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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,815 Views)
Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"This is an absolute calamity." Saxon grumbled as he wheeled his way back inside.

He paused as he was siezed by a fit of coughing. He waved Byron away from him irritably, further aggravated by the interruption of his righteous indignation. Once the coughing subsided he beckoned for Hank to continue following him. Byron opened the door for him and they were rejoined with Antonio, Emily and Annie.

"No more avoiding my question. How did you get it in here? Somebody let you in? Who was it?" he demanded of Emily.

Emily refused to respond.

"Your friend's life may be depending on this I'd start talking." Saxon pressed with barely a hint of patience.

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked.

Saxon sighed impatiently.

"Mister Kelly will you please tell them what you told me?" he asked.

...

Brandon ducked, dodged, shoved and staggered his way back toward the store. One moment he was dragging his feet like lead weights, the next he was collapsed against a desk in an office. The door opened outward and Brandon hadn't seen a rotter yet that could figure out a door knob but even so the door was only as strong as the frame. There was a big printer photocopier, if they could push that up against the door it could absorb some of the punishment would be coming its way. The only sensation he had was a general numbness, but that was qickly disappearing as the pain of the stress he'd just put his body through caught up to him. He grimaced as a pain in his left hand got his attention, and he noticed the fresh red teeth marks in it.

"Oh." he remarked, dazed.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Why would Hank be here?

Antonio mentally asked himself the obvious question when he noticed that the person that had raised all of the alarms was none other than the respectable Mr. Hank Kelly himself. What would cause him to come driving over here with the groups' only remaining vehicle? The only thing he could think of was that something had happened. Something big. But what? Unfortunately for the former priest, he could only sigh as Emily immediately went back to being defiant. He had tried to convince her to be more compliant with the people here, but for some reason she was continuing to be stubborn and withholding information. Although, admittedly, Hank's sudden appearance hadn't given them much time to really talk it over.

"Wait, what happened?" Antonio asked with concern in his voice.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
As soon as a door was between them and the rotter swarm, Connor collapsed to his knees, then his stomach. Once again, he found himself wincing and desperately gasping for air.

“I thought…” he said, as soon as he had enough to talk. “I thought I was dead.”

He rolled over onto his back and looked up to see Brandon was collapsed against a desk. He looked at disoriented as Connor felt. He was staring at his hand. Connor followed his gaze. He blinked. It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at.

His heart started beating even faster. It didn’t seem possible for that to happen, but it did.

“Cuh... cuh…” He choked out the syllables. His breath seemed shorter than ever. “Cut it off. Cut it off!”

He found some wellspring of energy, somewhere deep inside of him, and sprung to his feet. He drew the knife from his belt – he hadn’t used it today, he didn’t take out any rotters except with the AR-15 outside, so it was still pristine from the last supervised cleaning. He scrambled to Brandon’s side and pressed it into the palm of his other, unbitten, hand.

“Cut it off!” he repeated, loud and frantic.

* * *

Annie had spent the minutes since Saxon excused himself waiting in a state of anxiousness. Antonio was there now, and she and Emily were no longer confined alone in the dark, but the sudden commotion had nullified any sense of relief.

Then Hank appeared alongside Saxon, and she looked at him with confusion and alarm. If Antonio hadn’t expressed concern already, she would have.

“Donnie and Alex,” Hank answered – he looked and sounded just as nervous as the rest of them. “From Twin Falls, remember? They’re the ones that robbed this place and killed that guard. Now they’re holding Brandon captive at the Walmart. That’s the last I heard, anyway.”

“Oh no,” Annie said.

The news was about as bad as she anticipated. Emily may have been exonerated, but Brandon’s life was at risk.

“What about Connor?” she asked. “Is he safe?”

Hank nodded. “He was when I left. He was with Brandon at the store, but he escaped and told us what happened. Willow’s gone to rescue Brandon, but we heard gunshots. She could probably use some help.”

“Willow’s in no condition to do anything of the sort,” Annie objected.

Hank looked like he was at a loss. “I’m sorry,” he offered. “We didn’t know what to do.”

Annie looked to Emily. She didn’t get why Saxon needed to know the name now, but if that knowledge was what was standing between him helping Brandon or not, then there was no time to waste.

“Just tell him,” she pleaded.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Emily had refused to rat Iris out. The way she saw it that information wouldn't help her case anyway, after she left iris it was conceivable she could have gotten downstairs and killed Mitch, and if Iris hadn't come forward with the information she assumed she had a good reason not to. It might mean she'd be kicked out or something.

"Why do you need to know?" she asked.

"You aren't clear of suspicion yet. I can't rule out that this isn't some kind of elaborate plot to get us to drop our guard. I don't know if my people would be walking into an ambush, or if you have some plan to attack us here while my best people are out there. For all I know it could have been Donnie who let you in, now just tell me who it was!" Saxon demanded desperately.

"It was Iris. Iris let me in. It was a booty call." Emily finally admitted.

She felt bad for whatever trouble she was getting Iris into but Brandon and Willow were more important by far.

"I'll have to double check that with Iris but I believe you. I always believed you, but I had to know for sure." Saxon sighed, finally having all the pieces to the puzzle.

"I suppose I have no place to judge you for any of this though, and you were acting to protect an innocent party, albeit an irresponsible one. It seems I'm as responsible for this entire mess as anyone. I was the one who let John and his family in after all. As for why we didn't find out sooner the person doing the head count on their floor... forgot about them even being here as did the one counting the vehicles in the garage. Donnie and Alex likely slipped out last night while we were focused on you. It seems like a perfect storm of misinformation and bad timing has gotten us here." Saxon explained, shaking his head in frustration and embarrassment.

"Mr. King, we're ready to roll." Hunter's voice came through the radio.

"Good. One moment." Saxon responded simply.

"We're going out and you're all free to go. Your friends are in danger, if you want to help them you can come with us." Saxon offered.

...

Brandon could hear Connor saying something but whatever it was it wasn't penetrating. He just stared at his hand dumbfounded. He hadn't even felt the bite. When did it happen? It must have just happened moments ago, he was sure it hadn't happened inside. Or had it? There didn't seem to be much blood, it must have been very very fresh. When he went down with that rotter, just before they ran here, it must have been.

He felt something in his right hand and looked down to see a knife.

"Cut it off!" he heard.

Cut it off.

It worked for Randall. Cut it off before it spreads.

"I need a tourniquet. My belt." he thought out loud, in a detached daze.

He took off his belt and wrapped it around his arm and pulled it as tight as he could manage, Connor helping him secure it.

The pressure hurt. He placed his arm on the desk.

Just cut it off. Same place as Randall, just below the elbow.

He readied the knife.

Cut off your arm. Cut it off. Save yourself. Cut it off. One...

His lip quivered as he prepared to start.

Two...

He whimpered in unavoidable anticipation of pain and his hand shook.

Three!

At first he didn't feel anything. The first cut was quick but a split second after the pain was unbearable. He'd cut deep and blood spilled everywhere. He'd been shot, and beaten and stabbed before but this was different. He was destroying his own body and it was agony. Brandon groaned in horror and pain. The second cut was much weaker and as painful as the first but infinitely more difficult to do.

The room spun and Brandon's legs went weak. The color disappeared from his face and and he fell to his knees. His grip went slack and the knife fell to the floor. The job was only half done but this was more than Brandon could manage as he momentarily blacked out from shock. His hand groped around limply for the knife.

"I ca- I can't..." he whispered weakly.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie wasn’t in the best headspace to receive Saxon’s lengthy explanation. Her anger at him had been temporarily displaced by her worry for Brandon and Willow. When a static-y voice reported through his radio that we ready to go, she perked up.

“I’m coming,” she said immediately.

She hoped that neither would need a doctor, but if they did, she wanted to be there. And she felt just comfortable enough with Saxon’s sincerity to ride with him.

“I should get back to my family,” Hank said.

“That’s fine,” Annie said, without looking from Saxon. “But we need to get going.”

* * *

Connor watched in slack-jawed horror as Brandon went to work. He was momentarily relieved at first, when Brandon asked for his belt. That meant he was still in charge. He knew what to do. But when all the blood started spilling out, and there was just so much, Connor gagged. He had to stop himself from throwing up what little was in his stomach.

Then Brandon was on his knees, and the knife was on the ground. Connor’s horror intensified. He gave Brandon the knife because he didn’t think he could do it. He didn’t believe he was strong enough. Physically and mentally. Even if he could get through the flesh and bone, how was he supposed to summon the nerve? How was he supposed to deal with all that blood and pain? How was he supposed to inflict that pain on his friend and mentor?

No choice now, he realized. And no time. Brandon was bleeding bad, and he was going to keep bleeding until they could stop it, or at least try to. And they couldn’t try to stop it, not yet. Not with the job half done.

“Hold on!” he said. “Hold on!

He leaned over, brushing Brandon’s good hand aside and picking up his knife for himself. He picked up Brandon’s other arm and placed it back up on the desk. He got his own hands nice and red in the process.

He gagged again as he observed the damage. It was grislier than he expected. Hot bile tried to rise up the length of his throat, but he swallowed it down.

He readied the knife, and turned his head. He could only stand to watch what came next through one squinted eye.

With all his strength, he started cutting from where Brandon left off.
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Is that so?
"I'm coming, too." Antonio volunteered.

He was relieved that Emily had finally come clean. But there wasn't any time to be relieved; Brandon and Willow might be in serious trouble as they spoke. And in the time that it had taken Connor to run back to City Hall, alert everyone, for Hank to drive down and tell Saxon and his people... that was too long. That didn't even factor in the time it would take to drive over. Whatever confrontation had occurred between Brandon and Donnie in that Walmart was probably long over. All he could do now was pray that that didn't find Brandon and Willow's corpses waiting for them. But, as everyone was scrambling to leave, there was time for one more thing.

"You left your family to help us, after everything that has happened." The former priest sincerely told Hank. "No matter what we find, thank you and God bless you."

* * * * *

As if in a half-asleep state, Willow jolted herself awake with a sudden muscle spasm that resulted in her kicking the nearby wall.

What happened? How long was I out? Where's Brandon?

A tsunami of questions barraged her mind. But the answer to the first one was obvious enough; she had blacked out before even leaving. She couldn't remember exactly what had caused it, but she remembered a sudden lightness in her head. Was it overexertion? From running down a hallway? If she could punch herself in the face, she would be doing so right now. She felt like a failure of a human being right now.

A quick look around revealed that her weapons had been neatly placed against the adjacent wall. But again, nobody else was around at the moment. Whatever the case, she couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes. That was nowhere near enough time for Brandon to be back. Which meant he still needed her help. She pushed herself to her feet and began outfitting herself with her weapons.

"Don't worry, babe." She muttered. "I'm coming."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Hey, testosterone, I'm gonna need that machete back." Emily said to the guard present.

The man looked to Saxon who nodded his approval. The guard made his way to a cabinet with a simple lock and withdrew Emily's machete before handing to her. If he felt at all softened in opinion toward her considering her wrongful captivity it didn't register on his face or in his bearing.

"Let's go." she said, tucking the sheath back through her belt.

The sunlight and fresh air greeted her like an old friend. Funny that just one night cramped in a server room could make her so grateful for the outdoors. It probably had more to do with prospect of being hung. The moment was fleeting though, and she didn't need to remind herself why she was out here. She got behind the wheel of the car Antonio arrived in and waited for the others to get in. She didn't know how much help they'd be without any weapons on them, hopefully Saxon's people would do the heavy lifting, the gunfire was sure to have drawn a fuck load of rotters they'd have to get through.

"Let's let their people lead the way, we're not really equipped." Emily said as she waited a few moments for Saxon's people to get going.

A loud horn sounded and she turned her attention to the source.

"Okay. That'll work." she remarked as she saw The Beast.

That was unmistakably what it was. Looked like an armored security van, but modified. It had an amateurish fiery paint job featuring cartoon devils and bold "666" numbering. The key, most eye catching feature, was the machine gun mounted on top of it though. It had a pair of loud speakers on top of the cab as well a barbed wire running around the top of the main body, metal plates covered the wheel wells, and it had what looked like small sliding hatches on the side probably for shooting out of.

"Where do they get the time?" she mused as she started the car.

...

Saxon's people led the way, with Hunter driving the armored van and Dwight following up in a Range Rover with some very serious looking little women carrying big guns. It didn't take long at all the reach the Walmart. Looked like the better part of a hundred rotters had descended on the place.

"Oh fuck." Emily cursed.

She had already started thinking about how they might best get around them when Hunter spoke over the radio.

"The Beast and I are going to get their attention and see what damage we can do." he informed them.

"Tell everyone there with you not to fire in the direction of the store, there might be friendlies in there." Dwight answered.

"Roger. Let's kick ass." Hunter confirmed.

The van drove ahead enthusiastically steering to run a few rotters over on the way into the parking lot. A hatch on top slid open and Hunter appeared on the mounted gun. Emily could fairly clearly hear what sounded like the opening to Angel of Death by Slayer. She could make out Hunter's grin from all the way over there. He opened up with machine gun in time to Tom Araya's first high pitched wail, presumably singing along.

It might have been tasteless and cavalier but it worked. That gun chewed through those rotters in its way like they'd just been dropped into a wood-chipper. Hunter stopped firing after he'd had his moment of fun and waved to pulled out a pair of binoculars. He waved to Dwight and the others giving them the go-ahead to make their approach.

"Okay, you guys, we're gonna circle back around the store. No good drawing attention to ourselves now Hunter's just got it. All the commotion IS going to draw more of them though, so we're gonna have o be fast in there. Follow us up and we'll get your people out if they're still there." Dwight spoke to them over the radio.
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Is that so?
The Hispanic priest's eyes were fixated out the window, toward the writhing mass of bodies that surrounded the Walmart. There were a lot of rotters around here. With how quiet the city seemed, it was easy to forget that there could be hundreds of them hiding. Waiting for a loud sound to draw them in. And all he had bothered to bring with him out here was the sword. Good enough for a few rotters. Woefully inadequate for a hundred. Thankfully, they had help. The aptly named Beast had enough firepower to tear through them like a hot knife through butter. Already, the mindless mob was being drawn toward the loud engine and thundering machine gun.

"Understood." Antonio answered Dwight over the radio.

As they prepared to follow Dwight's lead, Antonio closed his eyes and bowed his head. Under his breath, he muttered a silent prayer for everyone's safety. Not just for Brandon and Willow, who were possibly trapped inside, but for everyone else that had come out here to help them as well.

* * * * *

Willow stepped out of the bedroom, the FNP at her hip and the Ruger Gunsite in her arms. But damn did they feel heavy right now.

"Emmett?" She called as she limped into the kitchen. "Connor?"

Shit, did they leave without me!?
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Emmett had excused himself momentarily for the sake of relieving himself. When he returned, he was distressed to find Willow up and about, and with a rifle in her hands.

“I’m here,” he said, waving a hand at her cautiously before revealing himself – he was slightly concerned that after waking up alone and disoriented, she might be a little jumpy. “You passed out. Hank left to alert Saxon. Connor went to help Brandon. You should sit down.”

* * *

From the backseat, Annie looked at the mass of rotters outside the store with extreme concern. She wondered how the situation could have gotten so bad so fast. She wondered if Brandon was trapped inside? She wondered if Donnie and Alex were in there with him. She wondered if Willow had somehow made the trip from the safehouse. She wondered if anyone was hurt. There was too much to wonder – she needed answers.

The display of the so-called Beast was impressive, and seemingly effective too. As Emily followed Dwight around back, Annie readied herself. She tapped Antonio on the shoulder.

“Tell him I’ll need a weapon,” she said.

She hadn’t brought one to dinner with Saxon, but she figured Dwight probably had something in his car. And she hoped the part where they didn’t trust her with one was over.
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Is that so?
Antonio nodded.

"And if you have an extra weapon on hand, Dr. Berman would appreciate the firepower."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Understood." Dwight responded.

The two cars crept around big store, drawing only moderate attention from the horde, which was quickly diverted back to the armored van as soon as they were out of sight. Dwight's team filed out of the car and Dwight made his way over to the others.

"They're your best?" Emily asked looking at the team he'd assembled.

They were mostly asian with the exception of the middle aged white woman she'd spoken to the day before.

"Yes. I trained them all myself, so they know how to work together effectively. Except for Ros, she already knew how to shoot." Dwight explained, Ros made a finger gun in Emily's direction and winked at her mention.

Dwight pulled a Glock 17 from behind and handed it to Annie.

"You know how to use this?" he asked.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie studied the weapon Dwight handed her. She would have smiled if this was at all a time for mirth. It appeared to be the exact model of handgun she’d been using all along, ever since Flint. Back there, Kevin had attacked her in her home with one of these. Then, when Ethan came for her, she killed him with it. She still had it, even. She’d left it at city hall after accepting Saxon’s dinner invite.

She didn’t fill Dwight in on that backstory, however.

She simply said, “I do.”
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Strompy
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"Good. Let's get moving." Dwight said.

He and his team lead the way. They moved like SWAT team, it would funny if not for how dead serious they were about it. There wasn't much resistence as they entered, just a rotter here and there that couldn't figure out how to get to Hunter. They came to a break room soon enough, and it had seen some action.

There were a handful of dead rotters and bloodied and broken appliances inside as well as broken glass and overturned furniture. No Willow or Brandon or Donnie though. Emily looked to the others after doing a cursory sweep of the room and shrugged, she couldn't find anything to explain what happened. If anyone had died here they'd done it without shedding a drop of their own blood. That was good she supposed.

"Nobody croaked in here as far as I can tell." she said.

Slayer had stopped playing by now, replaced by the lulling soft rock sound of 10cc's I'm Not In Love and Hunter's tone deaf but confident karaoke. Emily found another clue to what happened as she came across Brandon's ditch blade. She handed it to Annie who had no silent means of defending herself. Dwight stopped them as they continued. Emily could see why. Up ahead was a small cluster of rotters around a door. Rotters wouldn't ignore the noise Hunter was making without good reason.

"Okay looks like we found somebody. We don't know who's inside though. If it's Donnie and Alex they could be dangerous." Dwight thought out loud.

"It could be our friends. Let us clear the way and make contact, you stay back here and be ready if it isn't." Emily suggested to which Dwight nodded.

Dwight issued silent commands to his team witb hand gestures and they pairdd off to take up positions nearby. Emily drew her machete and looked to Antonio and Annie to see if they were ready and approached the small cluster of rotters.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie made her steps as quiet as she could as she followed Dwight and his team. Watching them, they impressed her – they were clearly experienced at this kind of thing. It reminded her of her own group, but only on their best days. Brandon, Eli, Willow, Emily, Emmett could probably achieve the same kind of efficiency when healthy, but it had been a long time since that was the case.

She held the ditch blade awkwardly as the team took positions near the rotters that remained in the store. She didn’t feel very comfortable with it – and she would have preferred Dwight’s team dispatch the rotters – but she didn’t contradict Emily. She waited to follow hers and Antonio’s lead.
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Is that so?
Antonio took point. He didn't doubt Emily or Annie's capabilities for a second, but the two of them had just endured a rough night. He didn't know how much or how well they had slept in that jail cell and there was no need to get careless.

They were quiet. Or whatever was inside the room was just that interesting, because the rotters barely responded to the music and barely responded to the trio approaching them from behind. Although Antonio was no sword fighter, rotters weren't exactly nimble opponents; a downward slash of his blade into the skull of one of the unaware rotters ended its life. He then pulled the sword free and clumsily slashed a second one across the face as it turned around.

Now they had gotten the rotters' attention.

* * * * *

Willow lowered her head and placed a hand over her face.

She was pathetic. Simply pathetic. Everybody was out there risking their lives and all she was barely exert herself without collapsing. All because of those damn painkillers; she was selfishly popping those pills to make herself feel better while everyone else had to pick up her slack because of it. And now it was happening all over again. She was stuck in a house and barely able to move. Meanwhile, Annie and Emily were being held captive, Antonio and Hank had gone to get them out, Eli and Kelsey were God knows where right now, her boyfriend was trapped in a Walmart with people trying to kill him, and she should have been the one to go help him, but Connor had-

Wait...

"You let Connor go alone!?"
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