My Zombie Shelter (open to everyone)

As her feet went from under her she swung her club around trying to hit me but the noise and flash from the shot must have been something from that end, she was on the ground holding her ears and rolling like she was in pain. I kicked the club from her hand and grab the back of her hoodie trying to lift her to her feet.
I had just made enough noise to bring around every walker in the tri-county area and during the struggle I hadn't paid attention to what Mike was doing. For all I know he and Alli were dead and the guy from the car was searching for me to hunt me down and kill me.
I wasn't gonna let this girl go and giver her an opportunity to pick up that club or find a knife, so I needed to mover her and I to the open. I pushed her in front of me toward the edge of the trees, but kept enough distance between her and I to avoid any kicks. She was still a little dazed, but we only had a few yards to go. I figured if we could get into the open I would have visibility and when the walkers cam I would have some time to get ready.
She was stumbling and having trouble negotiating the brush so I guided her at arms length until we broke through the trees. She was still breathing so hard and as the moon illuminated her face guilt washed over me as I saw the damage from her kissing the tree.
"Sit down for a minute." I told her hoping she understood me and I reached for the sleeve of my shirt and tore off a piece to use as a bandage. The blood was pouring from the bridge of her nose and I guess that as scared as I was, she was still a person, and I thought I should help...cautiously.

That escalated quickly

He found himself running parallel to a road, not daring or dumb enough to actually leave the trees. That was definitely gunfire before his toy went off. Shit, she seemed like a nice enough girl. That just seems like a shitty way to go out after surviving the walker. It wasn't the worst way to go though either.
He really hoped the road went somewhere, because sooner than later every walker within ....well within a long way would be heading towards that car and he wanted to be somewhere either safe or far, far away by then.

He definitely didn't expect to find a twelve foot wall with a gate, but it had already been a pretty strange night, so what was one more thing at this point. The wall seemed to go as far as he could see in each direction, which wasn't far in the darkness. He tried to do the quick math in his head about the car, the gunshots, and the wall. Safer in or or safer out?

(Since someone took my character, I'm going to use a different name and person. Enjoy!)

Kristi walked. Her feet were killing her, but she perservered. The shoes she squandered off of a dying surivivor were a tad small, and she was sure her feet were covered in blisters, but the last thing she needed was a blood trail.

Trees still bit at her bare arms, the camo corset she was wearing getting even looser as she lost more weight and gained muscle. The katana on her back felt heavy, but she continued to carry it. A kukiri hung on her belt and a small Taurus was clipped by her hip.

She heard yelling and a shot. She cringed. She could practically hear the zombies come rushing toward the sound. She could faintly smell blood in the air. About a quarter mile out.

She sprinted toward the same direction, climbing the trees and leaping from them nimbly. She wanted to help whoever was there. The more survivors together, the better chance of survival.

She snatched the bandage from his hand and darted him an angry look as she pressed it to her nose and mouth, her lower lip swelling already. Why had she run? At least the other guy had been nice. This jerk off had tried to break her face and shot at her in less than a minute. Her shoulders shivered with rage as she wiped the blood from her face.

"No wonder the human race is fucked, with assholes like you 'defending' it." She spat her words out at him in fury. Her pupils didn't match, an obvious sign of a little concussion. She coughed harshly, as if she was going to be sick again but she looked up at him, her bangs falling down and she hurriedly pushed them back. "Haven't seen another person in ages, and I end up here..." She leaned forwards, coughing in high pitched spurts.

She would be damned if she was going to cry in front of this guy. Her back ached, she moved a hand around to touch the back of her hoodie and it came away red. Great. This day sucked.

"I knew you were all together. You're worse than the dead," she said, struggling to keep ahold of the anger, keep the fear at bay. And the tears.

"No wonder the human race is fucked, with assholes like you 'defending' it." she snarled as she swiped the makeshift bandage from my hand.
Still fueled on adrenaline and anger from the pain in my fingers I said the first thing that came to my head.
"Well, I don't know how things are on the planet you have been hangin out on sweetheart, but here in my world I don't worry about the human race, I worry about ME!"
She sounded like she was about to hurl, but with a sharp cough then a flick of her hair she was still ready with a retort.
"Haven't seen another person in ages, and I end up here...I knew you were all together. You're worse than the dead."
'What is it with the fuckin attitude of chicks anymore?' I think as I listen to her hack up a lung but still manage to insult me.
I throw up my wounded fingers with the middle one extended, "Hey, Hannibal Lector, you would have been just fine if you hadn't went batshit crazy up there! I told you I didn't want to hurt you, and what do you do, try to eat me like one of those goddamn walkers you seem to hate so much!"

She struggled to her feet, swaying dangerously and looking at him with absolute venom. "I bit you because you grabbed me! And held a gun to my head! Nice way to fucking say hello, fellow alive person, why don't I just attempt and kill you to just make you feel comfortable in the world!" She doubled over again, coughing and grimacing in pain before ending up on the ground again on her knees, one hand holding her head.

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think the first time I saw a living breathing person in weeks that this would happen." She frowned a little, and looked up at him through her tousled black bangs. The ferocity had disappeared from her green eyes and she just looked tired. "For the record, people don't hold guns to a woman's head and then say they haven't got an intention of hurting them, you know." She half-smiled.

"I bit you because you grabbed me! And held a gun to my head! Nice way to fucking say hello, fellow alive person, why don't I just attempt and kill you to just make you feel comfortable in the world!" she said after struggling to her feet.
"Ha! You were all amped up after going Captain Caveman on a walker in the woods at night and you what...want me to ask you to the prom? I hear voices some somewhere in there and see you come stumbling out right towards me. You obviously didn't know that guy and I didn't want you takin that club to my head."
She started coughing some more and had fallen back to the ground. There was obviously something wrong with her, but I wasn't about to try to help until she had calmed down just a bit.
"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think the first time I saw a living breathing person in weeks that this would happen. For the record, people don't hold guns to a woman's head and then say they haven't got an intention of hurting them, you know."
"Yeah, well for the record, the words 'I don't want to hurt you' aren't usually followed by getting hurt."
I was starting to calm down and I did feel a little bit bad about the tree thing, so I decided I would ask this time if she was ok.
"Look, we need to get the fuck out of here ricky tick before the walkers show up. If it's ok..." I said as I holstered the Kimber and took a knee in front of her "how about I take a look at your face?"

She blinked several times, feeling more than a little like her head was swimming as she nodded, her green eyes wide and looking up at him. Her forehead crinkled a little as she struggled to focus at the man kneeling before her.

Her face was as pale as death, but her cheeks took on a little pink hue. She swallowed. She hadn't been within swinging distance of a man since her boyfriend. Her eyes clouded a little. Not boyfriend. First walker she had taken out. She clenched her jaw and the pain in her nose brought her back to the present.

"Are you going to kill me?"

She looked like shit, all pale and woosy from what I could tell. Take away the blood tree bark and she might actually be kind of pretty.
"Are you going to kill me?" she asked in a low voice as if she had almost resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die.
I scooted about half a foot closer to her and chuckled a bit.
"Darlin, if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." I said in a lower tone.
She was blinking her eyes rapidly like she was trying to focus on me. I really started to feel bad now as I remembered how hard I had shoved her into that tree. It was still too dim to see her pupils, but there was no doubt she was at least dazed if not more.
"I am going to touch you ok, I just want to look at you nose. I just need to see if I can stop this bleeding."
I reached out my hand hoping that she wasn't still hungry.

She sighed a little, almost reassured, but a darker feeling lay within her. He wasn't going to kill her. She lifted her face a little, closing her eyes and exhaling. Doing her damnedest to try and not flinch when he lifted his hand to her. She bit her lip and winced, licking the blood off the cut there from her collision with the tree.

'I am rubbish at this survivalist stuff,' she thought, amazed at how she'd managed to stay alive this long. She let him survey the damage he'd done, and secretly hoped he felt bad.

She started to fidget with the cuffs of her hoodie, suddenly missing her bat to keep her hands occupied. It was so quiet. Too quiet. She had been alone for so long, alert for so long, maybe now it would be okay to sleep just for a moment...

Kristi continued to hear screaming but heard it quiet down. The walkers were still coming, but she was beating them. Thank heavens.

Kneeling down from the oak, she saw a man and a young woman. The man was examining the girl's face, and Kristi could see blood edging down from it.

Smoothing back sun bleached blonde hair, she silently placed her hand on her kukiri and inched forward, not wanting to startle them.

A branch snapped, and she froze.

My apologies but I was asked to replace you. Since your back I withdraw.

(You don't need to withdraw if she has picked up a new character)

AlysaNewport, I'm back for a short period before I'm gone again. I might not have access during the time I'm gone. You can keep Alli, I have a new character. I'm not mad, I completely understand.

I bent my head to take a closer look at her.
"Fuck." I whispered as I saw the cut across the bridge of her nose. There were several abrasions and scratches from the bark but the cut gave me the most concern. Before the world went to shit, this would be nothing, a little peroxide and a Bugs Bunny Band-Aid and she would be good to go. However now, even the smallest cut could prove fatal either from infection or walkers. Those fuckers seemed to b able to hone in on fresh blood and right now she was a potpourri of it. Add to that, she was acting dazed and sleepy which could be the sign of something more serious than the cut.
I started thinking about my options. The compund was a half mile away, and carrying her in the dark, would take a wahile. With the noise we had made there woul surely be undead on their way, so I needed to find a place to hide, at least until daybreak.
The car however, was only about forty yards up the hill. We could get there way faster and with the doors locked we would have limited protection from walkers. I also thought that if I could reach the fuel filter and find a few drops of gas, I could spread that around and mask our scents.
She was starting to closer eyes so I shook her a bit to try and revive her a bit.
"Hey, stay with me. We have to move. Can you walk? C'mon, wake up. What's your name?"
I was trying to whisper but still emphasize our need to move. My head snapped to attention and I put a hand on the Kimber, as I heard the snapping of a twig.

She swallowed, straining to focus again at him. Her name. He'd asked her for her name. She had to think for a moment, and opened her mouth.

"My name's Pan...-" Her eyes shot wide open as she heard the snap, and was on her feet in a split second. "My bat... What did you do with my bat..?!" She bent down, withdrawing the railroad spike from its strapping on her thigh, and held it like a stake. She looked around, wisps of black hair falling from the knot behind her head. Her head was swimming, her nose aching, as she looked at the man beside her. She blinked a few times. God, her head was opening.

She took a breath, focusing. The noise wasnt low... And walkers couldn't climb. Hence why they weren't called climbers, or all-rounders. Just walkers. But she didn't stop tensing, she kept her head low, her emerald eyes focused tautly on the darkness ahead, waiting.

As if nothing was wrong, she shot to her feet when the snap of the twig broke the momentary silence.
'Ok', I thought. 'I guess she isn't THAT bad off.
Slowly I removed my pistol from the holster and raised to a ready position.
"My bat... What did you do with my bat..?!" she whispered.
I raised my finger to my lips and made the universal sign for "shut the fuck up".
As I panned from side to side trying to find the source, my mind raced with the thoughts of how that ham really wasn't worth all this. I longed for the safety of the kitchen where I had found the can of peaches.
We were fairly exposed here and since I hadn't heard shit from Alli, Max, or Mike, I could only assume I was on my own...well except for "Pan". I raised two fingers and waved them toward the trees trying to indicate we should move. Cover is always good and if there was someone moving, I wanted to see them before they saw me.
I came up to a crouch and started to move for cover straining my ears as I moved searching for any sign that whatever or whoever was closing on our position. Part of me wanted to just shoot "Pan" and make a break for it, but I kinda felt responsible for her now after I offered to help, so I was hoping that at the very least she wouldn't slow us down.

She nodded once, her eyes fluttering a little and she pointed to the left. Best not to head straight for the sound. She kind of hoped he would ignore her and head straight for it anyway, at least that way he'd be a distraction and she could make a break for it. Her hoodie felt heavy and she wriggled it off. The back of it was pretty bloody so she hooked it to a passing tree. At least it would provide a distraction if it was a walker that could miraculously climb trees.

The guy with her was a bit bigger than she was, so at least if they got set upon it would take the walkers longer to eat him than her. That consoled her a little, and she snickered under her breath. She hoped he wasn't going to slow her down with his ... she looked him up and down from the back slightly, even though her vision was a little blurred, but she was kind of impressed nonetheless, so she stayed behind him, still wielding her railroad spike and cursing him for losing her bat.

"I've had that bloody bat since Kansas... Idiot."

Kristi heard voices, to her left. She looked over cautiously. The walkers were steadily advancing, and she was once again thankful that she knew how to climb a tree and jump from one to another without falling.

She slowly snaked down the tree, listening to the voices. Male and female, survivors. The woman was cursing the guy out for loosing her bat. The guy wasn't really replying. She didn't know what weapons they had, so holding her kukiri in her mouth, she jumped to the next tree over . . . snapping another branch.

SHIT

I the middle of heading for cover, "Pan" decides it's time to get more comfortable and starts taking off her hoodie. A thousand dick responses came to mind about the situation, but the thunderous crack of a branch took my attention away from her striptease.
I had never seen a walker climb a tree, but then I had never heard anyone prattle on about a bat while standing next to the guy with guns. I was pretty sure Tarzan was just a story, I knew there had to be someone stalking us in the trees. Couple that with the shuffling sounds of walkers coming, and I was starting to make peace with the thought of dying tonight.

She heard the noise too, coming right up beside the man and looking at him. There was a kind if hopelessness in his eyes. She knew it, because it was the same hopelessness she had in hers only moments ago. She leaned in to him, whispering.

"It's only one. Either we run, or we fight. The trees up ahead are thick, it'll be harder for them to follow us." She laid a hand on his arm and nodded a little, trying to instil some kind of hope into him. "It'll be okay." She held out her hand.

As I stood there waiting for my fate to greet me I felt the presence of a body moving close to mine. I looked to the side and there "Pan" stood looking at me. I could see it in her eyes that she understood what I was thinking.
For a moment, there in that pasture, death coming to claim me I let the real me show. I wasn't the smart-assed dick that everyone usually saw, I was a guy, scared shitless hoping that if I did die tonight, I didn't want to do it alone.
She leaned her head to mine and whispered, "It's only one. Either we run, or we fight. The trees up ahead are thick, it'll be harder for them to follow us."
As silly as that suggestion was, it was endearing. Heading to trees now would be suicide. We had a ninja above us and walkers closing on our position, we need to head to the open to gain a sightline to both. As sweet as the gesture was, it was clear that the decisions needed to be made by me.
She held out her hand for me to grasp, "It'll be okay."
I took her hand and mine and with a sharp pull away from the tree line I said, "Let's go!"

She almost laughed as he took her hand, nearly yanking her arm out of the socket as he pulled me away from the tree line. She tripped a couple of times, holding onto his hand with both of hers to keep from falling as she ran fast to keep up with him. Why was he heading for the open? Wouldn't cover be better? She looked around, the knot at the back of her head coming loose and her long black hair swept out like a wave tipped with red.

"Shit!" She cursed. Her hair had nearly got her killed, walkers should sometimes be called grabbers.

"Have you anything I can use? Another gun?" She took a breath, trying to steel her nerves as she kept pace beside him with ease. She hated guns. There was something kind if therapeutic about close range walker destruction.

It had been a quiet walk. I was counting every time my left foot touched the ground. Every step was roughly one meter. When I got to around 400 of them, we would turn right into a stand of trees where the car was hidden.

Max had stayed mostly by my side, but as we walked he would occasionally move to walk next to Randy or Alli. This was his way of claiming everyone as members of his pack, and he was letting them know he was on sentry duty, ready to attack anything that threatened the pack's safety.

I counted 406 steps when I saw the trees. I signaled for everyone to move diagonally off the road towards them. "Watch your spacing," I said.

I had never intended to be in command of our little group. I didn't want Randy or Alli to think I was trying to tell them what to do. But, this kind of movement at night with weapons was my cup of tea. Max and I knew what we were doing, and I just wanted to make sure everyone else did, too.

Randy's tightly whispered yell of "contact at 11 o'clock" snapped me from my staring of Max where he had gone still and his ears forward. Somewhere in the muscle memory of I-have-no-fucking-idea how many hours of weapons training my M4 found itself tucked into my shoulder, the Aimpoint sight focused ahead, my thumb flicking the safety to the 'off' position.

In the dim light, Max's lips pulled back from his teeth and he began the low, guttural growl that I had come to know so well.

"Roger, that," I answered. I glanced at Max's posture. "Danger close," I confirmed. "Tight three-sixty," I ordered at a whisper. Then I realized that neither Randy nor Alli might even know what a 'tight three-sixty' was. And, then somewhat absently, I realized that if either did know they would realize that I had indeed been using small unit tactics, and squad-oriented assault movements, since we left the compound. These were things I had learned in another life, even before I became a cop. Things that had kept me and my team alive in another place, another time. Things that I really didn't care to remember.

Things went to hell, anyway. Randy had moved to point to intercept someone moving through the trees. Max and I moved up, towards the car.

Gunfire.

I dropped my grip on my M4 for the second it took me to grab Max's leash. He was trained to react to gunfire, and I didn't want him running into the underbrush after Randy (whom I was pretty sure just shot).

I tucked my M4 and dashed between two short trees to where I could see the car. Randy had exclaimed there was a female with him and someone in the car. A squatter in my fucking Subaru? You're kidding, right? Out here in the middle of nowhere....

I didn't have time to sound off about it. Things were still developing rapidly. Max and I neared the car when whomever was inside set off a distraction device. Fuck. I reeled from the noise and lights and Max set off on a series of loud whines.

Things cleared in my head and my vision and I saw the car was empty. I caught a side glance at someone making for the road. Max turned to pursue, keying on the fleeing figure. I called out to him, telling him nein! He pulled back, the leash slackening, and we made it to the car.

Max turned again and began the snarl that signaled one of those creatures was near. I heard the random, haphazard movement coming through the brush. I turned around, looking and listening. There was movement all around us. Then I heard some movement in the tree tops, and I saw two figures playing like Tarzan and Jane in the trees. They were about 40 yards from me and the car.

I fished the Subaru's keys from my pocket and put them between my teeth. The first zombie stepped into the clearing just then. My response was automatic. I centered the Aimpoint on its forehead and pressed the trigger to the rear. There was enough light to see the creature's cranium split like a melon. The next came from my left. I swiveled, centered my sight, and fired. Another came behind that one. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

I dropped my hand from the foregrip just long enough to open the car door. Max jumped in without me saying anything. He was whining now, and I understood what he was telling me. Get the fuck in the car, Dad!

One more came from behind us. I had dropped my rifle into its single point sling across my chest to get in the car and I didn't see the thing until it was on me. It grabbed me from behind, but for some reason it fell on me, pinning me against the open car door. I tucked my arms in front of me and ducked into the open window of the car to keep it away from my exposed skin. I tried to spin, but I couldn't really move, and I could hear its teeth clacking as it tried to bite at my neck and arms.

I felt Max shove by me. The German Shepherd Dog hit the thing hard in the side, knocking it off me. When I turned and brought my rifle up, Max had the creature by its right thigh and was tearing into the dead flesh. I lined up the Aimpoint on its head and squeezed a round off. As soon its head mushroomed, Max released his bite.

"Good boy, Max! Atta man! Now get your ass back in the car!" I yelled. Max jumped back in and so did I, banging the fuck out of my right elbow on the steering wheel. I hit the ignition and the engine turned over and started. I shoved the transmission into reverse.

The all wheel drive Subaru made short work of the bit of incline and sandy area we where in. I backed the car under the low branches, snapping some off, but easily missing the trees themselves. I was watching out of the open sunroof, and when I was pretty sure I was under the trees where Randy and his new friend were in, I stopped. I stood partway out of the roof of the car and yelled, "Drop onto the roof! Grab hold of the roof racks! Move your asses! We gotta go! Now!"

Max had moved to the back of the car, sandwiched between the cargo in there. I had a couple of five-gallon plastic water jugs I needed to get to clean the gunk out of his mouth. Whatever contagion caused the dead to walk didn't affect canines, but I didn't want him getting all lick-friendly with anyone with a mouthful of that shit.

Just when I had set my mind to making a stand with "Pan" in tow, all hell broke loose around where the car was supposed to be. The ear splitting crack of Mike's M4 had never sounded so sweet. One, two, three....four, shots ring out. I knew he was in the shit and stopped my progress to the center of the field.
I shoved the Kimber into "Pan's" hand that I had been holding and yelled, "Stay here, that's Mike!" I hadn't made it two steps when I hear that tinny sound of an import engine fire up and with lights blaring a Subaru comes crashing through the brush and toward us.
Sliding to a stop in a cloud of dust, Mike shoots up through the roof and yells, "Drop onto the roof! Grab hold of the roof racks! Move your asses! We gotta go! Now!"
I turn to "Pan" and grab her arm and lunge toward the car. I grab the pistol from her and holster it before helping her to the roof. Once she is on, I throw my rifle to my back and jump up landing practically on top of her.
I rap twice hard on the windshield and scream, "We're on, let's go!"