8,496 Goodbyes

[Ghostsforlunch]

Dateline: April 15, 2065. Milriver, Colorado.

Milriver is a small town in central Colorado. The welcome sign, forelornely caked with dust reads: “Welcome to Milriver!” and below that, “Pop: 8,500.” Even five years ago that had been a generous estimate. The town served as an outpost for summertime hikers and wintertime backcountry skiers. Still, its inhabitants had pride in their quaint little American town. Along Main Street are a few restaurants, a law office, and a hardware store or two. The town council had managed to keep the big-box stores out in the periphery of town, and they had always looked with disdain upon the pair of strip malls that had sprouted like mushrooms a few miles from the town hall. Still, like all practical Americans they still took advantage of the traffic the stores lured from the main highway as it did not pass directly through Milriver.

A few scruffy white clouds pass through the lightening sky. Had today been 40 years ago, one could have reasonably expected the temperature to climb steadily into the mid 80’s. A usual, clear, Colorado spring day. With global warming, the thermostat had inched up a few notches, and one could reasonably expect the temperature to climb into the high 90’s. Mayor Davies tries to focus on the weather as his wife adjusts his tie. Given his preference, Julio Davies would have addressed the town around noon. Preference would not be the only thing taken away from the mayor today.

The occasion for the town meeting at the uncivilized hour of 7am was the new orders filtering down to the Colorado State Militia stationed in Milriver. They were to form up and pull back to Gunnison, where Militia command was gathering the entirety of their remaining forces. Many of the militia members had wept openly at the new orders: it meant that Denver had fallen to the ravages of the aragami and many of the soldiers had family in the capitol.

The sky transitioned from a dark purple to a warm orange and then a robin’s egg blue as the sun crept over the craggy horizon. Mayor Davies did his best to smile at the Milriver residents who’d gathered in the park next to the town hall. A wiry aide huffs on the microphone and, satisfied that it is active, passes it to Julio. He clears his throat, glances once at his wife for support, then addresses the remaining town residents.

“Fellow Milriverians, I am here to inform you about the new orders being passed down to the Militia here as we speak. The news I am about to share is grim, but I have total faith in the resilience of our town. As long as we maintain calm, every one of us will make have stories to tell our grandchildren’s children.” Mayor Davies is known for his oratory, but this feels like a lie even to him. “Denver has fallen to the advancing horde, and all militia forces are ordered to pull back to Gunnison. They can no longer spare the few troops they have so graciously done for the past weeks and so leave us to defend our fair township ourselves.”

Julio Davies clears his throat. “We’ve seen so many people pass through our little down these past few months. People fleeing the advancing wave. And you, as I know I have, have maintained your faith in our forces. Faith that they will find some way to protect us. I ask that you not give up faith or hope. Without these, we have nothing. But we must also be practical. Those beasts will tire of Denver’s bones soon enough and resume their march west.”

A few elderly townspeople burst into tears, unable to restrain themselves. Julio Davies takes a moment to let his words sink in.

 

[Sanantha]

Aribella Sandina leaned against the back wall listening to the mayor of this little nowhere town in Colorado that she had ended up in. The room was oppressive and stuffy, made even worse by the press of bodies as townsfolk and refugees packed the room to listen to the mayor speak what was new about the approaching apocalypse.

Flipping her long braided, golden blond hair over her shoulder she let out a small huff of air as she turned and walked out of the room, knowing that yet another American city was gone. Stepping outside she stopped and reached down into the pocket of her green fatigue pants and pulled out the pack of cigarettes she had been hording. Since the world started being destroyed everything that was luxury became more expensive, cigarettes included.

Bringing the now burning tobacco up to her lips Ari looked around laughing as people scurried to and fro obviously in a hurry to be somewhere. With a sigh she shook her head and looked out towards her Jeep which help all of her worldly possessions, most having disappeared back at the University apartment or when her family home in Tennessee was overrun. Luckily, my family’s all dead before this happened, Ari thought looking east towards the slowly rising sun and the direction that the horde of Aragami… whatever Aragami means…sounds like that art where you fold paper….

Slowly Ari smoked waiting and listening through the windows wondering what was going to happen next to this little town, the militia probably wouldn’t defend it and so no one would stay, if they were sane. I hate this place, and this time, and what all is going on. With a last drag she dropped the butt onto the ground and ground it into the building’s concrete porch with her combat boot.

 

[Junko]

Kat was looking over the man giving the speech and she sighed. She had not been up to date on what was happening and for the looks of it there was something bad coming this way. Grabbing her phone she went on the internet and searched through what exactly was happening. Looks like some kind of mutation with something made humans go crazy, perfect just perfect a fucking apocalypse would be arriving soon to the small town she had been living for the past couple of months. She shook her head as she placed her earphones back into her ears.

Smiling she looked around at the panicked faces and sighed, they had to be smart about this when the time comes. The volume was low enough for her to ear whatever the person talking had to say. Smiling she shook her head and placed her hands on her pockets as she began to walk away. Something was coming and she needed to get ready for it. Staying at the university would prove to be somewhat of a bad choice however she had no choice in the matter.

She was always ready in case of a emergency in terms of having some clothes packed however this seemed to be much more of what she was expecting. Taking a deep sighed she sat on the corner of the bench to try and think on what she was going to do, she could flee the damn town but that would leave the pack of whatever was coming after her, and she needed to find somebody she could rely on otherwise being alone would surely mean nothing good.

 

[Bikko]

The daylight was troublesome, the people were pushy, and the coffee was terrible. Scratching softly at his week's worth of chin fuzz, the manly man stood in the back of the crowd, short-shorts on and a large stained t-shirt with "Merry Christmas" printed in big red letters at the front of the shirt, Adrian Madrigal stood there not listening to the speech at all. He had stopped listening to what anyone said a few months back, there wasn't a need to listen for that matter, the Aragami was a unstoppable force of nature according to the Japanese; standing there he couldn't have helped but felt jerking off all these years had left him a sinner and perhaps god was pretty pissed at him. A bandanna coffed gently over his eyes in order to protect them from the light he had grown so unaccustomed to.

The question, of course, remained to be why he bothered showing up for town meetings. It was a habit to remind him he was alive, that people still exist and that there was more than booze and cheap porn in the world that was starting to plunder into a sea of fear and dread. He was almost complete however. He had managed to memorize the lyrics of vocal tones of twenty thousand songs by heart, the instrumentals he had learned to play out and worked to perfect every pitch. He wanted to be like Montag from that Fahrenheit book, yet with music instead. More or less, it was his way of taking part of the world and keeping it in place; his desire to make sure that despite how much the world would change, his ultimate playlist was marked down by breath and heart.

As the mayor had made with it and closed his mouth, the town dispersed, scattered, or any other word that meant to break apart. The townspeople were nervous and many people had began to check their watches, perhaps they all had the same doctors appointment or something, for despite the fact that everyone held a different face, they all seemed to have the same thoughts running through their heads: to get hell out of the town.

As the park began to grow silent, Adrian stretched before turning his back on the where the mayor once stood to make his speech. Walking towards the small room he had been assigned his arrival at the town, he also was forced to walk in direction of the rising sun.

"Good bye Wild Heaven..." he mumbled under his breath as he took his headphones off and started on his merry way.

(Lacking yes, I'm typing on a cellphone so please bare with me~)

 

[{{Zombie_Addict}}]

Ava stood unnoticable off to the side of everyone. Her tiny frame, delicate in the sunshine. The mayors words made the town panic and her along with them. She wasn't afraid of dying, more that she was afraid of just not exsisting anymore. She turned her face towards the sunshine, The simple pleasures in life were slowly diminishing, and she'd be dammned if she wouldnt enjoy it while she could.

Her long black hair blew away from her body as she stood staring off in t the sky. Soon the Aragami would take over their town. That would be a sad sad day but until then she was a strong woman and she would survive. She stalked away off towards her shop. She had a few things she needed to get ready for this Apocalypse. Smiling in an eeire way that the situation didnt call for she starts humming to herself as she walks.

 

[Ghostsforlunch]

Mayor Davies’ brow furrows as the few gathered citizens turn away from the open-air podium and begin to talk amongst their small groups. He’d not been finished with his speech by any stretch of the imagination, but the crowd seems unwilling to listen any more. The weight of the news hangs heavily on his shoulders and he uncharacteristically refrains from demanding attention for the remainder of his speech. The scrap of paper he’d taken notes on crumples beneath his fist as he turns away from the podium to hug his quietly weeping wife.

The microphone squawks feedback as the scruffy aide fumbles to turn it off. Some of the dispersing citizens stop to glance back at the podium. The mayor turns to wave at a few of his closest and most trusted friends to call them over. The microphone catches a snippet of his conversation, something about turning the other way and “no use leaving all of that behind. Who knows what we’ll meet on the way to Gunnison.”

The aide drops the mic, which once again arrests the dispersal of the gathered citizens. But this time, when they glance back at the podium their attention is cemented. All color has drained from the aide’s face, though the mayor et Al. behind him seems oblivious. A wave of silence washes over the gathered citizens as they stare at the sickly looking youth sans microphone. Only the pleasantly cheery chirp of sparrows disturbs the pall that has fallen, but even they fail to break it. At the same time, the gathered citizens follow the ghostly aide’s gaze across the small park to its southern parking lot.

There, standing in the midst of the lot is . . . something: an abomination. The creature stands on two menacingly clawed feet. The creature’s head swivels on its neck from one side to the other in a very avian way. A soft morning breeze tumbles a few abandoned newspapers through the gathered citizens before ruffling the dirty brown mane that peaks out from behind the curiously broad plate that comprises the upper part of the creature’s head. A broad, flat tail trails behind the thing as it pads between the cars in the parking lot. The entire crowd holds their breath.

The creature lifts its head up in response the mottled dark shadow that suddenly darkens the bright early morning park. A huge flock of birds momentarily blots out the sun as they travel west, their cries of alarm barely reaching the citizen’s ears in the park below. In doing so, the glitter of a chrome bumper catches the attention of the beast.

The crunch of steel and the sound of shattering glass snap everyone’s attention back to the beast in the parking lot. Apparently, whatever it was didn’t much care for his reflection and had charged a glossy black suburban. The piercing shriek of the car’s alarm surprises the monster. It jumps back, stands to its full height: nearly 7 feet from the ground to the top of it’s upturned snout, and emits a nightmarish bellow. The monster lowers it’s head and charges the suburban again, tossing the car into the air and flipping it completely over onto it’s top. But even the crash of the car can’t drown out the chorus of equally nightmarish calls that bounce off the walls of the surrounding buildings in a vertigo-inducing assault on the citizenry’s ears. And as if on cue, those gathered begin to scream, to flee, or some combination of the two.

 

[Junko]

Her eyes went wide when she heard the sound of crumbling metal. Standing up she looked over at the monster and her eyes opened wide. It was a huge monster, almost instantly she started to run, her eyes fixed forward and trying her best to not come near that thing. It was huge and she did not wanted to be near that thing when it went mad. Pushing people out of the way she looked around for a place to hide. Noticing other people just running away from it she thought that it was best to find a place and hide on it.

She knew that cars won’t do, it could easily destroy them or so it seemed. Groaning she went inside a store and walk to the other side of the store. Looking around the place she noticed a door to the storage place. Taking a deep breath she walked inside and closed the door behind her and locked it. With so much people around the monster would most likely not see her walking inside the store. She never thought that it was that huge, she cried as she looked down to the floor. After a couple of seconds she stood up and looked around getting to the door leading to the back and opening it gently to see if there was a monster outside as well.

 

[Bikko]

It seems just as one departs and makes way back to a self-constructed Utopia, leaving behind what was once a 'Wild Heavan', he was now standing before what seemed to be the gate to heaven. In the end he didn't depart from a 'Wild Heaven' but he was walking into one, and simply, hands out and etching against the elaborate French patterns, the man was-

"Knockin' on Heaven's door. . ."

His eyes was staring with a smite a bewilderment but a large toll of interest. Locked in observation as the beast caught sight of its own reflection, the behemoth raged furiously tackled the glossy, raven black, Chevrolet suburban harder than crazed shoppers did against department store mirrors on Black Friday; and mercy that was saying something. As the alarm of the dented car was tremoring through the crowd, the crowd of which, had been paralyzed in disbelief, fear, and soaked in a sea of cold sweat, the monster craned its neck up before letting out a blood curtling call. It was terrible, absolutely terrible! Never in his life had Adrian ever heard of such a unevenly toned voice, its goddamn vocals was off by several notes and it left the sleepy male wishing he could have life autotuned, or able to adjust his ears like a mixer.

On that note, which was what seemed to be very sad and gloomy C minor, but hell it was so off it probably could've been a C major for all he knew, his ears failed him for once. Whatever it was, it left his eardrums howling and apparently he wasn't the only one that was having the urge to sprint as far away as possible. The galore of men and women, some with children, and others with pets, all began run. As if in unison the whole crowd decided to do a reenactment of the scene from Forest Gump, but this time rather than Jenny chanting, it was the echoes of that horrible note. The thing was stupid, well at least by his observations, noises diverted its attention like most multicellular organisms. Suddenly recalling the moment during his Biology course in freshman year, when the load speaker blarred loudly he cursed under his breath. Unimportant or inapproriate thoughts during important situations was always on top.of his list for his college resumes, too bad they all winded up in the trashbin, they would've been perfect reads if he wished to be a comedian.

Running for an old hardware shop in the blink of an eye, Adrian pulls up the steel gates before bringing them down in silence. Flicking on the lights he took a deep breathe and let out a sigh, the sound of fleeing pedestrians wasn't the best type of music and a hardware store not exactly his recording studio, or simply his basement, the boy made his way behind the counter and sat down.

"Plans...food...and booze..." he said, while scribbling gently onto the white plastar walls the exact same words, they were the three steps to his physical survival. "Now the essentials are down...all I need is to start with a plan..." he threw on a serious face, adjusting the bandana over his eyes softly, a small grim fret was forming as he did this. "Although some booze wouldn't be too either..."

 

[{{Zombie_Addict}}]

Ava stops walking, and stands frozen staring at the monster yards away from her. She prays that she was just tiny enough that the monster wouldn't see her creeping towards her shop. It was only a foot away. Slowly she starts walking toward the clothing store. She makes it to the front door and dives in the open door.

She kicks the door closed, crawls to lock it, and sits with her back against the door. Making little ekking noises she gets up and runs to the back stairs. Running up them she opens the door to her home. Living in the upper appartment had its advantages. She runs to her closet and opens the door. She moves her clothes to the side and grabs her shot gun and ammo.

Ava walks down the stairs slowly loading it. She dumps the extra ammo in her pocket. Clicking the safety on she sstands byt the window just daring the creature to follow her.

 

[Sanantha]

Aribella looks up seeing the monstrosity smashing apart the SUV and quickly she looks around trying to see if there are any more of the ugly creatures. Her first instinct is to go to her car and run as fast and as far as possibly, but she realizes that the roads will be packed with people running from the monster.

Taking a few deep breaths to settle her nerves Aribella calmly walks across the street as people scream and sun, she checks how far down the road the monster is before reaching into the back end of the Jeep, pulling out the backpack her father always had instilled in her to pack.

“Now Ari, remember wherever you go, if its further than a day or two’s walk from where you’re used to pack a bag with essentials,” Her father looked down at her, smiling and getting ready to send Aribella away to college.

“Yea Daddy, I know! You always tell me this, I think what you did in the military made you paranoid…” She shook her head looking up at him, knowing he was just trying to look out for her, so she teased him as she always did.

Shaking her head Ari snaps out of her little flashback and slings her pack over her shoulder’s checking the straps to make sure its secured she grabs her duffle bag and a long hard plastic case. Grabbing a thick black belt she locks it around her waist and pulls open the holster attached to it's right hip, bringing the Sig P228 out and pulling the slide she watched as she loads the first round from the magazine into the weapon, reholstering it she starts to trot back across the road.

 

[Ghostsforlunch]

The shockingly bizarre sight of the monster demolishing the large vehicle sets off the gathered crowd like the crack of a starting gun. For the most part, everyone runs. Everyone except Ava and Ariel. Fortunately, their independent gambles pay off: the beast seems more attracted to motion than anything else. Its claws dig into the parking lot’s asphalt and then the soft grass of the park as the beast takes off in pursuit of the crowd. The monster lowers its armor-plated head as it catches up with the slower wave of fleeing citizens. It bucks its head to the left as it passes an elderly man, goring him with its jutting tusks. The old man shrieks as he falls to the grass just feet before the sidewalk: blood oozing from the gaping wound. The monster manages to gore a second person, an overweight teen gasping for breath, before its claws leave shattered cement sidewalk in their wake. Still, the beast does not stop.

Adrian manages to get the metal slide down not a moment too soon. The beast slams head first into the shiny metal grating, leaving a car-sided dent in the protective barrier. The beast stumbles back from the screen, shaking its head and now gore-smattered mane. It bellows in frustration, then turns to continue on after the rest of the fleeing crowd. The metal screen saves Adrian’s life, but clearly won’t be able to deflect another charge and may not be able to open either.

Kathleen had apparently been a less desirable target, and the few moments of time granted by the monster ramming Adrian’s hardware store had given her and a few others the chance to slip through the open doors of the one grocery store in downtown Milriver. Kathleen and those who followed her scatter throughout the sadly barren shelves. There hadn’t been a truck with fresh produce to Milriver in months and the once bountiful shelves of dried and packaged products were now a skeleton of their former glory: picked clean by the desperate citizens of Milriver.

Instead of following the crowd, Ava let them run past her as she snuck slowly in the other direction. Storefront property on Main Street, Milriver wasn’t a particularly prestigious honor, but in this instance it lets Ava slip out if sight: safe for the moment. Still, her door is unable to stop the sounds of screaming people punctuated by blood-curdling shrieks and the faint, but unmistakable sound of shattering bone that echoes through the handful of streets that comprise downtown Milriver.

But at least Ava doesn’t have to watch. Aribella is witness to the violence. She watches as the beast chases the crowd away from the park as she strolls cautiously over to her waiting truck. Alas, the flash of silver and crimson catches her attention as she checks her sidearm. A handful of people had doubled back on the next street north from Main. They look back over their shoulders and smile in premature exultation that they’d left the monster chasing after the others. Aribella watches as two blocks north from her position the handful of citizens are beset by a pair of the same monsters. The monsters rip into the fleeing humans with abandon: tusks and claws rending flesh to tattered red and pink shreds. The screams of the last of that particular group are silenced when one of the two beasts crushes the man’s skull into a pink froth between its jaws. One of the pair of monsters seems satisfied to devour the dead for the moment, oblivious to Aribella. The other’s attention seems caught by something, and it trots out of Aribella’s view to the west.

Out of Aribella’s view and into Kathleen’s. As Kathleen pokes her head from the substantial metal door at the back of the grocery store she sees the gore-smattered face of the monster looking back at her inquisitively. She screams and tries to closed the door, but the charging monster rips the entire metal door from its hinges as it charges at Kathleen. The monster slips and tumbles into a dumpster just beyond the door as Kathleen falls back from the now gaping hole at the back of the grocery store. By the time Kathleen scrambles to her feet, the beast has gained its balance and is already moving through the hole ripped in the back of the store. The monster pounces after Kat as she runs back towards the front of the store. Its claws catch her in the back and drive her to the floor as the two of them slide across the linoleum grocery store floor. Her stomach twists, and she vomits as the monster lands on her back: shattering her spine and ribs. The windows at the front of the grocery store rattle as the monster bellows: the last sound Kathleen Sanders hears before the beast rips her neck from her shoulders and ends her short life.

 

[{{Zombie_Addict}}]

Ava silently leans against the wall, listening to the panic, tears silently pouring down her pale cheeks. She tries to listen pass the screams and carnage going on beyond her walls. If anyone came close enough without luring one of the monsters here she was going to snatch them inside. She checks the door to make sure it was unlocked.

All the silly fools who locked their doors,like that was really going to keep the creatures out. She holds her gun closer to her body. She would be damned if she was going to go down without a fight. She leans up and peeks out of the window. She hoped she could help anyone she could, she just needed to get people off the street. She needed to do it without being noticed either.

 

[Sanantha]

Aribella walks up to the line of shops hoping that she doesn’t run into one of those things while her arms are full of gear she slowly tries each doorknob. She finds locked door after locked door, before she approaches what looks like a second hand store, finding the door unlocked she pokes her head in looking around, and quickly making her way to the back, where a set of stairs leads her upstairs and into a back bedroom.

Her mind is racing a mile a minute as she sets her things down onto a bed that looks like its meant for a child. Blotting those thoughts from her mind she starts to unload her duffle onto the bed, sorting gear and putting it into her father’s old tactical vest, several magazines and different implements that he had stored up during his career and afterwards, which she had collected from the family home before it was overrun by these things several months ago.

Quickly sorting her gear she puts the tac-vest on over her clothing and makes sure it doesn’t interfere with the holster on her hip before turning back to the duffle, sealing it and sliding the hard case across the bed to herself. Slowly she pops open the case, looking at the three dismantled weapons and trying to decide which would be best for the current emergency.

While all of this is happening she keeps forcing herself to ignore the little part of her mind that is gibbering in terror and horror at what is happening outside and tries to focus instead on what her father told her and what her competition shooting had trained her to do. Slowly she begins to assemble an assault carbine that her father had given her on her last birthday.

 

[Bikko]

The size of the huge dent in his entrance, Adrian motions towards the large indent as he runs his hand gently down the sides of the metal grating. In a rapid motion, he made an attempt to lift it up, yet as he had expected the motion was locked tight due to the dented area not being able to go into the slim and flat fitting in the upper inner wall. Sighing he examines his surrounding, the lights dim and was flourescent, artificial light was the best light by his standards anyways! Tapping his feet against the sturdy wood, he knew this was part of their advertising, it was definately fine craftswork. Deciding it was best to get to the roof, he grabbed for a screw driver from one of the shelves, a three in one really, it held a wrench, a screwdriver, and what he beleived to be a hammer. Opening the back door, he smile,his face wrinkled slightly at this as his eyes were unseen as usual covered by the plain red bandana.

"Get luck and chance!" Adrian said, musing softly at his awkward saftey. Maybe he could even find a weapon as he browsed the many rooms.

(Short I know, but I'm on a stump, trying to move around it but, it's taking more time than I expected)

 

[Ghostsforlunch]

Ava’s philanthropy pays off. The sound of footsteps rises to meet her ears through the closed door of her seamstress’ shop. And whoever it is sounds like they’re alone. Peering out she sees a lone man spending more time looking around than trying to get away from the carnage spreading through the town. He stumbles over the curb towards Ava’s shop as he closes the distance painfully slowly. From her vantage she can see that his staggering is not from injury, but from curiosity. Time passes painfully slow as the bizarre person continues to look around more than run away. As he passes her door Ava is able to open her door just enough to grab the strangely oblivious young man and haul him behind her door: which she slams shut as quietly as possible. At least Ava’s conscience can remain clean that she hasn’t abandoned her fellow humans.

Meanwhile, Aribella is experiencing a very different side of human hospitality. Her things are spread out across the twin bed that dominates the festively painted room. The house had seemed empty when she’d broken in and made her way up the stairs. And perhaps her chances were high that it may be empty since people had been fleeing west for months. Alas, luck is not with Aribella today. The cold sensation of steel at the back of her head is new, but unmistakable. Aribella glances back over her shoulder quickly to a startling sight. Behind her is a second entrance to the bedroom and standing in it is an unshaven young man holding a pistol, aimed at Aribella’s head, in his visibly shaky hand. Behind him in what appears to be the kitchen cower an equally disheveled young woman cradling an infant.

The man presses the pistol against Aribella’s head again. “I said who. The fuck. Are you? You don’t just barge into somebody’s house uninvited.” He didn’t seem to care that they’d left the door unlocked. “This may be a small town, but my house is mine and I sure as shit didn’t invite you.” A look of panic washes over him. “Those things didn’t follow you, did they?” He presses the gun against her head with more force: she can feel the weapon shaking in his hand. “Why don’t you just go back from where you came from, honey. You ain’t welcome here.” The man motions in the direction of the stairs Aribella had trespassed up with a nod of his head. But as she goes to gather up the supplies she’d spread cross the bed, the man prods her with his pistol again. “And you can leave those to apologize fo’ maybe givin’ away our hiding place. Lord know we’re gonna need ‘em if those . . . those monsters saw you come in here.” He doesn’t seem particularly interested in Aribella’s safety, and as a practiced marksman she can tell that he’s damn likely to shoot her on accident. At this range, he probably wouldn’t miss.

Which brings us to Adrian. The clear sky is crystallizing into a brilliant blue as the day transitions from early to mid morning. Gone are the chirping sparrows for shadier perches, not that any would notice their chirping over the sporadic clap of gunfire: punctuated by human shrieks and monstrous hoots. The roof of the hardware store is gravelly and barren, except for a tattered plastic lawn chair and its companion: the last few ounces of cheap whiskey in a bottle on its side. The light of day sears Adrian’s dark-accustomed eyes even through his bandana, but an odd sound catches his attention. In a day of odd sounds, one more would be missed by most, but not Adrian. Part of the sound is monster, but not like the one that had chased him earlier: he could already tell that. And it isn’t happy, of that he is sure. The other part of the sound confuses him enough to force him to lift his bandana and peer out to the eastern border of town. Rapidly approaching is another monster, maybe . . . 8 times as large as the one he’d seen earlier. It careens off a building leaving shattered rubble in its wake as it skitters closer towards the town center. Seeing it now, Adrian is sure this is not the same sort of monster, but also that the other part of the sound isn’t coming from the monster at all. About half a mile behind the rapidly approaching behemoth Adrian can see the plume of dust kicked up by a preposterously huge pickup truck. There is a person standing in the flatbed and from the looks of it he’s firing some sort of weapon at a group of the smaller monsters chasing after the truck. And that sound? Adrian figures it out: shrieking guitar distortion.

 

[{{Zombie_Addict}}]

Ava whispers "What are you doing? And who are you?" She peered out of the window to check they were safe. She checks to make sure the man was OK. She knew they would have to venture outside eventually but she wanted to give as many people cover as she could, especially children.

She watches out the window as the carnage continues, flinching at each new scream.

 

[Sanantha]

Aribella stands stock still, waiting and slowly raising her hands above her head, “My name is Aribella Sandina and you have my apologies, I just needed somewhere to arm up before I was planning on getting out of town. “ Looking over her shoulder she looks at the man and the woman holding the baby. “None of the creatures followed me, no.”

Groaning as he tells her to leave her supplies she shakes her head, “No, you have two options if I can’t take my things, Shoot me in which case they hear it and come in the still unlocked front door, or I shoot at one and lead it back.” She looks over her shoulder staring the young man in the eyes, her face blank and serious, “There are too many weapons here for you to use, I’ll leave half of the medical supplies and food, my two spare pistols, and one of the rifles, as well as half of the explosives I have here,” With a slow pause she jerks her head back at the gear, “the rest I take with me and make sure I cause a noise way on the other side of town and they’ll follow there.”

“The deal is fair, you may have the drop on me, but killing me means they still kill you and them…” Her head jerks towards the pair in the doorway. Aribella holds her breath waiting knowing she will only survive a short while without any of the rest of her gear, she needed a lot of it, her tactical vest was fully loaded, but what good are magazines without the rifle they go with.

 

[Ghostsforlunch]

The young man holding the gun to Aribella’s head hesitates. The pistol rattles in his shaky hand. That’d be enough to make anyone nervous, but Ari notices that the forlorn pot on the stove is rattling to the same rhythm. In fact: so are the few portraits hung on the walls of the small flat. The young woman wraps the child tighter in her arms as the vibration increases precipitously. The man staggers into the doorframe, but miraculously doesn’t shoot Aribella accidentally. He motions towards the stairs with the handgun. “Take your rifle and go. I’ll give you to the count of five and if I don’t see your ass down those stairs we’re gonna take our chances with those monsters out there.” It isn’t exactly the bargain Aribella was looking for, but at least she isn’t shot.

“Five . . . four . . .” the man’s counting is barely audible over the rhythmic rumbling that is causing the walls of the small 2-story building to rattle; if it isn’t an earthquake then something large is headed their way.

Ava and guest can feel it too, though neither of the two can see the source of the vibration as they elbow each other to get a view through the door’s peep hole. A small snow globe is rattled from the sales counter in Ava’s little clothing shop and shatters on the floor, though neither Ava nor her guest can hear the loud shattering of glass over the pounding that must be nearly on top of them. Clearly, a better view was going to require exiting the small shop: the shop that seemed to be rattling apart at the seams anyway.

While the source of the rumbling and tremor is a mystery to the rest, Adrian is busy scrambling for a secure place to hold on as the enormous dusty gray behemoth charges down Main Street towards the small row of buildings. The beast’s four massive legs leave gashes in the uneven pavement as it slides forward in an attempt to arrest its mad dash. One of the four spider-like legs, as thick around as a telephone pole, catches the edge of the sidewalk and the creature pitches to its right. Adiran watches in horror as the beast lurches forward into the front of his building with a deafening crash. The two-story lurches and the corner closest to the beast drops precipitously as the building begins to crumble.

Adrian watches in horror as the gravel on the roof begins to slide towards the collapsed corner of the roof, taking him along towards the . . . face of the behemoth. At least, Adrian assumes it is the face from the huge gaping chasm of razor spikes that pants in exhaustion. The beast lies stunned with the building crumbling on top of it.

As the rumbling of the behemoth dies, the sound of wailing guitar feedback and a screaming diesel engine replace them. An enormous extended cab pickup roars through the intersection in what could only be pursuit of the behemoth. The man standing in the back of the truck falls over as the driver applies the breaks suddenly. The truck’s back axle fish-tails as the tires shriek: leaving behind a twin trail of noxiously smoking rubber across the shredded asphalt. Still, none of the vehicle’s noise is enough to completely drown out the ear-drum-shreddingly-loud . . . music? Would anyone even call that music?! The noise piping from the massive stacks secured to the truck’s bed.