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 Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:23 pm
It had been some time since Piper had wandered away from Micky's company to instead try and find Zeke once more. She'd had a lot of fun, that was certainly for sure, but fun only lasted for a little while when one had devil butterflies buzzing around in one's belly. At least, that's what Piper's theory on the current blackhole sensation in her belly was.
She had collapsed next to a tree on her search for her best-zombie-friend and was currently sprawled out on her back with her hands pressed so hard into her stomach she was sure her nails were digging into her green-tinted flesh. "It's like they have razor blades for teeth," she whined aloud, squinting her eyes up at the sky - the dark, demented sky that stretched over Barren Pines. Where had all the clouds gone?
It hadn't occurred to her that her demon butterflies were probably just a manifestation of her insatiable zombie hunger. It obviously made more sense to play it off as butterflies in the stomach - demented evil ones at that. It also made more sense, apparently, to simply collapse on the ground and wait for Zeke to find her than to continue looking for him. Her stomach really hurt though and attempting to cloud-watch made it a bit better even if she couldn't really see the clouds very well. Besides, when Zeke got there, he would make everything okay, she was positive.
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:58 pm
Zeke had pretty good timing when it came to his running sessions. In fact, during his time at Barren Pines, he met most of his friends while running. It was lucky for him, or else he probably wouldn't have met anyone.
While Piper had been out looking for evidence of alien life, Zeke had been looking for someone who was good at weather. He found a student, but all they had been able to reply with was something along the lines of: "nngereee uugghh". Not very helpful.
"Hey, Piper," he said as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "Any luck finding out about the darkness?" He bent to stretch his legs, making sure that his muscles were loose and relaxed.
"I couldn't find anything... this place is becoming really empty."
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:22 pm
Sure enough, just as Piper had predicted, it wasn't long before Zeke came running in to save her. Before she could begin whining to him about the demon insects trying to eat her from the inside out, he asked about the mission she was supposed to be on.
"Oh, right," she asked, momentarily distracted by the pain in her belly, "I saw Mack!" She was fairly convinced that this would be a nice surprise for him, since she thought the two had known one another.. before. She wasn't positive though. "She asked me something about puppy and then we went looking for the mad scientist." She sighed and tilted her head at an odd angle where it was laying against the ground, moving it so she could look at him at a better angle. "We didn't find him though, so we couldn't ask him about anything. We didn't find the aliens either."
She sat up slowly, her hair in disarray from where she had been wallowing on the ground and complete with a few leaves for decoration. It was only as she sat up that she felt her stomach do a flip and the gnawing hunger return. "Zeeeke," she whined, bringing up her hands to cover her stomach again, "my stomach hurts." Not only that, but her left hand seemed to be responding quite strangely to her movements - it was a bit limp compared to the other. She didn't seem too concerned with it at the moment, though.
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:08 pm
"To be honest, Piper..." Zeke reached over and squeezed one of her hands-- her left hand, actually. "I really don't think these are aliens. A mad scientist makes more sense... he's probably dead now, though."
He helped her stand up and gave her a hug. He smelled the blood and dirt in her hair and hugged her even closer.
"All the adults are gone, though. Teachers, everyone. If there was a mad scientist, he's gone now, too. Maybe there was a secret evacuation... I don't know. It's too late to really worry about, now. The sky's dark... the sun's gone out."
The mention of Mackenzie made him smile, though.
"Fluffy?"
He giggled.
"Was she... like us?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:19 pm
She sighed a little as he said he didn't think it was aliens, but somehow wasn't truly surprised. She'd spent a long time having people not really believe her ideas. At least Mack had been willing to go along with them while they had been having fun together. All thoughts of a response were lost when he reached over to squeeze her hand, however, and she was reminded of what she had done. "Oh yeah," she brought there linked hands up and pointed at her wrist, "I think I broke this."
All other thoughts were immediately flushed away as she was suddenly scooped into his arms, her face contorting into a look of confusion. She was immediately reminded of Micky's teasing over Zeke being her boyfriend, though she barely understood why she'd be thinking of such a thing at a time like this. With a small shake of her head she simply gave up and buried her face against his chest, though she was somewhat saddened by his lack of heartbeat.
"Oh yes, she was like us. She had a bite on her neck, but she didn't say how she got it." She shrugged a little in his arms and leaned her head back on his chest, comfortable in simply resting there. Then, all of a sudden, she whipped her head back to look up at him again. "What if the mad scientist is like us? He could still be here!"
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:27 pm
"Geez, Mack...."
As a human, Zeke would've been sad to see that Mackenzie had died. However, he was a zombie. As a zombie, his brain had become warped, and as a zombie... he thought about things differently.
"I hope it happened painlessly. Still, it's good that it already happened to her. I don't want to have to black out like I did before..." Zeke picked up Piper's wrist and tried to fiddle with it, seeing if he could connect the bones and the threads that made up her wrist.
"We should wrap the break up. It won't heal or anything, but at least it won't tear even more..." Zeke shrugged. "Maybe we can find some sports bandages in the nurse's office."
He started to lead her away from under the tree, shrugging.
"I don't know, if the scientist was here, don't you think he would've come out by now? Unless he was holed up somewhere..."
Zeke suddenly paused and turned to look at Piper.
"Do you think he could be trapped in one of the basements? I haven't looked down there at all... have you?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:02 pm
"Me neither," she said in response to his comment about blacking out, "it was kind of scary." She shivered as her human memories surfaced, though she quickly shoved them back down into the recesses of her mind. "So I guess it's better that it already happened, though I don't think any kind of bite is painless. I mean, I guess she could have been sleeping or something." She half wondered whether or not someone could wake up in time to feel a fatal bite if they were sleeping. Maybe it would have been better if Zeke had let her fall asleep, huh.
She shrugged the thought off and turned her attention to Zeke again, who was now dangling her limp wrist and playing with it. "Alright, to the nurse's office!" She had almost turned and begun to tramp off in the direction of the school before she stopped herself. Again, she still had no idea where the nurse's office was. So, instead she let Zeke lead her away by her hand, happily trailing behind him with a sort of skipping walk.
She was humming something to herself, completely out of tune with the conversation, when Zeke paused in front of her and caused her to bump into him rather abruptly. Her eyes widened as she flailed her arms around and grabbed at him to remain upright. Once steady on her feet she managed a bewildered, "huh?" Then she managed to hear what he was actually saying and let out a gasp. "Oh, I hadn't thought to check there! I bet he is!" She tugged lightly on his arm and began to try and drag him in the direction of the school, suddenly excited beyond reason at the prospect of finding their mysterious scientist.
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:20 pm
Energized by her sudden vigor, Zeke broke out into a slow (by his standards) run towards the school. Though he hadn't been in the basement often, Zeke knew how to get there.
Of all the dark corners and frightening hallways of Barren Pines, the school's basement was one of the worst. The hellish furnace gave the labyrinth-like halls a red glow, and nightmarish stories of a snake pit were whispered to the freshmen at night. Zeke had no idea how much of it was true, but if the basement really was a breeding ground for snakes, he sure would love to sink his teeth into one.
Zeke was still in a dream (Snake Eater) when he came to the side of the school, where slick and steep steps lead down into the limbo of the basement.
"Want me to go first?" he said, offering to be brave. Even if he had died horrifically, Zeke could still get scared. And scared he was!
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:41 pm
Piper grinned as Zeke began to run and immediately matched her pace to his. It was a little more than a 'slow' run in her opinion, but she didn't mind it so much. She didn't have to breath so it wasn't like it was a lot of effort on her part anymore.
She had probably once heard all of the horror stories of the basement, but any memory of it was long gone after time and death on top of it. Thus, when Zeke stopped them before the stairwell leading down into the pits of the school, Piper merely leaned down to look into the darkness.
"If you want," she said with a little shrug. It hadn't occurred to her that it could be dangerous. It hadn't occurred to her that she should be frightened. In fact, as far as she was concerned, she was now the scariest thing on campus. She offered him a smile that was simply excited, though would probably double as reassuring given his current feelings towards their next adventure.
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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:51 pm
Oh yes, Zeke was going to be brave. The fact that Piper might not be frightened didn't even enter his cobweb-filled mind. Yes, the basement was treacherous.
Zeke crept down the stairs, sticking close to the wall. He stood at the bottom, next to the door, and hovered. He took in a gulp of unnecessary air and threw the door open. He wished he still had his javelin with him as he darted in and looked around, waiting for a fellow zombie or an alien or something to leap out at him from the darkness.
Instead there was nothing. There was only a moldy ceiling and chipped tiles for the floor. Oh, and darkness, of course. Lots and lots of darkness.
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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:47 pm
Piper watched Zeke disappear down the stairs, watching as the darkness below swallowed him up. For a moment she just stood there, watching the last bits of his radiant blue hair disappear below, before a sudden fear gripped her belly. What if there were students below? Sure, food was good, but they had both been first hand witnesses to what a group of students could do.
"Wait, Zeke!" She was already running down the stairs as she began to yell, pitching herself into the darkness. "What if there's something down there!" It was a shame she hadn't thought of that before he went, when Zeke was actually worried about it. Zeke was at the bottom of the steps now, safe and sound, and it was only Piper left climbing down with a sudden irrational fear. Couple a natural lack of grace with the bumbling movements of a walking corpse and she went tumbling before she ever reached the bottom. Her hands reached out just in time for her body to collide with Zeke's and take him down with her.
Tangled on the floor in a mess of green limbs, Piper groaned and tried to see blindly through the darkness. "Sorry," she grunted, her blue eyes blinking uselessly at the shadows, "I thought there might be an ambush."
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