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 Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:16 pm
Kirin smirked as Lucy went down. "Yeah, but I'm a b***h that's still pretty," he mocked.
The smirk faded as he turned his attention towards Ara. Now things got complicated. A person Kirin had respected, a zombie, though a zombie that had just defended them. Still, when the others got back, Kirin doubted they'd care about whether or not Ara was smart, or a great chess player, or someone who'd eat another zombie for you.
Kirin raised the thin metal pole. He took a step towards Ara. Staring the other boy in the eyes, Kirin swore and dropped his arms (and weapon) back to his sides.
"Thank you for your help," Kirin spoke softly but firmly. "But you'd better get out of here. We've got others coming back and I don't think they'll care how you behave, just start attacking. And that'd be a pretty sucky thank you if I let you stick around for that."
Kirin actually felt a pang of regret. If only Ara was still alive, this wouldn't be a problem. Ara would be welcomed as another survivor, his zombie attacking skills praised, and Kirin wouldn't be stuck with this unfamiliar, unwelcome feeling.
He closed his eyes and exhaled. Opening them once again, he reiterated, "Go. Before you get too hungry and we all end up doing things we don't want to."
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:02 pm
Before he knew it, the redhead found himself with a cold, bloody body under him. Blood. Still warm. He released Lucy’s shoulder only to lick it thirstily. Disappointing. It wasn’t bad, but it was pretty much fast food: quickly eaten, quickly forgotten, leaves you hungry barely an hour after leaving. He instinctively knew humans’ tender flesh and warm blood would fill him, nonetheless…
His beast-like trance ceased quickly, as soon as Kirin spoke to him. Realizing how low he’d stooped, he wiped his bloody mouth with the back of his wrist, embarrassed and sad. “Damn… sorry.” A very forced bittersweet smile that wouldn't have fooled anything with half a brain. “Where are my manners?…” In the same corner of his brain as his intelligence, his tranquillity, and his scientific curiosity: weeping in a corner, trying vainly to fight the overwhelming primal instincts.
Ara didn’t dare look at his ex-chess opponent in the eyes. He avoided them actively. And he had a hard time accepting “her” words, too. Prior to these events, he was content with himself, he was a self-controlled individual who took note of all the mathematical patterns in his environment, and he had a lot of potential. Now, he was an unpredictable thing that was kneeling next to another unpredictable he’d just killed, and could only hope to satisfy his hunger for a short while.
No, it couldn’t be. It made no sense. He couldn’t just end like that. He was deliberately led here, at this precise moment, by all the patterns he had previously ignored like the fool he was. If he had the chance to meet an old friend now, it meant he could still make a difference.
Ara licked the blood on his arm absentmindedly. “I can help. I am sure I can help somehow. Or find answers.” He was growing nervous at the lack of sense and symmetry in everything, and took Lucy’s limp arm to nibble on it. “There are things I can find out…” He gulped. “… I can only find out in my current state, probably. Please, I have to insist.” Degenerated fast food. “I would harm someone else anyway, so if I truly can’t help, just kill me.” Do not think about the humans, do not think about the humans, do not think…
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:00 am
Relaxing very slightly, Jess eyed Kirin curiously, deciding that this was her call to make. Carefully hobbling over tot he cat, she managed to scoop it up and cuddle it close for reassurance. After a moment, she found her voice.
"I'm not sure there are answers to be found. And I have to agree with Kirin, Andeon and Mackenzie probably aren't going to stop and ask questions if they see you here."
She wanted to do nothing more than find a corner of the room to hole up in and cry her heart out. Things had been so much easier before this nightmare had begun. Before, she hadn't had to worry about the likelihood of a classmate killing and eating her. She'd only had to worry about snarky remarks and snubs.
Giving herself a shake, she found herself staring at the battered door.
"We should try to figure out a way to fix that," she murmured softly, speaking more to herself than to the others in the room.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:38 am
"If there are answers, I don't think you'll find them here with us," Kirin tried to use Ara's prized logic against him. "If you think there are answers still within this school, it makes sense to split up and cover more ground."
Kirin didn't want to kill (re-kill?) Ara, but he would if he had to. The living had to come first. Jess and Billy and Kirin had to focus on their own survival. And Kirin needed help to try and make it out of here, so having Andeon, Mackenzie and the rest come back and still kill Ara anyway and also boot Kirin out for not killing Ara... well, it wasn't on the cards.
"Maybe you can discover things we can't," Kirin admitted. Who knew if the other zombies knew anything, but it wasn't like Kirin could go and ask them. "But any advantages to your... state... aren't going to be used to their full potential by staying with the rest of us."
Do you get it yet, Ara? Kirin tried to stare a subliminal message into Ara's skull. You will get killed here. I will do it myself, even if I'd rather not. Go look for a reason, a cure, a culprit to blame... If you want to 'help', give us something to work with.
One last attempt at making his point, and then Kirin was done with stalling. "I'm not in charge here. I can't say yes, and the others won't."
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:48 am
Evie didn't want to look at Arastoo. She didn't want to see her old opponent from the Battleship tournament, who had been so amicable and kind during the game, reduced to something like this. It couldn't be Ara. That couldn't be him, with blood on his face fresh from the kill, with those razor teeth, with that rasping voice. That couldn't be him, gnawing on an arm like it was a corndog...Just the thought of it made Evie retch, and she coughed, barely able to keep herself from throwing up entirely. It helped, perhaps, that she hadn't eaten anything since before the fire.
In this case, she agreed with the supposed platform of the Team Tallahassee leaders. She wanted the zombie gone. She wanted that horrible bloodstained face out of the doorway so she could crawl back to her corner and continue her regularly-scheduled mental breakdown in peace. If she'd had the nerve, she probably would have shooed him away herself with the end of her broom, but as it stood, she could only stand behind Kirin, quivering in fear. And then a thought hit her (it didn't happen often, mind you), and she stood next to Kirin, huddling close to her just in case things went wrong.
"W-what if you distracted the other zombies?" she asked, her voice shrill and wavering. Just don't look at him. If you don't look, you can't see the blood. He's just a person. "Y'know, like, tell them that we're in the library and then lock them in? You're all green and all, I bet they'd trust you." Still looking away, she nodded quickly, clutching at her broom. "It'd be better tha-than waiting around here, that's for sure."
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 11:58 am
Well, he hasn’t been attacked yet, that was a good start. But judging by their reaction, he wasn’t so sure anymore what was his point in the first place. Showing he’s still very sentient and doesn’t want to eat them? Great, they might have qualms about killing him if his hunger takes over. And then, what?
Arastoo had never felt so helpless in his life. So, he couldn’t give concrete help to the survivors (who, he thought, could do without an arm or two, which was horrifying by itself). And he didn’t need his math skills to predict how everything would go downhill. Yeah.
He risked sad, scrutinizing eyes towards the rest of the group. The zombie saw even more people, and recognized Evie. She wasn’t watching him the same way as before. Then again, he knew he wasn’t looking at her like a peer, either.
They were afraid of him, and in their place, he would have done the same, because it was the most rational reaction.
A sigh. “I’m not welcome here. It’s okay. Despite all the s**t that’s been going on, you haven’t lost your common sense. Keep doing so.” He licked his lips bitterly. It was best for everybody not to see the survivors in person anymore. “I’ll leave written hints around there. If I find hints, that is. Something like that. I’ll do what I can about the rest. Promised.”
He stood up, holding clumsily the cold body of Lucy in his arms. Despite having gained in strength, she was still heavy; he’d never been very athletic. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take that. Her. I mean her. It might… attract others or hint to your presence in that classroom. Yeah.”
Though his decision made sense, it was obvious he was going to dispose of the evidence; as long as it calmed his growling stomach for a couple hours, he could afford to be even more inhuman.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 8:58 pm
Billy watched, amused. These definitely like any of kind of Zombies he'd ever heard of. Though, Billy didn't indulge in videogames - he'd never seen the lure in them. But standing there, talking with, reasoning with a zombie? Billy found his thoughts wondering along the path of Kimberly. If she was a zombie and still had her wits about her, like Ara, could he...possibly...talk to her one last time? The pale haired boy outwardly winced. Preposterous! It was a stupid thought! He'd get himself killed trying! Not even his selfish pried could disillusion him from that fact.
From his far corner of the classroom he turned away from the scene and scoffed. Not at Ara, but himself. Billy ran a hand through his silver locks as a million thoughts and emotions passed over his rosen eyes. For all his arrogance and all that had happened,..had he seriously thought about leaving the relative safety of the group to go see his head girlfriend? It was Damnable. Billy bit his lip and balled his fists to keep from screaming out in frustration.
To save his pride to tried to pretend like none of the others could see him. He'd done good to stay back in the background. He'd done good to stay back and gather information. He'd even made an honest, tiny, attempt to contribute. But still, his pride was crumbling. With thoughts of Kimberly in his mind he finally realized this. It was time. Time for him to stop acting like a victim and take charge like a lord should. Like the prince he always seemed to think of himself as. he wasn't the damnable one - it was them. He had to convince himself of that.
With resignation Billy turned back around to face the doorway where the zombie and Kirin stood. He'd suppressed all he could to regain that look of 'holier than thou' in his eyes. He held his head high. Billy wanted to speak up, to make some demand, some sermon, some lordly degree. Words however, would not come.
His hastily rebuilt stone wall cracked.
Seeing the other zombie in Ara's arms....made him once again think to Kimberley and the way he wanted to run to her and hold her, mourn over her, when he'd found her dead. He hadn't then. He'd had the strong resolve and control then. Now Billy had nothing but frantic thought and emotion to his name. Weak emotion. It was a very unsteady foundation. Too unsteady to even try rebuilding his walls. Still, it didn't mean that in his vast arrogance he wouldn't try.
Poor boy. Didn't he know that he'd fail? That until this nightmare was over it was no use trying?
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 11:18 pm
"Yeah. Sure." Kirin spared Lucy's green corpse one last glance. He had no problems with Ara taking her along for a... snack. Kirin raised a hand to his mouth and swallowed hastily, forcing down rising bile. A horrible way to go, even if he didn't like Lucy much. But he wasn't about to get picky, and it beat them having to dispose of the zombie before it woke up or attracted others with its rotting scent.
Through it all, he never relaxed his grip on his makeshift weapon. Even though his arm hung loosely by his side, his knuckles were white with the grip he kept.
This wasn't Ara. No matter how much it spoke like Ara, acted like Ara, or thought it was Ara. This was a monster - a hungry monster who wasn't doing the best job controlling his bloodlust even when desperate to convince them that he was not a threat.
If you're going to feel regret - which you shouldn't - regret that Ara is already dead,' Kirin told himself. 'You're not sending Ara off to die. He is dead. And he's the safest one in this room because he's part of the other side. Whether he accepts that or not.'
"It might be time for us to move on," he advised the others. "We can leave a note for the others, but if two zombies made it in here, others will follow. We should try and increase our numbers."
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