This Hostile World of Ours [Ryees/Shoko]

[Shoko]

The end of the world as we know it has always been...some kind of fictional idea we all toy with at some point. "How well would I do? How fast would I die? What kind of person would I become?" No one, however, actually expects the world to just suddenly end. If it does, we'd expect it to be the sheer stupidity and petulance of our world leaders as opposed to some kind of Zombie outbreak.
Another favorite thought experiment was how such a thing would even happen? How was it undone? Was it even curable?
There were countless, absolutely countless bits of media covering this fascinating subject...

So naturally it had to happen today of all days.

Of course It was also in America where everything went straight to hell. Yuina Ivanov was a half Russian, half Japanese girl whom had been living with her Mother in Japan for most of her life. Her father had left for the United States when she was 17, having become the CEO of a company down there. Everyone on the outside still believed the crap that the US was some kind of promised land so generally when you got the opportunity to live there, generally, you took it. Yuina was a talented individual. She accelled at anything she put her mind to, making her a sleeper genius. A sleeper due to the fact that next to nothing ever motivated her. Whatever she enjoyed doing, She was incredible at. If she wasn't, She attacked it until she was and made leaps and bounds in improvement over short periods of time. She was remarkably resourceful. She was an exceptional archer. It was her favorite club activity after school was over.

Normally, Yui was a quiet person. 'Halfbreeds' weren't exactly the most welcome individuals in Japan after all. Japan was truly a really cool and beautiful place but it wasn't exactly a hospitable place for a free spirit so...naturally when her father told her he had made arangements for her to go to college and live in America, the prospect interested her greatly. She already knew how to speak English since she wanted to leave Japan at some point anyway. She had a tinge of a Russain accent but as far as she was concerned, she was far from the worst English speaker. After a few weeks, She was on a plane to America.
Her father was there to meet her. They weren't exactly on fantastic terms but she was cordial with him and was grateful for the opportunity to be here. They were in Chicago. Naturally she knew nothing about America other than the videos always popping up on Youtube. It took a week for her to settle into her apartment and she was surprised to find how radically different the culture was in America! There weren't much in the way of uniforms so generally she could wear whatever she wanted!

The problem...was she never actually made it to her first day.

〈 School was only supposed to start a few days after her getting settled in...so of course she had to get sick. She managed to catch a flu which was surprising to her because she rarely ever got sick. Still, thanks to a hefty alliance and the convenience of delivery service apps in America, she was able to take care of herself decently enough to recover before the first day ended. Still, Event though the day was half over...not showing up at all for the first day wasn't exactly a great start.

She made her way to the faculty office. It was roughly 1pm when she did, having explained her situation to the Science Professor whom was alone there. She was a quiet and stoic woman. She had a soft but stern look in her eyes as they analyzed the half Russian girl before closing her eyes. With a flick of her fingers, hand extended, Yuina gave her her hand. She pulled the blonde closer before resting the back of her left hand against Yui's forehead. "You aren't looking so hot. Temperature is a bit high too..." She sighed softly, eyes closed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, letting go of the blonde. She seemed a bit worn out...either that or she was really lost in thought. "I was briefed on your situation, naturally, so I expect this transition has been exceptionally difficult for you."
Standing up, she placed her hands on her hips, proving to be a full head taller than Yuina. "Sending you home would probably be counter productive at this point...I'll take you to the infirmary where we can help you recover. Rest up there. You won't have to worry about any repercussions or whatever, I'll make sure you're cleared for the day. If you're feeling better before the end of the day, You can join whatever class is left. Sounds good?" Yuina nodded and with that, the teacher that initially introduced herself as Melissa Barron guided Yuina to the faculty office where nurse Jessica Davis was waiting for them.

Leaving her in Nurse Davis' capable hands, Melissa left, leaving Yuina to sleep. 〉


What woke her up was her grumbling belly. Looking around, she saw a dim apartment. A nice TV, a Kotatsu in the livingroom, a bit of trash cluttered here and there.
Her eyes moved over to the window which had been hidden by a curtain. Slowly standing up, She made her way over to her window where she slightly parted the curtain to reveal the blood splatter all over her window. Below, two stories down, She saw nothing but car wrecks and dead bodies with several fucked up living corpses feasting on the actually dead ones.
Pushing back away from the window, she sighed heavily before beginning to pace around. It was 6:04PM, the skies were grey and she was running out of food.
Thinking about the chaos that broke out only two weeks back. Frankly she didn't even know what happened or why it did. Everything was fine until the final hour of school and before...straight up chaos.

〈 She actually woke up to the sound of someone covered in blood, slamming themselves against the Infirmary door. She managed to see students running away and screaming as faster students covered in blood chased them down furiously. She quickly barricaded the door with literally anything she could find. She found herself observing, through the door's window, through the side window looking out. She watched the horror unfold feeling absolutely helpless in this situation. Opening the back window, she spent a few minutes making various forms of observations; from ways she could get down, to how she'd get through the zombies outside...though frankly there weren't many zombies outside as of yet so now was the best chance to escape! Looking around, she started taking whatever she could get her hands on in order to fashion a rope she could use to get down to ground level. She managed to fashion a cloth rope, fasten it to something sturdy and began to climb her way down the window. Thankfully she was feeling marginally better but she was still slow to get down and struggling to hold onto the cloth. Part of the way, a Zombified student slammed itself against the window of the floor below as she made her way down, scaring her and causing her to let go of the rope and drop into a bush below. 〉

Picking up her backpack, she slung it over her shoulders and grabbed her Baretta Px4, sticking it in a holster on her thigh before heading out of her apartment, slowly making her way down the stairs before heading over to the Woodfield Mall. There were plenty of Zombies shuffling about and gorging themselves on corpses but fortunately, it seemed like sound was their primary method of tracking. Noise bothered the hell out of them and made them sprint towards it at break neck speeds. Trips took a while but it was better to be safe than sorry.
She'd slowly creep her way down the streets, using vehicles as cover as zombies shuffled around. It was raining which meant any sound she made was veiled by the rain drops. The skies were a dingy grey, providing good cover with a blend of visibility.

She had spent a week studying the zombies. They seemed to be primarily attracted to sound. Their eyesight was awful but they could tell the difference between one of their own and the living by the way they moved. They also had a habit of chasing after anything moving quickly.
The city had been quarantined so there was no way out. Anyone still alive was either hiding or trapped somewhere. She didn't doubt that there were survivors at the school but...There was really no reason to go back. Thankfully, gun laws in America were pretty ridiculous so finding a gun in someone's home wasn't terribly difficult. She found herself a few nice guns too but...the issue was the noise they made. Fire one off and within half a minute you'd have half a grand ferals running at you. It was honestly better to just...not invite that sort of chaos.

Eventually, She made it to the mall...just in time to see a few people with guns looking to raid the mega mall as well. Most likely trying to get to the Super Market on floor three. She sighed, not really wanting to compete with them as they looked fairly organized but...She couldn't hold out without food anymore...And that was the only place she knew was stocked to the gills with food.
She waited for them to enter before slowly following them. Sticking to the shadows, she tailed them as much as she could before they started to split off 4 ways! Each of them headed to different stores. Bold strategy...but if they were confident enough to split up completely...then they were probably competent enough to survive. Two of them went upward however, to the third floor, presumably needing the extra set of hands to carry the required food. It sucked but she had to follow the two of them as the others scanned the area with their guns trained ahead. There were a few zombies mulling about here and there but the three of them managed to silently get past them. In the super market, there were many more zombies, however given the utter lack of light, they seemed pretty tame. There was only a faint glimmer of light from sections of the ceiling made of glass, letting some of the grey in. The two of them stuck together and made their way in starting from the left, whereas Yuina went off to the right. She was avoiding both Zombies, and the group of armed humans, making this double challenging. Naturally, she couldn't keep track of the other humans, so she didn't notice the 3rd guy tailing her, having caught her from the corner of his eye following the other two!

 

[Ryees]

 

The early days had been hell. These days were hell, too, but the early days had been worse.

Alphonse Rivthalia and his unit had been on reserve for the last five weeks when the world stumbled and forgot how to regain its balance. A military base was possibly the safest place to be for the earliest hours of the collapse, but as the days dragged on and supplies dwindled, the crowds thinned and faces disappeared. Desperation and fear took over, and even amongst the living, violence broke out in conquest for rations, water, and clothing.

The base felt like a lifetime ago as the six of them skimmed along the highway, the nimble L-ATV making quick work of the miles even though half their journey involved pulling off the road to tumble through the brush. Chaudoin and Marcus, in the front seats, made quiet chatter about routing. A set of seats was mounted into the back of the front seats, back-facing, and Madeline her husband Jeff occupied those seats. Madeline looked positively ridiculous working on a cross-stitch ring in her full drabs, while Jeff had his nose buried in a paperback book. Emmanuel, hunched over in his seat—not for his mood, but because his six-foot-nine frame barely fit in the cabin—fiddling with a metal puzzle toy. Alphonse stood in the middle of the cabin, his upper half obscured by the port to the viewing turret that poked out of the center of the truck.

"Right on Plaza, up ahead," Alphonse hummed out, and up in front, Marcus nodded.

"And then right again onto... also Plaza. The fuck are these street names?"

"We just passed 'Mall Drive' one street ago," Chaudoin snarked in her mild Australian bend, "I don't think they were going for creativity."

The great Nigerian Emmanuel's eyes perked up and he shoved the toy in his vest pocket. "I will love to stretch my legs," he proclaimed, leaning back and attempting to do so now, mostly unsuccessful in the cab that was not sized for him.

"Can you add some floss to our shopping list?" Madeline chirped, leaning towards Jeff.

Jeff's fond smile at her was layered with a wry twist. "Love your priorities, Mads," he shot back, but he was opening the notepad app on his phone—long disconnected from any cell tower but still perfectly useful as a notepad, camera, and GPS tracker—and jotting the entry into the app.

"Not like we don't already know what we're looking for otherwise," she mumbled back with a puffed cheek, pouting as she shoved the ring into the messenger back that she had tucked up under her seat. "'Sides, not like we're buying anything anymore, it's all free, and it doesn't take up any space, so, nyeeeh." She stuck her tongue out at him, exactly like a grade-schooler, but the slowing of the truck stifled any further banter.

Like a switch flipped, their six energies shifted like the lights had come on. Tight and efficient, they each ran through their weapons check, snapping their XM7s charging levers and tightening the suppressors that would make indoor engagements far more sonically comfortable. As they neared the mall, Chaudoin cut the engine, letting the vehicle coast the last few dozen meters before slowly coming to a halt on its near-silent brakes.

In near-unison, the unit slipped out of their doors, turning around and holding the latches as they carefully eased the hatches shut and let the handles swing back into place. Marcus had gone through nearly twelve cans of WD-40 when he was giving the truck its overhaul, making sure that everything that could be silent was whisper-quiet during operation. With the perceived sensitivity to sound of the infected, being quiet came at a premium. It had been Madeline's idea for the unit to learn sign language within the first few weeks that they were a squad, under the assumption that being able to communicate silently would help them in the field. She had earned praise more than once, since the collapse, for that idea, and now the team signed to each other as they ghosted through the parking lot.

Despite the rain, Marcus had still parked them a reasonable distance from the doors to make sure the vehicle was open and accessible in the event of a cut-and-run, so their helmets were dripping by the time they crested under the building's eaves. The mall's doors were open, as expected. As they entered, they all simultaneously let their weapons lax on their slings, swinging to their sides as they pulled their knives from their shoulder-locked sheathes. Like a pack of wolves, they silently padded through the mall, slipping behind the stumbling figures and precisely, viciously, and efficiently ramming blades into throats while using their fists to chock the chins to avoid any risk of a bite.

The escalators were packed with corpses, but the stairs were mostly clear. Alphonse had a moment of internal social commentary that he decided not to voice as he led his squad up the first flight of steps. The food courts on the upper levels were their target destination, and thankfully, the upper levels were less populated—

The six of them froze in unison. Their heads turned inwards to their formation. Emmanuel's hands moved first. Steps?

Too fast for walker, too slow for runner, Chaudoin answered back, and they all nodded in unison.

With no other event, they circled around to take the next flight of stairs up. At the crest, Alphonse slunk forward, dipping inside the gate of a clothing store and pressing himself into the shadows after a quick but thorough glance to make sure nothing was going to leap at him from the shadows. The other five of his squad very slightly increased the speed of their steps, while decreasing the distance each step covered, and the adjustment made the same number of footstep sounds as when he was walking with them to mask the fact that one of their number had disappeared. There, he waited.

And moments later, a young blonde girl appeared at the top of the stairs. His scan of her picked out the thigh holster immediately. The moment she moved, he moved, the silent leather of his boots carrying him forward in precise timing with her footsteps.

The ghost that grabbed her from behind was near twice her size, and trained. His left elbow slunk around her neck, immediately locking her jaw shut and cutting off her air. On the same beat, his left leg pressed forward between hers, twisting around the outside of her leg and dragging backwards to obliterate her balance. As she fell, his right hand flew to her thigh, unsnapping her holster to draw her pistol in a practiced motion and dragging it up to press its barrel against her head. As she fell, he stepped back, her center of gravity and one-legged posture sending her down onto her butt, and he bent his knee to follow her to the ground. Firmly held with her back to his chest, he shoved his face into the hollow of her neck. Barely two seconds from the first moment he had touched her, he was whispering into her neck, voice pitched low to only her ears.

"Not going to hurt you and not going to leave you to die," he said first, quickly and calmly, "but can't have you tailing us either. There's plenty of food here, and you're welcome to whatever you can carry, but you play by our rules, or you don't play at all. Thumbs up if you understand me."​

 

[Shoko]

What happened to her was beyond shocking. Her ears twitched, finally catching onto the guy sneaking up to her but before she could grip the gun at her holster, She was immediately disarmed and immobilized! She grunted feeling his arm wrapped around her throat, her legs kicked out from under her, knocking her off balance. She had her own gun to her head and grunted as she heard him whispering into her ear. She bit her lip as a nearby zombie snarled, twitching and spazzing out out a bit before calming down and shuffling away. Her breathing had become heavy and rapid as she was so sure they'd be screwed by now but they were fine. Frankly...she should have just waited...maybe hid on the first floor somewhere till they left but...hindsight was 20/20. She slowly nodded, soon after realizing he was probably gonna be uptight about the acknowledgement and slowly fashioned a loose thumb up. It was hard to tell if she was sweating as she was still wet from the rain outside but...She was definitely sweating bullets.

 

[Ryees]

 

Alphonse nodded, slowly releasing the grip on her throat. At her gesture, five other figures had manifested from the shadows like ink bleeding from a pen, rifles that had clearly been trained on her lowering and being released onto their slings. When Alphonse had snatched her, they had turned on a time, having awaited the motion from their squad leader and reacted immediately. It became clear to the girl then that these people didn't just act like soldiers; they were soldiers, obviously, and had been for a long time.

Madeline's hands moved in sign. She was pretty quiet, she should be safe. And she's hot.

Jeff and Chaudoin couldn't react fast enough to hide the way their lips pursed, but they were successful in keeping their snorts silent.

Alphonse's eyes scanned around as he put his lips directly to the girl's ear again. "Don't talk. If you need something, wave, jump, but do not make sound. That will make us shoot you. If you need something, you flag one of us down, you talk into your hands, and we'll communicate. My name is Alphonse. What's yours?" He wait for her answer then fully let go of her, but notably did not return her gun to her as he stood and stepped away. Getting a look at her, he found that Madeline was right: The girl was very pretty. Curvy where it mattered, cute where it counted, and with a mixed-descent, pouty face that inspired a short run of impure thoughts that existed for but a moment before they were tamped down.

Emmanuel's hands moved, more slowly than Madeline's but methodical and practiced all the same. We move. Take her. Keep an eye.

Chaudoin's face twisted with some visible consternation, but she did not look to be planning to argue. Her hands moved. Second in line. Keep tight.

Alphonse nodded, offering the girl a hand and silently mouthing, "Behind me, let's go," as he helped her up.​

 

[Shoko]

Her eyes darted around, noticing the others suddenly take firm around her. Her breathing was erratic, She was clearly startled and nervous. She noticed some of their hands gestures, blushing softly as she felt his knee digging into her plush ass. She had very clearly misjudged these people. Definitely military... but this put her in an extremely awkward position. Every fiber in her being told her to get the fuck out of there... but... who better to trust than trained military soldiers right? Especially when you were in a foreign place with little understanding of knowledge of it!

her hands were shaking but she slowly began to form her own hand signs. Please...I will stay quiet and wait outside... please let me go...I will not get in your way...

She couldn't believe it. she couldn't believe sign language was actually being useful outside of that one niche interaction at her previous school! She had learned it as I've of her classmates were mute and would often interpret for them but...Yeah...in retrospect, Sign language in this situation was genius... she'd have never thought of using it like this... probably mostly cause she knew literally no one else who knew it anyway... would be a pain to teach to someone.

Regardless... one thing she was sure about; she didn't want to be here with these people. It was so stressful being in this situation. She only did it because she was hungry but she should have just waited an hour and hoped it was still raining at the time. These Zombies were incredibly sensitive to sound, so much so that thunder claps actually caused them severe pain! She absolutely wanted to take advantage of that. She could have just waited then out on the first floor but instead, she foolishly pressed on ahead.

Please... let me leave... like you said, plenty of food... can come back later...


She was clearly terrified, more of them than any of the Zombies. The zombies were stupid and easy to play around... but humans were the most annoyingly variable creature on planet Earth, ranging from mindlessly stupid, to terrifyingly sharp. In a situation like this, The living humans were the scariest thing about the end times, not the dead.