On Death's Doorstep

[kain17335]

Once Jake had left the room he looked to his bag. Picking out the rifle from it and passing with it the 5 other magazines. "You need something better than a knife." he said, slightly hating himself for giving the boy a weapon that he had no idea how to use. Not that Alex was much different when he picked up his guns. Even that sniper rifle he had was far too complicated for him to use on a daily basis. The boys wounds were not as bad as the one Alex had on his arm. A mere bruise would hopefully not stop Philip from being able to stand. He hoped that the boy would not use it any time soon however. Seen as they had drawn enough of a crowd already.

[sleix]

Phil staggered as he stood up, the left side of his face throbbing with pain, the infected possessed significantly more strength than others he had encountered, which in conjunction with it's blade like arms made for one hell of a creature. The kick left a large gash across his cheek, the force had split his skin like a talon, "You need something better than a knife." Alex was handing him the rifle he'd been carrying around, it was worn and not in pristine condition, but that was irrelevant, a gun was still a gun, and Phil appreciated it, even though he had no idea how to handle such a thing. Phil grabbed the gun, holding it by his side and nodded in appreciation, he walked back over to the other man, steering clear of that things corpse splayed out across one of the isles, the man picked up the unconscious boy in a fireman's lift, "We never got your name." He said as they walked out the back door of the sports store.

[ballerscuba]

Davey looked out around the weapons that were available. He laughed to himself slightly at the thought of having a grenade launcher and grenades inside an enclosed building. Who would think that was a good idea? The concussive blast from a single grenade alone could...and then Lewis picked it up, molesting it slightly. Davey should have known that Lewis could not resist the highest powered thing he could find, ignoring the collateral damage it could cause entirely.

Davey tried to be more sensible about it. He grabbed one of the M16s and a couple magazines for it, leaving the Skorpion behind. It was a long overdue upgrade. As he familiarized himself with the new weapon, he glanced over to Lewis. "You really think that's a good idea? We're going into an enclosed building, possibly with bulletproof glass on the upper floors, and you want to bring an intense amount of shrapnel into the equation? If one of those things goes off in the same room we're in, that's pretty much the end of the line for all of us."

[thatfallout3guy]

Lewis was shocked at Davey's question, and slightly impressed. The man made some good points, enough to cause Lewis to look over and smile a bit, "You're probably right. Carrying it inside might not be the best idea, but with some of the shit Harrison's told me about, I feel much better with it. That being said, we aren't even at the entrance yet, and there's no telling what, or even how many of those freaks are standing around the place. Inside? Yeah, bad idea. Outside? It might save our lives."

[graybeardhalt]

Jake sighed as he heard the kid calling out to him. "Keep your voice down, we're trying to make an escape here," he almost hissed back, bending over slightly as he approached the corner of the alleyway that lead back onto the street. All of the walkers seemed to be moving towards the front of the store, but there were still a number of them standing around further down the street. "Crap, we'll have to take the alleys until we hit a safe zone." He turned around, making sure not to step on anything that would be scattered on the ground. ‘Good thing this kid ain’t heavy,’ he thought to himself, shrugging the shoulder carrying said kid. ‘Although traipsing around with 3 babies to watch is most likely gonna kill me, I guess I’m just too good a person to leave ‘em to die. Oh you shut up.’ With ever decreasing care, Jake continued down the alleyway, checking each branch off before finding one that was clear and changing stride to go down it. “It’s Jake, by the way,” he said, not turning his head to face them. “And I don’t want to know your names unless you survive the night.”

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-"Point?" Brian questioned back at her, as if hurt by her accusation. Of fighting through this hell every day? Of scavenging for food just to get by? The answer seemed so simple and yet complicated at the same time. "I...it's..." He tried to answer, before she accosted him yet further. "Slave? People like these? What are...you talking about Lucy?" He finally stated firmly, though still confused. "They just asked we do our fair share to stay here, surrounded by guns, where it's safe. How is that a slave? We survive because if we don't, then you're giving up." He insisted back. "What good would killing undead senselessly do you anyway huh? There are thousands out there! And even if you kill them, then what? It'd just be you and some dead husks of people!" He said, almost angrily suddenly. He had thought of this too often. It felt to him, suddenly, he was arguing with a facet of himself. One he aimed to disprove.

-Noon was waning away as the sky began to redden. The cities dark secrets would begin to lurk rather soon, that much was certain, and Jake and his gaggle of new 'friends' would have to find somewhere to lay low, as opposed to the store, which was already being broken into by undead. It was surprising how strong the big one's were.
Introductions came and left between all three, the fourth unfortunately being far too unconscious for such things, before Jake caught sight of a main street. This lead further in town, he was sure, but he spotted several spots of note. The first, a large darkened Mall. The brand was worn away, but did it really matter anymore? Surely not. What did matter, though, was the, while the spots certainly were famous for being crowded with people, this one was especially boarded up. And, more so, not broken into yet, or at least not out front. A number of dead bodies lay at the entrance, before the huge iron gate. Peculiar indeed.
Further down the street, the man noticed a few Convenience stores and gas stations. Glass was shattered everywhere, and there were a few shamblers about out front, but they might serve as a good four walls to put around him for the night, if he boarded it up properly. Only question was wood.
And finally, a fancy looking restaurant. At one time, at least. One of Jake's favorite, actually. A shame the sign was torn to hell. All three dark on the inside, and would require a bit of further investigating.

-Harrison stared in shock at the haul they found. Amazing! This was all...a wonderful find, how could he turn any of it down? The man eyed the box of explosives intensely. Man, if only they had a working vehicle...it'd be so worth carrying with them. Er, well, maybe not immediately, but...how could they just waste something like that?
Harrison sighed, thinking he'd have to settle for grenades instead. Just as he went to shuffle on a belt, Davey accosted Lewis. He...guessed he had a point, but what could it hurt to carry them with them? Sure, enclosed environments was bad for grenades but...
"I'd rather not waste em." Harrison stated above the two's 'argument'. "No offense Davey, you're right, using em inside is a bad move unless we have to, but you know what zombies do better then any enemy? Bunch up." He smirked a little. "They don't know how to magic box." He teased with a reference of his own.

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-With J.P. being as silent as ever, Harrison decided it was best not to lay around and wait for their enemy to find them. He loaded his weapon, checked the sights for a moment, and adjusted accordingly.
"Let's get moving then ladies." He scooted them on.

The building itself looked larger from right outside the gate like this, earning a stare from Harrison, half angry and half somber. This was, supposedly, the place that ended the world, after all. As Mason went to work at the gate, he quickly found that it was not so welcoming to former employees. His access card did not open the gate because, surprise surprise, the gate was no longer powered. The wall wasn't THAT high, however. With the proper foothold, getting over would be possible. Getting back may not be that easy however. Harrison inspected the gate closer, grabbing at the hinges and jiggling it slightly.
"Seems sorta rusty. Bet we could break it down with enough force." He said, giving it a hard tug until it let out a sudden loud squeak, immediately releasing the thing. "Alright, that's not a good idea." He admitted to himself.
Just as they found themselves debating this option, the group was suddenly met with that familiar rumbling, this time much louder and angrier. Down the street from them, they witnessed a van go flying, crashing against the street several times and finally coming to rest embedded in the side of a office building. The thunderous roar of some uncontrolled beast greeting them. Even without having line of sight on it, they could feel every pounding footstep it made down the street opposite them as it charged it's own object of cacophony. The screech of metal had rung out through the block no doubt.

[graybeardhalt]

The sight of the restaurant almost brought a tear to Jake’s eye. He bowed his head in a moment of silence, placing his hand on his chest just above his heart. Once the moment had passed, he raised his head and let his hand drop back to his side. “So many beautiful things in this town, ruined by this damn outbreak. Need to remember them whenever this is all over. Or at least tell someone about them,” Jake was mumbling to himself, but not in his usual way. This seemed more…distant. He glanced back at the two boys and almost grimaced. “Probably won’t survive. Can’t get attached. Need to find a capable group. No, need to stay alone. No, too risky. No.” He continued to go back and forth with himself, his voice very quiet and near impossible for his acquaintances to hear. After a while, his voice died altogether and he seemed to collect himself. His eyes lost their cloudy focus and turned sharp once again.

“So what’ll it be? Like being on a game show, but you sure as hell don’t want to pick the wrong door,” Jake flourished down the street, indicating each possible scenario. “You can pick whichever you want, and I’ll decide whether it’s a stupid-ass decision or reasonable. I won’t change your mind if it is, but I’m sure as hell not following you.”

[thatfallout3guy]

Lewis cringed at the screeching metal of the gate, unable to resist letting out a small laugh as Harrison stopped.

Just when he was about to start getting ready to hop the fence, he turned his attention to the hurricane charger of flesh that was most likely to show up in time to scare the piss out of everyone.

Lewis immediately took cover behind a nearby car, pulling out the M-60 and leaning on the hood, "I'll distract whatever the hell this is going to be. Let me know if you need help busting the gate open." He said, looking down the sights, he couldn't help but give a slight gulp.

[bloodsrain]

Mason was disappointed in his ability to open the door, but quickly rejoined the others at trying to get the gate open. The sudden thumping in the distance wasn't helping either, until it became so close that the van had been hurled near them.

Shocked by the sudden hurling of a van from down the street, he quickly turned to the others. "I think we can all get over this at least one by one. If we can get one over, there could possibly be an emergency switch? Or we could all try to climb it." he said, listing out the options. "I didn't work with security too much, sorry to say."

[whowantsmorequarrelingIdoIdo]

"Surviving, like...this," she gestured around herself broadly, the room's confines diminishing the effect, "Isn't living. Shaking in your boots at the threshold, too afraid to go out but knowing you have to, otherwise you'll starve isn't living! Dysentry, malnutrition, ptsd - people are barely scraping by, Brian, surely you can see that." Lucy noticed her body temperature had risen, her ears now hot enough to cook on, her balled fists shaking. Couldn't he see how pathetic this place was, barely held together by his nation's "protectors"? If only she could make him see! "I'll kill them all if I can, go with the people they send out when they can stomach it. If they don't, I'll go alone." She swore under her breath and briefly wondered if she really believed all this. Speeches like these were...difficult to translate from her innermost thoughts, a nebula of emotion that couldn't be brought out coherently. She felt like the only sane woman on the planet. They deserve better. We all did. All this technology, all those bright souls turned out to mean fuckall in the end. A mistake? God's wrath? Maybe.

[kain17335]

If this was indeed a gameshow it was certainly not one that Alex had ever seen. Not that he ever watched TV anyway. The choices were all just the same outcome with a different sign. One restaurant and the others gas stations. Choosing either neither increased or decreased your chances of death. Though the boarded up restaurant seemed more easily defendable. However, such a barricade gave off the sense that the building was still inhabited. Finding more survivors at this point of time could be a blessing or a curse. The gas stations seemed just as bad, with nothing to barricade it Alec would have to clear the area before even thinking of trying to fortify his location. Maybe he should have stayed in that hardware store after all...
No matter what the choice, Alex knew that at some point in time someone would die before of it. That seemed to be the way of the world now, no more waking up every morning and going to work. Survival was now the only agenda on peoples minds. Even morality seemed to slip from their fingers.
"The restaurant, then." he said, having a barricade now would be better than having to build one later. Alex just hoped that everyone had since vacated the premises.

[ballerscuba]

Davey sighed as he saw Mason struggle to open the gate. "Damnit," he mumbled to himself. "Can't even do that right, can you?" Davey walked over to the gate. The gate seemed rusty to him. He ran his hand along one of the rails. Rust piled on his fingers. He shook the gate. It seemed to still be pretty secure, though. It did give him an idea, though.

That's when he heard the rumbling and saw the flying van. He had to act quickly. He ran back to the army vehicles. He started checking the ignitions for keys. On the third humvee he checked, when he lowered the visor on the driver's side, the keys fell into his lap. "You guys better get out the way. We're breaking into this place." The adrenaline started pumping in him again as he buckled his seat belt and started the humvee. He drove straight into the gate as quickly as he could, shouting, "We're Master Chiefing this bitch!"

Davey jolted forward as the humvee busted the gate open. He slammed on the brakes as the rusty metal flew in front of him. He tried to gather himself, then opened the door and stepped out. "We need to go inside. I don't know what's coming this way, but if it can flip a van, it can crush us without a second thought." Davey headed for the front door.

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-Phillip stood, dumbfounded by the decision ahead of him as the two men spoke to one another. From the look on the boy's face, the two of them knew, he would not be saying much for quite a while, his gaze distant and deep in thought as he considered the concept of reality and all that lies within. A philosophical look one might call it.

But lo Alex managed a reply, and one that made a bit of sense at that! The two men would need to consider this decision carefully, especially with the shadow of sunset starting to set into the area, the groan of undead filling the streets. The man known as John drooled just a bit on Jake's shoulder. Being unconscious sure was a bitch.

-"Dear god..." Harrison mumbled, unable to tear himself away from staring down the street as the creature revealed itself, the one they had met before.

Like something that pulled its way back up from Hell itself, the creature smashed it's way down the crowded city street. Vehicles left abandoned by long dead families, all nothing of an obstacle to the pillar of flesh. It's 'chest' so to speak was over grown, muscular and powerful like a bestial ape made of necrotic flesh, every flex from the creature bringing a powerful fist down into the solid concrete, unleashing the thunderous boom they were all hearing.
It easily towered over any of the vehicles it crushed and tossed aside, making it's silhouette stand out easily to the dying light of the setting sun. Each arm brought the creature forward in it's slumped charge, twisted gnarls of dead flesh hidden under lighter colored plates that ran all the way up it's body, covering both arms and much of it's chest and head. It's head, if you'd call it that, looked more like several heads all conjoined around the mouth. This head hung from a long strip of muscle and bone, likely hiding the spines that remained connected to the head, giving it the ability to tilt it's head in the most disturbing angles, a single thick tongue-like digit slithering out of it's conjoined jaws, against his knife-like teeth.
Hollow black eyes stared back at the men as they busied themselves trying to figure out what to do next, before it let out that bellow many of them recognized. The city answered back, and with the city sinking into darkness, things weren't going to end well for anyone left outside.

Harrison suddenly blinked as he realized he was staring. Staring and doing nothing to help! Thankfully, Davey's sudden crashing through the front gate brought him back to reality, as he teared his gaze away, only to spot J.P. standing there in the street, shaking at the sight. Suddenly, the boy finally spoke again.
"A...Ah..." He suddenly sputtered. "AHHHHH! HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT IS THAT!" He yelled in a crazed mix of fear and anger. The man suddenly sprinted off in the opposite direction, from both the monster and the men, sprinting down the opposite street.
"J.P! Shit!" Ichiru yelled, dashing after him. Harrison blinked as he watched them both actually split up. What were they thinking!?

He took a sudden step forward, glancing to Davey and Lewis. He...he had to go get those two right? Yes, of course.
"I'll be back!" He stated suddenly, though the look in his eye told them he had no idea if this was the case. If they did not stop him, Harrison intended to chase the two off into the city. At night. During a horde attack.

-Brian looked on at the woman in shock. His expression told her not only that he didn't know how to counter her, but also that he wasn't entirely sure she was wrong either. As if she had just brought forth a sea of dark thoughts he pushed below the surface. Ones he had desperately attempted to keep away.
"But...I..." He stuttered. "You and Migaki..." He continued, his words flailing like wounded birds attempting to fly. Slowly, he fell silent, staring at his shoes suddenly, as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.
"But then..." Brian grit his teeth, clenching his fists hard. "Why did I even bother to live this long. Why did...anyone?" He turned up to her, suddenly tears streaming down his face, a grown man unable to control himself as they poured across his pointed chin and stained his coat, washing out the caked blood.
"Why does any of this fucking matter if all that's left is fighting and death?" He begged her to answer him.

[thatfallout3guy]

Lewis waited with a face that looked eager, yet it only hid a face filled with pure terror. Still, it was doing a nice enough job of making Lewis look ready. As soon as the monster rounded the block, however, Lewis' face of fear broke through and shattered any trace of eagerness and bravery, and quickly replaced it with that of a 16 year old whose parents called to say they were coming home early.

'Fuck. That,' he thought to himself as he immediately sprung from his position, just in time to see Davey ram the gates open with the Hum-V. The gate was open, and whatever the hell was currently chasing them was still a good distance away. If they acted quickly, they could still escape.

Unfortunately, J.P.'s idea of acting seemed to be bolting like a mother fucker. Lewis turned in shock to see J.P., and then Ichiru dash off down the street, abandoning the rest of the group. He stared along with Harrison in pure disbelief, not wanting a single moment of the last minute of their lives to be real. The silence was finally broken by Harrison's claim.

"NO!" Lewis yelled as he lunged towards Harrison, grabbing the man and holding him back from giving chase. He looked down the road, seeing Ichiru and J.P. grow smaller and smaller only made him cringe, "they're too far away," he said reluctantly, "but they're smart, and they know how to survive. They'll be alright. But us? We're fucked unless we move. Now."

The thundering sounds of the Brute's charged seemed to further emphasize Lewis' point.