On Death's Doorstep

[Pulse]

The curt rap on the basement's trapdoor came a surprise; more so the figures blindly poking their heads into the shelter. Her shelter. Why were they here? She snapped to attention, grubby hands positioning the ironsights over the heads of these...intruders. Ten shots, 15 in reserve. More than enough. "Arms in the air, drop your weapons! Move and I shoot every last one of you bastards!" Lucy cried, finger tightening on the trigger.

[kain17335]

"Woah woah woah, hows about we calm down and don't start shooting each other huh?"
Kain still wondering why some puny geek got hold of a kilt and thought it would be cool to wear it.
He probably isn't even Scottish...
"Right, now put the gun down and we can talk about this, okay?"
"We don't need to be shooting each other,there is no point in killing fellow survivors you should be saving that ammo for any of the bastards out there,"
Kain was getting quite nervous although he did notice that the girl who was pointing the gun at him looked more nervous than him, Probably from holding that gun.
She was shaking from pointing it at him but he thought she would rather use the ammo to kill zombies than waste it on him.

[Pulse]

Lucy snarled in defiance at this man's boldness, her fingers still not straying from the trigger. "You heard me, lower your sodding weapon!" she asserted, face utterly emotionless as it tilted slightly in the direction of her new...companion, as it were, "Hey, four eyes! Grab a gun, we've got visitors. If you're not too busy staring at your navel?" Hesitantly the visitor lowered his weapon, hands spread out passively. Lucy bit her tongue, unsure on the best course of action; this man could have backup, and he was right - ammunition would be a rare commodity, used sparingly as was possible. "You got backup? Bring them in, nice and easy..."

[ballerscuba]

Davey looked over to Lucy as her hands were still shaking slightly. "Hark, we have strangers, seductress. They can speak and are therefore not among the infected. We should be able to trust them, to some extent, though they may be ignorant to the ways of the Highlander." He looked over to Lucy, who was still intent on her threat. Davey studied Kain and Kyle up and down, noticing the bandage on Kyle's arm. Davey wiped the outside of his Vader mask as if he was rubbing his eyes. Taking another look, Davey took out his sword, and pointed it at Kyle's neck.

"Stay back, vile beast. That wound, it is from the infected, is it not? You will soon become one of them, and then Frostbourne shall taste the sweet nectar that is your blood." Davey then thought about it some more. "Perhaps he is simply pulling a Bill Murray and I should not be quick to judgment." Davey lowered the sword, still fully intending to strike at the neck given the chance. "I shall be as Sauron to your Frodo and watch your every move. As for my epic garb, should you not understand it, I shall not explain it to you. Be happy that I am willing to grace your mediocre presence."

Davey then turned away from Kyle, looking for weapons. "My, my here comes the Fuzz," he said, grabbing the Skorpion and the one box of ammo on the side. He stuffed the box into his kilt, next to the chips and soda, posed with the gun next to his head and pointed straight up. "Shit just got real!"

[ThatOneGuysBro]

After the vain search for supplies on the premise of the kiosk, John noticed Kain unveiling the trap door. As Kain descended, shortly afterwards accompanied by Kyle, John heard the voice of a woman; a shrill voice that threatened what sanctity the small band pursued. Curious yet cautious, John made his way over to the trap door. "Are you guys alright down there? Kain? Kyle?", John's voiced echoed down the depths of the hidden room. Dimmed as it was, he noticed the woman, Beretta in tow, pointed at the two. It was hard to make out, but there was definitely a fourth figure down their. It occurred to him that the group may have encroached on someone else's haven.

"Alright! I'm coming down! I'm putting down my weapons!" leaving the axe and colt at the head of the ladder. He made his way down, losing his grip once, due to the lack of vision. Night was drawing near. Once on level with the four in the hidden room, John put his hands by his side. Usually rather lax, he'd often be found with his hands in his pockets, as was a quirk of his. He didn't want to conceal any part of his body that could give way to mistrust at such a crucial moment. He noticed the foreignly garbed man drawing his attention to Kyle's wound. His mind became frazzled with thoughts of what would happen should Kyle rouse their mistrust and the group be forced to leave to fend for themselves as night approached. But more importantly was the matter of the woman pointing the loaded weapon now at the trio.

"Ah, please don't shoot. We're survivors, just like you.", he said in a distraught manner, waving his hands that would suggest harmlessness. "We were hoping we could stay here. If this is your place, please let us stay, at least for night. Afterwards we'll be on our way, first thing in the morning. We're not asking for your supplies or food either. We're just looking for safety from those things." John failed to conceal a look of worry that creeped onto his face slowly but surely.

After trying to calm down and convince the woman he turned his attention to the other one who had beat the group to this secure room. "Uhh... About that wound. Actually, when we first met, we were both creeping around a corner. I hit him pretty bad in the shoulder with a crowbar. We've patched him up for now. He hasn't been bitten, which I know looks suspicious." John had no idea why he was defending this utter stranger. For his own safety? No. What he transmogrified in their sleep. Regardless, he couldn't find an answer to his enigmatic dilemma.

[Pulse]

Lucy scowled, irritated by the influx of even more armed delinquents, even more males. Typical. Even when those zo- creature roamed the streets, it seemed there was still space for idiots to stumble their way into her life, intent of fucking everything up. Lucy sighed, reluctant to admit to herself that she was glad she had somebody she could trust at her back. At least there were those two females with them - kindred spirits, perhaps? Tightening her grip on her gun, Lucy drifted over to this other newcomer over whom a foul scent hung, dying cigarette beneath his dirt-smeared boot. "What's this, boy? You say he's...infected by those creatures?" she snarled, poking Kyle's wounds with the snout of her gun. Unable to contain herself, Lucy's face slowly turned red with a concoction of fear and hatred at this revelation, "Get this thing out of here. Go! Move him, I won't ask again!" Ignoring the expressions on his comrade's faces, she continued to poke his wound coldly, "As for the rest of you," she growled, eyes hovering over one of the two women with them, "You may stay here, for now. But try anything, and I'll blow every last one of you motherfuckers to hell and back."

[kain17335]

"Hey, come on where not gunna kill you while there's thousands of the shambling bastards outside which need our precious ammo. And anyway you've got a nerdy Scottish stereotype watching your back, what could go wrong?" Kain still wondering why the girl had such an interest in poking Kyles arm (even though it had been bitten) it was still weird that she kept doing that.
"SO what's gunna happen?"

[Pulse]

Lucy felt the beginnings of a smile on her face, satisfied these men were conforming to her will as opposed to them forcing their way in. They wouldn't get far with their brains splattered on the cold, cold floor, but it was something of a relief that she wouldn't have to take the trouble of pulling the trigger. "Yourselves? Well, that all depends on a number of factors: whether you relinquish your weapons or if I'll have to take them with force. Unless you men are really as dumb as you look, I don't need to tell you how messy that could turn out", Lucy taunted, "We've some sleeping bags here, so the rest of you are free to take one. Just a friendly word of advice: don't try to take your weapons before morn, or I'll react. And don't even think of trying to do me in, I'm a light sleeper."

[ThatOneGuysBro]

"Right, we understand, we won't try anything stupid. Right guys?", John eyed Kain, signaling him to be careful in regards to instigating the wanton woman's ire any further. As he watched Kyle make his way up the ladder he couldn't help but feel remorse for his ill luck. He thought about staying the night with Kyle outside, but that would be suicide on his own part. Self-preservation was the number one rule now. Though the guilt would eat away at his conscience, John knew it couldn't be helped if he wanted safety for the night. And if he argued for Kyle to stay he might be thrown out with him. If all went well, he would survive the night in the ruined kiosk.

"I'll be back, I left my stuff at the top of the ladder." Climbing up then back down, colt and hammer in possession, John made sure not to slip as he descended, only one hand on, the other occupied with the fire axe. Slipping the colt out of his pocket, he handed both to woman with doubt and unease in his mind. He was putting his life entirely in her hands, trusting she wouldn't take advantage of him, weaponless as he was. "Oh, that's right.", he said, as if his mind sparked. He pulled out the knife from his back pocket. "I forgot this." He handed the knife to her as well. John thought it wouldn't be wise to have any 'aces in the hole', a concealed weapon that is, in the event she found out as it would further rise suspicion and give her reason to act hostile as she was. He thought it'd be better to be honest and place trust in this stranger, odd as it sounded. It was a gut feeling he had, and he hoped he wasn't wrong.

After the sleeping bags were passed around, John stole himself a corner near the ladder. He slipped in most cozily. He looked at the others still really confused as to how he got where he was. "Oh, by the way," he said rather faintly, fatigued from the day's events. "my name is John. I didn't get a chance to catch most of your names. I was separated from my family, but I guess you all have your problems too."

[duskskully]

Kyle had some anger in his eyes and said,"I can see you have rookies eye?" Kyle then chuckled a bit and said,"Fine I'll go out side and wait til dawn." Kyle then decided to head up to the top and hide from the zombies.

[ballerscuba]

Davey went to the corner so that the others had trouble seeing him. He pulled out his two bags of chips and his soda from out of his kilt. He popped the soda and opened up the first bag of chips. As the first specks of dust began to emanate out of the bag, Davey ripped off his Vader mask, exposing his red helmet hair, and shoved his nose inside the bag and inhaled deeply. With the bag covering his nose and mouth, that's when he saw them.

Standing next to the ladder were Ichiru and Migaki. Davey did not even notice Kyle making his way out. He was simply too entranced. Davey's jaw dropped, as did his hand from the bag of chips, but the bag remained on his face. "J-J-J-Japanese twins," Davey thought to himself, even with the stutter. "I-I-I need to do...something. They...they must be mine." Davey took a step toward the twins before he lost feeling in his legs.

"H-H-H-Hi," Davey said in a high, squeaky voice. The bag went flying forward landing, between Davey and the twins. Davey tried to grab it as he flied, but he swung and missed. He instantly reached down and grabbed the bag, which was still full of cheesy chips. As he bent over, the Vader mask, which had been resting on the hilt of his sword, fell over forward, bouncing off of Davey's head. Davey fell to his knees, reached for the Vader mask instinctively and instantly putting the Vader mask over his head, but backwards. He took it off and put it back on the correct way and stood up.

Behind the mask, Davey's confidence returned instantly, what little confidence he did have. But, he decided that his first attempt had failed utterly. He walked back, taking a couple loud bites of chips and slurping a couple sips from his soda by lifting up his mask with one hand. He had seen the horror of how he acted without it, and decided it was best to keep it on. He grabbed one of the sleeping bags and opened it up, sitting down on it. "Take two," he thought to himself as he looked over to the twins again.

He shot his hand forward, the chips in the bag rattled around a bit. "You may have some of my nom noms if you wish," he said through the mask to the twins, awkwardly singling them out amongst a room full of people who were most likely equally as hungry. "I love cheesy poofs, but I am always willing to share with the right people," he said, once again singling out the twins.

[lukuz13]

June 24th, 2022 Friday (Present day): Huntington, West Virginia

-With the arrival at the kiosk, rather what was left of it, the survivors ran over a few introductions with each other, and the point of Lucy's gun. Tensions mildly calmed for the moment, the 6 sat down and dug through their own supplies. The party picked out one of the military sleeping bags each, 5 to be exact, allowing each one their own, except for the twins who decided to share being the two who had the closest connection. At Davey's slight advances, the twins simply responded with a smile, not paying much mind to him as they set up for the night oddly silent. With the remaining weapons, the SG-550 remaining in place next to the extra USP sat unclaimed, as well as the two grenades that hung on the doorway guarded by Lucy on her own cot, opposite of most of the others despite the cramped space. As Kyle ascended and exited the bunker, a cold breeze rolled in after him, blowing the maps about on the table in a disorganized fashion, as the flashlight tipped over and rolled into the radio on the table. Though they did not pool their resources, the survivors did find that as they ate their supper, they had enough to feed them all for the next day, at least. As well as the case of pure water that lasted equally as long for them all.

-As Kyle climbed the ladder to the world above and slide closed the trap door, the last inch of sunlight gave way, as an almost wave of eerie silence washed over him and the world around him, sending a shiver of anticipation through his body. As he made his way out his first thought was to find some sort of shelter, any sort would do, the kiosk itself much too destroyed to serve any useable shelter, the train station nearby appeared in great disrepair also. Yet no sooner then he took his first step did he hear it. It was soft, like a feline growl before the pounce, and distant, yet echoed throughout the block. Kyle could not help but slow his movements at the sound, cautious. Then the sound changed, several rapid beats hit the pavement and then.
whoosh
A sound right by his ear, forcing Kyle to jerk his whole body to the side though he saw nothing in the dimming darkness. Looking down he could see evidence, claw marks, long and deep in the pavement slashed against the trapdoor, denting the metal, leaving a deep scar in the steel. Suddenly a snarl of sorts growled from the darkness, Kyle could hear the thing, whatever it was, stalking closer, four clicks as talons scraped across the pavement inching closer when it let out a another roar, this time lunging forward tearing past Kyle as one of the claws connected, ripping into his jacket and shirt, leaving a long gash across his chest and sending him stumbling from the impact.
"Fuck! You sunofa.." Kyle murmured getting the Benelli ready as the thing prepared for another round, slinging it around just barely in time to fire off a shot, the thing let out a gurgling hiss as the buckshot spread hit it directly in the body, sending it flying back into the darkness. There was no sound for a moment, before Kyle could hear a choked gurgle, and more scraping, and again, silence. Kyle stood there a moment, panting from effort as he cocked the shotgun once, sending the shell to the ground, his chest searing in pain as blood began to leak from his chest. Now he was in deep shit. With his new scar, Kyle had no choice but seek shelter in the office building nearby...at least he thought so. Sliding open the doors cautiously, the man slowly made his way inside the building, still in utter darkness, and unable to see clearly, however he did notice a strange glow in the distance. It was a strange mixture of green and brown and seemed to steam. Kyle decided to avoid the thing, if he could and made his way over to the corner looking for a closet of some sort, before looking back to see the thing was following him, and a new sound that was following him. it sounded as if it was hocking a loogie, gurgling spit in general. Suddenly Kyle watched as a stream of the green substance flew past his head, the thing responsible now more obvious. It seemed like a crippled thing, hobbling its way closer, as streams of green liquid oozed from its open maw,as well as holes in its body, making a sizzle as it hits the floor. That glance was all Kyle had time for before he ducked under another spit ball from the creature which hit the glass behind him and melted through it with a loud hiss.
"Oh for fucks sake!" Kyle yelled out, ducking under the thing's reach and kicking it back, while delaying it, burning through the sole of his shoe. "Fucking hell that burns!" He cursed, running, trying to step lightly on his foot, out the door, his new burn making it rather difficult. Finally outside, Kyle made his way to a house nearby within sight of the Kiosk, the only house he could see at least, as in the distance loud droning was getting more apparent, as thousands came to 'life'.
"Better have some shelter damn it..." He cursed under his breath as he bushed open the caved in doors, the inside laid pretty much bare except for one backroom. A small closet, which he pushed open to find nothing other then the smell of rot within, sighing and making his way inside, and sitting down and closing the door. As uncomfortable, cold, and hungry as he was, it would have to do for the night, ripping up more of his jacket to close the even worse wound now on his chest.

-"I need more fire support over here!" a young man motioned with his arm, towards a large congregation below the walls of the university.
"Holy fuck...they're everywhere! Where do they hide all goddamn day?!" another from the back yelled, firing round after round blindly into the horde, a seething mass of moving bodies all hungry...so hungry. The compound itself had several positioned gunners on each end of the walls, however when night fell everyone had guard duty, and no one questioned it, though many dreaded it.
"Gargoyles at nine o' clock!" A man shouted, pointing at a large flock of flying beasts closing in, as a spotlight the compound had in use was shined onto the flock sending many of them spiraling from the group making them easier targets. Then the entire wall shook, as the men looked down to see the many other swarms of infected beating on the walls, some climbing up as the soldiers fought for dominance. Breaking the scene like a hammer to glass, a loud shrill growl was heard, as a creature leapt up from the ground below, at least several dozen feet, and landed on the wall with a sudden click, its thin humanoid body obvious under the spotlight which it seemed to ignore.
"Fuck! We got See-" the soldier gurgled the last bit of his sentence as the beast behind him jammed one of it's bladed arms into his throat, and ripped it out again at the sound of his cry, spinning in a almost pirouette as he diced up the poor man's body, sending chunks of limbs into the gaping maw below as the thing let out another hiss and dashed for the other remaining solders who had screamed for their lost comrade. The thing was fast, but had barely gotten it's speed up when.
Bang
the sound reverberating in the air as the double bladed creature was sent flying into the horde below with a shot to the chest, disappearing with the gaping hole in it's body.
"Lieutenant Valentine?!" One of the men on the wall called out to the woman in place on a crows nest nearby, aiming a barrel neck of several feet in their direction.
"Don't just stand there idiots! The night is far from over!" she screamed picking out choice targets and letting shots fly. The moon created a haunting light over the carnage, as the waves of undead again and again broke upon the compound.

-After filling their bellies and finally dosing off into a if uneven sleep, the survivors could hardly ignore the sounds from above. It sounded as if it were the apocalypse all over again. Violent shrieks, followed by inhuman gurgling and roars from what sounded like the beasts from hell themselves. If they did sleep at all, the sound that hit that morning was no better. A sudden loud ramming sound shook everyone awake if not all at once, as the trapdoor dented in several times, followed by a wild hissing sound. It only lasted for several moments, enough to force a crack in the trapdoor. Whatever it was, it was fast, just as the sun began to rise and peaked over the horizon, the thing let out a pained hiss and took off in a different direction from the bunker it almost tore into.

June 25th, 2022 Saturday 7:00am Huntington, West Virginia

[kain17335]

"Aw fuck, We need to get out of here right NOW". Whatever was out there, it was strong. fast and probably very, very big. Hey, you two, Scottish stereotype and lady, wake up we need to get out of here." Kain kicked Davey who was still wearing that Kilt, annoyingly.
"Hey John, you awake bro?"
Kain then got a better look of the basement which not so long ago, a safe haven for him and his "buddies", it was very well supplied.
This then led to Kain, as he waited, to have a good look at his makeshift armor he made out of tanned leather and some metal plates (although one was loose so he tightened it up) and a belt strapped over his chest which held it together.
It would also make a good bandoleer is he had the kit for it (although his makeshift weapons kit could be used it would be a bad use of it)
"Oh and that reminds me, anyone need their gun fixed?"

[Pulse]

Lucy hadn't slept much that night; a slurry of her remaining energy drinks mixed with copious amounts of dread and fear wreaking havoc with her subconscious. The pounding of guns threaded with incessant rattling of machine guns played on through the night, the screams of men and beast a terrible music. Groaning, Lucy stumbled to her feet as the others began to stir from the realm of sleep. "I've a name, dull stone, and it's Lucy. Make sure you remember it," Lucy snarled at Kain, a filthy look emanating from her deep brown eyes, drowsy as they were. Pacing about what little floor space remained, Lucy handed back the other's weapons somewhat hesitantly, her other hand seemingly tied to the holster of her Walther PPK.

[kain17335]

"Well, maybe if you had told me before I woulda." Kain the put his hand out in a handshake wondering if she would actually take it.