Life in the Land of the Dead (Methos and nymphetamine)

At mid-day the countryside was fairly clear if desolate. The ruins of a highway overpass could be seen, and shattered farms littered the gently rolling hills about them. It was quiet and rather still, which was something to be thankful for at the very least. Sigurd scanned the horizon with steely blue eyes. He saw the ruins of a city before him, evidently humanity had been chased from the surrounding area here as well. He’d been leading a band of survivors since their settlement had been overwhelmed. He’d left for several weeks to scavenge the lands beyond, and returned to find a few survivors

Now a dozen survivors followed him as they marched through countryside. They all slowly fell in behind him as they noted him scrutinizing the city before them. He had a talent for recovering food, weaponry and supplies, in addition to being their best fighter. Thus none was little question that where he went they followed. Now they sought another human settlement and whatever supplies could be had along the way.

Desolate wilderness or not he was something of a site to behold. He stood a towering six feet and four inches and had a broad span at the shoulders. A muscular form was complimented by a steely blue eyes and a mane of golden blonde hair. Put a horned helmet upon his head and he’d look the spitting image of Hollywood’s version of a Viking. But his garb was simply sturdy black boots and camouflaged pan and a shirt of the same colouration. Although Kevlar was worn beneath the camouflaged clothing giving it a slightly bulky look. An assault riffle was slung across his shoulder, while a pack had another riffle bound to it, several pistols hung at his thighs while a machete and a sledge hammer were kept handy as well.

They hadn’t run across the undead in the last several days. Although looking at the city he wondered if it could be as deserted as it appeared. But they could use some supplies and who knew what it held? For that matter it was shelter and a chance to guess where the closest human settlement would be. He noted the expected looks of those following him and he nodded “We go into the ruins.” he stated rather evenly.

His following was perhaps fortunate in some respects. He had nine men and 3 women trailing after him. That disparity was problematic and a source of tension. Although kept in check to some degree as all three women had been married to one of the men who followed him. That an most of them knew each other from the settlement, some were even related. Yet all the same, those without resented those that had. As he trudged towards the city he idly thought that if they didn’t find a settlement with women eventually things would get out of hand.

"She awake yet?"

"God damn, she tanked that mother-fucker like a pro dude!"

"Shh. I think she moved."

"Emily... Emily?"

A pair of bright baby blue's flickered open wide, a man, dressed in all black with a white band in the collar around his throat, with silvery hair and gentle eyes stared down into them. His wrinkled hand brushed back short strands of hair from those eyes. "You are alright girl, that was dumb, but you are alright. It seems God still has some faith in us after all." The confused eyes finally snapped back into reality. She was in the ruins of a small town, which used to be a farming community. Around the small group were ruined shops, stalls and houses.

With a groan the body of those blue eyes tried to sit up. She was in rough condition. Her once long strawberry locks were cut short after a zombie had grabbed hold of them (by her own hand, mind you), her shirt was torn, she wore no shoes and her leg seemed to be twisted pretty bad. Her pale skin was riddled with purple-green bruises and scabs, and scars lingered over healed wounds. She had a rather soft, innocent face with full lips and a round button nose. Her skin was ivory and her hair smooth and silky.

Emily looked about them, there was a pile of bodies. Zombie bodies. Beside the pile was a discarded semi-machine gun and a few melee weapons. All hers. "What the fuck happened?"

All too soon, the four males she was with started talking at once. Before the Priest shut them up. "A horde of them rushed us while we were down, you attempted--" She noted the stress on his words, "to take them out yourself while we suited back up. Emptied your clips on them and then tried to melee them down. Thankfully, you were not bitten."

Her eyes gazed over the scene. Something was missing, no. Someone. She countered herself, the Priest, the twin boys with tanned skin and caramel hair, and the large black male who was always very quiet and calm... There was a female missing. Not that Emily liked her much, the screaming blond lady who refused to handle weaponry wasn't around. "Where the hell is she?"

He managed to keep everyone in line. They all fell in behind in with their weapons in hands. They kept together and he as he looked down the line, they all seemed to be paying attention to their surroundings. If nothing else he deemed these things to be positive. He had no idea what awaited them in the ruins below. But there was really only one way to find out. If nothing else time had taught him to dislike the unknown and to mistrust the familiar.

His boots crunched down on the earth beneath them, crushing blades of grass as he went. Slowly the torn buildings below began to loom closer. He raised his riffle and let its site stray in front of him. Although as yet he fought nothing to disturb him or otherwise cause concern. He approached the first one that was visible and peered into the shadows within it. He flicked on a flashlight and thereafter began to scout around inside it, in search of anything useful.

But his head turned as he heard a scream coming from the far side of the building. Thus he slipped out of the ruin and beyond its shadow he saw a blonde woman who strangely lacked any sort of weapon about to get mobbed by a quartet of zombies. He didn’t wait for back up but simply switched his gun to automatic and thereafter took rather careful aim. Zombies were not observant creatures so a red dot appearing on the back of one of their heads was neither noticed nor of any concern until the sound of an automatic weapon spraying bullets and caused one of their number’s heads to erupt like a ripe watermelon. That definitely got their attention.

As the creatures turned towards him, he swivelled his aim to the second creature and with equal precision a line of bullets struck it first in the neck and then in the head. Dropping it to the ground where it twitched and then was still. Two dead zombies yet that left a pair of them closing on him with rather rapid speed.

He back pedalled from them, keeping a pretty steady rate of fire as he did so. There was little sense risking melee with the creatures. He pumped a few bullets into both their bodies and then the rest of his crew had arrived and the zombies were finished off with a flurry of small arms fire tearing them apart.

After the zombies had been dealt with - naturally making enough noise to attract the attention of anyone whom was not already dead. At which point Sigurd remarked “what the hell is that woman doing out here all by herself and without any weapons?” Both of those things made exactly zero sense to him. He pointed his gun at the woman as he remarked “Careful now though - I couldn’t see if she was bitten.”