Living Dead

[Quiet_Cool]

OOC: Okay, let's try something different...I'm talking Night of the Living Dead style...normal people, no gods or aliens or demons, no magicians...just regular people. Let's start like the first movie did, the dead are alive and walking the Earth, and no one knows why exatly...
Except, we'll make it in modern times, not in the 60's when the film was made. I'll get it going...

Johnathon...

They were all around me, swaggering slowly toward me, some faster than others, but none so fast as a living person. I look around, astonished. My car had broken down a few miles up the road, and I'd been walking, trying to find a gas station. No luck so far, and now bad luck. I hurried off the road, darting beneath the trees for cover. I sprinted between the tree trunks, hoping blindly that none of the creatures waited up ahead. WHen I glanced back, they were following, but I already had a good thirty yards on them. Ahead, the trees gave way to a field.
Once I was i the open, no longer feeling held in by the trees, I could see, off in the distance an old farmhouse (yeah, i know--too familiar). I took off at full speed, panting worse with each pace. Once I reached the front yard, I could see several of the creatures working their way toward the old structure...
I hurry to the front door, forcing it open and running inside, pulling the door shut behind me. I leaned against it, panting, catching my breath. When I opened my eyes, I saw her, standing in the middle of the kitchen, her eyes wide. SHe was young, probably about eighteen or nineteen, if that. SHe was about 5-6, medium build, with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a white T-shirt with a Daisy in the center of it. It clung tightly to her, accentuating her lovely figure. I shook my head, realizing I'd been staring.
"Hey," she said, sounding disoriented, but altogether pleased.
"Hi," I replied, "What's your name?"

 

[poohlive]

Frank paused, turning on the lights.
"Get your motor running."
The old familiar tuned swirled back through his memories. A classic rock and roll song that just seemed to suit what was about to happen.
He revved the engine, waiting patiently. They would come, oh they had come so many times before. It was almost sad how easily this was. Then again, a few weeks ago this would have been called murder. Now it was more like a hobby.
He saw on crawling out in the distance.
"Head out on the hiway."
Oh, another one. And a third popping up behind that. A good group was forming. Sacks of rotting flesh, for some reason able to move, began crowding the road, defying the twin lights that came off of the truck. Ford, they didn't make em tougher.
Did they?
He was too arrogant to find out.
"Lookin for adventure."
One of the monsters bashed their arm on the side of the truck. Trying to get inside desperately. Frank looked at him, as if he recognized him. Maybe, just maybe he had. An old school buddy. Someone who had been worm food for a few years already.
"Eddie? What happened? Did they get you too?"
A low moan came out of what appeared to be his throat. Along with a rather large spider. Frank looked at him with disgust, shaking his head. Without even looking at it, he dropped the Ford into gear and floored it.
Tires squealed as the huge machine lurched forward. One unfortunate zombie was in the path of the beast, and exploded as it hit the engine. The truck went on, as if pleased by the display of rotting flesh on it's grille.
"Or whatever comes our way."
More and more zombies came up, but all fell. It was like taking a demented lawn mower to a weed that had outlived it's welcome in the back yard. He tore through it all, one sickening thump after the other. The ford, revelled in it's victims, wanting more. The engine screamed, now pulling all of it's frame to an unbelievable eighty miles per hours. Things began blur past. Everything went together in a blacksih mob as the truck sped by. The wind howled deeply into the night, as if the truck actually caused it pain by going so fast.
Then, he slammed on the brakes. The squeals of the tires, once again filled the air. Black smoke pillowed behind him, as the large metal object crept up to a startling halt.
The engine hung in idle, it's smooth greasy sound defacating the night air.
Frank stepped out, looking at what he had done. Not bad for a night's work. He counted around a dozen or so undead things that no longer part of this, or any other plain.
He petted the hood of the engine, feeling it rumble back and forth from the power inside. It made him weak in the knees. He actually felt himself getting hard because of it.
"Fire all of the guns at once and... explode into space."
Back inside the truck, he continued on the lowly highway, heading for someplace new.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon...

The girl wasn't very talkative, which I didn't mind much. I was busy trying to count them all anyway. They were gathering in the front and in the back, and to either side. I'd been here for only half an hour and there were already thirty or so outside (if my count was correct).
"So, I guess I just ran..."
THat was HER voice, pretty voice, fitting her pretty face. I glanced to her, not missing the chance to take in a quick view of her lovely frame before returning my attention to the window. As they neared, I wondered how safe we were here. It didn't matter in my viewpoint. We had nowhere else to go so far as I knew.
"When I saw the farmhouse, I came inside and hid. I was hoping someone would be home so I wouldn't be alone..."
A soft voice, gentle. Her eyes were shifting around the room as she spoke, as if she believed one of them could get inside and sneak up behind her without her hearing it.
It occurred to me then, and I felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier...
"Are there any weapons here, do you know?"
SHe paused, looking at me blankly for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I never thought to look for any. Aren't they already..."
I shrugged. I didn't know...maybe they were just really sick or something...didn't seem right but, neither did the idea that the dead were chasing us down.
"Why don't you look through these drawers for knives, preferrably large ones...cleavers of butcher's knives. I'll go upstairs-"
"Wait!" SHe broke in. "I'm not staying here by myself!"
SHe was scared...of course she was...
"Okay, we'll look upstairs together, then check here together, okay?"
She was already standing. We went up the stairs and searched through one room after another, finding nothing of any use, then came back down the stairs and scavenged through the kitchen drawers. Once our once over of the house was complete, we totaled a baseball bat and a butcher's knife. They would have to do...
I glanced out the window facing the front of the house again. THere were almost thirty out front alone now...their numbers were growing at an amazing rate. Currently, they were still scattered, but a few more, and we would never be able to move among them.
"SHit!" I spat the word.
"Hey, what's this?"
I glanced to see her bending down to pick something up from between the refridgerator and the wall.
I gazed at her butt, judging it at about a 8.5 on a ten scale, gripped tightly by those cut-offs, and thought, Okay Johnny, things are too strange and too dangerous to be thinking things out with the little head...use the big one for now.
I continued to stare just the same...
SHe stood and turned. By then my gaze was at her face. SHe held a key up. It was small key, looked to go go to a file cabinet...
"Don't people usually keep guns locked in little safeboxes...or cabinets?"
She was right...why didn't I-
THe door burst open then, forced by the combined weight of at least three of the creatures. All three of them were making their way inside, one already pacing across the floor toward us. It was dressed in a torna dn dirty suit, its face and hands actually blue and its eyes rolled back in its head. The girl let out a bloodcurdling scream, dropping the key and turning to run up the stairs.
"No!," I yelled to her, the front door, we've got to get out of here!"
SHe turned and looked at me as if to say 'are you crazy?'
I stepped up, swinging the bat and knocking the first of them hard against one shoulder. I fell over and struck the floor with a thud.
"Go!"
SHe listened, heading through the entranceway to the living room. I followed her, the two still standing pacing after me while others filed in behind them. AS they followed, they stomped overtop the one I'd knocked down, preventing it from rising again.
Once in the living room, I handed her the knife and said, "try not to stop running. If you can get by them without fighting them, just keep going..."
"No problem," she said, her eyes wide and her lips quivering with fear.
THe creatures that had entered the kitchen door were already in the living room, closing ground quickly...
I gripped the knob and pulled the door open.

 

[poohlive]

The ford blazed into the town. A dusting 25 mile an hour sign came to focus in only a mere second of the twin headlights. The truck slammed on the brakes, halting it's descent.
Frank stepped out, looking at the remnants of the town. Just like all the others, empty. It was more and more common to find them this way. He hadn't seen another human since Wendy...
And what a human she was.
He walked into the nearest bar. The people might have been gone, but liquor was still a common occurance. He stepped behind it, picking out a very favored bottle of burbon.
Better make it two, one for the road.
Outside, he looked down the street. The suckers were already coming out of the woodwork. The drone of the truck's engine, even in idle, called them for miles. He wasn't surprised, they were probably starved for food. Human was getting scarce.
Like them mushrooms pigs find or something.
Grunting, he hauled himself into the bastard, feeling it almost moan from his entrance. She wanted it as bad as he did.
"Oh yeah baby," he cooed softly, putting it into gear.
Far into the night, the sound of loud thumping could be heard.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

When I was younger, I'd been more athletic. I lifted weights throughout high school and even played football, although I never made it off the bench. I jogged three times a week then, and was in peak shape, then about two years ago...I got Mono. I couldn't workout, I couldn't jog. All I could do was sleep, and worse still, I didn't realize I was sick for quite some time...so my body wore down quite a bit before it began to recooperate.
Once the illness abated, I tried to get back into the habit, but it had eluded me. I still lifted, but only now and then. And the jogging never came close to catching on.
I was thinking about that as we ran. We'd gone almost three miles and I was already winded, and stopping was an impossibility. The creatures were everywhere...stalking toward the house we'd been in. We ran toward them head-on, trying to find a road or something that might lead us to town.
When I'd opened the door, there had been three right there, trying to force the door open, and a few right behind them. I'd leveled the baseball bat in my hand, holding it as if I were a hockey player intending to cross check someone, then ran at them, pushing them backward and forcing them to trip over one another.
The girl close behind me, I sprinted down the steps and across the yard, using one a few of the old running back moves I'd learned on the high school team, dodging one and stiff-arming another.
Once we were off the porch, getting by them was easy. They were too slow, many of them too rotten to take more than half-steps. We were in the field again in only seconds, then dodging trees trunks, then in another field, then trees again.
By the time we'd traveled the three miles it took for me to become good and winded, we were in yet another field, this one seeming endless. Still, the creatures were scattered here and there, and I thought, 'They're everywhere.' And worse still, if living people were everywhere, why were they all chasing the two of us down?
I huffed and puffed harder with each step. The girl, hwever, was apparently in better shape. SHe'd been gaining on me, and now, she passed me by, legs pumping faster than mine as they were shorter, feet bounding higher from the ground as she strode.
I watched her blonde hair bounce off her shoulders as she went, then panned my view down to her butt again, watching it sway quickly from one side to the other and back again.
I smiled to myself, thinking, 'If that can't get me moving faster, I was dead to begin with.'
I was still staring at her ass as we reached the end of the field and jumped down an embankment onto blacktop. SHe took a few steps into the center of the road, then slowed.
My eyes were on her butt, which I was suddenly gaining on at an immense pace. I swerved to the right, trying not to run into her back as she came to a full stop. I managed to get past her, brushing her shoulder with mine as I did and trying to stop as I saw what she saw: Bodies.
THey were scattered across the blacktop, broken and smashed, several actually smashed into the road, pinned there. THe creatures weren't dead, however, not all of them. They groped at the air as they tried to stand, some already saw us and were stretching their fingers toward us, unable to get close enough.
Here and there, body parts with no apparent owner, lay broken and bloody.
I tripped over one of these parts, an arm, and fell forward, catching myself with my hands but hitting hard nonetheless. I glanced down, saw the arm and leapt to my feet again, thinking it had me.
I wiped at my skin, feeling as if I were being swarmed by ants.
"What happened?" She asked. Her eyes were wide, her mouth hung open.
"Looks like someone ran them over...not a bad idea."

 

[poohlive]

Something caught his eye in the rear view mirror.
It was a figure, alone and standing. He saw it perfectly, looking as though to tempt him. He quickly pulled the truck to a stop, letting it run in idle.
The figure came closer. A new fleash eater, from the look of it. Hadn't even started to decompose. He looked the thing up and down. Nice body too, she looked almost fuckable.
Hell, she already got the groaning part down all to well.
He let her walk up to him. One leg scraping behind the other. Traces of makeup running down her face. She was crying when they took her. A whore, more than likely. One who decided to stay at a lonely farmhouse or something. They smelled her out, they smell all of them out sooner or later.
Before she got within striking distance he pulled out his revolver, letting her get a real good look at it. Nothing fancy, just a plain ole handgun, ready to deal with some country hospitality.
She stopped suddenly, as if something had struck her. Her eyes, still quite vibrant, constacntly on the piece.
"I suggest you get a goin," he gave her one warning. There weren't many opportunities to actually scare the monsters. This might have been the first, well without a two ton piece of steel between his legs.
"Go on now," he was scared, not because he might get hurt. He was scared that maybe this could work. If that were true, then maybe there was a way to reason with these things. Not to a point of co-existence, but maybe to a point of having them stay away from a town filled with nuclear warheads.
She stumbled closer.
Nope, guess not.
He shot twice, one in the head, the other in the gut. She hit the payvement, blood pouring onto the black rock. Leaning down, he looked at her petite form. Bullets would only stop her for a while or so. In an hour she'd be up and back with the others.
Frank grabbed her hair, and took out his machete. The only way to stop them, chop them up into little pieces. He chopped once, twice, three times.
Blood was oozing down the sides of the road. It might be suspicious if anyone still used them. He was beginning to think that he was the only person left on this planet. The only normal one that is, if you could call him normal.
Others might be hiding. Hanging out somewhere safe. No telling. He wouldn't do that. There was too much fun to be had. Too many zombies to chop up, and way too much booze to let waste.
He walked back to the truck.
(can they come out in the daylight)

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

We found the car about three miles down the road from where the zombies had been smashed into the blacktop. It was an older model Cavalier, probably a '92, green and dented pretty bad. It was sitting alongside a Sunoco. The doors were unlocked, and I had to hotwire it, something I learned from my Uncle John, whom I was named after and who spent way too many hours in criminal correction for the use of that very trick.
The tank was only quarter of the way full, but we would get a few good miles out of it.
We tossed the idea of where we would go back and forth for a while, the girl not liking the way the zombies had been disposed of and therefore being afraid to find the person who had done it. I wanted to find that person, mostly just to know another person was alive. Three would be more effective at the game of survival than two, I was certain. I convinced her by saying that, if she still felt weary after we found him, we would leave and go it alone.
We were dring past the broken bodies, slowing and dodging the carcasses as we passed, then heading off down the highway.
We didn't talk much, I guess not knowing what to say, or if it was necessary to say anything. The tank was starting to near the empty mark, and I was getting nervous, when I saw the first signs of a town. THe houses that were often scattered here and there, located on side roads, but visible from the highway.
We reached the town a few minutes later, the car beginning to make the same sounds mine had earlier that night. When it actually stalled, we were outside a large shopping plaza. I looked at the S-Mart in front of us, a few cars parked in the parking lot, scattered here and there. We could take one of them and continue on, but this was a good place to find tools, perhaps food.
She agreed to go inside, realizing that we may find something more useful than a knife and a bat, and about ten minutes later, we were pushing a cart full of items through the isles, watching carefully for any of the creatures that might be wandering around ing here.
We'd found a gun rack, located behind a counter, and broken the glass to take a couple of rifles, both identical, then stocked up on bullets for them. We wandered through the housewares on the way out, mostly just idling so as to not go back outside, when we passed it. I stopped dead, looking the item over. The light reflected off of it, making it seem almost magical. It was perfect, no ammo therefore no reloading, close contact, so it wold be perfect if they were close enough to hurt me.
I reached up and pulled it from the rack, eyeing it up.
"You like?" SHe asked.
I nodded, smiling to her.
"Want one?" I asked her.
"No," she replied. "Machetes aren't my thing, but that ax..."
She grabbed it from the rack, a small hand ax, no more than a foot long, but sharp.
SHe smiled, I smiled back, the two of us mirroring each other.
"You ready to go?"
She nodded.
Yeah, so was I...

 

[poohlive]

Frank finally stopped the car on the front lawn of the city center. He was in a medium sized town, and from what he could figure it, one that had been totally devoid of human scavengers. There were no broken windows, or stolen things. Things, which were basically useless in today's terms. The only helpful tools were ones that helped in survival. Food, water, ammo, and a big truck.
Of course, there's always alocohol.
That's right, just the bare essentials. Of course, a woman would be good. Beggars couldn't be chooser though. He'd have to make do until he could find one. Maybe crawling around one of these towns, still untouched by them demons.
Something loud began pounding. Frank looked up, instinctively taking out his gun. It was a slow methodical ringing.
Ohhh... it was the cloack. On top of the city center was a huge clock that still seemed to be working. He glanced at his watch... a little slow, but still working. He put a half smile up to the clock. Made him stop and think, how maybe things weren't so bad after all. Human technology can survive all of this, even after this long. Maybe humans could too?
The zombies seemed to have scattered for a while, which was just as well for him. He needed some shut eye himself. The booze were beginning to work there magic, and honstely he had no use for driving any more tonight.
Hell, tonight. He looked up at the sky. The eastern plane was just turning a dark blue. Showing that the sun was approaching, but it would be a while before it actually got here.
He jumped into the cab, closing all the windows. He locked the doors, and as his little alarm clock, turned the alarm system on. If anything touched the truck he'd be awake in a second.
Not very technical, but then again he wasn't exactly dealing with Albert Einstein rocket scientist mother fuckers. These were just the regular assholes you smeared off your shoe.
Wrapping up in a nice light blanket, he fell asleep.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

We heard the clock just as we were coming outside. It sounded fairly distant, but was clearly audible with no other sounds to cover it, save the blowing of the wind.
"You think there's anybody else in this town?" SHe asked.
"Not sure," I replied. "If so, maybe we'll run into them."
I was starting to question my own decision to find the person we'd followed here, but I didn't let that on to the girl. She was nervous enough to begin with. Above, the sky was showing signs of lightening,but only mild ones.
"Wanna try that van?"
SHe shrugged.
We pushed the cart over to it and I tried the door. As I pulled on the handle, an alarm sounded loudly in our ears, the horn honking and the lights flashing.
THere was a sudden stillness around us, the wind stopping even, as if it were submitting to the pathetic Fallacy of the moment.
Then everything was moving again, and, even amid the loud honking and constant beeping, I could hear thier feet as they approached, and their low, gutteral moans all singing distantly in unison. They had an object to pursue in us, and now we were in trouble if we didn't get out of here.
I grabbed the handle of the cart and started pushing it toward the next nearest car, a newer Jeep Cherokee.
When I grabbed the door handle, I expected another car alarm, but instead, the door just popped open.
THe footsteps marched closer and we quickly unloaded the items from the cart into the back of it, not looking inot the backseat as we did. I jumped in the front then, and I hurriedly went about trying to loosen the rotating cylinder on the ignition.
SHe reached up above me head and pulled down on the visor, freeing a set of spare keys that dropped into my lap.
I looked at her, feeling stupid.
SHe grinned, "A lot easier this way, isn't it?"
I smiled back. I couldn't resist her.
I started the Cherokee and put it in drive, taking off as fast as I could and heading for the main road to town. The windows up, I couldn't tell that the marching feet were in that direction.
"SO tell me..." I began, wondering what I could rope the girl into telling me about herself. "Where--"
She screamed then frantically and suddenly, causing me to jump and forget the words altogether. I looked over to see a rotting hand reaching into the front seat and groping blindly at her neck. SHe was trying to push the hand back as the creature's head came into view, mouth open, skin entirely rotted from its face.
I reached back and pushed at it, trying to force it back against the seat to where it couldn't reach her, all the while, my foot depressing the gas petal as I looked away from the road.
"Mother..." I curse, gripping its hair and pulling at it, then pushing at its forehead. I fought, but it was weak and I managed to get it down onto the back floor in time to look forward and see the electric pole racing toward the front of the Jeep.
No time to brake, I swerved to the left, the right front tire striking the curb and sending the Jeep over it and into a small gas station parking lot, where the vehicle hit on its right wheels, forcing the Jeep to flip, roll twice and slide until it came to rest beneath the canopy out front, destroying three of the pumps, leaving gasoline streaming onto the ground.
But I wasn't aware of this. I'd struck my head after the second roll and lost consciousness.

 

[poohlive]

"Tank mother..." he woke up, looking around with a start. Had he heard something? He had sworn he had. He quickly grabbed for his shotgun, looking around the area. Them damn flesh stealers, always waking him up from the good dreams.
It was still very dark outside. They didn't even let him get a good hour of sleep, the bastards. He shifted up higher, looking out more cautiously.
No one was there... then what in the hell had made all that.
A huge explosion erupted, causing the alarm in his truck to go off. He felt it shake and rock everything.
Oh, that was big.
He jumped out of the truck, leaving it open. They were blowing things up now. What in the fuck? Were they getting smarter? since this thing started all they did was come on blindly, but this seemed completely different.
He shoved a colt down his pants, shouldering the shotgun, and grabbed a 357 before running down the street to see what was up.
A gas fire, in the middle of town. It looked horrible. Winds were starting to pick up, and it was already moving onto other buildings. Whoever had started that wasn't alive.
He looked closer, or maybe they were.
What looked like a jeep was in a huddled mass at the edge of the station. Somehow unscathed by the explosion. The fire seemed to be blowing away from the jeep, if it was going in any other direction they'd be gone by now.
He stepped up to the huddled mass, kneeling down to look inside. Two figures, both unmoving. His shotgun stuck out, poking one of them. It moved slowly. He reached his arm inside, holding onto the flesh.
Warm? Did he feel breathing? Alive... barely. He leaned in, grabbing the body and slowly dragging it out. A woman, very nice. He didn't have time to admire though. He reached in, feeling the other being. Yes, warm as well. He dragged it out, this one a man. Probably a couple of some kind. Running away from the monsters, he lost control at the wheel, and now the city was on fire.
Very nice.
They'd have to leave. They were attracted to unnatural heat. He threw one over each shoulder, making his way back to the truck. He plopped them both in the back. Seemed like the best thing to do at the time. He wouldn't let them become flesh eaters. Just be another two to kill.
Nuisance, really.
Looks like he wasn't getting sleep for a while.
The truck revved to life, and Frank pulled it into gear. He hauled ass over the lawn on City haul, making his way to the other side of the street. There, a lonely road lead out of town. It showed promise of a Haven in about thirty miles.
Good, Haven sounded like a nice place to visit. Especially after all this.
Not bothering to look at his passengers, he took a swallow from the bottlle of burbon. Had to keep awake somehow.
(Don't drink and drive, unless your being chased by evil flesh eating zombies... I'm sure there's a clause in there somewhere about it)

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

We were moving...
It was the first thing I noticed.
I opened my eyes, my head throbbing and my body aching, and looked at the ceiling of some sort of vehicle. A high ceiling, a large vehicle. As I sat up, the world seeming to spin slightly around me, I glanced out the window and saw a huge sign, white, painted with blue letters that were meant to be fancy some thirty-odd years ago when they must have been painted but now were scratched almost beyond readability, that read:
WELCOME TO HAVEN!
HOME OF THE HAVEN RAVENS!
The Haven Ravens...what a shitty name. THe girl still lay opposite me, her legs laying on either side of me, unconscious. I could smell the distant traces of gasoline and thought, 'What the hell happened?'
It sank in then...I was back here, the girl was back here, who was driving?
I glanced up front, managing to get a look at a figure sitting in the passenger side and I wonder, 'Did we find him afterall?'
I debated speaking, then thought about the way the zombies had been laying in the middle of the street and decided to try to wake the girl first. Just in case we needed to run.
SHe was unresponsive to my light shaking at first, then she moved her head slowly and groaned loudly, raising her hand to her head. I knew whoever was driving had heard, but decided to act like I hadn't noticed, like I was too concerned with the girl's wellbeing to have spoken to him first.
"Are you alright?," I asked, at normal tone.
SHe opened her eyes and lifted her head, hand glued to her forehead.
"WHere are we?" She asked.
"Haven," I responded, "Whatever that is."
She sat up, shaking her head and wrinkled her eyebrows together, then asked, "Who's driving?"

 

[poohlive]

Frank looked out to the bed of his truck. They were finally coming along, good for that. He let the truck finally come to a halt in front of town. The morning sun beat down on them, warm and refreshening. Summer was here, he could tell.
"All right," he said, closing the door, and looking at the two.
"My name's Frank. Apart from being a good driver, I used to be a door to door salesman. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone else, alive that is," he seemed to eye the woman especially, "A long time."
He reached down into the cab, grabbing a couple of bottled waters.
"Some supplies I keep with me. I don't stay in one place for too long. Probably why I am still alive today. But, we can talk about each other's stories later. Right now we need to see to those wounds."
He tossed them a first aid kit, walking over to a nearby park bench. He sat down, drinking the water down deeply. It was calm and refreshing. Not what he needed, but then again the early morning wasn't exactly for burboun. That's what the early afternoon was for.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

The man had already walked away, but the girl raised her arms across her chest anyway, watching defensively as we sat down on a bench and continued to drink from the bottled water.
I looked to her in question. SHe slid down a little lower, as if to hide herself from him, hunched her shoulders a little and looked at me, eyebrows crinkled, as if just the look had violated her.
I didn't get it. One glance and she was that far on the defensive already...had I missed something?
THe man seemed a little odd, yes, but he'd also saved our lives, and he hadn't said anything offensive, just lingered on her form a little with his gaze, which I had done plenty of myself, and I'm certain she'd noticed that.
I looked at her in question. SHe looked away, as if to say, 'you don't understand, typical male.'
Nothing I could do about her pouting. I climbed out of the truck, hopping down to the ground, my sore limbs aching and my head throbbing, but all in all okay. I wondered if the First Aid Kit had some aspirin in it. I leaned over the side of the truck's bed and asked, "Are you hurt at all?"
SHe examined herself, moving each body part inturn and touching her head again. Headache, I thought, just a headache.
SHe shook her head, and said, "I don't think so."
I reached out to her, holding my hand down where she could use it to help herself up. With my help, she got into a crouching position, then made an awkward face and let herself fall backward, favoring her left ankle.
I looked around, making sure none of the creatures were close (and in fact, seeing not one anywhere), then reached over and removed her shoe, looking for discoloration and swelling and finding a touch of each.
"I doubt it's broken, but what do I know. I'd say we'll try and keep you off of it for a while and hope the swelling goes down. ANything else hurt?"
SHe reached out and touched my forehead; I winced back as she did, a sudden pain erupting there. I glanced in the rearview, seeing a large lump there, a litle blood dried on it.
"Damn!" I spat.
WHen I glanced back in the truck bed, she was smiling, though pain was apparent behind it.
"WHy are you smiling?"
Her smile widened..."We're alive..."
I smiled back, then looked at our new companion, then back to her. SHe shrugged, as if to say, what the hell?
"So, Frank, what can we do for a little fun in this town?"

 

[Lady_Siren]

Lily ran like she had never ran before dodging tree and bush as she forced herself not to look behind her. Feeling tears of feel fall down her face she stumbled and rolled to the ground causing alot of noice as she rolled down the hill. Hitting a tree she gasped for air and in pain as she felt a sharp pain shoot up her leg. Struggling to her feet she stumbled and limped out of the tree line to find a road. looking for ways she noticed a truck up ahead with people surrounding it. Thank god she thougth silently. Raising a hand she tried to cry out for help but her thoat was to scratching and only a whimper came out. She heard noises behind her and became even more frantic. Forcing herself to run she managed a decent yell "HELP!"

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

Frank didn't have the chance to answer before the girl's voice rang out, sounding fairly distant, but clearly audible.
"Help!"
No mistaking that word. I glanced down the road, seeing her just outside of the treeline. I could make out no features, but she was moving steadily toward us, limping on one leg.
I looked to Frank, knowing the girl couldn't run and thinking, 'We lost everything we had...rifles and all.'
"SHit," I spat, and started towar dher, not knowing if Frank was following or not.

 

[poohlive]

Frank walked to the truck, looking at the woman with her bandaged ankle. He gave her an interesting nod, winking.
"Don't worry," He rached over her leg, picking up one of the shotguns.
At once he check to see if it was loaded. To the gill, with a smile on his face he saw what was screaming. A woman, running like a bat out of hell, and that guy running to meet her.
Yeah, smart move, let's get as far away from the truck as possibe.
He jumped into the cab, turning on the ignition. At once, the tires screeched away heading for the two runners. He could see the zombies behind them. A slow smile came to him.
Road kill.
He quickly moved around the two, heading straight for them. He hit them, going nearly seventy. Blood and guts exploded along the road. An arm made a slow arch before hitting the windshield. He put on the wipers, causing it to fall off.
Screeching to a stop, Frank turned the truck around. Going again. There were two more, just perfect. They were on opposite sides of the road, he could only aim for one. The closest one was in his target.
He let it go, crashing into the decaying carcass. He turned sharply, letting the truck slide alongside the entire length of road, before stopping in between the girl and her running captor, and the zombie.
He let the shotgun come out.
"Say cheese."
He shot, the head turning to mush sending pieces across the hiway. The body slumped down, landing with an audible smack. Frank cringed, seeing it ooze out something that wasn't quite blood.
As he looked out, he could tell more was on the way. It was a shame, he would have liked to kill them all, even the ones that had arrived late to the party. Now, though, he had people to worry about. Turning back to them, he called out rather loudly.
"Get yer asses in here if you wanna live."
He revved the engine to emphasize the point.

 

[Lady_Siren]

Lily sent a smile of gratitude to the man who ran to get her and to the man who drove the truck. Climbling quickly into the truck she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you al so much. I was sure I was going to die. I live in a cabin in the woods during this time of year and one night I woke up to a bunch of moaning and pounding. Thinking it was just some rowdy couple having sex outside I went out to break it up but I came to find a bunch of undead zombies hanging around so I took off running. The rest is history"

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

Frank had done some skilled driving, taking several of them out, but more were coming. "Get yer asses in here if you want to live," he shouted.
The girl on foot jumped in, rambling something about how she'd lived in a cbin and whatnot. I was focused on the girl in the back of the truck. SHe sat there, her eyes wide, her hands clamped to the side of the truck. SHe was scared to death. A few body parts, arms and legs and hands, had landed in the back of the truck. SHe stared at them, then looked at herself and examined the blood that had splattered on her clothes and skin.
She looked at me then, her eyes a mixture of anger and pure terror.
SHe reached both arms out to me, as a child would who wanted to be picked up.
I glanced behind me, seeing the zombies staggering toward us, gaining ground, though slowly. I climbed in the truck and sat down next to her.
She stared still, then gripped the sides of the truck again.
I couldn't have her like this, so scared and out of sorts. It wasn't right...
"Hey, Frank," I said, speaking over my shoulder into the cab, "Let's find a place to hold up for a while...get our thoughts together."

 

[poohlive]

"Yeah fine whatever."
He looked up at the woman in the cab, his eyes darting from her legs, up to her heaving chest, and finally back to those pouty lips.
Damn.
"Cabin? Sounds like a harrowing tale. I'm glad you made it out alive, a pretty thing such as yourself shouldn't be made to suck on someone's ass for the rest of your life."
Bending down across the cab's front seat, he toucher her leg, and moved under it, revealing a bottle of water.
"Here, take a drink, you deserve it."
Frank drove the truck on silently through most of the day. He wanted to let the truck run off some of the pent up energy. And he saw that Haven was actually a fairly big town. He took the long way around it, not driving particularly fast, but fast enough to be breaking every speed sign. Not that there was a cop around to enforce them.
Finally, he paused in at a gas station, the truck near on empty.
"All right, stretch yer legs. By my count we have a chance to rest before we can start out again. We've got some miles to cover before dark."
The sun was just at noon, if he measured correctly. Hopping out, he grabbed one of the nozzles, and loaded it into the truck. Gas began pumping away almost instantly. He leaned on the side of it, letting himself relax. Been a harrowing few days, he didn't used to run like this. He remembered in the beginning, it would take nearly a week before a town became unlivable. Now... not even an entire hour.

 

[Lady_Siren]

Lily felt very conscious of the man beside her. She didn't know why, she chose to ignore the feelings. Now wasn't the time to go all mushy over her hero it was time to think. Lily didn't know much about fighting.. she knew a little since she had grown up with two brothers. Her skill with a gun was also very small. She could shoot strait but she couldn't aim at all. Climbing out of the truck at the gas station she straitened and stretched brushing her brown hair of her eyes. Lily stood at 5'8 with shoulder length brown hair and green eyes. She was always so shy in highschool and never really had friends. She turned and watched Frank for a moment then turned to stare into the distance wondering what her future held.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

And then there were four...Frank was gassing the truck and the girl and blonde girl and I got out to stretch. SHe'd calmed down pretty good, but was still uneasy. SHe favored her bad ankle, but insisted on walking on her own. SHe also insisted on going inside the station to find food.
I went with her, holding the door for her and following her inside.
She glanced out the glass doors, waiting until they were fully closed, then looked at me with her eyebrows wrinkled together and whispered, "That man scares me! We can't stay with him."
"We don't have much choice," I replied.
"We have to go somewhere else...he's as scary as those things are..."
"He saved our lives..."
SHe looked angrily at me, as if it were wrong for me to point that out...then looked at her feet.
"We have to stay with them until your ankle heals, at least."
SHe looked at me again, pouting a little this time. "Okay."
WE gathered what we could, taking all the bottled water and stuffing it in a grocery bag, then tossing in as much of the canned foods that we could. We headed back out to the truck and tossed the bags in the back of the truck, then climbed back in. Frank and the brunette were already in the front.
"Alright, Frank," I said, "Let's roll."

 

[poohlive]

Ooc: I'm playing Frank as a real asshole. Do not in any way think this is me.


Frank gave the man a weary look. Since when did he become captain of this little travelling circus? It was his truck, he was the driver, he'd leave when he was damn good and ready.
"Just a minute partner, need to go water some plants, you know what I mean."
He went inside, looking for a bathroom. Not one in sight, so he whipped it out and went. He was perfectly aware of the glass windows and the fact that he could be seen. He didn't care though. When he was done, he jingled himself, going further into the store. Not everyday you could just pick out anything you want. He grabbed as much beer as he could, taking a sixpack of wine coolers for the ladies.
Pina colada.
After that, he rummaged the candy section. Grabbing a carts worth of things that were nothing more than empty calories. Mmmm, fritos. The chili cheese ones, those were his.
After that, he put it in the front seat, leaving the door open for the lovely lady. He slapped her ass lightly.
"Get a move on little lady, we're burning daylight."
He moved around to his side. Getting in and revving up the engine loudly. Somewhere in the back of his mind he hoped those dead bastards had heard him.
It was nearly noon wasn't it? Close enough, he grabbed a beer and quickly opened it up. Damn, it was warm. He gave the woman across from him a wink.
"You can have one too if you like, calms the nerves."
Women looked better drunk anyway.
(did I mention he's an asshole?)

 

[Lady_Siren]

Lily gave Frank a confused look. A little while ago she seemed like a decent man now he was being a jerk. So much for that romance she thought bitterly. But something about him still seemed to pull at her. Maybe deep down he was nice? Shaking her head she fell like laughing. Why the hell was she all worried about what this guy was like when their were half rotted corpses chasing them? Sighing softly she took to staring out the window to the sun that seemed to be setting all to fast.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Johnathon

After Frank was finished with his "display," he zipped up and rummaged through the store on his own, coming back with as much junk food as he could get his hands on and slapped the girl on the ass before climbing in himself. I watched, surprised at his blatancy, as the girl gave him a surprise looked, appearing a little confused. He popped open a...beer?
We were off then, the truck heading out of the parking lot with a sudden jolt. I glanced to the girl, who looked back at me wearily. I knew she'd seen the beer can.
"What'd you say your name was again?" I asked.
"SUsan..."
I smiled, trying to appear warm. SHe glanced back at Frank, watching him turn the can up and take a long gulp. SHe glanced back to me, her face more than a little worried.
Maybe she was right, I thought, but it was too late by then.

 

[poohlive]

With a final gulp, Frank drowned the last of his beer. He gave out a rather loud beltch, and threw it out the window. He smiled as it bounced a few times in the rear view mirror. It stopped in the middle of the hiay, never to move again. At least not by any mortal hands.
With a loud grunt, he leaned over, grabbing another beer. As he did, the wheel slided with him, sending the truck hurling to the side of the road. It popped down to the gravel ravine and ran into the ditch. Frank looked up, a beer in hand, turning the vehicle back sharply. At once he was back in his own lane, leaving a lost of dust and tire tracks behind them.
Popping open the beer, he only gave a spiteful laugh, barely looking back at the rear view mirror.
"Close one," he said, more to himself than anyone else. The beer was warm, but comforting. They kept pummeling down the deserted hiway, not quite sure where it was going. Honestly, Frank didn't care much, they were moving. That's all he cared about.