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 Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:13 am
"Human, huh? Yeah, I kinda guessed, mate. You've the brains to get your fingers round that guitar for a start. But I still ain't letting you in. Nothin' personal, you know, I just don't want you holdin' me back."
Tom smiled. Truth be told, he was really enjoying this. He had power, after all.
"My name?" he pondered aloud, lost for words. Though he had no real problems divulging his name, he was still a bit unsure. It just... wasn't the done thing. A sudden idea filled his mind.
"Gabriel." he said, "My name's Gabriel. And if you don't skiddadle sharpish I'll administer some divine wrath on your head!"
A pseudonym, and a good one at that. He allowed himself another thin smile.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:17 am
"Gabriel." I repeated. A cool name. "I won't hold you back. I can't exactly think of a way to prove to you that I won't, you're just going to have to take my word for it. I'll just go in, take what I need, and leave again without looking back if that's what you want. I'll find somewhere else to stay. So please," I left a dramatic pause, "in the interest of helping a fellow human, just let me into your shop."
I awaited a response on tenderhooks, eyes closed and knelt down, hoping beyond hope that there was a Somerfield's around the corner.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:24 am
Tom - no, Gabriel - laughed aloud, a great maniacal laugh just like the evil genius from a spy film. He loved it! This guy was getting desperate! When he regained his composure, he smiled and looked out of the carpark up the B-road nearby. Northbound he reckoned. This got better and better.
"Tell you what." he said, laying his rifle arrogantly over one shoulder, "I'll set you a challenge. You can come in and do whatever you like if... you beat your little procession back there."
He nodded his head back to the B-road, where, just emerging from the suburb, a large mob of zombies approached. About thirty by his reckoning. Not a problem for someone hoping to survive in this brave new world, surely.
"You'd better hurry," he added, looking at his watch, "there'll be more on their way."
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:29 am
The street was completely empty, the Goddess told her that she was now feared even by their least function of brains. To anyone else, it would be worrying, to Jenny, it was conformation of what she had believed all along. When the first Zombie approached her she smiled at it, nice and friendly and whispered, “She has come to take you, my friend and she ill have no mercy for all that you have done in life.”
This was the foundation of her belief; the rapture had come and the Goddess had saved the worthy souls and given them the means by which they could extract their over-due revenge on those who had sort of oppress them and their virtues. The zombie lurched closer, it was girl she’d gone to school with, it reached out as if to beg for forgiveness but Jenny granted no quarter. The knife plunged into the ex-girl’s chest and ripped out again, the zombie was still moving, this was, of course, to be expected. Jenny slashed the creatures face, tearing a great flap of skin off and onto the ground, still the zombie fought. Finally, she ripped the knife through the throat of the creature and forced it to the ground. Jenny pushed her knee onto her school-mate’s chest and began to saw through the tougher bits in her neck. She fancied she could see an element of fear in the zombie’s face and the Goddess laughed deep from the recesses of her mind.
Soon the head was severed form the body and Jenny could move on, covered in blood and searching for somewhere to sleep.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:31 am
I turned sharply and saw what he was talking about. My face blanched. Ten times as many as I had faced before, the horde was a fearsome sight. I was disheartened to see that I even recognised certain faces from amongst the mass: there was Ted who ran the corner shop, Mrs. Mills from the bakey, Rev. Thompson... none I'd ever spoken to, though, just heard of in passing. I shook my head in an attempt to clear it, before standing up straight, willing the fire to return. And return it did. At once, the faces became unrecognisable. All I saw were faceless ghouls, and amongst them my ticket to safety.
"Very well, Gabriel." I said with an unintentionally menacing edge, "I shall complete your trial."
Clutching the guitar in both hands, I rushed forwards, running over the roof of one car and heedlessly into the road. As the mass approached, the fire took over. The rage I had built up for all those years, all those years where I was unable to fight back against my oppressors. Now, finally, a chance to enact vengeance. With a roar, I began the battle, swinging my guitar down. Mrs. Mills' head cracked open like a watermelon.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:40 am
Gabriel stepped back in alarm. He was actually going to do it! He was actually going to face off against thirty-odd foes for the sake of a few stole foodstuffs! This guy, this nameless wanderer, he had guts. More than that. By the look in his eyes, Gabriel knew that alongside his guts this guy had something else. Some inner strength. Something he himself could never hope to attain. This guy, like him, was a survivor. Gabriel didn't need to see his brawl commence to figure that much out. He smiled. At last, a companion worthy of his protection. Or rather...
"Good luck, mate!" he called out, taking up the rifle again, "Watch yourself!"
Aiming carefully, he took one of the zombies in his sights, one that threatened to flank the attacker, and pulled the trigger. It took no great deal of effort to do, Gabriel had no angst dispatching an animated corpse. The bullet hit home with a bang, blasting a hole through the zed's face and the chest of the one behind it. A nice shot, if he said so himself. The smile returned, and Gabriel took aim again, squeezing the trigger.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:40 am
Carrying on a little further, Jenny turned a corner to be confronted with a hoard of the rotting undead, she didn’t know how many their were but there were quite a few. It looked like good sport to her so she paused for a moment to tie up her shoulder-length hair before running at the mass of creatures, knife bared and eyes wide.
Her blood-stained hands carrying her blood-stained knife darted from one zombie to the next; slashing stabbing and decapitating as she went. She come up behind them, caught them off guard and three of them were dead before they’d even started to retaliate, the Goddess informed her coldly as she beheaded her fourth zombie that if she failed to annihilate any of these creatures, she would be deemed unworthy and that her place by the Goddess’s side would be forfeit. She went at her divine task with wild abandon and no-body to tell her that what she hoped to achieve was madness.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:48 am
Wrenching the guitar around, I took out three of the enemy with a clean smash. I'd never seen an eyeball out of someone's head before, yet under my cloak of fire the realisation didn't strike home. Crying out constantly, I hacked at the zombies, one after another falling with cracked limbs, cracked ribs, split skulls. Every so often a potential target fell before I had a chance to hit it, a clean hole through its face, and each time this spurred me on. Gabriel was toying with me!
The guitar was holding up well, but it wouldn't for much longer. The small cracks in the main element had grown to larger preportions, and the shaft I had a hold of had almost fallen apart. But I fought on, unaware of time or place, of pain or fear, and the enemy continued to fall. Looking back on it, its a miracle I survived so long. Soon, there were only a few left.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:53 am
BANG! BANG! Another and another fell to Gabriel's 'divine justice', and his smile grew with each pair of bullets he slotted into place and drove home. It didn't occur to him that he may have been enjoying this too much. He was impressed, though, that the guy (he'd have to ask his name, later) was going on for so long with just a guitar. There was a fighting spirit in that man, and it was admirable. It was a joy to watch!
Gabriel took aim again, but then steadied his hand, looking out on his target. That one was still alive... It was a girl. She'd have been attractive, too, if not for the blood on her face and the psychotic look in her eyes. Gabriel flinched, is that how the guy had seen him? He lowered the rifle.
"Yo! Mate!" he called, cupping his hand to his face, "Watch yourself! Human at twelve o'clock!"
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:58 am
The alert jarred me from my fury temporarily, and I looked up from my melee. There were five zombies left, and one... other. She was wielding a knife, and had long dark hair tied up behind her. At least, I figured it was black, it had been dyed with something rotten. Stepping back, I went for the enemy furthest from her, eliminating them with ease. She would no doubt take care of the rest. I was nervous, though, something in her eyes told of a threat to my own life. With the last of my enemy done with, I raised the guitar in front of me in a defensive stance, watching the girl. I didn't trust her.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 11:08 am
Jenny whirled, cutting, ripping, killing, leaving re-death and destruction in her wake, she thought she heard someone call out but the Goddess told her to ignore it for now, it might become important later but her tone suggested otherwise. Arnold Harrington, the history teacher at her school lurched towards her and she took great pleasure in gauging out his eyes and cutting off his head. She looked up for her next victim when she saw a guy with a guitar, this one was alive; truly alive and there were only a few zombies left. The Goddess instructed her to complete what she’d started and Jenny grinned at Guitar Guy, not expecting him at all to understand that this was the first time the Goddess had spoken to her in the company of real living people.
She noticed as her next victim fell that some of the creatures were dropping with great big holes in their head or chest and it took two more of them to drop before she could pin-point the source, a guy with a gun. She smiled at him too. So there were at least two others who had served the Goddess well.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 1:02 pm
The girl, her grin, I remember it all too well. The sight of someone younger than I by at least two years, covered in blood from head to toe, and enjoying every moment of her carnage. That sight would stay with me until the day of my death. For the moment, though, I kept my guard up, both physically and mentally and, as the last zombie fell to her whirling knife dance, I addressed her.
"Hey." I began uncertainly, guitar out in front as my last defence, "Thanks, I guess. Who are you?"
Something in her eyes told me I didn't want to know.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 1:07 pm
Gabriel studied the newcomer through a pair of binoculars. She was quite a fighter, that was certain.
"Always the way," he muttered under his breath, "wait around for ages lookin' for a fighter, then two turn up at once."
He chuckled, watching as the zombies met their maker. This girl, she was no beauty queen now but clean the blood off her... how old was she? Gabriel reckoned about sixteen, and that was old enough by his standards. Another smile.
"Oi!" he called aloud now, "You passed. Get in here, both of you, before more show up!"
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:08 am
She felt the Goddess silently withdraw, she was used to that feeling, the fact that she had remained for the fight was an hour beyond measure.
“I’m Jenny.” She called back simply and wiped her knife on the skirt of her ankle-length white dress, she took note of the Guitar Guy’s defensive position and she understood, the Goddess hadn’t informed her as to whether she should spare these people or not. She thought to ask Her next time She chooses to speak. Jenny moved towards him cautiously, or rather she moved towards Gun Guy and Guitar Guy just happened to be in her way.
She wasn’t aware of it but the crazy glint in her eye was fading and she looked like any normal teen, except of course for the blood that streaked her porcelain skin. She drew up besides Guitar Guy and paused, within his guitar’s range but not within her knifes, to show that she meant no harm to him (yet). She wiped her hands on the skirt of her dress too, one at a time switching her knife from hand to hand. She rolled up her long sleeves slowly, avoiding any quick motions that might startle him.
“Are you coming in? I think that guy’ll let us now. What’s your name?” She said it all quite fast in her mellow and whispery voice. It was fortunate the area was quite.
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:36 am
She slipped onto what must have been the only un-bloodied bed in the entire hospital, she was wearing the Pyjamas that her parents had brought her when they discovered she would be there for some time yet. After spending the night in only place in the hospital that the zombies couldn’t get to, Mary was cramped and miserable, she hoped with all her might that there were some others still really live and trying to get her. Some adults, if she had her way, children wouldn’t be strong enough, she knew that but children were fast and that was how she was going to escape. These undead people were moving slower than even the adults she had known ever did and she could get away from the adults easy enough.
The echo of the undead flapping footsteps came to her and she ran from the bed and down the corridor. Initially it had taken some time for her to get back to the areas that she remembered from her time in the children’s ward but now she was treading the shining floors like a pro. They came shuffling after her but they would never catch her, she knew that if she ran into a group of them she mustn’t touch them, she’d seen what happened to the adults that touched them and she could see no reason not to think they wouldn’t do the same to her.
It felt like she’d spent weeks crying, seeing her little bold friends wandering around slowly, so very slowly, with that look that all the undead have, glazed and miserable. In reality it had taken her about two days to run out of tears, about two days to realise that she would have to get out and not give up. All the adults she’d met in her time at the hospital kept saying that she mustn’t give up, not ever, that everything will get much better if you just try harder. She believed this with all her heart.
She slid to a halt in front of a window, outside there was a huge group of them moving together down the street, groaning and wailing like all the others did. Never did it occur to her that she wouldn’t stand a chance out there on her own, only that she mustn’t ever give up. Silently she slipped out of window and ran in the opposite direction to the zombies. What a sight she was a little girl in blue pyjamas running down the street, messy blond hair and red-rimmed hazel eyes covered in oil (from the ventilation shaft) and a little bit of blood from the people she had tried to greet.
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