#deadwalkrpg

Deadwalk : The Last War - Blondie by Franjogutierrez 

Nadine didn’t get it. For some ungodly reason, she could not wrap her head around the fact that she had been caught in yet another turf war. 

There was a whole slew of men that littered the parking lot of an abandoned gun shop. She had crashed in one of the storage closets inside overnight. But at the time, it had been late and Nadine’s flashlight batteries had bit the dust long before the sun disappeared behind the earth so she couldn’t quite jump at the opportunity to stuff her bag full of goodies just yet. Her original plan was to loot the ever living shit out of this rifle shop the second she saw the faintest hint of daylight creep in through the windows. She was practically sitting on top of a gold mine. And for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Nadine was ecstatic. Every single pistol, and grenades was hers for the taking. And not to mention an abundance amount of ammo was also ripe for the pickin’. 

Or so she thought.

Beams of sunlight spilled in through the front window and Nadine managed to snag a sniper rifle and found herself able to get a pretty good scope of the empty lot. She was more than ready and willing to pick them off one by one if any of ‘em showed signs of trouble. She hated this. The idea of a human being pulling a gun on another human. It was sickening and the thought alone sent chills down her spine. But just because Nadine was against it, didn’t mean she was going to holster her weapon and put away the only protection she had. She would never start a gun fight, but she sure as hell would finish one. 

Peering through the scope of her rifle, Nadine noticed a quarrel had broken out between two men. One, huskier and taller man had begun to shout while the other, much shorter one insisted on keeping his mouth shut. Most likely because it was only attracting any walkers in the area to their exact location. Nadine agreed with shorty over there. If she had been in his shoes, she would have probably done everything in her power to calm him down, as well. But alas. They were out there and she was in here. 

Then out of the blue, a gunshot rang in the air 

Nadine hustled up a heap of courage to glance out the window once more. And to her surprise, everyone had vanished. There wasn’t a single human (nor walker) in sight. 

A heavy sigh of relief exited her chest as she pushed herself across the floor until her back touched the wall. 

"Glad that’s-" Nadine had been cut off from her own sentence as a strong hand clamped over mouth. Anxiety rushed through her body and her heart rate skyrocketed. She was being drug outside by the same powerful hand pressing down on her lips. 

Out of pure instinct, Nadine began to thrash her body, hoping to break free of the stranger’s grasp. She kicked her feet and pulled on the foreign hand with all her might. Her strength was all she had. Screaming would do no good. Who would hear her? Who would care enough to come to her rescue? 

Nadine could feel her skin scrape against the concrete. Her eyes grew wide with horror as the men she had seen earlier were now circled around her. 

Finally, her mouth began free once more. She felt like screaming. She felt like cussing the hell outta these men who had the nerve to lay a hand on her. But truth be told, Nadine was scared out of her goddamn mind. Unsure of her next move, she slowly rose to her feet, making sure no sudden movements were made. Yet. 

She felt at least four pairs of eyes locked onto her. Every muscle fiber in her being begged her to run. But she knew if she tried something stupid like attempting to take off, she’d be shot on sight. 

Then just as when one of the men took a step forward, Nadine’s adrenaline finally kicked in. She had some experience in the hand-to-hand combat field and she was about to take full advantage of those skills. Growing up on the streets of Georgia had taught her a thing or two about self defense, 

Without any further hesitation, Nadine knocked the guns out of the hands of two men closest to her before knocking back the one on her left with a heavy kick.

Everything was happening at once, Chaos had broken loose and now she was being shoved from behind by yet another unknown powerful force. Sure it slowed her for a split second and her guard had been let down, but Nadine recovered quickly and came back swingin’.

Elias despised the idea of admitting to himself at times that Simon had to disappear. His friend – good friend, close friend, important friend – had gone away, just for a few hours, to find first aid supplies. The closest place he had been asked to search, with a bit of help planning from the other two, hadn’t been far, and there hadn’t been a lot of buildings nearby. Elias abhorred the idea of making him leave, but he couldn’t keep up this façade much longer.

They had taken just a small house as refuge for the time being, and in broad daylight, it didn’t really feel that dangerous. Two walkers had been taken care of in the back laundry room, the room sealed up since to keep the smell out, and while relaxing was nearly impossible, it was as good as it was going to get for now.

Wandering from one room to the next, Elias spoke softly, just enough for Connor to hear him as he entered the room.

“I think Simon should be back before dark.” Licking his lips, cigarette nestled between them, he pushed his shoulder against the door frame. He could freely eye Connor for the moment, and he would take as much as he could. 

Dusk had quickly crept onto the Earth, engulfing the trees and abandoned vehicles into total darkness, causing the noose that had been embedded within the pit of Nadine’s stomach to tighten. Darkness meant her vulnerability was it’s highest peak. Everything automatically became at least ten times more dangerous. She could make a false move, take the wrong step and come in direct contact with a walker without any warning. She could lose her footing, bump into a car, set off it’s security alarm and alert a whole damn horde. The possibilities where endless but the outcome remained the same. Nadine was undoubtedly a risk taker but she wasn’t stupid. She knew when to stay or go and her instincts were telling her to bunker down for the night.

Spotting an abandoned gas station off in the distance, Nadine inhaled a much need breath of air in through her nose and exhaled slowly out of her mouth, releasing a shaky sigh into the cool atmosphere. That’s where she knew she needed to go. So without any further hesitation, Nadine took nothing less than long strides towards the sketchy looking building. But as she drew nearer to the entrance, she silenced her footsteps and pulled the hidden blade out from the mouth of her boot, gripping it’s handle tightly. There may not’ve been a single walker sighting in the area, but you could never be too careful.

Luckily, the moment Nadine had crossed the threshold, there’d been no signs of— well— anything. No walkers and sure as hell no survivors. But— Wait. Nadine’s keen eye caught a glimpse of a movement behind the counter— too fast to be any of the undead. Then all of a sudden gunshots had been fired, causing Nadine to quickly duck and take cover. “Hey,” she called out while loading her own pistol. “I’m not one of ‘em!” But the shots had proceeded to zip past her head. “What the hell are you doing? I said I wasn’t one of them.” She didn’t understand. She was human for cryin’ out loud. Is this what the world’s comin’ to? Pitting human against human? Whoever was firing round after round from underneath the front counter clearly wasn’t letting up any time soon and Nadine wasn’t about to open fire on her kind, she hadn’t stooped that low just yet. The only other option was running. And as soon as Nadine saw her golden window of opportunity, she wasted no time in taking it.

Making a beeline straight for the door, Nadine bolted, pushing her feet as hard and as fast as she could off of the ground. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been quick enough. A stray bullet struck her forearm, invoking a bloodcurdling scream from deep within. It felt as if a million tiny suns had exploded in the minuscule hole buried beneath the layers of flesh. But now wasn’t the time to stop and whine about it. Nadine kept plowing forward until she managed to successfully escape the rogue shooter’s line of sight.

Shit.

Not only had darkness taken over the entirety of the land, but she was now wounded and losing massive amounts of blood. And the more she bled, the more likely she was bound to attract biters. Nadine was walking bait at this point. She needed help. But more importantly, she needed medical attention— and soon. Maneuvering her way through the heavily wooded area, Nadine used her good arm to push past branches and bushes until she finally stumbled upon a clearing and exited the forest that led straight into an open field littered with walkers.

"We should be coming up on it at any time." Then, quietly, "I hope he's okay."

The brilliant thing about having lived in Georgia was that he knew what to look for in a town that might have a church. Finding one wasn’t hard this way, and when he needed one, he could find one, without having to rush around in circles following endless signs.

It didn’t even really matter anymore if it was a Catholic church, just that it was a church. Sometimes his Bible wasn’t enough.

Like a pilgrim, into the bowels of hell, Elias trudged through the small town. A few walkers greeted him, losing their heads quickly. He couldn’t dwell on the loss, he tried to tell himself, but he could feel emotions bubbling right under the surface of his skin. Was staying with Simon the right decision? Did he even have a choice then?

He hadn’t always gotten along with God. In fact, he was certain he never had; as a child, he could remember his family calling him a little devil, a mischievous demon, terrorizing the creatures of heaven. He had had a penchant for tearing apart baby birds and butterflies, and so God had diseased his mind. He had shown pride, and his own fear drew him into ungodly actions. Catholicism had told him murder was wrong, anything other than sleeping with a woman he was married to was wrong, ingesting chemicals that were not of the earth was wrong, disobeying authority was wrong. Elias could only imagine how frustrated God was becoming with him.

But so often, he pleaded for mercy. He asked for Saint Dymphna to help him be heard, and now, more than ever, he needed mercy, he needed divine intervention. He had been graced by love.

And love had been ripped from him too soon.

In a church pew, he ducked his head between his knees, keeping his bat off to one side, but just within reach. Silent, he prayed, ignorant to the faint tears on his cheeks. The night was approaching, casting long lights into the small stained glass windows, painting his face shades of blue and red that felt almost sickly. This church was small compared to most, but he imagined it wasn’t expected to hold much, with only a few rows of pews before a wide empty space, then the altar. Behind himself, he had shut the massive wooden doors, barricading them to make sure he was not interrupted. He would pray until God heard him.

Yet, for that logic, Elias could suddenly hear footsteps, shuffling, and, slowly, his voice began to die. Black eyes glancing up, they found the source, studying the empty doorway where the sound had come from. Something was there with him.