Embedded Files
(Today on the Countdown, I decided to try my hand at doing a quick minisode for a project I've been working on for a while now! Hope you enjoy~!)
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Day 1, 15 Hours Since Laughter Broke Out
Allen watched the monitor with wide eyes. In spite of having been out on the streets when this all started, the playback of the emergency news broadcast did nothing to make it seem cognicant, or even real; the panicked atmosphere of the bar did nothing to make what was happening seem anything less then a bad dream, with frightened couples huddled together, nervous mothers tending to their terrified children, and even full grown men weeping openly. Those who hadn’t fallen uneasily into the arms of Morpheus had their eyes glued to the television, hoping against hope for some good news.‘Earlier today, contact with the United States was silence, after a final- and alarming- broadcast from the president, in which he admitted the country was unprepared for the crisis that has spread across the globe. Paris has been confirmed to have been completely engulfed by flames, and it is believed that there are no surviviors. It is believed China has detonated several EMP’s over the Indian Ocean to halt the problem, thus explaining why news regarding many countries in that area stopped coming in several hours ago. While officials are still refusing to comment, several religious groups and organisations have called the phenomenon Judgement Day. We intend to-’“It’s like a movie, isn’t it?” A voice whimpered beside him.“Huh?” Allen turned to face the origin of the voice- his companion and close friend Vanessa- who was huddled up under a shock blanket beside him.“All of this... Paris burning to the ground, entire countries suddenly going silent in the blink of an eye... It’s like a bad horror movie.” She said, adjusting her position slightly, leaning against him. “Like Morning Of The Damned or something.”“If this is a bad movie, then I hope to god we make it to the climax.” Allen said, putting an arm around her, looking out the window. “I don’t want my eulogy to read ‘Dead Before Credits.’”“Be serious.”“I am being serious.”Vanessa exhaled, looking back at the TV. “Do you... think it’s going to be alright?” The desperation in her voice made Allen cringe. He wanted more then anything in the world to comfort her, but...“I’m not gonna lie to you; I reckon the best chance we’ve got is to find somewhere quite, stockpile some booze, roll a few J’s, and go out with a bang. If the world’s ending, may as well make a party out of it.”She didn’t respond. Clearly, not the answer she wanted to hear.“I’m so glad I’m facing the apocalypse with you, Allen. Your optomism contrasts the bleakness of it all so wonderfully.”Allen’s cousin, Aaron, approach the pair, three double whisky’s in hand, which were sharply distributed between the group. Vanessa took hers and gulped it down with much gusto, while Aaron chose to sip his daintily instead. Allen just stared into his.“You know I’m right.” He said finally, looking up at Aaron. “When you’ve got entire continents just dropping off the map, it’s probebly a good sign that we’re fucked.”“You don’t know that.” Aaron spat back. “For all you know, the UN could have come up with a solution. I admit it’s wishful thinking, but...”“Oh will you wake up already?!” Allen said, seething slightly. “The US goes silent, and you want to pop the kettle on and wait for all this to blow over?! This is the end of days, bro. It’s over, finito, done and dusted. Goodnight vienna!” Allen gestured wildly, before finally- and bitterly- throwing his shot back.“Oh, yeah, that’s fantastic; you’ve lost all hope, so now NOBODY is allowed to cling to any sliver of a silver lining they can? You’re a hoot, Allen, really.”“Well at least I’m not a blissfully ignorant moron who can’t face reality!”Aaron sneered. “You’re loving this, aren’t you? Too scared to take things into your own hands, but why would you need too when the world’s going nuts?”Allen reached over, grabbing Aaron by the collar, pulling him closer; his eyes were full of venom. “Say that again, asshole. I fucking dare you to push that button one more time.”Just as Aaron went to retort, Vanessa slamed her hands down on the table. “Oh would the pair of you just PACK IT FUCKING IN?!” Her cheeks were stained with tears, and her lips trembled. The first thing Allen noticed is that the bar had falled silent, all eyes on his troupe. The second thing he noticeds was that his cheeks felt damp too.The door of the bar burst open suddenly; it was one of the lookouts who was standing watch at the end of the street; the Bar was located at the end of a long dead-end road, with the only way out besides the front door being a double door that lead to a small garden, situated between two alleyways and seperated only by a weak wooden fence, so some of the survivors offered to stand watch in case of trouble. The panicked pace with which the lookout bolted the doors and killed the lights, and the blood down his front told Allen that whatever news he brought, it wasn’t good.“Pete?” A voice piped up from the crowd, “What’s going on? Where are Gaz and Lar-”Pete frantically shushed the curious onlooker. “They came out of nowhere! They got Gaz before any of us knew what happened. Larry pushed me out of the way of one of them and took the fall for me. If we don’t keep quiet right now, we’re all dead!The panic rose even as the noise quietened; several people ducked underneath a table or behind the bar, others grabbed whatever was handy. Allen, Vanessa and Aaron all instinctivly reached for their weapons- a Machette, an Iron Pool Cue, and a Handgun respectivly- and ducked into one of the window-view booths, peering over the top. Just as the noise finally died down in the bar and the only remaining light was the ambient orange glow from the burning sky outside, the shadows began to appear in view; slow, shambling manifestations that looked vaguely human. There was a very faint sound of very raspy giggling, which grew louder as the shapes came closer. Vanessas grip on the pool cue tightened and her eyes narrowed, a heavy gulp being all it took to shake off the uneasy vibes. Allen instinctivly clung to Aaron’s arm, trembling slightly; he could feel Aaron’s eyes rolling in the dark without needing to see him actually do it. For a tense few minutes, all eyes on the bar were on the things outside as they shambled around, ‘investigating’ the area. There were maybe six or seven of them- not an incredible number, but it only took one of them to make many more. Finally, the shapes turned around, the soft, raspy giggling turning into wet gurgling sounds as they shambled away. Someone let out an audible sigh, slowly stepping out of hiding-‘In light of recent evidence showing the scope of the crisis, it is with heavy hearts that we say...’Everyone turned turned to look at the survivor, who was looking down at his foot in horror- he’d stepped on the TV remote, bringing it back to life- very loudly.‘... This could be our final broadcast.’The shapes turned around.‘Our prayers go out to all of you. ... My prayers.’They began to advance on the pub, much faster then before.‘... Good luck.’The most grotesque laughter began drowning out the TV.‘And may god be with you.’
It only took a few bashes of the palm for the creature to cave the window in; the sudden gust of wind blew the net curtains aside, revealing it’s face; it appeared to be a middle aged man, but it was missing it’s right arm. It’s hair was matted, and it’s clothes stained. It’s cheeks had rotted away in a very specific way, the scarring and rot forming a shape not entirely unlike a smile, showing off it’s teeth and gums, and instead of bleeding red, it’s wounds leaked a thick black sludge, and it’s exposed tissues and sinew were dyed a very dark grey- afflctions that all the creatures seemed to sport. Within seconds, a gunshot ran out, and the creature fell silent, plumeting backwards; Aaron was standing firm, the barrel of his gun smoking.
Chaos swept the bar in an instant. Everyone made a mad dash for the backdoor, trampling over and crushing one another; the front door pounded away, eventually giving way as the remaining creatures shambled in, advancing on the crowd- one of them had grabbed a straggler who had fallen backwards by the neck, and began pulling backwards, sinking it’s teeth in; Allen stared wide eyed as the creature kept pulling until the skin started pulling away, then the tendors, until finally the head came off completely, and all throughout the man’s scream of terror and pain had risen in pitch the more the creature pulled. The creature fell backwards, continuing to bite and chew at the severed head as the body fell in front of it.
“Allen!” Vanessa shouted, tugging his arm, “Through the window! Quick!”
Allen nodded, clambering over the booth and out the window, Aaron and Vanessa ahead of him. The chorus of screams erupting from the bar behind Allen was almost deafening, but the sheer horror of it paled in comparison to the sight of another group of creatures shambling down the road towards the three of them- there must have been at least twenty of them. “Oh well, that’s fantastic! What do we do now?”
“How the hell should I know?!” Aaron said, plugging bullets into the creatures at the front of the crowd, although his shaky shots failed to net him any headshots. “The alleyway back there will be full of ‘em by now too!”
Vanessa was scanning her surroundings, until she noticed an abandoned car behind the advancing group of monsters. It looked to be in working order. She gestured at it with her cue. “How about a little GTA?”
“What, you mean chance it with the biteheads?!” Allen cried out in disbelief. “We’ll never make it past that many!”
“We’ll never make it out of this alive if we don’t try!” Vanessa shouted, readying her cue. Allen groaned, gripping his machette with both hands. She nudged him in the side good naturedly. “That’s the spirit!”
“How can you go from being all morose about the end of times to suddenly becoming Wonder Woman?”
“Dunno; maybe it’s the adrenaline!” Vanessa shouted.
“Maybe it’s the Whisky.” Aaron mumbled.
“Whatever, let’s just do this nice and quick, ok?” Allen groaned, before charging at the horde, Vanessa and Aaron in tow. He struck at one of the creatures fiercely, taking it’s head clean from its shoulders, before feeling a firm grip on his foot; a legless creature that pawed helplessy at him, trying to bite his ankle. He tugged his leg back, repositioning it on the creatures shoulder, snapping the tendons in the arm when it’s grip failed to waver, and brought his machette down on it’s head, then kicking backwards to dislodge it. Vanessa had dived inbetween four of the creatures, twirling the pool cue around quickly, getting repeated strikes on all four of their heads, until eventually bits of the faces started falling off; she then lowered he swings, knocking all four of them down to the ground, and using the heel of her sneakers to cave their heads in. Aaron, after a quick reload, had steadied his aim, and stood in front of the small groups around Vanessa and Allen, and began picking off the reamining monsters, nailing some with headshots right off the bat, and hitting others in the chest or the abdomen first before getting their heads as they stumbled. Aaron eventually gestured at the car, the crowd thinned out enough that they could get to it; Allen dives in first, checking the car for keys; seeing none, he begins to quickly hotwire the vehicle, cursing under his breath. After finishing off a few stragglers from close to the car, Aaron heads over to it, before suddenly being jerked backwards, choking; one of the creatues is tugging the back of his shirt, and goes to bite his neck; Aaron closed his eyes an grit his teeth, waiting for the worst. Instead, he heard a sickening crunch. Tentatively opening an eye, he sees Vanessa’s pool cue poking through the creatures eye, before being pulled back with an equally sickening squelch, leading the corpse to fall over. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, he turned back to Vanessa. “I owe you one, ‘Ness.”
She smirked, the leaning the cue against her shoulder. “You get me a date with your cousin, and we’ll call it even.”
“Hey, Cilla and Bruce!” Allen cried from the car, over the roar of the now functioning engine. “Kindly quit pimping my sweet ass and get in here!” He gestured behind them, back at the bar, where the people who were just minutes ago fellow suvivors had now changed; their skin deathly white, their eyes blank, their wounds leaking black gunk, and their jawlines twisted into nightmarish grins, out which they were letting hysteric laughter that seemed to echo all around them. Taking the hint, the pair dive into the backseat of the car, and Allen, taking initiative, pulls away from the curb and tears down the street.
The ride through and out of london was a hazing experience for all of them. Many building were smashed to pieces, some were on fire, and one or two had collapsed completely. Dead bodies- those missing heads or too badly damaged to change- were littered all over. They drove passed hundreads of the creatures- and ran down a good few- along the way. Allen caught, out of the corner of his eye, a family running from a house. Only the dad and elder daughter managed to make it out; the younger son was pulled back into the house by an infected woman, probably the boy’s mother. After an hour of uneasy driving, they’d made it onto the M25, coming face to face with a chaotic traffic jam. Many cars were abandoned, some were on fire, some had creatures trapped inside with no way out, and many cars were functional but unable to move, their terrified occupants muffled screams of help greeting the group as they stepped out of the car, looking back at the city behind them. The sky around the cityscape had turned a bold red, and smoke rose from the heart of the dying metropolis.
That’s when Allen knew. That’s when they all knew. It all felt real to them then.
“Wh-where now?” Allen asked in a shaky voice.
“I guess... we walk.” Aaron answered in a low whisper. Vanessa just stared at the city, almost as if in a daze.
“Just like a bad movie...” She mumbled to herself.
~ Decon, 27/10/13
The House Of Dead Leaves and The House Of Dead Leaves: Smile Once More both belong to Decon. All art drawn by Decon. I'm Your Killer Soundgirl composed by Decon, under the name MIGHTY-MACHine.
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