Post-Apocalyptic RP:Zombies

The preachers answer sunk deep into me as I was forced to accept that it would be another hungry night at the hardware store. But at least he was in no rush to shoot me. In fact, he offered refuge at his "Shack" to us all. An offer which at first sounded like a beacon of hope, then decayed into the thought of what would happen in the priests "Shack" at night, on the outskirts of town, with no one around. I think I'll skip this one...

"Do you support the 49'ers?" he asked as I finished viewing the thought of being whipped in a priests shack while whacko here cuts up "Robby" for diner. Plenty of food?.... "I'm more of a hockey guy... Cheer for the Jets, you know..."

This "Robby" guy in front of me seemed a little normal at least, albeit abnormally calm. A mask of his true nervousness maybe, idk...

As for the man behind me, he seemed innocent enough. Until he pulled a rifle out of his shiny SUV. It looked very clean and pampered, much like the man. Some rich fuck no doubt, not my kind of people. To... Fake and fragile. I remember a hockey team from some upper class, fancy-pants town played us in a tourney a few years back. The best skates, sticks and gear around. Gloating and bragging about skill like it could be bought with money. They acted so tough till we got to them and pounded them with some real old time hockey. Beat them so bad their parents had to come down and pull them out in fear. I think I even broke a guys jaw, not sure though, I got kicked out to fast to see as did the rest of my team. Technically a lost, but to us, the sweetest victory. Never played them again. And that's what this guy reminded me of... Needless to say, I didn't think to highly of him.

The infected started to crawl out towards us, probably heard that shot from Mr.Badtouch over here. And yet among them, another survivor. A young one who flailed his hands wildly at us yelling in some strange accent I couldn't quite make out. "Nemo" he said his name was I think? He was still to far out to hear perfectly and on top of it Robby was trying to ask me something but he stopped mid sentence when a sick woman started wailing loudly at us. She was running towards us at a speed I thought the sick couldn't reach. It was a disturbing discovery that threw itself unrelentingly at us. Robby made a motion to take her out but she was still a ways away from us and as I was making a decision of what to do a loud crack snaps through the air and smashes a hole in the cruisers windshield. I've never been shot at before but the event was unmistakable. Immediately I threw myself into the cruiser and peeled out of the parking lot back towards the hardware store. I knew what Robby had asked for, but who was he to me? I didn't know him. I didn't know any of them and vise versa. I could see them scrambling in the rear view mirror, maybe they go with the preacher, or maybe they'd get gunned down. "Not my problem... Not my fucking problem... They'll be fine without me. I'm not a bad person right? ... ..."

"Fuck 'em" I got a new plan. Food can wait. Seems to me the guys with guns get a lot further here, so I need a gun. Maybe that police station raid isn't such a ludicrous idea after all? Think!, think... Guns will be in a safe, right? So maybe no ones looted them yet. But if I get some tools from the hardware store, I should be able to force it open, yeah... I can do that. Get the guns then get the food.

Driving back recklessly I skidded around the corner of the final street and raced down it until I saw a person walking right in the middle of the road. I slammed on the brakes and swerved around it looking to see if they were sick or not. But I didn't see any signs of the sickness and to my luck it was a police officer. She was in my rear view mirror now and stopped for good this time hopping out of the car and facing her. I didn't move towards her nor did I move from the open car door, just in case. "Hello!?" I called out immediately looking around me to check for infected. I gripped my axe tightly and surveyed her. If things went south I could easily out muscle her. I hoped I wouldn't have to...

 

I was surprised at just how quickly the training kicked in. A shot had smashed a hole in the cruiser's windshield, and I realized we were being shot at just an instant before the sound of the shot reached me. Sniper fire. Proper protocol would be to suppress and advance. And I who had never thought my conscription would do me any good?
The hockey guy immediately bolted. I knew he had no reason to help us, yet I couldn't help but think of his escape as cowardly. Well, we still had four guys, a rifle, a revolver and a car.
"Are you proficient with that rifle, James?" I asked the rich guy. I had no idea what his name was but I really couldn't imagine either of the others would have that for a name. "If you can spot the shooter and keep him suppressed, preacher and I can take your SUV and rush his position. Rockpick can cover your ass. Alternatively we get the hell out of here now and never know the next time he will ambush us. What do you say?" I asked. In the military we would always attack a position like this, but this was survival. Sometimes a withdrawal would be better. Besides the zombies were getting rather close now, so whatever we did we had to act quickly.

Spoiler

It is relevant to my post that they employ good old-fashioned conscription in Finland.

 

I got two answers from my two new friends and neither of them were good, who else was I going to watch the 49er's vs Seahawks 2009 game now? Firstly, the shooting started. I winced slightly but it was clearly a warning shot. Our hockey friend scarpered. Secondly a man with an accent, not from Elderwood, came round the corner, shouting some military tactics. Thirdly, I then noticed a woman running at me or 'Robby', who ever the hell. I brought the revolver to bear, firing and the bringing the beast down, skidding on the ground towards us. Fourthly, I had to deal with the rest of the undead making their way towards us. I turned to the weirdly accented fellow.
"Cut the military crap, I got this and I got a plan B." I pulled a detonator out of my pocket with the letter B scrawled on it then chucked it to him, he clearly was most with it "Take lord Haw Haw over there and Robby sixty yards down that road then pull the trigger. I got the motherfucking sniper." I passed my revolver then to Robby "Treat her well and she'll save you." I then pulled an Uzi from out under my jacket, I wasn't lying about my personal armoury "I will meet you on the edge of town, the road to the city!" I shouted. Then to end my side of bargain of the great plan B, I pulled out a detonator with A written on it, looked at the zombies advancing from the opposite direction the other three were hopefully going and pulled the trigger, turning the street into fire and brimstone, now to deal with that sniper.

 

Perfect. Tactics were spreading around like a wildfire. A good wildfire, then, I guess.
Firstly, some finn, which accent I recognised from a hunting trip I had done some ten years ago now. 'Judging by current events, you most likely would never travel that far again.' a growing feeling proclaimed from my own mind.
Whatever, the hunting party hadn't shot anything interesting, anyway.
Speaking of shooting, the very same brought me back from my necessary concern. The shot had his the police car, it seemed. And where had it come from?
And then my Policeman/Axe murderer (Axe Cop?) decided this wasn't the place for him anymore, a sentiment I shared, to a degree. Then again, there were no doubts left in me that if I tried to make it alone, having now seen the once so beauiful town and it's citzenry in this neglect, I'd be 'somethings' feast in not too long. Still, it appeared kind of discorteous.
And with all the plans we had going for us, things weren't looking too grim..
The finn; 'Tim-o', or something among those lines; wanted James to keep our assailant from doing anything, while the others found this 'Mr. Marksman', wherever he was or had gone by now.
James was me. Alone with Rockpick and a herd of hungry, grey cannibals.

In that aspect, the outcome of Cowboy's strategy appeared slightly less bleak. They involved my running away, yes; but this time with some others around. And Cowboy had taken upon himself the task regarding our agressor, something which inherently would be a nice thing: If nothing else, he'd be a distraction for the Greys. But his promises were, well, promising.
And sloppy medieval documentaries had taught me that you shouldn't charge a fortress armed with bowmen, with a sword. Giving away his revolver to Rockpick, he produced a machine pistol from hammerspace. If Mr. Marksman had a bow, the machine pistol was a sword. Or a.. Sling? i guess long range plus bad aim wasn't too common on medieval documentaries.
'Do you think charging the marksman, who, I assume, you can't know where is, when he's probably watching us right now, alone, is a good plan?' I asked, in a forcedly subdued franticality, that obviously shone through, not at all in a rude manner, though it might have come across like it.

I had only spoken to one other soul for the last two weeks, besides, our time was well spent not talking . Courteal speech unlearned itself faster than you'd think.

 

Walking down the road, it didn't take long before I heard a loud gunshot, something of a high caliber. It was followed by the faint sound of some more shots coming from somewhere in almost the same direction, only those shots sounded more like a high caliber hand-gun. I kept walking towards the commotion and stayed alert until a car came around a corner on the road, heading straight for me. And it wasn't just any car, it was a cruiser.... my cruiser! Quickly I waved with both arms i the air before I held my palm forward, motioning for the person to stop.

My beautiful car swayed past me with screeching new tires before it stopped, and a man came out. Thick leather clothes, goggles and... was that a hockey mask? Last but not least, he had an axe in his hand. I unholstered my baton and walked towards him in a fast pace, pointing dereminedly at him yelling "Drop the axe! Face the car! Put your hands on the roof!" as threateningly as I could. Normally I'd be pointing a gun at this man for stealing my police cruiser, and wielding an axe, a weapon. But with my pistol inside a bunch of crazed mutated cannibalized people, there wasn't much to do other than hold my baton into the air, ready to strike him. I'd cuff him if he'd surrender. And if he didn't.... Well, I didn't know.

 

The police woman's reaction, wasn't quite what I was expecting, although it had never really crossed my mind how one would in the first place. Given that I was in fact in a stolen cruiser and carrying an axe. But then again, what about the guys with guns at the grocery store? Or the guy who just shot at me! How am I getting arrested?!

No... Not Gunna happen. Not with all this going on. How could she not understand? Has she not looked around lately? She doesn't even have a gun, just a little stick. I could easily just drive away or push her back. Then again, there's always the option of putting this axe through her face... Ugh...

Wait a minute though!... If I'm about to raid the police station would it be better or worse to have a cop with me? I bet she'd take me there, and I bet she has the keys to the damned safe! I could talk some sense into her along the way. And maybe they have food there! Perhaps being with the police in times like these isn't such a bad idea after all. If things go bad I might be able to make it back to my shop and cut the handcuffs. No wait, I'm the stronger one here. No cuffs.

I waited until the officer got close to the car before doing anything. And when she was within 20 feet I yelled back to her "Calm down, Missy. The axe isn't for you, and I'm not dropping it. Try taking it from me and I'll end you, got it? If you want to take me to the police station I'll go. But no handcuffs, for both our safeties, trust me..."

I took off the helmet along with the mask and glasses to show my face in an attempt to connect. Maybe she'd recognize me or something with all my bullshit run ins with them. "I'm Orest! My family runs the hardware store just down the road, you can trust me. The police stations safe, yes? Let's go there together...."

 

The man showed no sign of doing what I ordered him, but I kept walking determinedly even though my motivation wasn't as strong at this point as it had been a few seconds earlier. He was the negotiating type, demanding that he keep his axe and have no handcuffs. In addition, he wanted to go to the police station and called me 'Missy'. I slowed down my steps gradually, but wasn't convinced. I was still planning to approach him and knock him down, but once he started taking off his headgear and even his glasses, I changed my mind as he told me his name, Orest, and said he was the son of the owners of the hardware store and told me I could trust him.

After a short moment of hesitation, I suddenly wasn't hesitating anymore as groaning started appearing from several corners around us. From the woods on one side to the street-alleys on the other side, people started stumbling towards us. At first it was just a few but then I realized it was more than we could handle. "Alright, but I'm driving", I told him determinedly as I started walking with a fast pace towards the driver's seat, where he was standing.

 

Rockpick at least moved quickly, a good ability in contrast to the lack of what I thought to be rational thinking within our silly little group.
I will admit, though; the explosion had a convincing ring to it, hidden somewhere under the deafening sound and horrific smell.
The point I wanted across still stood, though. When the guy with the rifle could see our every move - and surely run away accordingly, considering the explosives - What was the point of sending one man, and the one man that apparently had the most resources for our group to benefit from, to take him out, or whatever?
Everybody seemed so intent on killing this guy, probably some nervous wreck of a veteran or something, they were almost like the Greys I thought we were avoiding, except slightly more astute.
Was there even a point in trying to find him in the apartment-blocks that were downtown Elderwood?
"Do you have any grounds for arguments as to our, the group in it's entirety, getting in my car and driving to this 'Shack' of yours right now?" I shouted to Cowboy, with the same franticness lingering inaudibly, "Ignoring this guy completely?"

 

Wait so Timo has the 2nd detonator? Which explosives will that one detonate?

 

Well, my idea is that we have the grocery behind us, apartments across the road and a straight road in between so I've blocked one route and if you leave, you can block the other side so I'm protected in order to get into the apartments

 

Sorry for not posting today I've been busy with school, will try to post tomorrow.

 

I grabbed the detonator that Cowboy threw at me and ran down the street with Rockpick. He had been given a revolver by Cowboy and was now our best means of defense against the infected. It didn't take long before the roar of the explosion reached us, assuring us that one of the roads had been blocked off now. "Time to pull the trigger" I thought when we had moved about 80 yards down the street. I pressed the button and was greeted by another roar, this time from the explosive device called Plan B. It seemed we had now sealed off the last road, giving cover to Cowboy as he moved in on the shooter. Now all we could do was wait for the gunshots to start ringing.

 

With the officers seemingly reluctant cooperation we sped off, hopefully towards the police station. I thought of telling her about the shotgun shells I had stuffed in a deep pocket, or the oddball group I had run into on the way back, but decided not to say much of anything. She was clearly tense, as we all were, and I thought it best to let her speak in her own time. I just had to hope that she was competent in times like these and understood the things that had to be done, the right decisions that had to be made.

We needed to arm ourselves, to say it straight. All that pacifist, hippy crap meant nothing today and tomorrow's looking just as cloudy. But just as high on my mind with weapons was food, and lots of it. My god I could eat just about anything right now. Even, human flesh! Haha, disturbingly early pun intended.

But no seriously, there had better be food at the station or I'd be back on the streets looking for it again.

 

The man seemed to give in to my wish to drive my own car, and so we sped off. I was focusing on getting away from the dead behind us, and attempting to manouver away from them somehow by looking in the rear mirror, also making sure nobody was following us. After putting it in gear, loosening the handbrake and speeding up, the first thing I noticed was the hole in the middle of the windshield, causing large cracks to form all the way on it. The center area arond the hole was completely crushed, though sticking together, so it was impossible to look through at that specific area. And the hole itself, from the bullet, was frighteningly large. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY WINDSHIELD, DAMN IT?!", I yelled out at him in pure frustration. While he had the time to answer, we passed the police station in great speed. We were going somewhere else, the police station wasn't my top priority.

 

The police woman seemed very agitated at the sight of the windshield to which she protested loudly at me. I thought of telling her about the oddball group again but decided not to as it might encourage her to peruse them, something I was not keen on doing at the moment. Once we got to the police station I'd tell her the whole story.

At least I would have if the police station hadn't just passed behind us in a speedy blur. If we weren't heading there I couldn't possibly think of where she'd want to go and how it could benefit me in the least. "Your window got shot out while I was at the grocery store. Didn't see the guy, didn't stick around to find out. Now tell me where the Hell we're going or I'll make sure you don't arrive!"

 

The man told me that the windshield was shot out by an unseen person when he was at the grocery store. He then proceeded to threaten with stopping me if I didn't tell him where we were going, when we had passed the police station. It was obvious he was after the guns there. Despite the current circumstances, I laughed at his threat. I took some time before continuing "You haven't thought this out very well, have you?" with a smile. I then turned more serious and continued "We're going to the hospital to get some medicine. We can't wait, there's no time to gear up at the station. We'll do that afterwards. In the meantime, you're gonna help me salvage what I need, and in return...", I sighed lightly. "I'll let you into the station's armory", I finished with a clearly hesitant tone. "And if you feel the urge to get smart with me, I'll just let you know beforehand that I don't have the keys on me, I forgot them at home. And if you think you might be able to break in with your hardware tools...", I shrugged and continued "mmmmaybe you could do it, but trying to cut through those thick heavy metal bars would attract a whole pack of them before you'd even get halfway through. So all in all, you ultimately have no choice; either you sit on your ass in this car and wait for me, until I drive you back to your store, or you can help me out and get a reward for it", I finished.

To break the hostile tension, and to put some more will into him, I concluded "I'm gonna need someone to help me move all those guns anyway..."