Zombie Adventure Ep. #3

The house in front of him was mostly destroyed, so he moved through the backyard and walked the driveway to the front, stepping around a couple of old cars. Alec tried to imagine this neighborhood intact, with kids running around and playing. Most blocks looked like a warzone. Houses were destroyed or barely standing. Dead bodies littered the streets. Some of the cars crowding the streets had things packed into and onto them, which meant these people attempted to get out of here when things got bad.

Besides a walker or 2 in the distance, Alec couldn't see anyone else alive... yet. There were no sounds, except for the wind, and something clanking in the distance. The air smelled stale besides the rainy smell, which had slowed to a drizzle. The sun was beginning to rise, making the dark grey above begin to become a lighter grey. Alec began to walk down the block in the middle of the street, keeping his eyes open for survivors... He came upon a big house that still looked in good condition and approached the front door. All windows had boards nailed over them.

The front door was barricaded and unable to be accessed. Alec went around the house, looking for another entry point, to the side, and then the back. The rear door had a lot of things crowded around it, but it didn't look barricaded. Alec began to climb over and step around the obstacles.

”...I get it. Takes intelligence to get in here, something the walkers don't have. Clever...”

Alec made it to the rear door and was able to open it. He stepped inside of the house onto the rear landing that lead down into the basement, the smell of death immediately hitting his nose. He couldn't hear anyone else inside. It was obvious that whoever used to live here decided to make a stand, but judging from the smell, that stand didn't last very long. Alec went up 3 steps to the right and entered the kitchen...

"Let's look around in here. Seems like these people decided to try sticking it out here, maybe they have some goodies inside..."

Amaranth glanced towards the houses that she could see, taking pause for a moment to think about the lives of those who once lived there. Children likely laughing and having fun; going to school, playing sports, riding their backs, all of those fun things. Adults going about their busy days; washing cars and mowing the lawns, and going to work probably wearing cheap suits and ties all while trying to look better than those they deemed their compitition. Life as they knew it, life as their children knew it. It was a life that they likely weren't going to get back for a very long time, if ever.

By the time she snapped out of her mental musings, something she had done while wandering slowly around the house and looking for any windows that might be open, her grandfather was entering in through the back. She followed her grandfather around the makeshift barrier and through the back door. As she entered into the house she picked up on a distinct smell that seemed to be coming from the basement, a smell that only got worse as she got closer. Her nose wrinkled but she took a closer peak all while wondering if whatever was done there was undead or dead-dead.

Amaranth headed down the steps into the basement, stopping about halfway down the steps. She leaned down, peaking over the railing and into the basement itself. There were definitely dead bodies in the basement but it looked like a sort of murder suicide of sorts with the eldest male having a shotgun pointed up at his chin - the top of his skull clearly missing. Figuring that they weren't going to be any trouble she went back up the steps and followed her grandfather into the kitchen. She peaked around for a moment before spotting the bathroom; which was the direction she headed.

She began to riffle through the medicine cabinet, pulling out anything that could be useful: medicine, a few bottles labeled vicodin among other pain pills, bandaids, and a few other odds and ends that could likely prove to be useful.

Eating a bag of chips on the ruined couch Lag smiled gingerly as he enjoyed food for the first time in seventy years. They were stale, but salty. He wondered where he would go next as he quietly munched on the dry chips. He tried making the flavor last by taking his time while chewing at an excruciatingly slow pace. He was scared seeing the undead roam the land of the living. Never got used to the decaying flesh part of zombies even though he was a wandering spirit himself. One would think he would have grown tolerance of living dead of any sort. If anything it made him weary of other races. Not that he hated them. Lag just doesn't trust them.

A sudden barrage of noise flooded the battered house. They weren't loud, but after spending a few hours of silence your ears adjust to hearing the small sounds and noises you would otherwise ignore. From the sound of it someone or thing was trying to get into the house. Lag quickly discarded the idea of brain dead zombies getting in. It required them to think they do not think. It was a person. It took him a moment to respond by unholstering his sawed off shotgun. Old habits are hard to quit. He was so used to fading away from peoples eye sight that it takes him a few seconds to react to people. Tears formed at the corner of his eyes as he thought about the idea of having to talk to another person again. Entering the kitchen he found a male. He was tall.

Lag's violet eye stared innocently upward at the man. "Oh..." slipped from his lips as he lowered his weapon. He wanted to teleport away very badly, but as of late he couldn't. A feeling overwhelmed him as he cautiously holstered his weapon. The feeling felt that attacking the man would be like signing a death warrant. The tears started to grow to grow bigger around his eyes as he began to choke up. This was his first time talking to someone in a long time, but the man seemed terrifying. Lag slowly took a step back wondering if he could make a run for it.

Sucks that he couldn't get a full night's sleep, but he couldn't help but feel like some action hero in a movie, or a video game. So this what it was like to be Solid Snake or something, right? Sneaking around and stuff...well, not exactly.

Alec, his grand daughter Amaranth who had a wicked scythe that looked to also have a gun on it and himself were in the neighborhoods. It once looked like it could have been nice here. It was far from that now. Some people tried to run and get away, and some didn't make it. Others had tried to dig in here. Was anyone else still alive around here?

Big V at the least did a scan of this house they were walking around with the boarded up windows. It looked like there was at least one person in there still breathing. He nodded his head when Alec said the barricades surrounding the back door took intelligence to climb over and step around; it made total sense.

Quietly so that only Alec and Amaranth would hear it he said,”Someone is alive in there. Not a freak, but actually alive. They also look armed.”

Inside the house, Amaranth went downstairs to a grizzly scene that involved what looked like mass suicide. V remained at Alec's side as he went up the 3 stairs into the kitchen to encounter what looked like a small boy, holding a sawed-off shotgun. ”Hey...easy with the hardware there, kid...does it look like I can eat anything wearing this suit?

The kid would see, behind Alec, a young man wearing a black metallic suit with a big red “V” on the chest. The suit had a mask with no visible facial features and a black cape. He wore green army fatigue cargo pants and boots.

Vigilante wasn't worried about taking a shot from that thing: the suit was bullet resistant. What he worried about was if Alec took one, and how it would affect him now that he couldn't use his god-like powers. V moved slowly as he inched forward, ready to strike like a viper and snatch the weapon from the kid, only of he had to.

A kid was in the kitchen. Alec had no expression on his face, even knowing that the weapon he held would now do him grave harm.

Alec didn't know if the kid would know who he was or not, though he'd had to have been on the news and the papers here from back when he and his father Darkman were constantly at odds with the PCSC (Pacific City Science Committee). Alec was wearing a zip-up leather top, baggy white pants and black steel toed boots. He wore a hooded jacket – the hood up - that had the Uchiha clan symbol on the back of it. Alec had a one strap bag under the jacket, containing his ninja tools. Alec also wore a large dufflebag that looked extremely heavy, yet he didn't look hindered by it at all. Alec had pale colored skin and what could be seen of his shoulder length hair under the hood was white.

The most interesting feature about Alec that stood out had to be the golden ring that was hovering above his head. It usually glowed, but because of the suppression field surrounding this city, it was just a golden ring that followed him where ever he went. It would be the same with Amaranth as well...

”We're just here to help, kid... but we won't force you out of your space, or try to take anything that doesn't belong to us if it's not cool. No trouble... we can find another house to look around in.”

Alec waited a moment to see what the kid with the different colored eyes that had tears gathering in them would do next...

As Amaranth neared the end of riffling through the medicine and other bathroom cabinets she suddenly paused; she could hear her grandfather speaking but it didn't sound like something he would say to the Vigilante. Eyebrows rose up in curiosity even while her hand moved to her cross-knife. She couldn't use her gunscythe in such small of an area, and firing off a bullet would bring them unwanted attention, but if this person her grandfather was speaking to was a threat then the cross-knife would come in handy.

Cross-Knife:

She moved quietly to the doorway of the bathroom and slowly and cautiously peered out to see what was going on. Her silver colored eyes focused on a kid who she had never seen before. From her vantage point she could only see the back of him, but the way the kid was moving he seemed terrified. However, Amaranth wasn't about to let her guard down because the kid was armed; she wasn't about to take a foolish chance like that.

Amaranth remained in the bathroom, watching quietly as she waited to see if the kid said or did anything: there was no point in revealing herself yet if she didn't have to, especially since keeping the element of surprise could likely be in their favor should this situation turn nasty.

The kid put the shotty back in the holster and looked like he wanted to run. He wondered if that was his family down in the basement, and how long he must have been here. V stopped moving toward the kid and backed off. He didn't want to take anything out of here, and decided to wait to loot another house.

”...I'll be outside. I'll keep a lookout and maybe find another house to search...”

He knew what it was like to lose everything, so he had a pretty good idea how that kid in there was feeling. He jumped, landing on the roof of the house. While scanning the surroundings and gazed at what once was a pretty plush neighborhood, a screen appeared and there was the face of Stretch.

Stretch thought the whole thing was a joke at first, until V zoomed in on a grizzly scene of an unfortunate survivor being overwhelmed by freaks. To his girlfriend's disappointment, (as she was sitting next to him and began to complain) Stretch put his whole attention into this disaster, educating himself about Pacific City and this Zombie apocalypse.

V told him some of the stuff about Alec and his ninja country that he warped from another dimension. He also told him about his promotion in The Company, and how he'd been sent here to be his side-kick alongside his grand daughter Amaranth. Stretch immediately began to record, and also backtrack on the suit's auto record.

He said he didn't know yet about the situation with Cala, because she'd been trapped with no way out in a place between dimensions the last 5 years from trying to follow the Kanes. If he survived this thing, he promised himself that he'd at the least go speak to her.

In the cabinet to his right, there appeared to be about an ounce of weed in a sandwich bag. There were several books of papers near the bag. Alec no longer wanted to loot this boy's house, smelling the bodies festering in the basement. After giving Amaranth a look that would let her know to bail out of the house, Alec grabbed the weed and the papers from the cabinet; the kid wasn't going to need it.

”Sorry if we scared you kid, we'll get out of your space now...”

Alec went back down the 3 steps to the landing where the back door was, exiting the house. He stepped around the obstacles again, jumping the back fence and walking down the alley. During the stroll Alec managed to roll up several joints. One of them was at his lips and set to fire by way of the lighter he found earlier. The area around Alec's head was soon clouded by green Pacific City weed smoke.

There was no constant Healing Factor here which would repair him and make getting high or drunk almost impossible if not constantly smoking and drinking, and Alec quickly become intoxicated. The marijuana would have no effect on his senses or awareness; in fact it would only enable him to see things a bit clearer than he already could.

Alec walked down the alley. He had to jump over the occasional row of cars being used as barricades at certain points. He came upon another intact-looking house, jumping over the back brick wall. The backyard was spacious and upon closer inspection the house appeared to be a mansion. It had a large pool in the backyard, and a patio complete with a gas grill.

The place looked like it had been abandoned. Everything was still pretty much intact, but it looked like someone had looted it before. Alec headed inside, walking though it's large empty rooms and halls. His hands were in his jacket pockets as he strolled, with a trail of smoke following behind his hooded head.

The back bedrooms were a haven for several ragged teenagers. 2 boys that looked between 16 and 17, and two girls who also looked around that age range. Alec showed them his hands.

”I don't want any trouble, just passing through...”

The 2 guys were armed with a pistol and a hammer. Their clothes were worn and dirty, stained with the year's worth of survival they had to endure. They looked at Alec strangely as well as Amaranth and Vigilante. Alec possibly because of the floating ring above his head and that giant dufflebag, Amaranth because she looked like a little witch, and Vigilante because... well, he was Vigilante.

“Are you... that Angel guy that was on the news with that demon guy with the glasses? Dark-something.”

”That's me. Don't ask how I got here, your guess is as good as mine.”

Alec gave the kids some of the snacks and pops from the vending machine, which they eagerly took and ate. It seemed like they hadn't had anything in a while, at least nothing worth mentioning. One of the guys as well as one of the girls had nasty bruises that looked like they were about to get infected, so Alec used some of the disinfectant and bandages he found on them.

”We're headed toward the bridge. You guys could come with us, get out of here. We'll protect you on the way.”

Amaranth saw the look that her grandfather gave her and nodded; she wasn't going to put back the supplies she had already taken from the kids house, but she wouldn't take anymore and she wasn't going to hang about. So, she slipped out of the bathroom and while keeping her silvery colored gaze on the kid who looked ready to cry she slipped past him, back down the steps, and out of the back door before moving her way around the makeshift baracade.

She was in the middle of following after her grandfather and the Vigilante when a voice in her ear from the earpiece she ever bothered to take off caused her to jump slightly and gasp even though Devon had said not to. "Don't jump, it's Devon. I hacked into your wireless communicator so that I can let you know what's going on. I also hacked into the sunglasses so that as long as you have them on I can see everything that you can see; like your little guardian angel of sorts I suppose. I wanted to let you know that I upgraded your boots. The longer you use them the more charge they begin to take; after several minutes you'll be able to use the repulsion for long periods of time which will grant you the ability to fly. The max time is a total of five minutes, but after about four you'll begin to lower. I also wouldn't go above one hundred feet unless you're going straight up because it becomes harder to control the higher you go. I've also upgraded them to work the opposite way, it'll allow you to walk or run up walls, slick surfaces, and even move upside down if needed." She had followed her grandfather into the house and up to the room where the four teenagers were, peering around the door way with curiosity; her own golden hoop of a halo hovering over her own head, not glowing. When she stopped hearing Devon's voice in her ear she looked down at her feet, wiggling her toes inside of her boots as they began to make a soft beeping noise and stepped away from the doorway.

"Telling someone not to jump doesn't exactly indicate they're not going to do so, Devon...", she said to Devon through the earpiece, pointing at it so that Vigilante and her grandfather didn't think she suddenly was losing her mind. "Interesting to know you were able to hack my communicator though... and I'm assuming you upgraded it since I'm able to hear you so clearly while you're in Edge.", she said, guessing that that was where the female was since she didn't see anyone being willing to allow her to come over here too. "I'll keep the upgrade in mind, thanks. I'm sure being able to fly, even if it's only for a brief period of time, will come in handy. An extra set of eyes and ears will help too - especially since you're safely in Edge and can do all of this from the safety of the tower; don't be afraid to tell me if there's something you think I missed..."

When she fell silent she turned her attention back to the Vigilante and her grandfather. "Devon upgraded my boots, apparently I can fly after a brief charge - a max of about 4 minutes or so. Few other upgrades too... Also, she hacked into my communicator so she can hear what I hear, and keep in touch... she's also watching through the sunglasses now too."

”Back in with The Company, huh? Underboss!”

”Yeah, and in the middle of a nightmare, man. These scientists got all of these people killed.”

”Well, maybe you guys will come across some survivors. Maybe Alec can pull off some godly maneuver and save them once he gets out of that strange dome around PC, you never know.”

”Probably. That guy seems comfortable in the middle of this mess. No better guy to have at your side though!”

”Yeah, that's true.”

Alec and Amaranth left out of the house and started walking down the alley. After jumping off of the roof he landed lightly and took off after them, soon catching up. He had to jump over a few cars and then they came upon a big house with a pool. These were the kinds of houses kids wished they could live in, but now it looked pretty ruined and ransacked.

Some kids were in the backroom that looked mistrustful at first, but Alec gained that by giving them food and bandaging their wounds. Apparently they also knew who he was, and the feuding between PC and Edge. Alec said he'd help them get out of here, so V didn't mind.

”Yeah, we got your backs, don't worry.” Big V put 2 thumbs up.

Alec looked to Amaranth and gave her a nod. With half of his face hidden under his hood, he gave a sarcastic grin and waved into the camera on her glasses. She had a lot of new upgrades that would come in handy for the journey that was ahead of them. Should they run into a horde, she'd be able to stay above them for 5 minutes, more than enough time to gain space. Vigilante had that suit of his as well.

He'd have to figure out other means for himself, as well as these 4 kids. Alec figured they'd survive so long as they stuck close and did everything he told them. The kids hurriedly gathered all of their belongings and prepared to leave this place. Alec informed them in the meantime that the walkers operated by sound and smell; that they had to stay quiet and move quickly.

”There anyone else still trying to hold out around here? We'll take anyone that wants to come with us.”

“Well, there's the Murray brothers, but they're mean and kill people,” was the response from one of the males.

”Well I think we'll go speak with these Murray brothers anyways, you all can stay back. We can be persuasive when we wanna be.”

Alec unzipped the Dufflebag and handed his Blind Fury Stick Sword toward Amaranth, for the next time she faced another potential close encounter. That big knife of hers wouldn't always be able to be used to save her. It looked like an ordinary polished stick under normal circumstances so Alec was sure to show her that it was a sword, it's blade giving off a strange glow and chill, just the same as his Kane Katana.

Blind Fury Stick Sword:

”I'm expecting that back when this is all over, so take care of it, alright?”

The kids would lead them to where the Murray brothers lived. Alec just wanted to offer them a way out and back to civilization if they wanted. If they were violent, that meant they'd be good in a fight. The more numbers the better, but in the back of his mind he knew there was the chance a fight would break out. This is why he found an out-of-the-way place for the kids to stash away at for a while once he knew which house was theirs. Alec, his hands in his pockets and joint burning at his lips, began to walk through the destroyed neighborhood towards the house of the Murray brothers...

Amaranth offered a friendly enough wave to the group of four while hoping that they didn't do anything stupid to get themselves eaten. She could, of course, cure them if it came to it with what was in her bag, but she couldn't heal them like she could outside of this supression field, so there would be only so many injuries she was capable of helping fix. Thankfully, she had more than a decent bit of medical knowledge given all of the time she, or rather her other half of herself, had spent with Holeman. So, hopefully she would be able to fix most things that would arise while in Pacific City.

An eyebrow rose as she listened to one of the group speak up about some survivors who were lurking around; ones who killed people and likely - or so Amaranth guessed - took joy in it. Murderers weren't exactly a bad thing, it meant that they knew how to kill, but at the same time it made it hard to be able to trust them. However, she was going to follow her grandfather's lead on this.

She snapped out of her thoughts when her grandfather held out the Blind Fury Stick Sword to her: she had been thinking about needing to find a smaller weapon that would work in close quarters since her scythe was so large, but she hadn't thought about one that her grandfather likely had. With a grin and a nod she took it, using her other hand to cause her scythe to fold back up into its compact state. She clipped her gunscythe to her hip, knowing that it still functioned like an actual gun even in its folded up state. She then attached the Blind Fury stick to the other side of her hip; by her right hand so she could access it easily enough. "Thanks, grandad... I'll take good care of it."

She followed her grandfather out of the house and then down the street, shaking her head as she wondered what was going to be coming up next for them: all while not even bothering to comment about the weed her grandfather was smoking, it was the loss of whoever decided to leave it behind after all, and his gain. She wondered if this confrontation was going to turn into a fight, while feeling the familiar adrenaline rush begin to kick in as she looked forward to it becoming one.

Looked like a fight. Big V was fine with that. These Murray people were probably bullies. He saw the stick sword thing given to Amaranth, and wondered if it was going to turn violent. Stretch was all in now that he knew what was going on. He could sometimes hear him arguing with a female in the background.

They all left the house then, with V bringing up the rear behind Alec, Amaranth and the 4 survivors. Alec found a place to hide the kids while they went to deal with the Murrays. V didn't know which house it was, so he just followed along with Alec and Amaranth. He was ready to kick these guys asses if it came down to that.

"Let's see how this goes..."

Lag snapping out of his daze wiped tears from his face as he rushed out of the house. It was odd for hi to want to be with other people, but as of late Lag has felt a tinge of loneliness. Staring through the kitchen window he could only guess where the group went off too. Inhaling the stale air the small boy ran through the house corridors, into the basement and out through the barricades. His violet eye searched for a vantage point. Not being able to find them Lag left the area wandering off to see if other people were still alive.

There were exactly 12 Murray brothers. They all were held up in another mansion barricaded with cars. The years that passed in this apocalypse weren't easy, and the endless killing had driven some of them crazy. The lot of them took to attacking who or whatever came around.

Some of them ran out and charged the group after letting out an animal-like yell. They were shirtless, having a red colored substance on their faces, chests and hands that looked like blood. Several of them had crude weapons made of pipes, also covered in the red substance. Alec began to think these guys were too far gone.

When the first of them came within range of Alec, he began to swing and claw violently toward his face, the wild attacks easily avoided. Alec put his hands in his pants pockets and began to counter the swings with hard kicks of the steel toed boots. He would side step the attack and kick them solidly while they were still off balance. After so many misses Alec would kick them several firm times in the face before a final kick knocked them off of their feet to leave them seeing stars.

2 of the brothers ran toward Amaranth while two more brothers came running from the house to engage Alec. 3 of the brothers looked to be approaching The Vigilante. He didn't really want to kill these guys, thus why he was kicking them instead of doing something more lethal. The next of the brothers was swept off of his feet to be kicked while upside down, causing him and the brother behind him to go flying and rolling backwards.

”We just came to offer you guys a way out. We're getting out of here, escaping. Back to civilization. You guys don't have to live like this, come with us.”

The brothers didn't seem to understand, or to care. They were like caveman now, all they knew was violence and killing. Alec leapt into the air and performed an aerial attack that hit 3 of the brothers at the same time, throwing them off into different directions.

”There's no talking to these guys anymore. Best we bail out...”

Amaranth had no intention of killing these individuals, especially as she saw that her grandfather didn't either. There truly was no point in ending their lives; they would likely end up slaughtering each other eventually due to how barbaric this new world of theirs had turned them. It made Amaranth appreciate the things she had, even while she watched two of the brothers come rushing straight towards her.

One of them went low as if he planned on tackling her while the other seemed to be waiting to see her go down. At the last possible second she bent her knees, the repulsion system in the boots kicking in which sent her launching into the air. She flipped forward, the man who had been trying to tackle her diving down in nothing but the ground; road rash was a horrible thing to deal with. The guy was groaning in pain while Amaranth landed in a crouch. The second of the two came rushing towards her now, a metal pipe in hand and being swung much like a baseball bat. Amaranth ducked the swing aimed at her skull and as she came back up she sent her fish flying upward. Her fist slammed into the man with the pipe's jaw. Having been in mid insult he bit his tongue which instantly began to bleed: the man began to howl in pain, no longer focused or interested in attacking Amaranth, evident of the pipe dropping to the ground with a soft clang.

Anti Gravity Boots:

Amaranth turned then towards his buddy who was bleeding but not willing to give up just yet. The guy had gotten to his feet and was turning to face her, far more weary now than he had been before. Amaranth moved forward slowly and cautiously, arms raised as she waited to block or dodge whatever punch or kick was thrown at her next. When the guy went to swing at her she ducked it, then ducked another blow before deflecting a knee that was obviously meant to hit her in the gut. After the third attack was out of the way she used the boots once more, enhancing her own kick, which she sent to the mans rib cage. She moved far too fast for him to dodge or block, and so as her foot slammed into his chest it was more than hard enough to badly break several ribs. The man fell backwards and landed in a heap, curling up on his side and crying out in pain just as his buddy was doing.

Amaranth quickly turned her attention to the others, waiting to see if anyone else was going to be stupid enough to attack the little girl. She didn't feel bad for what she did to those two; they should have been taught that hitting a female was never an okay thing, had they realized that then they wouldn't have been laid out in the streets like they were. "Anyone else wanna try and hit me? Promise the next person who does will end up unconscious..."

These Murray people were a lost cause. They were like wild animals. V had scanned the inside of their house to find that they were cannibals. They would kidnap, torture kill and eat people. If he was reading his scanner right, it looked like they'd killed a freak and were preparing to make a meal of it...These guys were even worse than the freaks. V thought they deserved to die...but it didn't look like Alec or Amaranth had any interest in killing them

But there was still a chance to get some exercise, to the first of the 3 that ran up on him was hit with multiple punches to the face and chest in rapid succession. The second and third jumped in, forcing V to attack and block all 3 at the same time. V didn't want to kill them but he didn't bother trying to hold back, slamming bone breaking counter attacks into their jaws and ribs. A roundhouse kick was performed then that hit all 3 of the attacking brothers in their faces. Each one was thrown in a different direction, and none of them tried getting back up.

Alec said it was best to bail, and V wasn't going to disagree with him. ”Good, because, you don't wanna know what's in that house...” he said while beginning to back away from the area. All of this noise was going to attract unwanted attention...

”I'll take your word on that, V...”

Alec began to back away, watching his grand daughter deal with her attackers effortlessly, as well as V with speed based counters. The noise and screaming began to attract walkers, and crowds of them began to appear from between the houses. Alec instantly went down, saying the same to Amaranth and Vigilante.

”Get down!”

Alec would leave these brothers to their fate. The walkers didn't notice he, Amaranth and Vigilante; instead their attention was focused on the brothers on the ground howling in pain, as well as the remaining of the brothers who were coming outside to see what all the commotion was about. Alec motioned for Amaranth and V to follow him as he quickly began heading back to where the survivors were, keeping low and staying behind cars. It didn't take long to get back to where the survivors were stashed: the back of a van.

After retrieving them, he found that the whole area was starting to be over-run with walkers due to the screaming of those being eaten, and also from those fighting. Leaving the area became a stop-and-go process. Taking the lead, Alec began to direct everyone away from the madness, running between cars and houses while keeping low, and stopping to hide to avoid wasting energy on passerby walkers. The further he traveled, the more the houses began to space out, with more and more distance between them as they got closer to the outskirts.

Around this point, the sun had come up, but there was still a large grey mass above, making the scenery look gloomy and drab. It seemed appropriate for a place like this. There were less walkers out here near the outskirts, meaning they didn't have to duck and run anymore. The most expensive of houses were out here, surrounded by fences and acres of land. Alec took out and opened one of the orange pops from the machine. He drank half, and gave the other half to Amaranth.

”We need to restock on liquids and grub...”

“The mall is close to here Alec,” said one of the female survivors. “I used to make runs out here when there weren't so many biters, it should still be plenty stocked up.”

”...The mall it is, then...”

/Exit/

It looked like no one else wanted to dance; at least after the zombies began to show up, attracted by the howling and crying that the fallen were doing: they were going to end up making a tasty meal for some of these undead folks and Amaranth couldn't be bothered much to care. Instead, she ducked down like her grandfather instructed and followed after him; hiding behind cars and other large objects so that she wasn't spotted by any of the dead.

After the rest of the survivors who had been hiding in a van were regrouped with them they continued on; the stop and go process ensuring that none of the dead spotted them and tried to make a meal out of them. Once the houses started to space out there began to become fewer and fewer of the zombies roaming around and no more need to duck down and hide.

Amaranth took the half drank can of orange pop from her grandfather. She downed it quickly enough while her silvery gaze darted around; keeping a look out for any incoming zombies. The rush of sugar from the drink was enough to wake her up and make her slightly wired - better than the grogginess that had begun to creep in from staying up all night and randomly getting into fights with zombies and then those brothers back there.

Amaranth couldn't help but grin slightly at the mention of the mall: any kids dream was to be able to go into a mall and have whatever they wanted. Of course, the situation was slightly different, but it was still amusing. "Hehe... any kids dream. To be able to go to the mall and take whatever they want...", she said softly. She looked forward to getting there, as it would be an opportunity to take a small break which would give her time to go through her pack and figure out what all supplies she still had on her or not.

V went down when told to. Freaks were coming, brought by the screaming and yelling. He went with Alec and Amaranth, quietly making his way back to the van where the survivors were. All of them began to sneak away while the Murray brothers were eaten alive. According to V, they were getting what they deserved.

After playing hide and seek for a while, the area started to change. The houses got bigger, and more spaced out. Stretch complimented the houses, and also on the way Alec and Amaranth were fighting. V thought maybe they were about to head into some of them, especially after Alec mentioned restocking on food and drink, but one of the survivors suggested the mall. Surely there'd be plenty of goods left over in there.

So, bringing up the rear and watching for sneaky freaks, Big V followed along with Alec, Amaranth and the 4 survivors.

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