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A new virus has emerged, and ushers in humanity's fight for survival. |
| [Introduction]
The Morningstar Strain, a name given to the virus recently discovered in Africa. Like most viruses this one does not show symptoms till up to a week after infection, then it's much like a flu virus: fever, sweating, some coughing.....but then it changes. Shortly afterwards "carriers" become violent towards all uninfected people, actively seeking them out. First stage carriers are referred to as "sprinters." They show an almost animalistic behavior, using pack hunting tactics or attacking in large group. Their primary source of ‘communication’ is inhuman howls and growling. By no means do they attack mindlessly, they sense on an almost primal level when in danger, slowly circling armed groups, watching, waiting for a chance to attack. Being human, means they are just a man, a women, and a child. This means what kills a human, kills them. killing a Sprinter creates a second stage carrier, know as a "Shambler", not much is known about how the virus does what it does for second stage carriers, all that is know is that "shamblers” are clinically dead. They are slower then Sprinters, usually only able to affect a slow limp or stagger after prey. There’s only one way to kill them, a single shot to the head or breaking their necks. All sprinters that do not receive a shot to the head will reanimate as one of the undead within a few minutes. In late summer the first few cases of Morningstar were reported in central Africa, these cases unfortunately were not seen for what they were till it was too late to do anything. By mid fall, most of Africa had been overrun by Morningstar. There seemed to be no chance to save the continent, the order was given, “Quarantine all of Africa.” By Late November, early December; all of Africa belonged to Morningstar but the U.N.'s quarantine seemed to have stopped the spread of the virus. What few refugees remained were processed before being sent for relocation. In late December, a disastrous battle at the Suez Canal breeched the quarantine. What remained of US military and refugees alike fled from the virus as it spread into the Middle East. By early-January reports of Morningstar had been reported in the US on both the east and the west coasts. By late January the government began fire bombing Washington D.C in an attempted to stop the spread of the Virus.... This is a story, of survivors on the west coast in the city of Calend as they try to stay alive in a city that is crumbling around them? Will they try to escape the city? Will they try and carve out a safe place within the city? Or...will they perish against the seemingly unstoppable virus known as The Morningstar Strain? This Campfire is based off the book "Plague of the Dead: The Morningstar Strain by Travis Adkins, I take no credit for any of the information in this book except for the fictional city of Calend. Handle: Character Name: Age: Bio: Appearance: Survivors: Handel: Scorch Character Name: Andy Carlson Age:20 bio: Andy was going to the city college and hadn't really been paying attention to the events going on overseas as he figured there was no way it could effect him. He had been in College to studdy drama, as he liked to act and had been involved with acting since he hit high school, where he discovered that he liked it. His family ahd helped him get int college by saving up money while he was in high school and try to send him at least a little wit each month. he worked at a private car parking lot. He is worryed about his parents but right now he is trying to stay alive inside the city. Apperance: Andy has medium length blond hair with green eyes. he is abut 5'10" with a slime figure and in better shape then most people his age but is in no way built like a jock as he only joged four times a week. he is dressed in a green long sleeve shirt and jeans with tenissis shoes on. Handle: evilguy Character Name: Desmond Willow Age: 21 Bio: Desmond grew up in Ohio and moved to Calend when he was 12. He managed to make a few friends in high school, but they all soon parted ways upon graduation. Since then he has managed to find a decent part time job at a fast food resteraunt while applying to several collages. He hasn't been accepted anywhere yet due to his poor grades, yet remains hopeful that he will be sooner or later. He is actually quite intelligent and much more clever than he lets on. His main weakness is his general laziness and unwillingness to do things that don't directly benefit him. Appearance: A tall 5'11 with long dark brown hair, a short goatee, and green eyes. He usually just dresses in jeans and a t-shirt, but will wear a hoodie if its cool outside. He is also fond of fingerless gloves. Handle: Perpetual.Sorrow Character name: Mahmoud Tabsh Age: 20 years old. Bio: Mahmoud is a lebanese exchange student who arrived two years before the outbreak of the infection and everything went to hell to study medicine. He had a bit of sense to know when the virus was first announced that things were only going to get worse so he stacked a bit on the resources but being a foreigner meant he had no means of getting a decent weapon. That was a while ago though and now all he still had was a few crackers and whatever remained from his bottle of water. His weapon of choice was a bow and a wide selection of arrows which he took from the nearby sports utility store. He thought he could always retrieve the arrows but that proved difficult when the sprinters were chasing you so he was holding back on using them while trying to find something else to use. Appearance: Mahmoud has short messy black hair. He has on a black shirt and grey pants with white runing shoes. He chose those clothes for versatility and comfort. He is slightly tanned just like every inhabitant of the middle east. He keeps his bow over his shoulder and a quiver of his arrows on his back. Killing all the shamblers gave him a bit of a steady hand which should have helped had he finished becoming a surgeon. Mahmoud is thin bordering on unhealthy but then again who isnt given the current lack of resources. Handle: Sap Character name: Mark Astral Age: 25 Bio: Not much is know about this man, even to himself. The first thing he remembers is waking up in a hospital in Africa. Suffering from amnesia, he leaves the hospital and finds that everyone around him is either dead, or walking dead. Not knowing the horror that's happened while he was asleep, he wanders Africa until he comes across an outpost to contain the virus that's spreading throughout. After he gets detained by the people there, they preform countless tests on him to see if he's been infected or not. Not only do they find out he's not one of the infected, but they also find out he has what would be later be known, as the Morningstar antibodies. Not long after that, information leaks out about a cure to Morningstar, people from all over Africa assault the outpost, trying to get some of the antibodies for themselves. Three days after the bloody assault, everyone looks everywhere for the cure, but the assault itself destroyed all of the samples, and Mark Astral was nowhere to be found. Thus, everyone involved concluded that Mark was killed during the assault, and that the only known cure for the Morningstar Strain...was lost. However, unknown to everyone else, a certain person helped Mark escape from the base before it was assaulted. It was during the three day assault this person chartered a flight to the US, to a place called Calend, which was considerably far away from Africa. Wishing Mark the best of luck, the person sees him off, and hopes for him to have a life of peace and happiness away from the virus. But as Mark soon finds out, there is no such thing as peace and happiness in this world. Only chaos and madness. Appearance: 5'11". Tan colored body. Sports a prototype camo suit that he took from the outpost during his escape, normally looks like a all black outfit with gloves, hood, long boots that go up to his knees, and even a pair of pitch-black shades. Long face with no hair on it. His hair color is a bright golden yellow, and his eye's are purple with a tint of red in them. |
| Andy sat on the ground behind the counter of a store, his hand clamped over his mouth to try and quiet his breathing, a .38 revolvor he ahd found on the ground a few days ago cluntche din his hand. he could hear the shambler moving aroudn the store on the other side of the ounter, he hoped to god it would leave seeon and not hear him because he didn't really know how to use the gun that well. Andy ahd been in his dorm when the virus hit the city and hadn't had a clue anything was wrong till he ehard the screams from the other dorm rooms and the crashing sounds as the carryer's bashed down the doors. Andy ahd been lucky, he was in the last room at the end of the hall, furthest from the stairs so he had warning, though at first he didn't know waht was going on and when he did realize somthignwa swrong it was becasue they were bashing down his door too. The only way Andy ahd been able to escape was to jump from the window of his room, luckly being on the second story so he was fine, and had paused a few seconds to feel sorry for he other's on the upper floors as their was no where for them to go. Andy had spent the next couple of day runnign all over the city, trying tog et to one safe area after another, only to find it had been over run. he had thought his luck was finaly changing when he foudn the revolvor in the street, but it seems it hadn't as an hour later he ahd been serching the store for some water when the shamber had wandered in, luckly Andy ahd been behind the counter at the time and seen it in the mirror used to catch shoplifters. Now though he was traped and the shambler would see him if he trying for the abck door and would alert the others. |
| "God damn it, I don't think I can get around them..." Desmond muttered to himself as he peeked around the corner out at the street from the alleyway he was in. He had gotten seperated from his family a few days ago and only had a double barrel shotgun with a meager 2 shells to defend himself with. "I just had to give dad that box of shells before..." He let himself trail off, woundering if his family had even made it away from the truck alive. "I had to run away just to avoid being completely overwhelmed by those... things." He ducked behind a dumpster as he moved a little closer to the street. He peeked out again to see exactly what he was up against. "One... two... three... crap. One less and I could just kill them and walk away. Oh well, at least they all seem to be the slow, hard to kill ones. Those fast things... that attacked me and my family..." He shivered as he remembered the sight of those things moving in on him... his family getting farther and farther away as he was forced to flee into a nearby building. With a deep breath Desmond ran out onto the street and shoved one of the Shamblers aside as he fired a shot into anothers chest. Blood flew from its ribcage as it fell to the ground. Knowing better than to wait for it to get back up, Desmond ran down the street and onto the next. When he was sure he had lost them he climbed through the broken window of a ruined bookstore, eager for a rest. He walked into the back room, placed his shotgun on the floor in front of him, and sat down against the wall. "Time for a short rest..." He mumbled as he pulled the last bottle of water he had from his backpack and took a long sip. |
| Andy could still hear the shambler moving around, but it semed to ahve moved closer to the front of the store now. Slowly, He startedd to inchs his way down the counter towards the abck exit of the store, there was an area of about 20 feet where he'd be exposed but he might be able to make it. Andy soon reached the edge of the counter and took a deep breath, then shot out from behind the count, sprinting for the back door, he heard the shambler moan as it heard somthing and was coming to investigate the noise. Andy hit the door and pushed, the door opened into a small ahll that lead to a abck exit, thank god it wasn't locked. He sprinted down the hall and to the abck door, it exited into an allyway that was epty of carriers. Andy slamed the door behind him and sat agisnt it, trying to stop his ahnds fron shaking, and loosening his grip on this gun as he panted. |
| Desmond downed the last of his water and put the empty bottle back in his backpack. "Guess thats the last of it, better find a store soon." He said to himself as he stood up and retreved his shotgun. "Just one shell left... I'll have to make it count." He walked towards the door and put his ear to it. The sounds of the infected could be heard off in the distance, but one was closer... much closer. To make matters worse it sounded like a Sprinter. "Ohhh crap. Its one of those fast ones and its probably getting closer. I'd best move before it gets here..." Desmond wispered as he silently pushed the door open and stepped back out into the bookstore. Carefully, Desmond made his way past the shelves and book wwithout making a peep. Things were looking up, he might just make it out of here in one piece. He walked around an empty shelf and turned to face the front door... He didn't know how he'd missed her, how she managed to sneak up on him. There, standing in the doorway, was a teenaged girl with a trail of blood running down her mouth onto her shirt. "Shit!" Desmond yelled as he made a run for the broken window. The girl immediately broke into a run and chased after him. "No! Its one of the sprinting ones!" Quickly, he made a leap through the window out onto the street and swung his shotgun at the girl right as she jumped through after him. The barrel of the weapon collided with her left cheek and knocked her to the ground as a few teeth and blood spilled onto the sidewalk around her. Without another word or any remorse Desmond pulled the trigger and filled what was left of her face with buckshot. "Jesus... " Desmond stuttered as he began running from the bookstore, not even bothering to make sure the thing was dead. He had just spent his last shell on that girl and for the most part he was now totally defenceless. He began to pant as he rounded another empty street and breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes fell upon a broken-into supermarket with a corpse slumped against the door. Finally, some good luck. Desmond walked up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked from the inside. "Not good." He mumbled as he stepped past the corpse, who up close seemed to have a bullet hole in his forehead. The display window was broken, yet not enough that Desmond could simply climb in. "Looks like I'll have to break some of the glass and hope they don't hear me..." |
| After he calmed down some Andy got up off the ground and looked down the allyway in both directions. He hadn't done that when he first ran out here and was glad to see that there were no carriers in sight. "Ok Andy, calm down, you've made it this far, you jsut ahve to keep a cool head about yourself. come up with a plan." he siad as he pased up and down the ally way. "ok, what do you have?" he said, he looked at the .38. "I have a gun and six bullets..."He said and looked at the rest of himself, that was all he ahd. "Ok...you need more bullets, food and water...."he saidthinking out loud. "where do you get those..." Pasing back and forth and talking out loud in an allyway probabaly wasn't such a good idea, but Andy was still shaking from his last encounter with the Carriers. " Shit Andy, you don't even really know where you are, much less where a store might be. "he said. |
| Desmond chipped away some of the broken glass with the butt of his gun before delivering a few swift whacks to shatter enough of it to let him climb inside. Careful not to cut his fingers he quickly moved inside and made his way to the front counter while listening for any sounds of the infected. Fortunately, all he heard were his own quiet footsteps in an empty store. "Looks like I'm still alone..." He said as he hopped over the counter to check for supplies. Underneath the counter on a shelf was another shotgun with 2 shells loaded in it, but even better was a half empty box of shotgun shells. "Score, just what I needed!" Desmond whispered as he reloaded his own shotgun and put a couple shells in his pants pockets. The rest of the box was added to a pouch on his backpack. "Alright, almost a dozen more shots... now I'll be able to search this store without much worry. Now, where to begin...?" |
| Andy decided he wouldn't be finding a store standing around here, but that somthing might find him, so he picked a random direction and left the allyway. Luckly there seemed to be only a few carriers in the streets so Andy could just run between the wrecks on the road and avoid them seeing him. As andy was running between two cars he didn't see the small space between two buildings, till he hears the yell and a sprinter charged out at him. "shit!"he said as the sprinter, looked to have been a cop at one point, tackle him to the ground. It was all Andy could to to keep the snaping jaws of the former cop from sinking into his flesh. Out of the conor of his eye he saw that the shamblers that he ahd been avoiding had heard the cry and were now making there way over to where the two struggled. "damnit, get the fuck off!" Andy shoved the sprinter off of himself, it was amazing what andreanlin could do. Andy rolled to his feet and took off running down the street, the sprinter and shamblers in hot pursuit. |
| Desmond almost didn't spot the elderly man walking towards him as he looted the shelves. Almost. The old man made a dive for him just as he swung his shotgun, which knocked him backwards with the force of the blow. Desmond then quickly fired a single shot and put an end to the abonination before reloading and resuming his work. Outside he could hear sounds off in the distance and knew he didn't have long before more of these things got here. "Let's see... 5 bottles of fresh water, chips, snack cakes, and it probably couldn't hurt to see if I could find a bottle of vitamins or asprin." Desmond checked his backpack to make sure there was still room and headed over to the small store's pharmacy. "Don't mind me... I'm just grabbin' pills...ha ha!" He said as he climbed over the counter, careful not to disturb the corpse of the woman hanging over the side. Hopefully, it wouldn't take long for him to find what he needed. |
| Andy ran down the street, he had lsot the the shamblers but he couldn't seem to shake the sprinter cop, no mater what he did the it was right on him, only a few feet behind him. he had no choice, he was going to have to deal with it. Andy stoped and turned, bringing the gun up he squeezed the triger, the sound was loud and the kick was strong, the revolor almsot flew from his hand. unfortently his first shot when wide and missed, as did his second shot. but his third managed to carch the sprinter in the neck and spin him around and causing him to fall. The sprinter was still alive and was starting to get up, andy could hear the gurgling as it breathed. before it could rise andy ran over and put the gun to the back of it's head and fire. Andy stared down at the formor cop. he ahd never killed anyone ebfore, enver even thought about it realy, it always seemed to easy in game, but this? Andy turned and threw up on the ground. once he was finished and standing up right, whiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve he saw it, the cop still had his gun in the holster and he had three clips for it on his belt. Andy quickly grab the clips and poketed them before he drew the pistol and sliping it into his waistband before looking around. he spoted a store, it msut ahve been luck that he'd run right up to one while trying to flee, but he could get food at least. Andy went over to the door and froze for a second, then reaslizing the body on the door was dead, a hole through it's head. he tryed the door but it was locked, but the window by it was broken so he was able to squeeze inside. he then went to find somthing to eat and some water, keeping the revolor out. |
| "Let's see... children's cough syrup, some fancy long word stuff, some fancy long word stuff, tums... I'll pocket these just in case, some long fancy word stuff..." Desmond said aloud to himself as he skimmed the shelves, looking for what he needed. "Asprin...asprin... ah ha! Here we go!" He exclaimed with excitement upon finding a few bottles of the painkiller. "Okay, its not morphine... but it'll help... Oh, and what's this?" Desmond reached out and grabbed a large clear plastic case from the top shelf and opened it. "Gauze, band aids, moist towelettes, disinfectant... yep, this is a fully stocked first aid kit. I'll have to leave a few snacks behind to make room for this, but it'll be worth it." With that he took a large bag of chips out of his backpack and stuffed the first aid kit inside. "Alright, now I just... wait..." Desmond crouched below the counter and made sure his shotgun was loaded. He could hear the faint sound of glass cracking. Something was making its way in through the window... |
| Andy looked aroudn the front of the store where the checkout lanes were, he didn't hear anything so that was a good sign. He'd ahve to hurry though as the shooting he did out front was loud and would atract more of them. he headed for the coolers at the back of the store as there would be water near them, or at least that's how it was at the store he used to go to when the world wasn't so fucked up. he ahd the revolor out still, it only ahd two shots left but then he had the cops pistol he could use if need be, come to think of it he should probably see about finding a meelee weapons and maybe a pack of some kind. |
| "Crap, something's in here with me..." Desmond thought to himself as he listened to the sound of footsteps coming from the front of the store. He dared not peek over the counter for fear that if it saw him it would alert the others. "There could be a dozen of these fuckin' things out there..." Desmond wispered through his gritted teeth. "Well, I'm not gonna just sit here... I'm going to at least put an end to that thing before they surround me." When he was sure the coast was clear again Desmond leaped over the counter and headed over to where he was sure he'd heard the thing, maybe he'd even be able to catch it off guard. When he got there... he couldn't see anyone... living or dead. "What the hell?! It was just here!" Desmond growled under his breath. "It must be one of the ones who can run..." Desmond paused for a second and listened carefully. It took a few seconds, but he soon heard more footsteps coming from the back of the store. "Its on the move again, I'll have to hurry and sneak up on it while I have the chance..." He said as he moved towards the back at a slow and steady rate, making sure that he could hear the intruder at all times. "Almost... almost... I've got you..." He smiled as he raised his shotgun and waited for the infected to try and walk past him. |
| Andy was moving down the asile heading for the back of the store where the friges were, and the water, when he heard something moving in the back and froze. one of those things was in here with him. Andy slowly started to back up, raising the 38 and pointing it towards the back of the store as he backed up. he needed the water and food in the back of the store as it had been yesterday when he ahd last ate anything and he didn't know when he last had a drink. he also ahd to hurry as the gun shots early would ahve atracted more of them and he didn't know how long it would take them to find wher he was. Andy headed back down the asile and started to slowly creep up the asile at the end, near the wall, he was going to ambush the thing before it ambushed him. |
| "Just a little closer..." Desmond thought to himself as his grip tighten on the shotgun, ready to pull the trigger. "That's it, I can't let it get any closer, even if its a walker..." With one final deep breath Desmond jumped from cover and aimed the barrel of his gun right at the midsection of the thing, though he couldn't quite bring himself to pull the trigger. The person he had just aimed at got a surprised look on his face, but quickly aimed his own gun at Desmond. A few seconds passed as the two just stared at each other. "It can't be... another living human?" Desmond questioned silently as he lowered the barrel of his weapon slightly. The other person seemed to take the cue and relaxed his grip on his own weapon, though he didn't take it off his possible enemy. "Who... who are you? Are you infected?" Desmond finally asked. |
| Andy held the gun on the gguy with the shotgun, he was happy to his his hand was only shaking a little bit,e vne though Andy was scared shitless. as the guy slowly lowered his gun, andy held his up a second more befoe slowly lowing it. "a-Andy...."he said, asnwering the man. "and ...yeah...i'm not iffected.......why ar eyou in here?"he asked, then he remebred. "shit, i came in here to find som food and water and get out before those damn thing show up.'He said pushing past the guy. "we need to hurry, i'd recomend you grab what you na nd run, this area will be swarming with them any minute. "he said grabing a back-pack that was ontop of the Freezers, some kidna drawig prize if he gessed right and started filling it with water bottles and then grabing some caned food and such. He could see the other guy was doing the same. "the pharmacy!" Andy said, he stoped filling his bag and ehaded for the pharmcy to start grabing random drugs, he didn't know much about what he was grabing, but it wouldn't hurt to have. |
| "I already checked most of the shelves, other than a first aid kit this is all mostly weak stuff. Just things like asprin, pepto bismol, and light pain killers. Maybe some placebos somewhere too, I don't know." Desmond said as he kept an eye out while his new alley double checked for supplies. "I grabbed one or two of anything that looked useful along with a small supply of food and water. Oh, and I found a case of shells for my shotgun along with a spare up near the counter, if you like you could take that before we leave here. I'd be more than happy to share the ammo, I've got more than enough for right now." Things were uneventful for the few minutes it took for Andy to get done with his looting and soon the two were ready to move on. "Alright, looks like we got all we can carry for now, we should get going before they find us here. Where do you think we should go to next? I don't know the layout of this part city all that well since I moved here from Ohio when I was a teenager..." Desmond said as he moved over to the shattered window to look up and down the street before climbing out. |
| Andy had grabed a few things from the pharmacy anyways, you never knew what you could need, before he serched for the shot gun the other guy had told him about, he should ask him, but right now they needed to leave, now. Grabing the shotgun Andy put the revolor in the backpack, he still had the cop's gun in his waist band, and then followed the guy out. "anywhere's better then here right now, come on." He siad as he started to head up the street, trying to watch every direction at once as he could hear the screams the sprinters and the moans of the shamblers coming this way. "shit...i'm not sure where we should go, everywhere i think i should go has already been overrun. "andy said as they joged down the street, he took this opatunity to ask the guy his name. |
| "Desmond Willow. How about you?" Desmond asked as he began walking down the street in the opposite direction he had come from earlier. "Andy. Pleased to meet you Desmond." His new friend replied as Desmond handed him some extra shells. "Take these in case we get seperated. You never know what could happen out here." Andy nodded and the two continued down the street until they can to an innersection. "Looks like we're not alone..." Desond called as he pointed at an old man stumbling down the street with a slight limp. A single blast echoed out as a massive hole appeared in the man's torso, quickly followed by another that took off a chunk of the man's head. "Now we are." Andy replied as he popped the chamber open and loaded a couple more shells. "Let's keep moving before more of those things find us." Desmond nodded and followed closely as the two moved past the fresh corpse and further down the road... |
| "Fuckin' hell, move!" Desmond yelled as he and Andy rounded another street corner with half a dozen sprinters following close behind. "I told you not to go down that alley!" Andy yelled as he fired a shot into the torso of a fat man with a beard. "Dammit, there was a woman moving next to the dumbster and she looked hurt, how was I supposed to know there was a nest of these things nearby!" Desmond shouted back as he took off a chunk of the man's head with one of his own shots. "We're almost out of ammo, Desmond. We have to get away from them somehow!" Andy called as he fired another shot into the knee of a woman in front of a little boy. She quickly stumbled over, causing the boy and a skinny man in hoodie to stumble over the fallen body. "Andy what are you doing? You need to hit them in the head or they'll get back up!" Desmond yelled as he jumped over a decayed body lying on the side of the sidewalk. "It won't do us any good to try and kill them, I only have one shell left and there are still some following us. At this rate, one of us may have to slow them down so that the other can make a getaway." Andy said in a regretful tone. "That's suicide, who ever stays behind won't stand a chance. I've only got two shells left myself... maybe if we split up we'd be able to better deal with then. We could regroup in the park up ahead after an hour or so." Desmond called back as he shot a teenaged girl in the leg, causing her to fall behind the others. "What ever we do, we need to do it now!" Andy screamed furiously as the entrance to the park came into view up ahead. |
| Andy ran with Desmond towards the park entance, if they could reach it they might be able to make it to the hedge maze that was in the park, and then they might be able to loose the carriers that were after them. Andy had used up most of his ammo in his shotgun on missed shots, the last one eh ahd shot he hit in the legs, he ahd told Desmond it was planed but it was that he couldn't hit the damn things. And now he was nearly out of ammo, he still ahd the pistols in his waistband, but he wasn't any better with them then the shotgun, actully he was better with the shotgun as it scattered so something ususaly hit. AThey reached the entrance for the park and there, looking like the most beutiful thing in the world was the entrace to the headge maze. "RUN! FOR THE MAZW!" he yelled and sprinted for it. |
| "The maze? That has to be the stupidest idea I've ever agreed with, lets go!" Desmond shouted as the two began picking up speed for the final sprint to the front of the maze. "God, I hope this works!" Desmond said as the duo ran inside and began turning corners in a mad attempt to lose their pursuers. "Desmond? Desmond?! Where did you go?!" Andy called out when he realized he was alone. "Andy! I think we lost each other!" Desmond replied from a short distance away over the cries of the sprinters. "Let's just hurry up and get through this maze and meet up once we both make it out. I got 2 of these things still after me." Andy let out a sigh and turned another corner, taking him further away from his ally. "Alright, just be careful! I've just about lost the ones chasing me." The two continued to navigate as best they could while avoiding the monsters they had led inside with them. For Andy it wasn't too hard as he knew the area pretty well, but Desmond was having some trouble. "Shit, another dead end!" Desmond groaned as one of the fiends caught up to him. "Out of my way!" He yelled as he knocked it aside with the butt of his gun. In a few minutes Andy had made it out one of the few exits, having successfully lost the sprinters following him. Andy waited a moment as the sounds coming from the maze grew louder... Desmond was nowhere in sight... |
| Mahmoud poked the mirror from the corner of the alley he was hiding in to survey the streets. Shamblers everywhere but he was sure there were a few sprinters around just waiting for him to try and make a run for it. He wasn't that stupid. Instead he got up from the crouched position he was in and headed towards the fire escape ladders. He would get to the roof and get the general bearings of the area and then decide where to go. Climbing up the metallic ladders the bow and quiver banged against one particularly loose piece of the railings which sent the loose piece to the ground clanking and making a very loud sound. Mahmoud stood still. He strained his ears to try and make out if he was heard. Nothing made a sound and nothing moved as far as he could see. He looked down to where the piece of metal fell and he could see nothing. "Damn that was close." he said as he turned to continue climbing up. Suddenly something slammed on the glass window in front of him and startled him so much he almost fell off the steps. It was a shambler inside one of the apartments and it pounded on the window shattering it. Mahmoud turned and took the stairs two steps at a time rushing for the roof as he heard the shambler fall through the window and a sprinter rushing up the stairs after him. Mahmoud frantically ran. He didn't want to try and kill one of them because if he missed he was in deep trouble and against the damn sprinters every second counts. Mahmoud rushed as he got to the end of the stairs and hopped over the little fence onto the roof. What now? He was on the roof and there was no where to go. This was a dumb idea. Why did he even consider it? Looking around Mahmoud saw the roof of the other building. It was close enough for him to jump but far enough for him to be sure he would make it. But what other choice did he have? He launched his bow and quiver of arrows and his rucksack to the other roof, ran to one side of the roof and launched himself in the air just as the sprinter came crashing towards him missing him by milliseconds. Mahmoud landed hard and he rolled to cushion his landing. He quickly grabbed his bow and arrows and rucksack and held them tight to his chest panting and trying to regain his composure. That was too close for comfort. He must be careful next time but still he didn't know where to. |
| Andy looked around and ran to the other exits hoping desmond was there, he wasn't. "Fuck. DESMOND?!" Andy called and got no reply, shit this wasn't good, there were five exits to the maze, the two here, one to the south, that one they had entered, and then two to the east, if desmond had made it to the east exits then he'd be on the other side of the park, about a 10 minute run. Well..that was if he'd made it too the exits, he could still be in the maze,if so he'd be on his own as Andy didn't know where he was and it's be to risky to go abck in, not with all the sprinters in there. Andy started to make the run around the maze, heading for the east exits, hoping his ally had made it out. |
| "God, I can't beleive this thing snuck up on me." Desmond growled as he shoved the shambler that had pinned him to the ground off and bashed it in the head with his shotgun. The thing had stumbled around a corner just as Desmond was about to make a turn and tackled him to the ground. Luckily, Desmond had long since lost the sprinters and was able to keep the thing at bay with his shotgun. "That was really close... if I had any more of them on my ass that would have been it..." Desmond took off his backpack and grabbed a bottle of water from it. He took one really long sip before putting it back and continuing onwards. He had heard Andy call out for him only a minute or two ago, but had been unable to answer for fear of alerting the sprinters who were likely still searching for him inside the maze. "Andy sounded like he was far away... maybe if I hurry to the exit I can meet back up with him, he didn't seemed too urgent when he called out for me so he must not be in any trouble." He thought to himself as he peeked around another corner to make sure it was clear. After making sure that it was Desmond continued making his way towards the exit of the maze quickly, yet carefully and quietly so as not to alert any more of these things. |
| Mahmoud had been on the roof for a while when he heard someone yell from the street. He peeked over the roof edge and looked down. There was something moving there and it was moving fast but he had no idea if it were a survivor or a sprinter. What are the odds of finding a survivor anyway. It was probably a sprinter but still they don't run around for no reason. If it was chasing something then there must be someone down there. Mahmoud decided that he needed to check it out and besides he needed to get down to street level to find some resources. The few things still in his bag aren't going to last him long. Mahmoud headed to the iron door that lead to the stairwell. He gave it a little shake to see how flimsy it was at it proved to be. Mahmoud pulled out the knife he had in the bag. He kept it as a last resort for when he ran out of arrows. Sliding the knife between the door and the wall he wriggled it around a bit sliding it up and down to try and open the door. Click. "Yes!" muttered Mahmoud as he pulled the door open and jumped back in case something was on the other side. Nothing moved. He grabbed the mirror and used it to look around the corners but nothing was there either. Putting the knife and mirror back into the bag he pulled out the bow, strung an arrow and started to move as quietly as possible. The stairwell was narrow so there was next to now chance they could flank him but if they come in numbers he's not got much room to escape. |
| ANdy joged around the maze, trying to look every direction at once so as not to get ambushed by anymore carriers. He hoped Desmond was ok, since he had escaped his dorm room Desmond ahd been the first human Andy had seen, it felt...better having some one watching your back Andy was able to reach one of the exits without insadent and lucky for him it was just a few hundered meters from the other exit so he could watch them both as he waited. |
| Andy began to get nervous as he heard shuffling just inside the entrance of the maze. "This is it..." He thought to himself. "Its either Desmond or... if its not I'll have to run. I'll have to leave him behind and continue by myself..." The idea of once again trying to survive in this hellhole alone sent a shiver down Andy's spine. A soft groan escaped a humanoid figures lips as it turned around a corner and nearly tripped over its own feet. For a split second Andy thought it was one of them, a sprinter maybe, and he would have to get out of there. Then, a loud familar voice called out to him. "Andy... Andy! I managed to get away, but some of them are not far behind! We have to get out of here before they find their way out and come after us!" Desmond yelled as he stumbled out the exit. "I... I almost twisted my leg in there... they almost found me... hurry, lets go!" Andy nodded his head and the two began making their escape from the park. "I'm pretty tired... we can't go too far... we have to find a place nearby to stay." Desmond wheezed as he struggled to keep up with his friend. |
| Mahmoud had gone three floors down the staircase when he heard it. Two sprinters dashing up the stairs towards him. He wasn't going to run back up to the ceiling so he just shouldered the door next to him and burst into an empty hallway. Stopping for a second to look left and right he did what instinct told him and he rushed towards the left where he could see an open apartment door. Knife in hand he sprinted towards the door, passing a shambler that reached for him but was too slow to make any contact. Mahmoud burst through the open door into a single bedroom apartment with blood on the curtains and walls. It took him a second to register that there was a moaning sound in the room before something behind him knocked him to the floor and fell on top of him. The shambler on top of Mahmoud struggled to try and reach his throat but Mahmoud fought to keep it's hands away. They fought for a few seconds before Mahmoud managed to wedge his knee under the shambler and kick it off. Quick to his feet Mahmoud stabbed the knife through the shambler's head and lunged at the door to shut it just as the sprinters came into sight. Quickly Mahmoud slammed the door and slid the bolt shut to lock it then he slumped at the floor next to the door to recapture his breath. He sat there for a few moments with the sprinters slamming on the door and the shambler with the knife in front of him. That was too close for comfort. Mahmoud got up and opened the curtain to let more light into the room. He looked outside to the street and saw two people running together. They looked like survivors by the looks of them and they also looked exhausted. He needed to alarm them to his presence but he didn't want to yell lest he attract more of those things. He needed to send them a message of some sort. Looking around quickly Mahmoud found an old book which he tore a paper from. Then he took an arrow and dipped it in the pool of shambler blood and started writing a quick note. The note said :I'm on the fourth floor trapped in the room at the end of the hall by two sprinters. If you guys can kill them we can rest in this room for a few hours. Besides the company is more than welcomed. Also can you retrieve this arrow for me. I'm kinda running short. Mahmoud took the paper, rolled it up and using a string from the curtain he tied it to an arrow and then sent the arrow flying through the air to the ground close to them hoping against hope that they will read the note. |
| Andy and Desmond ran down the street away from the park ad the sprinters they left behind there, when Desmond saw something black flying through the air ahead if them and struck the ground with a clatter. It was an arrow. Andy picked it as they stopped and undid the rope holding the paper to it reading it aloud for Desmond. Afterwards he looked at him. "you think we should try for it?" he asked Desmond. |
| "I don't think I can run anymore. We've got no choice." Desmond said as he put the arrow into his backpack. "We have more than enough supplies to share with another person and they might be hurt... we can't just leave then there." Andy nodded and looked at where the arrow had come from. "That building over there, right Desmond?" Before his friend could answer there came the sound of moving feet coming from a nearby alley. "Crap, there are more of them nearby." Desmond whispered as the two moved out. "We need to hurry and get inside before they find us." Both survivours entered the building through a broken window into a small room with a closed door to avoid an ambush. "They said they were trapped by these things and we don't know how many might have come along since then. We need to take the time to search for some reliable weapons or hopefully, a bit of ammo." Desmond said quietly as he placed an ear to the door. There was noise coming from inside the building, but it was on a much higher floor. For now, the two were alone. "Let's hurry and get to it then, I don't want to leave that guy waiting for us..." Andy replied as they began looking around. |
| Mahmoud sat on the clean tiled bathroom floor tapping an arrow on his thigh. He had been in this room for the past half an hour waiting for the backup he knew was coming. He had seen two people pick up his arrow and his note and head towards the building he was trapped in but they were being chased so perhaps they needed to lose the chasers. Either way he had to prepare the room for them. He was being besieged by two mindless sprinters for the whole time. Don't they ever get bored of banging on the door? He's not going to open. Anyway it was time he got up and did something to make this apartment a little more hospitable. Mahmoud rummaged in a closet under the bathroom sink and found a pair of rubber gloves used for cleaning. He needed those to move the dead shambler's corpse so as not to risk infection. Mahmoud tore a sleeve off his shirt and wrapped it around his face to keep from inhaling the sickening smell of rot and blood. The piece smelled like armpit and sweat but it was a blessing in comparison. Mahmoud walked into the entrance hall and found the shambler with the drying pool of blood around him. Grabbing the corpse by the feet Mahmoud dragged him to the window and heaved it over the edge and sent it plummeting down into three rotters standing on the street. I hope that killed them. Three for the price of one is a bargain. Mahmoud walked back into the bathroom. He remembered seeing a bottle of heavy duty cleaner somewhere and he thought it would take the dried blood out of the carpet. He fell down to his knees in front of a bucket of water mixed with shitloads of cleaner and went to scrubbing. The smell was awful but this needed to be done. The windows remained open hoping to air the room out but the stink of blood and rot and filth was too resilient. Mahmoud kept rubbing anyway. |
| Andy nodded, with luck they would find some blunt weapons instead of the guns they have, granted the guns were nice, but loud. They rummaged through the room before finding nothing of real use in it. Desmond raised his shotgun and pointed it at the door as any nodded and yanked it open, nothing was there. Slowly the two creeped out into the hall way, it was a mess, from the look of it the place had fallen early on when the viruse hit, there was dried blood and a few rotting bodies in the halls and most of the door had been bashed in. "we should hurry, it will take too long to search all these rooms and I'd rather not see what is inside of some of them." Andy said. "come on, don't be a wuss, there's obviate nobody on this floor and we need weapons." Desmond said as he walked to one of the rooms. Andy sighed and followed him. They searched three of the apartments and were moving onto the fourth, Andy had a bad feeling about this one, as if there was somthing in there he really didn't want to see. He couldn't explain it and kept it to himself as he and Desmond entered the apartment and split up to search, this one was a bit nicer then The others larger, look to be two apartments made into one. As Andy walked, looking for somthing of use he fought site of somthing sownthe hall and looked back. What was that? Slowly he started to make his way down the hall to get a closer look. He wished he hadn't. As he got closer he saw that it was bodies, dozens of them all clustered around one room at the end of the hall. Andy swollowed and slowly got closer to the room he saw the door had been bashed in and parts of the door frame seemed to have been blonde to bits from the inside. Slowly Andy slowly stepped in. It took his mind a few seconds to register what he was seeing. It looked to be a child's room, There were shotgun shells everywhere on the floor and holes in the wall with the door, as well as more bodies. On one side of the room strait across form the door was a mattress on its side, most of the spent shells seemed to be clustered around it. Swollowing Andy looked over the mattress, he quickly stubbled back and out of the room, throwing up. On the other side of the mattress was two bodies, a man clutching a shotgun and laying beside him.....was the body of an 8 year old girl, both had been torn apart to the point they were nearly unreconizable. It had been a final stand, a father trying to protect his daughter from the monsters that were now very real. |
| "Hey Andy, did you find anything?" Desmond called from a short distance away, though Andy was too caught up in what he had just seen for the message to register inside his head. All he had heard was a faintly familar noise come from somewhere nearby. "Andy? Andy!" Desmond called a little louder as he quickly made his way over to where Andy was. "There you are! Are you okay, are any of those things nearby?" He asked as Andy turned away from the room. "I-inside... inside that room... theres..." Andy couldn't finish as he took another step back from the nightmarish scene that would no doubt haunt his nightmares for years to come. "Let's just go... Nothings here..." His voice was barely above a whisper. "Are you sure?" Desmond asked. "Nothing?" Andy merely nodded his head and led the way up the stairs to the next floor... |
| Mahmoud had been rubbing the stains for a while. Or maybe that's what it felt like. He began to tire after a while of scrubbing but at least it had an effect. The smudges and the stains had begun to wash away but the stench was there to stay. He tried to mix detergents but still the smell of rot and death overpowered any other smell. and quite frankly it had begun to get to his head. He started to feel a little dizzy and nauseous. Mahmoud got up from the scrubbing and sat on the bed trying to think. His backup was taking awfully long to arrive. What if something had happened to them? What if they weren't coming for him anymore? Who knows what's out there. There could be dozens of the rotting bastards between him and his backup. He needed to think of a way outside but the door was out of the question. He looked through the peephole and saw the two sprinters standing outside and three shamblers behind them. Mahmoud walked towards one of the walls and put his ear to it. If there were another room on the other side of the wall maybe he could sneak out through it? Before the shamblers and sprinters noticed? Maybe. There was the other option of finding a way down to the streets below. That was riskier but required less work since all he had to do was make a rope out of the bed sheets and the curtains. That seemed appealing but it was too much to risk going back out onto the streets especially since it was starting to get a bit darker outside. Mahmoud lay back on the bed to think. He closed his eyes and started to run every possible scenario in his head. Every single one seemed bleak and unwelcoming. |
| Andy moved quickly to get as far from that room as he could. It didn't take them long to reach the flor the arrow had come from. When they got there they stops and carefully look down the hall, it wasn't hard to guess which room they wanted as there was Only one with the carriers in front of. "we need to take them down, quickly then get to that room before anything shows up." Andy said as he took the glock from his waistband and cocked it. "ok, on three." Desmond said. "1.....2....3!" on three they both jumped out and opened fired at the carriers. As they jumped out the carriers saw then and started to charge. It took nearly the full clip from the glock and both shells from Desmond's shotgun to put the 5 down for good. Afterwards both of them waited a second before shutting the door to the stairs and quickly went to the door the carriers had been infront of. "um....what do we do? Knock?" Demond said. Andy shrugged and reached up and knocked on the door. |
| "Hello?" A voice called from inside. "Is anyone in there?" Andy asked as Desmond took a spot behind him where he had room to attack in case he needed to. "Yes, yes I'm in here!" A voice said from inside. "Okay, we cleared those things out from the hallway, are any more in there with you?" Andy replied as got ready to pull the door open. "The room is clear! Hurry on inside before more show up!" The voice called back in a more urgent tone. Andy glanced back at Desmond for a brief moment to gauge his reaction. Desmond gave him a nod as if to say he trusted the person inside. Andy nodded back and opened the door... |
| Mahmoud had been laying down on the bed for a while but slowly he fell asleep. It was the accumulation of the exhaustion from scrubbing and hiding and partly the lack of an actual wholesome meal for a while. He dreamed of something good about his family before the infection spread but it was cut short by the sound of heavy gunfire coming from nearby. Mahmoud jumped off the bed and reached for his knife from his bed side and the bow and quiver just in case. Then he opened the window and hid behind the door of the apartment. It had just dawned on him that maybe those two survivors were going to kill him and steal his weapons and food. This was about survival in the end and some people would do anything to survive. He hoped that if somebody came in here he could ambush them with his knife from behind. He waited for any sign of their intentions. Suddenly they knocked on the door. Pretty polite for a bunch of murderers. They asked Mahmoud if he was there and he was so relieved they were at least friendly. But he was still going to be cautious. He told them to come in but moved back from the door. It opened to the inside so he didn't want to be charged into if they busted it down. Instead they just opened the door and walked in like they were visiting a friend. Mahmoud walked up to them and offered his hand for a handshake. "Am I glad to see you! If you guys didn't come around I'd be dead or soon to be dead. My name is Mahmoud. What are your names?" |
| Andy took his hand. "Andy, this is Desmond, you the one that sent the message?" he asked as they shook. Andy put his gun in his waist ban'd as Desmond shut the door. |
| Once he and Andy were sure there was no danger they relaxed and bit, but Desmond kept a firm grip on his shotgun just in case. Saint or sinner, they just met this guy and for all they knew he was a murderer who killed everyone else here that had escaped the zombies.. "So, are you the only one who made it here alive?" Desmond asked as he and Andy followed Mahmond inside. |
| "Yeah I sent the message. I thought I could get in the building and relax a bit and maybe re-energize but I was chased all the way here and I had to lock myself in. And yes I'm alone." replied Mahmoud. "Do you guys have a plan? Feel free to relax and we can come up with a plan together. I'm frankly new to the area so I don't know much of it." Mahmoud moved towards the window and looked outside at the street full of shamblers. It would be hard to get back to street level in this situation and besides it was starting to get a little dark. "Guys I think we should wait here till tomorrow because it will get dark and I don't want to get caught outside in the open. I think we should search the rooms on this floor, clear them of any of those things and then rest. what do you think?" |
| Andy looked at the new guy. "sounds like a plan. Hopefully we can find some ammo or something else of use." he said as he put the pistol in his waist band, rigt beside the nearly empty 38. "ym...just don't looki in the supers room downstairs....there's nothing there..." Andy said surprising a shutter at the memory of what he had found there. He dought er he'd be getting any sleep tonight. |
| "Alright, lets head out and see what we can find." Desmond said as he opened the door and stepped back out into the hallway. "Do we split up or do you guys think we should stick together? On one hand, we could search faster if we split up, but on the other we'd be a lot more vulnerable to an attack... one room filled with more than a few of those things and we'd be screwed." |
| "I say we stick together. It might take us longer to finish but it's safer." replied Mahmoud and then swung his bow over his shoulders. He checked his backpack and made sure he had all his things. What little water he had, what little food he had and his little bottle of antibacterial gel. Check, check and check! He was ready. "So guys. We'll start on this floor I guess and go from there?" asked Mahmoud. |
| Andy nodded. "yeah lets stay together, probabaly should search the ground floor do to the windows, not much of a hide out if they come through th e windows. "andy said and he checked the mag in the pistol, he had about half a mag left plus one extra. then the two shots in the revolvor. With a nod they all went the the next door apartment to search. |
| "Alright then, I'll cover the back and make sure they don't sneak up on us, who wants to lead?" Desmond asked as he made sure he had everything put away in his backpack. |
| By the time it turned dark, it was time for me to make my move. My camo suit was made to be used when you wanted to hide from someone or something, and since it was normally black, it was easy for me to walk around the city at night. And if something did see me, I could just hide behind some rubble, or up against a wall, and my suit would change to that color, keeping me alive for another day. "Man this thing is heavy." I said as I hulled a great big case, containing a very big and powerful weapon. I had chose to leave all my other stuff behind when I found this in a safe in some drug lord's house. I heard some moaning coming from up ahead. I got down from behind a flipped car and saw an army of those things outside what looked like an old apartment building. And I saw even more coming from all around...all of them were gathering on that one spot. "Wow. With that much security, there must be something good in there." I thought to myself. I then put my case down and opened it up to revile a rocket launcher with four rockets in it. "It's a good thing I brought this bad boy with me, or I would never be able to get passed these things." I picked up the rocket and lined it up with the monsters outside the entrance. "Alright you bastards, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!!!" I yelled as I fired a rocket at the large group of enemy's. |
| "I will." Andy said as he stepped in front of his two companions and began leading them down the hallway. When they came to the first room he put his hand on the door knob and told the others to stay back, but be ready in case something was waiting to attack them. With a deep breath he pulled the door open slowly with a soft creak... |
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