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Reign of the Dead
Note: This is a first draft and after it is finished (or at least a large portion of it is finished) I will fix any mistakes or bland parts. If you find a spelling mistake or anything like that feel free to fix it.
Reign of the Dead
Reign of the Dead
"When Mankind's only Hope, is also it's Worst Fan
Chapter One: Lazarus Rising
Gabriel’s senses pick up the smell of smoke and the sound of screams, a metallic taste coats his tongue. His eyes snap open, the brilliant violet orbs adjusting to the abnormal lighting of his dorm room. His muscled torso ripples as he wriggles his way free of the blankets, standing up at the side of the bed. Now that he is paying attention, the screams intensify and the smell of smoke begins to asphyxiate him. Approaching the window, Gabriel can already see that fires flicker on the street. Pulling aside the curtains and flipping his jet black hair out of his eyes, He looks out and gasps … a Riot. Chapter One: Lazarus Rising
Why here?, why now?, what is going on? Gabriel pulls on a pair of faded blue jeans and a simple grey long-sleeve t-shirt before dragging on his shoes without socks. He jumps as periodic gunshots smash through the air. Grabbing his keys and his black leather jacket, Gabriel takes one last look out the window, and something catches his attention, a never ending chorus of moans that, thinking back, have been there all along. His hairs stand up on end, a feeling that He recognizes, something is definitely wrong. Through the bright light of the fires, Gabriel can barely make out anything except a few limping people, a few running people, and a few masses of people huddled here and there on the ground. Turning around, He approaches the door and steps out into the hallway only to let out an involuntary yelp as his foot hit’s a slick puddle of goo. Landing on his ass, something is wrong, why is he sitting in a pool of blood. He has stumbled on a massacre and the murderers are still there.
Pale white with eyes of ice blue, the murderers resemble no man but instead … demons. They’d dug their hands and teeth into the boy’s flesh and were cramming the bloody gobbets of flesh into their mouths. It takes only a split second for them to notice Gabriel and commence their attack. An ear piercing screech ushering forth from within one’s throat as it charges, bloody claws outreach. Rearing back, He kicks it square in the face, a satisfying the snap as the thing’s nose breaks. The other two reach him and he barely manages to get his arms up to hold them at bay as he is thrown back into his dorm. Grabbing his light off the night stand, Gabriel swings at one of them hitting its jaw and sending it sprawling across the floor. Grasping the light with both hands the final one is smashed in the face which sends it to the ground. Both of them begin to scramble to their feet only to be beaten to their prey by the original ghoul who charges through the dorm and smashes him into the window, jaws snapping all the while. Then Gabriel is falling, shards of glass suspended in mid-air as he flies past them. His body crashes onto the top of a truck before rolling off of the truck and under an adjacent station wagon. Gabriel lets out a small moan of pain before blackness comes up to embrace him.
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Moans follow Allie McDowell as she runs through Alleys and down Roads, Moans constantly follow her as she races through Chicago. Most of those things are to busy eating the people who weren’t fast enough to get away, the rest are chasing her at full speed, they have been for 10 minutes and not one of them seems to be slowing down. Turning down another Alleyway, a razor-wire fence blocks her way but Allie doesn’t slow down, instead she jumps on a trash can, then onto the dumpster, and finally launching off the wall. Her knees buckle as she hits the ground and she breaks into a roll. The fence rattles accompanied with a chorus of disappointed moans as the ghouls realize that the chase is over. Allie walks onto a relatively untouched street, a few cars are overturned and a few bodies line the street, but none of those things. A hollow sound resonates from underneath her as she steps on something metallic, looking down, she nearly smiles as she finds herself looking at a manhole cover.
After walking for 15 minutes in the darkened pipes underneath Chicago, Allie finally sits down for a break. What do I do? No, What can I do? Several more minutes pass as she wonders what she can do, this whole thing has been so abrupt, yesterday she had been on a date with Michael and now. A choked sob escapes Allies throat as big rivers of tears spring to life from her eyes. Finally she shakes off the sorrow for a more appropriate time and begins walking again, to where she has no idea. It doesn’t take very long for her to reach a new drainage point and is annoyed by what she finds. First the apocalypse and now a rainstorm. She doesn’t have the patience to walk around the miniature waterfall and instead opts to walk right through it. But something is wrong, digging into her pocket she pulls out a lighter and after several attempts manages to light it. She takes one look at herself and vomits.
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“Why is this happening to us?” The woman, Catherine, asks
Harry just rolls his eyes, here he is a former Marine babysitting Newly Weds and their 2 year old spawn and some fat computer geek and in the middle of Armageddon no less. His grey eyes dart up and down the street, looking for any sort of movement, the Beretta 92 a familiar feeling in his grasp. 49 years old, his once brown hair is graying at the sides and cropped short. A blanket of 5 o’clock shadow gives him a gruffer appearance. Despite his wrinkles, Harry is just as muscular as he ever was, his 6’2’’ frame packed with muscle. He turns to his right and jumps. Ben sure moves fast for a fat guy.
“So what’s up?” Ben asks
He’s Japanese, pimples covering his pale face, black hair cut short. His glasses totter on the tip of his nose and a slice across his cheek has blanketed the right side of his face in dried blood.
“I don’t see anything” Harry responds
“Well that’s a good right?" James asks behind him "... RIGHT?"
“It could be” Harry says, he continues “If we can’t see them then it either means that they aren’t there or they are there and they’re just hiding”
Turning, Harry finds himself staring at James’ kneecaps. The entire family looks exactly alike, same sandy blonde hair, same dark blue eyes, and same pale skin. The only difference was their height James was 7’1” and Catherine was 5’4” and the length of their hair, James having a buzz cut and Catherine’s hair falling to the middle of her back. Little Abby’s hair only reached her shoulders.
“Okay, lets go” Harry says, leading the group
Their target, a convenience store is half a football field away. Running they make it there without issue. James' long legs carry him there first and he pushes on the door handle.
“Damn, it’s locked!” he rasps through clenched teeth
“MOVE!” Harry screams, having run out of patience an hour ago
Raising the Beretta to eye level, 3 shots pierce the silence accompanied with the sound of cracking metal. Grasping the handle, Harry pushes and leads the way into the darkened store. Only to find himself staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic rifle.
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Blurry images pass by Gabriel’s field of vision as his eyes begin to open. The events of the morning come flooding back and he tries to sit upright, only to smack his head on the bottom of the station wagon, slicing a nice gash into his forehead.
“Damn Car” he rasps through clenched teeth
He quickly does an inventory. His head hurts and his back feels like it at the very least has been bruised. His right shoulder throbs in pain, reaching back, an inch long sliver of glass is pulled free of his flesh.
Rolling out from underneath the car, he rises to his feet and he surveys the extent of the damage. Cars have been overturned, some are on fire causing the smell of burning rubber to fill the air, screams and gunshots bombard the air with sound waves, and there is still that strange metallic taste coating hi s tongue. A man runs past him.
He screams “it’s the end of the world, God has passed judgment, run for your lives”
Jeez, get over it, it had to end sometime Rapid footsteps behind him cause Gabriel to turn just in time to see a man, pale and bloodied like his enemies in the dorm, running towards him like a madman. Out of reflex more than conscious thought, Gabriel plants his right foot on the side of the station wagon and jumps up. With the full weight of his body coming to the earth he pivots his hips and feels his foot connect with a satisfying "SMACK!" and watches as the man stumbles into and over the hedges of his dorm.
A guttural roar rocks the air, followed by more footsteps. It looks like my little scuffle attracted some attention Turning on his heels, Gabriel's legs become machines. Icy fire floods his viens as panic blossoms in his chest and adrenaline is pumped into his blood. Breaking into the open hadn't been the smartest thing to do, they had seen him and now they were after him. But where they excel in sheer endurance, Gabriel excels in speed and agility and sure enough in less than a few minutes he has managed to totally lose the mob of things that had been chasing him.
He runs out onto what appears to be a deserted, albiet bloodied streets. This "thing" must have hit here first His thoughts are interupted as headlights nearly blind him and he dives out of the way, being narrowly missed by a car going at least 80 mph. Must be coming from downtown, if its this bad here, what's it like in there? Then Gabriel realizes the nature of his mistake as more of those things zero in on him from down the street. One of them is illuminated by a sudden ray of light and a crack can be heard as another Car smashes into it. That's all it takes to distract them and Gabriel runs for cover, ducking behind the charred skeleton of a minivan.
Noise behind him, a metallic scraping sound, causes Gabriel to turn. His muscles tense, ready to run at the slightest provocation, in the twilight of the early morning a manhole cover is lifted. Out from the hole pops a human head, a woman with fiery red hair. She’s beautiful, only about 5’4” and with flawless skin the color of light honey. She’s covered in blood, not like she’s been cut but like she jumped into a pool of the stuff. Her green eyes meet his.
In a voice so small Gabriel wonders if she spoke at all she says “Hi”
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Allie looks down on her hands in horror. With the lighter illuminating the pipes Allie finds herself covered in a thick coat of blood. Turning, Allie looks at the flow falling into the pipes from above, its not rain, its blood. Thick and running down gutters like a river of death. She breaks down and sobs even harder than before vomiting in between breaths. Soon she is reduced to wails of pain and dry heaves. She rips at her hair and clothes, trying desperately to scrub the blood off her limbs. Becoming apparent that it isn’t going anywhere, she begins to run with no particular destination in mind. She runs and runs for 10 minutes or 10 hours she doesn’t know, she dodges the falling streams of blood where they show up until she finally reaches a ladder.
Straining under the weight of the manhole cover, Allie slowly peeks her head out into the open. She stops as she spots a man crouching behind a car, looking at her. He isn’t one of them, but is he a friend? Under normal circumstances she would of thought he was hot. Tall but not to tall, muscled but not bulky, he has jet black hair of mid-length it is unevenly cut yet stylish like he cut it himself. But the most dominant feature is his eyes, brilliant violet and with a look of intelligence, they stare at each other for a moment before she speaks.
“Hi” she says
He opens his mouth slightly before saying in a rough voice “Hi”
He turns away and looks over the car, meanwhile Allie climbs out of the pipes and returns the manhole cover to its original position.
She turns and nearly lashes out, the man closed the gap between them and now grabs her by her upper arm in a vice grip, walking her to the end of the alley before ducking behind an overfull dumpster and a pile of trash bags.
“What’s your name?” He asks
It takes her a moment to find her voice “Allie … Allie McDowell, How about yours?”
“Gabriel Jensen” He responds in a hushed tone, holding his finger to his lips, signaling her to speak in a whisper
She can't help herself, she needs answers and doen't care where they come from “Why do you think this is happening? How is it happening? What do you think we should do?”
Gabriel looks out on the road for nearly 5 minutes, like he’s trying to see something invisible. Allie had assumed he wasn’t going to answer when he finally did. “I don’t know or care why this is happening?” continuing he said “All I care about is getting you and myself out of this city as fast as humanly possible, that convenience store down the street looks like a good place to hold up for a while, who knows maybe the military will be by soon. If not we take a car tomorrow and go into the countryside, less people like this I would assume.”
A smirk appears on Allies face “Gabriel … You wouldn’t happen to be an Angel would you”
“Of course I am” turning to look at her a band of perfectly white teeth breaks the black stubble “a fallen one.”
Before she can respond, Gabriel grabs her by the hand and they are running towards the convenience store, ducking behind any cover they can find just in case someone or something is watching. They reach the store and slam into the door, Gabriel pulls on it just in case. No dice it definitely is a push door.
“Is it locked?” Allie asks in a whisper
Gabriel stands back and examines the door “Nope” pointing at the store's ruined lock “Barricaded … there’s someone inside.”
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Harry sits on the counter, he is very happy that Kennedy is a rational kid. The tall, skinny Asian kid could’ve blown his head off. He looks at the 3 other people, Robert the big black man whose just as tall as James and twice as thick, none of the extra bulk being from fat, his Girlfriend, Olivia who’s skin is lighter than Robert’s, her coarse hair is pulled back into a ponytail. Then there’s Vanessa, the pregnant woman sitting in the corner, her brown hair hangs freely over her shoulders. Her hazel eyes are blurred from the tears I wonder what she’s going to tell Junior when he asks where daddy is.
Suddenly a bang resonates through the store, it’s the front door, someone or something hit it with full force. The door jerks suddenly as whoever tries to pull the door open. The overturned ATM did its job but no one relaxes and no one feels like moving the blinds to see who or what is outside.
Several minutes pass and they lower their weapons, it must have moved on.
“Hello there” a rough voice says from behind
They all turn, standing behind them is a man and a woman, both of them in their early twenties.
The man has a torque wrench and a lock pick in his hand, a big grin is on his face.
“Who the Hell are you?” Robert asks in his deep booming voice pointing a Revolver at the two
“Well my name is Gabriel and this is Allie” the man says in a perfectly modulated voice showing no alarm at the firearm aimed at his head
“What do you want?” James screams in an exasperated tone, his knuckles turning white as he grips his axe even tighter
Gabriel vaguely waves his hand in the air “To join your … group” he stops pointing his index and middle finger at the 9 of them “You do have room for two more … right?”
“I’ve got something” says Ben who until then had been fiddling with a radio, trying to find some news.
The 11 of them rapidly forget their differences as they pile around the counter.
A man is talking “The US government has declared this a military and medical risk, all nations have confirmed multiple outbreaks in their largest cities. Scientists have declared that the cause of this event is an airborne virus which activates post mortem. Infected individuals show no signs of emotion or memory, nor do they show any reasoning skills. They seem to have only one desire ... to feed. Reports indicate that the virus has somehow stopped the transmission of pain signals to the brain and removed the mind's dependency on the body. Currently, different forms of protein synthesis and gas exchange are being tested but as of yet how the virus manages to give it's hosts these seemingly "supernatural" qualities is unknown. These creatures seem to be invulnerable to conventional warfare and the only way to kill them is severe cranial trauma, electrocution, or immolation. Reports are also coming in that infected individuals possess a form of venom or bacterial saliva, a single bite is enough to ensure death, bitten individuals should be quarantined or disposed of."
The station goes to static once again and they sit in silence at what they've just heard.
“They’re pulling our leg right, I mean they can’t expect us to believe this” Catherine says
Gabriel scoffs "Yeah, that makes sense, send out a national broadcast giving all citizens the wrong information that's what I would do if I was in charge."
"Maybe they're just trying to keep it covered from the media" Ben says, entering the conversation
Gabriel can't help it and lets out a muffled laugh "You're being irrational, think ... logic, Chicago is what? the 3rd largest city in the country. Chance is that the media already uncovered the whole thing a few minutes before they were eat-"
The radio begins to crackle cutting Gabriel off and a new man is on the air speaking with that “Yah Mahn” accent so often associated with the Caribbean, an Afro-Caribbean man is speaking, the radio fuzzy “they are created by voodoo … we call them the walking dead … we call them ... Zombie.” The radio crackles again as the man continues to speak, his voice eventually lost against the ocean of interference.
Chicago is just one of Hundreds of large cities that has been taken by surprise by this new development. Amongst the rubble of the razed city stands a small convenience store and within that store are 11 insignificant Human souls whose lives have just taken a drastic turn. A new age on Planet Earth is welcomed by the sun as it rises above the Chicago skyline, the rules of the game have just changed and now the survivors must dig deep to survive during the Reign of the Dead.
Anti-Hero |
Latest page update: made by Anti-Hero
, Sep 29 2009, 5:15 PM EDT
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