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 Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:43 pm
November 25th...
((Note: Anyone is allowed to join :3 Although this is five days before the present, which I figured would have been at the point zombies might start showing up [as either full zombies, or sick people], but London has not been shut down as of yet [Which happens on the 30th] ))
The train cart shifted slightly as it moved, bouncing precariously over the old, rust colored tracks. Despite the slight jostling it moved speedily as if on a mission, crossing over the urbanite setting and further into the heart of London. The mechanical readout for the speeding tram, ironically read out "Waterloo", and continued on with a tickering noise.
Passengers huddled into the cart seemed to put up with the noise and the bounce as they sat on hard plastic seats. For the most part, none seemed aware that within the next five days there city would fall and be locked under a massive quarantine. For now, all most people knew was that there was a strange bug floating around; and those who took special attention of the news probably heard about the series of bizarre murders and aggressive behavior happening about the citizens of London- and no one really linked the two together. After all, there had been a very nice doctor on the news just four days before assuring everyone that the infection was sealed within the walls of the hospital. London was a tough city regardless- whatever sort of bug was buzzing about would fade in just a matter of time...
Sitting in the third row of seats from the sliding doorway which so monotonously opened every now and then, a man sat with a newspaper folded across his lap. For the most part the train was full, save for a few seats in the back and most adjacent seat besides the man which currently housed his briefcase. It was black and made with leather, held together at the corners with a gold clasp which read simply "H." There was no mistake that the man had put it there with the attention to ward off any likely strange folk from sitting beside him as he read his newspaper.
If he had been standing, it would have been apparent that he was a tall man; just grazing six one. In comparison to the people surrounding him, his skin was of a rather dark shade, although considered pale from the region he was from. The man sported a most serious expression of someone who perhaps thought too much, and pale green eyes which almost always appeared wider then they really were. He was dressed officiously in a black suit and a rather bad blue and yellow tie. Despite the neatness of his attire, his overall features were not- he needed a shave, and probably could have done with a more even haircut sometime in the past week. The tag across his suitcase in the overhang stated he was newly arrived from London INTL.
"LONDON- MORE RENEGADE GANGs PREY ON DOWNTOWN DISTRICT" His eyes scanned across the paper headline, and turned the page. He'd never given the British much credit for being able to manage their country- an opinion which arrived mostly from his French connections. He scrolled back towards the business section which was of much more interest to him then whatever was going on in local London. His stocks were down, which was disappointing him only because the one stock he had allowed his wife to purchase (Save The Ugly Animals INC) was actually rising. He had miserable karma.
Phib Hajir shifted, moving his hand to his chin to ponder the paper while in the background; a man began to hoarsely cough. The coughing continued until someone started to pound on his back. The man wheezed a thank you, and went back to tending to the bandage across his arm. Most of these things were lost on Phib, who usually prided himself on being observant. Elsewhere in the cart, similar people seemed rather under the weather- but it was winter, and the flu season was about. He didn't take much more concern to it other then thinking tat he could possible catch a cold from being in such close quarters with these people.
But above all, he just wanted for this trip to be over. He'd fly back to Marseilles, and perhaps take a week of vacation...
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:15 pm
In the corner of the train car, on a lone seat, a tall slender girl sat, a piece of notebook paper held in her hand, her eyes directed at it but obviously not focusing on it rat the moment. The chocolate orbs were glassy, hinting at the absent manner of her mind right now. Annika had always found riding the train a lulling sensation, the slight rocking back and fourth and the gentle hum, the peaceful oscillating view of the city out the windows.
She'd grabbed the one solitary seat by the door, glad at the chance of not having to sit next to someone new. These trains were always a bit tight and she hated being in close proximity with someone she didn't know. Some of the ones who'd sat beside her on previous trips turned out to be kind people, of course, but you could never know, and if it was an unsavory or even annoying patron of the train system, Annika had short patience for such, and an even shorter temper.
Especially now, as there had been reports of another flu outbreak in London. Annika hated few things more than being sick, and would not stand for sitting next to someone with the sniffles, turning her head away from them for the entirety of the ride and holding her breaths as long as she could to prevent an afflicment from spreading via air. Call her a hypochondriac, she wouldn't care. In her tomboyish childhood, she'd spent winters in Sweden coming down with a cold every two weeks. Now, she simply prefered otherwise.
Jolted to attention by the train halting at yet another stop-point the young woman glanced about the car. Her eyes settled momentarily on a dark skinned man with large light green eyes. Noting the slightly outlandish appearance, she wondered if, like herself, he was merely visiting London.
Mister Fiance had sent her on a trip to the market to collect groceries for the dinner tonight where they planned to wow his parents with the news. Annika still could hardly believe the development herself. She was engaged!
She couldn't keep a faint smile from crossing her lips as she glanced over the grocery list again, despite the thick throaty cough that rang from the other side of the car.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:08 pm
The train jostled once more, and Phib couldn't help but be bounced by the movements. He grumbled quietly to himself and folded his paper, crossing it across his lap and leaning back onto the plastic chair. It was really a horribly common way for him to be traveling, but among many things, he was also a bit of a cheapskate.
Dazed by the constant rocking at that foreign coughing, he pressed his head against his knuckles and stared vacantly out the window. They were passing more urban landscape now, and his eyes were flashing with the various scribbled graffiti which littered the sides of old buildings with broken windows. Roaming folk down below the tracks walked with their hands shoveled into their pockets, there eyes flat and dreary as if somewhat dead. Another cough echoed, this time from a woman, and it distracted Phib's attention from the window.
'You'll call me, yes? When you are of arriving to England?' The soft voice fluttered through his mind, and at once, he started to feel around his pockets. He'd forgotten that he had promised his wife (three times in fact), that he'd give her a call. It wouldn't have mattered if it was anyone else, but knowing her she'd be anxiously awaiting his call and in the meantime, thinking of all the millions of insane, and utterly bizarre tragedies that might have befallen him.
His fingers grasped the edge of his cell phone within the bottoms of his pocket, and he withdrew, pulling it to his face and typing a quick number on the phone. He decided he'd call Feira's home in Marseilles, rather then Ryoku's phone. She never charged it.
With a deft switch of fingers, he leaned back in the uncomfortable chair, and pressed the phone to his cheek. He frowned, and pulled it away to look at the screen, which simply flashed "No service!" What kind of country was Britain anyways? He frowned, but shook it off. He'd have to use the hotel phone once he arrived there- it wasn't like it couldn't wait an hour or so.
He sighed, and went back to resting his hands on his knuckles. It figured anyways. The flight hadn't been very good coming over either; although one would logically think a flight from Paris to London would have been shortly dispatched. Idly, he thumbed his lip. Although he'd never admit it, he was already missing the silly girl. At least she'd be with friends, she always came back with a whole variety of crazy stories to tell him. Feira was expecting a little girl soon, so that would no doubt be the topic of conversation for the next month and a half.
Suddenly, the coughing sound in the back began to get a little more harsh. He frowned furiously and crossed his arms. He needed a cigarette like hell.
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:07 pm
As the sticky cough persisted, Annika's nerves grew increasingly shot. Now she was starting to get worried. The guy over there was practically spewing as she watched him out of the corner of her good eye. He rocked back and fourth violently, a heavy hacking running through his body as people in the car began to stare. Annika turned her head quickly with the rest. Her eyes widened as the man lurched up, careening toward her, still coughing.
Before the girl could move, the man had grabbed her shoulders to steady himself. Annika froze, instinctually clamping her mouth shut and wrinkling her nose as she leaned back in her seat as if to get away from him.
"Ta--Tha--T-Tissue." He gasped before another cough racked his form. Annika struggled against him, but his grip tightened. Impulsively, the girl leapt up, hand beating violently on his chest, forcefully knocking his unbalanced back form to the other side of the train.
"Get off of me!" She screamed as if in an afterthought as her mind raced. His head had hit hard on the seat before he fell to the ground. People were already crying out and moving away from the body. Annika stood, frozen in the train.
Ohshitohshitohshit. She'd better not have killed him!
The man's body stirred and the girl breathed in relief which disappated quickly when his form began to shake with violent spasms before coming to a rest...
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:56 pm
Despite the all the clunky noises the train seemed to make as it moved, Phib was just starting to feel himself lulled as the train hummed. Late nights were not something he was unused to, but there was something oddly draining about the air in London. He felt rather far away from home- both of them, and his eyes slightly drooped as he peered outside the window and the oddly monotonous urban setting.
This was, of course, until the man's hacking cough reached a final fever. All of a sudden, the man sprung from the chair in a fluster of tightly bound, and slightly slimy from mucus, winter clothes. He started to gasp out the word tissue in a hoarse and sticky voice, and the commotion jolted both Phib, and everyone else on this section of the train to the man's display.
He didn't rise at first, but he did turn his head to look between the cracks between the seats. He saw the flash of a woman with a red kerchief pass by, and through the slips, a girl pressed to the window, her purple tinted hair flustering back as a man reached forwards with stubby fingers demanding a tissue. "Get off of me!" Suddenly shrieked out, and someone blocked his view. Automatically, he found himself reaching to his hips and feeling for the heavy deadweight of a gun which normally accompanied him- but instead, he felt only fabric and a leather belt. ******** British, this was the reason he needed his gun.
Phib rose, placing his knee on the end of the chair so he could see above the crowd of people who quickly swarmed around the man as he was knocked backwards, and went stumbling a few seats down before crashing down with a sickening heap. Phib focused his green eyes upon the man as he suddenly took one last wheezing gasp, and started to violently convulse.
"Oh, s**t." Phib mouthed, and leaned a bit further.
"Everyone stay away from him!" Suddenly someone shouted from the front, and a large woman started to shove aside the crowds. She practically threw a younger man out of the way, dropping with a thump to her knees and grabbing the seisuring man's head.
"What are you doing?" Garbled another woman from beside, while a few others started to back off as the man began to increase in convulsions, slightly drooling.
"I'm a nurse!" She spat, and put her hand against the man's mouth and forced it to close as he shook, in efforts to keep him from biting his tongue. Her greased back blonde hair fell over her pasty skin.
Phib squinted his eyes. He'd seen people go into seizures before, so he was beginning to loose the adrenalin rush of concern. His eyes darted, catching a glance at the girl who pushed him look on in horror.
The man trembled a few more times, before he lay suddenly still in mid bounce. The murmuring in the car suddenly stopped, and even he felt caught up in the collective hold of breath. But when the man no longer took any more, people slowly forced themselves to live again. The nurse removed her hand quickly from the man's chin, and pressed it to his neck. She squinted her eyes together, and removed it without a word. She didn't say anything- but everyone knew what the silence meant.
"He's dead!" Screamed an old woman from the back, who followed it by a low moan, and she walked to the far back of the train.
The nurse spat, and shook her hand, resting it once more on the dead man's chin. "Would someone ******** stop the train!"
It was then that something peculiar happened. Phib was about to turn around and become rather disgruntled about the train wait, when the man suddenly came back to life. At once, people sucked in breaths that had been escaped, and the nurse turned around with wide eyes to look upon the pale and foggy eyes of the man who had returned.
"Sir, are you alri-" The man awkwardly opened his mouth, and began to sputter and drool. Suddenly, he sat upwards, biting fiercely onto the hand of the nurse, and quickly drawing blood. She gave him a quick shove in the nose and yanked her hand free, blood flowing from the wound. "What in the hell-?!"
People started to get concerned, and pushed back to the train corners. The man hadn't gotten up yet, he seemed to be twitching and confused.
Phib stepped away from the seat, and shoved a smaller woman out of the way so now he was only three people between the deranged man and himself. He wasn't sure what he wanted to see, but now things were getting throttling.
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:24 pm
Annika was jostled aside as the nurse ran up, and she hissed angrily through her teeth as she stumbled, the train's motion sending her towards a metal pole by the door for passengers to hold onto. The girl shot out a hand, latching on and stabling herself as the supposed nurse leaned over the patient.
Annika merely grit her teeth at the verdict, tilting her head to the side in a slight wince. Good god. At least no one was blaming her yet. Her heart began to pump as the old woman screamed 'He's dead!" What had she done?
Suddenly, the man's body began to quiver. Did muscle spasms happen to the dead? But the man's head reared up, latching onto the nurse's pale hand and drawing blood.
"Oh my ******** god." Annika muttered slowly as the body rolled over on it's side, its hands beating deftly against the bottom of the car. The dead-man's eyes had glossed over white, Annika saw them as the body hoisted itself into a push up position. Suddenly, it clawed out at the nurse, who for some reason was still sitting, mute and stunned, staring at her hand and the body in turns.
"Jesus christ!" She screamed, leaping up as the teeth snapped again at her again.
"What in the hell is going on here?" The violet haired girl yelled to the dark-skinned man. He had seemed to have some control of the situation earlier.
The body, now making strange groaning noises, crawled towards the metal pole opposite from Annika's, grabbing on and trying to pull itself to it's feet with weak arms.
Aunngggh... uhnhh... arrnnn...
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:36 pm
What in the hell was going on? What was wrong with these people- and why were they just standing there? Phib shot a quick glance to the girl who had fallen backwards against the pole, asking him sharply the same question he was thinking himself. As he didn't have an answer, he returned his glance upon the man, who was now stumbling to his feet. He precariously tottered do to the thrusting of the train, wheezing and bending his head backwards. He bubbled spit in a totally subhuman manner, and turned around with a sudden bout of grace, and leapt upon the old woman with the red bonnet, who had previously moved from the seat behind Phib to the back of the train when the man had died.
The old woman shrieked a dry scream, and Phib decided that he'd had enough of the people standing in front of him. It wasn't that he was looking for a fight, or was even so compelled to be stopping this creature- but there was something that was making his blood pound. That, and well, it was just a ******** old lady. Sometimes you just have to help people.
But by the time Phib managed to shove the second guy, a rather larger man then him who was staring dumbstruck with the end of a car and chewing on the corner of a paper bag, the lunatic had left the old woman a bloody mess when he was thrown off by bald man in a muscle shirt. The smaller, previously quite dead man began to grapple with the other, having surprisingly sharp reflexes for someone with epilepsy.
The final person stood in Phib's way, this one being the nurse who was so horrified over what had happen that she stood in the center of the aisle, her ride sides pressing against the horrible plastic seats and the corners of her lipstick smeared from rubbing against her wounded hand. It was impossible to move her.
A smash echoed, and the bald man fell to the floor as the man jumped upon his chest with a 'thunk', clawing the man's bare head with his dirty fingernails. Luckily now more people were starting to rise to action. A younger man was trying to pull the crazed man off by the corners of his shirt, while the bald man sputtered as his face was brutally attacked.
The old woman who had seemed rather maimed started weeping and rested her head against the metal siding of the gap between the seats. Her kerchief seemed a bit redder then usual-
The younger man went flying and smacked against the end of a chair, and the crazed man decided he could not fend off both the bald man and the younger man. He ran with an ooof, tripping, and sliding across the floor with a squish. He rose, helping himself up by dragging himself across a woman's pant leg. The woman began to shriek as he started to make biting attempts at her bare stomach.
Phib decided the nurse was unable to move herself, and with a leap he moved across the chairs, and leapt over the side of it. Once he had, he quickly realized he currently wasn't even armed- he didn't even have a knife thanks to the damned British authority. France's security was so much easier to bribe.
The man pulled from the woman as another person grabbed and clawed at him, and the man stumbled with a wheeze and a sputter of red blood. He caught site of Phib standing directly before him and made a lunge, when someone behind him caught the end of his pant-leg. The crazed man fell forwards with a groan and fell to the floor a few inches before Phib. But before the man could react, he jerked forward, and bit Phib sharply on the foot.
Phib decided he was sufficiently glad he was wearing boots, as the man chewed furiously to try and get through the leather. He made no contact with his foot beneath both the sock and touch leather- but he did make considerable contact with the metal toe of the other boot as Phib swung it upwards and caught him directly in the nose. There was a snap, and in what should have been a bloody mess, the lunatic wheezed and floundered in a roll. Instead of blood pouring from his broken nose, he began to try and crawl down the aisle after Phib had displaced himself. The lunatic stood, and tripped sharply over the nurse, and turned his head in confusion to find the young girl with purple hair pressed against the pole. He stretched out his hand to grab her, his mouth gaping with a confused gasp.
Phib turned, still a bit stunned that there hadn't even been any blood (Had he not kicked that hard?) and climbed back over the chair- but not before the dead man made another pawing attempt at the girl.
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:55 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:00 pm
Phib cleared the top of the chair with a thud, slipping slightly on some of the drooled blood the once dead man had slobbered about. He caught himself with the pole, and moved quickly past the nurse and the old woman, grabbing the end of the man's jacket. The young girl underneath him was shrieking something terrible, and he found himself yanking the man harder then he had meant- subsequently throwing him off balance when the once dead man fell subsequent to the other man's strength.
Phib twisted, attempted to keep himself away from the front side of the man, and instead of falling backwards directly he forced the crazed man into the seat slot he had just come from, knocking him against the wall, and himself falling against the pole with a stumble. That hadn't been very smart- but before he could remind himself about that, the man was back up (didn't that nose hurt?) and flung himself back at Phib.
Although he wouldn't know this until later- it was rather fateful that day he happened to be wearing a suit. The man scratched at Phib's arms, drawing bloody fingers against the fabric of the suit, but like the boots, he was unable to grasp flesh. Frustrated and starving, the man opened his drool stained mouth and let out a fanatical scream. It ended in a sort of strange groaning howl, and Phib took this chance to grab him once more against the back of the neck, turning him around so he could only thrash his hands backwards. Phib leaned as far back as he could as the man thrashed, trying not to let him get at his face.
The man suddenly felt rocketed with a sudden burst of strength, and Phib felt the man's shoulders suddenly flinch in the most unnaturally quivering way, and pulled from Phib's grasp. But as if he had been totally oblivious to his prior battle with the tall man, the once dead man leapt onto the nearest man, who had been chewing the end of the paper bag. The man wheezed in surprised, but toppled over in a lump of fat against the plastic chairs.
By now, people were rather aware that the situation had grown dire- no one could contain this beast! What had happened here? A few people began to pound on the door, and Phib happened to notice the face of twenty people from the next car pressed diligently against their glass- but more pleased then horrified that this man had not been in their car. Their eyes stared forward in a manner Phib did not like, all shimmering eye whites against the hazed and graffiti glass. Didn't anyone have the brains to stop the train?
A woman was pounding on the once dead man's back, attempting to get him off the large man who had crashed in a heap against the orange and blue plastic train chairs. Phib snapped back out of the hypnotic glance of the passengers in the other car, and tried once again to remove the crazed man from the other. This time he was less concerned about the other man's life, and sharply swung him around, and the dead man's head cracked against the metal pole. Phib stumbled from the recoil and pressed against the end of the chair, which had been made slick with flecks of blood.
The dead man seemed stunned, and he grabbed at his hair, knocking to the ground a funny orange hat. He had a bald center of the head, and the lights played off of it as he fumbled. But obviously not out for good, he lurched to make another swipe at the girl who had been helping the old woman- when the trains stopped.
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In actuality, no one really drove the trains in London. Most of it was computer automated now a days. There was one conductor, who thanks to terrorism, sat alone in blocked off room from the rest of the train. Just minutes before the man would rise from the dead, he sat with his back to the control panel, a copy of the local newspaper against his knee. Occasionally his eyes fluttered to the automated tracking system. It showed a little red dotted train gently grazing alongside other moving trains in the system, diligently and perfectly synchronized to one another. There really wasn't much to the job, only to watch the system for any irregularities, and even when there was the train's computer could all but fix the problem for itself.
So which is why, a minute later when the man started seizures, the man at the head of the train took a sip of coffee. It was a rather good brand- Ethiopian, he believed, and he hoped the train company had paid a bundle for it, for it seemed like he wasn't getting payed enough. Another minute passed as slowly the passengers from one car to the other began to react to what was going on five cars down. A stewardess made her way quickly down the aisle, and typed in a quick number on the keypad which would open the main helm to the train. She rushed in, a flush on her face.
The conductor looked upwards, sipping his coffee. "Yes?"
"Sir, a man has just died. We're going to need to stop the train."
"Good god!" He gasped in sympathy, and looked around the tracks. "Is he...contained?"
"Last I saw there was a nurse with him." The stewardess spoke.
"Alright, I'd better radio in to get clearance before stopping the train, there's no sense in rushing a dead man."
------------------------------
Meanwhile, the dead man seemed to think otherwise, as he rose from the dead and bit the nurse. A few minutes later, Phib jumped over the chair and pulled the man off Annika.
The radioing came in- they had clearance to immediately stop the train. No buts asked- the head station would not have a dead, possibly infected body arriving at the main station in Waterloo. Absolutely ******** not.
The train stopped, and like all good passengers, they were not in their seats. The crazed man, and almost everyone standing in the aisle, fell to flat to the ground. Even Phib attempted to grab the pole, but the force of the motion was so great that a second later he found himself laying back up on a now deadly still train. The dead man rose first.
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:44 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:29 pm
The sound of the train breaks slowing rattled Phib's head. When all finally came to a stop with a thrust of exhaust, it felt as though it had ended. The ride was over- time to get off now, thanks for playing. But as he lay there for a second, slightly stunned from whacking his head against the rather dirty floor of the train he heard the poor sad woman let out a dying gasp and give herself up, and then the screaming frustration of a younger voice, and the soft but familiar sound of -whump, the cane sliding through the air and crashing down on top of something semi hollow. And then- the train was silent.
It remained for a moment, before someone was recalled back to life, and began to pound against the door. The doors were automated- and at that moment, the conductor in his chair and the stewardess were unaware that the train contained anything more then one dead man. There was no reason to open the door and let a mob of outsiders flood the train. Before you knew it, the news would be here- and no, it was just better to contain the situation.
Phib took a breath, and rose to a sitting position, his eyes tracing the crowd for the man who had once been dead. He now, finally seemed deathly quiet. Utterly motionless, besides the slight trickle of whatever fluid was sliding from the cane the girl hung onto. His first thought of all this, was that it was going to take a lot of therapy to forget bashing someone's brains out. He felt somewhat guilty he'd not gotten up sooner. He took a sigh, as the man at the door was attempting to pry it open. Phib patted his breast pocket. He figured ultra violence was prohibited at least as much as smoking, and since one rule had been broken, it didn't seem like too much of a travesty if he had a smoke.
Phib pulled a cigarette out, pushed it between his fingers and was about to pull it up to his mouth when he realized that there was a body wedged between the seats. He put the cigarette in his mouth and leaned over the chairs. The man sat with his body most miserable wretched- but he was not unmoving. In fact, he was currently in the middle of an oddly familiar series of body shakes.
<******** hell." Phib gaped, and took another step forward. What the hell was this? He'd never seen anything like it, and he'd seen some pretty horrible s**t. He leaned forwards, a bit hypnotized by disbelief in the oddly similar way this man was twitching to the one who had died for a second time. It was impossible- he'd broke his neck. Phib's logic corrected, that's what was causing the twitching.
Another whack, and the man was trying to force his body through the door again. A voice came on the intercom which said, "Please will the passengers remain in their seats. An ambulance is coming."
"Ambulance." Phib remarked, his pale green eyes crossing about the collapsed people, most of them living, some of them not looking too moving. The man suddenly whacked something below him, and Phib's attention was redirected down to the thrusting man. In a moment- he had stopped. Phib watched him carefully as he remained still. He'd feel miserably guilty if he had neglected helping this person simply because he was too perplexed at the odd similarities between him and-
The man started to move again. Phib was glad he was not in the initial bite range. But the creature, now fully awoken twitched. He jerked, fixing his snapped neck and rose from the ground with a slight kink. He foamed, not having the initial taste of blood like his forefather, and stretching out miserable for Phib. This time, he was much more fed up with whatever the hell was going on, and with a sharp cut, he decked him across the face.
The undead fell down against the chair with a spout, and Phib couldn't help leaning back over. He shook his hand off of the slightly slimy feel it had, and noticed the swelling bite mark near the man's shoulder. That didn't seem very appealing...
The undead was back up again, this time, he crawled beneath the seat and away from Phib.
"Son of a-" Phib snapped, and climbed over the seat, as the undead crawled towards the main aisle.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 10:01 am
A human voice blared over the intercom and Annika felt a bubble of rage boil up in the pit of her stomach. An ambulance? They were going to need more than an ambulance. Five people had died on this train, and one of them had died twice. A goddamn ambulance wasn't about to save the day.
A small crowd of four or so panicked passedgers rushed for the doors, banging on them frantically, but they wouldn't budge.
At the crack of the deadman's neck being readjusted, Annika whirled to face the man who was now smoking. The body whose neck had been snapped had begun to move around as well, and Annika grabbed the cane again.
"What the <********>" She yelled to the whole train, the panic of the others catching hold of her, her heart pumping desperately at a furious speed. "Why the <********> do they get up and attack when they should be dead!"
At that outburst, she gripped the strong piece of hardwood tightly, her knuckles going white with a mixture of pressure and fear as the second body practically slithered down the main isle.
Backing up a few steps, and still keeping the cane close by, Annika grabbed onto an intercom phonebox on the side of the car that appeared to have a screw or two loose. She pulled as hard as she could on it, grunting slightly. Damn it, let go of the wall! If they could just heave this heavy box at the monster, maybe it would slow it from coming close enough to the tiny crowd of passengers huddling against the wall, weeping. Close enough that Annika would have to again use the cane, close enough that she would be in danger of having her jugular ripped out.
"Help me!" She yelled to no one in particular. By this time, the people in the next two cars were screaming with terror as well.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:59 pm
Phib heard the young woman's outburst somewhere in the back of his mind, but he was already focusing almost purely upon the dead man. Yes, it was rather strange that the dead were rising today- but something in him had walled itself up, and absolutely refused to put thought into it until he had time to reflect on the matter. This train was in desperate trouble now, if more of these things started showing up. He found himself once again climbing over the seats in a frantic attempt to stop the creature from crawling towards the remainder of the car's people. One girl seemed ready with a cane, but was quickly loosing nerve as she was unable to pry a large box from the wall- it had a phone cord dangling, and it looked like it might have been some sort of phone.
He quickly climbed over one final seat, moving a bit faster then the creature who was still rather confused as to his ability to walk. But now there was the body of the first undead- skull crushed in by the young girl with the cane, blocking his way. He snorted and drooled, his eyes rolling back for a second, before he started to tremble, and curl his back upwards. He was learning to stand.
Unfortunately, that was cut short as Phib climbed over the final seat between them, and landed directly on top of the creature, who instantly started a moanful shriek.
Phib gave a hard stamp to the center of the creature's head, but it was not enough to stop him from rolling. He had figured it was only a matter of time before the creature rolled, and he grabbed the end of the seat he had come from and pulled himself back on, just as the man rolled over and began to gnash his teeth at the air.
He was much quicker to stand now. His body curled forwards, and he began to slash his knobby fingers about. He still seemed most intent on the group of passengers in the back, and started to quickly shovel off after them. Phib groaned and crossed the chairs again, taking to the aisle now that the bodies were out of the way. The creature was running now, but it didn't take much more then a flick of Phib's foot to trip him, he had been running so aimlessly. The creature landed with a bouncing thud, and rolled beneath the seats to avoid another retaliation from Phib. Was he learning?...
Phib clambered by, turning so now that most of the living passengers were whelmed on one side, himself included. Only another man hung around at the opposite corner of the train, pale and motionless.
Phib flicked his green eyes about, quickly trying to formulate some sort of plan. The doors were sealed, but the undead was now beneath the chairs, and there was the door separation between them- the creature would have to come out in the open if he wanted to attack them directly. He attempted to motion for the pale man to quickly cross over to their side of the car, but the man's eyes seemed glazed with fear, and was no longer paying attention to anything but the creature.
Keeping his eye on the bottom of the orange seat, he moved to the door and gave it a good shove. It pushed forward at the seam, but would open no further without aide from the mechanical contraption. He tapped the windows, which were a kind of plastic clear siding. It would be hard to break them, if not impossible. But they could be removed perhaps... But he saw no latches or screws, and he found himself thinking too fast to focus on the windows. He moved back between the separation of the aisle and the seats, and made a stamping motion with his foot by the chair. Sure enough, a shadow slithered away with a slow wheeze.
It troubled Phib that the creature seemed a bit smarter then the other one- but at least it was not currently actively engaging them.
"The doors need to be open." He spoke to no one and everyone. "They won't break, so don't try to break them. There should be a latch to the next train, or a window with some form of emergency lever." It was likely their tram had been closed to avoid people crowding- so he did not believe the latch to the next train would work. But perhaps there was an emergency window... but with a fluttering of eyes, he could not see it. The only way out seemed the door, and they'd need something strong to pull it apart. Maybe a fire extinguisher could knock off the opening mechanism?
Suddenly, there was a scream, and the pale man fell beneath the seats. It would only be a matter of time before that other one returned.
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