Nightshift 42: Bill's Hardware

[ruthless_hunter]

[from here]Lockdown kicked the door to the hardware store down and barged in. There was already a zombie in here, a big one, who the bounty hunter guessed was the owner of the store. There were also two other zombies with him, so Lockdown was already outnumbered. But that had never stopped the bounty hunter

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[arc_wrench]

Oh, he should have expected this. Well, at least there were weapons here. Legitimate, if primitive weapons. He immediately dashed for an axe as well, glad to have something sharp he could use against these meatbags. "Statement: Aft is here, as is the rest of me. Now, to kill some meatbags!" The beginnings of a crazy grin were spreading across his face.

[damned_monsters]

Normally, Perry, the proprietor of the hardware store, would have been a large, genial man with a smile on his face and an amusing anecdote for everyone. Of course, this night was anything but.

His round belly seemed to move as a separate entity from the rest of him, flesh moving under the torn, ragged clothes in a way that suggested it might easily detatch from the rest of his body. The sheer size of the zombie kept him moving slowly, but there was a second, slimmer one also approaching the pair of them.

[Jen NPCing by request]

[ruthless_hunter]

Lockdown tightened his hands on the axe handle and lunged at the thin zombie, swinging his axe, aiming for its neck to decapitate it, wanting to take out the thin one before focusing on the big, chunky one.

Elation began to course through the bounty hunter. He thought fighting those dog monsters last night had been exhilarating. Sure these enemies were slower and quite possibly stupider, but a thrill was a thrill. The axe wasn't quite the same as his chainsaw, but this was no time to be picky.

[arc_wrench]

Ooh, that was disgusting. All the more reason to kill it! HK ran towards the bigger meatbag, trying to circle around the thing and aim for the neck, taking a hard swing.

He now had a smile to match the rest of his axe murderer look. Now that he had a weapon, there was no reason to be scared. Just overjoyed at the chance to kill things!

[no_side_effects]

As late as it had gotten, Wesker was hardly surprised that they had not made it back to the institute before night fell. It was much more surprising that they were in town, with the sun not even fully set, when the transformation took place.

That the transformation reached this far out was somewhat disappointing. He had hoped it would be an isolated event to the institute, but it was possible that the town was close enough to be effected. How far did this extend out, though?

Wesker's attention was drawn from such contemplation by very familiar sounds. After so many years of creating and exterminating them, Wesker knew what a zombie sounded like. A glance outside had revealed that they were coming up out of the ground. What were they doing there anyway, this was hardly a cemetery. Wesker grabbed the largest pair of folding knives he could find and stuffed them in his pockets

[no_side_effects]

The young man was doing a good job of acting calm. It didn't seem like it was from a state of shock, either. Interesting. "Just don't get bitten, if you do, you'll wind up like them. The 'fate worse than death' so to speak," Wesker advised. There were zombies in the store, he could hear them, but he could also hear other patients fighting them.

He kept a wary eye out for the zombies, and the fellow patients that were fighting them. This was no time to let his guard down and get complacent. Wesker had survived as long as he had because he did neither of those things. This store really wasn't the best place to defend. He would need to find someplace better.

[full_score]

One moment, he'd been about to answer Guy's question. The next, everything shifted and changed before their very eyes. He was instantly reminded of that disaster on the bus a couple weeks ago, except this...this was...!

The stains, the groaning of the people-turned-monsters...Claude swallowed down the bile that rose from the back of his throat, his heart pounding against his ribcage. Suddenly, his mind was going everywhere at once. The townspeople were changing -- his friends were in trouble -- the whole town was probably like this, and he and Guy were--!

Someone (a patient, thank goodness) had kicked down the door to the store, and it didn't take long for him and someone else to get involved in a fight a few aisles over. Claude reached out for the first thing he could grab -- a long, blue crowbar with a special grip on the end for optimal bludgeoning. The thought made Claude feel sick for a moment, but he knew it was necessary.

"Let's grab what we can and go from there," he said with a quick glance over to his friend.

[razing_phoenix]

Just as Guy had been taking a step to move out of the store, he felt the floor creak and sag under him in a way it shouldn't have -- his eyes skated across the now stained ground to the walls, which were similarly changed. For a moment he had to wonder if he was imagining all of it after last nightshift. It was still light out -- how could this be happening

[full_score]

Claude saw Guy grab a shovel, but he couldn't help but wonder if they shouldn't try to grab a few more things. Utility belts, flashlights, saws, those sorts of things -- they'd definitely be useful, especially if they were going to spend all night in this hell hole. But it wasn't like they had all the time in the world. Getting ambushed while their backs were turned would be way too easy

[razing_phoenix]

Guy sensed that Claude wasn't following right after him, and so he forced himself to pause and wait, looking over his shoulder while still keeping on guard for anything (anyone, really) that came too close. He couldn't blame Claude for wanting to grab as much as he could carry, seeing how they were probably in for a long fight. Guy personally liked to keep his hands as free as possible, so he was fine with Claude taking care of their light source

[see_my_back]

Things had cooled at least a little after lunch when they'd stopped by the hardware store. There was plenty to do and plenty of things to look at, not to mention deciding on their strategy for lifting some of the more useful items from the shop without the owner noticing. There were knives, kept behind glass of course, saw blades, which weren't quite shurikens, but would work in a pinch, as well as some axes and gardening equipment, though none of those were too practical

[sasuke_of_sound]

Although Sasuke had grown somewhat accustomed to the strange outfit throughout the day, he'd actually neglected to consider the problem of shoes. Or, rather, he'd forgotten the convenience of being able to sense differences in the ground with his bare feet -- as a result, when the wood of the floor began to rot, he didn't really notice at first. It wasn't until the distinct smell of mildew rose to his nose that he realised that night had fallen over the town

[see_my_back]

Whether the enemy was dead or alive, it hardly mattered. There were enough forbidden jutsu to do it, but on this kind of scale? It only took seconds for Sakura to calculate just how outnumbered the patients would be. If this was happening all over town, there had to be thousands of living dead. She and Sasuke might have a bit of trouble, but she had confidence in her abilities. Others, however, wouldn't be escaping intact, that much she was almost sure of. There'd been children, and so many others who'd no skill in fighting whatsoever. Maybe there was some merit to Sasuke's theories. Something like this was certainly a way to narrow down the patients and find out which ones had any abilities worth investigating. Or a good way of wiping everyone out. Great

[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke had already heard the commotion at the door -- and beyond that, smelled the familiar stench of decay and dirt, something he hadn't realised he'd gotten accustomed to in Sound until he'd woken up here -- but Sakura's warning confirmed it. Sasuke hefted the shovel until he'd found the right balance, recalled the layout of the shop, and ran towards the door

[deadlyjuliet]

[from here]

Glorious! The door was already open, meaning Grell didn't need to bother with it as he moved inside. More of those nasty undead things were in here, but there were enough people to keep them occupied while Grell did a little shopping. Pushing his way in, he scanned the rows and headed for the far left side of the store, away from the counter and away from the fight. He needed a chainsaw. A hardware store usually had them.

Usually.

It would be just his luck if this place was so backwater they didn't even carry a proper chainsaw. Pushing forward, he started skimming the aisle as he went. "Gardening equipment. Gardening equipment... Augh, where is it?!"

[clockmongler]

The moment Grell burst through the already open doors and into their destination, the Gambler almost collapsed. If it wasn't the exhaustion, it was the pain, each of those lovely little burns Sora had given to Xigbar (who then so thoughtfully passed them onto the younger Nobody) flaring with each, laborious step. He was very, very close to simply falling over, practically doubled over, Grell's grip and forward momentum being the only thing keeping him upright.

Of course, the moment he took to enjoying being at Landel's, it did something like this to him. It was as if he was being conditioned to hate Saturdays.

After pulling himself together a bit, the Nobody finally straightened himself and looked at his surroundings. Hmm... There was only one thing Grell would logically wish for at the moment.

Ah ha! X tapped the god on the shoulder. "I believe what you are looking for is over there."

[deadlyjuliet]

With the prospect of gaining a weapon, Grell really didn't think much about Luxord's injuries. He wanted a blade in his hands and he wanted those unnatural creatures outside to die. The best way to do that? Cut them apart until their blood ran thick in the streets. Even if it was rotten blood and therefore not the proper color at all. Which was really quite disgusting if he gave it too much thought, so Grell simply pushed that entire issue aside.

It wasn't until he felt a tap on his shoulder that he stopped and turned. "Ove--" Yes. YES.

He truly hoped Luxord didn't mind the high pitched girlish squeal of absolute delight that came out of his mouth that very moment. There it was: beautiful, gleaming, red and just the right size. Grell dashed forward and grabbed the red handle, a little disappointed that it didn't feel perfect, but more than content that it felt right. A chainsaw, a proper chainsaw, in his hands. The grin on Grell's face was undeniable as he whipped it around and laughed in glee, hugging the blade close

[clockmongler]

...how adorable. Ah, if only he had the heart to properly find the other man's antics as sweet as they really were. As it was, he only leaned himself against a shelf and watched from a small distance (and- would those things quit it? They received a card to the face for their troubles), a smile on his face.

"I'd love to." After all, that meant Grell would do the maiming and Luxord could stand back and not exert himself. Seeing mayhem and not having to be in the center of it? How delightful.