by Sonhaven and GoozX
Monroeville, Pennsylvania:
Dirk Bell:
The 45's hammer jacked back for the final time to present an empty chamber. With almost meta-speed, he holstered it with one hand and unsheathed a Bowie knife with the other. In the same fluid motion, he severed the head of an attacking female ghoul in a Waffle House uniform.
"Always have a back up. Be prepared." The Boy Scouts Handbook (the man had been training a long time.)
As the quote entered his mind, he started to think of what his next move was. He quickly surveyed the town. He saw it almost immediately -- a strong, secure building with an open front door to boot: the County Courthouse.
"Six o'clock, twenty-five yards, courthouse door -- NOW!" It'd been a while since his pulse raced with this much emotion. A town of zombies can do that... I suppose.
Grimm:
Oh GOD! This is my fault! All these people... dead... undead... my fault...
Then he felt a tug. A small hand was pulling at the chains on his jacket, trying to get at flesh. She couldn't have been more than six years old, seven tops. "Arghh! Arghhh!" Its wail was unholy.
Grimm knew he could no longer pause. There would be time for guilt later, lots of guilt... if there was a later. Without a word, the thing was dispatched.
He continued without hesitation, and Grimm's axe split two men in half at the torsos in a single stroke.
If this was his fault, he would not let it continue. He would not let it spread. He would rectify the mistake or be damned trying.
Priest:
It had only been a few minutes since the wound had been inflicted, but the process had already started. His arm burned as it were on fire. Beads of sweat started to form on his brow. It was getting hard to breathe... no, it was getting impossible to breathe.
He fell to his knees. He felt real hot, and then cold, so cold. A cold that didn't surround him but came from within him. Somehow his attackers noticed the change and started to focus their attention on the others.
Come on... think! he demanded of himself as he slammed his fist into the asphalt.
No time for an ingenious invention. No futuristic foresight on this one. No energy to bounce back... or was there?
Tayden:
How can these abominations even exist? Not that it matters now. They're apparently as real as skull-faced bikers and twice as ugly.
Click. Click. The sound of an empty pistol echoed in his ears louder than a loaded one, because that meant he was out of time.
Then Priest collapsed to the ground.
"Priest!"
The momentary lapse of attention was an invitation to the undead to swarm him. Tayden was brought to the ground with a horde of zombies reaching with grouping arms and gnashing teeth above him.
He punched and kicked, trying to defend against the onslaught, but inevitably one slipped by and brought its mouth to Tayden's hand. However, it did not produce the desired affect.
As soon as its lips touched the former angel's finger, a blast of blue energy escaped from the creature's eyes and shot into the air. The corpse then dropped, as lifeless as it should have been to begin with. The blast knocked back the other undead, and Tayden launched to his feet.
Perhaps it was a freak occurrence; perhaps God was looking out for the team (not that there was any question to that). Perhaps being able to soothe people's spirits included being able to release them.
"Six o'clock, twenty-five yards, courthouse door -- NOW!" he heard Dirk yell.
Tayden's hand struck the forehead of another with the same result as before, then another and another. He yelled toward the team, "Grab priest and go NOW!"
Grimm picked up Priest and took off. "We are not leaving you!"
"I'm right behind you. GO!" Tayden exclaimed with an uncharacteristic authority in his voice.
As Dirk, Grimm, and Priest ran for the courthouse, the zombies closed the gap and blocked Tayden's way. All of the horde sneered toward Tayden and elevated their moans and cries.
The angel balled his fist, stared hard at them, and said, "You are going to have to do better than that."
The courthouse was huge. The walls were opened and the ceiling high. Marble stairs led up to the second story and the old attic bell tower. This was the pride of the small town. The team took deep breaths and tried to regain composure. Priest slumped his body against a large column. Sweat dripped from his head as his body once again got the chills. Dirk reloaded and looked around, shuffling through papers and notebooks that were scattered along desktops. Grimm stared at his axe, looking at his reflection in the blood-stained mirror.
Tayden, the last to arrive in the courthouse, now knelt down next to Priest. "How are you doing?"
"I'll live for the meantime." Priest ripped off the lower half of his shirt and tightly wrapped it around his arm. "We have to lock up all entrances and windows. We don't want anything to get in."
BLAM!
Grimm, Priest, and Tayden turned toward Dirk, who had just put a bullet into the corpse of a security officer.
"Just making sure."
"How bad is the bite?"
"I wasn't bit." Priest flexed his arm, and pain surged through it. "One of the... zombies clawed me; gouged a chunk off my arm."
"Maybe you aren't infected, then." Tayden hoped for the best but worried what might happen if the powerhouse of the group had suddenly turned.
"No, something is happening inside of me. It's not normal."
"If there is a cure, we'll find it," Tayden said, trying to reassure his teammate.
Priest turned toward Grimm. "If not, don't let me become one of those."
Grimm glanced him a look then used his axe to break apart a desk. "This wood is strong. We should be able to board up the front doors, but who knows what might already be in here?"
Dirk returned with a toolbox and a bag of power tools. "Just our luck. Unfinished construction was taking place in the back offices." He threw the bag on the ground and moved to help Grimm with the wood from the desk.
Priest's eyes shot open, and he looked around. Everywhere he saw darkness. Objects flew around his body, his mind. Then he felt it. Someone was inside with them. The feeling was very strong.
"You okay?"
"Vengeance..."
"What?"
"VENGEANCE!"
All heads turned and stared at the huge man. Rage filled his eyes, and he stumbled about. Grimm grabbed Priest and pushed him past Tayden, slamming him into a marble column.
"What did you say?" Grimm yelled, bringing his axe up toward Priest's neck. The blade pressed onto the surface of Priest's dark skin.
Priest's jaw contoured into a wicked smile. He whispered to Grimm, "Your past is going to be one of our deaths."
Grimm's black holes stared directly into Priest's bloodshot eyes.
"Monster!" an unfamiliar voice yelled.
This was followed by a bullet shot through the air. With one clean swoop, the tiny bullet was cut in two by Grimm's axe. Grimm's axe stayed pointed in the same direction; a young man in his mid-twenties stood there with a handgun pointed toward Grimm.
"Get away from him, creature..." the man said, trying to sound as tough as possible.
Grimm let go of Priest and started toward the young man. Tayden jumped in front of the huge, undead biker. "Whoa, big guy. Stand down."
Dirk rolled his eyes and continued to board up the entranceway.
Tayden approached the young man, easing his mind, taking away some of the fear caused by Grimm's appearance. "Look, we are not the bad guys." Tayden spoke softly, as one would with a child.
The young man first shook a little, then lowered his weapon. "They are all dead," he spoke.
"Who is dead?"
"Everyone. Everyone is dead."