Nightshift 42: Callahan's Grocer

[toxicspiderman]

S.T. was bored. Bored and feeling useless. He'd stomped around town, looking for a distraction from his own self-pitying funk, as the light had waned. Boredom and feigned anticipation had given way to dread. He'd circled back around to the grocery to see if there was anything less useless on the bulletin. No dice

Comments

[ruthless_hunter]

[from here]

Out of all the places that had been affected tonight, this was probably the grossest. The rotted food stank horribly. This was why oil and energon was superior to human food. Transformer fuel didn't rot like this.

And, like everyplace else, it was full of zombies. Lockdown quickly decapitated one, and slashed at another's neck with his knife, since it was too close to use the axe. The latter didn't die right away, so Lockdown did what he had threatened to do to others at least twice: he twisted the zombie's head backwards, causing the tear in its neck to widen, allowing him to rip the head off and toss it aside.

Looking at HK, Lockdown said, "Come on. Let's find the way upstairs."

[arc_wrench]

Eugh, the rotted organic products in here reeked. But HK ignored such things such as the gag reflex or eye-watering stench in favor of cutting a zombie's head off, kicking the corpse at another one and then chopping yet another into nonfunctionality with another blow from his axe.

And... Oh, my. Watching that zombie get it's head ripped off was beautiful. At least, by HK's definition of the term. That nearly made up for all the times he'd been terrified by Lockdown. "Acknowledgment: Searching." He scanned the area, mostly finding more zombies. Well, that wasn't a problem.

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown searched for a door indicating it led upstairs, not sure if it would be a stairway or elevator that lead to the top floor, disposing of more zombies as he searched. He was mostly expecting the former, since everything else here was so primitive.

"I just hope there's a wash area or something," Lockdown stated. The blood on him was starting to smell bad and get more sticky as it dried. His goggles already had a few small splatters of the red vital fluid on them.

[arc_wrench]

"Cautionary: The stuff I found masquerading as 'water' in the Institute's pipes last night was better described as 'polluted run-off from an effluence factory,' judging by how it smelled," he warned, idly chopping the head off of the zombie he'd pushed over before. His own hands were quite covered in other meatbag's blood by now. It was mostly a satisfying feeling.

[superdynamic]

[from here]

Suzaku reached the door of the grocery in record time. Unfortunately, stopping to wrench it open meant he was standing still and his back was turned, if only for a second. Suddenly there were hands ripping at his shirt, cold and slimy, and all Suzaku could smell was decaying flesh. Cursing, he whipped around and barely spared the thing a glance before decking it. He didn't wait to watch it flailing on the ground.

The first thing he saw when he ran in was a group of patients whacking away at a few customers who were past their expiry date. But none of them mattered to Suzaku right now. "Lelouch!" he screamed, not caring if he drew the attention of every zombie in the world. "Lelouch! Are you in here?" If he wasn't, Suzaku had to try the next probable location immediately. He didn't have time to waste looking down every aisle.

[superdynamic]

Suzaku whirled around, panic subsiding in favor of relief. "Oh, thank God," he said fervently. If Lelouch hadn't been here, he had no idea what he would have done. Just seeing his face, terrified but alive, brought on a flood of emotion that Suzaku had no particular desire to recognize. The thought of Lelouch dying alone in the dark, needing Suzaku but with help nowhere to be found -- he couldn't bear it.

He darted forward, grabbing Lelouch's wrist and tugging him forward even as he stepped to the side, kicking upward. His sneaker caught under the zombie's chin and snapped its head back. Suzaku grabbed a can of something off a shelf and beat the thing a couple times for good measure before dragging Lelouch away. Then he could finally pause and take a couple deep breaths, trying to bring his racing heart back under control. Until he could calm down and process what had just happened.

. . . Heh. Lelouch was slower than a zombie

[iwascloned]

Hah! The produce aisle! Perfect hiding place for wily SECRET DOORS. Spider picked up a watermelon and hurled it at some bananas. The overripe melon splattered and the air around it became infested with the stagnant smell of rotten fruit. Spider did not notice the condition of his projectile, however,as he was busy noticing something else. Or rather ... SOMEONE else.

"Taylor!" he called, stomping down the aisle towards S.T. "Just the man I never wanted to see again! Where's the party? And why the FUCK are you clutching that ballpoint pen in your weasely little rat-hands?"

[toxicspiderman]

"Spider! Hey! Sorry about the party, man." Good going, S.T. Way to blow what cover not moving had managed so far. Though it was less not moving and more frozen in terror and/or the indecision of someone with shitty aim and no shotgun

[iwascloned]

Spider's focus was momentarily interrupted by a shuffling sound behind him. He spun around to see a bloodied, lifeless-looking teenager in an apron stumbling towards him.

"FUCK YOU!" he screamed, front-kicking the advancing zombie in the chest. It lost balance, and tried desperately to grab his foot as it dropped to the floor. He turned back to S.T.

"WHERE ARE THE GUNS? TAKE ME TO THE GUNS."

[move them out of here. PLEASE!]

[toxicspiderman]

"Quit dicking around with the stockboy and move, then. He's underage. Or overaged. Fuck this, MOVE!" S.T. took his own advice and bolted.

[to here]

[blessedaccel]

The stench of rot assaulted Daphne's nose, bringing to mind sick rooms and murder and piles of dust where people should have been. The weird warp of the building, and the weirder warp of the staff within it, sent a spike of adrenaline through her, setting her heart hammering and her blood pounding in her ears.

"Oh, God..." she muttered, clapping one hand over her mouth and nose in a mostly futile attempt to block out the stench. She felt as though she was about to be sick, and fought down the queasy churn of her stomach. If she started heaving, she was afraid she wouldn't stop, and being eaten alive by undead hordes while being sick to her stomach would just be embarrassingShe nodded emphatically at the suggestion that they get the hell out of dodge, and turned too-wide eyes out toward the street. Through the windows, she could see shambling shapes starting to stir outside, too. No safer out there, then, but at least they would have more room to maneuver

[feartehreaper]

[From here.]

Going into the grocery store was in many ways like walking into a solid wall. Haseo skidded to a halt, hitting the depressingly filthy floor halfway on his hands and knees in haste and reaction to the foul odor put off by all the rotting produce. He choked for a moment, eyes watering as he slapped a hand over his mouth, struggling to keep his stomach under control as he scanned the immediate area inside the entryway for enemies.

"Close the door," he said thickly, hoping that it wasn't too dilapidated to force completely shut, and then righted the chair he'd brought in with them and pushed it forward. He would have never thought he'd be glad for a door that opened manually on a public building, but here he was fighting to keep himself and two others from the clutch of the undead, so maybe anything really was possible.

[heraldric]

Leon pulled the neck of his sweater over his nose the moment they entered the building, eyes already watering. Perhaps this hadn't been the best of ideas after all. There were plenty of things worse than a rotting odor, such as the zombies still trying to get in through the front door. As Haseo did his best to block it, the young mage backed up and found himself grabbing hold of the hem of Kibitoshin's shirt.

He wasn't a child. He needed to get a hold of himself, help Haseo fight off the zombies in whatever way he could. ...Whatever way that was. If the shelves weren't laden down with food, they might have been able to move one of those...

There were other people in the store, he now realized, and they were engaged in combat. Of course there were zombies in here as well. It was foolish of him to think that there wouldn't be. There were handbaskets near the door for carrying groceries. Leon grabbed one up as though it might work as a sort of flimsy shield.

[bitpartgod]

If the smell had been bad outside it was even worse in here. Diving in through the door, Kibitoshin nearly reeled straight back out again. But rotting food was better than rotting flesh, and maybe it would cover their scent or something. Anything to buy them ti- was Leon holding onto his shirt? He blinked at the boy for a moment, startled. Inadvertent though it was, the action gave him a brief boost; he had people relying on him! Just standing around wasn’t going to do any good!

The second Leon moved Kibitoshin sprang back to defend the door (were there people outside? It was hard to tell…), teeth gritted so hard they could have bitten through solid steel. Like those zombies outside. I bet they bite pretty hard too…Fortunately for him, any possible panic the idea might have caused him was promptly overruled by the realisation that they weren’t alone in the shop. And not only were they not alone, they’d stumbled across a vicious fight. “Over there! By the counter!” The exclamation was directed at Haseo more than anyone. It was too

[feartehreaper]

Haseo was depending on these things not being very smart- otherwise, it'd be a matter of minutes instead of-- however long this would go on before they burst down the door and ate them all to death! He was pretty sure there would be no respawn here too... he was beginning to really regret ever thinking the idea of the lone swordfighter fighting off a horde of enemy combatants was "cool." Certainly when he'd become the Terror of Death it hadn't been anything like...! And why was he thinking of that in a time like this?!

Somehow they managed to get that door mostly closed, though after a moment of emergency decision-making, he had to throw his shoulder into it, severing what used to be an arm sticking through at the elbow. Haseo tried to ignore it, and tried to ignore how barricading the door with not much more than their bodies and a chair stolen from the business down the road was almost hilarious in its futility. Next they'd have to kill the zombies inside, kill any that came up through the damned floor, and then... something. But