First Campaign

[Shiro]

Gray sat on the rooftop of an abandoned building, watching as the hoard rambled below. It was amazing how many of them there were. He held his metal bat tightly as he watched, he knew that most of them were not intelligent enough to reach him, but he feared a Lord would show up and show them the way. His green eyes focused and he leaned against the wall of elevator shaft that led him to this particular rooftop so that nothing could sneak up behind him. He knew that there were people here and waited patiently for anyone to show themselves. He was tired of being alone.

((sort of short, but it is sort of a trial of story mode.))

[Brandt]

BAM!

"That's what she said," drawled Brandt, as he placed his Magnum back into the holster on his belt. Stone-faced, he stepped past the crumpled heap of the infected... making it a point to crush its skull with the bottom of his boot as he walks by.

It was blocking his way up the stairs. Which he wouldn't have had to use if someone didn't jam up the elevator. Glancing back, he leers at the fallen infected accusingly.

"If you had anything to do with that, someone's gonna get a hurting." Brandt's idea of a harmless joke.

Minding his business up the rest of the steps, he came across the door which opened to the rooftop. If he could get a look at where most of the infected were migrating, he might be able to find out where to hit the best supply spots. Food. Gas. Ammunition... Perhaps an unmanned vehicle to get the hell out of this place.

He turned the knob steadily, and went forward.

((To test the proverbial waters, you've gotta dive in.))

[Shiro]

((Never mind that message I sent you...))

Gray looked up at the sound of the door behind him moving and glared at the dark sliver that steady grew larger with the opening of the door. He rose and ran to the outer western wall of the room, raising his bat, ready to strike anything that dared venture around that corner. He slowed his breathing and remained as still and as quiet as possible. The only sound came from him was from his stomach that growled loudly. His green eyes shot to it as if telling it to shut up. He hadn't eaten sense Thursday, two days ago, not anything real, anyway. Sure he had had a candy bar or two and maybe six Cokes but-- wait, no time to think about food. He had a bigger problem and it was coming out of his door. For a moment he feared that it may be a Siren or a Leach, his two most feared infected, but he pushed the thought away. If anything came around the corner, it would be dead before he could see what it was.

[Brandt]

He swung the door open to a ninety degree angle, and paused. There was this sound... like a cat mewling for its next meal.

Could cats become infected? What kind of cat infecteds were there? A rooster infected would be sort of creepy. Must beware of evil fowls.

"Hrmm." All this solitude was proving to be unsavorable for Brandt's mental health. Concentrate.

Pulls out his Magnum, holding it at the ready. "Tch tch tch, here kitty-kitty." A frown. "I'm not gonna hurt ya." His glasses fell partway down his nose, but he ignored.

[Shiro]

Gray braced himself, ready to swing as hard as he could. A breeze blew, whipping the boys light hair and clothes around his frame, and Gray stiffened, trying not to make a single movement or a sound. Hearing a human's voice nearly made Gray drop his bat. He lowered it and called to the other, trying not to startle him. It sounded like he was packing some pretty heavy artillery and the last thing Gray needed was to get his head blown off, "Um... hello?" He came around the corner slowly, his bat dragged along the concrete of the roof making a metallic scraping sound. He offered his best smile to the man, despite his fatigue. Upon getting a good look at the man, Gray grinned vividly, of all the people to come across this guy looked pretty safe. All Gray was worried about now was the man turning around and shooting him from fright.

[Skynet]

Gillian and Donovan were both thrown forward in their seatbelts abruptly. A leering zombie stared at them through the shattered windshield and started to crawl hand over hand up the hood. Its legs were missing, causing it to trail gruesome chunks of innards. Jill threw the Jeep in reverse. They were met with a cringeworthy grinding noise. And then the engine died with a gasp. Shitshitshit. “Alright, baby, lets move!” She sparta-kicked the infected through the remnants of the windshield, snapping its neck back grotesquely. The creature gibbered and rolled to the ground. Panting, Jill tugged her son from his seat just as a collective roar rose up behind them. They had been sighted. The two took off running, feet pounding against the dusty asphalt.

It hurt a little to leave the Jeep; even though they had found it abandoned only three days ago it was the only home the two of them had known for close to a year. But there was no time to think about that...instead she had to figure out where they could go. And how to dispose of those motherfuckers.

“Mom,” wheezed Donny, “Slow down a bit!” Jill realized she had a death-grip on the little boy's arm. His lips were beginning to take on an alarming shade of blue. What's worse, Jill could hear a faint siren call in the distance. Any closer and we're toast... She rammed her shoulder against a boarded-up door in desperation, and again. On the third try, the door splintered and they were in.

Turning quickly to empty a clip into the nearest zombie, she barreled up the darkened stairwell. Up on the roof they would be cornered, but it would at least buy them some time...

[Shiro]

Shit! Forget the man in front of him. That was the tell-tale cry of the hoard and they didn't sound very far away. He hoped for a moment that they weren't being led by a Lord--

but the thought was knocked out of him. Gray whirled as he was struck in the back of the head as the door from the stairwell slammed into him. A hand instinctively went to the point of impact and he saw a woman dragging a small boy behind her. He opened his mouth to speak but heard the cry again and instead raced to the edge of the roof, bending over the railing, bat in hand to see them coming and pouring into the building. He turned, fury in his blazing green eyes, pointing his bat accusingly at the woman.

"You stupid fuck! You opened the door!" He swung his bat angrily to the side in a gesture of pure hatred and ran to the door leading onto the roof top. He slammed against it and locked it, thanking whatever gods were left in this damned world for placing this door's lock on the wrong side.

"What the hell did you do to get their attention?" He backed away from the door as he looked over his shoulder at the woman, bat held in a defensive position. He didn't like this at all. Where the hell was he supposed to go!? There was no way that they could do any of the following:

A: Get the fuck off the roof;
B: Kill this entire wave or hoard and not die;
C: Go back and get his things on the third floor.

He growled in annoyance. He had been staying here comfortably for a long time and now some dumbass had ruined his safe little fort. He glared at her again but then looked down at the kid that was with her.

He was a cute kid. He looked healthy-- a big change for the kids Gray had come across lately. He saw just about as many zombie kids as adults. When he did see uninfected children they were always dying. He had actually tried to help one before but the kid died on him within a few hours. He shook the thoughts away and looked back to the door.

"They're gonna break through-- no stoppin' it." He looked to her, this time seriously, without hatred, "Be ready."

[Tanjuu]

Tanjuu however was well and truely un ska-rewed. He'd been a bit careless out on the previously abandoned streets and was spotted by a particularly hungry Cannibal infected in no less than a short hour. Now he was fleeing down the street in a semi blind sprint with the ravenous creature in hot pursuit.

Reaching a building with what looked like human life on the rooftops, Tanjuu ducked into the alleyway and made for the ladder to the fire escape. Clambering upward like a frantic fireman, he did not stop to gaze back at the Cannibal attempting a similar manoeuvre. Reaching the top of the ladder, he turned back to the infected as it came very close to reaching distance, where Tanjuu raised his 44 Magnum and blew off the latch connecting the ladder to the escape, causing the Cannibal to fall off and down to the alleyway below.

Leaping up over the edge of the building, he came to a land just behind a group of people. Studying them under the fedora brim, Tanjuu identified them as a young teen, a military figure (most likely a soldier) and a young-ish woman with a small child. Not exactly the people one would expect to find in a situation like this but hey, they could be useful as backup.

Noting that they were raising up weapons as preparation for a seemingly big event, he did likewise and hoped to the good Goddess above that these people weren't the type to kill and not discuss things through.

[Shiro]

Hearing the sound of gunfire behind him startled Gray and he turned, swinging his bat hard at whatever had just come up behind him. He opened his eyes to see that he was swinging at a survivor and instinctively dropped his bat, "Oh, shi-- sorry!"

His teeth barred in the familiar grin of embarrassment that he so often wore. He regarded the man, taking in his form and assessing what help he might be. He had guns, real guns. All three of his new reluctant comrades had guns. He was beginning to feel a little useless.

No time for that. The clamor of the infected was coming to a crescendo and he turned to see the door burst away from the hinges. He ducked to avoid the door, flying at a murderous pace across the rooftop. His green eyes widened with terror as he realized what had just happened-- Zombies were on his roof and for the first time in weeks, his hands were empty.

He scrambled for his bat, turning away from the wave of infected that swarmed onto the rooftop. He spotted his bat a few feet away from the new-comer Asian man and dove for it. However, he came short by a few inches, and in bad timing too. A Leach leaped from the riot and landed atop of him. Gray screamed and grabbed it by the shoulders with both hands to avoid it's gnashing fangs.

He starred at the handle of the aluminum bat, shining in the fading sunlight and cursed himself for dropping it.

[Setsuna Kirios]

The dark sports car’s engine died as its driver shifted into neutral and turned the key. Its lights were off despite the failing light.

Setsuna removed his helmet, gazing out into the town; his face was set in a scowl. Someone had attracted a horde. Leaning back in his seat, the youth retrieved his other baby; his ex-neighbor’s M95 Barrett: ten rounds of 250-grain .50-caliber power.

The heavy barrel snaked out through the passenger window, lining up with the largest building ‘downtown’.

“Setsuna Kirios, exacting revenge.” He took aim as a leach smashed through the door to the roof of the building and onto some… that was when he noticed three, no… four survivors. Perhaps he could help them.

A meter long gout of flame erupted from the muzzle of the rifle. The half-inch bullet tore into the side of the leach’s neck. Ripping its head and most of its shoulder completely off. Rotten flesh ad splintered bone rained across the roof before another flash of lightning and peal of thundered blew a common infected clean in half.

Setsuna knew that he shouldn’t waste his ammunition for this gun. Not yet at least. He did however see an opportunity, and decided to take it. His third, and last round for now, took a gate to a parking garage off its hinges.

Replacing the rifle the young racer restarted his car and punched the gas. 0 – 60 in 3.9 seconds baby! He sped into town. Dancing past the few zombies that had not entered the building, he swerved around a stalled out jeep. Most people found it hard to drive in such conditions, but after you had raced in Osaka, this was a cakewalk. Gunning the car up into the parking garage he drifted up to the top floor, only 10 feet away from the tall building’s rooftop.

Retrieving his pistol and stepping from the car, Setsuna yelled across the gap, “Need a lift?” Of course, getting across would be difficult, but they could cross that bridge when the got to it. As if they were going to fight their way back through the infested building anyway.

He raised the pistol again, sighting on a zombie that had poked its head out of the splintered doorway. A shot rang out and the zombie stumbled back, its shoulder missing a good-sized chunk of flesh. Good bless the hollow point.

His black hair hid most of his face, swirling down to nearly wrap about his chin. His normal white shirt was hidden by a back racer’s jacket, zipped up to the neck. With the sun silhouetting him and his car it looked like something right of a movie.

[Skynet]

Jill realized she had hesitated for too long. The new guy was squirming and struggling underneath the leach. She slammed the butt of her pistol into the zombie's skull, hoping to stun it or distract it. It had been dead for too long, though, and her hand cracked all the way through the brittle bone. If it were a person, it would have died instantly. But it was a living corpse vomited up from the bowels of hell. It was only infuriated more, and the silverhaired boy was going to pay.

Right at that moment, the distinctive crack of a pistol rang out. Jill watched the leach tumble off of the silverhaired boy in two pieces. “Donny!” she screamed, and felt him slip something small and square into her hands. A lighter! She snapped the compartment open and felt the cold fluid run through her fingers and onto the corpse. Backing up a step, she fired a round into the leach's remnants. Then she body-slammed it into the wall of invading zombies. In one chilling WHOOSH, the entire front ranks went up in flames.

That's when Jill heard the siren again. But she could see their potential savior, a shadowy figure on an adjacent rooftop.

“Hey!” she yelled over the roar, kicking the baseball bat back to its owner. “We have to go over the side, it's the only way!!”

[Tanjuu]

Initially shocked by the behavior of the bat wielding teen, he only could return the grin with a "Not a problem." Only the instant after he said that did the door burst open with the horde of infected hungering for the survivors and a leech leapted apon the young adolescent. "Ok, now there's a problem..." With the teen already downed, Tanjuu had focused his attention on keeping the now alert horde from getting out of the elevator door. Emptying a magnum round into the face of one infected, he was suprised to see the one behind that explode the instant the leech on top of the teenager did.

Turning quickly to find the front ranks in flames, courtesy of the young mother figure, he also spied the man on the parking garage roof. Great, he had a vechicle and was offering a way out of here, but crap! A ten foot gap between the buildings. "That's the only way?!? Motherfu-" He stopped as there was a child in the vicinity. "Sorry," he quickly apologised. Quickly guessing the distance, he came to the conclusion that the average foot was about 1 third of a metre, the distance he could leap without a large runup was about 3.5 metres. (Owed due to his slim figure and minimal weight.) It was possible he could make it across, but if the foot measurement was a french foot measurement, he would be dead.

Seeing the burning horde continue on toward them, Tanjuu pulled a handgun from his jacket pocket, one he’d taken from a survivor who’d attempted to use it on him and told the teen “Take this and try not to drop it. I’ll be back in a second!” With that said, he turned to the gap, sprinted at full pace and leapt from the edge with his left hand holding his fedora to his head and his right arm stretched out for the opposite ledge. Time slowed for what felt like forever as Tanjuu reached out and grabbed the edge with his right arm. Climbing up and over he panted heavily for a brief moment, then got to work on knocking over the aerial of the parking garage to create a makeshift bridge for the others.

[Setsuna Kirios]

Setsuna holstered his weapon and ran to help the man. Guy had some hops, that was for sure. Throwing his meager weight into the job the young racer puffed out a few words, “Name’s Kirios. You can call me Burnt.” He quickly realized that he was not doing much good trying to help and that the horde was quickly getting past the burning barricade of their own brethren.

Popping the trunk of his EVO he quickly unzipped a few duffle bags. Each one was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Next he unlatched an oversized black hard-shelled gun case; a present from a ransacked police station. Stepping from behind the cover of his car and moving to the edge of the garage Setsuna let loose a war cry and depressed the triggers on the two MP-9s he had unpacked. 60 nine millimeter rounds howled downrange tearing throw flesh and bone with no consideration for the mess they left. In truth, nearly a third of the rounds flew high as the immense recoil sent Kirios stumbling backwards.

Landing hard on his ass he let out a snort before picking himself back up and reloading both guns. Looking back over to the building he whistled to the mother like figure and threw the submachine gun towards her. It was loaded with a dual clip, giving it 60 rounds. “Fire on burst or single only!” He hoped she heard him. If not, well, she would learn why not to the hard way.

[Shiro]

Gray braced himself covering his face with his arms, flailing his leg in an attempt to kick the creature away from him. It was then that he was showered with the cold blood of the monster. He opened his eyes and dropped his arms away from his face to see the creature stagger backward and fall into two pieces. He exhaled and lay back on the concrete, closing his eyes, "Fuck," he sighed.

He was immediately brought back to where he was by a normal infected lunging toward him. He rolled backward and grabbed his bat, nodding to Jill in thanks for kicking it to him. He stood and swung hard. The zombie looked at him stupidly and Gray swung again, this time downward as hard as he could. This time the zombie fell, his skull smashed in. Gray grinned in satisfaction and turned--

A gun was thrust into his chest and he caught it with his elbows as he was instructed to keep it safe. He released one hand from his bat and grabbed the gun tightly, whirling to see the woman and the mafioso running toward the opposite building. He turned, looking in the direction of where they were going to see a man in what looked like a nice car holding what looked like a nice gun. Gray couldn't help but smile-- more friends.

He turned again, swinging and knocking a zombie from the roof, giving him enough clearing to run and leap. He was confident in his ability and rushed forward as fast as he could, vaulted onto the railing and pushed off as hard as he could toward the other rooftop. He threw his bat, smiling at the satisfying "cling" it made as it landed on the other side, leaving his arm extended to grab the roof. When he was a bit closer he threw the gun and stretched both hands toward the roof. As he neared he realized that he wouldn't need his hands at all and braced himself for tuck and roll. He landed hard and rolled. He stood and turned, grabbing his bat and rushing back toward the edge of the roof to help catch the others.

He turned to see the man in the fedora trying to make a bridge for them and ran over, swinging his bat hard at the support, there was a little cracking, but nothing significant. He sighed in aggravation and looked at the others that remained on the infested rooftop.

At the edge of his mind he imagined he heard a Siren, but prayed that the clamor was loud enough to drown her cries.

[Tanjuu]

Repeatedly kicking the structure did very little to knock it down, barely making dents in the aerial and certainly not making headway. Thesport car driver rushed over to assist the bridge creation process, identifying himself as Kirios (or Burnt as he could be called). Tanjuu barely had the time to reply with his own name before Burnt began to fire twin machine guns into the horde across the gap. Getting back to the job at hand, he was caught offguard by the teen, who'd somehow made it across the gap with somewhat relative ease and was bashing at the structure alongside him. The faint voice of a Siren danced across the plain, elicting Tanjuu to simply place a pair of MP3 earplugs in his ears and continue to kickaway at the aerial, only now to the tune of the beat from the MP3 player.