forum This Apocalypse (Closed)

Started January 01, 2020 by @Echo_6 group

tune

I'm ready!

I’m ready!! — I guess!!

Rachel came to a slow stop looking up at a large sign. It was half broken and almost completely faded. But she could still read the words on it, slightly. "Salt Lake city," she muttered to herself. "I'm in Utah." She shifted the weight on her shoulders, from her backpack, shifted the strap of her shotgun and started forwards again. She was covered in dust and was tired from walking all day. Hopefully she could find a place to rest here, but she needed to be careful. It was likely that she would run into some locals. And she didn't exactly want to do that.
It was almost two years ago now, that this outbreak had started. Zombies, they'd always been talked about and joked about because no one ever thought they would happen. Well it happened and people had been separated and split apart. Parts of families being brought to safe camps while the other parts were left to fend for themselves. Rachel had been one of the unfortunate ones to be left behind. And now she was just hoping to make it to the other side of the states to a boat planning to take any survivors to another camp. She didn't need to go fast because the boat was making routine trips back and forth.

It has been a long time since Coral had left home- though she couldn't say how long. The days bled together, a monotone best of survival. The concept of time had always been beyond her understanding. There was now, there was then, and there was to be.
This day, she was traveling by rollerblade. At first she had taken the truck, but gas had ran out in a few weeks.
Her parents had been taken to one of the camps, leaving her and her brother to fend for themselves. Now it was just Coral. They'd give to find their grandparents, but… That was when they decided not to go looking for anyone they knew again, to get out of Indiana.
Traveling down the cracked pavement of what had once been a major highway, she was heading to the coast- a chance at safety she couldn't resist. She was somewhere near the border of one of the Midwestern states, but she had no idea which one.
Wondering vaguely as she weaved between abandoned cars, she thought of her boyfriend. Was he alright? Was he even alive anymore? There was no way for her to know, and the subject had drilled itself into the back of her mind permanently.

(Man, it's so weird to see you guys describing yourself in third person.)

Hannah hauled herself up the last few inches of the pipe, glad once again for her light frame. Any heavier, and the pipe would have fallen, and her with it. Pausing to catch her breath, she glanced down, and clutched the warm metal a little tighter, hoping she didn't fall. It wasn't that she was afraid of heights, but falling and dying was a real threat. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked around, remembering why she had started climbing in the first place. She grabbed a small ledge above her and pulled herself up, arms shaking with the effort. She gave a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall, panting. There. She was safe. For now.

She regretted, for the umpteenth time, leaving her house that night. She loved walking in the dark, when everything was quiet. She had climbed her usual tree, and had fallen asleep, which wasn't rare. And when she had awoken, and gone back, her family was gone. It had taken a while to figure out what had been going on, but when she found out, she wished she had not left that night. They had all been sent to the camps without her. And she had been looking for the next boat, had gotten hopelessly lost, and been dodging hoards of the creatures, and other people, ever since.

(Yes, I do actually fall asleep in trees. It's a real thing.)

(I just realized I’m the only one who hasn’t responded… whoops ._.)

Settling down on a rooftop, Kun looked down at the hoard below him and wondered how he was going to get out of the situation. Looking left then right, he finally found a way. As the buildings were around the same size, he could jumped from one rooftop to another with the only problem being the slants of each roof. There was no time to waste though, they were banging on the door.

Nearly slipping down, he jumped from roof to roof until he couldn’t hear those incoherent sounds of the creatures. That was when he started down towards the main road and to start heading south, towards Vermont that was. This has got to be the worst vacation he could wish for.

Upon reaching Vermont, he found some motorbikes scattered and abandoned. He’d hate to admit it but he’d have to take these if he really needed to go anywhere other than New York. Fortunately, his home country’s legal driving age for motorbikes is fifteen so he’d have some basics. He got on, put on the helmet that was placed on the handle, and started the engine; heading west, hopeful in finding someone else.

Coral continued for some time, eventually coming across a sign that said "Bristolville, Ohio." She stopped, staring at the sign for several minutes. She was coming into a town, and towns meant zombies. But they also meant supplies. She pursed her lips, thinking. Eventually, she continued on, but she turned off the highway in favor of backroads. More likely to find a Dollar General, which was much better and safer to loot then Walmarts or other huge stores. She avoided homes, going as quickly as she could down the streets. Thankfully, Dollar Generals were abundant everywhere in the country, so she found one quickly. She darted in, searching for any inhabitants. Finding none, she set about gathering what she needed. A couple cans of food, water, an old package of bandages, shampoo, and other hygiene products. She also went to the old toy aisle, grabbing a couple of puzzles. Coral paused in front of the makeup, the display covered in dust.
"Ah, screw it," she mumbled, grabbing some eyeshadow, lipstick, and blush. She darted out as quickly as she came, only to be greeted with a small group of inhabitants farther down the road.
"Shit!" She scrambled to the back of the store, looking for a way up to the roof. She made her way up with much difficulty, never good at traveling upwards. She crouched down, pulling her collapsible bow out and notching an arrow. If they came closer, she'd pick them off from up here. She waited up there for what seemed like hours, though it was probably less than one, before fidgeting, setting the bow down. She was safe on the roof, so she might as well make some food. She took the pot off of her head, pulling out one of the puzzles. Setting it down on the roof, she grabbed the matchbox, setting the puzzle on fire. Opening the can, she dumped the contents into the pot, jerry-rigging a tripod to hold the cooking food over the flame.

Rachel walked through the city streets, which were seemingly silent, but she could hear every once in a while the groans and growls. They didn't scare her anymore. After the first few months she decided that she couldn't afford to be scared. The sun glinted off broken windows, and shone down into the street she was walking through. It was warm, hot even. Rachel had taken her sweatshirt off and put it into her backpack. Now that she was in the city she was also keeping her shotgun by her side and not on her shoulder. It was easier to access from her side. Wind cut through the street carrying another sound with it. More zombies, more than just one or two. There was a group. And they only did that when they had something or someone to chase.
Giving a slight sigh, Rachel decided to go find whatever they were after.

Hannah was hanging from her fingertips from the ledge. She had fallen asleep, which might not have been a good idea, as she had forgotten to tie herself so she wouldn't fall. She winced, looking down at the gathering crowd of zombies nearby, just a few buildings away. They seemed to be crowding around a body, bleeding, and she hoped that they wouldn't see her. Not that they were intelligent creatures, but still.

Heart pounding, she gripped even harder, fingers aching, and tried to find a foothold on the crumbling wall. She didn't find anything, and her arms were shaking from the effort of holding herself up. A finger slipped, and she let a gasp past her lips. She finally found a small hinge-type thing on the wall, near her knee, and placed her foot on it, shoving her weight onto it as she surged up to grab a part of the pipe. She pulled herself back onto the narrow ledge and coughed, panting, massaging her fingers.

Some days have passed and after switching methods of transport, Kun finally reached Gustavus. It was a rough trip but he’d finally be able to take somewhat of a rest.

He sat down in front of an abandoned house, sighing before taking a sip of his water bottle. He noticed that the house’s windows were actually opened.
“Shelter… always appreciated” he mumbled to himself as he stood up and walked towards the windows. He quietly went into the house and was going to turn on the lights… only to find that they were not working.
He got out his flashlight and started exploring, wanting to find at least somethings he could use later on.

Coral stirred her food, looking over once to check on the zombies- had there always been that many in the group?-before turning away, letting the food heat up. She opened the second puzzle box, scattering out the cardboard pieces. She quietly began working on it, trying to tune out everything around her. She'd read her books what had seemed like a thousand times, and she didn't know if she had the time to actually draw something worth keeping, so the puzzle would have to do. She hummed snippets of songs, going a couple of verses before deciding that wasn't the song she wanted to listen to in her mind and switching to another. It had been an old habit, but now it drove her nuts; she had no real access to any new songs, and she didn't like singing out loud unless she knew the entire thing. The few songs she had memorized weren't really well suited for this anyway, most talking of death. She heard a sound nearby, much closer than before, and she turned, grabbing her bow and notching another arrow. Her heart was pounding, and she was ready to shoot.

Hannah tucked her stuff away in her bag and looked around, carefully watching for any sign of the unusual. Besides, of course, the hoard of zombies only yards away. She stood gingerly, eying the crowd with more than a little wariness, and moved closer to check it out, one hand holding the wall as she did. She winced as a sharp piece of brick stabbed into her palm, and reached into her hoodie pocket, pulling out an empty lighter, flicking it off and on rhythmically, trying to hide her nervousness.

Soon enough, he’d find the stairway to the second and third floor of the house. Problem being, there was a hoard right on the streets. He went over to the closest window on the topmost floor and opened it slightly; just enough of his sniper to pass through the gap.

He unlocked the safety mode and breathed slower than usual before holding in his breath and pulling the trigger.
Bang! the sound echoed in every direction.
When the bullet passed the creature’s head, it lured the others around it towards it. This was… not the brightest idea.

He had attacked the one furthest away from the house and hoped for dear god that the creatures would be more interested in the corpse than the sound… and unfortunately he was wrong. At least he had produced a loud screech through the air, someone by that area must have heard it.

Coral's head shot to the side when she heard a loud sound, so startled she almost dropped her bow.
"Holy mother of f-ck!" She hissed to herself, keeping her voice low. She stumbled back a little, raising her bow back up to the horde in front of the store. The sound had been something she recognized, but she could remember what it was. Whatever else, the horde was being lured somewhere else, so now was her chance to leave. She left the puzzle and fire, grabbing the pan of food and covering it, tying it to her bag for later. Bow still in hand, she climbed down the store as quietly as she could, taking off in the other direction. That's when the realization hit her. It was a gunshot. Unless zombies had figured out how to work a gun, that meant someone else, someone alive, was nearby. And the zombies were making their way to them. She hesitated, looking from the horde to her escape route.
"Oh, f-ck it," she mumbled. If she was gonna die, might as well do it with someone else. She took off again, trying to go around the horde to beat them to where the other person was. She kept her bow out, but got her baseball bat ready.

Kun looked through his scope, seeing another person in the distance.

They were heading towards him and more likely than not, they were gonna attempt rushing through the horde.

He couldn’t see who it was but he had to help them, somehow. He fired some several shots at the creatures in the horde, some were killed with one bullet through the head, some required two bullets.

Most of the horde was killed, that didn’t mean it was completely safe to walk through the rest though.

Coral watched as zombies began to fall under the other person's fire, contributing with her bow. She took down several, but even with the few zombies left she didn't like the situation.
"Dammit," she mumbled. Why had she decided this was a good idea? Why had she decided that helping a person she would have to socialize with was a good idea?! She sighed, stowing her bow and grabbing her baseball bat. She watched the zombies for a moment, most of which were still making their way towards the source of the gunshots. She hated zombies; they were unpredictable in their ambling most of the time, and that made plotting a course through them hard as hell for her. After a few seconds, she dashed off, weaving in between the creatures as fast as she could, using her weight and energy to bat away the first one that came at her.

It was starting to get dark, as Rachel followed the sounds of the hoard she was following. There were several reasons she could think of that a hoard might form, but only two of that she knew for sure would cause them to get gather. Chasing, and feeding.
By this point however, it would be safer for her to find somewhere unreachable and rest. Night was a dangerous time. You couldn't see them, but somehow they could see you. So it was better to hide and wait until dawn. The first few weeks for Rachel had been the most sleepless, as she had no clue where to go or how to handle them. Or when to handle them. Zombies for some reason seemed slower and easier to handle in the day time. Maybe that was because she could see their movements clearly. Whatever the reason, she still needed to find a place to rest. So she started looking round, resting her arm on the top of her shotgun.
Something told her that this was going to be a long night. They always were in the cities, so she needed a good place that she could defend and get out of.

As Hannah watched, she spotted a figure standing in the shadows, resting their arm on what looked to be a gun. She frowned, leaning as far over the edge as she dared, watching them warily. They couldn't be a zombie… right? She thanked her lucky stars that zombies couldn't climb. She was safe up here, but this time, she reminded herself, she would have to tie herself in. Or get to a higher, more stable place.

Rachel moved from where she was and found herself a building. It looked to be an old office building. One of the best places in the cities to defend. Lots of exits and entrances, and good places to duck and dodge, but also enough space to move around fast. She pulled her flashlight out and clicked it on, taking her combat knife out with it. As she looked around the floor she'd chosen. Several places to hide, a way to get into the vents. A door leading to the fire escape, the door she'd just come in. And one door that lead to another room. Another thing she noticed as she looked around was that someone had tried to use this place as a base before. From the looks several months before. There were already boards on the windows, and some unused supplies strewn across the floor. "Odd…" she muttered to herself as she looked at the food cans around the floor. "People wouldn't leave this willingly."
They were probably over run and killed.
She shook the thought from her mind, but it one of the biggest possibilities. And if it had been the reason for the person's sudden disappearance she couldn't ignore it. She had to know why so that she could avoid the same fate.