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Post by Tout-Perd on Aug 16, 2017 17:32:05 GMT -5
Corpses, The wizened woman hefted a broom experimentally, Our ancestors had been charged with the disposal of corpses.
She slipped the broom into the crook of her arm, and then twirled the brush portion free, revealing the metal threading. With a practiced movement, the woman flipped the wooden handle over her shoulder. Choking her grip up on the base of the former broom, taking it in both hands, she brought in a fierce overhead arc, stopping just short of slamming it into the floor.
It wasn’t a bamboo stave, but it would suffice.
“How little things change,” She mused to herself.
Another ghastly wail wafted on the wind, standing out from the crackling flames and distant sirens. She mentally put a pin in that location- Another preta. She shook her head. It wasn’t right to call these things preta. They took the pure and innocent along with the greedy and vile. Whatever was going on, there was some serious gondogol afoot.
Whatever they were, they wouldn’t take her family. Even if she had to walk the entire length of Seattle and smash heads the whole way, she’d make it home to them.
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Post by flamesat on Aug 16, 2017 18:41:24 GMT -5
Anna hurried down the busy city street. The morning had an old chill to the air, but her thoughts were on the deadlines she needed to meet today. She hurried into the elevator in the highrise building she worked in and hit the button for the eleventh floor. Little did she know that today would be different from anything she had ever experienced before. She plopped her purse on her desk and booted up her computer while she grabbed a cup of coffee, then settled in for a long day at work.
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Shoni
Joyeuse Insurgency
Posts: 191
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Post by Shoni on Aug 16, 2017 23:03:04 GMT -5
The songs of birds filled the air as early morning sun filtered through the window into Brian’s room. He could hear the sound of movement outside his door. Growing up the sound of footsteps in the hallway comforted him. But this was not the sound of his mother bringing pancakes for breakfast. Breathing in deeply he could almost smell her perfume fill his room. Metal crashing against metal caused him to snap back to reality. The sun shining into his dark blue eyes temporarily blinded him.
“Gallagher get up! He wants to see you.” The guard bellowed.
Brian raised one hand to shield his eyes and brush locks of blond hair from his forehead. He wasn’t used to his hair being this long, his old job required short hair. Minute seemed to pass as he stared at the barcode tattoo on the back of his hand.
“Gallagher don’t make me come in there.” The guard’s voice seemed annoyed.
“Do you think you could?” Brian said, standing up and walking toward the steel plates that kept him in and the guard out.
“Hands through the slot.”
Reaching through Brian felt the familiar sensation of steel closing around his wrists, and the lock on his door unbolting. The voices of other prisoners flooded the hallway as he was escorted past their cells. He could feel their hatred pressing against him; occasionally a hand would reach through the bars and grab at his orange jumper. Each time the guard laughed and slapped the hands to the side with his night stick.
“They sure do hate you Gallagher. Shame really; with what you did no one in here likes you.”
Keeping his eyes forward and his mouth closed Brian continued to walk between the cells ignoring the guard and the other inmates. Before long he found himself in a waiting room were visitors usually entered, but something seemed wrong. Until now the guard had seemed so confident, he fumbled nervously with his radio and seemed to be intently listening to the crackling noise on the other side.
“What is that..... *Crackle* ……… Stay back……….. *Crackle* …….. No No No.” The rest of the transmission was a mess of gun fire and static. The guard began to pace back and forth and the prisons alarm sirens began to wail.
“Is there a riot Boss?”
“Shut up Gallagher it’s none of your business. It’s a minor situation we will have it under control shortly.”
Shifting in his chair to be more comfortable, Brian began to look around the room. The guard was obviously lying; he had never seen any of them this nervous before. The guard had made basic mistakes, the most obvious of them was that he hadn’t been chained to the table. When the guard turned his back Brian quietly stood up and approached him. In a flash the chains of his shackles where around the guards neck. Realizing what was happening, the guard struggled violently, but it was too late.
Leaning in close Brian whispered in the guard’s ear. “To die would be an awfully big adventure.” Books are one of the few things you have time for in solitary. Once the guard stopped struggling Brian loosened his grip and the lifeless weight slumped to the ground. Searching the body he found the keys and removed his handcuffs.
Opening the door, Brian stepped into the hall way. Bright red lights flashed and the sound of panicked guards was defining. Some of the cells were open and prisoners seemed to be running throughout the prison in the same panic that held the guards. Pushing past prisoner after prisoner Brian struggled to make progress through the crowded hallways. Eventually he broke through and turned down a set of stairs that descended deeper into the prison.
The lower hallways were dimly lit. Unlocking one of the security doors Brian ventured further into the twisting labyrinth. Finally locating one of the armories he slipped inside and began searching for a change of clothes and anything else that might be helpful. Finding a black t-shirt and some cargo pants from a disregarded swat uniform he dropped his jump suit revealing toned muscles and a prisoner ID number tattooed on the left side of his chest. Quickly changing into the new clothes Brian found a SWAT beanie and pulled it over his hair as a finishing touch. Other than the strands of blond hair that weren’t contained by the beanie he now looked like one of the members of the prisons SWAT team. Stuffing a Kevlar vest, pistol, and ammunition into a tactical bag Brian headed back toward the door.
Something felt weird outside the safety of the armory. The sirens still blared but the panic of the prisoners seemed to be replaced by an eerie silence that was only broken by the occasional scream. Hurrying down the hallway he desperately looked for an exit. The pitter patter of footsteps behind him began to echo through the hallway. Looking back Brian saw that something was chasing him. It looked human, but only kind of. It almost seemed like something had robbed it of its humanity. The person, no person wasn’t right, anyone could tell that. The creature let out a bloodcurdling howl and bolted down the hallway straight for Brian. Turning as quickly as he could he ran for the closest security door.
Fumbling with the lock he could hear the creature getting closer with every passing second. Trying each key seemed to take years with certain death approaching. Finally the lock opened with a satisfying click and Brian rushed through slamming the door behind him. The creature collided with the door as soon as it closed. Reaching through the bars it tried to grab Brian before howling in fury and running in the other direction. Further down the hall a loading dock sat open and Brian stepped out into the sun. Looking around he noticed that whatever was happening it wasn’t just in the prison. Sirens were blaring all over town and people ran through the street in a panic.
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Post by flamesat on Aug 17, 2017 12:47:18 GMT -5
Anna sat back and stretched. Time for more coffee. She paused her country music Pandora station and removed her ear buds. Sirens seemed to be sounding from somewhere outside, but she ignored them. There was always sirens going off at the hospital just down the street, so she had learned to shut them out.
She grabbed her coffee mug and headed to the breakroom. As she was getting her coffee she realized that everything was still and quiet in the building. To quiet. Where was everyone? Come to think of it, no one had come to her office with questions this morning either. As the manager of the accounts receivable division for Whole Foods, Anna always had people coming to her office. True she had shut her door this morning in an attempt to keep the questions out this morning, but it had never worked before.
Frowning Anna cluched her refilled coffee cup, and scanned the cubicles. Everything was eerily quiet except for the continued blare of the sirens outside. As Anna scanned the room, she noticed a few overturned chairs and computers with screensavers playing over them. Hurrying to the conference room, she glanced inside. She had been hoping that there had been a meeting she had forgotten about, but no one was there either.
Thuroughly unsettled, Anna headed back to her office. She grabbed her purse and without knowing why she stuffed her stash of granola bars into her purse as well. She closed and locked her office and moved to the large windows across from her office. She gasped as she looked over the skyline. Fires burned throughout the city, the smoke shrouding the light of the sun. Alarmed she looked down to the street below. People were running clogging the sheet. Cars were stopped in the roads, the drivers leaving them behind to get swept up in the tide of humanity fleeing the city.
"I need to get out of the city" was Anna's only thought as she rushed down the stairs to the chaos below.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Aug 18, 2017 0:17:13 GMT -5
The streets outside were gloomy, still hanging heavily with the morning mists that lingered like houseguests that couldn’t take a hint. Something in the air smelled rotten and off, like a fridge full of meat that had turned.
One of the cars in the parking lot sat, its lights still on, driver’s side door open. As Anna cut through the lot, she saw a smear of something on the windshield. A handprint? Something moved inside the car, shambling and growling.
A ragged, mangled person, covered in bloody stains, fell sideways out of his vehicle, writhing on the ground. Red fluid dripped from his mouth, pooling on the pavement. He thrashed spasmodically towards Anna, gasping.
After a moment, she recognized the man as Geoff from the mailroom. They’d scarcely spoken before; his shift meant he came in a few hours before her, and left well before she did. He extended a hand towards her, blood lazily oozing where a chunk had been messily ripped out. Had an animal attacked him? Geoff’s fingers twitched as he reached for Anna.
With surprising speed, he lunged to his feet, and flung himself at her, crying out in apparent rage. Anna could see his eyes were glazed over in a hue of milky white, his lips cracked and oozing blood. He barreled towards her-
“Ai sherecche!” A little slip of a figure, a full head shorter than Anna, and wearing a pink sari, lunged in between them. She jammed the metal end of a wooden stick between Geoff’s jaws- And then he bit down with tooth splintering force, chips flying. He wrenched his neck backwards, yanking the smaller woman towards him as he fell over.
Geoff let go of the stick, and attempted to bite at the tiny woman as she stumbled towards him. However, she loosened her grip on the rod, letting it slip through her fingers as she fell forwards. As the ragged man attempted a bite at her side, getting a mouthful of sari, she gripped her stave at its middle. She levered it into a bone-crunching strike across Geoff’s throat and jaw, knocking him away from her with tatters of brilliant pink fabric still clutched in his teeth.
She fell forwards, rolling with the motion and tumbling past him. With surprising grace for her evident age, she hip-rolled past the much larger man. The elder landed in a crouch, and as Geoff attempted to stand up, she fetched him two more brutal whacks, alternating end-strikes with her staff. Geoff stumbled sideways, staggered.
Seizing the opening, the small lady swept her grip to the base of her staff, swung it around behind her, and swung a massive overhead arch, catching the top of Geoff’s head with a loud crunch. He let out one last growl, and fell forwards, lying still except for occasional twitches.
"Bhallage na! Too close, too close," The woman shouldered her staff, more evidently a repurposed broom now that it wasn't being whipped around. She squinted at Anna, the wrinkles around her eyes deepening.
"It's not safe out here- We have to get moving."
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Aug 28, 2017 17:34:16 GMT -5
"What do you mean you mean you sold them?!" Max snapped at the portly man. The man gave Max a flat stare before responding.
"Is problem, but we can fix. There are other fish we can sell you. Fresh, live, young. Have excellent carp."
Max sighed and thought for a moment. His plans had been made with trout in mind. "When will the next group of trout be ready?"
"We're bringing more in, trout has been a good sale this year. I will check." The portly man smiled and turned to step away when another man burst through the room, his eyes wide with panic. "Valentin, good. You know-" the man cut him off and said something quickly that Max couldn't quite catch. The portly man frowned at Valentin before turning his head to Max. "One moment. Please." he told him, gesturing to a sitting area near the front door.
Max sat down and the pair of them left quickly, speaking rapidly in what Max thought was Russian. I wonder what that's all about, more fish problems?. Max was sitting for several minutes when he heard several distant bangs and a lot of shouting. A moment later there was a flurry of steps and the portly man reappeared, speaking rapidly to someone outside the room. He slammed the drawers of his desk around before pulling out a gun and turning back to leave.
He stopped, mid-turn, and stared at Max as if he just noticed him. "You. You go. Now. Leave."
"What? What about my fish, what's going on back there?"
"You leave, we'll call. Go." The man held up his gun, though he didn't point it at Max. "Just go home."
Max held up his hands, making sure to keep them far away from his holstered Colt , and left.
"What the Hell is going on there?" He wondered as he started back towards his car.
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Post by flamesat on Aug 31, 2017 7:52:36 GMT -5
Those dead eyes stared lifelessly at Anna. She couldn't move, couldn't scream. She stood in frozen shock as Geoff rushed at her. A blur of pink vaulted past Anna, striking the form of Geoff, but Anna still could not rouse herself.
"Wake up girl!" She told herself as she watched the horrific scene play out in front of her. "This is just a horrible dream. You fell asleep at your desk. You have work to do. Wake up!" But deep inside she knew that it wasn't a dream. This terror was all too real.
As Geoff's body crumpled to the ground, the little Indian Grandma turned towards Anna. Anna stared dumbly at the body in front of her. It took a minute to register that the woman was speaking. What had she said? Anna searched her numbed mind a moment. Something about "Not safe" and "Get moving."
"This woman must know what the heck is going on here." Anna realized. "I need to stay with her until I can figure out what is going on"
Glancing around, Anna realized that the woman had already darted down the street. In a panic, Anna attempted to run after her. Nearly breaking an ankle from running in six inch heels, Anna snatched her white heels off and stuffed them into her black leather purse as she continued to move after the little Indian Grandma. Now running barefoot on the city sidewalk, Anna chased after the only person who might be able to give her answers about what was going on in the city.
"Wait, Please don't leave me." She cried out as she hurried after the blur of pink in front of her.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Sept 12, 2017 15:49:35 GMT -5
“I won’t leave you,” The woman shouldered her staff, slinging it with the metal tip far enough past her back that it didn’t drip gore on her, “I’ve faced much worse than this, and did not yield then.”
She nodded to Anna’s bare feet.
“Bhalo, smart. Means you can move in a hurry,” Her eyes narrowed, “There’s going to be a lot of that, today.”
She turned and began walking briskly. Her gnarled knuckles kept her makeshift stave clasped securely, her eyes darting about with each step.
“We want to head away from the University Medical Center. That’s where this godongol began,” She waved with her hand towards a side street.
“We wish to go East, towards the Lake. If we can get a boat from the docks there, we can put a lot of distance between ourselves and these preta.”
“You should arm yourself, mēẏē. This is a battleground, now.”
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Post by flamesat on Sept 18, 2017 15:21:59 GMT -5
Taking Deep breaths to calm her racing heart, Anna followed the woman in the direction of the docks. She wished she shared the woman's confidence. But looking down at her pinstripe pantsuit, pink blouse, and now bare feet, she knew she was ill prepared for what lay ahead.
As they walked, Anna began looking for some sort of weapon. She wished she had taken her brother's advice and gotten her carry permit when she moved to the city. She had never liked guns, but she would be thankful to hold the cold steel in her hand today. Anna sighed. Even if she miraculously found a gun here on the street, she wouldn't know how to use it.
Coming upon a roped off construction site, Anna quickly scanned the area for something to use as a weapon. Seeing a four foot length of rebar, she picked it up. It was heavy and made a clinking sound as she tapped it against the ground. If she used it as a walking stick it would make a lot of noise, but it was to heavy to carry over her shoulder for long.
Anna winced at the sound of the rebar clinking as she investigated the area. "This noise will draw the crazies to me" she thought worriedly. "I need a quieter weapon."
Glancing around she caught a glimpse of something leaning against a half built brick wall. It was a medium sized sledgehammer. Making her way carefully over the rough ground, she picked it up. She swung it through the air twice to test its weight in her hands. Liking the feel of the weapon, she slung it over her shoulder.
Leaving the rebar behind, Anna stuffed a small hammer and two chisels into her now bulging purse. "I can use these as projectiles" She thought. Heading back to the sidewalk, Anna grabbed a small bundle of rope off the ground.
Feeling a little better prepared, Anna hurried after the little pink sari.
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Post by flamesat on Jan 11, 2018 14:49:48 GMT -5
As LeeTupper -
"That should work. Burst a head like a uchche," The woman grinned sharply. "Mind your swings - Don't overextend and stagger yourself. These ghouls are like snakes. Keep a proper distance, mind the lunges, and-" Her eyes glittered dangerously, "Even if they seem like they should be dead, be ready for them to bite."
She looked towards Anna, and back to the street ahead. Leveling her stave, she indicated the faint outlines of shadows by the corner, cast by wobbly firelight.
"Not moving- probably more of our friends, I'd wager," She spat on the ground in disgust.
"We could probably fight through, since I only count maybe five of them-" Her eyes narrowed, as she regarded her options, "But there's an alleyway to our left. It could take us farther out of the way, or even have more of them in store."
"Either choice could be disastrous," She shouldered her staff again, "So I ask which you would rather, before I go plunging us headlong into trouble."
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Post by flamesat on Jan 15, 2018 11:16:58 GMT -5
Anna clutched her newly acquired hammer. Glancing around her, she scanned the area for a third option. She disliked the fear of not knowing what was around the next corner. She liked to be in control of her life, to know what was coming at her and how to get through it. But here in this street surrounded by enemies seen and unseen, her heart pounded and she grew dizzy with fear.
Mentally forcing herself to focus only on the immediate decision at hand. Anna decided to attempt to peek into the alley. Creeping forward silently in her bare feet, she moved through the shadows on the right side of the street. Keeping her eyes on the shadowy figures at the corner, she continued until she was across from the alleyway.
Anna could now see clearly the shadowy figures at the corner about a block away from her now. There were five shuffling figures lurking near the lamppost on the corner. There were three female figures and two large males. Two of the five figures wore startlingly bring orange jumpsuits. With a start, Anna realized that they must be escaped prisoners.
Keeping careful watch on the corner figures, Anna carefully edged toward the alleyway. Thankful that the Zombies hadn't noticed her yet, Anna glanced down the alley across from her. The alley was a dead end. Anna's heart sank as she thought about the probability of having to fight her way through five zombies, with at least two of them being escaped prisoners.
As she gazed dolefully across the street, she realized that one of the buildings had a fire-escape ladder in the little dead-end alley. Anna glanced up and thought, "If we can get on the roof, we could probably roof-hop our way to the harbor and we could see the zombies coming from a ways away and could avoid them."
Quietly backing up to where she had left the woman in the pink sari, she whispered, "You were right there are five Zombies down there. Two of them appear to be prison escapees. The alleyway is a dead end, but there is a fire-escape ladder that leads to the roof. Our chances might be better up there if we can find our way from roof to roof. We would be able to see the Zombies coming instead of running into them around every corner. I don't think it could hurt to try, we can always come back down if we needed to."
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