Nightshift 42: Bohr Street

[pleading_ngri]

[from here]

Windows were dark on Bohr street, but doors worryingly open, and Phoenix's eyes kept darting to each new entrance they passed, dark rectangles like open graves. He tried to think of what was this way, but his mind was a spinning blank, bolting like a rabbit every time a new face turned to stare at them with those hollow, filmy eyes. "

Comments

[oftemptation]

[from here.]

So far, so good...Haseo, I know you're all right, but I'll feel a lot better when I see you.

Endrance stopped mid-step when one of the creatures made a grab for his braid and caught it tightly. He turned then to face it, surprised. He wasn't in position to dispatch it as quickly as he would have normally. Instead, he struck out with the long knife, planting the blade into the zombie's arm in hopes of making it let go. "Don't try to cast...instead, if you can, try and hit it," he called out to Tsukasa, while trying to dodge its other arm and keep distance from those ghastly teeth.

[cannotlogout]

Tsukasa yelped, only just biting back a scream when one of the creatures lunged towards them and grabbed hold of Endrance's hair, keeping him from attacking properly. How was he staying so calm when Tsukasa felt frozen to the spot like this. It wasn't supposed to be real! Things like this weren't supposed to happen in real life. It wasn't supposed to be dangerous!

He gave an abortive nod and raised the frying pan, trying to get around the back of the zombie while Endrance kept it occupied. He raised it and brought the pan down towards the monster's head with as much force as he could.

[oftemptation]

The calm wasn't entirely natural - without the remaining sedatives in his system, Endrance would have probably screamed when the zombie had grabbed him. Monsters weren't supposed to do that, and even the ones he had encountered before weren't like this. They didn't act like this, didn't... no. Freezing up and thinking things through too much wasn't an option, not now.

The monster's grip on him loosened when the pan connected, and when it did, Endrance jumped back a few steps, watching as it fell. He sighed, letting out some of that tension. "Are you all right?", he asked, the moment's fear coming out in his voice. Spellcasters weren't supposed to have to be on the front lines, and he didn't intend for that to have to happen a second time that night.

[cannotlogout]

The zombie fell but Tsukasa didn't stop and he hit it again and again until the skull was crushed and he could see... well, things that he'd hoped he'd never ever have to see. Some things were better left not thought about at all. He stood back, panting and shaking with nervous energy. There was a moment of silence when Tsukasa just stared at Endrance, brain not entirely processing exactly what the man had just said. He glanced down at the frying pan in his hand, bits of... stuff still stuck to it.

"I'm trapped in the body of a video game character again, in an insane asylum which is supposedly in a different universe and I've just beaten a zombie to death with a frying pan. I don't think I'm ever going to be all right again!" He said, voice raising with shrill panic.

He took another breath, closed his eyes and then looked back at Endrance, looking rather strained. "I think we should run."

[full_score]

((From here.))

They hadn't gotten very far in their dash to the side before a deathly cold, tight grip fastened around Claude's ankle. He gave a startled cry as he pitched forward, probably dragging Guy with him as he fell, face-first, into the pavement. Face stinging from where he'd gotten scraped, Claude gripped onto his crowbar and wasted no time in trying to turn over.

Before he'd even had a chance to collect his wits again, though, Claude was horrified to see a zombie had pushed itself up from the ground, moaning as its rotted hand held onto his ankle. His hard-hat's light gave him a good look at the thing, and he instantly wished it hadn't. The creature -- he was pretty sure it had been a man, once -- had overalls that were sagging from its body just as much as its decaying skin, its dead eyes seeing him, but not seeing him just the same

[razing_phoenix]

Guy wasn't sure why Claude had decided to turn right all of a sudden, but he'd already decided that one direction really wasn't any better than another, so it wasn't like it mattered. Besides, it was possible they would have less of a chance of getting run over by one of those carriage-like things if they got off the main street

[full_score]

Claude had started trying to get up, too, but the monster quickly grabbed onto his arm as it lunged toward him. Within mere seconds, it had sunk its teeth into his shoulder, tearing through his shirt and into his skin. Pain lanced through the wound -- Claude heard himself scream -- and, without thinking, he suddenly brought the crowbar down onto the thing's back.

"Get--off--me!" he grounded out between clenched teeth, each word punctuated by another strike.

But the angle was awkward, and while the sickening thuds and moans indicated that he was doing damage, it wasn't enough to get the zombie to let go of him. Panic shot through his veins, and he tried to get another crack at the thing's back.

He was so caught up in what was going on right in front of him that he was completely unaware of the small hoard of decayed, rotting creatures that had appeared around them, apparently having been attracted to the loud moaning of one of their own.

[razing_phoenix]

Just as Guy had righted himself, he heard his friend cry out and froze for a split second. Getting ready to smack the zombie with his shovel as hard as he could, Guy reared up until he heard Claude's subsequent order and paused. It looked like maybe the younger man had things under control after all.

Still, Guy didn't even get a chance to decide if he should help Claude or focus on some of the other nearby zombies, as he felt two hands grabbing for each of his arms.

He jammed his elbow into the face of one of the zombies, causing it to let go of him so that he could spin around and smack the other one with his shovel. They both stumbled back, but neither of them fell to the ground, and Guy was starting to wonder just how well he and Claude could handle themselves.

They were definitely surrounded, and he had to wonder if the best option would just be to get Claude away from the zombie that was after him so that they could run.

[tsunagari]

[from here]

It seemed safer to come out onto this side road rather than making a run to the next one over. Now they had a couple options open to them - heading back out to Main Street or making their way down to Wicker.

"Do you have any idea where the others planned to be today?" The town was small compared to most, but it was still a large area to cover. And in this mess, they could miss their fellow ninja even if they were right across the street. Would they have been at the other eatery, perhaps? The Twin Pines was to the northeast of where they currently stood.

[toobothersome]

Shikamaru followed Sai onto the street, glad that the other two ninja were taking the lead. He felt sober, but he knew better than to trust his senses when one of the sedative's side effects was poor judgment

[lostonlifesroad]

"I'm afraid not." Kakashi hadn't considered the possibility of being stranded in the town until it was far too late to group with the others, a mistake that he'd have to make sure not to repeat. Mentally, it went on the list right below finding himself being attacked by swarms of the undead with a serving tray as his best weapon. At least getting out of the restaurant afforded Kakashi enough time to better cover his left eye; it took only a few seconds to tie the secondary plaid cloth over his sharingan after he tucked the tray under his arm. But the onslaught paused for no man, and Kakashi was forced to kick away one of the shamblers even as he pulled the knot tight

[quickdrawbkiddo]

[from here]

Turning down the street that headed north toward where the dealership was, Beatrix stuck close to the nearby buildings. She paused as a cat, just as flesh hungry as the zombies, scampered out of the alley and lunged at her. She let it impale itself on one of her knives and then grabbed it by the back of its neck.

The creature snapped its jaws and struggled, but it couldn't reach anything important, managing to snag a claw on the sleeve of the Bride's jacket. She pulled the knife out and looked at the creature. "I wonder how Landel would like having this left in his office," she commented before throwing the cat as hard as she could against the nearest wall.

Without further hesitation, she continued north.

[icy_demise]

The way Arlene had told him where the knives were, it sounded like she was giving him permission to reach in and just grab them if he needed to. SubZero didn't ask about that, though. He didn't anticipate the need to grab a knife, so there was no point to bring it up.

SubZero just made an unamused grunt in response to the comment and thrust the tip of his ice blade into the eye socket of a zombie that was following them a little too well. The zombies didn't seem all that alert to what was going on, although the noise seemed to be drawing attention.

[quickdrawbkiddo]

Idly, the Bride wondered how long SubZero could maintain that sword of his. At least he had other options should the ice run its course and melt before the night ended. Hopefully, they'll be far from this hellish town when the night did end.

[to here]

[roseoverture]

[From here]

Utena and Juri closed the door of Mountain Antiques behind them as they burst out to keep more zombies from coming at the people still inside the store. Thankfully, as they ran out onto Bohr street, there didn't seem to be as many zombies about, but there were still some shambling around in clusters, and there were a lot of patients fighting them off. Utena's first instinct was to run over and help the closest people in danger. "Those two guys are surrounded!" she called to Juri, pointing to the two blondes fighting off a small horde.

[fencing_captain]

Juri hadn't given up the candlestick for the poker. She wasn't about to give up a weapon in this nightmare town. She did switch it to her off-hand. She didn't usually fight two-handed, but a poker was hardly a sword either. The weight was unfamiliar but at least it gave her some distance from the teeth and claws.

Her first thought when Utena pointed out the surrounded blond boys was to leave them be, but she checked herself. There was no reason to be so callous. Just because she wanted to get to safety herself didn't mean she'd leave others to possibly die. "We could try," she said, her tone still grudging. Maybe a bigger group would have a better chance at survival.

[roseoverture]

Thankful that Juri wasn't going to be difficult about helping others, Utena made a charge for the horde surrounding the two. As they got close, however, it became clear that the horde was getting too thick to fight through easily. More zombies kept coming, and no matter how much Utena bashed and stabbed at them, it didn't seem to help

[fencing_captain]

Juri drew herself upright, her eyes first drawn to the dazzling crosses, then to Utena. Utena looked weary, but probably no more frightened than Juri felt herself. She hoped her own worry didn't show. "Somewhere high would work, but I don't know this place. Have you been in any shop with access to the roof?"

They couldn't linger long. Their sweet, hot flesh and blood would bring more undead to find them soon. No direction seemed better than any other. "I think there's more noise that way," she mused, pointing toward Main Street. "We should go away from that."