Collaberative zombie story

[Mac]

Goes like this. I'll start telling a tale. Next poster picks up where I left off and so on. Hey maybe we can get it published after it's done. A million dollar book deal will buy alot of e-liquid:


It had been so long since he had tasted a candy bar. Our hero had been living in a tent for close to three months now. Bathing in a lake and eating tree rats. He had kept a count and so far had killed 72 zombies. He ran out of bullets last week and the trip to the hardware store had not gone well. He had damned near gotten bit and found not a single bullet. The first aid kit and warm cola he found almost made it worth it, but man he came close to going native that night.

So there he sat perched on his favorite tree branch. He knew it was a bad idea to try and raid the convenience store. He counted at least 4 shamblers lurking around in there. He looked through his binoculars and his mouth watered at the sight of the candy bars in front of the counter. He thought to himself: "well it doesn't look I will ever get laid again so chocolate is as close as I can get." He grabbed his katana and headed down the hill. As he approached the parking lot he heard a shrill wail in the distance. What the hell was that??" he thought to himself. "Didn't sound like a shambler and definitely not human."

He was already commited at this point and two were coming his way. The first was obviously the station attendent. His overalls were stained with blood and there were little pieces of skull stuck in his handlebar mustache. Our hero dashed into action spinning in mid air with a hard swing of the katana completely severing the first zombie's head. As he stepped toward his next opponent he heard the wail again, this time sounding closer. (maybe a mile away?) No time to worry about that. He stepped towards the next brain eater with purpose. She was heavy set and wearing sweat pants. "you shoulda infested wal mart instead" he yelled as he impaled then eviscerated her. She looked very strange squirming around with half of her torso gone.

He kicked the front door open and jumped on the front counter. Two more came at him both wearing police uniforms. "I'm sorry officer but I am going to need to see some ID!" he shouted as he deftly severed both of their heads. Stuffing candy bars in his pockets, he jumped from the counter and was about to leave when he noticed the front windows of the cooler looked foggy. "Wow" he thought how does this cooler still have power? (He hadn't noticed the solar panels on top of the store.) Cold beer! He couldn't resist. As he opened the cooler door and grabbed a 24 pack of his favorite brew, a hand lurched from behind the beer bottles and grabbed his throat. A big bald headed biker looking zombie, burst through the cooler and threw him into the lotto machine. He kept a kung fu grip on his katana and jumped back to his feet doing his very best Chuck Norris impression. Suddenly that horrible wail wasn't a mile away any more, it was coming from the parking lot. He jabbed his blade right between the giant (but slow moving) zombie biker's eyes and jerked it back and forth, clipping half the zombies head onto the linoleum.

He looked around the front of the building and saw the coast was clear. He grabbed is beer and headed back out the front door. He saw something on the roof out of the corner of his eye but when looked closer it was gone. "Am I losing my mind?" he wondered. "Zombies can't climb!" Nervously he ran around the building. He heard that awful wail again, but saw no source for it. Fortunately, there was a big badass Harley parked there. He figured it must have been his lucky day because the bike's tank was full, it started right up and he found a glock 40 with 6 spare clips in the saddle bag. As he cranked the bike up and sped away, he looked back and saw what appeared to be a woman wearing a medical gown standing on the rooftop of the store laughing at him....

 

[muttSRT]

Meanwhile, in another city 150 miles south, another lone survivor decides to leave his make shift shelter and go outside. It had been months since the outbreak, and things have settled down, but he was still leery. As he walks the streets, he looks and sees stores with broken glass, trash is everywhere. There are cars that have been abandoned, delivery trucks that are over turned. Nothing is as it once was.

The survivor is tired, he can't sleep. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees the same thing: He is standing in the nursery of his 2 story house, watching his young son sleep. There is no sound, except for the light, rhythmic breathing of his young child. A peaceful calm is in the air. His wife is not home and its just him and his son. He thinks about how lucky he is, his life is good. He has a beautiful wife, that has just given him the first of what he hopes will be many children. He has not a care in the world. He hears the front door open, but he doesn't pay attention to it.

He hears the footsteps coming up the stairs and knows his wife will soon be by his side, and they will both look down at their newborn son and both will smile and know they are living the perfect life. The footsteps draw closer, heading straight for the nursery. He softly tells his wife to come to him, to come and stand and watch their new baby sleep. She doesn't answer, but the footsteps draw closer.

He feels her enter the room. He still doesn't turn, but continues to watch his son sleep. He hears a low grunting sound and turns, just in time to see his once beautiful wife, jump towards him...And he wakes up.

The dream seems like a lifetime ago, but it has been barely 3 months. Everyone around him has fallen victim to the virus. Shamblers, that's what the news was calling them before the airwaves fell silent. Anyone who came into contact with the infected, was turned.

The first month, the virus spread quickly. The shamblers were everywhere. The dead lay strewn about, on all the sidewalks, and in cars were they were attacked. Death was all around and was everywhere he looked.

Now, almost 3 months later as he walks down the abandoned streets, death is nowhere to be found. Sure, he can see all the blood stains where there was once bodies and where the shamblers fed, but all the bodies were gone. The city is eerily quiet. He continues to walk the streets, looking for signs of any other survivors, but none can be found.

Suddenly, off in the distance, he hears something familiar. A sound that hasn't been heard in months. The sound of a Harley, and its coming in his direction.

 

[whynotvap]

Writing a potential follow-up to 'Hiro and the girl'. Yes the name is a blatant ripoff of Hiro Protagonist from Snow Crash but I needed a name.

He had a quick decision to make, one he didn't think he'd be making today or any other day soon. Did he want to get laid today? After a quick conference with his alter ego, the answer was a raging "YES!". A quick scan of his surroundings showed a couple more shamblers had noticed the screaming eagle pipes doing their part to 'save lives'. How ironic that those loud pipes may bring an end to his now! Well, chicks dig Harley's, he thought, let's hope she's one of them. At least this isn't a chopper so this shouldn't be too hard to do.
A quick u-turn got him facing in the right direction and a quick flick of the throttle had him roaring back to the convenience store. Thankfully, she understood that time was of the essence and had already started down a drain pipe when he made the u-turn and was running towards him. This one's a keeper, he thought. Not that he'd had very many to throw back lately, but he wasn't thinking of that right now. He was thinking of what he'd say to her first. First impressions are everything when it comes to meeting women after all. He quickly thought and discarded a half dozen lines like "Come with me if you want to live!", and "Uh huh-huh-huh. Hey baby, I've got, like, beer. You want to make out?" complete with Arnold and Butthead accents before coming up with the line he knew would win her heart. He was almost there and she was running full speed at him. He wasn't the best rider but he decided to risk a power slide stop for full on macho effect before delivering his perfect line.
With a brief shriek of tires, the Harley came to a (perfect, thankfully) stop, he looked over his right shoulder and said, "As a matter of fact. Yes, I AM named Hiro! Now let's get the hell out of here!"
With a sense of smug satisfaction, he thought to himself, Oh I am soooo getting laid for my birthday.
That's when he got his first good look at her. Bare feet with a few small cuts connected to long, smooth, even graceful calves turning into nicely muscled thighs glimpsed beneath that fluttering hospital gown. A slight widening of the hips before a slender waistline curved seductively upward. 'Oh, what a lucky boy I am!' he thought and his alter ego thumped it's approval as well while his hungry eyes traveled upwards in anticipation and hope, to what could only be the most amazing rack in the pre or post-Z day world! It was pressed against the delicately flowered fabric of the gown and she seemed to be excited to see him too! Something about the flowers on the gown piqued his interest but he didn't dare look closer for fear of her catching him staring. As he raised his eyes and put on his most charming smile she barreled onto his back like a freight train...
"What the hell? GO! You stupid sonofa.....! GO!!!!" screamed a high pitched voice.
Who said that? Was it her? Him? The alter ego? No not the AE, he shriveled up as soon as she launched herself at him so that left either Hiro or the girl. 'Must have been the girl' whispered the AE but Hiro had his doubts... But fortunately for him he didn't sit there pondering who said what for long and he gunned the throttle, dumped the clutch, and rode out of there riding a spectacular (at least in his opinion) wheelie. The girl on his back must have thought otherwise as she was pounding on his head and clawing at his chest screaming incoherently in her attempts to stay on the bike. 'She can't keep her hands off me!' he thought to himself. 'This is going to be the best birthday of my life! Chocolate, beer, a Harley with a full tank and a saddle bag full of hardware would have been great but now I've got a wild child on my back who's LIFE I just SAVED! I'm gonna get some! I'm gonna get some! I am going to ge-het-aaaahh sa-hum-aaaah!'
That was when his mind drifted back to the strange pattern of flowers on her gown...

 

[Mac]

His mind raced. The girl on his bike was definitely the source of the inhuman wail he had heard earlier. But she spoke english! He had gotten a good look at her and she was no zombie. But there was something about her eyes.. Something not quite right. They were the same off green as the flowers on her tattered gown. But if she was a zombie surely she would have bitten him by now.

Meanwhile he couldn't get over the notion that all the women who had told him "not if you were the last man on earth" might be singing a different tune now. He thought to himself "I just blazed in on a harley and skid stopped like my name was kneivel, no way I am making it out of this without getting laid. Zombies be damned!"

He didn't have long to gloat however, as the pipes on that Harley soon had every shambler from miles around coming their way. There were about 15 of them blocking the road. "Slow down" his sexy passenger growled. "Let's take them out" He stopped about 10 yards from this mini horde. "There's too many!" he shouted. "We don't have enough Weapons!" She laughed just then and he realized that her laughter sounded as if it were two or three different people laughing. It made a chill go up his spine. Her fingers traced across his lips making him shudder as she whispered in his ear:


I am a weapon.

 

[Mac]

And without another word she hopped off the bike and strolled casually towards the shamblers. "Wait!" he screamed jumping off his bike with the katana in one hand and the glock in the other. Again she laughed that godless inhuman laughter like a chorus of children echoing in the night. Even the shamblers paused at the sound. Then soon her laughter became a deep piercing wail. Hiro was having a hard time aiming his pistol, distracted from the nightmarish sound this girl was emitting. And then it happened. The shambler closest to her began to levitate and vibrate spinning slowly at first, then faster and faster in a gyroscopic motion. Hiro's new friend begun to rock back and forth and as she did, her wail became a screech like nails across a chalkboard. The spinning creature exploded in a ball of microwaved goo. The other shamblers were getting closer now and Hiro regained his compsure and emptied his clip. He had become proficient at headshots in the last 3 months and managed to take out 4 more before the rest began to explode. Soon the highway was covered in slimey goo. She kissed him then and said:
"I can read your mind. Happy birthday! Now let's get this chopper rolling, there is a medical facility about 170 miles south of here that we need to break into..."

 

[muttSRT]

Back in the southern city, the lone survivor looks for a place to hide. He is ecstatic to finally hear a familiar sound, but these months of Shamblers has also taught him to be careful. He climbs into the back of an overturned delivery truck, and keeps his eyes on the focused towards the sound of the approaching Harley.

After what seems like an eternity, he finally notices movement in the direction of the Harley. If he can hear the bike, so can the Shamblers. He gets ready to fight, but as he looks around, he notices there are no Shamblers coming. Just a Harley in the distance, growing closer.

He sits in his hiding spot, barely breathing, and not moving at all. He wants to see the rider before the rider sees him. The rider approaches closer and the survivor can see the silhouette of 2 people on the bike. These are the first 2 other survivors he has seen since the outbreak occurred. He is still cautious, but excited at the same time. His mind is racing with the possibilities of finding other survivors, and the thoughts that this terrible outbreak might finally be at an end.

He makes a decision to leave the truck and flag down the rider and his passenger. Hiro sees the guy and brings the bike to a sudden stop. As Hiro and his passenger get off the bike, the survivor sees the woman on back and at once he knows her. How could he forget her long flowing dark hair, and the beautiful features of her face, a face he thought he would never see again. Everything is as he remembered, except for her once blue eyes.

 

[Mac]

The survivor was a smart man. A scientist. He knew that girl on the back of the Harley alright. She was a geneticist. A brillaint one at that. Her name was Ella Montgomery and he had based the ground work for his entire thesis on some of her earlier published papers. He figured he had better not mention it at first, at least until he was sure these two weren't hostile. He was armed only with his wit and his invention. But he hadn't perfected the damned thing and it was still running on batteries. He had enough to use it 2 more times. He called it the anti-personnel de-locater and it should have been his billion dollar claim to fame. He remembered the one and only time he had met Dr. Montgomery. He was meeting with a defense contractor to get the funding for the de-locater. Things were going well and he was there that day to pick up a 6 figure check. She passed him in the hallway and when he addressed her she said: "These people will steal your work and they will steal your soul!" then she stormed off in tears. He didn't make that meeting and it was a decision that set his work back for more then two years. Looking at her eyes now, he knew he had made the right choice. He spoke first, waving his arms to show he had no weapons. "Hello, I am human! I am not hostile!"

 

[CES]

Ella was was a bit startled when the bike came to a sudden stop. As she got off the bike and walked toward the person she wondered whether it could really be a coincidence that she would meet two survivors after so much time on her own.

She thought back to when she was standing on the roof of the store, laughing in relief because Hiro was the first non-shambler she’d seen in quite some time. The she realized that he was getting ready to take her bike! She started down the drain pipe and ran after him. He saw her and stared at her long enough for her to jump on the back of the bike. She was getting ready to knock him off when she saw the shamblers heading right for them “"What the hell? GO! You stupid bike-thieving sonofa.....! GO!!!!”. He popped a wheelie, and it was all she could do to hang on. She thought- “oh no- this guy doesn’t even know how to ride it”. The shambers were blocking the road. Luckily he listened when she told him to slow down, and at least he could at least shoot- though he didn’t realize it didn’t matter whether he could or not. She took care of the shamblers he missed- after all, that’s what she did now. She decided it was better that he didn’t know the whole story, so she distracted him with a kiss and directed him back to the medical center. The trip back went quickly, as lost as she was in her thoughts, hoping that she could keep him distracted enough that he didn’t ask too many questions.

But now, another survivor- this one looking vaguely familiar. She waited....

 

[whynotvap]

"Well there goes my 'Last man on Earth line.', Hiro said after a few awkward moments passed. "My name's Hiro but unless you've cleared all the shamblers in a 10 block area, we need to get the hell out of here! You got wheels?"
"Gabriel, no, and there's a water treatment plant I've been in since... since the world stopped. It's up 3 blocks, left, then 2 more. There's a rope ladder to the 2nd story around the left side. The bike will have to stay outside and I'll be there in 15. GO!"
Gabriel wasn't worried about the shamblers following them but he needed time to think. To process the fact that there were two other survivors, one which now had green eyes. He wanted a little more information before making a decision about those two, so he sent them to his 'observation post'. A place he'd made earlier when he still had hopes that someone knew what was going on and had a way to stop it. A quick look around and he found what he needed, not a Harley, but a Huffy will do in a pinch. Besides, he had a lot of new information to consider along the way.

 

[whynotvap]

They found the treatment plant easy enough and after a quick search, the ladder leading up which was good since the first floor appeared to be filled to the ceiling with junk. Hiro insisted on going up first, since Ella needed a little time to warm up before a performance, she didn't bother arguing. He didn't smell any shamblers but made a brief search of the closest rooms just in case before calling Ella up the ladder. With a few minutes to go before Gabriel arrived, Hiro thought it best if he at least knew her name before staking his shaky claim on the 'last woman on earth'.
"So. I'm Hiro, he's Gabriel. Uh, I know we've already kissed but... What's your name?" He said.
With a smile she replied, "Dr. Montgomery, but in this case, you can call me Ella."
"Oh, a doctor." he said, while AE shrunk away again with 'Way out of our league buddy!' "So, what's with the hospital gown then?"
As the thoughts 'Damn, he's not as stupid as he looks, I might have a problem here.' coursed through her mind, they were both interrupted by Gabriel climbing through the window. Hiro belatedly drew and turned to the window before sheepishly re-holstering the Glock.
"The boy has a point there Ella, why are you in a gown instead of a smock?" Gabriel said to the stunned, although for different reasons, pair.
"I have to get to the CDC in Richmond. They have a program there that studies lead poisoning's effects on children's brains and they should have a full lab for both blood work along with CAT/PET scanners." She said.
"That's all well and good but it doesn't answer the question. What are you doing in a hospital gown and more importantly... WHY ARE YOUR EYES GREEN NOW!" Gabriel roared as he produced a hacksaw shortened over/under shotgun. He leveled at her head and said "WELL?!?"

 

[muttSRT]

TWO YEARS EARLIER:

The government grants have all run out. No more extensions, no more funding.

Working in the makeshift lab, Dr Montgomery turns and throws the test tube to the floor. Another experiment has ended in failure. She walks over to the cages and watches as one by one, the 5 legged rats run around before finally dying.

Experiment number 138 is a failure.

For the past 5 years, Ella has been working on regeneration. It all started back in college when her thesis was based on taking the regeneration genes from a chameleon and introducing them into a new set of DNA. Her theory was that if she could locate and isolate the strand of DNA that allowed regeneration in a chameleon, then wounded soldiers coming back from the war could regenerate missing limbs.

Her thesis caught the attention of the government, and soon after the grants started to come. She spent years trying to isolate the gene and after many experiments, she finally got a lab rat to regenerate a 5th leg. The problem was, the rats never survived longer than 48 hours.

The routine was the same, take blood from the rat, mix it with the DNA from the chameleon, re-inject the rat, and wait. Within 2 weeks the rats generate a 5th leg, usually along side the right hind quarter. Two days after the leg regenerates, the rat dies. After the 100th failed experiment, all government money stopped. She was close, but the government has moved on.

She believed in her theory, she knew it could be done, so she rented a small space and made her own lab.

Now, experiment Number 138 just ended in failure. It was time to cut open the rats and see if she could figured out what went wrong. Like all the other times, the red eyes of the rats have turned green. As soon as she cut them open, their innards have all turned into green sludge.

It didn't make sense. On paper, her theory was perfect but in the real world, it was flawed. There had to be something to it. As she cleaned up her latest failure, it hit her... She needed to inject a human.

 

[technovapir]

Present time again;

"Hey! Put it down" Hiro shouted in surprise as he raised his own gun towards Gabriel.
"Stay out of it kid, you don't know what you're playing with." said Gabriel quite calmly. He wouldn't take his eyes off of her. Not for a second. Never again.
Hiro looked back and forth between the two of them, not understanding where his plan had gone wrong. He kept the gun raised, but stood uncertain for the moment. Finally he called out to Ella, "Say something...What are you doing?"

But Ella was not paying attention to either of them. Her eyes were drawn to the shimmer of a green crystal bottle glistening on the floor near a table, catching the last rays of the late afternoon sun.

"Why Gabriel," she said in a hushed voice, as she crept over to pick it up, "I think you have more answers than you're letting on."

"Stay Back!" he threatened, hoping to shuffle over and kick the bottle out of her reach. He only succeeded in knocking his own shin against a chair as Ella dove for the bottle and clasped it in her hand, rolling away towards the window and holding her arm over the edge...

"I'll drop it, I swear I will." she spat back at him. "Both of you, put those damn things away. Save your bullets for the shamblers.Idiots!".

Hiro looked stricken, but, watching Gabriel carefully, he lowered the gun and leaned back against the wall.
Gabriel sat in the chair, rubbing his wounded shin, but still not taking his eyes off of her.
"It's all that's left. Please don't destroy it." His face was still red with anger, and perhaps a bit of longing. He hated it that she could make him feel this confused.
"What is it Ella?" Hiro finally felt confident enough to ask.

"This? Well Hiro...This is mankind's salvation. That's what this is. And now our new friend Gabe here is going to tell us how he got it, and what he's doing with it." She smiled in her evil way, and her green eyes glinted towards Gabriel. He felt the room begin to swirl, and his throat tightened up.

"OK, ok" he said trying to steady himself. "I'll explain what I can. But first, it's almost dark and we need to check our water supply and eat something. And find you some warmer clothes." Gabriel rubbed his eyes and reached into his vest pocket for his electronic cigarette. If there was ever a time for some cool menthol vapor, it was now.

 

[Mac]

Meanwhile at a shopping mall in Virginia beach:


Marcus was used to the dark. He navigated the shopping mall's ventilation shaft easily. "This is my mall!" he thought to himself. "There will be no unauthorized undead in my playground." His head was hurting more and more each day but he didn't care. He felt strong, very strong. The last shambler he caught lurking in his territory had been ripped in half bare handed and the next he saw would see the same end.

He had been in the mall when things went bad. He remembered that first day like it had just happened. He was describing his favorite model of electronic pipe to a customer when the first shamblers entered the mall. He could not believe his eyes as one sunk it's teeth into his customers skull. He had stabbed that sucker in the eye with an injector bottle full of 24mg pina colada e-liquid and squeezed the entire content into it's eyeball as he tackled it to the ground leaning his knee against the flailing shambler's throat. He remembered shouting: "Warning nicotine can be toxic .....!" He snapped the shambler's neck just to be sure and was surprised to see his customer lurching for him with half it's skull missing. He smashed that customer's head in with the cash register. He tossed a few items in his bookbag and dashed to the security office, fighting his way up the escalator. Two women wearing their sunday best tried to eat him, but he easily tossed them over the side of the escalator.

The security office had already been locked down and there were two gaurds cowering in the control booth. "Let me in guys!" He shouted. But they just ignored him. He noticed several shamblers coming his way so he bolted to the supply room. He locked himself in and began mixing up a couple of chemical bombs from some of the industrial cleaning agents. Armed with two chemical bombs and a mop handle he headed back to the central mall area to attempt an escape. His first chemical bomb was launched towards a group shamblers and it was a doosey. He gagged as a bit of chemical tainted zombie goo splattered onto his lips. Not thinking, he licked them and boy was that gross. The parking lot looked way worse then the inside of the mall so he made his way to the ventilation sytem.

He had lived in those vents after that. With each day he felt stronger and his head hurt worse and worse. After about a week something in his mind had snapped. He began to hunt the shamblers and eat their brains. With each shambler he devoured, he could feel his strength triple. Soon he would become a god...

3 months later he had eaten them all and soon he would forced to leave behind his beloved darkness and venture out of this shopping mall that he called home...

 

[whynotvap]

To be fleshed out in full later due to brain farts and crappy phrasing preventing it's general release I'm just giving the bare bones of Ella's time inventing her serum that led to the shambler outbreak. Pretty much just so there's a general framework of what it is and how it came to be. Sorry for the delays.
Ella goes to Puerto Rico
Ella decides to incorporate Albino treatment that prevents the organ failure (green goo-ing).
Finds out that it also stops bleeding but causes random pigmentation problems.
Things go great, cure found for Hermansky-Pudlak albinism. Hopes for new funding. Several patients released with clean bill of health.
Things go bad. Cure is unstable and starts to mutate (don't get too exited though Mac!)
Contagion makes it to U.S.
True extent of mutation starts to make itself known.
Things go worse, then out of control. Pandemic reaches global scale. Then here we are.

Maybe if someone can write up how Gabriel came into possession of the green vial, it would set up the reveal of what it is and how Ella is responsible? OF course this entire 'framework' post will be deleted when I actually post the segment.

Again, my apologies for not having this done sooner. If all I intended to post was this, I could have done that yesterday morning.

 

[Mac]

Marcus sat on the rooftop of the mall, his eyes glowing a sickly green in the moonlight. As he scanned the parking area for food, a frown slowly crossed his lips. He had killed them all. Every shambler for miles devoured. "What's a boy to do?" He thought. "Have fangs, will travel!"

He was evolving at an exponential rate. The first thing he noticed was that he had somehow become double jointed. As he was stalking a shambler a month before, a weak part of the ventilation system collapsed under his considerable weight. As he fell to what should have been his death he was able to bend his arms in ways he knew they shouldn't bend in order to grab hold of the broken shaft and climb back in. Then there was another incident about a week later where 2 shamblers had attacked him while he was feeding on a third. The one who managed to get close enough to bite him was probably disapponted when it's teeth broke off on his iron like skin.

He felt as though the roof might cave beneath him. He stood at almost 8 feet now and was weighing in at over 500lbs. His reflexes were like that of a cat and he could smell the shamblers before he could see them now. His hearing had improved as well. He could close his eyes and see better then with them open. He had watched a documentery on bats some time ago and figured what he was doing was probably a type of sonar.

He leapt from the rooftop and landed in the parking lot with a thud. The 300 foot drop barely phased him. He dusted himself off and slowly walked toward the tantilizing smell. The smell of infected grey matter. There was alot of it out there and the thought of eating again excited him. As he reached the outer edges of the malls parking area he saw a sign:

ALL LOCAL FACILITIES OVERRUN. HEAD TO CDC FACILITY 100 MILES SOUTH. BRING FOOD, WATER AND WEAPONS!

 

[Mac]

As he took a long draw from his e-cig, Gabriel smirked and shook his head. "You know damned well where I got it. There is more there too. Alot more. You were right. They stole your research and used it in the worst way. To make matters worse the facility has been compromised. From what I gather they lost control weeks ago. I managed to fight my way to the sub basement using an invention of mine called the anti-personnel de-locater and was able to get this sample from one of the scientist's bodies."

"This goes further then you are aware. I saw things on the surveilance videos in the security room. Things that made me turn back. Everything we need is right there waiting for us, but it's hopeless. The outbreak was an accident, but they have a weaponized version. Mutations the likes of which you would not believe. Like I said. This is the last of it. Even if I perfected a power source for the de-locator there would be no way we can fight those things. You can forget it."

Hiro spoke up. "Alright guys. I am starting to feel like I am the only person who doesn't know what's going on. I really really hope our new friend here is not describing the medical facility we are supposed to be breaking into. It's not is it? Crap it is..."

 

[Mac]

Ella spoke then to reassure Hiro that they were capable of storming the facility regardless of the de-locater's battery supply. But she didn't get the words out before being distracted by the sound of gunfire. Hiro said: "Is that Machine guns? Hey the army must be here!"

All three went to the window and were shocked at what they saw. It was soldiers alright, a good dozen of them standing around an armored vehicle shooting at shamblers. They were greatly outnumbered but were holding their ground. Just then, a sewer grate exploded from the ground and severed one of the soldiers heads before smashing into the vehicle. One soldier got on the radio shouting. "It's here! It's here! We located it and it's in the sewers!" Then something climbed out. Something huge. It appeared more reptillian then human, covered in green scales. It's head was distended and what might be human lips snarled back to reveal row after row of sharp fangs. The remaining soldiers all opened fire on the creature but it paid them no mind. Instead it grabbed two of the closest shamblers and before dropping back into the sewers it howled. "Now is the time of Marcus! Follow me and meet your end!" Then as quick as it had come it was gone.

The soldiers were being over run now They had fallen back several feet but the shamblers kept coming. "We have got to help them!" Hiro shouted, leaping onto the fire escape, shooting at the shamblers as he climbed down.

"Great!" Ella said. "Now we rescue the .......s that started this!"

 

[muttSRT]

Gabriel and Hiro both went out to help fight. They each picked up rifles from fallen soldiers and started to help eliminate the shamblers. Quickly they were running out of ammo and were trying to defend themselves while scavenging for more magazines.

Out of nowhere, a loud high pitched wail could be heard, almost deafening. One by one, the shamblers started to levitate, spin and explode. Hiro had seen this before, but this was new to Gabriel. Having run out of ammo, Gabriel watched as the shamblers were quickly eliminated. Most of the soldiers were dead now, being way under gunned for that many shamblers.

Once the dust and goo settled, all that remained were Hiro, Ella and Gabriel, and the bodies of a dozen soldiers. Gabriel was still in shock at what he saw, but started to search the soldiers. He has learned from the beginning that you never miss an opportunity to scavenge. When he was done gathering all that he thought he needed, he turned to Ella. Her once blue eyes, now glowing green stared back at him. She said "Looks like we found our new transport" as she climbed into the drivers seat of the armored vehicle. Gabriel climbed into the shotgun position, but Hiro wasn't about to leave his newly acquired Harley behind. "You lead the way and I will follow" Hiro said as Ella started the vehicle.

Gabriel turned to Ella and asked "What the hell just happened? and what the hell was that green sewer lizard?"

Ella didn't answer, but just stared straight ahead as she headed for the medical center. She herself was wondering the same thing.

 

[Mac]

As he navigated the sewers, Marcus munched on a shambler skull, replaying the events that had just taken place above ground. He wasn't just eating their brains now. He had gotten big enough to devour their entire bodies. To him shambler limbs equated to junk food. Perhaps no nutritional value, but undead flesh was tasting alot like a potato chip to him.

He had originally sniffed out the large pack of shamblers expecting a buffet style meal. But he wasn't expecting the soldiers to be there shooting at him. He could have easily killed them and had his meal but he had smelled something else. Something that he knew was a natural predator to him. It didn't smell like food. More like a potential mate. But his libido was long gone and whatever that smell was could have been a serious threat. So he had grabbed a snack and headed to greener pastures.

As he travelled through the sewer tunnels he picked up a different scent all together. It smelled like dessert. He had abandoned his plan to head to the CDC building after his last glance of himself on a reflective surface. There would be no warm welcomes for him from any normal humans at this point. He wasn't too far gone to know that. Little did he know that the chocolate like smell he was following would lead him directly there.


Then a voice popped in his head. It was female and quite soothing. "Marcus" it called out to him. "I can help you." "What has happened to you can be reversed." Suddenly he realized that the voice he was hearing was from the same source of that predatory smell. The smell he had run from. "Don't trust" he mouthed under his breath. Then from within his head he screamed with angry vengeful thoughts. With every ounce of his being his mind cried out. "Get out of my head!"

He didn't hear it anymore after that and soon forgot about it, entranced by the smell he was following...


"Well!?!?" Gabriel said. "I asked you a question!" But she was somewhere else. He could tell that she hadn't heard him. Her eyes had started to glow and her breathing sounded like it was happening in triplicate. Before he could say anything else a gush of blood rushed from her nose and Ella lost control of the vehicle. She lost conciousness and Gabriel was barely able to grab the wheel and keep the vehicle from crashing...

 

[Mac]

As Marcus continued through the pitch black sewer tunnels, he heard a noise. A whirring noise, followed by what sounded similar to a tank tread. He closed his eyes and could sense something coming towards him at high velocity. He dropped and raised his arm catching the giant dart in mid air and tossing it to the side. He heard a click and then a whirr. There was some sort of robot coming towards him. He climbed to the ceiling and scurried above it. He could see it's infa-red eye searching for him. Apparently this thing wasn't smart enough to look up. He dropped down on top of it and sank his maw into the infa-red camera. He destroyed the contraption utterly, chewing and clawing until the device was no more. After he was satisfied that it was irreparable he continued to pursue the chocolate like smell. "Daddy's hungry" He thought to himself. "Time to find out what that oh so sweet smell is."

Meanwhile at an undisclosed location:

Commander Trenk was losing control. 3 of his 5 facilities had been compromised. He was loosing soldiers left and right. His plan had been for a quick and easy coup d'etat. Not to kick start armegeddon. "We have got the subject on camera 3 Sir!" a voice blared through his radio. Trenk quickly responded. "Tranq it now!" He flipped the monitor to camera 3 and was dismayed to see the creature snatch the tranq dart in mid air and then disappear. Shortly after that his camera feed turned to fuzz. "Fight fire with fire" he thought. Then spoke boldy into the radio. "Send in 3 crawlers. Lets see how this monster handles them!" "But sir!" a voice responded. That's an order! Trenk barked. "Do it now! Show this thing who's boss!"