Zombie Adventure Ep. #5

The Outskirts. Seemingly endless plains of green, with little forests of trees here and there. Every so often, a house, structure, or small town could be seen. Every so often, there was a horde of zombies.

Alec knew they couldn't drive on forever without taking a break, and refilling the tanks. There were extra stashes of fuel in each of the RVs, more than enough to make it to The Bridge. Amaranth could probably drive straight there nonstop, as could Alec, but the other 3 drivers would probably be tired after driving a whole day, and most of the night.

Alec spotted a small town near the Super Freeway, which stretched through the very center of the Outskirts, and their next destination. A short distance from this small town was a large house, abandoned. It was surrounded by a fence and thick trees, making it the perfect place to stash away for a while and rest. Alec lead the convoy down the driveway and around the large fountain in front of the house. Parking, he shut the ride down and got out to stretch.

The didn't look to be anyone inside of the house, nor around it. The house and the yard around it was secure. It's doors were open, revealing the house to be empty, save for several articles of clothing and some garbage, leading Alec to believe that whoever used to live here left in a hurry. He left the dufflebag in the back seat of the convertible for now, taking the Katana with him and tying it to his left side. Alec walked around the whole perimeter of the house and the yard, making sure there were no walkers or ways to get inside. He could hear and see people getting out of the RV's to stretch, and was sure to put a finger to his lips, signaling for them to keep it down.

Driving had definitely been an improvement to running around, going from one place to another, and having to play dodge with the many zombie hordes lurking around and waiting to male a meal out of them. She kept her eyes open for any zombies that might wander into their path, or for any cars left abandoned so that they didn't get into an accident as she went: while she drove several of the survivors in her RV slept, taking turns with sharing the bed in the back and the cushioned benches that acted as seats for the little kitchen table.

She followed her grandfather closely, especially as they headed through a small town that lead to the outskirts they were aiming for. She followed him up the driveway and around the fountain before coming to a stop near where her grandfather parked. She shut off the RV and jumped out of the drivers seat. She closed the door quietly behind herself while keeping an eye out for any of the undead that might be lurking around while her grandfather went to investigate the house.

She knew if the house was empty it would make a nice place to rest; perhaps even ensure that they all had some space for a little while instead of being crammed up like they all were. She watched the survivors pile out but remain quiet at Alec's gesture. Many of them stretched and walked around a bit to stretch their legs and get any kinks out that they felt.

While everyone else stretched she glanced back to see if V and the end of the RV train had made it safely...

The last time he was on a road trip had to be when he was about 13 years old, with his grand parents. That one didn't have the threat of undead freaks running them off the road to make a meal of them, but it was cool to go on a ride for a day, and not have to run around ducking and dodging monsters that wanted to eat you. Stretch and Jasmine stayed connected, but in the downtime with nothing happening they took the chance to go mess around.

Pretty soon they were stopping at a house. V, who'd been still sitting on the back of the last RV, secured by the magnets in his boots, did a scan of the house and the surroundings. There were no living in and out, except for Alec, and there were no dead. The place looked secure enough to take a breather from all that driving.

Alec was signaling everyone to stay quiet as he jumped down and had a stretch himself, listening to the joints pop and crack. V went to close the gates to the property, so that if a random freak, or crowd of freaks happened by they wouldn't be able to get in. The bushes were thick enough around the place and the house was far enough from the road that V was sure they wouldn't be seen or smelled. It seemed like the perfect place to chill out for a while...

Alec, after walking around the house and the backyard, stepped up onto the porch and inside of the house, seeing as the front doors were still wide open. There was basically nothing left in here, not even furniture. It looked like whoever lived here grabbed up what they could and ran, then scavengers came and looted whatever was left. The place looked like it was once very nice; it was far from that now.

It was starting to get dark out as he stepped back out onto the front porch, rolling the next joint. He sat and put fire to it, informing Alex and Burt who'd stepped over to the porch next that they could chill out for the night, as the place was secure enough, and that he'd keep watch since he didn't need much sleep, although he still got tired. Alec reminded them to keep their voices down since there were massive hordes roaming around the outskirts, and the slightest noise could attract them.

The survivors all seemed calm and pleased enough. Someone was trying to help them get out of this bad dream. The first 4 survivors came and sat around Alec on the stairs. New expressions were on their faces, probably because of everything he'd been doing since he and Vigilante and Amaranth found them. The asked him some questions that he didn't really mind answering, like how he got so good at shooting and fighting, and why an Angel was down here on Earth in the first place. Alec told them somewhat about the 10+ years he fought “The Kingdom,” and how he was thrown out of Heaven all those thousands of years ago for reasons he couldn't remember.

They asked about Amaranth too, and why she was so brave in the midst of millions of man eaters. Alec told them to ask her, but did comment that it was probably from watching him and other family members, and spoke of her mother and his daughter Destiny; about how she went on a 4 day killing spree at only 4 years old. About her father Ghost and his time as an assassin and secret weapon of the group of killers that once called themselves Murder INC. Alec knew it would be hard for them to understand, but they seemed fascinated with the tale, as did other survivors young and old that had come over to listen to Alec speak. Some of them asked would it be ok to meet Alec's kids and other family members once they were out of here, and Alec just shrugged his shoulders while saying he didn't mind.

Amaranth glanced around the area after seeing Vigilante close the gates around it. They would be pretty safe here, and it would give everyone a chance to rest: even though she saw as she wondered inside of the house to have a look around that there was almost nothing left furniture wise. It definitely looked as if someone, or several groups of someone's, had raided this place more than once.

When she went back out on the porch she heard the conversation her grandad and the survivors were having and couldn't help but grin. She had heard the stories while growing up about all of the adventures her mother and her father had gone on, and it was partly why she had been so stubborn in insisting she stay here in Pacific City to help out her grandfather: it was high time she went on an adventure, too. Even if it meant she was likely going to get her butt busted when they all made it back home.

When the survivors asked her about how she was so brave in the midst of all of this death she agreed with what her grandfather said before explaining about a five year adventure in which she daily would beat up and cut up bad guys with her best friend, Holeman, and how it had all been scary at first but as she started trusting more and more in herself, her weapons, and her best friend to have her back, she started to be able to over-come that fear and work around it.

When she was finished with her own tale she jumped off of the porch and went back to the now empty RV she had been driving. She climbed up to the top and sat there for a moment before laying back and staring up at the stars.

Stretch and Jasmine were still somewhere in his room making out. He could hear the moans. It made him turn the volume down with a frown. V thought of taking off his suit for a while to breathe in some fresh air with his own nostrils, but some of these people were going it be living in Edge, so he could reveal his secret identity.

With a sigh V leaned on the back of the last RV. He listened to Alec talking, and remembered what he himself managed to dig up on the guy. He'd fought in a lot of wars and killed a lot of people. V didn't know he'd been thrown out of Heaven though, and wondered what he could have done for that to happen. He said Amaranth's mom Destiny fought people for 4 days at only 4 years old.

Four years old? Yeah. Real bad idea to get on the bad side of a Kane. When he was 4 he was playing with Legos and eating his boogers. Even Amaranth here had cut up people with that big grim reaper scythe. Like 5 years ago, V started to feel like a small fly on their windshield; he started to feel useless. Like he'd come over here for no reason. There were no facial features on his mask, so no one would be able to see the disappointed look on his face. A superhero with a cape showing up over here in this mess? He probably looked so stupid...

But then there was the voice of grandma. 'Everything happens for a reason,' she'd say. 'You be the best you that you can be, and don't concern yourself or be jealous of anyone else. You are special in your own way, and you wouldn't be allowed around them if that weren't true.' He heard it as if she were standing right next to him. So he took a deep breath and wondered what was next in this Zombie horror.

It was getting dark. The survivors went to go eat and rest up. Puffing his joint still, his intoxication rising but not hindering his ability to operate, Alec was restless. He'd probably sit here all night unable to sleep if he didn't do something. He stood, remembering the small town in the distance, thinking there'd possibly be someone hiding down there that couldn't make it here. It was worth checking out. The survivors were armed and could defend themselves if shit got hairy, and he'd hear the commotion.

”V, Amaranth... that little town down the way. Let's go check it out. Could be more survivors down there.”

Alec walked to the convertible, grabbing and putting on his dufflebag. The convertible could be seen rising up from the ground somewhat with the release of all that weight. After informing Alex and Burt of his intentions and to keep their eyes open, he walked down the driveway and jumped over the 8 foot high gate. With his left hand on the sheath of the Kane Katana he began walking down the road, littered somewhat with abandoned cars, toward the group of buildings in the distance.

Amaranth had been staring up at the stars since it reminded her of home back on Sunset Island, something that most didn't get to see who lived in the city due to the bright lights that dulled or dimmed the stars out, when she heard her grandfather's voice and heard him speaking about V, him, and herself going back into that town to look for any survivors. 

Going to explore that little town they had passed through seemed like a very good idea: the chances of at least one or two survivors shacked up somewhere, likely trapped there because of the zombies lurking around, was pretty great. She sat up and pushed the few loose strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail back and out of her face before she got to her feet.

She pushed her red cape behind her and grabbed up her bag which she had been using as a pillow. Once she secured it around herself - she wasn't going anywhere without it since it still held the cure - she walked over to the edge of the RV. She looked at the ground below herself for a fraction of a second before jumping off and landing soundlessly on the ground.

She glanced back one last time at the house that the survivors were making themselves comfortable in and then turned and followed after her grandfather in silence - the survivors would be able to protect themselves, especially with the weapons that Amaranth had handed out which she had taken from that sporting goods store in the mall. She jumped over the eight foot high gate and landed crouched on the other side. When she stood and started to follow after her grandfather she made sure one hand was near the weapon her grandfather had let her use and the other was grasping hold of the crossbow which was already loaded and ready for use: it was dark outside but she had a feeling that zombies didn't likely sleep and she wasn't going to take any chances. Thankfully, as she slid the sunglasses into place on her face, she could still see just as well - better in fact, then she likely would have been able to if just relying on her own eyes. She was able to pick out everyone and everything around in high detail.

As she kept following her grandfather she found herself wondering if Devon was still back in the tower, safe and sound, and watching all of this like some sort of horror movie, or if she had dozed off since Amaranth hadn't heard anything from her in a while. 

"Do you think zombies sleep?", she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Alec said that they should go check out the little town down the way, as there could be more survivors. There was also the chance for some action since they'd been out of it after all of that driving. V was just hoping they didn't run into another horde.

The survivors all had guns and knives now, so if anything happened they'd at least be able to defend themselves until he and Alec and Amaranth got back. After Alec and Amaranth, V jumped easily over the gate and landed lightly; his stealth systems still active.

It was getting dark, but the night vision setting in his visor let him see everything as if it were still daytime. ”I doubt it,” V said in response to Amaranth's question of whether or not the freaks slept. ”All these freaks know is to eat. They tried to come in the police station to snack on us right before you showed up.”

That raised the question of if that cure she had really worked. Would they be able to save everyone? What about the nasty freaks that had arms and legs missing? He wanted to ask, but he thought it better to just wait and see.

”You didn't see that scene Downtown... I guess when these things reanimate, they no longer need things like rest or fun or pleasure or anything like that. The most primal and basic instincts take over; that's the need to eat something.”

Silver eyes turn crimson while they walk, enabling him to see everything clearly since there were no longer any streetlights, and out here, when it got dark, it got dark. So far he heard nothing except for the occasional breeze, and the cry of some animal way out in the distance somewhere. There were no buildings or the like out here, so stars could be seen clearly above.

Sharingan:

As the approached the first of the buildings in the small town, the first attack came from below. A manhole opened, causing Alec to raise his right leg so he could avoid the swing of a baseball bat. A walker wouldn't have that kind of intelligence, so he concluded that whoever this was had to be still alive. Therefore he didn't draw the Katana.

A girl rolled out of the manhole. Several other girls and boys emerged from some of the buildings, all brandishing home made weapons of their own. With the way they were dressed, it seemed that they'd been holding out here for a while, possibly since the whole thing began. They converged upon the 3 with the intention of doing them harm. Alec tapped Amaranth and Vigilante on their shoulders.

”Non-lethal countermeasures.”

The girl stood and took several more fierce swings at Alec's face with the bat, which had several large nails driven through it's end. Alec's calm expression didn't change as he easily dodged each swing with little to no effort, thanks to the predictive abilities of the Sharingan. After 3 swings, Alec reached in and snatched the weapon from the girl. He looked it over, then handed it back to her, making her take a skeptical expression. Alec nodded his head to her, letting her know it was alright to take it. That she did, and resumed swinging it at his head again. More easy and skillful dodge maneuvers would follow.

”This is pretty fun, but you're going to get tired soon.”

“Shut up!” she yelled, trying her best to land a hit on Alec, the frustration evident on her dirty but attractive face. She looked to be in her late teens to early 20's, as did the majority of the others, who also had crude weapons fashioned out of 2x4's and table legs, attempting to attack Amaranth and Vigilante.

”Ssshh, keep your voice down.”

He could hear her breath beginning to pick up as she missed swing after swing, confirming that she was beginning to tire. He reached in and snatched the bat from her again, and again handed it back toward her.

”Is this how you greet everyone who comes and tries to rescue you?”

She didn't answer, just took the bat again and resumed swinging. After dodging more swings easily and snatching the baseball bat for the 3rd time, this time with the female trying to catch her breath, Alec grabbed her in a fashion to where she couldn't move either of her arms. “...Asshole. Just kill me now. I'll fight you till the end if you try to rape me.”

”Hmm... you all must have been here a while. Whoever else came though here probably took advantage of you all, so I can understand why you wouldn't trust anyone. But you can relax, we're not here to kill or rape you.”

“Yeah? Prove it then.” Alec reached behind him in the dufflebag for a bottle of water. He twisted off the top with a thumb and put it to the girl's lips. She hesitated at first, struggling to get out of Alec's embrace, until the refreshing flavor of fresh water touched her taste buds. She grabbed the bottle and guzzled it.

Amaranth frowned: it was just their luck that these fiendish creatures didn't sleep. It just meant that they would have to keep an eye out for any zombies roaming around while they wandered through the dark towards the nearby town: though, it would seem luck as in their favor as they made it to the town without bumping into any of the zombies.

However, something else was lurking around waiting to attack as a manhole opened and a bat was swung in the direction of her grandfathers feet which he dodged skillfully. As the girl with the bat rolled out of the manhole several other boys and girls weidling weapons came out of the nearby houses and buildings. Her grandfather tapped her and V on the shoulders, speaking of them using nonlethal countermeasures.

"Got it."

Amaranth moved her hand away from her weapons and took a fighting stance that would be more usable to dodge then to attack. One of the girls rushed towards Amaranth wielding what looked like the leg of a table. The girl went to swing the leg at Amaranths' head and she ducked the blow. She lifted her hand up and grabbed a hold of the girls arm using her own momentum against her and causing the girl to go shoving forward to land on her butt on the ground a few feet away; a little embarrassed about it all but otherwise okay.

While the girl was attempting to figure out how she was just sent flying onto her butt another boy came rushing at her with an equally home-made weapon. When he went to swing the leg of what looked like a chair towards her gut she jumped back and out of the way. While she dodged another swipe she could hear her grandfather explaining to the girl that he wasn't going to hurt her. "Listen to my grandad! We're not here to hurt you. If we were wouldn't I have used my weapon by now?" Her words caused the boy to pause and look her over: Amaranth had more than enough visible weapons on her to take care of business if she really wanted to kill them so the kid took a step back and lowered his weapon.

The scanners picked up movement in the structures ahead, and even in the sewers below. Before he could warn Amaranth or Alec, a female came from below and began to attack. Others came out of buildings with table legs and 2x4s as weapons. Alec touched his shoulder and said non-lethal countermeasures as he got into his fighting stance.

The scanners told him that the weapons they held would do little to no damage at all to the suit, so instead of dodging skilfully like Alec and Amaranth were, Big V just stood there. A couple of the kids ran up on him and swing their weapons and hit him, but he didn't even flinch. They hit him on the head, the back of the neck, and the chest. V didn't feel any of the hits from inside the protection of his suit.

They looked at their weapons and at him, confused. ”Listen to him kids, don'cha think we'd have wiped the floor with you all by now if we were serious?” he said, dusting the wood chips off of his shoulders and cape. ”We're just here to help, trust us...”

"Mmmm. Good, huh?"

Alec released her. The girl turned the bottle upside down while gulping down the fresh water. Seeing this, her comrades suddenly stopped attacking Amaranth and Vigilante and looked at Alec hopefully. He just grinned and reached behind him into the dufflebag to grab several more bottles, tossing them to the random males and females who were more than grateful to catch, open and guzzle their contents. "So who are you?" asked the first female, who seemed to be the leader of the band of survivors, pouring the last of the bottle over her face and head.

Alec pulled off his hood while taking another drag of the joint at his lips. Some of them looked surprised, while others looked confused. The first girl's eyes widened some. "You're... Alec Kane? What's the Boss of Edge City doing here of all places?"

"Former Boss. My son took over for me. I don't exactly know how I ended up here, believe it or not, but since I am I figured I should do something."

"...I recognize the guy with the suit on, he's... Vigilante, right? I saw him on the news a few years back fighting some robot guy. But... who's the little girl?"

"That's my grand daughter, Amaranth. She's Boss of Sunset Island."

"Wha?...How are you a grandfather? You look like... 5 minutes older than I am." Alec simply grinned again while exhaling smoke.

"Hard to belive, I know. But i'll be willing to explain more when we get out of here. We have a convoy of RVs not far from here at a house. All of you are welcome to come with us. We're on our way to The Bridge. There's others that we found holding out in The Mall. When we get to Edge i'll look out for all of you, make sure you all have fresh starts."

"You'd... you'd really do that for people you don't know?"

"I tried to warn the people who ran this city what would happen when they tried playing God, as did my father. They didn't listen. Since i'm here, the least I could do is get the innocent out of this nightmare. Is this all of you or are there more?"

"There used to be more, but they went and joined the scavenger gang on the freeway. There's no use trying to rescue them, they're beyond talking to. They're animals, even worse than the monsters eating people."

"Hmm... Alright then. Come on, we should get back before we attract the wrong kind of attention."

Alec turned and began back the way they came, with the new survivors following along.

Given that all of the attacking had stopped finally, and the survivors were being handed water which they all seemed more than grateful for, Amaranth relaxed her stance to a non-threatening one. She listened carefully to the conversation going on while remaining quiet herself. She grinned when someone brought up how he didn't look old enough to even have grandchildren, but otherwise didn't comment. It was something she was getting all too familiar with hearing these days: but, that was what happened when you were some form of a supernatural creature, eventually you just stopped aging and nine out of ten times you ended up looking young and youthful for the rest of your life.

She listened as her grandfather offered these people as well a place to stay in Edge and help for when they all got out of here and couldn't help but grin: she too was more than willing to help out if needed - her island had more than enough space, and she planned on expanding it when she got home and adding many underwater areas - things she had been thinking about when she was laying on top of that RV.

She followed after the group when they got moving; mulling over the idea of those who had joined the highway gang that was mentioned. She wondered if they were as bad as the other group they had run into.. or possibly worse? Either way she kept her hand near her weapon while they walked, sticking to the outer edges of the group in case she had to attack either a zombie or a someone else who intended them harm.

The attacks stopped, not that they were really any sort of threat anyways. Stretch and Jasmine were eyes peeled in front of the screen again watching as Alec dodged all of that girl's attacks easily, and even V had to look closely. They guy was just something else. The calm look on his face made it seem that avoiding a nasty weapon such as a baseball bat with nails through the end of it was nothing.

Then Alec was giving her some water, and with the way she sucked that bottle down, it was obvious that she or any of these others who did the same thing once Alec tossed them bottles too, hadn't had any in a while. V wasn't dare going to ask then what they'd been eating and drinking in the meantime.

V wasn't surprised that they'd seen him on TV fighting Xan in that massage parlor that one time 5 years ago. That Stacey Newman chick was all desperate for an interview, so desperate that she even offered to go on a date with him, and from the look in her eyes, she planned on giving him a special kind of dessert afterwards. The broad was crazy though. V did his best to avoid her.

As they started walking back toward the house, V began to think about the gang on the freeway. Were they going to give them trouble? Was it going to be a repeat of those Murray people back in the suburbs? He couldn't understand how someone liked this madness and chaos going on, but if they tried to stop them, they were going down.

A gunshot, followed by screams.

Alec took off running almost instantly. While the lead female opened her mouth to say something, she was stopped by the incredible gust of wind and the sight of Alec quickly speeding off into the distance faster than most cars. She and her other followers were left in shock.

He hadn't planned on being gone very long, but it appeared that it had been too long. A horde began to pour out of the house, emerging from a tunnel in the basement that was never checked. Several of the survivors were down, being eaten. Others had been bitten and scratched. Most were doing a good job at fighting them off, but the horde continued pouring out of the house like a dam that had been blown.

Alec immediately ran in after jumping the fence and began to slice and cut with the Kane Katana. Body parts and internal organs clouded the air while he cleared the way for the survivors to pull their injured away from the fighting. It was a slow process, but Alec began to cut down every one of the walkers, making his way up onto the porch so he could close the doors. Razor sharp steel separated heads from necks and crowded the ground with the rotted remains of Pacific City's citizens

Screaming. It never boded well in a situation such as the one they were in. Those screams could only mean one thing: something was terribly wrong. Whether it be humans who were causing the group of survivors back at the house problems or zombies. Whatever it was had to be big; there were plenty of survivors and all were armed to the teeth, so if something was causing screams like that it was because they were all over-whelmed.

Amaranth took off after her grandfather; one hand resting by her scythe and the other by the weapon her grandfather had let her borrow: depending on the situation and how close quartered the fighting was about to be would depend on which one she used. When her grandfather began to fight his way onto the front porch Amaranth unhooked her scythe and worked her way through and into the back: figuring that an attack from both sides was likely going to do more damage than if they both came in from a single direction.

Her scythe unfolded in a series of clicks as she moved towards the backdoor. The first zombie to come at her was cut directly in half at the waist before the zombies head was then cut in half. The noise and blood attracted several more, drawing their attention from the house and onto Amaranth with the hopes of making a meal out of her – just as Amaranth had figured would happen. When they began to converge on her Amaranth moved low in her signature beginnings of her spin move. She began to twirl in a clock wise direction as the zombies began to merge on her; a total of five. The first thing to be cut through was their legs; causing them to hit the ground. As they fell more spinning occurred, slicing into them at the knees, the waist, the chest, and the head; random limbs that got caught in the way going flying in random directions.

With those five down she jumped onto the back porch. A quick swipe of her scythe cut down two more. Before moving inside of the house itself she pressed the button on her scythe which caused the whole thing to fold back into its travel size and switched to the stick sword. Entering in through the back door Amaranth made quick work of the first zombie to come towards her; impaling it through the eye socket and straight through its brain. She pulled the stick sword out with a nasty sound and moved on…

Alec took off running at the sounds of fighting, and Amaranth did too, so V was the last to break out into a sprint. He got back to the house with them to see a bad situation. Some of the survivors were dead and injured. Alec started cutting his way to the front porch, Amaranth went around back.

V was at the first freak closest to him with a kick aimed toward the face. He turned his jet on as the foot hit the face, blowing it clean off the shoulders and pushing back the several that was behind it. V charged up a bit of kinetic energy on the run back here, and used it to knock back another wave to the right. Some of them flew over the fence to the place, some of them were impaled on it.

Enough space had been cleared. Alec and Amaranth looked to be handling the rest well enough, so V took the opportunity to begin helping the remaining survivors back into the RVs.

The Katana sliced through the heads of 3 walkers. All of them fell in a fashion that resembled dominoes. Alec, after completing this strike, continued to spin and sent a roundhouse kick into the heads of those remaining standing, knocking one of the heads off, and sending several others backwards, crashing to the floor. This laps created the opening he needed to slam both doors closed, fastening them shut with some of the poles and boards on the front porch.

By now, the survivors from the settlement down the road were catching up, and Alec could see that Vigilante had began getting the injured back into the RV's. Many people were crying and hysterical. Some of their people were dead, and others were at risk of turning into walkers.

"This was a bad idea!" yelled Alex as Alec got into the lead RV. "We're losing people! Others got bitten and scratched! They're gonna turn into them soon, but we can't just leave them here!" Alec caught his breath from the fighting.

"Relax. They'll be fine. All we have to do is get back moving. I know people are tired, but now you'll all have to rotate drivers."

"What do you mean relax?? We have people who have been bitten and scratched! They are as good as dead!"

"No, they arent, because we have a cure."

"A-a cure??..."

"Yeah, a cure. We don't have a whole lot of it, so from now on everyone will have to stay on their P's and Q's. But the people who got caught up in that and survived will be fine, as soon as my grand daughter is done out back, so i'd appreciate it if you'd stop yelling."

"Al-alright... so what's next?"

"We found some survivors in that little town down the way. They say the Super Freeway is ran by some sort of highway gang. We'll take care of them while you all hold back, go easy. Vigilante... Some of them on the freeway might have brains. Might hang back while we all clear the way. You stay with the convoy. We can't leave them to fend for themselves anymore, one of us has to be with them 24/7."

Alec rolled another joint. Leaving them alone was foolish, and he considered those that died his fault. Someone should have staied behind...

Amaranth sliced through several more zombies, cutting them to pieces to allow the few remaining people trapped in the back part of the house to be able to get out. When everyone was out she slammed the door shut behind her and barred the door with a metal umbrella pole from the picnic table out back; keeping the zombies from being able to pull it open. She knew it wouldn’t stop them for long but it would due for now; and give them a chance to escape.

When she moved back to the front of the house she over-heard the conversation going on and instantly began to dig through her bag. She found the syringes, several copies of the notes her mother had made, and some of the vials and handed them over to various survivors. “Follow the notes carefully, that should cover everyone who got bit or scratched.”

She then turned her attention towards her grandfather; waiting to see what he wanted to do next. She knew the highway was going to be dangerous and agreed that having everyone else hang back while they handled it was a good idea – she was feeling the effects of fighting, but was still pumped to go another few rounds easily enough.

Alec got done as fast as he thought and got in the RV. The Alex dude seemed to be freaking out and losing it before Alec told them there was a cure. Amaranth came in last, handing out syringes and instructions on how to properly administer it. V let out the breath he was holding and started to chill out. Some of them were dead but there were others able to be saved. It wasn't all that bad...

Alec told Alex and the others about the gang on the Super Freeway. He said next that some of these guys could try to play it smart and leave a few behind while they went to clear the way, and suggested that he stick with the survivors just in case. It was a smart play that V quickly agreed to.

"Got'cha, Alec," was the simple response.

"Amaranth, you're with me in the convertible. Not about to be having your mother leveling cities and creating tornadoes and shit, and two of us clearing this freeway is better than one. Alex, give us a small head-start then follow us out of here. I don't know how long the barricades we put on the house will last so we'll head out now."

Alex nodded his head and got behind the wheel. Alec tapped Vigilante on the shoulder before waving Amaranth to come on and exiting the RV. He walked to the convertible and opened the trunk, taking out another can of gas to refill the tank. He hoped the survivors got the chance to do the same in the small amount of downtime that they had, as all of the RV's had more than enough reserves to take them to The Bridge.

He closed the trunk and jumped into the car. The engine came to life with a growl, and assuming Amaranth jumped in with him, Alec hit the gas and took off down the driveway. turning right, he headed for the small town ahead. The Super Freeway on ramp came up, normally having to slow down at the gate to pay a fee to enter. Abandoned now, Alec didn't bother to slow and sped past the gate and onto the massive expressway...

/Exit/