Rob
“Nudger” Taylor rushed toward sergeant Thomas, raising the unloaded crossbow
above his head like a club and howling like a banshee. ET watched him all the way in with his ASP
held low, behind him the skag-head who’d killed Kate had paused for breath,
circling him like a hyena. As Taylor
closed in, ET swung the heavy baton at the thug’s ankles tripping him and
causing his head to hit the pavement hard, dazing the old lag and causing him
to black out. Using the momentum of his
swing, ET spun on his knees to face the skank and loosed his tactical pepper
spray fully into the face of the disheveled addict, causing her to fall to her
knees rubbing her streaming her eyes.
Around
him, d-subs began stumbling toward the brawl.
ET staggered to his feet, tears streaming down his face when he looked
at the ruined form of WPC Kate Dodson.
He paused to pull PC Atwell up and grab the prone form of Brown. Between the two police officers, they dragged
the inert form of PC Brown toward the “panda” car that was across the
street. More and more d-subs shuffled
toward the area, drawn to the fire that had taken root in the Wilson’s house
and the smell of fresh blood.
Gobbo hobbled around
the back of the houses and through the gap in Mrs Nightingale’s fence, heading
toward the rear entrance of the middle terrace belonging to Babs and Frank
Willis – a elderly retired couple.
Turning the handle, Andy crept into the kitchen hefting his trusty
oxygen cylinder. The first thing he saw
was the bloodied bodies of the Willis’s sprawled across the tiled floor, the
second was the three addicts that made up the remainder of Nudger’s gang
looming over the bodies armed to the teeth.
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| the top row of dice are the thugs reps! the bottom row is the number of success they got on the "insight" roll. Gobbo rolled two successes. |
Time stood still as
the occupants of the kitchen stared at each other in shock for long
seconds. Andy reacted first, taking long
strides across the room swinging his cylinder hard at the first thug – a woman
armed with a shotgun, figuring it best to take her and her formidable weapon
out of the fight. With a thunk the
strengthened steel cylinder crunched into her chin, lifting her off her feet to
fly backward into the kitchen counter.
The other two addicts stared at the enraged EMT in horror as he used the
momentum of his charge to crash into the second gang member – a dishevelled male
in his 30’s. Once again, the o2 tank smashed into the face of his opponent,
splintering teeth and spraying blood across the once spotless tiles. The last of Nudger’s aquaintances – a older
male, lifted a crossbow and loosed a bolt at Gobbo.
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| Gobbo takes out the first.... |
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| then the second, while the third takes cover and starts shooting! |
Nudger, his head
spinning from the blow he’d taken spotted the retreating forms of the coppers
and rolled to his hands and knees, before getting to his feet. Staggering after them, he fumbled with the
string of his crossbow finally loading the ‘bow. Reaching the end of the road,
he saw the policemen loading their unconscious colleague into the back of their
motor before jumping in themselves and gunning the engine. With a loud crunch, the car was thrown into
gear and shot backwards in a thick cloud of burning rubber, as the coppers sped
away from the area. Nudger stood stock
still as he tried to think of his next move, his drug-addled brain struggling
to formulate a plan. A nearby groan
pulled him out of his pondering as an infected closed in on him, forcing him to
step back and lift the ‘bow. Pulling the trigger, he smirked in satisfaction as
the heavy bolt thudded into the middle of the d-sub’s chest and causing it to
fall backwards.
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| the coppers make their escape |
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| and Nudger tries to fight off the d-subs |
That smirk turned to
a grimace as more and more of the infected shambled toward him, surprisingly
quickly for their awkward gait. Nudger
reversed the heavy bow and used the stock like a club, waving it to keep the
zombies at bay. However, the creatures
were not deterred by his pitiful defences and used their increasing numbers to
swarm him. First one, then a second grabbed hold of his arms and pinned him
while a third latched onto his hand with it’s jaws and bit off three
fingers. With a howl, the middle-aged thug
pulled back his torn appendage and tried to get away but he was held fast and
more zombies were crowding in. A searing
pain in his abdomen drew his attention to an infected d-sub “digging” into his
stomach with clawed hands and ripping his bowel out. Pain flared everywhere as teeth pulled at
skin and tore off muscles before a heavy blackness descended on him, the last thing he
saw was the pitiful remnants of his street gang being torn apart by dozens of
the foul creatures.
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| Nudger gets surrounded |
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| The police scarper in a cloud of smoke |
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| more and more d-subs are drawn into the area |
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| Nudger gets surrounded |
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| and gets munched....... |
Andy spun around as
the heavy missile crashed into the kitchen cabinet, lodging into the wooden
frame. Grabbing the bow of the now
deceased ganger, he snapped off a quick arrow at the third and final member of
Nudger’s gang of street toughs. In his
haste he missed, but the snap shot did distract the thug who fumbled with the
string of the xbow, nearly dropping a bolt on the floor. Using the distraction, Andy piled forward and
swung the bow catching the ganger in the face and causing him to stumble
backward. Andy kept up the momentum,
following the move with a series of snap kicks and blows with the bow keeping
the thug on the back foot until he stumbled to the carpet of the Willis’s front
room. Wading in, Andy used the heavy
steel of his O2 cylinder to bash the street tough into oblivion.
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| the zombies chow down on the remnants of Nudger's gang |
Looking around the
elderly couple’s wrecked house, Andy gathered the various weapons from the unconscious
or dead gang members. He didn’t feel
remorse just yet, he’d taken human lives and that was utterly repugnant to him
but he didn’t have the luxury of emotions at that time. He had to get across
the road and get to his family, with the image of them held firmly in mind he
strapped the xbow to his back and crossed that with the bow, stashing the
quivers where he could. Hefting the
shotgun, he found a box of cartridges in the pocket of the female’s jacket and
headed toward the back door a plan in mind.
Peeking around the door frame and seeing the back yard free of infected,
he crept toward Mrs Nightingale’s ruined house.
The shotgun, well maintained despite its previous owner felt heavy in
his hands as he broke the barrel and loaded bird-shot into the breech. Sending
a brief prayer to a God he didn’t believe in, Andy reached the corner and discharged
the weapon into the air. Spinning around he hobbled as fast as his sprained
ankle would allow, heading for the Willis’s property.
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| Andy discharges the shotgun, in hindsight of course he could have at least taken a shot at a zombie for the same effect.... |
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| and attracts the entire horde.... |
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| Gobbo hobbles to the front door and waits for the right moment to sprint across the street |
Making his way
through the house, Andy realised just how exhausted he was. He had been up for over 36 hours now, first
dealing with the effects of the “Mother of all Storms” and then the long fight
that had got him to this point against the infected or “d-subs” as the coppers
had taken to calling them and now the killing of human beings, actual human
beings! Albeit ones that had shot at him and tried to kill him first… Andy
brushed away the tears that threatened to come, forcing the rising emotions
back down as he thought of his family and how they needed him, how he needed
them! Standing behind the closed front door to the house he tried to judge the
perfect time for his “dash” across the street.
When he thought the d-subs had probably moved far enough he flung open
the door and took his first step outside....
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| just as he's about to go, a black dog runs up the street pulling four zeds in its barky wake!! |
As his foot touched the path, a loud barking
caused his heart to leap into his throat.
A large black dog, possibly belonging to the Millers from over the way,
ran up the road - howling and barking madly.
Following closely behind WERE the Millers, or what was left of them! The
whole family – infected, chased after their cherished pet as it scampered
away. Gobbo winced as the noise
resounded around the close packed buildings, the sound of a living creature
would draw the zombies to it and undo his clever distraction. Andy
was about to step back into the house and try his ruse again, when he spotted a
twitch of the curtains in the house opposite – his house!
Clamping his teeth
against the pain, Andy hobbled as fast as his busted ankle could take – he had
to get across the road, he had to get to his house and get to his family. “Fuuuuckkk!!”
he screamed as the pain intensified and slowed his flight to a crawl. Only yards away, zombies were spilling back
around the corner drawn by the sounds of living, breathing creatures. The pain
was excruciating, his ankle felt like it was made of jagged glass as hundreds
of splinters of pain pierced his ruptured joint every time he put it to the
floor. Tears ran freely down his face as
the familiar front door loomed in front of him, only feet away when he felt the
hand of the closest infected pulling him back…
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| and pulls all the zed's attention back to the front of the buildings |
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| who then spot Gobbo as he races (with a sprained ankle) to his front door |
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| hordes of infected scramble toward the living desperate to feast... |
Screaming his
frustration, Andy spun on his torn ankle – fresh pain flaring hellishly from
the insult to his already damaged ligaments.
The blood-spattered oxygen cylinder once again coming to his aid and
crushing the temporal lobe of the ragged creature. “Fuck off!!” he bellowed
madly in the face of the next closest zombie, pummeling the d-sub with the
blunt end of the steel tube, the loud crack of broken bone accompanied by the
worrying hiss of compressed gas leaking from the badly abused piece of medical
equipment. With a grunt he threw the fractured cylinder at the nearest zed,
hefting the shotgun he’d liberated from Nudger’s junkie buddy, prepared to sell his life dearly.
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| Andy fights off the closest d-subs |
Suddenly, the door
behind him was flung open causing Andy to fall into his hallway with a
thump. The door slammed shut and Andy
watched as his son, Stephen threw his burly bulk against the door bracing it
against the press of infected bodies pushing up against the gate to the Wosa kingdom. Andy crawled on hands and knees to slump
with his back against the heavy wooden door, further barricading it and glanced
around the neat little house. As the
zombies banged against the front door, intent on gaining entry and snacking on
the Wosa men, Andy openly bawled huge tears of joy as his beautiful wife and
his awesome daughter – Lisa and Astrid, crowded into the narrow hallway and
hugged the battered EMT. His stoic son,
back against the solid wood of the door held on to his shoulders as if to share
his strength with is exhausted father.
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| The Wosa family watch the street fill up with the dead... |
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| Andy falls into the hallway and braces the door with Stephen's assistance |
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| desperate for the flesh of the living, the d-subs batter at their front door |
As ever, it was Lisa
who bought Andy to his senses. “Right,
up you get Gobbo, off your fat arse and let’s get out of here!” Pulling him to
his feet, she relieved him of the xbow and threw it to Astrid who checked the
bolt was firmly in place before making her way through the house toward the
back garden. Snatching the bow from him,
Lisa followed her daughter knocking an arrow onto the string as she went.
Stephen nodded at his
old man, “Let’s do this!” the youngster yelled over the cacophony of the gathering
zombies. Thrusting Andy’s pride and joy replica gladius into his hands, Stephen
hefted his baseball bat in his own and sprinted after the girls. Andy drew a deep breath and leaving the
infected to batter down his front door he ran after his family….
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| from L-R, Astrid Wosa, Andy "Gobbo" Wosa, Lisa Wosa, Stephen Wosa |
hope you enjoy
dGG
Epilogue:
Curious eyes followed
the family as they ran down the rubbish strewn alleyway that backed onto the
property. In the fading light of the
day, those eyes could just make out the tired EMT as he stumbled after his kin
toward the ambulance he had abandoned earlier that evening. Behind those eyes, a brain whirled with a mix
of emotions and random thoughts as it processed the day’s events. Finally with
a small nod, those eyes turned away and focused on the narrow streets that made
up the sprawling estate that Gobbo lived near, narrow streets that led back to
the hiding place the owner of those eyes had discovered when the shit had hit
the fan and the world, at least this corner of it had come to an end!
