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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,972 Views)
Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
With Eli's help, Randall dragged the last dead rotter out of the way of the elevator doors. Jen, Brandon, and Annie were already inside and ready to go.

"Let's go!" He anxiously shouted to himself as much as to everyone else; getting back to the elevator was not as bad as he thought it would be. The hardest part would be sharing the elevator with all these dead rotters. Compared to everything else, that was easy.

Randall guessed it had been another couple of minutes since they turned on the generator. That gave them what, five or six minutes? As long as this elevator wasn't slow as hell, they probably had more than enough time to clear the blast radius. Randall wasn't sure how big the blast radius on these explosives was, but if they were this deep underground, they could probably clear the blast radius with a few minutes left to spare.

Hopefully.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
The moment Randall was in the elevator, Eli slammed his fist on the button. His heart and head pounded as the elevator – now powered up – began to close.

A rotter groaned and appeared from out of view, clawing for them. Sensing it was there, the elevator doors stopped closing and opened back up. Above them, the beeping of the countdown continued. The pounding in Eli’s chest got worse.

“No!” he screamed at the universe, jumping forward and kicking the rotter in the chest. It stumbled backwards and out of the way.

Eli leaned back, slamming the button once again.

Like last time, the elevator whirred to life. The doors started to close anew – only to stop once again. A rotter behind the first one had managed to avoid falling backwards along with it. It lunged at Eli when he came into view.

Eli surged forward again. He blocked the rotter with the armour on his left arm. It bit down, and got stuck there like a dog. Eli gave its head a couple hard and rapid thwacks with his baton, dislodging it. Then he got low and wide, and grabbed it by its neck and its legs. He grunted as lifted its whole body up horizontally, before throwing it forward into the approaching crowd.

The rotters failed to catch it. Instead, the body collided into them, knocking a wave of them off their feet like they were bowling pins.

A few on the edges were still within lunging distance. Eli ducked, and then yelled to the only man with ammo – at least, he hoped he still had ammo.

“Brandon!”
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Fuck!" Brandon cursed as the approaching rotters threatened to sink the whole plan.

He turned his carbine slightly to the side so he could reach the switch on the side. Fully automatic. He stood in the middle of the elevator and brought his weapon up. He braced it firmly against his shoulder. The magazine had about twenty more rounds. He leveled the sights at about head level and opened fire on the mob.

A prolonged burst of gunfire range out as he swept the rifle too and fro unloading every round he had left. He didn't know how many he took down in that hail of bullets, he had to squint hard as the escaping gas stung his eyes. His ears and head throbbed. The ringing would stay with him for a while. The floor was littered with with bodies and casings and awash with the thick putrid fluids of the slay undead at their feet.

One mag left now. A mere thirty rounds with no guarantee of a reload any time soon. He would be needing his knife a lot more in the days to come. If they even got out of there alive.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
God dammit!

Randall cursed mentally as the rotters kept locking the elevator doors. Despite his inability to really aim, he pulled out his M9 and aimed it for the door. He started squeezing off shots. Even if he couldn't hit them in the head, maybe he could slow them down enough to stop them from reaching the doors.

He saw Jen dart over to the panel and start mashing the 'close door' button like her life depended on it.

* * * * *

"Wh-what?" Willow stammered.

Leave? Emmett wanted to leave? And leave everyone behind? Leave Brandon behind? The concept alone made her heart drop. She couldn't possibly do that. Now that the sound of gunfire was rattling below them, she felt more than ever that she needed to stay. But the look on Emmett's face told her that he was not there to debate the point. And she knew deep down that her sitting at the elevator like a lonely dog left at home alone wasn't helping anyone. If Brandon and the others got out of there, then it wouldn't be because she was sitting here.

"Okay." She finally agreed. "Kids, we're going."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“What? My mom’s still down there!” Connor protested immediately. “What’s going on!?”

“I don’t know,” Emmett answered honestly and urgently. “But we have to go.”

Connor looked from the elevator shaft to Emmett. He looked anguished. Emmett didn’t blame him. He was anguished himself, he just wasn’t as transparent about it. He didn’t like the sound of this at all, but he had to abide Randall’s wishes.

“I… I’m not going anywhere without my mom. I’m staying…”

Connor tried to continue his protest, but was interrupted as Emmett strode over to him and forcefully picked him up. He slung him over his shoulder and headed for the door outside, trusting Willow and Kelsey to follow.

* * *

Eli retreated away from the door as it started to close for a third time. He held his breath as they slowly – so fucking slowly – met in the middle. Brandon and Randall had cut off a large swath of rotters, but he could see more coming through the opening as it shut.

They didn’t get there in time. The door closed tight, and Eli exhaled. He leaned back against the wall as he inhaled another deep breath. He could sense the elevator kick to life, and start rising from the ground. It was a feeling he had lost familiarity with over the last two months, but one he was happy to re-experience.

Finally, they were getting out of here. Going above ground – away from rotters and explosions. Eli had only been down there for a short time but he was already eagerly anticipating a breath of fresh air.

Then the lights in the elevator went out. The elevator stopped rising.

Eli choked on his breath. His whole body went cold. He heard the same sound he heard minutes ago, when Randall tried turning off the power. It had gone out again, this time on its own. The beeping up above continued but nothing else did.

He was dimly aware of the rotters beating on the outside of the elevator door. He was more aware of the beeping. It was now counting down a death they could do nothing to avoid.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"But, dad's still-"

"Don't worry, Kels!" Willow assured Kelsey as she grabbed her little hand. "Your dad will be fine. We just gotta trust Emmett, okay?"

"B-but..." Kelsey looked up at Willow fearfully, but tried to hide it. "Okay."

Willow smiled sadly and started to follow Emmett, leading her by the hand. She understood the girl's hesitation. She hated to leave like this just as much as she did.

* * * * *

The generator went out!?

Randall sat in stunned silence for a few long seconds, listening to the sound of rotters pounding away just outside the door. He felt like he had just been shot. His throat tightened and his heart raced. This couldn't be how it ended for them. Randall had bet everything they had on this plan. A mad dash for the elevator. He thought they had been out of the woods, but it was the generator that failed on them. The stuttering generator. He really should have worried more about that.

We don't have enough time.

Randall wrestled with every possibility in his head. After they fought tooth and nail to keep the rotters out of the elevator, they didn't have enough time to fight their way back out to the generator and then back to the elevator. They might make it to the elevator, but they would never make it out of the facility. They were on mere minutes right now. They had struggled through New York, through Canada, through Michigan... they had met enemies, spilled blood, gained friends. They were going to deliver the cure to California now.

They are still going to deliver the cure.

"Can I make you guys promise me something?" Randall announced quietly over the beeping of the timer and the moaning of the rotters.

He took the pack off of his shoulder -- the same pack that held the cure -- and dropped it on the ground. Maybe it was just him, but the elevator car felt deathly silent as he spoke. The sounds were still there, but they were only barely processed. All his attention was on everyone around him. On himself.

"Can you take care of Kelsey for me?" He gently placed his M9 on top of the pack. "And teach her how to use that gun. She'll probably need it for the trip to California."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli snapped out of his stunned silence. His view darted from Randall’s pack on the ground to Randall himself. Alarm bells blared inside his brain, for a totally different reason than they had blared a moment.

“Wait, what – what are you talking about?” he demanded.

It was a dumb question. Enough of him knew what Randall was talking, but more of him didn’t want to believe it.

“Randall…” Annie said softly from nearby.

She placed her hand on his and looked him in the eye. Her expression was complicated. There was shock and sadness there, but also maybe some understanding.

Eli didn’t share that understanding. Now that he was recovering from the shock of the power going out, his mind reeled for alternatives and found none. But there must have been one there. There had to be.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"I..."

Randall choked out sadly. He definitely did have feelings for Annie. He was figuring that out now. He had been planning how he was going to swoon her, but now he was planning how to leave her. He leaned forward and gently planted a quick kiss on her lips. If nothing else, she could know he reciprocated those feelings.

"I'm sorry Annie."

Then Randall made the single hardest decision of his life. What he suspected would be the last decision of his life. Time was already running low and he couldn't afford to linger any longer. As much as he wanted more time, that was not a luxury he had been given. He grabbed the flashlight out of his bag then turned toward the elevator door and pried them open. Everyone else was too shocked to help, but he didn't care. He could see the rotters outside, gnashing their teeth and clawing at him desperately. He ignored them; he opened the door just wide enough for him to slip through and then forced himself through the breach and into the waiting horde of rotters. Before he left, he turned his back and used his body to hold back the entire wave of rotters.

"CLOSE IT!" He screamed. "AND WHEN THE POWER COMES BACK ON, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

He could hear protests from everyone inside. He could feel the teeth of a rotter dig into the back of one of his legs. Another in his neck. He could smell the aura of death radiating off, well, everything. His senses were sharper than they had ever been in this moment. But he held his ground. He held himself there long enough for Jen to help him push the doors closed from the inside, giving everyone inside one last rueful look before they were blocked from his view. When he was certain that the rotters wouldn't pose a problem for them anymore, Randall Phillips spun his body around with all the strength he could muster and beat his way through the horde of rotters.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli was too stunned to intervene. Randall had opened the doors of the elevator and was suddenly standing on the other side, holding the flood of rotters off while Jen and Annie acted.

“I promise!” Annie cried out, with pain in her voice, just as the doors slid shut and once again submerged them in darkness.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Jennifer slumped against the wall of the elevator after the doors were closed and Randall disappeared from sight. Her throat was tight and her arms were shaking uncontrollably. He wasn't coming back. He was never coming back. He went out there, knowing he was going to die, to at least give them a chance of surviving. What she didn't know was if she was shaking because a good man had just willingly sacrificed himself so that she and everyone else might live or if she was shaking because she knew that them dying in a dark elevator filled with corpses was still a very real possibility.

No, she knew the answer already.

Both.

* * * * *

It was like a rave, but infinitely worse. In a rave people were just standing around, but here the rotters actively came at you. He had to fight for every foot he gained, thrashing his arms to the side, punching and kicking every inch of the way. He was sure he got bitten more times in the chaos -- unlike before, there was nobody there to watch his back -- but with adrenaline now coursing through his body, he could barely feel anything anymore. He wasn't sure how long it took, but he finally wrested himself free of the horde of rotters, stumbling into the open space beyond them, where he made a beeline for the door. He opened it and slammed it shut behind him.

He retraced their footsteps from before. As the adrenaline faded, he could feel the pain in his body. His clothes were thick enough that most of the bites hadn't been mad, but one on the back of his neck he could feel bleeding freely down his back. He didn't need to live long though. He just needed to live for a few minutes longer. The light of the flashlight illuminated the otherwise pitch black pathway ahead of him. And finally, that line illuminated the console of the generator again.

He immediately went for the console, pulling the levers and flipping the switches in perfect emulation of what he had done only minutes ago. The first attempt saw the generator stutter to life only briefly before turning off again. He cursed and tried again. The second attempt saw the generator peter out as well. This generator was obviously on its last legs. It needed maintenance. But all he needed from it was just a few more minutes of operation.

"Come on, you piece of shit." Randall muttered to himself as he went to work on it again. "WORK!"

The third time was the charm; the generator roared back to life.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
This wasn't happening. Brandon repeated it in his mind over and over. Randall was gone. A moment before that they were practically all dead. If Randall couldn't get to the generator or get it working again than that was still the case. If he did though then he would still be gone. Another dead friend. If there was a way to stop caring he wanted to know about it.

Brandon didn't need to make any promises to that man. Of course he would look out for Kelsey. Without Randall, she was alone now, like pretty much everyone else. Brandon paced back and forth in the elevator, rubbing his face and eyes every now and then like maybe he was imagining the situation and just needed to snap out of it. He recalled he left his HK on top of the car. He jumped up and grabbed the edge of the access hatch and pulled himself up enough to reach out and grab it. If they were going to San Francisco he'd need it.

Randall just made his mind up about that, if he got out he'd see it to the end. For Randall, for Julie, Glenda and Mac. For Roland and Elaine. For his parents and his brother. For everyone left and everyone lost.

The lights came back on.

"He did it..." Brandon observed solemnly.

How was he going to explain it to Kelsey? Of everyone there he supposed he was closest to her, it should probably fall to him to explain why her father wasn't with them.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
The elevator whirred to life once again. This time, it didn’t immediately turn off. Eli and the others started to rise. The beeping kept going but grew fainter.

Eli collapsed against the elevator wall, then slid down it. He was barely aware of the rotter bodies lying next to him with holes in their heads. This whole thing had officially started feeling surreal.

We’re outside,” Emmett reported over the radio. Eli only barely noticed that too.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
The atmosphere had gotten thick inside the elevator as it rose. Deep in the pit of her stomach, Jen wanted to talk. She wanted to fill the air with words rather than let it stagnate in awkward silence. But even that normally uncontrollable urge was suppressed right now. Even if she had wanted to talk, what would she say? Randall had just sacrificed himself for everyone. She pursed her lips awkwardly and looked down at the ground.

"Good." Randall's voice, sounding weaker than usual, cracked through the radio in response to Emmett. "Can you do me a favor and hand Kelsey the radio for a few seconds?"
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Emmett looked around the campus courtyard, wary of roamers. He had just put Connor down nearby, and the kid had settled into an upset silence. Emmett had told him to stay put and he listened.

He still didn’t know why he gave that order, and that was still making him as uneasy as ever. When Randall weakly made his request through the radio, the unease only grew.

He did as he was asked, though. He held out the radio in his gloved hand for Kelsey to accept.

“Press the button to talk, press it again when you’re done,” he instructed in simple terms. “It’s not like a phone. Only one person can talk at a time.”
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon's relief that the radios were still in range was immense. That was at least one grim responsibility that didn't fall to him. That however was the least of them. There was still Kelsey's safety. The cure. Then one more thing. Without Randall Kelsey was without her family completely save for one person. She may still have her brother Nolan. Randall planned to look for him, they had to at least try that, for Randall and Elaine's sake, but mostly for Kelsey.
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