Nightshift 42: Central Street
[from here]Punching zombies was almost mechanical now, though Wally wasn't sure if that was from having hit so many or from blood loss kicking in. Maybe it was even both? He'd been punching so many, following Bats as he led the way down the street running down the centre of Doyleton, that they'd all started to blur together into a rhythm of 'punch
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Blood and rot made it difficult for him to get a good grip on it, but he managed, at least enough to keep it from biting him like the other one had and things looked like they might be working out okay in a hopefully-not-getting-chewed-on way--
At least until Bart, instead of getting some distance like Wally had hoped, jumped straight in, first trying to drag the zombie away from him and then punching it when that didn't work. The blow only stunned it for a moment, then the creature lunged at Bart, mouth wide and lined with rotted teeth.
"No!" Wally yelled. There was no way, under any circumstances, he was going to let Bart get hurt while he was around. Not after last night. And he'd been injured once already, so another bite really wasn't going to change anything as far as he was concerned...
So as the zombie struck at Bart, Wally shoved his forearm, slick with blood running down from his shoulder, into its mouth. It bit down and he clenched his jaw against the pain, directing a intense look at Bart.
"Get some distance," he managed. "There's too many for you to handle."
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The utter coldness of the voice that'd spoken was matched only the brutality of the actions that followed next. There was no more warning than the sound of corpses being shoved aside and broken through before a pair of hands came into view from behind the corpse biting Wally. A pair of hands that proceeded to rip the corpse's spinal cord from its neck, and from the opening that the bone left, reached inside and took hold of the zombie's central nervous system in the most direct way possible.
The Batman said nothing more as he proceeded to tear the creature's brain out. Movements revealing nothing more than detached, absolute efficiency, he said nothing as the back of the zombie's skull shattered and cut into his forearms as he yanked out the greyish matter, exterminating the corpse in the one way that would not cause the teeth in Wally West's arms to sink in deeper-- by moving the corpse less.
But that terrible look in his eyes.
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And then Batman came out of nowhere and ripped the zombie's brain out.
Oddly enough, that helped calm Bart down and bring him back to himself. Everyone knew Batman was brutal and freakish; maybe not usually 'rip the bad guy's spine out' brutal, but these weren't real people they were dealing with after all, they were zombies. It made perfect sense for Batman to take them down as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible.
And Bart had to admit, ripping a zombie's brain out was pretty efficient.
"How do we make it let go of him?" Bart asked, (mostly) fearlessly -- and then remembered that, oh yeah, they were surrounded by zombies, and was on his feet and stunning a zombie coming up behind Batman probably before the utterly badass, but still completely normal hero had time to even notice it coming.
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--ripped the zombie's body apart.
With his bare hands.
If that hadn't been enough to send an icy knife of fear into his gut, the other man's face would have done the trick. He'd seen that expression before, last night on the TV screen. And he remembered all too well what had happened then and how Bruce had been after. Again he had to wonder why the zombie attacks had to happen tonight, of all nights. But he had a feeling he already knew the answer to that. Somewhere the Head Doctor was laughing, he just knew it-
A zombie moved up behind Batman and Wally tensed up, knowing that it was impossible for him to do something with how things were now, but trying to think of a way around it anyway.
"Look out!" He didn't even manage to finish the warning before Bart was there, hitting the thing hard enough to stun it. Wally sagged in relief, but it wasn't over yet. He was beginning to wonder if it ever would be.
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Just the way it should be.
Time had stopped, but when it began moving again Batman removed the stony, evaluating look from Bart Allen's person and redirected it where it was needed most.
He said nothing this time as he went to work. Nothing so much as a hold still or stop talking for warning before the Batman took hold of the zombie's skull firmly in hand-one on the bottom jaw, another on the top-and began the grim work of prying the destroyed creature's maw off.
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And besides, punching zombies helped him avoid thinking about what just might be wrong with Wally...
His bandages hands were coated in gore at this point, but Bart tried to ignore it. Wally needed him, and as completely screwed up as that entire concept was, Bart wouldn't, couldn't let him down. The zombies could try to close in all they wanted, attracted by the smell of blood, but Bart was holding them back. For now.
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Maybe if he was lucky, he'd be unconscious from blood loss by then.
Lame comments aside, watching Bats pry apart the rotting jaw of some dead guy was just freaky, so Wally instead focussed on Bart. His perceptions were always faster than normal - even during the day when he couldn't use his speed, which was just weird - so keeping an eye on the kid wasn't that hard. And while he knew that Bart didn't really need someone to watch over him right now, he felt better just keeping a watch out. Just in case.
There was a crack and the pressure on his arm eased. Wally turned back to what Bats was doing and made a face as the remains of the zombie was pulled away.
"That is just disgusting," he said, struggling to his feet. His head spun a little, but there were still zombies everywhere, even if Bart was keeping them back so far. Passing out had to come later, if he had any say in the matter. "Which way now?"
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"Ahead. We're making a right on Wicker Street and heading for the repair shop."
He didn't look at the Flash again when he began to run-even the brief pause before his movement was spent leveling a cross between a wary and expectant look at Impulse, anticipating the boy's superspeed run ahead of them.
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He could even think about it without freaking out too badly, if he thought of it as escort mission. And ignored the fact that he really sucked at those.
"What happened to you?" he hissed at Wally, falling back to guard the Flash's injured side as all three began to run. He carefully didn't look at his shoulder; he wasn't sure he could look at all that blood for too long without freaking out again.
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Noticing Bart's worried look, Wally flashed a quick smile down at the kid, doing his best to look not 'I think I'm on the verge of passing out'.
"Don't worry about me," he said. "With you and Bats here, I'll be fine." It was hopefully true; they were definitely making better headway against the zombies anyway. But still, even as they rounded the corner into the street Bats had indicated, Wally couldn't help but try and keep an eye on both of them, just in case. Bats might be pissed at him for getting bitten twice, but the fact of the matter was that if it was that or one of the others getting hurt, Wally would cheerfully do it again.
[to here]
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