun but don't forget that I have only use of one arm and no ammo." Rachel said sharply. "So like I said don't do anything stupid." Rachel turned back around and continued her walk through a rundown building that was once a drugstore.
"Okay no need to get mad." Will snickered and started looking through the items that covered the floor. Rachel was looking through the pharmacia medication.
"I think that we should gather suppiles and head back to the group" Rachel picked up a backpack and started tossing in what she thought was useful.

[c o r e O V E R D R I V E]

Friedrich couldn't help but chase after the two. Before he left though, Friedrich looked at Elfi, "If you want totag along then be my guest," He shrugged, "Besides, we might be the last survivors out here." He then darted off, leaving Elfi to decide. Seeing dead fleshers gave Friedrich a path to follow. Once out of the forest, Friedrich looked around. There was the town that seemed to have been deserted for centuries. As he cautiously walked through the barren streets, Friedrich couldn't help but feel like he wasn't alone, "Where are they...?" He mummbled. Friedrich took his time to sightsee. The local inhabitants fighting for a corpse, skeletons scattered everywhere, and even some of the not-so-active wildlife. Friedrich let out a long sigh and walked into what used to be a bank. Corpse after corpse. "Where's all the action? Excitment?"

[Stone Field]

Catriona quickly gave up on the idea of going into the forest, preferring, rather, to return to the city and scout for supplies.

Truthfully she was procrastinating. She didn't really want to leave the city; though she had arrived a stranger after finishing high school in Ireland, this was the city that had taken her in, given her a home, and where she had met....

She couldn't think about that.

So she turned and walked briskly away from the forests' edge and back towards suburbia.

She felt like raising some hell....

~~ FF ~~

Catriona walked down the street, smashing car windows with the but of her Brandistock, setting off car alarms, and shouting at the top of her voice.

"Hey you ugly ********!!! Where are ya? You're missing the party,"

Catriona slowly turned around in a circle as she heard the first groans of the approaching dead.

"What took you so long?" she exclaimed, flourishing her weapons for emphasis. "Let's go, shall we?"

[Race_Of_Glory]

--Drug store--

Rachel gripped her shoulder in pain as she looked around the room for supplies. Broken bottles, loose papers, medication, pieces of machinery and weapons of war scattered the floor. Nothing seemed to surprise her, accept that of a white flag standing in the corner.

"Did you hear that?" Will asked Rachel. She looked in his direction, as she continued to fill the backpack with necessities. "That's the sound of me not giving a damn." Rachel raised an eye brow. "It's a great day to die. A beautiful morning, no fleshers to be seen and that b*****d...Freddy! How are you?"

Friedrich stumbled upon the two, while aiming fire at a flesher behind him. Two shots and the creature fell down dead. "What has this world come to?" He looked at his companions. "It's not safe here. There is some sort of disturbance up north." Rachel ignored him and continued looking through the things around her. Friedrich just glared at Will, waiting to be enlightened by his crazy antics.

"Don't worry about the world ending today Freddy, it's already tomorrow in New Zealand." Will snickered. Friedrich rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I'm not a matador Will, take your bull s**t outside." Rachel smiled at his comment, as Will leaned against the wall, questioning the man's authority.

"Come on you two, we need to work together if we are going to survive this." Will took out his dagger and turned it over and over in his hand. "Are you threatening me?" Friedrich asked. Will laughed. "Paranoid? You could take me. I'm just a low life piece of s**t under your shoe, Freddy."

[KuroHime_07]

Rachel had enough with the s**t that both Fredric and Will had so she did what was best. "Hey you two if you can't play nice give me your toys." Rachel grabbed hold of Will's dagger and somehow retrieved Fredric's gun. "Besides the shots are going to attract unwanted visitors." Rachel tucked away the weapons and picked up her new backpack. Fredric and Will still stood glaring at each other.
"Awww come on now Rachel give that back!" Will protested.
"Yeah, hand it over." Fredric held out his hand in hopes his gun would be returned. Rachel sighed deeply and continued out the door.

[KuroHime_07]

-At the base-
"Hey Ed you okay there?" William flipped switches and started the helicopter. Ed didn't look so good, ed on the other hand didn't want William to worry.
"Yeah, but I've got a problem and we need to hurry and get back to camp to fix it." Ed brought forward his hand which was covered in blood.
"Oh S**T Ed were you bit?" Ed shook his head.
"Nah just took a bullet to my blind spot." William switched the radio on.
"Runner team to Camp base, Claire are you there? Over ..." Static buzzed loudly as William repeated himself. Ed was unbuckling his gear and hold pressure to his wound when the static broke.
"Camp base to Runner team, Claire here. Over ..." William sighed greatly
"Claire, Ed was shot and need immediate attention when we land ..."
"Is he awake? How is he?" William glanced over at Ed worry in his eyes, he steered the helicopter and spoke.
"He doesn't look to bad, his awake."
"Okay keep pressure on the wound and get here ASAP, Wil there's little time depending on the bullet site."
"Okay Claire we got it, over and out." For the next few minutes was silence even the radio was silent.

-In the air 100 miles off from the base-

[c o r e O V E R D R I V E]

Friedrich gave Will a menacing glare before following Rachel. "Where do you think we should go next? The city isn't really a good place to be," Friedrich noted the many Fleshers that were shambling along the streets, "Especially when night comes." He was close and leaned over Rachel's shoulder as he spoke softly. Friedrich had heard a car alarm not too far from where they where now. Maybe there was another survivor? After all, in just a day their group has grown tremendously.

[Stone Field]

Catrionas' shotgun clicked empty and she threw it to the side in disgust.

"Never did like guns anyway," she muttered darkly.

The Fleshers were swiftly closing in on her, and she could feel panic rising in her chest like a beast rudely awoken. She wiped her brow with her sleeve and scanned the crowd of Fleshers for any gaps she might slip through. Of course, there were none.

Gripping her Brandistock she thrusted it forward into the chest of the nearest Flesher, burying the hidden blade in it's sternum. She jerked the blade out of the Flesher as it collapsed against her weapon, still trying to get to her. With one fluid movement she locked the blade in place and semi-decapitated it.

They were swarming to her now, tripping and falling over their dead but pushing forwards nevertheless. Catriona screamed her frustration and began hacking at the beasts as they flocked to her like moths to a candle.

The pile of the dead rose steadily, but she was beginning to tire and the Fleshers kept coming at her. She wept at her stupidity and screamed as loud as she could;

"Help me!! Oh, s**t, someone please help me!!"

[Tougher than Leather]

Riley Simmons

"Once more into the fray..."

At the sudden scream of help, Riley's instinct kicked in. A memory flashed through his mind. A little girl with an resistance grunt on her, over 10 years ago. She cried at Riley to help her. But Riley chose not to act immediately. He yelled to lower the weapon, but the attacker did not comply. Riley leveled his gun with his head, and barked the demand again. The grunt laughed. "You can't save her." he said. And he was right. Before Riley could squeeze the trigger, little pieces of the girl splattered onto the wall. Suddenly, reality came back to Riley. Gravity again applied, and Riley almost fell to his knees. But back on alert, his predator mode clicked in instantly. He was away from the group in seconds, and drawing near the sound of the cry. But after about 20 seconds of running, he had lost track. Where was she? "Where are you?" he yelled.

"...into the last good fight I'll ever know"

[Stone Field]

Catriona whipped her head around and stared down a side street, hoping to see proof of the disembodied voice she had heard. She had just enough time to think maybe she had just finally snapped, when a Flesher pushed her to the ground, slavering all over her.

She brought her knees up under it and pushed it off over her head, twisted around onto her belly and shoved the blade of her Brandistock straight through the top of its skull, watching grimly as blood and grey-matter oozed out of the gash she had made.

Catriona staggered to her feet and cried, "I'm here! Please, come quickly," before launching herself at another Flesher.